A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Since the wizard-Muggle negotiations haven't really started yet, this is only the first step in the whole plan.

Outside the Weasleys Magic Tricks shop, Tonks, Ron, and Collins followed several guests in, chatting and laughing.

“The alert mission has been cancelled,” Tonks said amiably, her pink hair radiating joy. “Everyone was worried beforehand. Scrinker tried to dissuade Ms. Burns from taking the risk, but she insisted… thankfully, it turned out well.” She then looked around with great interest.

"What about the dragon?" Fred asked.

"They said it was an accident, or something about it being old and dilapidated," Ron said.

“That doesn’t sound very convincing,” George said.

“They couldn’t possibly have been fighting in there, could they?” Ron shrugged, pulled a Wizard’s Chess piece from his pocket, and twirled it between his fingers.

Fred raised an eyebrow.

"If I go and check the Dancing Wizard Chess set in the shop now, won't I find that a knight is missing?"

“Go ahead and go find him,” Ron said. “Oh, by the way, I was just about to say that I’ve mastered Animagus… Did Ginny tell you guys about it?”

"You've mastered Animagus?" Collins asked in surprise.

Tonks was a beat slow, reluctantly turning her gaze away from the doll that was hitting people, and asked as if to confirm, "Animagus?" Her hair began to transition to a dazzling violet color.

“It’s pretty easy,” Ron said, feigning nonchalance.

“That’s a fair point,” George nodded. “Just from the people I know, there are…” He turned to Fred, “How many? Harry, Hermione, Neville, the Abbott girls, I can’t count them all.”

“I don’t know either, but Cedric has been glued to ‘Transfiguration Today’ a lot lately,” Fred replied with a straight face.

Ron's hair, which had been swept up on his head, drooped down.

"Can you guys stop undermining your own brother?" Ron complained under his breath as Tonks and Collins enthusiastically picked out items from the store.

Fred and George exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Sorry—no."

Ron held up the wizard chess pieces in his hand and muttered, "See these two guys? Remember their hateful faces. I'll get my revenge sooner or later, and it's all up to you."

……

The dragon flew north, savoring its hard-won freedom. Felix stood on its broad back, quickly healing the dragon's bloody wounds with magic, shaving off its chains, and then gazing at the distant clouds.

He stroked the long spikes on the dragon's back with one hand, looking like a captain holding onto the mast.

"Fly more steadily," he commanded.

They flew over gray and green towns and fields, the scenery soon becoming monotonous and repetitive. Felix called Niffler out of his silver pocket watch to play cards. Having experienced riding a flying carpet in the Arctic, Valen quickly adapted, excitedly running around on the dragon's back, the huge spikes appearing as pillars to him.

“You lost again, Valen,” Felix said smugly.

Valen's dark eyes stared at the air in front of him. The Niffler phantom conjured from the Wizard's Card was blasted away by a simple, unadorned spell, tumbling a dozen times before turning into a wisp of smoke and being left behind. It clicked its tongue, sensing something was amiss, and looked at Felix suspiciously.

“I didn’t cheat,” Felix swore.

Valen frantically swiped through his deck, trying to find a weakness. It was a new deck, with some new cards added to the original, which the Great Demon King said was to increase the playability. That was true; Valen found quite a few cards that shimmered with gold when their effects were activated, and he particularly liked them.

However, after that, its win rate plummeted.

"Ha!"

Unable to figure out the reason himself, Valen decided to ask Hermione when he had the chance. The sun's altitude dropped again, the golden light on the clouds gradually dimmed, and the dragon began to descend. Valen ran to the top of the dragon's head, but his weight was like a feather, having no effect on the dragon at all.

Valen spotted a cluster of majestic castle buildings amidst the mountains.

Felix patted the dragon's back. "Your identity is a bit sensitive. Well, it's not really a big deal, but to reduce trouble, I'll put on a cover for you before sending you to Charlie."

The dragon roared, indicating that it understood.

I will listen to you.

Then its size began to shrink rapidly. Valen hurriedly ran back, climbed onto Felix's shoulder and looked down. The dragon, which was as big as a small square, had shrunk from sixty or seventy feet long to half its original size, and soon it was even difficult to put its feet down.

The dragon let out two whimpers and tried to open its murky eyes wide.

“Don’t worry,” Felix said casually from the air beside it, then gave the command, “Fold your wings.”

The dragon—it could hardly be called a dragon anymore; it looked only twice the size of Valen. The shrunken dragon obediently folded its wings and then plummeted straight down, only to be caught by Felix. With its wings folded, it looked even smaller, almost pitiful.

Felix plummeted downwards, and as he reached a certain height, he made several gestures with his free hand. Hogwarts' defenses did not stop him, and he continued to fall.

Inside the castle, Professor McGonagall was flipping through documents. She had just contacted Mrs. Maxim, and the two exchanged information about their respective schools' defense measures and opening dates. The British Ministry of Magic had been making a series of moves recently, and as a reference, the French and some European Ministries of Magic had also begun to bypass the International Confederation of Wizards and contact Muggle governments.

She heard a knock on the window, and when she looked up, she saw Felix waving at her from outside the window.

“You’re the vice principal now, Felix.” Professor McGonagall angrily pushed open the window, glaring at him as he crawled in from outside. Warren had already jumped down first, keeping a safe distance from Felix; he didn’t want to get scolded along with him.

Professor McGonagall led Felix over, saying angrily as they walked, "...What if someone sees us? And what are you holding in your hand?"

“A lizard,” Felix said calmly, spitting two sparks from the dragon’s nostrils.

Professor McGonagall ignored his ramblings and lowered her head to examine the creature that was half-lying on the small table, flapping its wings blankly. Then her eyebrows furrowed tightly together.

"Is this... a dragon? Or the Iron Belly of Ukraine?"

“Well, if anyone else asks, I’ll just say it’s a mutated lizard, and its origins are a bit questionable,” Felix said honestly. Professor McGonagall glared at him, determined to get an answer. “Alright, it came from Gringotts,” he explained simply.

Professor McGonagall frowned at first, then her eyebrows relaxed.

"The Fairy Brotherhood, yet another secretly operating fairy subversive group?" The so-called subversion, of course, refers to the subversion of wizards.

“Not really,” Felix shook his head. “At least they operate openly and their ideology doesn’t condone violence, at least not on the surface.” He told Professor McGonagall, “That’s quite rare among fairies.”

Cross-eyed Bodrick didn't want the peace talks to go smoothly and deliberately wanted the dragon guarding the vault to cause some trouble. Of course, he didn't care if a few wizards died in the process; they were all accidents anyway. Felix didn't care either.

Professor McGonagall was not involved in the Ministry of Magic's affairs, and after learning that it would not affect the negotiations with the goblins, she turned to other matters.

“Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are in a similar situation to us. Their Ministry of Magic is in secret contact with the Muggle government, and the news has not been made public,” she glanced at Felix and smiled. “What you did the other day has affected not only British decision-making, but also other countries.”

Felix nodded; this result was as expected.

As the first Ministry of Magic to publicly contact the Muggle government, Hogwarts and the British Ministry of Magic attracted worldwide attention, with the International Confederation of Wizards watching their every move and awaiting the outcome of the first formal negotiation.

If acceptable, the upcoming negotiations could become a benchmark for communication between the magical and non-magical worlds. Felix has met with numerous observers from other countries at the Ministry of Magic these past few days.

“In addition, Vargadu took inspiration from Hogwarts and built sanctuaries around the school where some wizards whose identities had been exposed temporarily lived.”

"Are they those semi-public mediums, fortune tellers, and occult sects?"

“I’ve heard that even Muggles who do magic tricks are getting a lot of harassment,” Professor McGonagall said strangely. “There are also some wizards who stay in tribes, where it’s relatively exclusive and outsiders can’t get in. The Castelobuscher School of Magic in Brazil is hidden in the rainforest, where conditions are harsh, so we don’t need to worry about it for now.”

“Where’s Iphamoni? You’ve overlooked that school.”

“Evermony is different from other schools.” Professor McGonagall’s face showed a hint of worry. “The living conditions for wizards are not optimistic—you know, young wizards always show some differences, and the local Muggles—they call them Muggles—have even started a campaign to find wizards around them…” She shook her head. “Some companies openly advertise in newspapers to recruit wizards; of course, there are also those who oppose it. All kinds of organizations, large and small, and religious groups have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, some registered and some operating in secret.”

"Therefore, the Magical Congress of the United States had to order the recall of all students to prevent any accidents from happening."

Felix pondered for a moment, “The problem of American wizards is difficult to solve, and now is not the time. After Amelia reaches a preliminary agreement with the Muggle government, we can promote it under the name of the International Wizarding Federation—the Federation’s existence has lost most of its significance with the complete invalidation of the Law of Secrecy, and we must find a new reason for it.”

"What function do you hope it will perform?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"The shift is from a clandestine wizarding world to one that reconciles the relationship between wizards and non-wizards, and that involves developing globally applicable regulations," Felix said.

A hint of confusion flashed in Professor McGonagall's eyes. She felt unfamiliar with that future. She glanced at the dragon struggling to adapt to its new form, and the confusion in her eyes gradually disappeared, replaced by determination.

Felix's gaze shifted to the portraits of past headmasters on the wall of the office. He walked to a gold-framed portrait in which Dumbledore winked at him.

"Can you say a witty remark or two that I haven't heard before?" Felix asked.

“This kind of test won’t do,” Dumbledore said with a smile in the portrait. “There are too many ways to get away with it.”

Felix looked him over. "Yes, would you like me to add a candy store to your painting?"

Dumbledore laughed again. “Oh, no need. The little fellows at Hogwarts—the students of the Magical Painting Club—drew a huge painting of Hogsmeade, featuring not only Honeyduke, but also Lady Partridge’s Tea House and the Three Broomsticks. That painting hangs in the Prize Room.”

Felix nodded, then thought for a moment and spoke.

"...The Resurrection Stone was destroyed after you left. What you gave to Snape is still in his hands. He has a new job and may be busy for more than ten years."

Dumbledore said with a hint of distress, "So, Severus's retirement plans have to be postponed?" But his expression was not sincere; he even looked somewhat gloating.

“I think so,” Felix said.

“There’s one more thing,” he said. “Aberforth is planning to sell the Hog’s Head, and once school starts, Room Seven and the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin will reopen. Both of those places need to be kept under control.”

“I hope he can sell the bar for a good price,” Dumbledore said.

Felix chuckled. “Unless he can clean the room properly—I can smell mutton every time I pass by, and the floor looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in centuries—so don’t get your hopes up too high.”

“Hope is a precious thing for those who are suffering,” Dumbledore said calmly, looking at Professor McGonagall.

Chapter 698 Moon Sand and Bottle Forest

That evening, Ms. Burns and several students emerged from Gringotts, surrounded by a group of goblins. Reporters, who had received advance notice, immediately swarmed around her. Flashbulbs blared. Ms. Burns announced to the public that the negotiations had gone smoothly and that consensus had been reached on several issues.

The Gringotts goblin spokesperson agreed with this statement and offered an explanation for the recent dragon escape incident.

"That dragon is no longer up to the task. If you know anything about it, you'll know that Gringotts has been looking for a replacement recently. Yes, the dragon has been moved to another location and is awaiting disposal. In the meantime, the Sphinx is in charge of guarding the most important vaults. We've considered having the trolls wear goblin armor, which provides defense comparable to that of a dragon."

When a reporter pressed for an explanation for the dragon's escape, the fairy spokesperson gave a curt reply:

"The elders made a last-minute decision to move the dragon to avoid frightening their distinguished guest. Unfortunately, an accident occurred en route. The person in charge was an outsider who was not familiar with controlling the dragon... Cross-eyed Bodrick, who unfortunately died in the accident, details of which cannot be disclosed."

After the impromptu press conference ended, Harry and his friends came out to meet Ron. Ron suggested they have a drink together, so the group stormed into the Leaky Cauldron, which was packed with wizards discussing the matter. Just as they were wondering what to do, Neville peeked out from a dark, hidden corner and waved vigorously at them.

“Harry, Ron—over here!” he shouted excitedly.

After everyone was seated, Ron was unhappy that Draco Malfoy was sitting next to him. "I thought you went home," he said, frowning.

“The negotiations aren’t over yet, so of course I can’t leave.” Draco glanced at Ron with disdain, which made Ron glare at him. “True, you were excluded from the negotiations and know nothing, so naturally you don’t know the role I played in it.”

Ron paused, then looked at Harry, who reluctantly nodded, acknowledging his role.

"Okay, uh, so—can anyone tell me what happened during the negotiations? Why did a dragon suddenly appear?"

Harry briefly described the entire negotiation process.

“It doesn’t sound like an accident,” Tonks said. “Oh, thank you, Tom.” She took the drinks that the bar owner, Tom, handed out to everyone, and as she bent down, a bunch of glistening grapes fell out of her pocket, looking very tempting.

“Oh.” Tonks pouted. “I bought it from the Weasleys Magical Tricks Shop. You can try it. It’s called Multi-Flavored Grapes, and it’s kind of like Bibi Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans.”

Neville picked one up. "Red cabbage flavor," he said with a relieved look. Hannah also picked one up, tossing her ponytail. "Pumpkin pie flavor." "Spinach texture, seems pretty good?" Collins said, taking a small bite. "Celery," Harry said, wrinkling his nose, then picked up a glass of water to rinse his mouth. Hermione and Ginny, hearing that it was something brought from the Weasley Wizarding Studio, didn't even touch it.

After the interlude, they remembered their earlier conversation.

“It was definitely that cross-eyed guy’s doing,” Ron said with certainty. “They tried to scare people with a dragon, but they miscalculated. As soon as Ms. Burns gave the signal, the Aurors outside would rush in immediately, wouldn’t they, Collins?”

Collins nodded.