Now that everyone was on the same side, the atmosphere in the conference room instantly turned warm and cheerful.
Seeing Diana drop her mask and stop hiding that ruthless edge beneath a polite exterior, Ian immediately seized the chance and latched onto the topic.
"So, Mr. Fawley said you are one of Hogwarts' governors. Would you mind letting this school I have admired for so long take in one more student, well, a rather late one?"
Diana gave him an amused look from head to toe and quickly judged that there was not the slightest trace of magic about him.
For a moment, she had almost thought he was a student from some other school hoping to continue his studies at Hogwarts.
"As far as I know, Muggles cannot use magic. Even if you came to Hogwarts, at best you could only be a caretaker like poor Filch."
Not only did that fail to dampen Ian's longing for magic, it actually made him latch onto a new piece of information about Hogwarts.
"So this Mr. Filch cannot use magic either, like me? Then why is he allowed to stay at Hogwarts?"
"Filch is a Squib, someone born into a wizarding family who cannot use magic."
By then, Tver had already put away the mannequins and stepped in to stop Ian from continuing to bombard Diana with questions.
"Thank you again for coming to help me."
"To be honest, I was very satisfied with today's performance, and I admire your ability. Your vision has more life in it than I imagined."
"More life?"
It was Tver's first time hearing anyone use that word to describe his ideals.
Diana did not explain further. She merely glanced at Ian, then vanished from the spot.
"I will be staying in America for a while. If you need me, contact me anytime."
Tver looked at Ian in puzzlement, so intently that Ian started to feel his scalp prickle.
Before, the magic Tver and Bulstrode had used was already enough to fill him with awe, but that had mostly been teleportation or directly harmful abilities.
Today, though, the way Tver had shown he could control people had truly frightened him.
It also made him break out in a cold sweat at the thought that he had once considered standing against Tver.
If he had really run into an evil wizard, then forget resisting. He might have been manipulated into killing himself without anyone noticing anything strange at all.
But Tver had already thought of the reason behind Diana's use of the word life.
Muggles' longing for magic, and the jealousy and hatred that might follow.
The former was undoubtedly beneficial. The latter, however, could easily lead to disaster.
Likewise, the arrogance wizards inevitably felt toward Muggles would only deepen that conflict.
It seemed Muggles' self confidence would have to be strengthened a little more.
"Um, I... can I go back now?" Ian asked timidly as he watched Tver sink into thought.
In the past, he had been confident that his position beside Tver was irreplaceable. But now, with Felix and the others in the picture, and with Tver becoming ever more unrestrained in how he used magic, he no longer dared to be as proud as before.
Especially since the connections and exchanges brought by the face mask business had already become the main source of his current status.
"No, you cannot go back yet. Or rather, the only place you can go now is with me."
Tver suddenly clapped a hand onto his shoulder and gestured to Bulstrode behind him.
Before the confusion in Ian's eyes could even disappear behind his eyelids, a familiar wave of dizziness rushed into his head.
The whole world spun rapidly. By the time he shut his eyes in alarm, his feet were already planted on solid ground again.
"You are this slow even at closing your eyes, and you still want to be a wizard?"
Tver pulled out his wand and began casting protective magic around the room.
Not to guard against any American Aurors who might come, but against the Muggles in this house.
Ian opened his eyes and looked around in confusion.
An exquisite large bed. A carpet that looked extremely expensive. Beautiful floor to ceiling windows.
This was clearly one room in a luxury mansion, most likely a guest room.
Drawing on his rich experience with wealthy people, Ian quickly reached that conclusion.
But judging by the view outside and the bodyguards moving around, this mansion definitely belonged neither to him nor to Tver.
"This is Williams's house. Well, his house in New York. He is currently flying here on his private plane."
"Of course, he still has to make a stop first at a top medical laboratory in Manhattan."
Tver had already finished setting things up and sat down in a chair as he spoke to the bewildered Ian.
Only then did Ian realize that what had originally been a single room had been expanded into two bedrooms and a living room. The room they had first arrived in had already been transformed into a spacious lounge large enough to host a party.
"I do not like squeezing into one room with other people, especially men," Tver added.
"But... so..." Ian was so shocked he barely knew what to say.
"We are here to spy on Williams?"
"You could say that."
Tver gave him a definite answer.
"How much profit do you think Williams can make from a potion that enhances male function?"
Viagra, whose scientific name was sildenafil. Tver did not know exactly when it had been introduced, but at the very least, it was not yet being sold in pharmacies in 1995.
Ian's eyes immediately lit up.
"So Williams's thing does not work anymore?!"
Seeing the speechless look on Tver's face, he hurriedly straightened up.
"Ahem. As far as I know, current treatments for ED, you know what I mean, are still mainly focused on surgery, and most of them involve either considerable risk or serious side effects. So there is no widely accepted treatment yet."
"And the number of ED patients is increasing..."
"Just give me the conclusion."
Tver truly had no desire to discuss this kind of issue with another man. It made him feel like some sort of doctor or patient.
"The profits will be even greater than the face masks," Ian said excitedly.
"The sales volume for this type of medicine may not exceed face masks, but the profit from it will definitely be far higher."
"If the effect is strong enough, even if it only works as a one time aid and becomes a consumable, this one medicine alone would be enough to support an internationally famous pharmaceutical group."
"So Williams has really struck gold," Ian said enviously.
The face mask business was already doing well, but when it came to money, nobody ever thought they had too much.
"And what if that treasure catches the eye of someone more powerful?" Tver asked with amusement.
Ian immediately understood what he meant.
"But were Felix and the others not already frightened by your magic?"
"Ian, people are greedy. When the weakest one, Williams, gets the most profitable potion, that will only bring disaster upon him."
Tver took out a bottle of pumpkin juice and drank from it at his leisure.
That was exactly why he had arranged for Diana to put on that little performance. It was all to lure out the greed of those tycoons.
"Because of greed, Williams cannot bear to give up the profit that is about to fall into his hands. And because of greed, Felix and the others want to seize his share of the potion."
"Although my magic has made them wary for now, Williams does not know magic."
...
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