Lupin took a resigned sip of Pumpkin juice laced with an Elixir to Induce Euphoria, but his troubles ran so deep that even finishing the entire bottle wouldn't have lifted his spirits.
Perhaps he should grow used to this kind of disappointment—or perhaps he should never have hoped at all…
Yet Tver's words rekindled that faint spark.
"Unless…"
Tver slowly raised his cup and took a small sip of Pumpkin juice. The thick liquid seemed to swallow Lupin's hopeful gaze along with it.
"Unless what?" Lupin asked urgently, not waiting for Tver to set the cup down.
"Unless someone is willing to cover the cost."
Lupin felt even more defeated.
"Come on. With a werewolf's reputation, unless someone's got nothing but Pumpkin juice sloshing around in their head, no one would lend that kind of money to a werewolf."
He didn't even dare hope for the possibility of borrowing money. Wealth didn't grow on trees, and even during Voldemort's rise, werewolves had never truly been trusted.
He failed to notice the increasingly exasperated look Tver cast at the cup in his hand.
"I… I have a friend. She really is a Pumpkin juice enthusiast."
Lupin blinked.
"This friend of yours… is she actually blinded by Pumpkin juice? I—I'm sorry."
Only after saying it did he realize how rude it sounded.
"You're saying someone is genuinely willing to lend money to a werewolf?"
"Exactly." Tver nodded firmly, confirming the unbelievable.
"But it's not a simple loan. It's a wage advance—first to buy the werewolf bracelets, then a monthly supply of Wolfsbane Potion."
"The cost? Accept a bracelet, and you work for my friend for at least six months. Accept a month's Wolfsbane Potion, and you work for one month at half pay."
"Until that work is completed, no werewolf may abandon their post. Otherwise, they'll repay the debt with their life."
The threat beneath the words made Lupin's heart jolt. He knew Tver's strength well; as a friend of his, this mysterious lender couldn't possibly be weak.
Which meant the threat was no idle remark.
"What exactly would these werewolves be doing? I don't know any line of work in the magical world that needs so many werewolves."
"Simple," Tver replied with a grin. "Cultivating herbs and brewing potions."
As the face mask business expanded, the Beautification Potions supplied by Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions had long fallen short of demand. Even the bulk herb purchases had begun drawing attention.
After all, using such vast amounts of ingredients with no corresponding finished products on the market was suspicious to anyone paying attention.
That was why creating a hidden herb greenhouse and potion-making facility had become necessary.
The work wasn't technically difficult, but it was extremely tedious and required wizards to perform. Hiring through normal channels would only make it more conspicuous.
But werewolves were different.
They were already a marginalized group. Their disappearance from public view would spark relief, not questions.
And once werewolves were normalized, having the plantations revealed wouldn't matter.
Still, none of this could be told to Lupin.
"You know the beauty potion shop in Diagon Alley, right?"
Lupin nodded immediately. It was the only place in the wizarding world that brewed Beautification Potions; he had even hoped to work there once.
Of course, he had considered every shop in the wizarding world that might possibly hire him.
"Madam Primpernelle has recently received numerous orders for beautification potions, so she urgently needs a group of wizards to assist her work."
"Even werewolves?" Lupin asked uncertainly.
"Exactly. As my friend, she's learned about the effects of the werewolf bracelet and the Wolfsbane Potion. After my persuasion, she's willing to try trusting the werewolves."
"As long as the werewolves work diligently, she doesn't mind procuring some Wolfsbane Potion ingredients. After all, doing so cuts costs, which benefits both sides."
How could it not be beneficial?
She was already running a potion-production setup, so brewing Wolfsbane Potion would be easy. And Tver could recruit a large number of wizards at a very low cost. As for the bracelets, the crafting method was in his hands alone.
In short, Tver only needed to invest a small amount of material cost at the start to obtain a large group of loyal, inexpensive workers.
His only real concern was earning too much money from Muggles. If he converted it all into Galleons and flooded the market, the financial structure of the wizarding world might collapse in an instant.
Lupin didn't know Tver's true intentions, but he trusted him. And with his sharp mind, he could clearly see how beneficial this plan could be for werewolves.
Even so, it felt almost unreal.
He quickly pinched himself.
It hurt.
He wasn't dreaming.
"Then let's not delay! Spread the news immediately!" He shot to his feet.
"You're being naive. This plan cannot be broadcast widely." Tver wagged a finger.
"Why? It's an excellent plan!" Lupin looked at him in frustration.
"Do you really think the Ministry would willingly allow a large group of werewolves to gather together under a wizard's direction?"
"Even if you repeat a thousand times that it's just a potion factory, they'll remain suspicious and unhappy."
"Then they'll invent hundreds of excuses—registration for this, inspections for that—until everyone is exhausted."
Lupin immediately recalled the Ministry's many policies targeting werewolves over the years. Whether they worked or not, the excessive procedures and underlying distrust were painfully obvious.
He slumped back down, brow furrowed.
"We could unite and pressure the Ministry…" He froze. "No, no, no. That would only provoke them further."
"Then we should face it openly. It's only registration—better than living in constant displacement."
"No, no, no. If any werewolf with bad intentions exploits the situation, relations between werewolves and wizards would collapse again, possibly becoming even worse."
His brilliant mind weighed the pros and cons in an instant. But clearly, if integrating werewolves into wizarding society were this easy, Tver wouldn't have a role in the matter at all.
"Therefore, we must gather the werewolves covertly. Only after the extremist ideologies among them are eliminated will true integration become possible."
Tver spoke calmly. Even if that wasn't the real reason, he could hide his intentions effortlessly with such rhetoric.
"Exactly." Lupin's eyes lit up.
"I'll start contacting the werewolves privately right away and unite them!"
Talking to a clever person was always effortless—Tver hadn't even hinted at it, yet Lupin had already taken the task upon himself.
But Lupin still needed to teach for the first half of the year. There was no way Tver would let him disappear.
"Calm down. The werewolf bracelets were only just completed. The plantation and the potion factory haven't even been built yet."
"Are you planning to recruit werewolves with thin air?"
And before any of that, the bracelets needed to be loudly discussed in the newspapers. Otherwise, how would he expect werewolves to willingly work for him?
Tver smiled, gently tapping his cup of Pumpkin juice against Lupin's.
"Trust me. Give it another six months. Once the preparations are finished, the entire plan can begin."
Lupin couldn't shake the odd feeling behind Tver's smile. He quickly took a sip of Pumpkin juice, pushing his doubts deep down.
No matter what, if this could help werewolves integrate into the wizarding world, then it was the one thing he could do for them.