Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 235 I'm an Undercover Agent
What choice do you think Lucius will make?

In the headmaster's office, Dumbledore looked at Severus and asked softly.

Severus put down the teacup he was holding, which had been specially modified by Nico during the day and was now completely weightless, lighter than a feather.

"Based on my understanding of him, he doesn't have the courage and boldness to fight against Voldemort, especially when the safety of his wife and children cannot be guaranteed."

"But at the same time, he also realized that based on what you know so far, he definitely wouldn't be able to complete the task Voldemort gave him within a week."

"So, I guess he'll pack his things as soon as possible and flee Britain with his family, escaping Europe."

Severus raised his wand and waved it at the teacup. The next second, the entire teacup became transparent and invisible, weightless and colorless. Unless you touched it, no one could detect its existence.

“Nico has done a great job modifying it! Once we’ve dealt with all those Death Eaters, we can head straight to America to make preparations.”

Severus removed the illusion spell from the teacup, restoring it to its original state.

Dumbledore flipped through several letters on his desk and began to speak.

"This is entrapment."

“But the wizarding world has never said that entrapment is forbidden, right?” Severus shrugged. “Once Nott has made contact with those people and is preparing to break into Azkaban, Kingsley will already be ready on that island and can arrest them on the spot.”

Dumbledore certainly wouldn't care whether the Death Eaters who wanted to speculate had any procedural justice in the process of triggering the law.

He was in a very good mood during this period, or rather, better than every day of the past twenty or thirty years.

He hardly needed to worry about anything; Severus had already figured out solutions to all the problems and resolved them completely.

This past month has been the most worry-free month for Dumbledore.

When do you think they will make their move?

"Voldemort gave Lucius a week to find the unicorn, and Nott and his men will not act later than that."

Severus chuckled softly as he put the teacup away.

"They might already be gathered together discussing the plan."

“Azkaban may seem impregnable, but in reality, those who have tried to rescue people from this prison in the past simply don’t have the connections and power that we have gathered together!”

At the Nott family home, old Nott gathered everyone together except Lucius.

After parting ways with Severus in Diagon Alley, he began to make separate contacts with the Caro, Sell, Goyle, and other pure-blood families.

These people were tempted by the plan to help their master and break Azkaban out of prison, but they were also somewhat cautious because of the prison's reputation.

So, that very evening, old Nott gathered them all together to discuss specific countermeasures.

Some people still looked worried when he said that.

"But that was Azkaban after all. No one had ever escaped from that prison before, let alone such a large-scale breakout."

"Sirius Black escaped from inside, and Barty Crouch Jr., whose whereabouts are still unknown, also escaped from inside!"

Old Nott was the oldest among them, but he didn't show any of the conservative behavior that one would expect from an elderly person; instead, he was full of energy.

"If you don't even dare to think about it, then you shouldn't even consider doing it!"

“We have many connections within the Ministry of Magic, including some who had previously been in contact with us and volunteered to act as our inside agents during the Master’s most powerful period, wanting to serve him!”

“Now that our master has returned, we can reconnect with these people. Each of them may not have enough influence in the Ministry of Magic to help us break them out of prison, but once we have enough people, it will be a completely different story!”

The first to respond to Old Nott's words were those who had originally followed Barty the Younger, but had only come to him through the Carlo siblings in the last two days.

"This is an order from our master, isn't it? We shouldn't be hesitating here. Since our master tells us to do this, is there any need for us to discuss whether or not to do it? The question is, how should we do it!"

“Yes! Master has just returned. We can’t let him see that only Snape and Malfoy have done the work while we’ve done nothing! We must break into Azkaban. Besides, as Nott said, with our connections in the Ministry of Magic, the success rate of this plan is very high!”

"Moreover, since the master has already made such a plan, it means he is ready to announce his return to everyone! We, as the ones who carried out this, are his vanguard! We are the ones who deserve the greatest credit!"

These people have already stirred up the atmosphere, and these purebloods have actually been restless inside.

After Severus brought Voldemort back, it seemed that only Lucius and Severus were capable of doing anything, even though they didn't really want to get involved in risky matters.

But now that the master has returned, what risk is there in kidnapping Azkaban?
What if this fails?

It was Selwyn who spoke. He hadn't been completely blinded by greed; before doing anything, he always considered the consequences of failure.

"Most of the people sitting here are prominent figures in the magical world. If we fail and our identities are exposed, our reputation in the magical world will be completely ruined, and we won't be able to give our master any explanation."

In response, old Nott simply turned and left the room. When he returned, he was wearing the old but clearly well-maintained iron mask.

"Eight years have passed. Even if eight years have gone by, you shouldn't have lost this thing, right?"

"If we encounter danger in Azkaban, our priority should be our own safety!"

"Don't hesitate any longer! Just like Bruno said, this is an order from our master! Our master won't even ask for our opinions. The only thing we can do is to do it well!"

Old Nott's words ultimately had a decisive effect.

At this point, no one objected anymore, and they began to discuss carefully who each of them could contact in the Ministry of Magic and what methods they should use to get to Azkaban.

The meeting lasted until the early hours of the morning before they finally settled on a time.

"Our master has ordered Malfoy to resolve the unicorn issue within a week. Our actions cannot be later than that!"

"But it will take time to contact and deal with those people in the Ministry of Magic."

"Five days is enough! Don't look for unreliable people, just find reliable and trustworthy people who can play a key role!"

In just three days, Lucius became visibly haggard and thin. He barely ate anything for the past three days, spending entire days sitting in his study, and didn't even notice that Draco had been away from home for most of the past two days, instead going to the Weasleys to play with Harry Ron.

Narcissa asked him many times with concern what had happened, but Lucius said nothing, only comforting her that he would take care of everything.

However, he couldn't come up with any results even after a whole night. What difference would it make if the timeframe were extended to three days?

As the time for Voldemort to bring back the unicorn drew ever closer, and his nerves tightened, he encountered Draco today, who had returned from the fireplace using Floo Powder.

"What have you been doing these days!" Lucius's voice was somewhat stern. He clearly understood that although the British magical world seemed calm on the surface, undercurrents had already begun to stir.

He hadn't kept Old Nott's prison break plan a secret from him; he'd known about it for two days.

But Lucius didn't have a high opinion of their plan at all.

My house is haunted!
Little did they know that Dumbledore seemed to know everything about them, and that their plan to break into Azkaban would inevitably become a major scandal.

Therefore, during this time of year, Lucius absolutely did not want Draco to go out and wander around.

Draco was somewhat frightened by his appearance; he had never seen his father so disheveled.

"I'm going to visit my friends."

"Goyle and Crabbe? You went to see them?" In Lucius's memory, the only children Draco was close to were the children from those two families.

However, Draco shook his head, looking hesitant, unsure whether he should tell Lucius the truth.

Finally, he gritted his teeth, lowered his head in shame, and admitted it.

"I went to the Weasleys' house and played with Dursley Weasley."

“Dexter?” Lucius was taken aback when he first heard the surname, as it was not the surname of any pure-blood family he was familiar with.

“It’s Dudley Dursley, one of Snape’s students,” Draco explained quietly.

"Dullie Dursley? That Muggle who beat you up in our house before?"

“He’s not a Muggle, he can use magic, Snape taught him,” Draco corrected Lucius. “It wasn’t him hitting me, it was us fighting! I beat him up too! Later in Albania he even became my sidekick!”

Lucius knew his son's personality better than anyone else.

What truly shocked Lucius was that his son, whom he had raised for nine years, returned completely changed after only one month away with Severus.

According to the Malfoy family's long-standing education, both pure-blood traitors like the Weasleys and people of dubious origin like the Dursleys are despised.

Lucius stared at Draco, softened his tone, and asked.

"Why didn't you go play with Gorkcrab and the others, but instead went to the Weasleys' house?"

Draco just shrugged and, as always, began to boast.

“I’m tired of playing with Gorklab and the others, but Dudley and Ron are different. They’re all country bumpkins, right? I can just name a few places you’ve taken me to and parties I’ve attended, and they’ve never seen any of them! I can easily win their support.”

"And the lives of these commoners are really interesting. It was the first time I'd ever heard of goblins suddenly appearing in gardens! And there was even a ghoul hiding in the Weasleys' attic! We even went fishing for rainbowfish together by the river."

Once he started talking, Draco began to tell Lucius about all the activities he and Harry Ron had been doing at the Burrow these past few days.

His later statements contradicted his earlier claims that he had gained the support of both men.

However, Lucius did not interrupt him, but simply listened quietly as he talked on and on for more than ten minutes.

In the end, Draco himself belatedly realized that he seemed to have said a bit too much. He scratched his face sheepishly, unsure of what else to say to Lucius.

Lucius didn't seem to want him to say anything more; he simply patted Draco's head and then spoke softly to him.

"Go find your mother."

Draco made a face and scurried up to the second floor.

At this moment, Lucius seemed to have made up his mind. His face turned ferocious, and then he walked out of the house without looking back.

Half an hour later, in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore looked at Lucius, who had suddenly come to visit, with some surprise.

"I thought you would never dare to come see me again."

“You must already know, they’re planning a prison break from Azkaban!” Without any hesitation, Lucius got straight to the point the moment they met.

Dumbledore smiled, shrugged, and said in a slightly surprised tone.

"This is truly amazing news."

Lucius, however, just stared intently at him.

"I don't care who your mole is, as long as you help me get Narcissa and Draco out of England, out of Europe! Get them somewhere no one can find them, and guarantee you'll take good care of them! Then I'll become your undercover agent!"

The portraits of the principals on the walls, which had previously shown contempt for Lucius, now began to whisper in surprise.

The smile on Dumbledore's face gradually faded. He looked calmly at Lucius and said softly.

"It seems you're even braver than your friend guessed."

“He thought that under my intimidation, you would simply take your wife and son and run away, never to return to England.”

"But I never expected that you would be willing to stay."

(End of this chapter)