I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 374 The Wizarding Conference is in Progress

[August 1995, Sweden, Headquarters of the International Federation of Wizards]

In the center of the auditorium at the Federation headquarters, several huge metal chandeliers hang, their branches spreading out like the leaves of a dream tree, with over a hundred candles casting flickering light among them.

Its light cast a deathly pale glow on the faces of everyone present, leaving them devoid of any color.

The air was filled with the smell of cooled meat gravy, which wasn't pleasant—it smelled like a kitchen that hadn't been cleaned all night and had been left overnight.

It was cold, greasy, and disgusting.

The table was covered with food that had long since gone cold.

The menus were so varied and complex that they were dizzying, far surpassing the recipes that Hogwarts had been holding for over a thousand years. Yet, the aromas emanated from these luxurious and elegant plates.

The food on the plates had either been eaten only briefly or remained untouched, and had been sitting there for at least several hours.

During this half-day, the representatives from various wizarding governments did not eat a single meal, but equally, no one dared to remove the tableware.

This enormous circular hall was originally off-limits to food, but with the collapse of the old empire, some of these rules were abandoned by the current wizards.

Here—a long-running, haggling negotiation is taking place, and the room is full of people. Whether they are translators, clerks, or the representatives themselves, they all know that a storm is brewing at the negotiating table in front of them.

Finally, after a long silence, directly in front of the circular seats of the delegates, on the magnificent dais, beneath the huge emblem of the International Wizarding Federation, the current vice president of the federation, Babajid Akinbad, handed a manuscript to the secretary-general of the conference.

An African witch, wearing a dark purple vest, with a darker complexion, whose African features, though no longer so obvious after generations of mixed blood, have become an indelible part of her aura, is Serphis Kamar, a pure-blood witch from Senegal. At only twenty-five years old, she has already reached the position of Secretary-General of the Federation, which is inseparable from her pure-blood family background.

Her father and grandfather, Yousef Kamar, were heroes of the First Global Wizarding War and were highly respected in the Federation, which she used to her advantage.

Of course—this is nothing in today's magical world, because the Federation is preparing to award a fifteen-year-old British witch the title of war hero.

"After a long period of investigation and revision, the first phase of the war report has been issued." Serphis Kama lowered his eyes slightly, quickly flipping through the manuscript in his hands.

"According to the Federation's statistics, and with the assistance of the national ministries of magic, a total of 115,763 cases of magical leaks have been discovered—all within this month. The International Wizarding Secrecy Act has become a dead letter. Based on the proposal from the nine nations, should wizards completely abandon secrecy, or should the representatives propose specific methods to revise the secrecy act?"

"We must never abandon the secrecy law."

The first to rise was Percy Weasley, the British Ministry of Magic's representative to the Federation, who immediately issued a statement. He was originally the Minister's secretary, but because of the importance of this meeting, he had taken on the role of the British representative and rushed to Sweden.

"The current world wizarding order is all built on the Law of Secrecy. If we abandon the Law of Secrecy, not to mention what would happen to Muggles, we ourselves would immediately fall into chaos. Until another effective world magical order is established, we should maintain the world magical order under the Law of Secrecy to the greatest extent possible."

Percy's speech was thought-provoking, but had little effect.

The British Ministry of Magic, both in the past and present, has had most of its ministers who are typically conservatives with a traditional wizarding education.

For over a century, British wizards have tended to support a policy of "balance" that is constrained by tradition and seeks to maintain the status quo.

This policy has always been the governing philosophy of the British Ministry of Magic.

Just like the British government's diplomatic goal, for 500 years they have been trying to create a divided Europe. Therefore, they united the Netherlands to restrain Spain, united Germany to restrain France, united France and Italy to restrain Germany, and united France to restrain Germany and Italy. This divide-and-rule strategy and offshore balancer has been extended almost seamlessly into the magical world.

However, the Ministry of Magic is not as clever as Muggles—they maintain 'balance' by relying on 'neutrality'.

This is why the British Ministry of Magic did not allow its own wizards to participate in World War I, and why British wizards remained neutral during the American Civil War. Even further back—during the Age of Exploration, when Muggles established global colonies, British wizards only participated to a minimal extent.

"I don't understand why we're arguing about a law that's already expired. The Muggle world isn't the world it was fifty years ago when news was relayed through newspapers. They have this more advanced thing now—what's it called—the telephone?"

"The moment the war began, Muggles all over the world knew about the events along the Mediterranean coast. We must face the situation, gentlemen and ladies—times have changed!" This was the immediate objection from the representative of the Italian Ministry of Magic.

As the country most severely affected by this incident, Italy doesn't care about secrecy laws or anything like that. What they need now is support—support from wizards all over Europe. Just casting a forgetting spell on a Muggle is enough to bring them to tears, not to mention that if someone is cast a spell today, they might receive a phone call tomorrow and learn the 'truth' about the waters off Sicily from someone else.

This annoyed them.

Italy must no longer uphold its secrecy laws—meaning the Federation must provide comprehensive aid to Italy, and they will also lift the entry permit process for wizards, allowing more wizards to come to Italy to join their work. If the Federation cannot do this, then they will abandon them. What secrecy laws? What Federation? If they don't offer benefits, they'll have no choice but to learn from the Italian Muggle government and open their borders wide, allowing Middle Eastern refugees to flow into Europe.

The Greek representative, who sat next to the Italian representative, expressed the same sentiment.

After hearing the Italian representative's speech, half of the people in the hall looked at him with disgust, while the other half fell into deep thought. The wizard had never been so divided.

"Mr. Chairman, distinguished delegates." At this moment, another national delegate stood up.

From his language, it was clear that he was a German wizard.

"The International Law on Secrecy is a very important and sacred law, concerning the life and death of all wizards. In our view, no crime is as serious as violating the law on secrecy."

The idea of ​​questioning the secrecy law must be completely eradicated; otherwise, the wizarding world will inevitably suffer the consequences of its actions.

A very German-style speech—though his words sounded sarcastic and sarcastic to the other delegates.

Germany could only utter such words because during the First Wizarding War, the entire German Ministry of Magic was a follower of Grindelwald. They said this because of political correctness; any country in the world could propose to abolish the secrecy law, but they could not.

However—no one knows what the Germans are really thinking, whether they truly believe it or are just being sarcastic.

"Hmph—" The Greek representative stood up.

"I must warn you all that the countries along the Mediterranean coast have suffered immense damage. Regardless of the outcome of this conference, we will be unable to enforce the secrecy laws. From now on, whether the region is under international administration or direct control by the Federation, the Greek Ministry of Magic will not send a single person to handle any matters related to Muggles!"

"Insolence!" Secretary General Serphis Kamar's face instantly darkened. "Perhaps I misheard, but it sounds like you're threatening the Federation, threatening all the countries of the world!"

As the Secretary-General of the Federation, whose entire organization is built on the secrecy law, Serphis Kamar would not tolerate such a thing if the law were to become invalid, as it would have unpredictable and disastrous consequences for the Federation's power.

"A threat?" the Greek sneered.

That damned hurricane followed a circular trajectory from the Ionian Sea in Italy through the Strait of Otranto into Greece, and finally headed towards Egypt.

Because of the windward position, the evil spirits in the sea did not reach Italy, but instead caused great misfortune to Greece, which was downwind. Although most of the remains went to the Egyptian coast, a large amount remained on the Greek coast.

These days, ominous disasters are erupting all over Greece, like a biohazard crisis. The entire Ministry of Magic is busy putting out fires, and nobody cares about the damn secrecy laws!

"So what if I threatened you! You fool, relying on your father's legacy, what right do you have to rebuke me! Let me tell you, and let me tell all of you." With a thumbs-up and admiring gaze from the Italian representative beside him, the Greek surveyed the room, "If Greece doesn't weather this crisis, then none of you—none of you will get away unscathed!"

"Enough!" Serphis Kamar roared from the platform, her most painful wound reopened. She hated it when people mentioned her father's family, because it made it seem like she hadn't tried at all. "Watch your words! This is the Federation, not the Greek Ministry of Magic!" she retorted sarcastically.

"Watch out! Watch out my ass! You don't like me? Go ahead and start a war against Greece!" The Greek, who seemed to have gotten some kind of crazy idea, widened his eyes and seamlessly switched from a gentleman to a local thug.

"Is this the Federation? Where is the fairness? Where is the justice? The war is over, and you just walk away, leaving us with all the wounds of war. Haha—you're so noble! So righteous!"

"Hmph! Since things have come to this point, we won't hold back. If the International Wizarding Federation cannot come up with feasible relief measures within three days, then the Greek Ministry of Magic will join the Greek Muggle government. We will have no choice but to rely on their power to quell the domestic unrest. I believe they will be more than happy to do so."

"How dare you!"

This time, it wasn't just Secretary General Serphis Kama on the podium; a host of high-ranking members of the federation, including Vice President Babajid Akinbad, and most of the representatives from various countries, who expressed strong indignation.

Join the Muggle government!

How could you say such a thing? What an outrageous statement!

To say that the Greek Ministry of Magic was at its wit's end and on the verge of collapse would certainly not be believed. Everyone present was intelligent and could tell what he wanted—nothing more than for the Federation to clean up his mess, and preferably with soft paper, and be the first to clean it up for him.

However—they weren't sure if they would actually defect to the Muggles if they didn't hand the paper to the Greeks.

This is absolutely shocking.

Such outrageous language has never been heard in the magical world for hundreds of years.

"Ansetus, do you know what you're saying? You're a wizard, not a Muggle!" On the other side of the Circus, the American representative stood up angrily. As one of the countries most at odds with Muggle influence, the Magical Congress of the United States has gone to great lengths over the years to prevent Muggle ideology from infiltrating the country.

There's nothing we can do about it. Unlike European countries, the Ministry of Magic has a long history, and wizards have a deep sense of belonging to it.

Unlike the United States, the time it took for wizards to establish the Magical Congress was no longer than the time it took for the country to be established.

Their affiliation with the Magical Congress wasn't that deep, and the Magical Congress's laws from decades ago—prohibiting wizards from marrying Muggles, with violators facing imprisonment—further deepened wizards' resentment towards the Magical Congress.

Many wizarding families in the United States fly the American flag, which is rare in the history of wizarding worldwide. The last wizard to have such a favorable view of a national regime was Su-Lien.

"Muggles? What's wrong with Muggles?" the Greek said dismissively. "Didn't our Muggle lady become a war hero? What—is this making your Axley family (one of the Twenty-Eight Pureblood Holy Families) anxious?"

"Miss Granger's identity is beyond question. She is a descendant of Godric and the heir to Gryffindor." Mr. Yaxley from the United States said coldly, his eyes burning with rage, as if he wanted to burn the heretic Ansetus of Greece at the stake.

"Ha ha—" Mr. Anselus suddenly burst into loud laughter. "To avoid embarrassing purebloods, you're even going to change their family trees? How ridiculous—who doesn't know that young lady's background? Why don't you have Mr. Weasley over there repeat it for you?"

"This is the consensus in the magical world," Mr. Yaxley insisted.

"Publicly recognized? Did you even ask me? You publicly recognized? The magical world? Can you represent the magical world yourself? Bullshit—since this 'magical world' gentleman is so awesome, what's the point of our meeting? I propose we adjourn now. Everyone go home. Hey—if there's nothing else, I should go find the Greek president and demand my high-ranking position and salary, and go enjoy life."

With that, he got up to leave.

"Traitor! Wizard traitor!" The dog that jumped out was an Australian.

Despite being within the sphere of influence of British wizards, the Australian Ministry of Magic is in cahoots with the Magical Congress of the United States, which can be considered as betraying its own father and acknowledging a godfather.

That one bark immediately triggered a chorus of barks from countless other dogs.

Inside the auditorium, words like "Traitor, hang him!" were heard everywhere.

Mr. Ansetus was even more blunt, spouting all sorts of vulgarities in fluent Greek, saying things like "fuck you" that left even the translator speechless.

In short, it's incredibly lively here.

"Order!!!"

"Order!!!"

On the podium, Vice President Babajid Akinbad struck the small hammer in front of him loudly.

He kept saying "Order" in an attempt to rouse the last vestiges of reason from the representatives of various countries and restore order to the venue.

Unfortunately, nobody paid any attention to him.

Damn it—who do you think you are? If Dumbledore hadn't nominated you to be vice president, would you even be sitting in that position?

Do you really think you're something special?

The noise continued, even escalating, with the food on the table being turned into projectiles, which the wizards threw around without wasting a single one.

Babajid Akinbad rubbed his temples, his face extremely embarrassed, and even a surge of anger rising within him. If it weren't for his status and dignity, he would have loved to rush up right now and show these guys what African witchcraft was all about!

"Mr. Zhang, Mr. Zhang!" After having a headache for a long time, he decided to ask for help—then he turned to look at an Asian man in the first row of the circular hall, who was only two seats away from Weasley from Britain.

Those were representatives from the Ministry of Magic of the Great Ming Dynasty. As the most powerful ministry of magic in the world, if any other ministry could spare manpower for rescue, it would only be them.

"Hmm? Hmm? What's wrong?" As if he heard someone calling him, Mr. Zhang slowly woke up. He looked around blankly. "Is the meeting over? Then I should leave." With that, he got up to leave.

"No, no," Babajid Akinbad forced a smile, "It's about the post-disaster reconstruction."

"Ah—is it a vote?" Mr. Zhang was still confused. "We abstain, Mr. Chairman."

"No—it's not a vote, you—"

Pack!

You pretend!

Babajid Akinbad's smile was almost bursting out; he was on the verge of collapse.

Now—he has only one thought in his mind!

That is—damn it, I'm quitting this damn vice president position!

Where's Dumbledore?

Where did he go?

"Ahem!!!" At this moment, the representative of another country standing up stood up next to Mr. Zhang.

That was a Slav, with a strong, muscular physique, wearing a furry robe, and even though it was August, he was still wearing a hat.

"Everyone—" With the blessing of a loud voice spell, his words could easily reach the ears of every wizard present, "Russia has a plan to provide humanitarian aid to underdeveloped countries in the region."

Upon hearing this, the entire venue suddenly fell silent.

Then everyone involuntarily looked at him.

After a pause of about five or six seconds, the dispute resumed.

The Russians want to find an outlet to the Mediterranean? Dream on!

You wouldn't even get it if I sold my ass to Great Britain.

At least Great Britain has produced another legendary wizard, and a witch at that, with potential no less than Dumbledore's. The next century will still belong to British wizards. The Great Hall was in chaos; fights did break out, but they were shameless, not stupid. They understood the importance of seizing the future!

The conflict continues.

No one knows how long this endless haggling will last, but everyone knows that they will eventually compromise. Does the wizard really want a Muggle as a subordinate?

European countries are simply unwilling to pay the price to aid the countries along the Mediterranean coast.

It's a bottomless pit, because no one can say for sure how much they've lost.

In addition, they have other issues to discuss.

—After that war recorded by the wizards, known as —The Wrath of the Sea God.

The political balance of the wizarding world has been broken, and a new order has not yet been formed. The current international wizarding society is in a state of chaotic disorder. Under such circumstances, any extreme behavior may occur—such as the counterattack of dark forces, intelligent beings, werewolves, vampires, necromancers, and even fairies.

All aspects require manpower, and a werewolf attack on a child has occurred in France—the first such incident in over a decade.

What made these dark creatures so arrogant that they thought they could turn the world upside down?

It wasn't yet the chaotic Ministry of Magic and the severe shortage of Auror personnel.

The Aurors who were struck by the ominous sign had a curse planted in their bodies, like a plague—it started from the wounds and spread throughout their bodies, eventually transforming them into another kind of creature.

How many wizards were injured in the war?

How many people are involved in this conversion?

This is probably the real disaster. The main reason why European countries are unwilling to help Greece is because they are helpless against this curse, which is like the Black Death, and can only try their best not to get involved.

But now they realize that it's probably impossible for them to extricate themselves from the situation.

The world is like this, and so are they.

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Just then, an unusual commotion arose outside the conference room. The endless haggling at the negotiating table paused, and everyone around the round table turned around; they had all heard the commotion outside.

What happened? Who would dare cause a disturbance in such a place? Was it an attack?

The attendees tensed up, some even speculating that the Muggle army had discovered the place and was planning a surprise attack.

This idea is obviously absurd.

When the ancient oak door was pushed open and everyone saw the person who entered, they all put down their wands and their taut letters.

The newcomer stood ramrod straight, his eyelids slightly lowered, staring expressionlessly at the center of the round table, before stepping forward.

Everyone was watching him intently; everyone was looking at him expectantly.

A look of relief appeared on Mr. Babajid Akimbad's face.

He quickly got up, as if fleeing, and left the seat that felt like it was being pricked by needles.

The newcomer immediately took his place.

Albus Dumbledore pressed his lips tightly together, his blue eyes slowly sweeping over everyone sitting at the table. Finally, he raised a hand and took off his glasses. As he placed the glasses on the table, the frame collided with the wooden tabletop with a "thud" because he couldn't control the trembling of his wrist.

Afterwards, the entire hall fell silent, and all the wizards returned to their seats and sat down normally.

(End of this chapter)