Chapter 778: Ch 778: Opposite Sides

"Professor, this really isn’t my area."

Tom rubbed his temples with a groan. "I’m still a kid. You want me to play politics? How am I supposed to outmaneuver a bunch of Muggle politicians?

"They’ve never done a single useful thing in their lives. All day long they study how to win votes and how to look out for themselves. If you want my opinion, there’s only one way: beat them.

"Once I’ve beaten them into submission, they’ll start listening. And if one of them would rather die than give in, we swap him for someone else."

Malfoy and the other pureblood families backed Tom’s proposal unanimously, but Dumbledore and Fudge both shook their heads.

"No. That would put Muggles and wizards on opposite sides for good."

Tom gave Dumbledore a puzzled look. "Aren’t we already? You really think the two sides can still live in peace?"

Tom had considered himself a pacifist. As far as he was concerned, Muggles and wizards were the same. Back in New York, if every single person who came at him had been a wizard, he’d wiped them all out without a flicker of mercy. So nobody could accuse him of playing favorites.

The Muggles wouldn’t see it that way, though. The politicians who already knew about the magical world had probably marked him as Public Enemy Number One a long time ago.

Tom had never been the one to decide whether a war would start. But he knew how long it lasted wasn’t up to them.

"It’s certainly not peace right now," Dumbledore sighed. "But if we escalate, both sides will lose control completely. For now, the Muggles’ top politicians are still rational. They want to bring wizards under their control, not go to full-scale war. And if you kill those people, it won’t bring everything to a halt."

"Exactly," Fudge said, nodding hard. "Muggle politicians are like weeds. Cut one batch down and another grows right back. Killing them wouldn’t change the big picture at all. It would just make whoever takes their place more determined to oppose us."

"Then I’m out of ideas." Tom spread his hands. "Nothing I suggest works, so do whatever you want. Oh, right, Cornelius. The Ministry building in Dalaran is finished. You can move in whenever you like."

"That’s wonderful!" Fudge beamed. "Bones, Scrimgeour, once this meeting’s over, get started on the arrangements. I want every employee reporting for work in Dalaran within two days."

The two of them agreed, and both looked a lot happier.

London was a mess these days. The Muggles were searching for any trace of wizards like they’d lost their minds. The Ministry had already banned all magic in London, even inside your own home, unless you lived in a residence hidden by powerful enchantments. Otherwise, even casting a spell at home carried a risk of getting caught.

Other places were a bit better. Most wizards lived either in London or in villages scattered across the country, where news traveled slowly and there weren’t many people around.

There were exceptions, of course. Ottery St Catchpole, where the Weasleys lived, and Godric’s Hollow were both half-wizard villages with a high risk of exposure, so places like those were under strict control too.

Only Dalaran, a magical city built out in the wilds, deep in the forest, had become a true haven.

Wizards who’d been dithering a few days earlier about whether to buy a house there were now snatching up property like madmen. And the ones who’d already bought were hauling their luggage in overnight. In no time at all, Dalaran was a hundred times livelier than it had been before Astra Abyssum opened.

Fudge had originally planned to open a branch office in Dalaran and station a few staff there. Now he wanted to move the whole headquarters over as fast as possible. Everybody working and living in one city? Honestly, it couldn’t be better.

Wizards weren’t afraid of being cornered by the Muggles in one place, either. If anything went wrong, they could take the Floo Network or Apparate wherever they wanted.

"We’d like to take you to meet the Muggle Prime Minister," Dumbledore said, laying out his idea. "Show them wizards’ strength with a suitable show of force. Only then will there be room to negotiate. Your age will get us better results."

"No." Tom waved it off without a second thought. "I’m not interested in intimidation. And he’s just a prime minister. Your strength alone should be plenty, Professor. If you need me to act, there’s only one result, and that’s killing.

"If it ever gets to the point where nothing else works, I’ll clear out a batch of them so the Muggles understand what all-out war costs." Tom stood up. "I don’t think we’ll reach any conclusions with me here. You keep talking. Call me when you need me."

The boy’s figure began to fade, and his last words drifted over like a breeze. "Professor, Newt’s coming to Hogwarts to talk with you about protecting magical creatures. Wizards can hide themselves, but if those creatures get discovered, that’s a real headache. Get ready."

When the words ended, every trace of Tom was gone from the room, and everyone was left staring at each other.

Tom didn’t go home after leaving Hogwarts. He went to Hermione’s house instead.

"Uncle, Aunt, have you made up your minds?"

The day the Magical Congress flipped the table, Tom had asked Hermione to pass a suggestion along to the Grangers: close their dental practice for the time being, and preferably leave London altogether.

When tensions between the two sides hit their peak, the first people to take the blow would be the Muggle-born young wizards.

Even if Britain’s government systems were behind the times, tracking down kids of a certain age who weren’t attending school would still be easy.

A family like the Grangers, comfortably well off, with a top-performing daughter who vanished right after primary school, would be flagged almost instantly.

If they stayed, sooner or later the authorities would come knocking.

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