A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

“It’s the House-Elf Rights Promotion Association!” Hermione said, displeased.

Harry and Ron grinned.

“This is it,” Felix said. “The intelligent races in the wizarding world are not limited to wizards. There are other magical creatures that are classified as human because their civilization and intelligence are close to those of wizards. We need to win them over.”

"Why?" Sirius asked, puzzled.

"Two reasons. First, if we only target wizards, the objective is too singular. We worry that the Muggle government might prejudicially perceive wizards as people living on their land and demand control over them, which we believe most wizards would not agree to."

"Let Muggles rule wizards?" Lucius Malfoy's expression darkened. He said coldly and arrogantly, "Should I change 'Merlin above' to 'The Queen above'?"

Moody scoffed gruffly, “Your ancestors used to shout that too.”

Lucius Malfoy glared at him fiercely.

Felix continued, as if he hadn't heard:

"Moreover, I personally believe that there are huge differences between the lifestyles of wizards and ordinary people in all aspects, which cannot be overcome in a short time. If the restrictions are lifted all at once, allowing each other to infiltrate each other's lives, it will inevitably lead to endless contradictions and conflicts. Therefore, at least until the negotiation results are in, there can only be one channel of communication between the two sides."

There was one more thing Felix didn't mention: even after the negotiations concluded, the wizarding world wouldn't be fully open to the outside world for a considerable period.

Instead, establish several communication channels. For example, build a small island.

“This leads to the second reason,” he said, holding up a finger. “Since wizards are not the only intelligent race in the magical world, there must be other voices. As the negotiations deepen, the Muggle government’s understanding of the magical world will also increase. They are very likely to bypass wizards and negotiate with other races separately, offering benefits and trying to test and win over the position of the goblins, whom I am particularly worried about. Therefore, the establishment of the Pan-Magical Alliance is imperative.”

The conversation continued, but Harry quietly tugged at Hermione and Ron's sleeves, and they backed away, Neville hesitantly following. Just as Harry was about to speak, Ginny appeared out of thin air, her hair disheveled, as if she had just been in a fight.

“I’ve gotten rid of my mother,” she said calmly.

Neville was stunned. He had lived at Black's ancestral home for a while before the start of fifth year, so he was quite familiar with Mrs. Weasley's temper tantrums. In private, when expressing his awe of Mrs. Weasley to Harry, he said, "She's a bit like my grandmother."

Ron gave him a thumbs up. Ginny rolled her eyes at him.

"Alright, stop fooling around. Harry, what do you want to say?" Hermione asked.

“Let’s ask the other sixth and seventh graders,” Harry whispered, “and see if they’re planning on getting a summer internship.”

Write down these people's names; they might come in handy. You've all heard that the Ministry of Magic is going to be extremely busy in the coming days.

"Will it work?" Hermione asked skeptically.

“Absolutely,” Neville said excitedly. “Like me—I don’t want to sit idly by and wait to die, and I’m sure there are many people who think the same way.”

“Unless they’re cowards,” Ginny said.

“Don’t say that, Ginny.” Harry shook his head. “Everyone thinks differently.” He thought of the various people he had seen in Dumbledore’s Pensieve, some wizards who avoided war and had no interest in fame or fortune, yet achieved great success in other fields.

“Let’s try contacting the frontline lookouts and members of the Spellbook Club first,” Harry said finally.

They dispersed, each holding a piece of parchment, and stealthily searched for their targets. They did this with a certain noble sentiment, and when they reunited, they had a list in their hands.

“If even half the people on the list respond to the call, it will be a huge help,” Harry said happily.

"Finally, some good news," Hermione said with a smile.

At this point, Ron stammered, and the others looked at him questioningly. He mumbled, "Um—I'm not sure if it's good news, but..."

“Ron, stop keeping me in suspense!” Ginny shouted.

“Alright,” Ron said softly, “come with me.” He led the group out of the Great Hall and onto the stone steps, where the sunlight was a bit too bright. “I’ve been wanting to say this for a while, but I felt it wasn’t the right time.” He took a deep breath and gripped his wand tightly.

To everyone's astonishment, he transformed into a sleek, shiny hunting dog.

"Merlin's beard!" Ginny exclaimed in shock.

“That’s really cool,” Harry said sincerely. “You’ve mastered the Animagus.”

Hermione playfully punched the dog's head, her smile radiant. "When did you learn that?"

“Congratulations,” Neville said.

The hounds circled them playfully, and Harry was suddenly overcome with a strong urge. He glanced back furtively, but the hallway behind him was empty. He transformed into a stag. Neville and Hermione followed suit, transforming into Animagus forms.

Ginny looked around and realized she was the only one still human, so she couldn't help but pout.

“Don’t rush, Mrs. Weasley,” Felix’s voice came from afar, “I’ve spared a glance, and if I’m not mistaken, Ginny should…”

"Uh, am I at the zoo?"

Ginny whirled around, her hands gripping the stag's antlers tightly as if she wanted to wrestle with it. A tortoiseshell cat, a hound, and a beaver watched with great interest. Of course, they all turned around to look at Professor Hyp and Mrs. Weasley, who were also stunned in place, with Sirius Black and Lupin following behind them.

A moment of silence.

A dark figure emerged, Sirius Black. Before anyone could react, he transformed into a large, rough-haired black dog, frolicking and leaping around them, looking extremely happy.

This change silenced Mrs. Weasley, who was about to speak; her lips were pressed tightly together, and her eyes blazed with anger.

As if things weren't chaotic enough, Felix coughed lightly twice, pulled a silver pocket watch from his pocket, and flipped open the cover to pretend to check the time. But the next second, a sniffler rushed out of it.

Valen used both hands and feet to quickly climb onto Felix's shoulder. Only then did it have time to notice the person beside it, and then its expression froze.

"Chirp (zoo)?"

The clock struck eleven, and the Prime Minister closed the door. He had just finished a hectic day, seeing off several members of parliament, and was now alone in his office. He took off his glasses and sat wearily in his chair.

He didn't know what he was expecting, but with such a major event, there should be some movement on the other side. Therefore, he resolutely refused several aides, even though his mind was blank as he was about to be questioned by Parliament.

A soft cough came from behind me.

The Prime Minister froze. Although this had happened several times in his career, he couldn't get used to it; he felt he never would. He could almost picture a figure with a silver wig on the filthy oil painting behind the chair, a painting that no amount of effort could remove.

A short man who looked like a frog was staring at him.

"To the Muggle Prime Minister. Requesting an urgent meeting. Please reply immediately. Yours truly, Burns."

“Okay, okay, I agree,” the Prime Minister said, then muttered under his breath, “as if my refusal would have made a difference.” Then his eyes were uncontrollably fixed on the fireplace, where green flames flickered and a woman with a monocle and a serious expression emerged.

The Prime Minister knew her—another minister who had succeeded Fudge. They had met twice. The first time was when Burns came to power. The Prime Minister had a good impression of the woman; although she always had a stern face, she was at least not as arrogant as her predecessor and was willing to answer his questions instead of looking at him like he was an idiot.

He stood up, his face contorted with rage—he believed he had every right to do so—but then his anger froze, the flames rose again, and a young man appeared. The man looked around the room with interest, and after a couple of seconds, he slowly strode out of the grate.

A thought suddenly popped into the Prime Minister's mind: Could this female minister be about to step down, and is that young man her successor? Is the change of government in the magical world really that rapid?

Chapter 686 Secret Talks at the Prime Minister's Residence

“Hello, Prime Minister,” Ms. Burns said solemnly. “This is Felix Heap, he is…”

“I am Professor of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” Felix said. The Prime Minister stood up and hesitantly shook his hand, increasingly unsure of Felix's identity. Perhaps a bodyguard or an advisor?

Ms. Burns sat upright in a hard wooden chair directly opposite the Prime Minister, with Felix beside her, head slightly bowed, fiddling with his fingers.

Therefore, the Prime Minister had no choice but to turn his attention to Burns.

“You know what?” the Prime Minister said sternly, “Although we’ve met twice, and Fudge before you had met several times, and there’s even a portrait of someone picking his nose and yawning hanging behind my desk every day…” His eyes bulged slightly, “I still hold onto a sliver of hope that perhaps you’re a sophisticated bunch of con artists, or that I’m just hallucinating from exhaustion after countless efforts to become Prime Minister…”

"Mr. Prime Minister—"

"I carefully concealed all of this, but all my illusions were shattered today! The whole country is in chaos! More than fifty county governors have been calling the Prime Minister's office non-stop, reporting to me that a bunch of strangely dressed guys are flying around overhead and performing all sorts of magical tricks—a cow in Kent flew across the Thames in full view of everyone, with more than two thousand people there! Good heavens, I've never felt this helpless, not even when my niece cried about the gerbil I gave her turning into a teacup and breaking."

"Excuse me, are you talking about gerbils?" Felix asked politely. Could the Prime Minister's niece be a potential little wizard? That would be good news, beneficial to the upcoming negotiations.

"When Fudge first met me, he turned the teacup on the table into a gerbil," the Prime Minister said through gritted teeth.

“Oh,” Felix said in a drawn-out tone, tapping the armrest of his chair with his index finger.

The Prime Minister regained his composure, straightened his tie, but was now panting heavily from speaking too much.

Ms. Burns finally found her chance to speak, and she went straight to the point, saying, "This is why we're here. Wizards can no longer hide; the merging of the two societies is inevitable."

“The two societies are merging,” the Prime Minister said slowly. “How do we merge them?” He was now completely calm.

“In the past, we only revealed our identities to the current Prime Minister, which was the best way to maintain secrecy. But after what happened today, the old method clearly doesn’t work anymore,” Ms. Burns said gently. “We both need to work closely together: you need to explain to the public why there is a group of wizards living on British soil, and I also need to reassure wizards who are used to secrecy laws to adapt to a completely different environment.”

“I did use my powers as Prime Minister to cooperate with you,” the Prime Minister said curtly. “For example… for example, the wanted poster for that little gray wolf Black, the wanted poster for Tom Riddle, and the gas leak that was illogical. I paid the price, but what was the result?”

The whole country is in chaos.

"You haven't grasped the gravity of the situation!" Ms. Burns showed her impatience for the first time. "This isn't about who cooperates with whom. When we first met, I spent an hour explaining to you the purpose of wizards and the Ministry of Magic. So you should understand..."

More than 20,000 wizards live on this land, and their ancestors owned it even before the Law of Secrecy was enacted.

Wizards and Muggles lived together, and these legends still circulate throughout the country today.

“But you’ve withdrawn,” the Prime Minister said nervously. “I haven’t seen any news about wizards in any of the publicly circulated newspapers—maybe they will after today—and now you want the two societies to merge. How am I supposed to convince the public that you are the ones hiding in the shadows maintaining order in Britain? Besides, I have to consider the opinions of Parliament, the Church, and the Army. They knew nothing about you before. Maybe one or two families knew, but would they dare to make it public? Well, unless—” His expression changed.

"Unless what?"

"Sigh, I can't just make things up without evidence. Perhaps you don't know our attitude towards refugees—"

Wizards are not refugees!

"Yes, yes, I know, but to the average person, it might not make much of a difference, especially since you all seem to be able to fly to the heavens and dive into the earth. Who knows if one day you'll suddenly pop out of the fireplace and say, 'Good heavens, wizards stealing things!' You might find it funny, you can conjure up coins, but that won't stop people from thinking that way..."

Felix didn't laugh, and neither did Ms. Burns. While there were indeed many thieves in the wizarding world, and quite a few at that, most of them weren't interested in Muggle property, and the penalties for violating the Law of Secrecy were far more severe than petty theft.

“I think,” the Prime Minister said, pulling out a green striped handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow, “that if wizards could be nominally under the government’s jurisdiction and subject to legal oversight, while swearing allegiance to the Queen—nominal, of course—I think things would be much easier.”

Ms. Burns stared intently, barely managing not to turn to look at Felix; she had anticipated the Prime Minister's reaction perfectly.

“We must win over the Muggle Prime Minister,” Felix analyzed. “I know he can’t have complete control over this matter. The Cabinet, Parliament, the military, the public, and even the Queen in Buckingham Palace—they all have the opportunity to exert influence. But the Prime Minister is the most important one; he connects everyone and has the same ability to influence them.”

“Sigh, I don’t know how to convince him.” Ms. Burns rubbed her forehead wearily.

"Persuade?" Felix looked at her seriously. "That's the outcome we're hoping for. But you'll have to be firm in the process."

Borns looked at him hesitantly, "But—what if—"

“Oh, Amelia. We worry about war, but aren’t they afraid? But upon closer reflection, we’re not actually afraid of war; we’re just worried that their arrogance might cause them to misjudge the situation and trigger a war that shouldn’t have happened.”

“This is not quite what we were discussing,” Bones objected.

"That's a strategy for ordinary people. We can certainly take a softer approach and gain broad support. But with politicians? You have to treat them like completely different creatures. If you take a step back, you have to extract something from them. It's almost ingrained in their blood."

Does making concessions equate to weakness?

"It could also be a signal of an exchange of benefits."

Bones snorted.

"You seem to know them very well."

"I only flipped through a few 'storybooks' before coming here, and all I can say is that the content was very interesting," Felix said vaguely.

“If you insist on this idea, Mr. Prime Minister,” Ms. Burns said sternly, “then there is no way we can continue talking. We are open to negotiations and to setting forth the obligations of both sides, but we will never yield to any group or individual, not even in name!”

The Prime Minister hadn't expected such a fierce rebuttal. A moment of silence followed.