Chapter 714： dangerous assumption

I didn't come here to find food. Hermione thought indignantly—even though her principles had been honed to such a degree of mellowness and flexibility through the succession of adventures, it's strange that there are people around her who treat breaking school rules (and sometimes the law!) as simple as eating and drinking. guy—

Unless she had a good excuse, she tried to be as decent as possible.

So she hesitated to say that she had accidentally made a sniffing glass, inspired by Grindelwald, who had given Neville one. But the words stopped again, um, it sounds like ulterior motives...

"I'm not hungry—" Hermione opened her mouth, and the next second her stomach growled. Her face suddenly burned like fire.

The fire in the fireplace was roaring. Hermione didn't know how she sat down, it seemed that the professor had sent an invitation, and when she came to her senses, she found herself sitting upright on the small round bench (provided by the house-elf), staring at the fireplace. The sizzling grilled fish, the face was scalding hot by the fire.

Hermione bowed her head, and Warren was looking up at her, her little black eyes blinking.

"I'm quite busy during this time, and I don't often go to school." Felix said, "I heard that students like to take classes in classroom 7?"

"Oh, yes. Professor, what have you been up to these days?"

"Just running around the world. There was a magical incident yesterday," Felix explained, seeing Hermione's surprised eyes. "By chance, a farmer picked up a self-stirring cauldron discarded by a wizard. Although the above magic has expired, there is still life and death water that failed to be brewed in the crucible. The farmer used the crucible to prepare a pair of repellents. The next morning, thirty cows were found in a drowsiness... on the news."

"Is that abandoned cauldron an accident, or was it left on purpose?" Hermione asked, frowning. "I know some wizards like to tease Muggles. Ron's father dealt with a similar situation."

"It's hard to say," Felix thought for a while, and said, "I guess it was an accident. During this time, many wizards living in the Muggle community returned to the wizarding world, and Hogsmeade alone doubled in size. , may have been dropped while moving."

"Mr. Hape, Ms. Granger." At this moment, a house-elf in a large white hood appeared, holding a plate of cookies and three goblets of pumpkin juice on a silver tray. . "Thank you, Yunbo." Felix picked up a biscuit, Hermione also thanked, and then Felix was keenly aware of the difference in the title.

"You know each other, Uncle Yun?" he asked. But obviously, the focus of this title is not on the surname.

"Yes," said the house-elf Yunbo respectfully, "there was a time when Ms. Granger came a lot, and we were puzzled, and the elf was unhappy about it, and then we understood—she was fighting for our rights. ."

Hermione waved her hands again and again, telling the house-elves to stop talking, so Uncle Yun bowed deeply and left. In fact, Felix really wanted to know what the house-elves thought about the Pan-Magic Alliance, and he didn't know what the Ministry of Magic said. Maybe it was a few more days of vacation and money to buy gifts.

The kitchen was quiet for a while. Then Hermione heard the sound of metal colliding, she turned her head away, and saw that Warren took out a pocket knife and fork from her small pocket, and took out an emerald green handkerchief the size of a slap and tied it around her neck. When she saw Hermione straight As Gougou stared at himself, hesitantly, he pulled out another red handkerchief and handed it to Hermione.

"Haw?"

"Oh, I don't need it, and it's too small to fit—" Hermione whispered, but Felix said, "Give me one too." Warren called out in disapproval, and slowly took out a bright yellow handkerchief into his hands. Felix shook it in the air, the handkerchief grew as if by magic, and there was an extra circle of rune decorations.

He put the handkerchief several times larger on his knees and turned to look at Hermione.

So Hermione also took out her wand and pointed at the handkerchief, which immediately transformed into a wide tablecloth, and then the fireplace in front of them lit up, and a dozen fragrant grilled fish hung in front of them, oily and very Appetite.

Felix, Hermione, and Warren were each given a grilled fish, and the rest were given to the house-elves. The house-elves did not refuse, but dutifully moved three small tables and placed them in front of them. Then they hid aside to enjoy the food.

This kind of behavior that violates the house-elf's character surprised Hermione, but it really happened. There can only be one reason: the same thing has been repeated countless times. strength.

Hermione took a bite of the fish. She didn't feel the fishbone, so she couldn't help but admire the magic of the fishbone spell.

This supper was very strange.

There were a lot of people, as if they were having a dinner together, but the house-elves were basically silent. Judging from their contented shaking of their bodies and the tiny movements on their bodies, they were in a very happy mood, which made Hermione feel like being in a mysterious tribe. The illusion of participating in the celebration.

And she's also learned a secret from the way house-elves swallow their food - thanks to her now sitting on a stool less than a foot tall, she can see clearly - for wizards, house-elves are hard to tell visually. . But today Hermione learned that the Adam's apple of the male house-elf was slightly bulging, while the line of the neck of the female house-elf was softer and less noticeable. Exactly like humans.

Hermione suspected that this was because the house-elves kept their heads down and talked, preventing the secret from being discovered. Seeing the bottom of the plate, Hermione finally remembered why she came here after eating and drinking.

"Huh, Professor?" she said, wiping her mouth with a napkin. "Those kids you rescued from the American government..." Felix turned to her, his plate already empty. "...there's a lot of talk in the newspapers, but in general the reviews are good and bad,"

"It's normal," Felix murmured. "When you put yourself in the public eye, unless you're too bad, you'll always get both praise and criticism. But I don't think many people questioned the people who rescued the children. Is it necessary?"

"That's right. With the publication of the book "Powering the Openness of Magic", many anthropologists and historians have recognized ancient wizards as one of the early humans. The director of the National Museum of England claims that from primitive Evidence is found in human murals: it is believed that wizards were first born in two groups of brave warriors and sacrificers, the former gained magical powers by fighting with magical animals, and the latter used the blood and bones of magical animals to perform rituals..."

Felix is ​​noncommittal about this conjecture. He has also made similar guesses, but it is only a guess. The specific origin of the wizard is too old because no one knows the exact truth. Moreover, the judgment standards are not uniform. What marks the emergence of wizards? Is it to use part of the body of magical animals to make 'magic tools', or is it since the first appearance of mysterious power in ancient humans? Or - does it really only hold true when magical knowledge is summed up and flowed to other gifted individuals?

Each of these three is significant. The first example represents the human attempt to harness magic; the second is about the emergence of magic in wizards, and the third shows that magic can be taught, which means that those who master magic change from individuals to groups.

Maybe none of the above is correct, why can't it be magical beasts and wizards at the same time?

Felix does not place too much importance on the answer to this question. When he negotiated, he asked to add this "undocumented history" only from the perspective of human morality, which could avoid many problems.

Hermione, after expounding what she had gathered from the clippings, concluded:

"What's at issue is the tactics you use to teach you - they want to solve problems with the law, not confrontation, and there's a lot of debate about whether witches have investigative and enforcement powers."

Felix said quietly but firmly: "They can discuss, but I'm not going to compromise on this."

Hermione bit her lip. But this is not her purpose tonight, and Grindelwald's attitude is much more radical - he preaches complete revenge, thinking that if a country or an individual steals a wizard's power, the wizard can take revenge by all means, like that The witch who lost her daughter and set fire to the laboratory.

"How are the kids doing?" she whispered.

"It's okay, except for being a little frightened." Felix glanced at her and didn't elaborate on the inside story. "Ilvermorny's therapists will take good care of them, as well as carry out necessary checks - magic is not the only way to modify memory, but methods other than magic are cumbersome and must be kept in a closed state for a long time. environment."

"So I just simply checked to see if they had locating devices on them."

"Location device?" Hermione said in surprise. "Won't those magical substitutes fail? I read from "Hogwarts, A History of the School"—"

"It's too passive and passive to expect them to fail automatically when the other party is intentional to investigate," Felix said, then paused, as if hesitating to reveal more, but he continued: "Actually, I suspect that the local government generally knows the location of some wizarding places. The relationship between the Magical Congress of the United States and the Muggle government is not good. As potential enemies, they will naturally try to collect useful information, and it is very difficult to keep it completely secret. "

"But—" Hermione looked surprised.

"Are you worried that they may follow their plans and take the initiative to provoke disputes?"

Hermione nodded.

"It's very unlikely." Felix smiled and said, "All magical communities - especially schools are shrouded in magic, and at worst are protected by Muggle Repelling and Vigilance Charms, and the coverage is huge. Think Deciphering with purely technological means - I don't know if it is possible, but it will definitely take time, and the wizards who are inside can quickly evacuate; as for the use of heavy fire weapons... Maybe it was possible at first, but now it is almost completely gone."

Hermione looked at Felix in confusion, Felix waved his hand, so that the sound could not be diffused, and could only be heard by two people.

"Granger... Since your career direction is Minister of Magic, and you do show potential in this area, we can go into this a little bit more deeply. I don't want this conversation to be made public, along with Harry, Neither Ron nor your parents can reveal, not a word... do you agree?"

Hermione agreed nervously.

"Very well, let's take the United States as an example. For historical reasons, their proportion of wizards is much lower, about 40,000 or 50,000. We discuss the most extreme situation - these wizards are suddenly destroyed and suffered heavy losses. , but the chances of surviving half of the wizards are still pretty high, and this is the result of being too stupid to find any clues in the Magical Congress of the United States."

Hermione imagined the scene. She had seen human war documentaries and had a clear idea of ​​the horror covered by the dense artillery fire. Her body shook violently, and her face turned pale.

"But then what?"

Felix said in a sober tone: "This is the beginning of the war, not the end. If this happens, there will be a large number of wizards who will flee, but there will also be a large number of wizards who will stay and die, because they Lost family and friends, lost everything... A man who has nothing but revenge on his mind becomes an irrational beast, and at the same time the most tenacious warrior. We know from past history that weapons are updated during war years Fastest, but I'm 100% sure that wizards can only grow faster than this, especially when they choose to let hatred fill their hearts, war can make people cold and numb, and fire is the most merciful means …”

"No, that's horrible, we mustn't let that happen," Hermione whispered.

Felix looked at her quietly, and after a moment said, "This is what we're doing. Well, forget about it. The above is just an academic discussion, an assumption, and it's basically an assumption that won't happen. Otherwise, why have we been working so hard these months? You should go back, it's almost time to turn off the lights."

Hermione walked silently out of the kitchen, Warren yawning and curled up in Felix's arms. They came to the foyer, and Hermione said suddenly, "Wait, Professor, I have something very important to tell you, and that's what I came to you for—I went to your office, but you weren't there."

The impact on her mind just now was so great that she almost forgot the real purpose of this trip.

"What's the matter?"

"While sorting out the newspaper clippings in the morning, Harry, Ron and I discussed a possibility..." Hermione quickly recited what happened during the day, Felix shook his head slightly, "The Magical Congress of the United States is guarding against this, and they do this for this. There have been some conflicts with the Muggle government. As for the young wizards who have not yet entered the school, it is indeed a breakthrough, but Ilvermorny-"

"Professor, you want to say Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has their names, don't you?" Hermione said first.

Felix's expression gradually became serious, and Hermione obviously wanted to say that there was a loophole that could be exploited... A picture suddenly flashed, and that was what Professor McGonagall said to him: "Three students refused to enter the school."

In fact, refusing to enter the school is no big deal, he didn't take it too seriously before.

The process is fixed. Usually when this happens, Hogwarts will send a number of professors to communicate with parents. If the communication fails, they will report it to the Ministry of Magic, and the Ministry of Magic will send another person to deal with it (using the oblivion spell if necessary), and it will be accompanied for several years. supervision. This process generally lasts until adulthood (the more you go, the less you care), which is 17 years old, which means that those who give up magic will basically not accidentally cast spells because of emotional out of control, and the magic will gradually become silent because of long-term untrainedness. .

This is different from the silent. The taciturn are often physically or mentally abused in childhood, become resentful and suppress their magical abilities, and refuse to cast spells. They have little to do with those who give up magic, because it is difficult for the silent to live past ten.

Felix also mentioned to Professor McGonagall a word after knowing what happened to Dumbledore's sister.

"...The light in Hagrid's hut was always on, making us think he was always in the house, but he actually went out. Harry's Marauder's map has a limited search range. Once Hagrid goes deep into the Forbidden Forest, he can't find anyone at all." Min continued, and then her lips began to tremble, "But the question is, was he really in the Forbidden Forest? What happened to him? We don't know all of this..."

There is no need to go on.

Felix completely understood her thoughts, but because of this, his expression was unprecedentedly solemn.

The area covered by Harry's Marauder's Map is the area that the Magical Congress of the United States can monitor. Hagrid represents the little wizards who have not yet entered the school. If these little wizards stay in the local life, they will naturally not encounter danger. Even if there is danger, it will be quickly detected, but what if one day the whole family decides to emigrate? Or some other reason? The boundless sea is beyond the reach of wizards' magic.

At this moment, while they are talking, will there be one or two ships, or submarines, carrying little wizards wandering around? No one knew what happened to them until they set foot on land. Naturally, it also includes the possibility of never being able to dock.