Chapter 693: Reactions
Hogwarts’ Professor of Ancient Runes, Felix Hap, and 14 students from the school finished their initial visit with excellent results, and the Minister for Magic, Amelia Bones, confirmed the accuracy of the news in a magical radio broadcast later that night.
“Hogwarts students and Professor Hap were warmly welcomed and stayed after afternoon tea for the dinner and ball that followed, which concluded satisfactorily at ten o’clock.” Ms. Bones said in a voice that tinged with a hint of delight, “The Muggle Prime Minister escorted them to the entrance of the Houses of Parliament, and then the delegation collectively Apparated.”
“This whole operation was significant. It signifies the complete opening of the communication channels between the wizarding and non-wizarding communities, and the next exchange of official communications will become more and more frequent, where a series of topics revolving around exchanges and cooperation between wizarding and non-wizarding communities will unfold in an orderly manner. The Ministry of Magic pledges to strive to find the right balance between maintaining tradition and openness … ”
“All in all, we can now breathe a little easier.”
The wizarding populace cheered. If it hadn’t been for the late hour and the ban still imposed, they probably would have hit the streets to celebrate in a big way.
But even then, many wizards found a way to vent their excitement and joy – they ran to well-known wizarding spots such as Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and other wizard villages, where taverns of all sizes filled up and Fred and George’s new fireworks found their use.
Some wizards in out-of-the-way locations chose to celebrate in their own homes for a little while.
In the non-magical world – the Muggle newspapers gave equally positive coverage. Some journalists were invited to the Queen’s afternoon tea, where they were given more accurate information, and naturally, the newspapers to which those journalists belonged sold out the next day.
‘Allow me to introduce you all to a long-standing ancient school of magic, Hogwarts, which was founded a thousand years ago by four of the most distinguished wizards of that era. The four houses of the school were named after them – Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. Over the millennia this school has produced countless distinguished wizards, including the delegation of wizards who took part in the Queen’s Afternoon Tea yesterday.’
‘The writer has inquired about many incredible facts that may contradict what the general public believes. For example, the ratio of male to female wizards is roughly equal, as opposed to most people’s belief that female witches far outnumber male wizards; the daily routine of wizards is also consistent with that of normal people, they sleep in bed at night and do not fly around on broomsticks; the only thing which resembles the rumours about wizards, is the fact that flying broomsticks do indeed exist, but they are not generally used as a means of travelling – -because wizards have much easier means of transport – instead they are used as a tool for a sport called Quidditch.’
‘This sport is said to be a mishmash of football, basketball, baseball, and other sports, with only the difference of being played on a broomstick – in other words, in the sky.’
‘The writer also unexpectedly discovered several students who mailed letters to The Sun, including the young boy who was adopted by his magic-averse relatives. The real name of the boy is Harry Potter, and he admitted that what was stated in the letters was true, but refused to reveal the name of the relatives who had abused him. Since this name is common in the UK, our children’s rights agency had difficulty in initiating an investigation – but he didn’t care, saying he is doing well and has found a home in the wizarding world.’
‘The girl who revealed the existence of several magical creatures to the public was not in the group, what a shame, I would have liked to ask her in person how to ward off harassing Wrackspurts, I’m sure many readers have secretly practised the ritual dance in their rooms to get rid of them, but this may be exclusive magic as other students were incoherent about it… …’
‘Gosh, we can’t wait to learn more about wizards – it’s hard to imagine that most of what we’ve known about them for the past half-decade has been wrong, derived from folklore and imaginary ghostly legends!
‘Renowned Historian Sheridan Mack, upon learning about the trace of wizards’ activities throughout human history, has a whole new idea about the ghostly cultures and strange customs that have been documented in all civilisations, and he believes that magic is just the last missing piece of the puzzle.
The Anthropologist Wycliffe Julius, on the other hand, volunteered to live in a wizard village for a year and a half in the hope of observing the way of life of wizards up close – a request that was, naturally, unceremoniously denied by the authorities, who knew that he had left his wife and children behind to spend two years in the savage tribes of Africa doing what he described as field research. On his return, the Anthropologist viewed everything in front of him with disdain and made a fuss saying that he even wanted all Englishmen to build their own houses as a sign of adulthood …’
Hogwarts.
“The anti-wizard remarks in the newspapers seem to have diminished?” Snape stared at the newspapers thoughtfully.
“Because they have discovered that they actually have an extremely limited understanding of real wizards.” Felix gestured to the newspaper and said, “Apart from a few letters from students, they couldn’t previously fish out much valuable information, so they had to dig through the old piles of newspapers for information. Which turned out to be completely incorrect.”
“So what did you talk about at afternoon tea, the newspapers didn’t say …” Professor Flitwick said with a sceptical look as he flipped through the page, “I could only find a few noblewomen complimenting you on your dancing skills. ”
“Ahem,” Felix coughed and hastily spoke up to explain, “Since it was afternoon tea, the only people present were the Queen, the Prime Minister, and a few MPs, oh, there was a not-so-little girl who seemed to be a relative of the Queen’s- -”
“I wouldn’t call it a war of words, but it was rather tiring, and every word had a hidden meaning.”
“The students basically didn’t speak, moving like armour in a school castle. The real highlight was the social ball after the dinner, you don’t know how many people offered to ask me to dance and then roundly asked for information about the wizarding world, and they also invited me to tour London.” Felix said and added, “The same goes for the other students.”
“Sounds like they’re trying to rope you in.” Professor Flitwick said with a frown.
“Pretty much, but in a good way.” Felix said calmly, “It means their attitude is already leaning towards peace talks, hence they urgently need to outline a more realistic picture of the wizarding world’s existence, which is why they seem so impatient. Of course, I’m sure the royal family is aware of the existence of wizards-”
“Nearly Headless Nick is actually quite representative of this. He came from a noble family and also showed a talent for magic, and was allowed to study at Hogwarts. After graduating he became active in high Muggle society and by virtue of magic – or perhaps with the power of his family, in any case – he was knighted and became a courtier to King Henry VII.”
Felix said lapsing into thought, “He may have been one of the first victims of the witch hunt, a victim of wizardry. Perhaps I could ask … oh, he might not be able to figure it out himself.”
The first large-scale witch hunts on the European continent took place between 1480 and 1520, and it was precisely in this time frame (1492) that Gryffindor’s ghost Nearly Headless Nick was sentenced to be beheaded, although the two may have little to do with each other, as witch hunts in England happened slightly later than other European countries, and there were only sporadic witch trials during Henry VII’s own reign. But unfortunately, Sir Nicholas’ crappy transfiguration skills turned what was not a difficult dental straightening spell – possibly even the start of a romantic encounter – into a serious magical accident, and the Lady Grieve, who received the treatment, grew tusks.
Sir Nicholas was deprived of his wand and locked up in a dungeon, and he tried his best to argue that he would soon be able to eliminate the damage he had done to Lady Grieve, but unfortunately, it was too late; the beauty-loving lady had underestimated the uncertainty of magic and had chosen to end her life a step too early before the things could be salvaged.
“Would the religious factor will interfere with the negotiations?” Professor Flitwick enquired.
“In England, it is not a major problem, as the Queen is the nominal supreme governor of the Church of England, but outside England -” Felix paused, his face showed hesitation, “it is not easy to judge, they do have a great deal of influence in the minds of the common people, but the wizards are not without a way of dealing with it, after all, they have a whole load of problems of their own.”
He intended to wait until something developed, and then he would send out a copy of the History of Magic, the 14th to 17th centuries covered on it would certainly be an eye-opener.
Felix doesn’t have the energy to focus on foreign countries at the moment, and he just occasionally borrows Grindelwald’s identity for his activities there – if you analyse carefully, you’ll see that Grindelwald has never brought together the Acolytes or voiced more provocative, ultra-violent slogans, and his approach, coupled with the retracting policies of the world’s ministries of magic, is actually conducive to reducing conflict.
Many thought this is due to the restrictions of the ‘Unbreakable Vow’.
The Ten Rules of Wizardry, on the other hand, were picked out by him using the Grindelwald Code as a reference to lower the expectations of Muggle governments in the upcoming negotiations.
An overall overview of Felix’s strategy reveals that he has a simple idea: prioritise one country and then use that reputation to become deeply involved in the next wizard reforms and thus influence the direction of the world.
Something happened quietly during this time, Ms. Bones jointly with all the members of Wizengamot nominated Felix to be the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and as an accompanying effect: he automatically became a member of the International Confederation of Wizards.
…
On the other hand, the students were also very curious about the details of what happened in the House of Parliament.
“Did you guys really sing the school song in public?” Ernie Macmillan said in surprise. He kept turning his head, but Harry, Ron, and Draco all looked sickly and clearly unwilling to talk much about it.
“All in all, it turned out well. There was quite a bit of applause.” Hermione said with spirited encouragement.
Harry looked away. He preferred to call it a disaster; the Hogwarts school song actually has standardised syllables, but Headmaster Dumbledore didn’t care about such trivialities when he was in post, and he allowed the students to choose their own tunes, thus somehow someone started to sing off the key and the whole thing ended up turning into a funeral march and the atmosphere was extremely awkward.
Harry was impressed by Professor Hap’s ability to reason about how “magic is not bound” without blushing.
“Anything more interesting?” Colin Creevey asked, clutching his little notebook.
“Oh, yes!” Harry said as if something had suddenly dawned on him, “The Professor said that he is planning to go to the moon to look for ancient wizard relics!”
————
[Author:]
After much deliberation, I decided to play down the content of the conflict between wizards and religion. The mention of religion inevitably involves a lot of dark parts of history such as witch hunts, and in the Harry Potter world-view, not many actual witches were put on trial; those on trial were ordinary people who were falsely accused. This goes against the main tone of the book. However, for the sake of plot integrity, it may be mentioned subsequently, but mostly simply in passing.
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