Sirius ignored their surprise. As more and more information came to light, he had gradually pieced together what Tver and Dumbledore had been busy with lately.
"At the Order of the Phoenix's most recent meeting, Dumbledore told us that the most important part of fighting Voldemort is preventing him from destroying the peace between wizards and Muggles."
He rubbed his chin, narrowing his eyes slightly as if recalling the details of the meeting.
"And if we think about it a little further, in a modern society where technology keeps advancing, expecting Muggles to know absolutely nothing about magic is impossible."
"So the key to maintaining peace is no longer maintaining The Statute of Secrecy, but communication and cooperation between the two sides, which The Statute of Secrecy does not allow."
"At that point," Sirius said, grinning smugly, "The Statute of Secrecy, which once protected the peace of the wizarding world, will fulfill its final mission of protecting wizards by coming to an end!"
"If that's all, then why can't we just cooperate with the government?"
"That way, we could still maintain The Statute of Secrecy and protect ordinary people, couldn't we?"
Hermione frowned in confusion. In her eyes, or rather, in the eyes of most wizards in the magical world, overturning a law so deeply rooted in the wizarding world was no small matter.
Compared with Voldemort's actions, the price simply did not seem worth it.
"Er…"
Sirius was stumped at once. He had only inferred this conclusion from what Dumbledore had said and had not thought through how many holes there were in his own explanation.
After hesitating for a moment, he simply turned to Tver for help. Naturally, the trio did the same.
Tver, now the center of everyone's attention, wore a faint smile. He leisurely set down the cup in his hand before slowly speaking.
"Do you know something? No matter the world, even though everyone knows it's wrong to see things only in black and white, blanket policies are still the most commonly used because they make management easier."
"Like how all magical creatures that aren't wizards are forbidden from using wands?" Hermione said thoughtfully.
"Exactly." Tver nodded approvingly. The others were all blocks of wood with no insight at all, which took away quite a bit of the fun of explaining.
"We all know that not all magical creatures want to harm wizards. In fact, most intelligent magical creatures have no desire to hurt wizards at all."
"But the problem is that distinguishing, one by one, which creatures should be allowed to use wands would be such an enormous task that even if every wizard in the magical world were put to work, it still couldn't be done."
"So the safest approach is to ban it outright, then occasionally revise the law according to real circumstances and add a few exceptions. That is how a law used to this day eventually took shape."
"But remember, the foundation of that law is the prohibition against non-wizard magical creatures possessing wands."
"But what does that have to do with The Statute of Secrecy?" Sirius asked, utterly lost.
Harry and Ron wore the same expression. They looked at Hermione, who had fallen into deep thought, wanting to ask her as they usually did, but afraid of interrupting her.
"Idiot. That law is the same as The Statute of Secrecy. Since secrecy has already been broken at the top, insisting on secrecy at the lower levels is just pretending the problem doesn't exist."
"It would be better to follow the trend directly. That way, wizards only need to understand the new laws instead of being trapped in the ambiguity of what must or must not be kept secret."
"For individuals, the workload will indeed increase, but only temporarily. The entire wizarding world will actually function in a more orderly way."
"Because the specific enforcement of the law falls to the grassroots and to individuals. Hesitating when a decision needs to be made will only lead to countless disputes and misunderstandings."
Seeing them frowning in thought, Tver did not interrupt. After all, this already involved how society operated, and very few wizards ever thought about such things.
It was like asking why you could not turn around on a motorway. Obviously, reversing a few dozen meters would get you back to the exit you missed, but instead, you had to keep going until the next one.
Sometimes, that cold, standardized order was exactly what society needed to keep running.
"This is too complicated. I'll just listen to you all. Whatever Dumbledore and the Professor say, that's what I'll follow." Ron was the first to give up.
He had not even known that magical creatures were not allowed to possess wands, let alone understood some huge topic like how society functioned.
"So you plan to make everyone accept our existence by publishing the story of our time at Hogwarts?" Harry suddenly asked hesitantly.
"Yes," Tver said, a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry the book was published before we asked for your permission. Mainly, I didn't expect them to move so quickly."
"That doesn't matter."
Unexpectedly, Harry shook his head, his expression complicated.
"I'm just curious. Professor, how can you be sure our ending will be good?"
Unlike the surprised looks on everyone else's faces, Harry found that the more he spoke, the calmer he felt.
"After all… I mean, if. If we fail in the end, then won't this book have no continuation?"
Although he phrased it as a possibility, Hermione and Ron's faces filled with worry as soon as they heard him.
Tver was rather surprised by their state of mind.
But after thinking about it, it was actually quite normal.
They were at the center of the storm, yet they did not have enough raw strength to fight Voldemort, nor could they obtain information from the front lines of the war.
As for the newspapers, to confuse Voldemort and the Death Eaters, Tver had specifically instructed them not to overstate the Ministry of Magic's achievements.
Under such circumstances, it was only natural for them to feel lost, or even afraid, about the future course of the war.
Especially Harry. The unusual behavior of Sirius and Dumbledore had faintly made him sense something.
All of this placed a heavy pressure on a student who was not yet of age, so heavy he could barely breathe.
"No one can be certain what the future will look like, but there is one thing I can be absolutely certain of. In the end, victory will belong to us."
Tver's face shone with confident certainty, finally easing much of the weight that had been pressing on Harry lately.
"But what about Harry?" Ron sharply noticed what the professor had not mentioned.
His sudden words made everyone turn to look at him, which made him much more nervous.
"I mean, the prophecy says either Harry or You-Know-Who has to fall. I know we'll win in the end, but if before that…"
Seeing Harry's expression turn grave again, even a little panicked, Hermione quickly warned, "Ron, don't say any more!"
"It's all right. I think this is also why the Professor and the others have been trying every possible way to make me stronger, isn't it?" Harry forced a smile.
"Since you've realized that yourself, I won't keep hiding it from you." Tver sighed.
Another difficulty in defeating Voldemort, and the problem Dumbledore had been trying to solve all along, was how to safely remove the final Horcrux inside Harry's mind.
When it came to that, apart from Harry himself, no one else truly had a good solution.
"Your confrontation with Voldemort was destined from the moment you were still a baby. This is your fated destiny, Harry."