abcnovels
Chapter 718
Chapter 718
Chapter 718: “The Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance” (2 in 1)
A Law with a long name and relatively short volume, but with great significance and far-reaching implications, has circulated, fully known as the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and the International Pan-Magical Alliance.
This Law, which was born under a special circumstance, had its own unique charm. In addition to Regulating the responsibilities, rights, and obligations of all wizards, it also specified how to address a series of issues such as the relationship between the magical and non-magical communities, short-, medium- and long-term goals, and rationalizing the management boundaries of both sides.
This was also the first time that the ‘International Pan-Magical Alliance’ officially appeared in a legal article-
The implications of this are far-reaching, representing the fact that the Pan-Magical Alliance branches that are currently established spontaneously in various countries are no longer loose regional organizations, and it almost announces to the world that the International Pan-Magical Alliance will have a key significance in the future.
An official order was issued together with the Constitution of the International Confederation and Pan-Magical Alliance, which was issued directly from the Headquarters of the Confederation: a copy of this Constitution should be distributed to all wizards. Even those wizards who were hiding in the nooks and crannies of the world were able to get a copy delivered to them either through their friends or by the local Ministry of Magic staff.
At school, Harry held a club event just in time before Halloween, and they ate and drank while talking about the contents mentioned above.
“Quite a few dark wizards have suffered.” Ron said with a grin, “They have been really unlucky lately, getting sifted through like lice over and over again.”
“I heard Mom say they have to read it while even inside the prison.” Neville had an excited gleam in his eye that Harry perceived as gloating, but it was truly rare for such emotions to appear in Neville.
“It’s true, and the order was enforced much more rigorously.” The corners of Susan Bones’ mouth curled up.
“It makes me recall the hectic times of the O.W.Ls exams, it’s kind of refreshing to hear.” In contrast to Neville, Daphne Greengrass smiled brightly.
“Dad is thinking about illustrating every single article of the law.” Luna said.
“Well, I will buy it for my collection, Luna,” Hermione said, holding the pamphlet and reading it aloud, “Apart from the preamble and the conclusion, the Constitution of the Confederation and Pan-Magical Alliance is divided into seven chapters in total, each corresponding to a major subject. These seven chapters are –
The general conventions in the magical community;
Procedures concerning individual (family) interactions between the magical community and the non-magical community;
The rights, responsibilities, and obligations of the Ministry of Magic and other social organizations;
The regulations concerning magical creatures, ghosts, and other magical entities;
Rights, responsibilities, and obligations of humanoid races;
Draft proposals on cooperation with the non-magical community;
Disputes, conflict resolution, and necessary measures – all of them are short and concise, covering almost every aspect. And for the record, I noticed that the new legislation incorporates some of the provisions from the Statute of Secrecy …”
This is natural, the complete exposure of wizards and magic does not mean that all the original laws are no longer applicable. For example, the requirements for wizard dress code; since the wizards no longer have to disguise themselves in the same way as before (although most wizards never cared enough to do so, and improper dress is one of the most common offences that have been committed since the Statute of Secrecy came into effect), this section has been greatly toned down, and only two clauses have been retained: the prohibition of exposing the lower body in public; and the prohibition of wearing clothes and accessories that could easily lead to misconceptions.
Harry stared, wondering who suggested retaining this part of the article, do wizards still have a fetish for nudity? But then he couldn’t help but think of an old wizard in a skirt he had met during the Quidditch World Cup …
“What are clothes and accessories that could easily lead to misconceptions?” Justin was a little confused.
Hermione was just about to speak when Ernest Macmillan interjected, “Wait – I seem to have some recollection about it, my uncle has mentioned when he wrote me a letter … Last week when a male wizard was being interviewed on the muggle street, the reporter asked whether the pumpkin he was wearing is some kind of peculiar fetish or not, and he said it is for Halloween preparation -”
“That sounds pretty normal.” Justin said in bewilderment.
“It’s not over yet -” Ernie said, stifling a laugh – “That guy gave the reporter a demonstration that resulted in a bunch of live bats flying out of the mouth of a spooky pumpkin he was wearing, scaring the reporter and the cameraman.” Several students burst out laughing, and only Hermione said with a stern face, “The follow-up procedure to deal with was quite troublesome, as Muggle animal welfare organizations accused the wizards of animal cruelty.”
At that point, Hannah Abbot stared at the pamphlet and asked, “But Chapter 2, Article 13 mentions that you can demonstrate magic to muggles.”
“-on-premise of being asked, or in special venues, such as New Diagon Alley, otherwise wizards should try to be inconspicuous when casting spells near muggle communities.” Hermione added, finishing with a shrug of her own, “I actually find that many of the laws of wizards are not that strict, as we judge the crime based on the gravity of the situation and the actual circumstances involved, and if I am displaying magic spells to my parents at home, I am sure there will be no real issue at all.”
But all the students in the room were attracted by another word that came out of her mouth, and Luna hummed a quirky little tune and said, “O New Diagon Alley, I would love to visit it.”
…
Back in her office, Amelia Bones looked at the files piled high on her desk and her eyes bugged out – there wasn’t even a palm-sized surface of the table visible. She was so baffled in place that Felix thought she seemed to be suffocating. Luckily, that was when Mr. Weasley came over to deliver some materials and told her that only a small portion of the files needed to be processed.
“The rest are all the ones that we felt necessary to let you know about.” Mr. Weasley explained.
Ms. Bones rolled up her sleeves and rummaged through her pockets for her monocle, seemingly ready to have a go.
“It’s nothing more than a few hours of work, Amelia. It shouldn’t be about anything serious like the sky falling, should it?” Felix looked at Mr. Weasley, who immediately said with understanding, “That’s right, moreover the Minister has just found some time to come back in her tight schedule, and if there’s something particularly urgent we’ll report it without delay.”
“Let’s have a drink together.” Felix summoned a bottle of wine out of thin air, and they sat down on the sofa used for the reception and drank as they chatted. Mr. Weasley took off his glasses and rubbed his shiny forehead, and Felix noticed that his hair had noticeably decreased in thickness.
Bones sat on the couch, took a small sip of wine, and shook her glass, as she said, “Arthur, how’s the new department under you faring?”
“All good.” Mr. Weasley said, “Not counting Scrimgeour’s side, just us alone has carried out a few cooperation with the Muggle government, the Muggle Prime Minister specially allocated a small piece of land in the downtown area, and I worked for three days with my new colleagues to build up a small Diagon Alley avenue, and a steady stream of tourists visited the place. Some events – like new book launches, giveaways were held there, and several organizations responded to the Ministry of Magic’s call, like the Daily Prophet and The Quibbler, who gave out thousands of free newspapers and magazines to visitors -”
Felix guessed from the heartfelt expression on Mr. Weasley’s face that he had probably come into contact with more people in that time than he had in his half-lifetime before.
“You mean they have distributed them to tourists for free? No money was charged?” Ms. Bones asked curiously, “I don’t know much about Lovegood, the editor-in-chief of The Quibbler, but the Daily Prophet …”
“It’s all old issues of newspapers or magazines that didn’t sold out, and it doesn’t affect them much.” Mr. Weasley explained.
“Well, as for the new Diagon Alley, are there any businesses moving in there now?” Felix asked.
“Not yet, but some advance preparations have been made.” Mr. Weasley said, “We contacted the parents of young wizards from Muggle families individually to ask if they are interested in opening a store in New Diagon Alley, in fact, quite a few of them are Squibs – or something like that, according to what Mr. Ollivander told me – – they were at least capable of using exclusive wands and could assume the job with a little training.”
“Have you guys got in touch with anyone from the Society for the Support of Squibs?” Ms. Bones asked, “They might be interested.”
Mr. Weasley nodded, then shook his head. “We reached out to them, but their interest is not exactly strong.” Seeing the slightly surprised looks on the faces of Felix and Ms. Bones, he smiled for the first time, “Most of the people who we are aware of as Squibs, all have surviving relatives, and many of the families are happy to take in their children who now have a chance to use magic.”
“Any more news?”
“Let’s see … After the treaty was signed, a dozen or so anti-wizard marches broke out one after another, but none of them gained much momentum, and our protection magic ensures that people with malicious intent can’t get in and muggle firearms will be disabled.”
“It’s a good situation.” Ms. Bones said with some leap of faith.
“There have also been a few mishaps,” Mr. Weasley pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat with slight embarrassment, “Two of the exclusive wands were accidentally lost during an event.”
“What happened?” Ms. Bones asked with a serious expression as she sat upright on the couch.
“Wasn’t we previously planned to roughly estimate the number of Squibs? Three days ago we hosted an event where visitors could try out the exclusive wand. Mr. Ollivander further improved the exclusive wand, I don’t quite understand the principles he said, he said that he used some magical creature materials to enhance the sensitivity of the exclusive wand … Anyway, we obtained a relatively rough estimate, and the number was around two hundred to one ratio.”
Felix nodded slightly, rubbed his chin, and said: “So there are about 300,000 squibs all over the United Kingdom? No, that’s not quite accurately worded, most of them should have a much worse perception of magic and can’t even see normal magical phenomena, like ghosts and dementors.”
“That’s right,” Mr. Weasley said with approval, “Mr. Ollivander thinks that even with the help of an exclusive wand, those who can cast spells successfully are in the minority. The Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries have proposed a possibility that magic is like a rising and moving tide, where magical capability would gradually decline starting from the first generation of squibs, and then a tipping point occurs in a certain generation, where the magic becomes more and more significant …”
“This conjecture is quite interesting.” Felix said with interest.
If this whole concept proved to be true, it would be possible for the parents and immediate family members of a young wizard of muggle origin to use an exclusive wand. But after all, they are not quite young, and the thin magic power present in their bodies (or within their souls) is nearly impossible to mobilize, so they can only use the exclusive wand to release set party tricks.
“However, during the event, a muggle suddenly rushed out and snatched two exclusive wands from the hands of the staff – the muggle government law enforcement officers did not catch up, and our people were concerned about using powerful spells without permission that time, in any case, the thief escaped to a residential area. ” Mr. Weasley said: “Scrimgeour and the Muggle government people are teamed up to track down this matter.”
“The exclusive wand that was brought for testing didn’t have a tracking spell attached to it?” Ms. Bones asked.
“Sorry, we didn’t think much of it back then.”
Unlike Ms. Bones’ serious expression, Felix didn’t take it seriously, “Let them take their time, there will be more and more these kinds of things will happen in the future, we just need to close one loophole after another, whether it’s tracking spell or positioning enchantment to avoid such issues once again.”
At these words, Ms. Bones’ expression eased down, and at that moment a knock sounded at the door. Scrimgeour pushed open the door, his thick tea-brown hair intermixed with strands of gray ones, his face wrinkled with a deeper layer and made him look much older. Ms. Bones motioned for him to sit down as well, and sure enough, he had come to report on the matter of the exclusive wand.
“That person was found, and the initial evidence suggests that it was just an unforeseen incident. The trial will be held in two weeks, and I will personally participate in the courtroom.” Scrimgeour said that this would be the one hundred and thirty-second court hearing he attended involving both wizards and muggles who had violated the law – from minor complaints about prank magic spells to flooding an entire house or setting a tree on fire by not launching fireworks at the required venue -. The end result is basically a fine, but since it’s still an initial joint law enforcement cases, where the first conviction could potentially serve as a reference for future court hearings, he shows up dutifully every time.
“Rufus, you can leave some of the work to someone else as well.” Ms. Bones persuaded him to do so.
“It will be good to be occupied for a while,” Scrimgeour said curtly, “Amelia, I’ll give you a copy of each verdict, with the comments from the other Wizengamot members, so you should better read them over. By mutual agreement, if there are no objections, new laws will be ratified and take effect in the following year. Additional ones will be added each year if it is deemed necessary.”
“So the materials on the table-”
“Ah, well, there are two stacks that are mine.”
“Rufus, you need a break, at least get some assistance, or your body will wear out.” Ms. Bones said softly.
“Someone has to do the work, I don’t feel comfortable leaving it to anyone else.” Scrimgeour said coldly.
Ms. Bones wanted to persuade again when Felix uttered a name: “Barty Crouch Sr.”
All three looked at him at the same time.
“As far as I know, Barty Crouch Sr. is quite adept at dealing with matters of law, and he has been out of the public eye for almost three years, and if he has the will to–” Felix said slowly, “Well –I think he may be somewhat demoralized by the past events, but he’s a very strong-willed person, and if someone informed him that the Ministry of Magic needs him, I think he would not hesitate to say yes. … The best candidate who could be a lobbyist should be someone who has a good relationship with him, someone he used to work with, or a good friend of, but that person’s attitude must be serious, firm, and a little bit strong… ”
The corners of Ms. Bones’ mouth twitched as she turned her head to look at Scrimgeour at the same time as Mr. Weasley. There seemed to be the perfect candidate right here.
“Barty Crouch is still serving his sentence.” Scrimgeour said in a deep voice as he stared sharply at Felix.
The two men’s gazes collided in mid-air. For them, the former contradictions were long past, and no one would reopen old grudges – Felix even personally killed Crouch Jr. but he recommended Barty Crouch Sr. nonetheless – but their philosophical differences still existed, Scrimgeour is a seasoned veteran, and in a way, he inherited Crouch Sr.’s ideas and philosophy.
“It’s only a matter of two months,” Felix said, “he can serve his sentence anywhere, and we can arrange for a separate room … with pretty much the same environment, oh, and I can recommend someone who will serve him exclusively… … a house elf, called Winky, I don’t know if you have any impression of her …”
The few people present stared and pondered the feasibility of such a practice.
“… Under what title?” After a moment, Mr. Weasley asked in a whisper.
“A consultant.” Felix said without thinking. Ms. Bones rolled her eyes.
Finally, Scrimgeour said dryly, “I suppose I can try to convince Barty-”
“Actually, the ideal person I have in mind is Moody.” Felix said in an odd tone.
Scrimgeour’s hair and beard twitched, his knuckles made a crisp sound, and he seemed to be holding back with great perseverance from rushing over and choking Felix and shaking him. After a long while, he spoke coldly, “Then it’s a deal.” After saying that he left in a huff.
“Rufus is obviously glad in his heart, I can feel it.” Ms. Bones said. When Mr. Weasley left, she asked curiously, “Felix, you really don’t care if Barty is released early – I mean, well,” she sighed, “to work in a cell? ”
“It’s nothing more than a month or two sooner. Besides, will his release from prison have any effect on me – obviously, no.”
…
The issue of the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance is not an end, but a starting point for a new round of negotiations, which will no longer involve petty disputes, but with the success case of the Constitution and the British Ministry of Magic, negotiations will be held in dozens of countries at the same time.
And on the American side, for the past half a month, the Magical Congress of the United States of America found nothing, they even risked rummaging through the top-secret information within the government, but the results they yielded were virtually worthless. The president of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, Horace Grimsditch, mentioned a certain solution vaguely during the meeting, but he could not implement it un