I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 491 The Storm Is Brewing

"But I suspect that book isn't just about 'The Half-Blood Prince'."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Look at the signature, darling," Irving said. "If you were the Half-Blood Prince, would you write: This book will forever belong only to the Half-Blood Prince?"

"Hmm—" Hermione paused, then suddenly realized what Owen meant.

The statement "—forever belongs only to—" is too forceful.

When a writer signs their name, they only write their own name and do not add such a sentence in front of it.

"The more something is emphasized, the more it proves to be problematic."

"Forever mine"—this book must have other meanings, it is very important to our "Prince", while the most important thing in our "Child's" life seems to be only that person—a woman.

"So I guess this book isn't just the work of 'Slick-Haired Kid.' Didn't Slughorn say that a certain 'white moonlight' was one of his favorite students? Then she must have an exceptional talent for potions, and they even collaborated on the International Potions Masters Tournament, so..."

"So, she actually deserves credit for this book?"

"The logical deduction should be like this," Irving said.

"Oh—" Hermione looked at Harry. If her mother had contributed to the book's creation, then he probably wouldn't mind that the old textbook belonged to Snape.

"What kind of riddle are you two playing?" Harry asked, looking at the two of them in confusion.

He could tell that Hermione and Owen seemed to be talking about something.

"It's nothing." Owen glanced at Harry with pity, stood up, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Being a little dazed is good."

He then walked into the crowd.

The young wizards over there still have some issues with their wandless spellcasting skills.

Guidance is needed.

Harry—he didn't dwell on the previous question for long, and soon started talking to Hermione and the others about the witch from the Far East.

It must be said that Miss Zhang does have some tricks up her sleeve.

She taught Harry a meditation-like method of emotional management that allowed him to quickly enter a state of self-forgetfulness, making his learning of Occlumency much easier.

In just a few weeks, after attending only three or four classes, he made significant progress in his brain enclosed surgery.

We're not far from having a basic grasp of it.

Meanwhile, the various houses are also working overtime to select Quidditch players.

Hufflepuff is lying flat.

After Cedric graduated, their last decent player was gone.

Meanwhile, in Gryffindor, Harry and Ginny began a meticulous selection process, and managed to choose a group of people.

Ron also joined the team.

However, this almost entirely new team still needs a long period of training before it can unleash its full fighting potential.

October passed peacefully at Hogwarts.

But far from this paradise, there are other places.

Madness, however, is spreading unchecked.

Today is a day of celebration for journalists across Europe.

They had been in a state of euphoria for a week.

A shocking news story has emerged from the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Everyone who heard the news went crazy.

Europe, the Netherlands, The Hague.

As the capital of the province of South Holland in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, The Hague is actually the seat of the Dutch central government, parliament, and supreme court, even though Amsterdam is the capital as stipulated by the Dutch constitution. The vast majority of government agencies and foreign embassies are located there.

The Hague was already chilly in October.

A cold wind swept across the ground.

The streets were deserted, the bustling traffic was nowhere to be seen, and the entire block was cordoned off.

Armored vehicles patrolled every intersection.

A large number of soldiers were closely monitoring everything.

Armed patrol helicopters constantly flew overhead. Soldiers patrolled the buildings from time to time, and sirens blared on the streets non-stop since morning.

All of these things added a sense of desolation to the air.

The security was so tight because, in addition to the trial of individuals, the main defendant in this unprecedented trial was a nation.

In the initial trial, the judge declared that the defendant, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was required to compensate for all economic losses suffered throughout the European theater and for the arrest of those responsible.

The reason is that the organizers and some of the implementers of this war were British.

Following the verdict, British lawyers erupted in furious protests.

They expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict.

They believed that those war criminals could not be called British at all.

Do they have nationality? Do they have passports? Do they have proof of employment from any organization or business recognized by the Queen?

Just because they were born in Britain does not make them British.

Moreover, the International Court of Justice appears to have no jurisdiction over them, a signatory state.

It is the Pope's business to judge them.

We suggest that the United Nations and the Vatican coordinate their efforts, instead of contacting us.

Faced with the British lawyers' unreasonable arguments, the judges clearly had no interest in arguing with them and directly announced that the NATO Joint Fleet had already determined the outcome of the matter. If you have any objections, you can consult with the Joint Fleet Command. They are just going through the motions—besides, some people are already very unhappy with you.

I hope you won't be out of touch with reality.

Of course—judges are civilized people, and they would never say it so bluntly, but that's roughly the gist of it.

When the news reached Britain, the government was shaken.

Prime Minister Haque nearly fainted – the zeros at the end of the string of numbers in the court-awarded compensation left him bewildered.

Even if you sold Britain, you couldn't afford to lose the money.

Under international pressure, Prime Minister Haq had no choice but to travel to The Hague in person, hoping to reach a settlement with representatives of various countries before the final trial.

Of course—of course!

As journalists, they are not so happy that a country suffers a setback.

What truly drove the world into a frenzy was that countries finally revealed the truth.

The truth behind the so-called wizard.

News about magic, Death Eaters, and dark wizards flooded the world during this period, and no one believed that the old witch in the storybook was just a figment of imagination anymore.

The blood of hundreds of thousands of people.

The wizard's name was forever etched into the depths of people's hearts.

The International Law on the Secrecy of Wizards has finally become a worthless piece of paper.

Hatred had already begun to grow unchecked.

It spreads at the speed of light into the hearts of the living.

This time, all spellcasters will be implicated.

"One of my relatives has passed away."

Mid-October, in Hufflepuff's lounge.

Outside the window, rain and snow lashed against the seemingly fragile glass.

The young wizards sat chatting in armchairs.

The atmosphere in the lounge was oppressive.

Although the candlelight illuminated everyone's faces, it couldn't transfer any warmth to them.

"That one?"

"My father's cousin, who is my aunt," Justin said.

"Their family was traveling in Italy a month ago when they were attacked by a black sorcerer."

"They weren't the targets of the attack, but they died in the aftermath of the magic."

"When this got back to our family, my parents had a huge fight. My mother supported my becoming a wizard and attending Hogwarts, but my father seemed to be affected by the war. He..."

"They are his family after all," Hannah said gently, patting his shoulder. "Even we have been affected."

"There are Muggle relatives among half-blood wizards. Lately, there have been many rumors circulating in the Muggle world about blackening wizards, and we seem to have become the target of everyone's criticism."

"After all, the Death Eaters did those things," Ernie said. As one of the few pure-blood wizards present, his stance had also changed. "I heard that hundreds of thousands of people have died throughout Europe."

Hundreds of thousands of people!

"If I were a Muggle leader, I would also take vengeful revenge on wizards."

"We're on the verge of war with Muggles right now, and I'm worried a war might break out," Hannah continued.

"The Death Eaters are becoming too reckless," Justin said. "If this continues—the situation will become increasingly chaotic, and war is a possibility."

"I don't think it's necessary to worry about this. Muggles aren't going to attack Hogwarts anyway," Ernie said casually. "Besides, Muggles can't beat us."

"That's not necessarily true," Justin said. "You haven't seen those modern weapons. The biggest advantage wizards have over Muggles is their ability to hide themselves."

"If they have some way of distinguishing wizards from the crowd, I don't think we'll have an advantage."

"Ha—I think you're dreaming. It's ridiculous. What can Muggles do? I can blow up a bridge with a spell, can they?"

"Their artillery can do that too!" Justin said, somewhat displeased.

"You underestimate Muggles."

"I think you're underestimating wizards."

"Alright, stop!" Hannah reached out and pulled Justin away from her. "Stop arguing. No matter what, war is never a good solution. What we need to do is figure out how to avoid war in the first place."

"Irving—what are your thoughts?"

She glanced at Owen, who was slumped in an armchair with one leg draped over the armrest and a letter in his other hand.

When he heard someone call his name, Owen's emerald green eyes peeked out from behind the parchment.

"I don't have any particular thoughts," he said.

"Let's start the war!"

"What?" Hannah asked in astonishment.

Two months ago, we were in Berlin—witnessing the transformation of a modern city into hell.

After that, there was no need for further peace talks.

Hatred and bloodshed can only be repaid with death. War is inevitable. The European nations have been able to endure for two months not because they fear the wizards, but because they are gathering intelligence on them.

He sat up in his armchair, tucked Grindelwald's reply back into his pocket, and continued, "After the Italian naval battle, they had already gathered a lot of intelligence about wizards. Believe me, the high-ranking officials of various countries are also aware of the current state of wizards, as you know."

A modern nation's capacity for organization and mobilization is far beyond what an ancient king could ever match.

For example, I suspect that there is currently a list of all school-aged children in the UK on the Prime Minister's office desk, and MI5 could easily identify children who might be wizards from that list.

Our Prime Minister certainly knows names like Hermione, Justin, and Harry.

"You mean, the Muggles are plotting a war against the wizards?" Ernie asked, his face darkening.

"Obviously—" Owen shrugged, his tone tinged with disdain. "In fact, if it's just a matter of scheming and plotting, wizards are no match for Muggles."

Because wizards have too many methods, including mind control, truth potions, and even Imperius and Cruciatus Curse.

This has led to wizards developing a path dependency, making them not good at using their brains, and their logical reasoning ability is comparable to that of a Muggle teenager.

To put it politely, wizards are incredibly naive; to put it bluntly, they're a bunch of idiots.

"His IQ is shockingly low. He has absolutely no strategic vision. If it weren't for his ability to cast spells, he would have been chopped into eight pieces by the Muggles long ago."

Ernie wanted to argue, but he didn't have the courage to do so in front of Irving.

"You don't need to argue," Owen said calmly.

"Because the facts will soon be presented to you."

"You mean to talk about Muggles' plans to attack wizards?" He wasn't stupid; he easily guessed what Owen wanted to say.

"They will succeed," Owen said. "The wizards will pay a heavy price. I'm just curious how things will turn out."

"I think that's just your conjecture," Ernie said bluntly.

"I don't need to argue with you. Look—war is just around the corner."

He smiled without saying a word.

I looked up at the candlelight on the ceiling.

Irving has received Grandpa Grindelwald's letter.

The trip to Canada was not smooth sailing; finding an ancient tower within the Arctic Circle was no easy task.

For months, he had searched many places.

They practically turned the area within dozens of kilometers of the location marked as the Canadian Divine Tower in Ionia upside down.

But still, there was no progress.

According to Irving's speculation, the Divine Tower should be relatively intact, just like the one in the cave in England, which would require some means to open.

It's definitely not ancient magic.

Because Grindelwald obtained from Victor an item that could detect ancient magic.

So it must be some other method.

For some reason, Irving thought of Regulus and his mother.

Slughorn's photo must have a deeper meaning.

He might know something.

the next day.

early morning.

The cold wind outside the window blew all night without stopping.

Some people in the castle had already put on thick clothes.

Irving arrived at the auditorium early in the morning.

On the Gryffindor bench, Hermione had gotten up even earlier than him.

The little witch was holding a small booklet.

That was written after she organized Snape's old textbooks.

There were also some newspapers on the long table.

I don't know if it's a magic newspaper.

He even saw The Times and The Daily Telegraph.

"What's wrong?" Owen walked over and sat down next to her. "When did you start paying attention to these Muggle news stories?"

He casually picked up The Times from the table.

The front page headline was an article denouncing the country.

The title is: Who should be responsible for our lives, the wizard or the state?

The article vehemently criticizes the incompetence and cowardice of the current British government, stating that even the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in Europe have failed to make our government stand firm.

"This kind of trend is dangerous." Hermione looked up and put down the booklet in her hand.

"Although from their perspective, the newspaper articles were not wrong, they were advocating war."

Her brow furrowed slightly. "We—wizards and Muggles—are sitting on a powder keg, ready to explode at the slightest spark. And the result will be that we'll both be blown to smithereens!"

(End of this chapter)