A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 721 The Expected Conflict

After returning to school, Felix spent some time finding Valen, who was happily taking a stroll—he had left Valen at school because the meeting had been too serious. Valen had become even more unruly since he last saw him.

Felix asked in an inquisitive tone, "I heard there's a flying Niffler roaming around the Forbidden Forest lately?"

Valen shook his head repeatedly, indicating that he knew nothing about it. "Really?" he patted his chest, suggesting with feigned seriousness that they could ask Hagrid, who might know.

"...There are many dangerous creatures in the Forbidden Forest," Felix warned it.

Valen waved his hand dismissively.

Felix followed its gaze and saw the little bell tied to its scarf, then reached out and scooped it up—

"Confiscated—this is for your safety, not an adventure item." Valen could only watch helplessly as Felix flicked his finger, and the cute silver bell unfurled, transforming into a small silver bird.

This was a guardian spell specially set up by Felix. The guardian itself isn't the key point; the key point is that it contains a magical loop containing part of the mandrake—if danger arises, a single roar from the guardian could knock out several unsuspecting wizards. This spell is also effective against creatures near the Forbidden Forest.

They walked toward the castle.

"You like the Forbidden Forest? I know some particularly delicious spices... Professor Sprout has kept them very well hidden."

When Felix was awakened the next day by the enticing aroma of roasted pumpkin, he stood by the window, feeling as if he had stepped into another world. The distant mountains were covered in a blanket of snow, and the Black Lake at its foot was frozen with a thin layer of ice, awaiting a heavy snowfall.

He spent Halloween at school and took the time to get to know his students again. Strangely, no one could distinguish him from the memory. Felix felt he had to be much more serious and solemn when teaching his students.

He even attended Slughorn's party with great interest. Snape remained aloof, but he casually mentioned his "minor progress" in potions—Felix refrained from asking for details so Snape wouldn't have time to boast. Amelie Vance wasn't interested in the food at the party, but she was captivated by the classical music played. She asked Slughorn the name of the recording, to which Slughorn casually replied:

"You can't buy this anywhere else. It's from a Muggle store... Yes, it's been specially treated. I have some connections with the Muggle government... I can give you a set..."

After Halloween, Felix realized he was still the Vice-Headmaster, so he went to Professor McGonagall to fulfill his duties—and maybe chat with the Sorting Hat. Unfortunately, the filthy hat wasn't having any of it, yelling and shouting, excluding Felix from any interaction. Felix was somewhat disgruntled. The easy days didn't last long; it was a crucial time, so after a week he returned to the Federation headquarters, acting like a giant transceiver, constantly receiving and sending all sorts of information. For a time, over a dozen different forms of Guardians appeared simultaneously in the Federation headquarters' lobby.

The progress made in the past few days was very encouraging; some countries with faster negotiation processes had reached the final stage, which was very encouraging for everyone at the federation headquarters. One morning, Akinbad, returning from the United States, brought bad news.

"Things are not looking good." He handed Felix a newspaper succinctly. Felix took it and saw that the headline in bright red letters read, "The Auror Squad has met with tragic demise."

Setting down his newspaper, Akinbad briefly explained what had happened: a three-man Auror squad investigating the local government's secret control of young wizards had encountered an accident, and there were no survivors.

"The military is involved?" Felix asked in surprise.

"It's spellcasters, another group of spellcasters," Akinbad said. "It happened last night. The other teams received the last signal, but by the time they arrived, it was too late. The reporters at the Capitol saw it..."

Half an hour later, Felix appeared at the Magical Congress of the United States—Woolworth Building.

Three corpses lay before him. Horace Greenstinch, president of the Magical Congress of the United States, the principal of Ivermony School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the director of magical security, his deputy Eurya, and several high-ranking congressional officials were all present, their faces grim.

"Any leads at the moment?"

“There may be other wizarding organizations involved,” Horace Greenstinch said somberly. “I suspect they are descendants of the Purifiers. I sent out a large number of people around Halloween to monitor anyone acting suspiciously—it’s theoretically entirely feasible, as many wizards have purchasing plans during the holidays, and I suspect someone will take advantage of the situation…”

This was the plan he had mentioned to Felix. But the plan was only half successful; the Aurors did discover the anomaly, but none of them returned alive to report.

Felix neither confirmed nor denied the "Purgers" theory. Historically, the Purgers played a highly disgraceful role as wizarding traitors, much like mercenaries paid for their services. American wizards once feared and hated them intensely. After the Magical Congress of America was established, these individuals were immediately purged, with only a small number escaping punishment and hiding among the population.

Unable to retaliate against Congress, and even less daring to use magic, they even abandoned children with magical talents. As it turned out, for a long time these people did not choose to cooperate with the authorities. As executioners who had sold their own people to Puritans and official extremist organizations for money, they knew all too well what kind of torment they would suffer. This fear and hatred of the Magic Congress were passed down from generation to generation.

So the incident involving the twelve magically gifted children a while back really was an accident. No, maybe not an accident. Felix suddenly realized, what if it was a test by some people? A test of wizards and public opinion? Suppose those children were being watched by a small group of people, and when the time was right, they would be transported to an unmarkable sea base. They were a 'fixed quota' every year, only this year they were being used for other purposes…

Felix carefully examined the bodies of the three victims, and after a long while, he looked up.

"I believe these three Aurors have encountered the people we've been looking for, except those children have now grown up and become our enemies."

This is almost the worst-case scenario.

"Could this secret plan have been going on for decades...? Even so, they couldn't possibly be a match for properly trained Aurors, those people who haven't even received a complete magical education," exclaimed a bearded wizard at the scene—who was the head of magical security.

"They haven't received a complete 'school education'," Felix corrected. "It's true that they find it difficult to accept orthodox magical instruction, but that doesn't mean they have to learn from scratch. The simplest way... is to gain the trust of any wizard, and they can freely enter and leave the magical world, easily purchasing publicly published spellbooks, potion ingredients, and secondhand wands from magical shops..."

"As for whether their true skill level surpasses that of the Aurors... I can't tell yet. There are many possibilities for what actually happened. For example, these Aurors might have been careless, deceived, or genuinely less skilled. But one thing is certain... their opponents are not ordinary people, but professionals who have undergone rigorous training and have been carefully nurtured."

A blurry human figure appeared at Felix's fingertips. He leaned closer to examine the faceless face closely and whispered:

"No magic school was ever founded to train agents, assassins, or killers—we learn magic to better control our magical power, and it's also driven by the subconscious desire within the wizarding community to grow stronger, or at least avoid decline. Thus, wizarding education evolved from early family and apprenticeship systems to formal schooling, establishing communities and giving rise to many professions that seem superfluous to me. All of this was to facilitate better interaction between people. But the adversaries lurking in the shadows don't see it that way; they only want to squeeze out as much talent as possible in a particular area in the short term."

"Let's try to outline the upbringing of those people. Ignoring those who died in accidents, they generally left their parents before the age of eleven, and then spent the next few years at sea, undergoing various experiments, brainwashing, and training... Once they were a little older, they would go out to carry out missions. So what were those missions?"

Horace Greenstinch felt a chill run down his spine. His mind raced, and he suddenly turned to someone, urgently saying, "Juria, immediately go to the common magic shops and ask the shopkeepers if they've served any young wizards. They all have a common characteristic: they've all bought various magical materials in bulk more than once. And—" he said with some difficulty, "Investigate those reclusive wizards, check if anyone has mysteriously disappeared in recent years?"

Yuria left hurriedly with a serious expression.

The people present had various expressions and remained silent for a long time. Finally, the principal of the Iphamoni Magic School broke the silence: "Mr. Hyp, based on this situation, is it possible that the other party has already trained a sufficiently powerful spellcaster?"

After thinking for a moment, Felix dismissed the possibility.

"Those people's overall quality is probably at most at the level of an average excellent Auror, and that's only in one aspect. There's no possibility of going any further, let alone exploring the true meaning of magic... As for the evidence, judging from the wounds they left behind, their regular spells had obvious characteristics of dark magic. This doesn't mean their magical skills are profound, but rather it's a manifestation of an imbalance of magical power."

"This also leads to the conclusion that, regardless of who the other party is, the time span for them to do this is not too long, definitely no more than thirty years."

Why do you say that?

"—If this goes on any longer, these people will suffer the backlash themselves. You know, a wizard's magic is directly connected to the soul and will directly reflect on their personality..."

After a long silence.

"What should we do next?"

"Negotiations will proceed as scheduled. I have a feeling that the negotiations will not go too smoothly in the future. There is a deeply hidden force that will try every means to obstruct the signing of the contract... However, the fact that someone has taken the initiative to step forward makes it easier for us to unravel the mystery and find the key figure. In addition, I need to make a map."

……

The entire month of November was spent in an unsettling atmosphere. Although more than a dozen ministries of magic and local governments around the world signed contracts recognizing the status of the Charter of the Federation and Alliance, many people also publicly questioned the validity of the law, arguing that organizations like the International Wizarding Federation, which supersede wizards and even the will of governments of various countries, were illegal and should be banned.

Some of the terms mentioned above are simply intolerable to conglomerates and governments in certain countries.

The delegation from the Magical Congress of the United States held three rounds of negotiations with the local government. However, as the negotiations progressed, some fundamental issues arose, becoming irreconcilable contradictions between the two sides, and the negotiations once again reached a stalemate. Some hardline voices appeared publicly in the news media: an obscure legislator from a remote state proposed that the government fund the establishment of special schools to create and take over the magical world belonging to Americans. This statement immediately gained the support of medical and arms conglomerates, who expressed their willingness to donate to this great cause.

But the very next day, the congressman burst into tears in front of reporters, recounting the "evil crimes" he had committed. This almost immediately became evidence of the wizard's manipulation of people's minds. Subsequently, a series of heinous incidents were "indirectly" proven to be related to the wizard. The delegation of the Magic Congress negotiated for more than half a month, only to find that the public opinion environment had completely changed.

The lukewarm reception of the Magical Congress delegation from the United States, the boycott of the International Confederation of Wizards, and the growing global public opinion all point to one conclusion—a conclusion reached by many government advisors—that a direct confrontation is inevitable.

To some extent, this is the result everyone hopes for—provided the conflict doesn't occur in their own country—and for many, the fact that it has dragged on for so long is incredible, making one wonder if it's the work of magic.

A group of over two million people hidden beneath the surface, out of step with the world order, possessing abilities that only exist in literature and fairy tales... Yet, so far, not a single conflict of any significant size has erupted, as if everything were preordained, which is very strange.

The shadow of war never truly receded. Initially, it lingered in Britain, but as the situation in Britain stabilized, the attention of various countries turned to the most chaotic Africa. Although Africa was chaotic and small conflicts occurred frequently, it never truly spiraled out of control. Some people waited and waited, and finally the Charter of the Federation and the League was introduced. Then, dozens of countries simultaneously launched sweeping negotiations... It was nothing short of a miracle that things had developed to this point.

But some things are unavoidable. Other methods only serve to delay and deter, remaining mere theoretical exercises. Only a direct confrontation can truly reveal the strength of two different groups. Whether the wizards are easily defeated, or modern weapons are completely ineffective against magic, only a real battle will allow those increasingly restless and dark thoughts to sink back into the rotten mire, acknowledging the birth of a new order.

What has caused disagreements among think tanks from various countries is when and where this conflict will break out, who will instigate it, and—how many people will die or be injured, and whether it can be kept within a certain range.

The bad weather in November continued into early December. As everyone held their breath and waited anxiously, the last month of 1997 arrived. Finally, Babajid Akimbad, the president of the International Wizarding Federation, and Felix Heap, the first president of the International Pan-Magic Alliance, solemnly warned all wizards.

One stone caused a thousand waves!

It's almost the end of the month again, so I'm asking for your monthly votes!

(End of this chapter)