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Chapter 685
Chapter 685
Chapter 685: Student List
After Ms.Bones left, Felix and Professor McGonagall discussed the matter for a while longer and then emerged from the staff room.
All students were ordered to come down with their luggage.
“… This is how it is currently arranged,” Professor McGonagall said, “The young wizards from Muggle families will need to wait a while for now, and a professor will send you back. The Ministry of Magic will also dispatch officers to give safety guidelines to wizarding families living in Muggle communities.”
The students sat on the benches hugging their luggage, with listless expressions, and Justin Finch-Fletchley, who sat at the Hufflepuff House table, stood up and shouted, “Professor, are the wizards really exposed?”
Professor McGonagall glanced at him, pursed her lips, and said, “That’s right, Mr. Finch-Fletchley.”
A dark cloud of gloom spread across the great hall, these students couldn’t quite get the implications of the exposure of the wizarding community, but they just knew it would be a terrible thing, or maybe they actually knew in their hearts – Grindelwald had spent a year talking about how to defend against muggles and hide themselves.
Felix cleared his throat.
“The Ministry of Magic has already come up with a countermeasure to this, so you need not worry too much about it. But for the next little while, I’m sure you’ll be hearing all sorts of rumours, and what I’m asking you to do is refrain from participating in any activities during the holidays that might reveal your identity as a wizard, keep an eye out for announcements from the Ministry of Magic, and listen to the radio …”
He went on about a bunch of specific measures and the students gradually snapped back to their senses.
At that moment, Sirius and Percy approached, and Sirius said to Harry, “I talked to Molly about you living in the Burrow for a while, she’s more than happy to welcome you. The fireplace in Felix’s office is operational, you guys can leave through it-”
“What about you?” Harry couldn’t resist asking.
“I’m staying.” Sirius said without thinking, glancing towards Lupin, Moody, and the others, “We need to talk to Felix and see if we can help, or reorganize the Order of the Phoenix or something … Either way, I suppose I’ll be staying with the Ministry of Magic for a while.”
“Then I’ll stay too.” Harry said, Sirius’ eyes widened and Harry hurriedly said, “I’m only a month away from becoming an adult, besides this is about the whole wizarding world, if there’s a war it won’t matter where I hide, will it? The war will be on my head one day and I don’t want to be pulled out like a gnome.”
Sirius looked at him hesitantly.
Harry sounded more desperate. “I don’t think Dumbledore would refuse to let me contribute my part in this, if he is still around, he wants me to do the same! I was with him in his last part of life following his lessons, and I know Grindelwald very well …” he said, somewhat incoherently.
“Well, I understand, I agree.” Sirius abruptly said, seeing Harry’s stunned face, he broke into a smile, “I knew you wouldn’t be hiding in the back, I just discussed it with Remus and he asked me to ask your opinion. You’ll have to return to your classes when school starts though.” He said seriously at the end.
“Well, let’s talk about it then,” Harry said vaguely, “It’s not clear if the school will even be in session, with what’s happening.” He originally was just making an excuse, but Sirius sighed worriedly, “You’re right, there’s a real risk of Hogwarts closing if the situation doesn’t settle down before school starts.”
Turbulent times will most certainly make people more inclined to stay with their families.
“I’m staying too.” Hermione, who had been listening next to them for a while, said, “I don’t want to go home and not be able to do anything but stay in front of the television and listen to the news on whether or not there’s a war between wizards and muggles! But I have to go home first, Mum and Dad should be waiting for me, they must be worried sick.”
“And me.” Ron said.
“Plus the two of us.” Fred and George said in unison.
“I wish there is something I could do too.” Neville said seriously, glancing back at his parents, who had retired but didn’t hesitate to stay at the moment.
Ginny was just about to speak when Mrs. Weasley came over to them with a suspicious look on her face, “What are you discussing?” “Nothing!” Ron, Fred, and George said reflexively, then Ron said in a rush, “Mum, Ginny is terrified, and she wants to go back to the Burrow as soon as possible.”
Ginny let out an angry cat-like noise and was reluctantly dragged away by Mrs. Weasley.
Soon, the Ministry of Magic employees appeared, and because they needed to transport young wizards and parents back and forth at once, the Ministry had sent two people from the Floo Network Authority to modify and maintain the fireplace in Professor McGonagall’s office to prevent accidents.
The students lined up and were led through the fireplace by Professor Sprout, while Filch stood guard at the school entrance to receive the parents of little wizards who had received the news and could not wait to get to the school. The other faculty members took the responsibility of keeping order, and everything went in an orderly fashion.
Felix sat in the corner of the great hall and unfolded the Marauder’s map to take a closer look.
The unexpected exposure of the wizarding community had led to an influx of people arriving at Hogsmeade, the only village in the UK that is made up entirely of wizards, ranging from foreigners who had been stranded in the UK after a funeral, to people who had heard the news and had come to take refuge or ask for information, to Hit Wizards sent by the Ministry of Magic to patrol and maintain law and order, so the map is filled with tiny dots everywhere, and Felix is unable to find any useful information.
Sirius approached with a large group of men, and hearing their suggestion, Felix agreed almost immediately.
“I have a feeling that the next few months will be very crucial and the Ministry of Magic will be short of people in large numbers. Since you have this idea, it wouldn’t be a problem for the Ministry of Magic to come up with some temporary identities, a few students could do trivial things like sorting papers and delivering messages … in fact, that’s what most people do, and if a battle does occur then I can imagine the situation could get extremely bad by now.”
Harry sighed in relief, he had thought the professor wouldn’t agree.
“The Order of the Phoenix-” said Sirius.
“I suggest you all integrate into the Ministry of Magic for now,” said Felix, “It’s not the same as dealing with Voldemort anymore, so instead of worrying about the Ministry leaking news everywhere like a sieve, you can form a few squads to keep the dark wizards in the country down and keep them out of trouble, and there’s also the formation of the Pan-Magical Alliance-”
“A pan-magical alliance?” Hermione and Sirius asked in unison.
“That’s right,” Felix explained the concept briefly, “Miss Granger should be no stranger to this term, the earliest similar concept appeared in one of her papers, which I later passed on to Amelia.”
Harry and Ron looked at each other.
“Vomit (spew)?”
“It’s Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare!” Hermione said disgruntled.
Harry and Ron grinned.
“That’s it,” Felix said, “There are more intelligent races in the wizarding world than just wizards, there are other magical creatures that are classified as human because their civilisation and intelligence are close to that of wizards, and we need to win them over.”
“Why?” Sirius asked in confusion.
“Two reasons. First, if there are only wizards, the target is too singular, and we are concerned that the Muggle government will see wizards as a people living in their own land first, and claim dominance over them, which I believe most wizards will not agree to;”
“Let Muggles rule over wizards?” Lucius Malfoy did not look well as he said coldly and condescendingly, “Do I need to change ‘Merlin on top’ to ‘Queen on top’?”
Moody mocked gruffly, “It’s not as if your ancestors didn’t shout it that way.”
Lucius Malfoy gave him a vicious glare.
As if he hadn’t heard it, Felix continued.
“What’s more, I personally believe that there is a huge gap between the lifestyles of wizards and ordinary people in every way that cannot be overcome any time soon. If restrictions should be relaxed all of a sudden and each is allowed to infiltrate the other’s life, it will inevitably lead to endless conflicts and contradictions, so at least until the outcome of the negotiations is known, there can only be one channel of external communication between the two sides.”
Another thing Felix didn’t say was that even long after the outcome of the negotiations, the wizarding world would not be completely open to the outside world, instead, there would be several windows for communication. For example, the creation of an island.
“This leads to the second reason,” he raised a finger, “since there is more than one intelligent race of magical beings, other voices are bound to exist. Given that the Muggle government’s knowledge of the magical world expands as negotiations progress, they are likely to bypass the wizards and negotiate separately with other races, promising favours and testing the waters … I am particularly worried about the goblin stance. Therefore, the formation of the Pan-Magical Alliance is essential.”
The conversation continued, but Harry quietly tugged on Hermione and Ron’s sleeves as they backed away and Neville followed hesitantly. Harry was just about to speak when Ginny burst forth forcefully out of nowhere, her hair tangled as if she had just been through a fight.
“I got rid of Mum.” She said in a calm tone.
Neville was dumbfounded; he had lived in the Black family mansion for a while before the start of the fifth year, so he was no stranger to scenes of Mrs. Weasley’s tantrums, and he had privately expressed his awe towards Mrs. Weasley to Harry by saying, “Kind of like my grandmother.”
Ron gave a thumbs up. Ginny shot him a blank look.
“Okay, stop it. Harry, what do you have to say?” Hermione asked.
“Let’s go and ask the other sixth and seventh years,” Harry whispered, “to see if they’re intending to get a summer internship and write down the names of those people who might be of use. As you heard, the Ministry of Magic is going to be incredibly busy for the rest of the year.”
“Will it work?” Hermione asked sceptically.
“Absolutely,” Neville said excitedly, “Just like me – I don’t want to sit around and die, and there must be a lot of people who think like me.”
“Unless they are cowards.” Ginny said.
“Don’t talk like that, Ginny.” Harry shook his head, “Everyone has different opinions.” He thought of the variety of people he had seen in Dumbledore’s Pensieve, some wizards avoided war and showed no interest in fame or fortune while achieving outstanding success in other fields.
“Let’s start by asking the members of the Frontline Lookout Club and the Magic Rune Club at first.” Harry said in conclusion.
They scattered, each with a piece of parchment in hand, tiptoeing around to find their targets, something they did with a certain sense of high spirits, and when they came together again, they had a list of names clutched in their hands.
“If only half the people on the list answered the call, it would help a lot.” Harry said happily.
“Good news at last.” Hermione said with a smile as well.
At this point, Ron stammered, and the others looked at him suspiciously as he muttered, “Well – I’m not sure it counts as good news, but -”
“Ronnn, just quit trying to show off!” Ginny shouted.
“Okay,” Ron murmured, “you guys come with me.” He led a few people out of the great hall and stood on the stone steps, the sunlight outside somewhat biting. “I’ve been meaning to get a chance to mention this, but I didn’t think it was the right time.” He took a deep breath and gripped his wand.
To the surprise of the crowd, he morphed into a greasy hound.
“Merlin’s beard!” Ginny looked shocked.
“That’s cool.” Harry said from the bottom of his heart, “You’ve mastered the Animagus.”
Hermione hammered the dog’s head and smiled brightly, “When did you practice?”
“Congratulations.” Neville said.
The hound circled them lively and a sudden surge of longing came over Harry, and he glanced back sneakily, the entrance hall behind him deserted, and he too morphed into a stag. Immediately afterward, Neville and Hermione also transformed into their Animagus forms.
Ginny looked around, she is the only one who is still human, and she couldn’t help but pout.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Weasley,” Felix’s voice came from the distance, “I split my attention a little, and if I’m right, Ginny should – err, did I get to the zoo or something?
Ginny jerked her head back, her two hands clutching both of the stag’s antlers with a death grip as if she was about to wrestle with it, while a tortoiseshell cat, hound, and beaver watched with interest. Of course, at the moment they all turned back to look at Professor Hap and Mrs. Weasley who stood equally frozen in place, with Sirius and Lupin tagging along behind them.
There was a moment of silence.
A dark shadow leaped out, it was Sirius, and before anyone could react he turned into a large black dog with thick fur, jumping around them playfully and looking happy.
This change shut up Mrs. Weasley who was just about to speak, her lips pursed tightly and her eyes erupting with anger.
As if that wasn’t messy enough, Felix coughed softly twice and fished a silver pocket watch out of his pocket, he popped the lid and pretended to check the time, but the next second a Niffler rushed out of it.
Valen scrambled onto Felix’s shoulder on all fours, and only then did she have time to notice the people beside her, and the next thing she knew, her expression froze.
“Kee (zoo)?”
…
The clock struck eleven and the Prime Minister closed the door; he had just had a long day of burning work, and after sending off a few more MPs, he was finally left alone in his office. He took off his glasses and sat down wearily in his chair.
He didn’t know what he was expecting, but with all that had happened, it would only be right that there should be some movement from the ‘other side’. So he firmly refused several of his fellow councillors, even though his mind went blank with the impending questioning from the council.
There was a soft cough sounded from behind him.
The Prime Minister froze, even though this had happened several times in his career, he couldn’t get used to it, he didn’t even think he would ever be able to. He could almost imagine a small, frog-like man with a silver wig staring at him from the dirty painting behind his chair that he could not remove by any means.
“To the Muggle Prime Minister. Requesting an urgent meeting. Please reply immediately. Faithfully, Bones.”
“Yes, yes, I agree.” The Prime Minister said, and he muttered again in a small voice, “As if my refusal would help.” Then his eyes stared at the fireplace without realizing, a bright green fire blazed in the fireplace grate and a woman with a serious expression wearing a monocle stepped out.
The Prime Minister knew her – the other minister, the one who had succeeded Fudge. They had met twice, the first time was when Ms. Bones had come to power, and the Prime Minister had a good impression of this woman, who always had a stern face but at least she wasn’t as arrogant as her predecessor, and was happy to answer his questions rather than look at him like an idiot.
He stood up and put on an angry expression – he felt he had every reason to do so – but immediately afterward the anger on his face froze and the fire rose once more as a young man appeared, a man who looked around the room with interest and took a couple of seconds interval before taking a long, unhurried step out of the grate.
The Prime Minister’s mind suddenly drifted to a thought: this female minister couldn’t have stepped down, could she, and the young man is her successor? Is the change of power in the magical world this rapid?
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