Chapter 654: Secret Talk
The mood in the Inn suddenly changed and Felix saw two men reach into their pockets, and he acted as if nothing had happened, then the man sitting opposite cleared his throat and a few sneaky hands repositioned themselves on the table.
“Mr. Hap, I assure you there will be no fighting tonight. We’ve come for peace.”
“It doesn’t look like that,” Felix inclined his head slightly, “at least Madam Rosmerta wouldn’t agree.” At the moment, the lady owner of the inn is staying quietly behind the bar, busy with her own business, seemingly completely oblivious to the dark tide that is swirling over here.
“She’ll be all right,” said Noel, in a strong voice after a pause, “just to avoid trouble.”
“Then undo it, or I’d think you are all harbouring malice.”
Felix smiled, but his tone held an insistence that could not be refuted.
After a few seconds of silence, Noel nodded slightly as a bright light flashed in the corner and Madam Rosmerta’s eyes went from confusion to clarity, but they were immediately replaced with fear.
She let out a yelp.
“Madam Rosmerta, I would like to order another … glass of ice-cold lemonade.” Felix said gently and Madam Rosmerta glanced around carefully this way and said with some panic, “Oh, oh, okay, Mr. Hap.” She calmed down as she reached the end of her sentence.
There was a clinking sound at the bar that seemed a little harsh in the quiet space.
“Mr. Hap, I’ve been abroad for the past few years, and I’ve heard your name every so often, but none of it could possibly match the invention of the exclusive wand, the impact of which surpassed even the fall of Voldemort. Would you like to hear about it?” The man asked.
At that point, Madam Rosmerta brought over the lemonade and placed it on Felix’s side so that he would have two drinks. Of course, there was nothing on the other side, and instead of asking the man sitting across the table for his order, she gave him a stern look and then darted back behind the bar, looking around with a little caution.
Felix pushed the glass to the opposite side and made a gesture of invitation, “On me.”
“Then I’d like to say thank you.” Noel said in a flat tone, taking a sip from the glass before saying, “Future World Company has grown into a behemoth, you can find a shop in every magical community, and it is rumoured that the merpeople tribes under the water are now recruited to record their songs.”
Felix’s mind wandered back to the summer break when he arranged for the company to recruit a number of employees from other humanoid magical races. In his mind, these would be a seed for a pan-magical alliance. After a few years or a decade of bonding, they would open up new sales channels for the company on one hand, and on the other hand, they would have experience in how to deal with different races, so that they could establish a well-established form of communication that would work with a basis of mutual trust.
The branches around the world are also an important means to promote ancient runes. rune cards, wizard cards, and rune guidebooks … which are all being sold at half the price of cost. Not to mention – it only occurred to Felix now – the presence of these branches would act as an invisible restraint on Gringotts.
So far the plan seems to be moving forward well.
“… As far as I know, almost every Ministry of Magic is debating over the exclusive wand thing. You know, although there are not many squibs staying in the wizarding community, there are still large numbers of them living in No-Maj society, … they also have relatives, especially those whose parents are still alive, who got the news almost first. Of course, not all the Squibs are willing to come back, many have started their own families, but it must be admitted that almost all of them have an obsession with magic, and they don’t mind having a wand on hand, even if it can only be used to clean and freshen up their rooms or direct some gadget to float around.”
The man grinned.
“The other day, a group of Squibs went to the headquarters of the Magical Congress of the United States to protest, and it’s not as if they don’t have some support behind them – a number of them even come from very prestigious magical families and are related to the bigwigs who sit in the Woolworth Building and make decisions.”
“What about the Revolutionary Society? What did they do?” Felix asked.
“Those people have good ideals, but they are still very young in their methods of action. One day they will stand at the decision-making table and consider these headaches. For now, their opinions are irrelevant.”
The man said, looking visibly disdainful as he continued.
“The new President of the International Confederation of Wizards, Babajide Akingbade, is fretting over the fact that the Ministry of Magic of at least twelve countries has proposed a bill for an international general law around exclusive wands and the inclusion of squibs in their regulation, similar to the Statute of Secrecy… I have also heard that the British representative of the Confederation at the behest of your Minister, Ms. Bones, has also submitted a very well-regarded proposal. Akingbade even wanted to resign.”
Clang! The glass in Madam Rosmerta’s hand fell to the floor, smashing to pieces as everyone looked at her, and she seemed frightened by the indifferent stares, not quite able to restore the glass to its original state with her wand. Then she squeezed a stiff smile toward the crowd.
“So -” Felix said slowly, “and what part do you play, or rather, are prepared to play – after presenting me with some of your excellent intelligence capabilities? Goodness, I’m not sure whether to tell Minerva; she’s so concerned about the future of those children that she would be furious if she found out she was only worrying for nothing …”
“That Professor McGonagall?” The man smiled slightly, “She’s serious and responsible enough under her stern exterior, perhaps the following information will comfort her, we only sent three separate groups, theoretically, the other families’ request for help should be genuine.”
“In theory?” Felix repeated.
“That’s the point, you seem to think we represent all the Acolytes, but that’s not the case at all.” The man said, “Mr. Hap, I wonder how much you know about the post-1945 Acolytes?”
There was a pause in the finger that was tapping on the table.
“Terrified and scattered?”
“Something like that, but much more complicated.” “My grandfather was an Acolyte,” the man said as he got straight to the point, ” with the position … of barely being in charge of the mobilization of the followers within our country along with delivering information and gathering intelligence.”
Felix glanced at him, “I had not guessed, but he was still a big shot.”
“Not really, there are dozens of others like him, they were like the Gringotts scattered all over the world, there are some people in every country, those who run for the holy cause with a noble purpose, the rest … can only be considered civilians who share our philosophy.”
“So that’s how the 100,000 Acolytes came to be known.” Felix nodded.
“… Since the end of the duel that shook the world, well, I didn’t get to witness that duel, but I learned about it through the diary my grandfather left behind, and just by reading the words I could feel the shock and awe he had felt… …along with despair.” The man said, a little pale and a little resigned.
“Despair?”
“The two most powerful men in the world, at least at the time … I was in awe of Mr. Dumbledore and remembered a description in the diary about the invisible blade covering the battlefield above as if separating two worlds, where no one dared approach the frontal battlefield, and where a ray of sunlight could easily take the lives of those who advanced. …”
Felix pondered, adjectives aside, could transfiguration do that? Of course, it could, you just need to replace the transfiguration object with the all-pervasive air … err, it would be a scary sight to think from an ordinary wizard’s perspective.
“… After Mr. Grindelwald’s failure, several protests erupted around the world at the time, and perhaps it was for this reason why my grandfather was not held accountable, but from the people I visited after following the diary when I was growing up, it seems that these former acolytes were either in hiding or under the local Ministry of Magic’s key focus.”
“Mr. Noel, I don’t think your purpose is in any way to complain to me and elaborate on how your family was suppressed by the Ministry of Magic, both explicitly and implicitly.” Felix interrupted.
“Of course, Mr. Hap.” The man promptly said, “In a way, no one since Grindelwald has been able to gather such a large force, and the few who were not willing to accept defeat could only start small riots, which did not end too well for them. It can be said that they went from being a formidable force capable of shaping the history of the magical world to a scattered bunch of pearls, moreover they were manipulated … by ambitious people all because of a lack of a leading figure.”
“I seem to understand that you want to rescue your former leader.”
“No, Mr. Hap.” The man said softly, “Not even Mr. Grindelwald set foot on British soil at the peak of his power, let alone a dozen of us, I would say …”
“If Mr. Grindelwald had simply stayed in Nurmengard, the world would have only gradually forgotten him, but from the moment he stepped out of Nurmengard Castle, whether he wanted to or not, he had returned to the limelight, or to put it another way … had the power to sway the magical world once again. ”
“Even if he does nothing and now has changed his name, the world will move because of him, and we are just the first batch … you can expect a steady stream thereafter.”
“Sounds like some kind of implicit threat.”
“No.” The man said seriously, “Just a word of advice. The two largest wizarding organisations in the world – the Acolytes and the International Confederation of Wizards – are not exactly ironclad, and it is almost inevitable that word will eventually leak out, and then the eyes of the world will be on Hogwarts, even if Mr. Dumbledore … ”
“Just the sound of it is troublesome enough,” Felix muttered, “so do you have any good advice, Mr. Noel?”
“This …” the man remained silent for a moment, his tone becoming strained, “it’s just a suggestion, a vague idea … ” Felix looked at him expectantly. “First we need to be able to get in touch with Mr. Grindelwald and find out what he’s thinking … Of course, we need an intermediary who can’t arouse suspicion, not a student, not an uninformed professor … ”
“I’d be perfect for that.” Felix said with renewed interest.
“Exactly.” As if encouraged, the man’s nostrils dilated slightly and those blue-green pupils became deeper, glowing slightly. “It would be best to find an opportunity where we could meet, not at the school, it would be easy to cause misunderstandings, and we don’t want to cause any trouble for Mr. Grindelwald, you understand? I have an informant in the International Confederation of Wizards who has told me some secrets, there are rumours floating around that-” he lowered his voice.
Felix leaned forward and moved a little closer.
“The current president, Akingbade, could possibly break the contract in order to divert attention. I would never want that to happen, and I’m willing to stand with you and contribute Mr. Hap, what do you think?”
Felix’s expression was hesitant, “Dumbledore-”
“He can’t be informed. I mean, one has to be careful initially, and Mr. Dumbledore holds some prejudice against the Acolytes – of course, it’s perfectly understandable, we were once enemies. I don’t think it would be advisable to make a fuss about it, at least until the trouble with Akingbade is resolved.”
Felix closed his eyes slowly as if weighing the pros and cons.
“That’s pretty much the best way to go about it. What are your thoughts, Mr. Hap?”
“My thoughts – well, I need to make sure the truth of it first.”
“That’s a good point, remember that informant I mentioned earlier? I’ve got a copy of the minutes he sent me with Akingbade’s handwritten signature on it, that can’t be faked-”
“You’re a godsend, Mr. DeWitt.”
“Thanks for the compliment! Mr. Hap, I am beyond certain that some of us are in crisis. I was just – what did you call me!” The expression on the man’s face froze for a moment, and he could hardly believe his ears as he stared blankly at Felix; how did he know his real name?
“Oh, well, look I gotta apologize to you.” Felix spread his hands.
“I’m so insensitive – Compared to me, Dumbledore is pretty good in this regard, he rarely invades people’s minds directly, even those who are hostile to him. But I can’t; I have to control myself from using it in my daily life to avoid losing too much fun, and listening to students explain their reasons for not finishing their homework is one of my favourite forms of entertainment.
But curiosity gets the better of me if I encounter blatant hostility, especially when it’s a stranger I’m meeting for the first time. This curiosity is even stronger if the person is still chattering in my ear while acting like they are thinking about me …”
“What have you done to me?!” That man’s expression gradually darkened as he heard this, and finally, his face paled, and he cried out.
“Not you … though I am most curious about you now.” Felix said softly as the man sucked in a cold breath and looked around at his companions who – seemingly caught in some sort of bizarre illusion – and two of them even snored, but he hadn’t noticed it a bit before.
The man stumbled backward, so much that he had knocked over a chair, and in a panic he drew his wand from his robes and pointed it at Felix, the tip of it trembling slightly.
He had said a lot of things today, most of them true, especially the parts about Grindelwald and Dumbledore’s strength, so he might have underestimated Hap’s intelligence, but not his fighting prowess.
Felix crossed his arms on the table and watched the man with interest, without the slightest intention of making a move.
The sound of tables being pushed and pulled rang out around them, and out of the corner of their eyes the two men saw a dozen wands drawn from various positions on the bodies of the wizards who had a dull expression around them; chest, waist, side, sleeve, the men raised their wands in unison, already ready to recite the spell at any moment.
DeWitt was no longer composed, and the expression on his face was unsightly.
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