Chapter 683

The departure of the Hogwarts Express was rescheduled. All the remaining students were herded back to the castle, and only those students whose parents had arrived for the funeral were allowed to leave the school directly with their parents.

Because of the presence of the Weasleys, Sirius, Remus Lupin, and others, Harry and the group were not asked to return to the Gryffindor common room but were allowed to stay with their families, who were temporarily housed in the school great hall. Harry saw quite a few familiar faces, Ernie, Zacharias Smith, Seamus, Cormac McLaggen, Hannah, Susan Bones, Anthony Goldstein, Marcus Belby, Draco, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini …

Many of them were regular guests at Professor Slughorn’s parties.

All of these students had family or relatives who had stayed behind, including the Weasleys, who stayed in the great hall talking rapidly, pausing now and then to glance up in the direction of the staff room with grim and anxious faces, expecting someone to come out – Akingbade had temporarily borrowed the school grounds to confer with all the Ministers of Magic on important matters.

“Ms. Bones dispatched a large number of Aurors before going in to prevent disturbances …” Percy said solemnly, dressed in full formal attire and having a small meeting with Bill, Sirius, Lupin, Moody, the Longbottoms, and other members of the Order of the Phoenix. When this incident happened, Percy had planned to return to the Ministry of Magic immediately, but was asked to stay by Mr. Weasley, to which he reasoned, “The Ministry needs me now!” As a result, Penelope sneered, “What are you going back for? Preparing a celebration in honour of the magical world being exposed to the eyes of the whole world?” So Percy stayed behind.

The senior members of the Order of the Phoenix sat with the children, “There’s nothing to worry about!” Neville’s somewhat intimidating grandmother said in a forceful manner, Mrs. Weasley responded absent-mindedly and Fleur, who had just dropped off by Madame Maxime, pouted in displeasure when she saw Penelope and Mrs. Weasley sitting intimately together when she arrived.

“Oy gosh – I saw Madame Maxime and the big guy kissing, it’s incredible isn’t it?” Fleur tossed her waterfall-like hair and forced herself between them, “Maybe it was a matter of affection or purely ceremonial in nature …” Mrs. Weasley grunted in an impish manner.

Ginny looked upset at being pushed aside, she stood up, tossed her hair, and walked over to her twin brothers, her beautiful head raised high with pride, in a manner that vividly resembled Fleur.

“So you’ve been taught for a year by a dark lord who has lived in the shadows for half a century, your school life has been quite eventful.” Fred said.

“Don’t act like you haven’t met one,” George said seriously, “You know one of us has killed another Dark Lord with his own hands.”

Harry said with a grim expression, “Thanks, George – I’ll be happy to share that part of the experience if you want to know.” With that, he glared at Ron, who had let it slip.

Ron looked to his left and right, seemingly interested in what Professor Marchbanks was yelling from the other side of the great hall as the old woman shouted at the top of her lungs, “Stupid! Out of his mind! I wonder when our government became so keen to make deals with criminals? If you ask me, Dumbledore shouldn’t have stepped down at all, that Akingbade isn’t just another Fudge, no?”

The real Fudge stood in the corner awkwardly twirling his bowler hat. He was also present at the funeral, though he was so invisible and alone that even the Malfoys were more popular than he was.

Ron withdrew his gaze, pretending not to see the look Harry was giving him, and shrugged, “She’s right, there’s never a shortage of people like Fudge in the world.”

“I think,” Hermione said matter-of-factly, “that it’s unfair to Akingbade to put him alongside Fudge, at least his intentions were good, to avoid war. But apparently, he underestimated Grindelwald.”

“That’s his biggest problem, Hermione.” Fred pointed out.

At that moment Harry saw a figure flash by the great hall entrance, and he jumped up from his chair with a start, his heart pounding, but immediately he realized that he had been mistaken, and he slumped back into his seat, seemingly losing all his strength.

“What’s wrong with you, Harry?” Ron asked in surprise.

“Nothing ser-” Harry opened his mouth, “Well, I thought I saw Dumbledore, but that should have been Aberforth.”

“Oh, they do look a bit alike, the two of them.” Ginny said, “I don’t think I saw him at the funeral though?”

“He went to classroom seven.”

The nearly headless Nick said as he floated around from behind her, his head bobbing, and Ginny and Neville, who were closest to him, froze for a moment and motionlessly gave him a seat.

“Classroom seven?” Ron asked with interest, “Why? Oh-” he realized, “His family’s there.”

“Yeah … but he has had an unlucky day, almost getting kicked out by a few professors’ memory bodies joining together.” Nearly headless Nick said.

“What happened?” Harry asked perceptively.

“Something to do with a new memory that just showed up. He was about the same age as Dumbledore, well, I mean Dumbledore in classroom seven.” Nick said, “I know a bit about Aberforth, he’s been coming around a lot lately, I’m not the only ghost who has run into … him at dinner, but he usually just watches from a distance, but today when he saw that new memory he suddenly jumped out and threw a fit… …”

“So it has something to do with that new memory?” George asked thoughtfully, “Who is that person?”

“I don’t know.” Nearly headless Nick said with restraint, shaking his head, his head falling to one side and his whole face turning completely upside down as he let out a startled yelp and hurriedly held out his hands to adjust its position. Harry averted his eyes feeling cold.

Who could it be, a new memory in classroom seven, and the one that had made Aberforth so angry?

Harry’s eyes lit up as he thought of something, he looked over at Hermione and from the shocked look on her face, she seemed to have guessed as well.

It could very well be Grindelwald’s own memory body. From the words of Nick, who had almost lost his head, Grindelwald would have left memories of his youth, but when had he done it? Did Professor Hap know? If he knew why didn’t he stop it, was it because of his special relationship with Dumbledore? Had they made a private, unspoken agreement? Harry’s head was spinning as he tried to figure it out.

“You can ask Professor Hap about it sometime, Classroom Seven is his territory, he must know the identity of the memory.” Ron said to Nick, glancing at an inconspicuous door of the great hall, “He should be busy for the next few days though, ugh, I thought he would have noticed and stopped Grindelwald beforehand. But yeah, it’s hard for a normal person to imagine Grindelwald’s madness.” A hint of fear passed through his eyes.

“Why do you say that?” Neville asked in a whisper. Did the professor know something?

Ron shrugged.

“He’s practically omnipotent in my mind. You know, looking for clues through clues – like a detective in a muggle’s book – and I didn’t think he would miss the mark this time.”

“Not at all, Ron.” Hermione shook her head, cracking her fingers solemnly, “Grindelwald may seem to have done a lot of things – gathering the core acolytes, negotiating with the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, disclosing the death of Headmaster Dumbledore, making an unbreakable vow, and attending today’s funeral – -but really, all of these things are just dispensable and irrelevant.”

Harry’s somewhat numbed mind started to work again, Hermione’s words gave him a whole new direction to think in, and he seemed to be able to clear the fog from his mind all of a sudden.

“I get it! Grindelwald has had only one goal since the beginning: to expose the entire wizarding community, force the integration of wizarding and muggle society, and fulfil his and Dumbledore’s original dream.” Harry said excitedly.

“So everything he did before was a blindfold? Everyone is being played by him?” Ron asked hesitantly, looking at the two men.

“We can only guess at the moment.” Hermione said softly, “From the strength Grindelwald showed today, he could have pulled off the plan all by himself – he probably couldn’t beat Professor Hap, but at their level, he could have walked away from the fight at any time, which is why it was so difficult to capture Voldemort alive. Ordinary wizards can’t intervene at all. I even think that once Grindelwald judges that the plan is not going well, he will immediately drop the fine details and go straight to the point.”

“Why does he have to complicate things so much?” Ron said annoyed.

“Because Grindelwald is human too.” Harry said slowly, past memories of what he had seen in the Pensieve with Dumbledore backing up what he was saying at the moment.

“He was arrogant, cocky, wanted to prove he was right, wanted to announce to the world personally the dawn of a new age, and perhaps the desire to have Dumbledore buried with dignity can be added to the mix … He was already on a roll from the moment he broke out of prison, and all he did after that was merely to ensure that the outcome remained exactly the same while making the process as much to his liking as possible.”

“Then Professor Hap–”

“He might have guessed part of it.” Hermione thought of what Felix had said earlier, “But he shouldn’t have guessed much earlier than we did, probably from what Grindelwald said at the funeral, or during their brief encounter in front of the school where Grindelwald said something that the professor picked up on, thus stringing it all together.”

“… Think about it, the Professor knows Grindelwald better than we do, we all immediately thought that Grindelwald was hiding a conspiracy behind the negotiations he was leading, how could the Professor not have thought of it? This includes making Dumbledore’s death public as well – the Professor doesn’t believe Grindelwald’s intentions are that simple, he wants to find out what Grindelwald’s true intentions are, and the Professor always plans before he acts. And so it turned out, that Grindelwald had lied to everyone. But it was too late.”

“But he clearly made an unbreakable vow!” Ron shouted.

…

“But he clearly made an unbreakable vow!” Akingbade shouted in the impromptu meeting in the staff room.

The staff room was crammed with people, every one of the undisputed big names in the wizarding world, the Ministers of Magic, the Supreme Mugwump of the Confederation, and the Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts, who are the hosts of the place were here.

Akingbade stared lost in thought at his arm, the vow still working and showing no sign of being broken.

“Mr. Akingbade, I too have heard about the Grindelwald vow, but it is not clear what your vow is?” Professor McGonagall asked seriously.

Akingbade licked his dry lips.

“I can assure you that the alliance process is completely open and witnessed by a dozen ministers of magic … The contents of the vow go both ways: Grindelwald promises not to kill indiscriminately unless someone attacks him first, of course arguing doesn’t count; nor will he initiate wizard wars; nor conspire to subvert existing wizard regimes. In return, all I have to do is to forgo holding the Acolytes accountable and allow them to operate in public without issuing orders against them, provided he does not break his vow.”

The men in the room furrowed their brows. At this point, Felix said, “He really didn’t start the ‘wizard war’.” He focused on the last few words, and none of the people present were fools, they instantly figured out the crux of it

“You fool!” Professor McGonagall shouted vehemently, “Did you not even study his political views carefully before negotiating?”

Akingbade’s dark face turned a reddish purple as he defended himself, “We didn’t expect it – he had never done so before, he had always sought a status in the wizarding community -”

“Something similar has actually happened.” A very old Minister of Magic said slowly, “Grindelwald had reached the peak of his influence twice before he was imprisoned in Nurmengard Castle, when he was fully geared up to declare war on the Muggles, both times, in the end, Dumbledore thwarted his efforts though.”

Akingbade’s face turned pale.

“Even if you include muggles, he’s not really breaking his vow; after all, he only made the existence of magic known to the world, he didn’t initiate the war … They really just used magic in public.” Professor McGonagall said pointedly, and everyone in the room felt a little uncomfortable.

“Mr. Hap,” Akingbade said hurriedly, with a hint of desperation in his tone, “I admit that we have made a huge mistake and cannot afford to make any more mistakes, only you are capable of capturing Grindelwald, I beg you to come forward, and I will let the newly formed Auror team work with you. ”

Felix glanced at him.

“Something can only be said here, Mr. Akingbade – one of the clauses in the vow you took was not to issue orders against him. Unless you intend to break the vow before Grindelwald does.”

Akingbade was dumbfounded and seemed to have suddenly lost the ability to speak. Half a moment later he opened his mouth again, by which time his face became completely bloodless, “I, I will resign of my own accord, so that it will not count as-”

“You better not go anywhere,” said Felix, “the vow is more or less useful – the influence of Grindelwald can be ignored for the moment while we deal with the great crisis before us, and he is also under ‘Unbreakable Vow’, and as long as we don’t go after him, he won’t be able to interfere with what happens next.”

“You, you mean-” Akingbade’s eyes widened, “that he will wait and do nothing after he started this huge wave?”

“I do believe that stand by is a more accurate word,” Ms. Bones said, “He will not be our enemy, but he is the source of all the turmoil, and don’t forget that the crux of the problem is that the magical world is exposed to the eyes of the whole world, and we must come up with a solution as soon as possible!”

The old wizard who spoke before shook his head and smiled bitterly, “There are not one or two people involved, nor one or two cities, there is no way to hide it any longer, alas, the Statute of Secrecy … Secrecy is completely ruined.”

“What is Grindelwald waiting for?” Akingbade murmured, then his pupils dilated with fear, “It goes without saying … that he is naturally waiting for the situation to descend into chaos, and chaos is what Grindelwald wishes to see; perhaps he need not do anything, and the angry wizarding populace, who are wrapped up in the war, will naturally lean towards his cause. It is at that point that he will step forward – because I have allowed him to be active in public – and present himself as a saviour and declare war against the Muggles.”

An unnerving silence followed. “He even calculated this far?” Someone shouted incredulously.

“Think more positively,” Felix said meaningfully, “If you deal with it properly, Grindelwald will simply have no chance to show his face or perhaps the whole thing … who knows!” He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling in contemplation, would this be Grindelwald’s true thoughts?

‘How can a good guy be more of a deterrent than an outright bad guy?’

Would the Muggle government and populace be more cautious, and more sincere, if they realised that once the two ended up in war, they would be personally aiding a dark wizard who is hostile to Muggles, and who has no qualms about destroying a city with powerful magic from decades ago, to be free from the restrictions of his vows?

Felix’s thoughts were racing, he was in no hurry to make a decision, it would be best to talk to some of the core Acolytes … Grindelwald had given him the means to summon the Acolytes, but it might not work, perhaps there is someone waiting for him in Hogsmeade now.

…

The meeting barely made any substantial progress, all that came out of it was some very conservative ideas, such as discreetly gathering information from the outside world and hiding all wizards somewhere, but what to do after that, the ministers of magic simply could not reach an agreement, their minds were completely bound by the Statute of Secrecy.

Two hours later, the Ministers of Magic left in a hurry. There was no telling what kind of chaos was going on outside now, there were too many things waiting for them to get back and deal with. When the men had gone, Ms. Bones stayed behind.

“We have to figure this out ourselves.” She said seriously, one hand rubbing her forehead painfully, “Everyone has their own stance, and with Akingbade’s reputation now plummeting again, there’s no way to convince everyone that it’s going to end up being anything but a tug of war.”

“We have to do something about this, and we have to do it quickly, we can’t be passive and wait for the results. Felix, I want to know what you think.”

Felix spread his hands.

“Grindelwald caught everyone off guard and I don’t have a complete plan yet, but there are a few things that do need to be addressed as a matter of priority.”

Ms. Bones and Professor McGonagall looked at him.

“First, the students in the school-”

“Cancel the Hogwarts Express this year,” Professor McGonagall said decisively, “let children from wizarding families have their parents pick them up or leave through the school fireplace; young wizards from non-wizarding families, I’ll ask the professors send them straight home.”

“The Ministry of Magic will cooperate fully.” Ms. Bones said with a nod.

“Secondly, the security measures around the school must be re-enforced; it is uncertain whether the next school year will start as scheduled, but try to be prepared. And – there’s a huge shelter here.”

Again, the two had no problem with this.

“Thirdly, Amelia, I suggest you to start negotiations with the Muggle government as soon as possible, starting with the Prime Minister; haven’t you been keeping in touch with each other one-on-one? He must be made to realise that this is not a one-sided affair for us and that no one can escape once a crisis has occurred.”

“I will arrange that as soon as possible.” Ms. Bones said, “In fact, I’ve met with that Muggle Prime Minister twice, and he seems-” She shook her head.

“Fourth, stabilise all the wizards through newspaper interviews, magic radios … get your voice out as far as possible. The pamphlet from the last Beware of Voldemort can also be revised and brought over for use;”

“Fifth, public opinion and intelligence-”

“Public opinion?” Professor McGonagall and Ms. Bones asked in unison.

“Non-magical world governments and their populations are closely related and influence and constrain each other.” Felix said, “Properly guided public opinion can make the general public more comfortable with the existence of wizards, and in turn, their attitudes can go to extremes once they are stirred up by those with a mind to do so. Of course, we are now focusing on gathering information, but how we gather information is also key, for example, the attitudes of ordinary people towards wizards, their reasons for accepting them, and their reasons for opposing them; then there are the people who have significant influence in the matter, politicians, celebrities, leaders of opinion, especially those who jump out in the first place … ”

“Sixth, the safety and confidentiality of young wizards from Muggle families when they return home …”

“Seventh, private contact with the Muggle government by a group or individual is strictly forbidden, and on this point, I am particularly worried about the attitude of the goblins … Plans for the Pan-Magical Alliance must begin;”

“Eighth, well, I have a suggestion, send out some of your trusted Aurors to covertly rescue Muggles affected by the Acolytes, don’t let them show their faces, and don’t make it too obvious, you might be able to use them later …”

…

While they were planning, the outside world was already in turmoil.

—————

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