Chapter 253: A Fight to the Death!
When Lockhart arrived at Sir Humphrey Appleby's manor, the seemingly clever young wizards had already established a good relationship with the man.
It was far too easy for a seasoned politician like the Sir to win over a few children.
Of the group, Percy was excellent but not shrewd, and while Hermione was shrewd, she lacked experience. Draco, who had been taught social skills by his father and had accumulated some experience, still had too many shortcomings in how he dealt with people.
As for the three naive children—Ron, Luna, and Pansy—there was no need to mention them. Sir Appleby had more than enough ways to make them like him.
Lockhart didn't point this out. After all, Sir Appleby held a goodwill toward the young wizards, and if they really took over the castle and the land nearby, they would be neighbors and could look out for one another.
And one shouldn't think that Sir Humphrey Appleby was useless.
The current world order was still based on the Statute of Secrecy. The International Confederation of Wizards and the various Ministries of Magic seemed to form the framework of this order, but in practice, the unique organization known as the Order of Merlin had become an important channel for communication between Muggle and wizarding society.
And the title of "Sir" was the intersection of the two.
The distribution of members in the Order of Merlin showed a complex network, from high-ranking officials in the Ministries of Magic to various international and local organizations, all converging at the International Confederation of Wizards.
It was the same for the Muggles' "Sir."
Sir Humphrey Appleby was an indispensable part of this. He was a core figure in the civil service system with a military and prestigious academic background.
As the saying goes, "He who bows low will have a request." Just as perceptive people in wizarding society had keenly felt the arrival of a new era, so too had people in Muggle society.
Compared to wizards like Dumbledore, who were grappling with how to properly handle future relations with Muggles, the Muggles had more than just a headache.
These were wizards! Wizards who could use magic!
The killings of Muggles, the destruction of bridges and buildings by the followers of the old Dark Lord during the First Wizarding War, had only happened a little more than ten years ago!
Over the hundreds of years since the Statute of Secrecy was established, Muggles who were aware of the wizarding world had accumulated information for generations and knew something of the wizards' methods.
Curses—curses that could plague generations of descendants.
Control—the reputation of spells like the Imperius Curse had already spread.
Memory Charms—the most common spell used by Aurors, the wizarding world's law enforcement, on Muggles.
The most terrifying of all was the "Muggle-Repelling Charm," which could easily make a well-trained army instantly fall apart and go home to sleep and eat.
Just these.
With just these, which knowing Muggle wouldn't fear what unexpected things the future might hold?
If not for the Ministries of Magic keeping a close watch, how could these Muggle aristocrats not try to invest in families with Muggle-born wizards, or seek marriage alliances in the hopes that their descendants might also produce a wizard?
Some people did this, and when things went wrong, the International Confederation of Wizards and the various Ministries of Magic cracked down even harder, which was why people were so helpless.
Just imagine: a Muggle-born wizard who married into an ancient pure-blood family would have enormous political resources.
Did a Muggle-born witch who married a Muggle prince or even a Muggle king, or a Muggle-born wizard who married a Muggle queen or crown princess, not have immense political resources in the wizarding world?
It was the same.
The Statute of Secrecy had to compromise with contact between the Ministries of Magic and the top echelons of Muggle society, yet it also strictly restricted what could happen. But the more it was restricted, the more people wanted to break through those restrictions.
Someone would always find an opportunity.
The young wizards were surprised to find that while they were supposed to be staying at the manor to discuss the details of the transaction, Sir Humphrey Appleby's attention was clearly not on Percy, Hermione, or Draco—the three who were preparing to buy the castle. Instead, he was constantly trying to get close to Ron.
Sir Humphrey Appleby had a truly sharp eye.
He immediately set his sights on the Hagrid in Ron's hands.
This was simply a guardian angel tailor-made for Muggles!
If every family member could have one... oh, he wouldn't be so greedy. If he could just own one, he wouldn't have to worry about some impulsive Dark Wizards coming after him. At the very least, his safety would be guaranteed.
With this in mind, it was far too easy to extract information from the seemingly wary but actually simple-minded young Ron.
Sir Humphrey Appleby quickly learned that the Hagrid in Ron's arms belonged to Professor Gilderoy Lockhart. Unlike the project the other three were in charge of, Ron's responsibility was the breeding of these magical creatures.
"A place to do it? What's there to worry about? Uncle Appleby will handle it for you!" Sir Humphrey Appleby said, looking very kind, patting his thigh and making a guarantee.
He even pulled out a map and gestured to a small forest south of the castle and his manor. "I'll lend you this forest, no rent needed. Uncle can also arrange for professionals to come and help you build a big cat shelter. I guarantee you can collect as many of those cats as you want for breeding. By the way, can Muggle cats crossbreed? Do you want Uncle to help you collect some for you?"
Ron was incredibly touched.
Percy and the others were also tempted.
Hermione, however, looked at him with great suspicion and said, "We can buy it too!"
Sir Appleby shook his head firmly. "That apple orchard is a variety our family worked so hard to cultivate. It's a valuable crop that even our Queen especially requests for her favorite apple pies, and we have to send a lot out every year..."
"So when you use this orchard, you need to help me take good care of these apple trees, as part of the deal."
A deal, after all.
The young wizards felt it was acceptable.
Looking at the scene from outside the window, Lockhart smiled, said nothing, and left. He hadn't told the students or Sir Humphrey Appleby of his arrival. After inspecting the so-called "millennial castle" and having Lucius and Rita help him investigate the Sir's background, he decided to let the young wizards handle the matter themselves.
School was starting in two days, and this negotiation had to reach a conclusion.
Buying a venue was just the beginning; running a sports club was not an easy task, especially when wizard sports and dueling were so closely related. One could even call it military training. The resistance they would face would come from all sides.
Not to mention anything else, getting the fireplaces in this castle, which was bought from a Muggle, connected to the Floo Network controlled by the Ministry of Magic would not be a simple matter.
At this point, Percy would need to find his father, Arthur, or Draco would have to find Lucius for help.
They would just have to wait and see.
After confirming that everything was fine here, Lockhart and his companions got into the flying car and left. He had come quietly and left just as quietly.
The location for the major meetings of the International Confederation of Wizards was never fixed. The specific place was always decided by the Supreme Mugwump's preference. For instance, the first meeting was held in France, and when Grindelwald was parading the Qilin, the meeting was specifically chosen to be held in neutral territory by the then-Supreme Mugwump, Anton Vogel, who was a follower of Grindelwald, in order to thwart Grindelwald's opponents.
For this session, Dumbledore had chosen the United States.
Specifically, the ruins of Sony Pictures' headquarters in California.
When Lockhart arrived with Rita and Madam Mary, he was greeted by a series of flagpoles with a line of bodies hanging from them.
There were at least a hundred of them, dense and tightly packed!
They swayed in the wind, with pools of blood on the ground, some dry, some still looking fresh.
Amidst Rita and Madam Mary's gasps of surprise, Lockhart immediately felt the chilling intensity of this meeting.
No joke. Some people always treated war as a game, but they didn't know that people died in war.
Dumbledore had established his absolute authority during a war and had climbed to the position of Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. He wasn't a pure politician like Fudge.
Death was always the most sobering thing.
When those bodies were hanging there, too many who had arrived giddily were no longer giddy, and too many undercurrents of dissent fell into a fearful silence.
The effect was particularly good.
This recent film incident had blatantly trampled on the bottom line of the Statute of Secrecy. It was akin to dancing on Dumbledore's head. If a group of people weren't eliminated, more imitators would appear in the future.
"Merlin's multicolored socks!" Rita excitedly licked her lips, unable to wait. She pulled out her magical camera. "Mr. Lockhart, I won't be joining you for a while. This is a huge scoop!"
Lockhart nodded, and with Madam Mary, he walked past the flagpoles and into the ruins.
Madam Mary was also one of the invited participants. Despite her unassuming appearance, she had a great deal of influence among the Haitian wizarding community, known as "Mama Mary," and she held a certain amount of weight in the eyes of the International Confederation of Wizards.
Soon, the two found a relatively flat pile of rubble to sit on and wait for the meeting to begin.
It seemed that this meeting wasn't going to have any seating arrangements. No matter who came, they had to find a spot for themselves in the ruins.
Giant flags were hung in various corners, and the silk-like banners displayed the same images as the bodies hanging at the entrance.
After a long wait, the images on the flags began to change, focusing on a flat, collapsed wall at a higher point in the ruins.
There, Dumbledore was slowly walking to the center.
"Gentlemen, ladies, welcome," the host on the side held his wand to his neck, casting a Sonorus Charm, and loudly announced the meeting's agenda to everyone.
There wasn't much to the agenda—it was basically a request for everyone to listen to what old Dumbledore had to say.
When the host left, the images on the flags focused on Dumbledore.
"In recent days, many people have been asking me—"
Dumbledore looked around at the dense crowd in the ruins. "Albus, is there any way to completely eliminate the influence of the Muggle film?"
"My answer is yes!"
His voice was steady and powerful, his eyes no longer tired and aged, but particularly bright.
"In 1692, the Confederation began to implement the Statute of Secrecy, determined to hide the wizarding world from the Muggle world."
"At that time, the first difficulty wizards faced was the omnipresence of magical creatures."
"Fifty-eight years. We spent a full fifty-eight years to completely achieve this!" Dumbledore's voice was heavy, yet firm. "Relocating giant habitats, moving Merpeople tribes away from Muggle shipping lanes, establishing detailed laws to restrict the living spaces of goblins, registering and relocating wizard homes..."
"We put in every effort and, in 58 years, completely made all Muggles forget that magical creatures existed in this world!"
"In 1750, the Statute of Secrecy added Clause 73, which clarified the laws for each Ministry of Magic to strictly cut off wizarding communities and villages from the Muggle world..."
"This complete separation and concealment of the wizarding world took a full century, from its inception to the complete stabilization of the situation!"
Dumbledore gazed at everyone in the ruins. "I hope no one forgets the resolve and patience the International Confederation of Wizards is willing to invest to uphold the Statute of Secrecy!"
"I also hope that some who have other ideas understand that the current situation was not easily won. It is the culmination of generations of hardship and effort, a high platform built from the bodies of those who tried to oppose it. It is not something that can be easily overthrown with a simple, 'I can't stand this situation!'"
"The Muggle film—"
His gaze was sharp. "This is just a small blip! It is by no means a new beginning or a so-called signal of a new era. It is an evil temptation that will inevitably be destroyed!"
"Of course, we must admit that we have not been thorough enough in some matters. We had a trace of good intention, hoping that some forces might be led back from their misguided path."
"But clearly, we were wrong."
"In the 18th century, the American wizard Dorcas Twelvetrees revealed the locations of the Magical Congress of the United States and Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to the descendant of Scourers, Bartholomew Barebone, which led to the complete exposure of the American wizarding world."
"The then-President of MACUSA, Emily Rappaport, was forced to tell the International Confederation of Wizards during a public inquiry that she could not be certain if she had erased the memories of everyone who had learned of Dorcas's leak."
"The International Confederation of Wizards decided to give MACUSA time and patience and not interfere too much in their specific jurisdiction, but it's clear that the Magical Congress of the United States has not done a good job."
"And the poison still spreads to this day!"
Dumbledore's voice was extremely solemn. "There are signs that the evil Dark Lord, Voldemort, and his followers have joined forces with the Scourers!"
"Today, on behalf of the International Confederation of Wizards, I issue a solemn statement!"
"We will no longer accept the rumors that 'Voldemort is a reformer,' and we officially classify the Dark Lord Voldemort as a 'Wizard Traitor!'"
"From this day forward, any wizard who still chooses to follow the Dark Lord Voldemort will be branded with the title of 'Wizard Traitor,' considered a spy of the wizarding world, and a maximum-level manhunt will be immediately issued!"
"All attacks against the Wizard Traitor Voldemort's faction will no longer be scrutinized for the use of any magic, including the Unforgivable Curses. We permit the use of all attack spells against our spies!"
"All Scourers will be sentenced to death after trial, with no exceptions allowed! Auror organizations in each Ministry of Magic are permitted to carry out immediate executions without trial once the Scourer's identity is confirmed!"
"Wizards—"
"This will be a war!"
"A war against enemies who seek to wipe out the wizarding race!"
Dumbledore's gaze was as sharp as a blade. "A fight to the death! There will be absolutely no compromise!"