Chapter 688 Secret Talk in the Prime Minister's Residence(1/2)
"Hello, Prime Minister." Ms. Bones said solemnly, "this is Felix Hepp, he is one-one."
"I am an ancient magic professor at Hogwarts Magic School." Felix said. The Prime Minister stood up and shook hands with him hesitantly, and he became increasingly confused about Felix's identity. Maybe he was a bodyguard or an aide?
Ms. Bones sat upright on a hard wooden chair directly opposite the Prime Minister, Felix sat next to her, lowering his head slightly to fiddling with his fingers,
So the Prime Minister had to look at Bones.
"Do you know?" the Prime Minister said with a straight face: "Although we have seen it twice, including Fuji before you, several times, and even a portrait of me sniffing noses and yawning behind my office every day..." His eyes raised slightly, "But I still have a glimmer of hope. Maybe you are a group of exquisite liars, or I was exhausted after sitting on the throne of the Prime Minister after countless hard work, and had hallucinations... "
"Mr. Prime Minister one by one"
"I was careful to hide all this, but all fantasies were ruined today! The whole country was in chaos! The chiefs of more than fifty counties blew up the phone from the Prime Minister's residence. They reported to me that a group of guys in strange clothes were flying around the head, and they also made various magic tricks. A cow from Kent flew over the Thames in full view of everyone, and there were more than two thousand people at the scene! Oh my God, I wasn't so helpless even if I cried that the gerbil I sent her turned into a teacup and broke it."
"Sorry, are you talking about gerbils?" Felix asked politely. Could the Prime Minister's niece be a potential little wizard? This is good news and is beneficial to the subsequent negotiations.
"Foggy turned the teacup on the table into a gerbil when he first met me." The Prime Minister said gritting his teeth.
"Oh." Felix said, dragging his long tune, and his index finger hit the armrest of the chair.
The Prime Minister regained his senses and corrected his tie, but because he said too much in one breath, he was panting at the moment.
Ms. Bones finally found an opportunity to speak, and she said straight to the point, "This is what we are here. The wizard cannot continue to hide, and the integration of the two societies is inevitable."
"The two societies are integrated," said the Prime Minister slowly, "How to merge?" He has calmed down now.
"In the past, we only showed our identity in front of the current ruling prime minister, which was the best way to keep it confidential, but after today's incident, the old method obviously didn't work," Ms. Borns said gently: "We both need to work closely together: you need to explain to the people why there are a group of wizards living on British soil, and I also need to appease wizards who are accustomed to the secret law to adapt to a completely different environment."
"I did use the Prime Minister's rights to cooperate with you," the Prime Minister said bluntly: "For example... For example, the wanted order of the little gray wolf, the wanted order of Tom Riddle, and the gas pipeline leak, which was unreasonable. I paid the price, but what was the result?
The whole country made a mess."
"You haven't figured out the seriousness of the problem yet!" Ms. Bones showed impatience for the first time, "This is not a question of who cooperates with whom. When we first met, I spent an hour explaining to you the meaning of the existence of the wizard and the meaning of the existence of the Ministry of Magic. So you should be clear,
More than 20,000 wizards live in this land, and their ancestors even owned it earlier than you, before the Secretariat Act was formally implemented,
Wizards and Muggles live in harmony, and these legends are still circulating throughout the country."
"But you quit," said the Prime Minister nervously, "I didn't see news about wizards in any public newspaper. Maybe it's been there after today - now you want the two societies to merge, how do I convince the people that you are hiding in the dark to maintain British order? What's more, I have to consider the opinions of the parliament, the church and the army. They knew nothing about you before, and maybe one or two families knew, but do they dare to speak out to the outside world? Well, unless -" his expression changed.
"Unless what?"
"Oh, I can't speak without any silence. Maybe you don't know our attitude towards refugees one by one."
"The wizard is not a refugee!"
"Yes, yes, I know, but it may not be much different in the eyes of ordinary people, especially you all go to heaven and earth. Who knows if one day will suddenly come out of the fireplace? Oh my God, the wizard will steal things. You may feel funny when you hear it. You can convert coins, but it can't stop the people from thinking so..."
Felix didn't laugh, and Ms. Bones didn't laugh either. Because there are indeed many thieves in the wizarding world, and there are still quite a few, but most of them are not interested in Muggle property, and the punishment for violating the secret law is much more serious than thieves.
"I think," the Prime Minister took out a green slanted striped handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "If the wizard could be nominally under the government's jurisdiction, under the law, and at the same time swear allegiance to the Queen, of course, only nominally-I think the situation would be much easier."
Ms. Bones stared at her eyes, resisted not turning her head to look at Felix, and he realized all the Prime Minister's reaction:
"We have to fight for the Muggle Prime Minister." Felix analyzed: "I know he can't make a complete decision on this matter, the cabinet, parliament, military, civilian, and the queen who lives in Buckingham Palace, they all have the opportunity to exert influence, but the Prime Minister is the most important one. He connects everyone and has the same ability to exert influence on those people."
"Oh, I don't know how to convince him." Ms. Bones rubbed her forehead tiredly.
"Perspect?" Felix looked at her seriously. "This is the result we hope to achieve. But in the process, you have to be tough."
Bones looked at him hesitantly, "But if-"
"Oh, Amelia. We are worried about war, aren't the other party afraid? But if we think about it carefully, we are not afraid of war. We are just worried that because of the other party's arrogance, we will cause a war that should not have broken out."
"This is not quite the same as what we discussed." Bones objected.
"That's a strategy for the ordinary people, and we can certainly take a softer approach to gain widespread support. But for politicians? You have to treat them as completely different creatures, and you take a step back and you have to ask for something from the other person. This is almost engraved in the other person's blood vessels."
"Concessions mean weakness?"
"It may also be a signal of exchange of interests."
Bones snorted.
“You seem to know them very well.”
"I just read a few 'story books' before coming here, and I can only say that the content is wonderful." Felix said vaguely.
"If you stick to this idea, Mr. Prime Minister," Ms. Bones snapped, "then we can't continue. We accept the negotiations, which stipulate the obligations that both parties should fulfill, but will never succumb to any group or individual, even in name!"
The Prime Minister did not expect it to cause a fierce rebuttal. A moment of silence.
"I remember, you have an organization similar to the United Nations?" he said cautiously.
"International Wizards Federation." Ms. Bones said, pursing her lips.
"Yes, International - Cough, the Wizards Federation, that's it, Fauci told me once." The Prime Minister asked hopefully, "What do they think?"
"They are still undecided," Felix interrupted suddenly, "they are worried about the war."
"War?" the Prime Minister shouted.
"Yes," Felix blinked, as if he had discovered something interesting, "You may not know that not all the Ministry of Magic maintain friendly relations with the local government. Britain is quite good in this regard. In fact, many Ministry of Magic have had a very tense relationship with the government for a time. They are not afraid to speculate on each other with the greatest malicious intentions and measure the power comparison between the two sides. For example, I have heard a word more than once, nuclear bombs."
"Nuclear bomb?" The Prime Minister's eyes were completely protruding. He jumped up excitedly, supported his hands on the table, and his saliva splashed: "Do they still think a nuclear war will break out?"
"Oh, they do have this concern." Felix spread his hands and said 'faithfully': "Some Ministry of Magic cut off contact with the Muggle government early on, and their information channels are quite limited... I have never worried about being attacked by a nuclear bomb."
"Of course not!" the Prime Minister shouted: "No leader of any country would agree to detonate a nuclear bomb where the people of their country live, and would not allow other countries to do so! This is completely nonsense. If anyone dares to issue similar orders, his political enemies will definitely laugh wildly, and the angry people will tear him apart."
Felix glanced at Bones quietly.
Ms. Bones was given the signal and cleared her throat and said, "Mr. Prime Minister, no one wants the war to happen. We hope with the greatest sincerity that both sides can reach a consensus and do their best to facilitate negotiations. During this period, in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts, we will recall the wizards who live in seclusion in Muggle society, shrink completely and hide them."
The Prime Minister nodded, and he did feel the other party's sincerity.
"But... I hope you will not think about it for too long. On the one hand, I cannot suppress the will of the wizarding people for a long time, on the other hand,
Our concessions will also cause a gap in the local wizard forces, and it may not be a good thing at this critical moment."
"The power is blank? What does it mean?" the prime minister asked keenly.
"During our strict implementation of the closed policy, other wizard forces may come in." Ms. Borns warned seriously: "It may be foreign wizards - such as wizards from Africa and America. Felix mentioned before that they have poor relations with the local government and may flee to the UK for refuge; the black wizards who were driven away by Aurors and could only hide in the gutter may also take the opportunity to make trouble; but the most likely one is the saints of Grindelwald."
When he heard the first point, the Prime Minister frowned. Compared with outsiders, he certainly trusted his own wizards more. However, as a tried and tested politician, he was well versed in the art of negotiation and compromise and did not mind using this as an excuse to gain benefits. However, when he heard that the Ministry of Magic planned to let the black wizard go, he immediately couldn't sit still.
"This is a threat!" he shouted, "You are uneasy and have hidden this hand for a long time, right? You secretly raise a black wizard to be able to do this right now-"
"What stupid things are you saying!" Bones said angrily.
"Don't lie to me, I don't know nothing about you." said the Prime Minister, making a memory of thoughtful thought, "You guys, that one,
——The Minister of Magic revealed a lot of inside information in several conversations, one by one, one by one, right? Once, Furge complained that the Aurors found a batch of cursed items from the overturned alley, and they kept banishing... You won't deny it!?"
"I don't deny it." Ms. Borns said calmly, "In the official definition, Overturn Alley is another magic commercial area besides Diagon Alley. The items sold in them are all kinds of strange and have a wide variety of categories than Diagon Alley. Many of these items have no practical uses, second-hand goods, and have incomplete functions... Of course, they also include some dangerous goods. Law enforcement officers are cracking down on the transaction of the last type of goods."
"… Different people have different senses about it. If they are just a student, or a law-abiding civilian, they may not step into the overturned alley in their lifetime; but if his interests are special enough, such as being interested in ancient magical objects, cheap and novel gadgets and rare magic materials, or just simply trying to remove a rare plant insect disease, the conventional method does not work... You can go there and try your luck.
Of course, you have to keep an eye on your wallet and your own safety at all times. There are always some strange, terrible people walking around there. But they are not illegal, and Aurors can't deal with them."
"It sounds like a large grocery market that lacks regulation." The Prime Minister said in a dry voice.
"Are there no stolen goods in your grocery market, drug abuse and second-hand guns?" asked Ms. Bones.
The Prime Minister stopped talking.
"The most common thieves in the alley are those who are stolen - either smugglers or obsessed with black magic. The latter is also classified as black wizards, but they are much more cute than the truly cruel and evil black wizards. At least the Aurors don't have to worry too much about flying a death curse from the opposite side when enforcing the law." Bones concluded at last.
"What is the real black wizard?" asked the Prime Minister.
"Or another question, what is the dark wizard who is strongly hostile to Muggles?" Ms. Bones held up her monocle glasses. "You should have seen his ability this morning, even though he himself did not even show his face, he was the saint under his command."
"Grindelwald? Oh, by the way, I was about to ask, do you mean he was the culprit of the whole thing? An extreme subversive element?" The Prime Minister asked anxiously, "I watched the interview with the guy who made a tornado in front of the parliament building, and watched it several times!" He could not suppress his anger again and punched him on the desk.
"Why don't you arrest him?"
“If you know what he has done, you won’t ask this question.” Ms. Borns said seriously, waving her wand, a bulging folder appeared on her desk. “This is some of the information we have compiled, his philosophy, his propositions, his influence…”
The Prime Minister opened the folder and poured out a piece of newspaper clipping from it. It seemed that it was a while, and the newspaper clipping was a little yellow.
"It is worth mentioning that there are great differences in the evaluation criteria for combat between wizards and Muggles. I know that the Muggles army relies more on collective strength, and wizards," Bones sighed. "Some people only need a magic wand and do all kinds of incredible things."
"Like this person?" the Prime Minister asked uncomfortable, frowning at the evil man in the photo.
"And Dumbledore."
“The guy in the news said he was dead.”
"…Yes, if he were still there, he had thwarted Grindelwald's plot to rule the world many times." Ms. Borns sighed, and she seemed to be dumbfounded when she saw the Prime Minister open her mouth, and she continued: "But this does not mean that he is uncontrollable. We also have great wizards who have touched the essence of magic in some fields. He, one by one, borrowed Professor Hayp's grading method of magic, and this form is also attached to the document."
"Professor Hayp? Is he a scholar in this field?" The Prime Minister turned his gaze to Felix, who had no sense of existence.
"No, he is the only one who can compete with Grindelwald, even though he is still young, only one." Ms. Bones paused and turned to look at Felix, as if he was equally surprised by the number to be said, "If I remember correctly, you are only 2 years old?"
Felix nodded, "If magic is compared to science, only scientists in the magic world may be mastering power, and I happen to be a good talent. There is no need to make a fuss."
The Prime Minister murmured: "Yes, 26 is nothing. Many scientists published the most important papers in their lives at this age, such as Einstein. I remember that he seemed to have done something earth-shaking when he was 26."
"He proposed the special theory of relativity," Felix kindly reminded him.
"Grindelwald almost destroyed a city in the 1920s?" The Prime Minister asked incredible as he looked through the information. He lowered his head and glanced at the parchment quickly, "Or Paris? How did he do it?"
"A out of control magic." Felix whispered.
"Sharp fire." His fingertips were fiddling with a cluster of small flames. "Even in the magic world, it is an extremely evil curse. The reason why it is called a curse is because it can sense living creatures and prioritizes the target of attack. It is difficult to extinguish it, and can only wait for it to burn it out by itself. I mean it cannot be extinguished by conventional means, but it has anti-curse."
To be continued...