Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 182 side quest completed, spell development module!
"In any case, our 'final battle' with them should not take place at this time and in this place!"

The WAC and the Magical Congress... no, to be precise, the "final battle" with those pure-blood radicals should revolve around the werewolves who are heading to Boston!
When Michael Graves came last time, he made it very clear that they saw the potential of werewolves as a new force.

They hope to seize this potential.

So they won't completely break ties with Vaughn until the very end, until the plan to "stop the werewolves from coming to Boston" fails—there might be attacks, but they will definitely be kept within a certain range!

After all, their goal was the werewolf, not to kill Vaughn and anger England or Dumbledore.

If it's true that purebloods and Muggles are collaborating to create "artificial wizards," then purebloods would absolutely not want to expose this to the WAC and the Federation.

Not even the slightest clue will be allowed!

But now, a Muggle politician is openly uttering the word "purger," a term he shouldn't even know, in front of people.

Following Vaughn's line of reasoning, Akinbad took a deep breath: "If the appearance of that Muggle wasn't a mistake on the pureblood side, then..."

"Yes, that means there's a problem with the Muggles who are cooperating with the purebloods!"

After a moment of silence, Akinbad said, "Judging from your words, it seems you have no intention of letting Shakel and the others withdraw."

If Kingsley, Lupin, and Tonks had been withdrawn, the conflict would not have occurred.

Vaughn glanced at him: "Why did you back down? Didn't you want to find clues about those artificial wizards? Now, it's been delivered right to you."

"And you? What are your demands?"

"Guess~"

Akinbad: "..."

……

Michael Graves has been restless all day.

The council members at Woolworth House are still arguing with each other!

It was even more intense and divisive than a few days ago.

"...Do you guys even have brains? Can't you see who that cunning Vaughn Weasley is with? Babajid Akinbad! The Vice President of the Federation! Always shouting about being tough, arresting, and some even say they'll kill Weasley...Kill him in front of the Federation? Go ahead and do it if you dare!"

"coward!"

"I'm doing this for the greater good. Who doesn't understand what the Federation is thinking? They're hoping we'll make a mistake so they'll have an excuse to interfere in Federation affairs. And you guys are afraid they won't have enough excuses, huh?"

“Bob, I must say this fairly: the WAC is not a subordinate organization of the Federation. Even if our relationship with the WAC deteriorates and a conflict arises, the Federation has no reason to interfere between the two sides. After all, how to handle diplomatic relations is our own business, a matter of national sovereignty that cannot be violated. I think the Federation—”

You want to eat shit?!

"you you……"

Bob the Wizard, known for his extremely foul mouth, was clearly in a frenzy of spittle, launching a barrage of insults at any dissenting opinion: "Sovereignty is bullshit! Who in the world cares about sovereignty except for us, East Asia, and those few rotten-to-the-root major powers in Europe? Especially those small countries? Dream on! They'd love for the Federation to send special forces to dismantle the Federation, you idiot!"

The old wizard, whom Bob had labeled an "idiot," pointed at Bob, couldn't catch his breath, and fainted.

The surrounding area immediately became chaotic.

Some rushed to save him, some rolled up their sleeves and rushed over to fight Bob, some tried to break up the fight, and some took advantage of the chaos to retaliate.

In an instant, the conference hall was thrown into chaos.

Only Speaker Josiah Parker on the platform, looking listless, banged his gavel in an attempt to maintain order.

But in Michael Graves's opinion, the other party was just putting on an act!

"Damn old bastard!" Michael, sitting in the corner, ignored the senators wrestling and stared at Josiah Parker the whole time, his eyes filled with malice.

The current situation in parliament is entirely the result of that old geezer's manipulation.

Listening to the noise around him, Michael Graves' already bad mood worsened.

Just as he was pinching his brow, forcibly suppressing his annoyance, the doors to the conference hall opened.

An Auror rushed in, his expression tense. Ignoring the chaotic state of the councilors, he quickly walked over to Michael Graves, whispered urgently in his ear, "Minister, there's a problem with Third Salem."

Upon hearing this, Michael Graves frowned: "What is it?"

"In the afternoon, the Muggles of Third Salem, along with WAC members, showed up at a rally hosted by the Muggle Donald Party's presidential candidate... He... he knows the Purge!"

"what?"

Michael was stunned, and then cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead.

He couldn't sit still any longer. He got up and led Auror to the lounge in the main conference hall. As soon as he closed the door, his face darkened: "What exactly happened!"

Auror was also covered in sweat: "We don't know either. It was the Dreamcatcher monitoring center that found out that the presidential candidate directly mentioned the keywords 'Purger' and 'wizard' at the rally. According to subsequent monitoring, we also learned that he will invite the witches of WAC to his house tonight to view the confidential documents containing the Purger's information..."

"..."

Michael was momentarily at a loss for what expression to make. He gritted his teeth and asked, "Confidential documents?"

"Yes...yes, it's very likely...it might be our cooperation plan with the Muggles..."

Before he could finish speaking, the surroundings suddenly blurred.

The air grew thick and heavy—Michael Graves's out-of-control magic, interfering with reality!
The Auror was drenched in sweat, but dared not move, only watching as his superior, the Minister of Magical Security, went from a gloomy expression to a ferocious and twisted one:

"Why did the document end up in that mongrel's hands? How did you arrange this? Hmm?"

“Minister…” Auror’s legs trembled, but he still managed to explain, “That Muggle, including the rally, wasn’t arranged by us. We don’t know why he held the rally there, or why Third Salem brought the WAC people there…”

To his horror, this explanation did not soften Mr. Graves's expression; veins bulged on his contorted face, and his skin was red with anger.

boom!
The Auror was sent flying, crashing heavily into the wall before collapsing to the ground, groaning in pain as blood trickled from his mouth and nose.

But he didn't dare to resist, or even groan loudly. He just struggled to support his body and crawled back to Graves.

"Fool! You possess magic, you control the dreamcatcher, yet you're fooled by a bunch of muggles! Useless! Useless!"

With a bang, Auror was sent flying again.

Fortunately for him, Mr. Graves had clearly held back this time, and he only broke one rib.

"What are you waiting for? Take some men to Boston and stop the WAC from getting that document!"

Auror hurriedly agreed and scrambled out of the lounge.

After smashing a few paintings in a fit of rage in the lounge to vent his anger, Michael Graves hurriedly left the main conference hall.

Few of the councilors, caught up in the heated debate, noticed the Minister of Magical Safety, whose hair was disheveled and who looked somewhat flustered and embarrassed.

Only a few wizards who seemed to have been keeping a close eye on Graves's movements changed their expressions, quietly withdrew from the scene of the council members' brawl, and left the conference hall one after another.

All of this was observed by Speaker Josiah Parker, who was seated high on the platform.

"Fischer, Fontana, Lopez, McDuff, O'Brien... and Wilkinson... what are these six companies plotting with Graves? What about Roche, Joannsie, and Greenstinch?"

The Speaker narrowed his cloudy old eyes into slits, using this as a cover, but his actually very sharp gaze quickly swept over the members of parliament wrestling below, and accurately located the family representatives he had some doubts about.

The former two were engrossed in their struggle with Porter and Weiss, while the Greenstinch senator—a pitiful skinny man—was being ridden by the Stuart senator, a burly man with a mane as thick as a lion.

"Is it that the other seven companies didn't bring them along, or are they simply tied down and unable to extricate themselves, as they've shown so far?"

As he pondered, the sharpness in the speaker's eyes faded. He was still the same speaker from a small family who was "powerless" to control the council, and could only listlessly tap the table a few times with his gavel.

dong dong dong.

The faint voices were of course not enough to stop the hot-tempered councilors, but on the outskirts of the battle, a councilor from a small family who had been watching the show suddenly perked up.

She glanced at the speaker on the high platform.

"Tracy, don't talk, keep up with Graves!"

A soft voice, as if it had traveled an extremely long distance, reached her ears.

Tracy nodded almost imperceptibly, then quietly left the room, heading in the same direction Graves had gone before.

Under her magical vision, Tracy saw several sets of still-fresh footsteps extending into the depths of the corridor. She took out her wand, cast an invisibility spell on herself, and quietly crept over.

Their footsteps were disordered, and you could tell their owner was in a hurry.

The footprints stretched all the way toward the elevator, and to Tracy's relief, her targets, though in a hurry, hadn't gone far yet.

They gathered at the elevator entrance, surrounded by an "air wall" that distorted the light. It was a protective barrier that blocked sight and sound from inside and also served as a warning—it would immediately alert the caster if any object intruded.

However, Tracy, who was invisible, was not worried. She glanced at the other side of the protective barrier, where the elevator car door had already opened.

Since these people have opened the elevator, it means they want to go inside. Magic cannot be maintained inside the elevator, nor can any barriers, otherwise it will interfere with the power supply.

She flew up to the ceiling, and with a low incantation, the invisibility spell was lifted. Her body surface rapidly fluctuated and deformed, and her body grew smaller and smaller.

Before long, a plain-colored moth hung upside down from the ceiling vent and crawled inside.

Inside the elevator, a few wisps of scale dust drifted down from the ventilation vents.

Tracy waited patiently, and soon a loud voice suddenly rang out at the elevator door, and several people, including Graves, walked in.

They are arguing:
"...Who guaranteed that everything was under control back then? Hmm? And now you're saying that we! Wizards! 12 purebloods! Could very well be used like fools by a bunch of Muggles?"

“Jimmy, nothing is set in stone yet; that’s just Michael’s speculation…”

"A Muggle presidential candidate showed up in Boston and revealed things he shouldn't have, and you're telling me there's no conclusion? Clearly, those damn Muggles betrayed us!"

"Perhaps it's just a leaked document?" a middle-aged witch said, clinging to a sliver of hope.

She is Mary Lopez.

Tracy knew her; a haughty witch who always held her head high and looked down on everyone except the twelve purebloods—even though her small family was pureblood.

Tracy quietly crawled out of the ventilation shaft, flapped her wings a few times, and taking advantage of Tracy's panic, lightly landed on her coiled hair and slipped inside.

No one noticed this; all eyes were on Michael Graves.

The Minister of Magical Safety was anxious, even irritable: "Whether those Muggles accidentally leaked the documents or they're using us, I don't know right now. Aren't we just about to go and see them? What's the point of blaming me now when we don't have accurate information?"

Jimmy Fisher opened his mouth, but in the end he just snorted and said nothing more.

The elevator car fell silent, and in the ensuing stillness, someone pressed the elevator button.

Tracy, hiding in Mary Lopez's hair, sensed the elevator descending, then moved sideways for a distance before stopping again.

The elevator doors opened, and Tracy peeked out.

The space that came into view was vast, pure white, and very empty, with almost no furnishings except for the lights.

Only a worn-out boot sat on the floor in the center of the space.

"Door key...?"

Woolworth does not allow spatial magic such as Apparition and Portkey.

In fact, this was all thanks to Grindelwald, who diligently helped the Magical Congress address a series of security vulnerabilities while he was disguised as Percival Graves.

"The twelve purebloods actually dared to create a hidden room in Woolworth that wasn't protected by the Anti-Apparition Charm... But it's not too surprising. Not setting up a Floo Network in Woolworth is actually quite restrained of them..."

Tracy thought sarcastically.

Those 12 pure-blood families have controlled the Magic Council for too long. In their eyes, Woolworth has probably become their private property, and they will do whatever is convenient for them.

Michael Graves, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped and drew his wand: "Everyone, check yourselves to make sure you're not carrying anything strange."

"It's always like this, who are you trying to protect yourself from?"

"Stop complaining. Haven't you noticed lately? That old man, Josiah Parker, is getting restless. Maybe those small families are starting to have wicked ideas again."

As the wizards talked, they began casting spells on each other, and before they could draw their wands, Tracy had already left Mary Lopez.

After getting away from Graves and the others, she didn't leave immediately. Instead, she quietly flew up, perched on the ceiling, and watched Graves and the others below finish their inspection. She then stood around the worn-out boot and touched it.

The door key is used to start the door.

Space twisted violently, the boot collapsed into a point, pulling Graves and the others like a twisted, undulating ball of thread, into the air and disappearing instantly.

"Where is the other side of the door key?"

Tracy decided to stay and wait for them to return.

Perhaps after they confirm something on the other side of the door key, they can get more information from her during their conversation when they return.

And this wait lasted for more than an hour! As time went on, Tracy gradually realized that something was wrong:
"They should have just gone to the other side to investigate and confirm some things, so why did it take so long? Could it be..."

This strange situation made Tracy uneasy, and she hesitated whether to return to the Great Hall to report to Speaker Josiah Parker.

Finally, some movement came from below.

A worn-out boot "jumps" out of nothingness.

But to Tracy's surprise, she didn't see anyone near the boots—

Only the door key came back.

"Merlin..."

Tracy felt her heart race, her vision go black, and the sudden panic almost suffocated her.

She knew she was in big trouble!

……

Floor 86.5 of Woolworth Building—a hidden floor where all the councilors gathered to squeeze into the room where the key to the door was kept.

Even though the room was packed with wizards, no one spoke; the atmosphere was so heavy it was suffocating.

An old wizard with a snow-white beard that stretched all the way to his chest, his eyes almost glued to his old boots, poked around with his wand in one hand.

After a moment, he straightened up, shook his head at Josiah Parker, and said, "No signs of interference were found with the key. It's a normal key, without any confusion, manipulation, or tampering."

At this moment, Josiah Parker, a far cry from the senile old man he had been in the grand hall, looked at Tracy after hearing the old wizard's words: "Are you sure they left using this key?"

Tracy nodded: "Yes, I saw it with my own eyes."

Speaker Parker then looked at the crowd, or more precisely, at the members of Congress from the Graves, Lopez, and other families: "What's on the other side of the door key?"

The pure-blooded senators under his gaze broke out in a cold sweat. The speaker, whom they usually teased in private, now seemed unfamiliar and imposing, making them uneasy.

And the most awkward thing is—

Under the Speaker's intense gaze, one of the Graves family members, a member of parliament, reluctantly replied, "I...we don't know either."

Speaker Parker remained silent in response to his answer.

The Graves family member, looking dejected, said, "Speaker, it's true. We're just a collateral branch... How could they possibly tell us what they're up to?"

Josiah Parker's gaze slowly swept across the crowd. The missing were the representative figures of the seven families: Graves, Fisher, Fontana, Lopez, McDuff, O'Brien, and Wilkinson. Did all their branches still here really know nothing?

not necessarily!

However, this is not a problem to consider right now.

Josiah Parker turned his gaze to the old wizard beside him who was still checking the door key: "Is there any way to pinpoint the location of the other side?"

"You want to pinpoint the location and use the dreamcatcher to investigate there?" The old wizard quickly understood his intention, but still shook his head: "Locking it down is possible, but it will take some time, probably several hours... It has been two hours since they disappeared. If we delay any longer, there will probably be no trace left. The best way is to send someone to use this door key to teleport there directly."

Josiah Parker rejected the proposal without even thinking:

"Nobody knows what's going on on the other side. What happened to Minister Michael Graves, Minister Mary Lopez, Minister Wilkinson, and the others that resulted in none of the seven powerful wizards returning..."

At this point, Josiah Parker felt a headache coming on.

Even though he had always been dissatisfied with the 12 purebloods' control over Parliament and had always wanted to balance and reduce their power in Parliament, he never dreamed that seven ministers would disappear at once like this!

It's not that I don't want to, but I can't.

After thinking for a long time, he had no good ideas and could only give the order:

"I'll draft an agreement in a bit, and all the members of parliament present today must sign it in order to prevent the news of the seven ministers' disappearance from spreading..."

"I hope you all will abide by my order to keep this secret, otherwise, you'll probably be the ones facing the wizards of the seven departments that have lost their ministers. Anyway, they all know that I'm just a mascot!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the previously somewhat dissatisfied members of parliament widened their eyes in surprise.

They probably never expected that this old guy, who always showed weakness, would be so cunning and shameless.

Seeing that the crowd was quiet and no one objected, Josiah Parker continued, "Notify the Vice Minister of the Department of Magical Security and the Auror Captain to come over. Security work cannot be neglected. We don't have to tell anyone else about Graves's disappearance, but we must inform him."

But to Speaker Parker's surprise, the assistant hesitated upon hearing his instructions:

“Your Excellency, the Deputy Minister of Magical Security is not in Woolworth. He and the Auror Captain left long ago... not long before Minister Graves disappeared.”

Upon hearing this, Josiah Parker suddenly remembered that Graves's unusual behavior was because an Auror had barged into the Great Hall and said something to him.

At the time, he was only focused on Graves and didn't pay attention to anything else. Now, thinking back to how that Auror clutched his chest, bleeding from his mouth and nose, and hurriedly left.

Josiah Parker suddenly had a bad feeling: "They...did they bring Aurors? How many did they take?"

“Yes.” The assistant said with a bitter expression, “Of the twelve Auror squads in the entire Department of Magical Security, they took eight away…”

"..."

Speaker Parker touched his chest. Yes, it felt like a heart attack!

His face quickly turned from white to red, then from red to black. A moment later, his roar echoed through the empty room: "Then what are you standing there for? Go and find out where they went! Find them and stop them!"

Damn Graves!
Why didn't they disappear sooner?
You'd better be dead, otherwise...

Speaker Parker, panting and gritting his teeth after driving away his assistant, revealed a deep worry behind his rage.

He had a premonition that everything was spiraling in a direction he didn't want to foresee...

……

"Ow—"

A devastating dragon roar echoed throughout the suitcase.

The complex ritual magic created a shockwave that affected the entire space. A gale howled across the plains, and the mountains and trees at the edge of the "horizon" were shaken violently by the wind.

In mid-air, the Fireball Dragon was dismembered into countless "fragments," with exposed blood vessels and nerves wriggling and twitching like worms.

A wood bee named Betty ran excitedly around below it, flapping its wings from time to time, but dared not fly up for fear of disturbing its owner's experiment.

Although, in terms of lineage, the Fireball Dragon is also her close relative and her kind, Fireball Dragons do not have human morality and have almost no empathy.

In the mind of this ferocious fire dragon, the tree bee is itself > family > clan; everything else is a competitor and prey.

Of course, for Betty, there is another "owner" who is the highest priority.

Although she initially submitted to her master out of fear, Betty discovered that having multiple masters wasn't so bad after spending these days together.

Her master is powerful enough to protect her, and he also has a vast territory that is independent of reality, as well as all sorts of strange and wonderful magical potions for her to enjoy as snacks.

Here, she doesn't have to worry about hunting, she doesn't have to be afraid of sleeping in a half-awake state, and she doesn't have to fight against other magical creatures that invade or stray into her nest.

What Betty liked most was that her owner brought over a lot of fire dragons, but only disassembled them into strange shapes, without taking any part of them as spoils. After using them, he basically handed them over to her to deal with.

Over the past few days, Betty has collected 16 dragon horns (some fire dragons have more than two horns).

This glorious "achievement," if one day she could return to her tribe...

Seemingly imagining that scene, Betty stared with increasing longing at the fireball dragon in mid-air with her vertical pupils.

Of course, she felt more awe than anything else.

Awe filled the air as the magical fluctuations spread outwards, disturbing the entire space. The air pressed down heavily, causing the grass to droop.

She felt even greater awe for her master, who was also floating in mid-air not far away and had caused all of this.

In Betty's dragon-like vision, her master was radiating an intense light—not real light, but the imprint of a vast and clear magical power on the world.

It was also deeply etched in Betty's mind, just as it had been when she first met him.

Powerful, dazzling, like the sun!
If only... if he didn't have any other dragons...

Seemingly thinking of something unpleasant, Betty's vertical pupils narrowed to slits as she glanced at a nearby object, also floating in mid-air, enveloped by a lot of unknown ingredients in a liquid.

"laugh!"

Betty snorted maliciously.

Perhaps sensing the malice in her eyes, the white-eyed man looked over.

But he only glanced at her before looking away, his colorful eyes continuing to stare at Vaughn.

Elegant and beautiful.

Even though she was enveloped in the medicinal liquid, and blood was seeping from her body—a side effect of the live experiment—she still maintained her composure.

Betty hated her pretentious manner!
Sigh, why doesn't the master kill her?

Lost in thought, Betty suddenly looked up and noticed that the magical fluctuations in the air were gradually weakening. After participating in these past few days, she understood that this meant her master's experiment was about to end.

Sure enough, as the magical fluctuations gradually subsided, Vaughn slowly descended.

But Betty didn't rush to meet them immediately, because her fire dragon vision clearly saw that the "light" around her master, which looked like the sun, suddenly expanded.

A large amount of vibrant color shot out from that "light," making him look as if he were on fire.

Betty tilted her head in confusion, wondering what had happened. She only sensed that the already powerful aura around her master had suddenly become even stronger.

Betty's perception was correct.

"The magic is increasing..."

As he slowly drifted down from the sky, Vaughn clearly felt a magical power, seemingly emanating from nowhere, smoothly and without hindrance merging into his body.

As if they originally belonged to him!
Vaughn was not surprised by this sudden surge of magic.

Because, with the end of the experiment, he has already completed the system's side quest ③!
Side Quest 3: Research all the magic of the fire dragons and figure out their basic principles (Completed)

【Progress: 10/10】

[Rewards: 100 Magic Scales, Spell Development Module (Claimed)]

A system panel popped up in front of me. In addition to the notifications that the task was completed and the reward was claimed, the details on the panel also changed as the magic power of the task reward was injected.

[Host: Vaughn Weasley]

[Magic Scale: 694 (500 for an ordinary adult wizard)]

【天赋：魔咒学8、黑魔法6、变形术8、魔药学10、草药学6、炼金术6、占卜学2 (满值为10)】

[Spells: Occlumency LV5 (MAX), Ironclad Charm LV5 (MAX), Disarming Charm LV5 (MAX), Flight Charm LV5 (MAX)...]

【诅咒：复生咒LV1（1/4）、岁月咒LV2（7/24）……】

[Ancient Magic: Soul Stealing Charm LV0 (1/4), Vorn's Living Disintegration Ritual]

[Alchemy Level 0 (5/20)]

[Spell Development Module]

[Potions: "Vaughn Beauty" series, Wolfsbane Potion, etc....]

【Reputation Points: 42】

“694 magic power scale. According to the system’s evaluation system, this is far beyond that of an ordinary adult wizard.” Bowing his head, he felt the growth of his physical strength and magic power gradually slow down. The rapidly jumping magic power scale numbers on the panel in his field of vision gradually settled at 694. Vaughn thought to himself.

The difference between ordinary wizards—which also includes special professions like Aurors—is actually not that great.

Especially in terms of magic.

Most wizards are in the late stages of physical development when they first reach adulthood.

The magic that grows rapidly with development will eventually enter a period of stagnation.

Without special circumstances, the magical power a wizard can increase is mostly the standard of an ordinary adult wizard in the system. Depending on the talent level, there may be a difference of several dozen points, but in terms of the total number, this difference is not so large as to be insurmountable.

"However, if the numerical difference exceeds 100, the concept is different."

Feeling the sudden surge of magical power within his body, although he was unsure of exactly how much stronger it was due to the lack of quantitative standards in reality, Vaughn could roughly judge through perceptual comparison that he was now roughly on par with a seasoned old wizard like Babajid Akinbad.

It has surpassed Michael Graves, whom we met last time!
Of course, magic is just a bonus reward for side quest ③.

Vaughn looked at the new column that had appeared on the panel:
[Spell Development Module]

(End of this chapter)