Harry Potter: Reunion with the Enemy

"How many people does a family need to fill this place?" Harry followed Draco through countless gorgeous and exquisite rooms and headed all the way to the basement.

The windows in the corridor were exquisitely arched in design and inlaid with translucent glass. Sunlight poured in through the glass, filling the entire Malfoy Mansion with a warm and mysterious atmosphere.

"In fact, our family is not interested in having a lot of children, because magic cannot completely repair the effects of childbirth on the body. Besides, it is not easy to give a child all your love." Draco slowed down.

The two of them passed by the family portraits hanging on the wall again. Harry tried to look them in the eye. Some of these light golden-haired people looked majestic and solemn, while others were smiling and looked amiable. They were all former owners of this mansion.

Harry noticed that as the portraits were arranged further back, the clothing in the portraits was gradually changing, from early court-style clothing to robes that were more common in the wizarding world.

One of them was holding a pair of hand-held glasses and was wiping the lenses quickly, as if he was trying to see Harry clearly.

"Isn't it usually too quiet here? You don't have any new house-elves or servants after Dobby left." Harry looked curiously at a room with an open door. It looked like a meeting room.

"This piece of land in Wiltshire was granted by King William I to the first head of the family, Armand Malfoy. In the early days of our family, we used the power of the royal family to annex a lot of Muggle land and treasures. In fact, the mansion was built so large to facilitate the gatherings of celebrities. After the promulgation of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, the close contacts between the wizards in our family and the royal family gradually ceased."

"So the primitive accumulation of capital has been completed over the centuries." Harry understood.

"Of course, these rooms were later requisitioned by Voldemort as a meeting room for the Death Eaters. I could hear their screams when they tortured people even when I was sleeping in my bedroom." Draco had a hint of displeasure on his face.

"But does knowing this make you uncomfortable? After all, Armand Malfoy was most likely able to obtain this piece of land by providing magical conveniences to the royal family at that time. Would this conflict with the upright values ​​of our dear Saint Potter?" Draco asked, turning his head.

Harry hesitated a little. He could imagine that the early stories of many so-called noble wizard pure-blood families were not glorious. Only the secret exchange of interests could allow some people to reach the top of the pyramid.

"So the Lakeside Club..." Harry seemed to have thought of something.

"Yes." Draco nodded. "A tight circle of Muggle elites and high-ranking officials, involving dangerous magical items and the supernatural phenomena Alex mentioned, it's hard not to suspect that history is repeating itself."

"So these are all tricks that the Malfoys have played in the past?"

"There was no International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in our ancestors' time, so everything we have was obtained legally." Draco stuck out his tongue. "What's wrong with having a keener sense of profit? But the Lakeside Club may be a different story now."

"I remember that the Muggle Prime Minister is actually connected to the British Minister of Magic, so other races or other forces can also contact them in various ways." Harry thought of the portrait in the Minister of Magic's office.

"After all, there are so many things one can do in the Muggle world with magical abilities." Draco nodded. "It's easy to gain benefits. It's not impossible that some people will take risks for money or power."

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"We're here." Draco stopped at a wall at the end of the corridor and tapped the wall lightly with his wand. A heavy black iron door emerged from the wall.

The corridor of the mansion was winding and deep, with exquisite wall lamps on both sides of the wall, emitting soft light. The locks in Malfoy's house were in the shape of silver snakes with fangs. After walking through the long staircase winding deep underground, the two finally came to a space almost as big as the hall of the mansion.

The dark stone walls made everything look a little gloomy. Under the golden light, the surroundings were empty, except for a few exquisite-looking boxes thrown open on the ground, and only rows of empty cabinets were left around.

Harry seemed a little surprised that the basement seemed to have been cleared out early.

"The Ministry of Magic's raids have almost ended here. The original items here have either been sold or confiscated by the Ministry of Magic - but none of this matters. Our real collection belongs to someone else." Draco motioned for Harry to keep moving forward.

Draco stopped in front of an empty cabinet, raised his wand, closed his eyes, and seemed to be singing a ballad. Gradually, a silver halo of letters and the words of the Malfoy family appeared under Draco's feet. As time passed, the halo turned faster and faster. Harry felt the space around him begin to twist and rotate.

After a dizzy spell, the deepest basement of Malfoy Manor finally appeared before his eyes. The light around seemed to become brighter, and Harry was surprised to find that the ceiling of the deepest basement was a huge mirror.

"Have we arrived at another place?" Harry subconsciously took a few steps back, only to find that he seemed to have bumped into a terrifying thing that looked like a gallows.

"This is deep underground in the manor. The Malfoy family has used a wonderful space magic. Even the most sophisticated magic detector cannot detect it. However, the original spell seems to have been lost."

Draco found the opal pendant with ease, "Unfortunately there is only one, take it with you first."

As Harry walked away from the collection that looked like a gallows, he was immediately attracted by a strange-looking container on the other side of the room.

"This piece is a gift for our investment. Our Malfoy family has donated to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Instructions, the Institute and various authoritative magical institutions. We provide the funds for some secret research. Some amazing magical achievements may never be seen by the public because they violate wizard ethics, but we are willing to keep them in the basement." Draco explained, looking at the strange-shaped container.

"So what does this do?" Harry squinted, trying to decipher its purpose.

"This is one of the early research results of St. Mungo's Hospital. The container can achieve the effect of in vitro reproduction. And it is not limited to wizards of the opposite sex." Draco paused. "It was the crazy pure-blood advocates who proposed this research direction because they were worried that the pure-blood families would be diluted by the addition of Muggles. And the pure-blood families have been choosing spouses from each other, which may lead to diseases such as inbreeding..."

"So?" Harry didn't understand for a moment how other than opposite-sex wizards could reproduce.

"Same-sex wizards and even single births - with this container, it can all be achieved." Draco uttered a few words softly. "This is indeed an amazing achievement, but because we are afraid that making it public will cause ethical debates, we still haven't made this magical research public."

"Oh my God—" Harry adjusted his glasses and his eyes widened.

"Yes, it's a pity that this technology was not mature until I was born, otherwise my mother could have been relieved of a lot of pain." Draco said with some regret, "It may be difficult for you to imagine what pure bloods can do to maintain their bloodline."

"It's unimaginable."

"There are many secret studies like this in hospitals and research institutes. We provide them with large amounts of funding every year to encourage them to expand the boundaries of magic - but only a very few can actually be released." Draco led Harry around rows of strange-looking devices.

"Is there anything more shocking than this?" Harry wondered.

"Yeah, they're even researching resurrection magic." Draco curled the corners of his mouth.

Harry felt his heart skip a few beats. "So is there any progress now?"

"After all, this is a very profound field. Although a lot of research funds have been burned, there seems to be little progress." Draco answered truthfully, and then pointed to the gallows-like thing that Harry bumped into before, "Over there are torture instruments left over from the Voldemort era."

"A blade that can cause extreme pain but won't leave scars, a transparent cover that is used to soak people in magic potions, and ropes and racks that can be used to fix people and control their resistance..."

"Because it's difficult to destroy them, I haven't figured out what to do with them yet - to be honest, these torture instruments are quite interesting."

Draco led Harry to the other side. "This is my mother's collection, all of which are exquisite ornaments, of course there are goblin products among them... When they got married, my father customized dozens of sets for her. He said that every time she went to a place for her honeymoon, she had to bring new ornaments and sets as souvenirs. The commemorative albums of their travels are incredibly thick..."

Harry glanced over the stunningly beautiful ornaments. It was hard to imagine how much thought Lucius had put into creating them.

"The last part is some wonderful little inventions," Draco said with interest.

The cabinet contains ordinary-looking notebooks, music boxes, and dolls, which look unremarkable.

"These are also mind-control magic products. For example, this doll can simulate a doll with a very similar appearance by simply adding the wizard's hair. Of course, the most amazing thing is that once the simulation is complete, it can empathize with the target."

"Empathy means -" Harry paused, "the same feeling as it does?"

"Yes, if you squeeze its fingers, the targeted wizard will feel the same."

Harry fell silent.

"How is it? Do you feel it has broadened your horizons?" Draco was ready to take Harry away.

"I think this collection is enough to arrest your whole family several times-" Harry sighed helplessly. "But some of the collection is indeed novel enough."

"Yes, I invite you to be my accomplice." Draco replied nonchalantly.