Chapter 712: "Enabling the Exposure of Magic"
Chapter 712: “Enabling the Exposure of Magic”
That day, Felix made a victory speech in Grindelwald’s face, a speech that would occupy all of Africa’s newspapers for the next two weeks, and would even spread to the non-magical world because of the unique chaotic situation in Africa.
Afterward, Felix returned to the Confederation’s Headquarters, where Akingbade informed him of an announcement with a cheerful face.
If there is no surprise, the International Confederation of Wizards General Assembly with great significance will be held in early October. Ms. Bones would be the representative who would systematically talk about the outcomes and significance of a series of initiatives over the past three months, as well as the results of their negotiations with the Muggle government.
Naturally, the purpose of the General Assembly is to discuss the emergence of legislation that will take on the same significance as the Statute of Secrecy and derive various general guidelines for the various Ministries of Magic to implement the law accordingly. It may take a few weeks, but the merits are obvious –
Wizards will reunite as a whole.
And what gave Akingbade the most confidence that the law would be enforced was Felix Hap, one of the two archmages in the wizarding world who remained active on the world stage.
In the afternoon Felix made a trip to visit the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic to meet with Madame Maxime as a school board member; they had actually met not long ago, at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, but Madame Maxime insisted on inviting him to Beauxbatons.
“There’s no problem with the scholarship, is there?” Felix asked, he hadn’t bothered to check the inventory of Nicolas Flamel’s fortune in the vault, but just from simple estimation, it would last another century or two.
“The Gringotts goblins do transfer a sum of money to the school vault every year,” Madame Maxime said with a not-so-pleasant expression on her face, “and they do mail the lists to you.”
“It may have been overlooked by me,” Felix said without fidgeting, “There are simply too many people mailing me every year. So you didn’t call me because of this, right?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what is the reason?”
“Felix, you’re Beauxbatons Academy of Magic’s school board member, yet you’ve missed three board meetings and haven’t even shown up at the school since the beginning of the crisis.” Madame Maxime said in a low voice, her chest beginning to rise and fall.
“I haven’t forgotten about this identity.” Felix immediately said seriously, “I have previously talked with you, and Nicolas simply did not bother with the affairs of the school, so like him, I have no intention of getting involved in the specific affairs of the school.”
“That’s a different matter, Felix.” Madame Maxime protested, “Sieur Flamel has lived for hundreds of years, his sense of time is different from ours, and we don’t bother him lightly … but you are only in your twenties, what do you expect me to tell the students? That the school board member doesn’t care about the school’s affairs in the wake of such a big event? ”
…
“So I stayed at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, walked around, and helped a few students with their academic problems, and ended up having a meal with everyone in the cafeteria – which went surprisingly well. The only thing that was a little awkward was that they called me ‘Mr. Epp,’ but that is how it is.” Later in the evening in the new Deputy Headmaster’s office, Felix said to Ms. Bones, “I can probably guess what Madame Maxime had in mind: they need a mascot to appease everyone. And they may also have the intention of asking for my help in case a problem arises.”
“She’s a responsible headmistress.” Ms. Bones said, “It may seem a little trivial to you, but it is quite important for her to maintain her relationship with you. Why else would so many Ministries of Magic send people to the Confederation for your sake?”
Felix hesitated, of course, he knew the reason, but he said jokingly, “I thought it was due to my excellent eloquence.”
The corners of Ms. Bones’ mouth curled up slightly as if she was amused by this statement.
“Yes, Grindelwald took over a third of the African Wizarding Community, probably because of his excellent eloquence as well.” After the joke, she said seriously, “Felix, now the Muggle Prime Minister is proposing to collaborate to finish an official dossier – there’s something besides letting the public know the details of our negotiating stage – and I want you to get involved. This will be the first document that will be jointly written and sanctioned by both sides, and it carries great significance. You have a great deal of experience in this area.”
Felix had almost forgotten that he also has a writer title, although his books weren’t bestsellers, but they were certainly on point professionally.
He thought for a moment and asked, “How much progress has been made so far?”
“The pace has accelerated considerably from what it was before,” Ms. Bones said, “but we’re not just dealing with the somewhat stable domestic environment – there are oppositions, but it’s nothing serious; we can’t intervene in international public opinion, plus there are all sorts of conflicting organizations emerging, and all these factors can influence the peace talks. The tacit agreement we reached during this time period was to come up with something that both sides would feel satisfied with as soon as possible, to avoid complications …”
“As for the other issues, they will be written down in a memorandum to be polished later. You know, the Statute of Secrecy didn’t start out the way you see it now. …”
She briefly described the recent progress of the negotiations, and then extended the invitation again. Felix agreed.
At night.
Felix was at his desk reading the information left by Ms. Bones, which contained many important subjects originally drawn up by both of them, only as time passed, some of them had progressed and some remained unresolved, and he needed to know all the details like the back of his hand.
The small golden clock on the desk pointed to twelve o’clock, and the office lights were still on. Felix looked up to find Valen dozing on her small desk, and with a small smile, he wrapped her up in the velvet quilt.
In late September, a book with more than two hundred pages of thickness was publicly published. The media and publishers of both societies were in full swing, allowing the book to be placed on the desks of countless people as soon as it was released, to be studied over and over again. Some of its contents were summarized in concise terms in the newspapers, leading to rounds of heated debate, with each page setting off a wave of public opinion.
But in fact, rather than being a negotiated pact, it was more like a political statement on witchcraft issued by the authorities – at least many journalists privately compared it to the government report. It represents the respective standpoints of the two sides, and mainly presents the facts and the results of the negotiations achieved so far, as well as the initiatives and expectations for the future.
It is likely that some of the important statements in it will evolve into the groundwork for future initiatives by both sides, or be expanded into tailored legislation.
” “Enabling the Exposure of Magic” is divided into three parts. The first part is subdivided into three chapters, which describe the significant collaboration between the two sides, a brief history of wizards, and the intersection that occurred between the two sides in history.” Hermione said under her breath, running her fingers through the table of contents one by one, turning to a page and reading it for a while, then looking up with a complicated expression, “The people in charge of the negotiations must have put a great deal of thought into it, racking their brains for it-”
“But it’s boring to read,” Ron said, “I have the illusion that I’m reading a History of Magic textbook.”
“That’s the whole beauty of it, isn’t it? It’s as impersonal as possible.” Hermione said, “But the real point of view is cleverly hidden, no, it’s shown to you in a straightforward way. But you are blind to it!”
Harry looked at her, if it was two months ago he might not be able to understand the meaning of this sentence, but the recent frequent letter writing has given him a new sense.
“Wait–” he took the book from Hermione’s hand, flipped to chapter three and quickly skimmed through the subheadings between chapters, and looked up thoughtfully, “I roughly understand what you mean, every word that appears on here is the result of the delegation’s struggle.”
Hermione let out a long sigh of relief.
“What are you talking about?” Ron asked impatiently.
“Look at this,” Harry said, pointing to a page, “1917-” ” It was during the First World War. ” Hermione interjected. “- uh, that’s right,” Harry continued, “a witch named Noel Leda sheltered the town where she lived, oh, and she was a bit special, originally an Englishman, then married into France …”
“Like Bill and Fleur?” Ron pulled a similar example out of his mind, “Only the relationship is reversed.”
Hermione warned him not to interrupt. Harry continued, “And then this, back then the Ministry of Magic repelled wizards from a rival country, which included taking control of an army of dragons, and hey, it mentions Mr. Scamander, who made a great contribution back then.” He sounded a little excited.
Ron gradually regained his sense, “It sounds like we made a lot of contributions? But aren’t wizards not allowed to be involved in the war between muggles?”
“That’s true, but the Ministry of Magic also has a duty to protect the common people in their areas from the threat of magic.” Hermione said, “Especially when some wizards and muggles have bonded, they are more inclined to protect their neighbours around them, something that is more common in times of massive social turmoil, and the Ministry of Magic has quite a few files – er, I mean records of violations.”
Ron rolled his eyes.
“You mean, some wizards took it upon themselves to protect their neighbours during the war and ended up receiving penalties for using magic after being found out?”
Hermione’s expression was also a little embarrassed, at least in this matter, the Ministry of Magic did not play any positive role.
“The Statute of Secrecy was still in effect at that time. But when something like this happens, you will just be fined a little bit, and basically won’t be sentenced to jail, let alone sent to Azkaban.”
“Okay.” Ron said reluctantly.
“But all in all,” Hermione raised her voice slightly, “the wizards featured on here are mostly presented in a positive light … You know, there are quite a few who steal chickens and prank muggles, and all of them were eventually get punished by the Ministry of Magic. And their punishments speak volumes.”
“And that’s not all,” she continued, “I think the most important thing about the first part of the book is that it presents two very important points in their entirety. The first point is naturally the affirmation of the role of the wizard, which mentions several kinds of magical disasters, which have been subsided by the wizard in the shadows. The second point – I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but all the ‘wizards’ carry a word in front of them?”
Harry glanced down.
“British wizards? England?”
“That’s right, all it discusses are about British wizards, and blurring out the fact that quite a few pureblood wizards have no nationality at all! Framing the discussion at an internal national scale, without worrying about outside voices-”
“But the Pan-Magical Alliance …?” Harry muttered.
“Well, they’re different, Harry, very different.” Hermione explained patiently, “Although essentially they are both designed to make wizards less constrained, they target very different audiences. The former – the term ‘British wizards’ basically designed to exclude the intervention of other countries, or at least an excuse to refuse to bring this whole negotiation into international debate and drama; the latter, the Pan-Magical Alliance, is aiming for maximum autonomy for wizards internally. ”
“Sounds so complicated.” Ron looked dizzy at the moment.
“These are very serious political matters,” Hermione said seriously, “even a tiny notification can bring a chain reaction, later on, this is why the Ministry of Magic has been postponing the formulation of various rules and regulations for some time now. Think about it, wizards don’t even have a profession like a lawyer …”
“Hermione,” Harry said, “I know you’re right, but one thing you may have overlooked is the strength of wizards themselves. Do you know what I just thought of?” He didn’t wait for Hermione to answer, and stated the answer himself, “It’s Grindelwald, who is far away in Africa.”
“At the beginning of August, what we read in the newspapers about the situation in Africa was nothing but chaos – at that time the International Confederation of Wizards had not yet regained its prestige with the help of Professor Hap – and it all changed with the appearance of one man.”
“Harry-” Hermione said nervously.
“A number of people predicted that in half a month at the most, African wizards would be involved in the regional dispute as an uncontrolled and dangerous force. Now two months have passed and instead of becoming more chaotic, the situation there has completely stabilized – and one of the most thrilling moments was when Grindelwald took down three hundred wizards in one night, relying on the power of one! Not even a single wizard died because of this, I don’t know if it was because of the restrictions of the vow … Sometimes I have the illusion that Professor Hap and Grindelwald seem to have reached a tacit agreement with each other, to not interfere with each other for a period of time … ”
“Some newspapers claimed that they are planning to duel in the near future, just like that legendary duel half a century ago,” Hermione’s voice trembled slightly, “the two strongest people in the world, if they are not deterring each other, each can cause a horrible destruction effect on the other camp. ”
Ron also said uneasily, “All wizards are looking forward to it from the bottom of their hearts, it’s just not the right time yet.”
“It’s not just wizards who are looking forward to it.” Hermione shouted pointedly.
That’s right, it’s not just wizards who are looking forward to it, all governments have taken notice of it, and they all seem to be extremely wary and curious about wizards with the title ‘Archmage’. The two men, Gellert Grindelwald and Felix Hap, the former seemed to be an ambitious man, an ambitious man who had failed once, but with his appearance in the wizard tavern in the Egyptian capital, his threat level continued to rise.
As for the latter … he seems to excel in magic called Ancient Rune, has also been to the moon, and his prowess in combat remains hidden in the mists, but at least his survival ability is beyond comparison.
This kind of countermeasures and analysis comes entirely from instinct, and almost every regime does something similar, but it doesn’t mean that they intend to go to war with wizards, especially with their own.
What they really have a hard time tolerating are guys walking around with nukes in their belts … Naturally the fewer such people the better it will be; if there is a chance to reduce them, they would welcome it.
In this process of analysis, they also found a strange fact.
The power gap between wizards seemed unimaginably wide, and even though all those general abilities mastered by wizards made them feel extremely troubled – such as Apparition, travelling in flames, being able to create terrible fires that were hard to extinguish, folding space – nevertheless these seemingly ‘powerful’ wizards were still dwarfed in front of ‘Archmage’.
They can only attribute this to the magic and trickiness of magic. Modern weapons are basically built on the foundations of science and physics, with many subdivisions, and everything seems to be in order. Unfortunately, it is still difficult to decipher the principles of magic with the current scientific theories. Just look at the scientists who are about to make themselves bald.
“The second and third parts elaborate on … respectively”
Similar analyses were conducted all over the world. At about the same time, Grindelwald’s manifesto also spread with the previous two weeks of fermentation.
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