Christmas came and went as usual.
The school is deserted and silent. Felix attributed this to the daily updates in the newspapers, which served as a sideways reminder to the students that there is a dark lord lurking outside the peaceful school grounds. That's why they become more and more eager to be with their families over Christmas.
"It's not really that bad," Professor McGonagall said, "during the last war people were always on edge and quickly made decisions without any consideration for the future."
"Like what?"
"Like getting married as soon as they graduate, and young couples eloping together and fleeing abroad ... happened quite frequently." Professor McGonagall sounded somehow disapproving.
Two seats away, Astronomy Professor Sinistra was describing in detail a spectacular solar eclipse she had seen, and Trelawney, who had been silent, looked at her thoughtfully, "Last summer, I saw with my Inner Eye, the existence of eerie shadows on Jupiter, which may correspond to what is happening right now ... I really regret I didn't issue a warning in advance, but I caught a bad cold then ..."
The implication in her words was so obvious that the others at the table glanced at her.
Professor Sinistra asked with interest, "You're talking about the astronomical phenomenon involving an impact of a comet hitting Jupiter? I observed it from start to finish, it started with a big explosion and then diffused a huge cloud of dark dust that lasted for months."
Trelawney clutched the necklace adorned with beads around her neck, "Well ... we're probably not talking about the same thing, you know ... people with Inner Eye don't see things quite the same as normal people... ..."
Felix gave a sideways glance, then turned his head away quite firmly.
"Fine." Professor Sinistra smacked her lips and said, and immersed herself in slicing the beef pie on her plate. Dumbledore also withdrew his gaze and rejoined the conversation between Professors Burbage and Sprout, "I can't wait to see the latest developments, Charity. I must say this type of research is very interesting and crucially there's not much risk involved ..."
"Yes, Pomona has helped me a lot." Professor Burbage said with a burp. Professor Sprout poured her a glass of wine with a smile.
"Where's Sirius?" Professor Flitwick looked around.
"He's gone home for the holidays, with his godson." Felix said.
"You mean Potter ... Oh, I have a hard time associating him with the word 'father', probably because he left such an impression before. ...but I have to say, he's a qualified professor, much better than I expected." Professor Flitwick huffed sentimentally, thus the dismissive soft grunt from Snape was not heard.
Felix thought about it, whether it was the school performance he had inquired about from the Fat Lady or the more glaring 'No.1 Death Eater and Azkaban's first escapee', both had a higher profile than the title Professor Black ...
But Sirius was doing pretty solid now as a Professor.
As the cold wind howled, the fire roared in Black's old mansion.
Sirius, who had just been mentally complimented by Felix for his solidness, is currently being scolded, as Mrs. Weasley thrusts up her waist and her short, lanky frame explodes with great energy: "Without saying a word! Disappearing without a trace! Do you know how worried we were, thinking you had been taken away by the You-Know-Who, which really isn't the worst thing that could have happen," she huffed, "and you took Harry along knowing it?"
Sirius leaned listlessly on the sofa, his right hand dangling out of sight of Mrs. Weasley, as he fiddled with a muggle chess piece hidden between the gap in the stone wall. Harry stood on the side, not daring to breathe. Mrs. Weasley had been shouting for half an hour, and halfway through Ginny, Ron, Lupin, and Tonks had all appeared at the door, but no one had the courage to stop a still angry Mrs. Weasley.
It wasn't until Mr. Weasley returned that she remembered there was still beef stew in the pot and hurried to the kitchen.
"Please, do something serious for once." She shouted at Ginny and Ron, who were standing at the top of the stairs. Sirius, who just looked downcast, stopped what he was doing and pricked up his ears, and when the footsteps died down, he leaped up from the sofa and made a face towards the stairs. Ginny watched in disbelief.
"Don't listen to her Harry, a man needs to experience a bit of adventure ... not to mention I will step on in advance if something happens." He winked at Harry and made his way upstairs.
Ron repeatedly made sure his mother had really left and came up to Harry and asked. " Where have you been?"
"To visit the grave." Harry whispered through his teeth.
Ron opened his mouth and finally patted Harry's shoulder wordlessly, "Don't think about that, let me show you something nice. While you were away, Ginny asked Tonks a lot about the Auror training program, and we think some of it would work perfectly well in Frontline Lookout ..."
Harry looked up with interest. "I'll go over and see before dinner - is it in Ginny's room?" He glanced towards the stairway; Ginny had disappeared at some point.
Taking a few steps forward, he found Ron staring at him oddly.
"I'm warning you ... if you plan to do *Something* to Ginny, I will never let -" he stated in a low voice as if he had been constructing this sentence in his head for ages.
Harry's jaw dropped, "How could-"
The conversation between them was interrupted unexpectedly as Mrs. Weasley poked her head from the door, "Dinner's ready, children, go wash your hands. Where's Ginny?"
Harry and Ron both shrank back at the same time, leaving the previous conversation behind them. "Didn't she went looking for you?" Ron muttered.
" Each and every one of you is a pain in the arse ..." Mrs. Weasley's voice trailed off.
Malfoy Manor.
Draco Malfoy sat at the elaborately decorated dining table, a roaring fire burning in the ornate gold gilded fireplace as he clinked his silver plate.
"Draco, mind your manners." Narcissa said, "If you're done eating, you can look under the Christmas tree; a few of your seniors have brought you presents while you were napping."
Draco licked his lips, and sat upright, as he looked at Lucius and said, "I, I have something I want to talk to you about."
"Is something happened at school?" Lucius put his fork down slowly and wiped his mouth, then picked up his goblet unhurriedly.
"No." Draco said, breathing heavily.
"Then what is it?" Lady Malfoy looked at her son in disbelief. She had pale skin, with slightly high cheekbones, which made her look a bit villainous at first glance.
Without answering his mother's question, Draco looked at Lucius and stammered, "Dad, I want to talk to you alone ... a conversation between men."
Lucius and Narcissa exchanged an odd glance. "So, you think you can take the responsibility?" Lucius put down his goblet and wiped his mouth with the clean white velvet again, and repositioned his spine against the back of his chair, as he stared straight at his son.
"Draco ...," Narcissa's voice held a clear warning.
"I think so." Draco said stubbornly.
"Very well, very well." Lucius lowered his voice, "Come with me." Draco leaped up from his chair quickly. "Bring your wand." Lucius said coldly. The expression on Draco's face froze.
...
The next day dawned beautifully and Felix showed up at Diagon Alley very early.
"These are ...?" Lupin watched in wonder as he pulled out a roll of parchment.
"A plan, and information about some Squibs." Felix explained, "Some of the addresses may be old to find, and it's okay if you can't find them."
Lupin unfolded the plans first, his lips quivered as he read the dark green print, and his expression gradually grew serious, "The exclusive wand that allows the Squibs to cast spells, the principle behind it is magic frequency ... isn't it quite different for each person?"
"That's right. The so-called magic frequency is actually a precise measurement of the fluctuation of magic power, and the magic power in each wizard has a subtle difference, which is our unique characteristic. In theory, you can accurately identify the wizard casting the spell by the magic frequency ..."
"And in reality?" Lupin asked tactfully.
"In reality, it's more complicated. If your control of magic is strong enough, and you are determined to conceal it ... it is entirely possible to change the frequency of your magic." Felix said in an elusive tone, "But it must be recognized that such a process is difficult ... very difficult ..."
It is precisely because of this fact that Felix was able to create the exclusive wand. Because this wand can only recognize a specific magic power. If outsiders wanted to imitate it, they would have to rely entirely on luck and there's a possibility that they wouldn't get any results even if they tried tens of thousands of times.
Lupin looked at Felix and felt that his smile was rather crafty. He lowered his head and continued to look through the plans, "Yesterday Sirius brought Harry to Godric's Hollow." He said as he read.
"No trouble, right?" Felix asked, by the trouble he meant Voldemort, whose hideout is nowhere to be found.
"No, they went and returned quickly, they didn't stay too long." Lupin smiled, "Still got a good scolding from Molly, but I think it was a lesson he deserved ... No need to rush this plan, right?"
Felix nodded slightly, "Let's start with the people settled in the wizarding world first, don't make too much of a buzz."
Lupin thought carefully for a moment, "Felix, you don't have to lock your sights entirely on the Squibs, some wizards ... are actually pretty bad at casting spells."
"You mean--"
"We could advertise in the newspapers, something like a correspondence course in 'fast spell casting' or something." Lupin gave a reminiscent look, "I lived off that job for a while, it was a really an easy time, all I had to do was write letters every day, and only occasionally I will get customers at my door. That was also when I honed my teaching skills ... Unfortunately, it didn't last long."
The subject came to an abrupt end and Felix reckoned what followed would not be too rosy.
Lupin took out his quill and cocked his head to ponder the wording for the ad, with an earnest look that Felix could not bear to disturb. He skulked around Lupin's office, mentally analysing the positioning of the Squibs.
According to Felix's anticipation, when the dust had settled and the wizarding community had gone public, the two sides would inevitably enter into a more substantive exchange. But this exchange would certainly not be completely relaxed and unrestricted, and it would not be a scenario where wizards could fly all over the place.
This is when someone will need to travel back and forth between the wizarding society and the muggle society.
It is best to be involved in both sides in order to act as a bridge of communication, but then again there is a distinction between bridges. In Felix's mind, young wizards from Muggle families - including purebloods willing to embark on the new wizarding ship - represented the future backbone of the wizarding world, but they would essentially have to remain in the wizarding world in the end.
They are unlikely to serve as a direct window to the outside world, presenting the wizarding world to the outside world and vice versa. That would undoubtedly be a waste.
But it is quite necessary to have some 'windows for communication between the two sides in the early days of the opening'. The alternatives Felix had in mind for this role are Squibs and the relatives of young wizards from Muggle families. These people knew about the existence of magic early on and occasionally experienced it first-hand, or at least most of the parents of the young wizards had the experience of accompanying their children to Diagon Alley to buy books.
It would be unlikely that they would be able to pursue magic, but the new age certainly would birth many new professions, and a number of them would suit them well.
Felix expanded his imagination: first of all, tour guides would be necessary. They could either guide wizards to science and technology museums, ... or guide ordinary people to experience the magical world on a day trip; in addition, there would be new-age writers who would use the perspective of ordinary people -- or the perspective of Squibs and a wizard's relative -- to portray what it's like to see the magical world and unravel the mysteries of magic.
The benefits are obvious: strangeness is a breeding ground for suspicion, and the only way to bridge the gap is to understand.
And of course, there are also the traders who sell Potions, food, and moving comic books ... these things always need to be run by someone, and it's hard to get wizards to do business based on pounds; after a lifetime of calculating that 1 Galleon equals 17 Sickles and 1 Sickle equals 29 Knuts, Felix reckons a fair number of wizards can't figure out decimal.
But if the parents of the young wizards are willing to do so, Felix is happy to see it. He, for one, thought favourably of the parents of Justin Finch-Fletchley, whom he had contacted ...
The only thing Felix is concerned about is the mentality of the Squibs. He could intuitively sense the ambivalence of both desire and hatred in Filch: to him, it didn't matter at all who ruled the wizarding world or how many people died in the wizard wars, or he would even be happier with more deaths.
The only people Filch could accept were those who had helped him, like Ms. Oakby. Felix is not even sure if he counts as one.
The mentality of the marginal group of Squibs was reflected in Filch, and it is quite representative. Of course, others would probably not be as extreme as Filch.
In most cases, once the children of wizarding families were confirmed as Squib, they would be sent to Muggle school early (Filch didn't go because of the war), and these people would grow up with very minimal entanglement with the wizarding community. Like Mafalda's father - he married and had children like normal people, and would have spent his life pretending the wizarding world didn't exist at all if it weren't for the fact that his daughter is a witch.
So Filch is an example or a rather extreme one. After all, not all Squibs have the opportunity to see hundreds of little wizards bouncing around in front of them as soon as they open their eyes.
...
Felix casually picked up a copy of the Werewolf Code of Conduct from the desk and could tell that Lupin had been looking through it so often lately that even the corners were worn. He flipped the book open and the pages automatically settled on a particular page in the middle - "No, Felix!" Lupin shouted in panic as he reached for it and ended up knocking the book out of Felix's hand by pushing too hard.
A photograph floated down from the tumbling book of the Werewolf Code of Conduct and spun to the floor. The photo showed the woman with conspicuous short pink hair winking mischievously at him.
Felix froze for a moment. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see anything." He turned around and unsurprisingly heard a grinding of teeth, good thing Lupin hadn't rushed over to bite him, and after a ten-second interval, he turned around and Lupin had cleaned up the scene and panting in his chair.
"Don't say anything." Lupin said half-heartedly, his voice hoarse as he buried his face in his hands.
"I think Tonks is quite-"
"Don't say a word!" Lupin said sharply, his chest heaving violently.
Felix put away his joking expression as he nodded silently. Everyone has a knot in their heart. ... Stepping out of the sword castle, Felix pulled out a communication mirror and said to the man in it, "Give me Graybuck's location."
A disguised, shrill voice sounded from the other side, "Oh ... he's hiding far away ... and probably not in England right now ... "
"So you aren't in England either?" Felix lazily quipped.
"It's not like I'm hanging out with him! The guy's probably hiding in a cave in some random little country! With a bunch of werewolves around him!" The man exclaimed in annoyance.
"Reconciliation requires sincerity, remember? You were the one who took the initiative to find me." Felix reminded.
A violent gasp was heard from the mirror as if the other man struggled to hold back his anger. Felix waited a moment and said calmly, "Give me that man or his location, I don't care what you do, but if you do it, we'll forget about our feud. It's quite tiring to always remember your name, Mr. Shafiq."
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