House elves?
Harry's mind flashed back to what Hermione had said at the Gringotts, that the house elves of Future World and Hogwarts had agreed to join the Pan-Magical Alliance, and that the next step would be for the Ministry of Magic to gradually free the house elves in the hands of the ancient families, especially those who were experiencing abuse ...
The surprisingly good spirits of these house elves at Future World Company might have something to do with the smiling faces of the visitors, or maybe it was because they were wearing clothes that were closer to a normal human aesthetic, with dresses that were easy to distinguish from tops, trousers and other small assortments of clothes that were totally different from pillowcases used in Hogwarts and other places. After a brief pause, Harry suddenly understood why Hermione had insisted on this for so long.
He looked up at the lively little folks on the first floor, and tried to find a familiar individual among them; it wasn't easy, and his eyes swept back and forth twice without spotting Dobby, and while he was wondering where he is, he felt a hand grab his trousers and yank it.
Harry lowered his head.
"Dobby?"
"Lord Harry Potter! Hello!" A house elf looked up at him with big round eyes, dressed somewhat similar to Professor Flitwick's attire back at school, it was none other than Harry's well-acquainted house elf Dobby, whose eyes were shining with tears of happiness from a long-awaited reunion.
Harry had a bad feeling in his gut when Dobby took two steps back and then he abruptly darted into his arms, his two long, thin arms wrapped around him, his long, thin nose poking him in the stomach, and it took Harry a lot of effort to break free, "Good day to you, Dobby." He said, with a gasp.
Dobby took a few steps back and looked at Harry with a smile on his face.
"Lord Harry Potter!"
Harry examined Dobby, who was in good spirits, his clothes reflecting his unique preferences in many details, such as the magenta jumper inside his outer coat, which seemed to have been given to him on Christmas Day one year ago by Ron; a tie wrapped around the outside of the jumper, embroidered with a green circle with two black dots where the tie clip would be, which Harry guessed to be the handiwork of Dobby, he just didn't know what the design meant; and his feet wrapped with two thick socks of different colours that allowed him to walk without much sound.
"Sir Harry Potter, please follow me."
The house elf tugged on Harry's hand and pulled him through the crowd and made his way up the curved, revolving staircase.
"Wait, hold on, Dobby, I'm not here alone, I come along with some friends of mine, Ron, Neville, Hermione -" Harry said looking back only to find Ron being targeted by his twin brothers and Neville was with Mr. Ollivander, and it looked like he was having Mr. Ollivander examine his wand; Hermione had disappeared altogether, clearly she was there just a moment ago-
"Dobby knows, it was Dobby who had sent to call Miss Granger away, and now Dobby has something to give to Sir Harry Potter!"
"You called away Hermione?" Harry muttered in surprise.
"Yes, Dobby followed Mr. Lupin's instructions and Dobby was willing to help." The house elf who was walking ahead said as they were about to reach the first floor, "Dobby has prepared a coming of age present for Sir Harry Potter-"
"Oh, um, thank you, Dobby." Harry froze for a moment, suddenly realising that his seventeenth birthday was not even a few days away; the past month had flown by like a golden snitch. But then he realised that Bill and Fleur's scheduled wedding date would also be in the next few days, he just wasn't sure if it would happen on time. And - why was Lupin looking for Hermione again?
Harry's mind revolved with all sorts of thoughts, but all doubts redirected at the sight of a house elf covered in a pink pillowcase with floral lace, "Dobby, is that Winky?" He recognised Winky's big brown eyes and nose that looked like a squashed tomato, to be precise, he was more impressed with the latter feature though.
But what really allowed him to tell her apart from the bunch of house elves was that she was among the few who still wore pillowcases over their bodies as clothing.
"Yes, Winky is Winky." Dobby said. They made their way up the last few stairs to the first floor and Harry could see the rear heads of the people downstairs in the main lobby of the Sword Castle from high up.
"But she's still wearing her pillowcase, why? Isn't she free?"
Dobby's pace slowed, "Winky couldn't forget Mr. Crouch, Winky kept counting the days, saving up and counting at the same time, three years, two years, and now only six months left."
So Barty Crouch had six months to be released from prison? Harry thought to himself.
They passed a dozen doors along the way, on either side of which stood ten feet tall magic golems that proved invaluable when the Death Eaters attacked in droves, and a few of these golems were also placed in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic, and the more important corridors. They stopped in front of a door, which in particular had two door handles, one of which was positioned surprisingly low.
The doubts in Harry's mind were answered when he saw Dobby effortlessly twist the lower handle.
Inside the door was a huge, spacious circular room, and after a quick glance, Harry thought he had got taller when he saw how it was divided into several areas, all of which were furnished with small furniture, except for two rows of small benches on the work area, and the place reserved for house elves to rest.
He subconsciously looked back, and Hermione's silhouette flashed in his vision on the fifth floor.
...
"Professor, you're here too?" Hermione was surprised to see Felix there as she closed the door from inside, Dobby had only told her that Lupin was looking for her and hadn't mentioned anything else. So although the Sword Castle in theory owned by Professor Hap, she had little confidence in seeing the Professor in this place.
Sometimes Hermione had the distinct feeling that if the Professor ever resigned his post at the school, he would probably hide away in a place where no one could find him (like the moon) to study magic, only to suddenly remember that he had a group of friends and come out to visit them after three or five years. The Professor, in fact, is not very good with people at all, and many of his responses are all thought out in advance and simply thrown into use whenever he needs to talk to stanger according to different situations. This secret could only be discovered by those closest to him. This, coupled with the fact that the Professor was never a very enthusiastic person in the first place, and that very few things could faze him, was why he gave the impression of being a laid-back person.
Felix, of course, had no idea what Hermione was thinking at the moment, and he nodded towards her, gesturing for Hermione to come over. There were other people in the spacious office, and Hermione glanced over at them in turn, Lupin, Snape, and-
"Professor Slughorn?"
Hermione's voice rose slightly in tone as she looked in surprise at the short, chubby old wizard balled up on the couch, his rounded figure cloaked in elaborate, flashy robes, his walrus-like moustache tilted up and down, he was none other than Hogwarts' Professor of Potions, Slughorn.
"Come over here, Miss Granger, we were just talking about the simplification of potions," Slughorn said amiably. Hermione picked a seat as he continued, "Felix mentioned that you had a similar experience, uniting students from four houses last school year, didn't you? To handle O.W.Ls exams ..."
"That's not the same thing as what we're going to discuss now." Snape said coldly, not forgetting that the source of those simplified recipes was a textbook he had used, the contents of which were essentially tricks, a process he had been very proud of in his early years but which he had subsequently abandoned because it was not helping with his potions advanced studies.
"You are quite right, Severus," Slughorn said absent-mindedly, "but I think the cleverness of mind, as well as the leadership shown there, is worthy of recognition ... Of course, we have more difficult things to discuss, and my suggestion is to start with the easy part, it's all written in the textbook!"
Hermione listened for a while and realised that they were talking about how to enable ordinary people to use potions. Snape had warned in class not to try to get muggles to drink potions, as it was uncertain to determine which potions required the wizard's own magic to be involved for them to take effect, and there were no potioneer currently keeping statistics for that either.
Snape and Slughorn were casually exchanging small talk about potion theories that were not written in the textbooks, and Hermione listened with a sense of awe, wishing they would speak more slowly, so she could get a notebook to write them down. At that moment, she heard a soft laugh.
Hermione looked at Felix woodenly.
Felix lowered his head, which showed the corners of his mouth curving slightly. He coughed softly twice, and pulled out his silver pocket watch from his pocket, and said with his usual calm expression, "If you have no intention of pursuing further in the field of potions, there's really no need to listen to them that seriously, I've summarised a list of spells and potions that show similar effects ... I'm looking for you today because of another matter, and I need to ask your opinion. Oh, I was the one who suggested you and thought you'd be suitable ..."
Before Hermione could say a word, Snape suddenly looked at Felix and said gloomily, "The beauty of potions lies in the subtle differences between the finer elements, and it is natural for those who have given up on the discipline long ago to fail to appreciate the subtleties and the beauty of that which is enough to make one's heart flutter."
Hermione blinked, was this snape's way of saying that Professor Hap didn't know anything about potions? She looked at Professor Slughorn again.
Slughorn, although wasn't as blunt as Snape, he also expressed the same thing implicitly. Hermione's tried and tested ability to generalize once again came into play and she concluded that both of them meant pretty much the same thing - don't listen to amateurs.
Felix rolled his eyes and popped open the cover of the watch, from which Valen bolted out, ducking her head to avoid the Great Demon King's sinful hand and running up to Hermione, gesturing with her hands. Hermione's mind flickered, golden cards? She looked at Felix, who turned his head away stiffly.
At that moment, the door opened from outside and Ms. Bones and Mr. Weasley walked in. Both had tired looks on their faces.
"You guys look tired, the negotiations didn't go well?" Lupin asked in a gentle tone.
Mr. Weasley took off his glasses and lowered his head to wipe the lenses with the edge of his shirt; his hairline was slightly shrunken, giving rise to a worry that in a few years he might have a similar hairstyle to Slughorn's. Mr. Weasley grunted, "Tough sailing, the Muggle Prime Minister brought in a bunch of legal experts to pick all kinds of fancy words with us, all in all, we made limited progress through the morning."
"We don't have the advantage in numbers," Lupin said, "and that has led to us to fail to progress in many areas, such as the law. Of course, there is no need for it to be exactly the same. I've always believed that the point of the law's existence is to articulate what we want this society to be in a limited number of words." He paused, then said, "We have a plan to deal with this situation, don't we?"
"Of course we do." Ms. Bones barely managed to muster a smile and cast an admiring glance at Felix, "They have no excuse to dictate the wizards because of the existence of the Pan-Magical Alliance, but they want to restrict our freedom through cumbersome laws. We caught them off guard by bringing up the concept of joint law enforcement and public exposure in due course little by little like opening windows first; we will continue the negotiations about these tomorrow."
According to Felix and her thoughts, wizards would not be completely relax the access to their community as a whole for a long time and would be governed in their own way, with joint enforcement of the law only taking place where the two sides crossed paths, and they would not devise the do's and don't from the start, but would use a one-case-by-case approach, to build up the articles.
Joint law enforcement would tackle unexpected situations, and both sides would need a steady window of communication with each other. There are currently two different types of communication windows available to both sides on paper, one is a marketplace that sells special products of wizards, and the second is a fixed venue where both sides can freely communicate and interact within certain boundaries, including but not limited to technological and magical collaboration, liaison, opportunities for ordinary people to come to contact with magic, etc.
They chatted for a while longer and then Ms. Bones got down to business, "The law is the main focus of the next negotiations, it determines what both sides can claim, and I don't expect it will be an easy negotiation. It just so happens that trade was mentioned this morning, and if there is still no progress tomorrow, I am prepared to negotiate that aspect first."
"It's good to let them see the possible benefits of magic, in favour of a better outcome." Felix nodded in agreement, then asked, "Has Babajide Akingbade contacted you?"
Ms. Bones sighed. "No, he just dispatched a representative to request a daily record of the current negotiations held each day, and to be fair, he is a very capable man, but given that he is now dealing with a completely new territory and is responsible for dozens of ministries of magic, he cannot and dare not make decisions lightly."
She shook her head, without the help of the others, she would also have been at her wit's end if she had been put in this tricky spot.
"You hit the nail on the head," Lupin pointed out, "he couldn't figure it out on his own and was worried about making a mistake. Thus, the opportunities are delayed."
"Find the right opportunity and invite him for a cahat." Felix said.
"The right opportunity?" Ms. Bones thought for a while and seemed to think of something, "I'll arrange it. There are two other things, the first -" she looked at Snape and Slughorn, "- has to do with potions, and then healing, where magic is quite superior."
"I need manpower," Snape said calmly, "lots of it."
"Can do." Ms. Bones nodded, "There is a temporary group of Potions masters living in Diagon Alley, I will extend an invitation to them in the name of the Ministry of Magic. Professor Slughorn, I know you are old and deserve a peaceful life, but at this time, we need your strength. Even if it's just to offer a suggestion."
"Oh, of course, that's not a problem." Slughorn said, "I've been retired for decades and in the end, I realized that the school suits me the best, and I think I'll stay at Hogwarts, but there's nothing for me to do as a professor if the students aren't in the mood to study at all."
He said thoughtfully.
"When it gets down to it, it was Dumbledore who reminded me ... alas, in his last days ... he said that the school was the most peaceful place to be and the best place to retire, if even the school lost its peace, the rest of the world would only be even worse."
Everyone in the room fell silent as if they had suddenly remembered something in their minds. If there was one thing they all had in common, it was the fact that in the last few months of his life, on a few occasions, Dumbledore had approached them for a chat ... although the reasons he used varied.
"The second thing is ..." After a moment of silence, Ms. Bones held up her monocle and continued.
...
"A television interview?" Ron looked at Hermione in surprise, as if she was making some sort of nonsense out of the blue.
"What's going on?" Harry asked.
"It could be interpreted as a way of increasing mutual trust, you should know that the Ministry of Magic is going to select some non-magical people to visit the wizarding community. The reasoning behind it is exactly the same." Hermione explained, "I'm not the only one, Mr. Weasley and Professor Slughorn are on the list."
"My dad's going to be on TV?" Ron said with a bit of excitement, "He hasn't even told us about it at home, oh yeah, he's been way too busy lately."
"So I have to get ready, there aren't many days left," Hermione said hurriedly, "I have to go to the library and look up some materials-"
"The library shouldn't have what you're looking for." Harry reminded her.
"How on earth could there not be? The history of wizards, the culture of wizards ... For sure there will be many books available about that." Hermione rolled up her sleeves and looked like she was going to do something big.
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