In the morning, the Prime Minister made a speech in front of 10 Downing Street.
"... The group of wizards truly exists, they once operated openly as guests of the court, and legends of them are passed down in some places to this day. But between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, England and the rest of the world were undergoing radical changes, the millennia-old Middle Ages were coming to an end, the old order was being scrapped, a new one was yet to be established, and our society was suffering major changes in every respect, at the same time the conflict between wizards and ordinary people continued to intensify, and extremely dreadful things happened as a result of what proved to be our thorny march towards greater civilisation. A scar was created."
"Thereafter the wizards chose to hide their identities, severing ties with the masses and ensuring that this measure could be implemented by creating a law they call the Statute of Secrecy."
"A week ago, the hidden society of wizards was made public by an accident and everyone is facing a huge choice - perhaps even the most important choice in recent years. Because the two societies had been separated from each other for so long, both of us became deeply unfamiliar with each other. The Ministers in charge of the country assembled many meetings, with all the members of parliament present, including a rare visit from Her Majesty the Queen, and finally agreed on one thing: to start a cautious exchange of views."
"I am here to extend an open invitation to the Wizards to send a delegation. I believe that communication is the first step towards resolving disputes ..."
The Prime Minister finished and then looked around the area, waiting for questions from journalists.
"Mr. Prime Minister, are you suggesting that last week's terrorist activities stemmed from an accident?" A reporter asked sharply, "By all accounts, while there were no casualties, the nationwide traffic jams, city shutdowns, and the destruction of various public facilities owned by municipalities caused significant property damage to the country, not to mention, a number of people were hospitalised due to shock."
"Ahem ... we have to admit that there are equally good and bad wizards, what separates them is that their mastery of magic, which makes a huge difference in their individual combat abilities, and the panic we experienced was caused by none other than an extremely evil and powerful dark wizard together with his followers, you should know that name, Grindelwald ... a dark wizard with an ambition to create a new order. Sixty or seventy years ago he had once tried to take over the world."
"But he ended up imprisoned and locked up for half a century before escaping from the wizard's prison not long ago and plotting this crime." The Prime Minister said cautiously, "He wants our society to be divided so that he can take advantage of the opportunity to rise again and bring the war to every inch of the land, at which point Britain will not be safe, and the world will not be spared ... Given that dreadful future, we must keep a clear and sensible head and not fall into the trap. "
Another reporter asked: "Has the government been hiding the existence of wizards from the public? What motivates you to keep secrets and don't you think it is a violation of the public's right to know?"
The Prime Minister did not answer directly but switched the angle of the question.
"I think the bigger reason why successive prime ministers have kept the secret, in addition to the national security confidentiality at stake, is to avoid sending society into a panic, as wizards have been hiding their identity for hundreds of years and their image is very different from what we imagine in our minds ... They have set up similar regimes, forming organisations in various forms such as schools, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, they even have organisations similar to the United Nations - wizards are progressing and developing just as much."
The press conference ended and the Prime Minister turned to walk back to 10 Downing Street.
"Thank you for all you've done, Mr. Prime Minister." Kingsley, who worked as an assistant, said politely.
The Prime Minister stopped in his tracks.
"You don't understand, get ready for a surge of public opinion."
Kingsley was a little stunned, but without saying a word the Prime Minister went back to his office and stood at the bay window looking out over the journalists and people who stayed behind, with a premonition in his mind that everyone would be dragged into an even greater maelstrom of public opinion, his speech today would act as a trigger.
But he had no choice.
Whether it is for the national interest or his personal political prospects, pushing for negotiations is the best way to go. Even the opposition parties did not press too hard in this case, when he brought out a copy of the wizard information, MPs with different political views and affiliations to different parties basically voted in favour.
Not all of these people were sincere, but there is no doubt that none of them wanted to clean up the mess at this time.
If they used opposition to witchcraft as a reason to dismiss the current prime minister from office, there would be only one way to go next: adopting an unbelievably tough attitude and bringing the wizards fully under the control of the government, even at the risk of starting a war.
But such an approach is in fact far more dangerous than starting peace talks. If peace talks would defy some public opinion and be a thrilling tightrope walk, then antagonising the wizards and forcing them to rise in revolt would be setting off fireworks over a gunpowder keg.
Opposition parties can gain popular support by inciting and creating extreme slogans, but when war does break out and loved ones, property, and a stable life ... are destroyed, those people will hate those MPs as much as they once supported them in the past.
What the Prime Minister proposed was pretty much what they all wanted, to talk first, test the bottom line in the negotiations, and then seize the benefits over and over.
But there is never a shortage of speculators in this world.
It didn't take long for Felix to get the word.
"Just an invitation? The details haven't been finalized?" He asked, a little surprised.
"It's already finalised, but the Prime Minister doesn't want to appear too familiar with us in public." Ms. Bones said, "The time is a week from now, at three in the afternoon, at the Houses of Parliament."
Felix blinked.
"The Houses of Parliament? Not Buckingham Palace?"
"The Prime Minister did initially wish to host the meeting at Buckingham Palace, but the Queen declined after careful consideration."
Felix grinned. "Hmm? Probably didn't want to show any obvious personal inclinations to avoid arousing the ill will of some of the extremists ... The Houses of Parliament are fine, there's plenty of space..." He stopped talking all of a sudden.
"What's the matter?"
"Thought of something." Felix put away his smile and said seriously. He remembered the prophecy Dumbledore had shown him - that is, the vision of the huge anti-wizard march, in which, in addition to Rita Skeeter's presence on the scene, there was also the prominent sign of the Houses of Parliament in the background.
Things seemed to be advancing towards the vision Grindelwald saw.
It wasn't as if anti-wizard marches hadn't broken out all over the place over the course of a week, but they hadn't been very large. On the one hand, it was because the matter was only discussed in the newspapers and the government was yet to make a public statement; on the other hand, it was because the Ministry of Magic had adopted a retracting strategy and ordinary people could not find the right target to demonstrate even if they wanted to.
The most crucial thing is that 'wizards' are a unknown element, and it will take time for the opponents to unite.
But it became clear that they now had the perfect opportunity - the time, a week later; the place, the House of Parliament; the target, a delegation of wizards.
It all seemed so natural.
Not long after Ms. Bones left, Hermione came over with a list of names.
"Over thirty people have signed up so far." She handed the parchment to Felix and then said with a straight face, "Actually, since we're here, it means we're willing to do our part for peace. But quite a few people are worried they won't perform well enough, and they have some suitable candidates in their mind ..."
"I bet you're one of the people they're pushing for, isn't that right, Miss Granger?"
Hermione rolled her eyes.
Felix gazed over the list, "I do need to give it some thought." Considering that the debut in a week's time might have something to do with the prophecy, he decided it would be best to be careful. The people chosen should at least have to be mentally strong.
The students finished sorting the newspapers for the day and towards noon some went home through the school fireplace while others stayed behind to discuss the day's news. They were essentially sixth and seventh graders, adults or near-adults, and had the look of grown-ups in terms of their conversation and dress.
Because it is summer holiday, these students are not wearing their school uniforms, and the days of fighting together and making a common cause have united them without distinction.
All these things were seen by the professors who remained at the school, who rejoiced in the change and if the moment had not been ill-timed, they might have been happy to throw a few parties. The thought had definitely occurred to Slughorn.
As he crossed the entrance hall, Felix caught sight of Snape. He stood guard in front of the staircase that led downwards and seemed to have been waiting for some time.
"Something wrong, Severus?"
Snape looked up at Felix, and he asked in an emotionless tone, "Is the time fixed?"
"Next week," Felix said with a smirk, "It's something to look forward to, isn't it?"
Snape was not going to answer that sort of question as he went on to ask, "You're planning to take a group of students to negotiate with the Muggle government?"
"Not negotiate, well - something like both teams of players going around the pitch collectively before a big Quidditch match." Felix pondered his idea, "Younger faces help distinguish them from the Grindelwald's Acolytes, and ..." he mused as he tried to smooth out his thoughts, "I am thinking about how I can show off a little trace of my strength, isn't that what negotiations are all about? Showing goodwill, showing off some muscles ... but it's important to do it in a way that doesn't seem too aggressive. Do you have any good ideas?"
"That's up to you to decide." Snape said coldly, turning around, with his robes flapping behind him, "Follow me."
Felix was a little unsure but still followed Snape towards his office. The door opened and Snape strode into his office, Felix pushed it open, mentally speculating on Snape's intentions, could it be that he had made key progress on some kind of potion?
Ever since he had shown a group of potions masters and healers a few pathological patterns of disease, including werewolf and dragon pox, at the Sword Castle, a number of wizards had chosen to stay in the vicinity of the castle to start their research, sharing their insights with each other from time to time, and Snape had been there a few times.
The Potions class professor's office is dimly lit as always. Felix's gaze skimmed over the glass specimen jars that lined up on the wall and finally stopped on Snape, whose back was turned, his whole body blending into the darkness.
Snape's body trembled slightly, one hand propped on the table as if he was trying desperately to suppress his inner emotions, acting like a hidden snake. Felix noticed the strange atmosphere and did not make a sound to urge him on, standing quietly in place and waiting.
Finally, Snape turned to face him, his gaze remained calm as usual.
"Use the Disarming Charm on me, Felix."
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[Author:]
I can't really manage to scrape together the minimum words for two in one chapter, so I'll try to write a bit more tomorrow.
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