Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 329 Politicians
Dumbledore looked at the wizard sitting opposite him, as if recalling a situation fifty years ago that was no less tense than the current one.
Percival Graves, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of MACUSA, was murdered. Instead of escaping, the murderer used extremely advanced transformation techniques to take on his identity and used the official power of MACUSA to contact an Obscurial.
Although this matter was finally exposed by another favorite student of Dumbledore and his plan was stopped in the United States, the negative impact on the Magic Congress could not be eliminated in any way. It even almost completely destroyed the Statute of Secrecy and exposed the wizarding world to the citizens of New York.
The family most affected was the Graves family.
Not only did Percival, the deputy of Congress, die, but the reputation of the Graves family in the American wizarding world was completely ruined. Matthew, who was only 7 years old at the time, lost his father and was eventually raised by his mother alone.
Fortunately, Matthew's mother educated him very well. Even though he lost his father's previous political qualifications in Congress, he relied on his own excellence and hard work to take the current position of second-in-command of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. It can be almost confirmed that if any director of the department retires in a few years, he will be the first-in-line successor.
But he never forgot the hatred between the Graves family and the murderer!
Gellert Grindelwald. Matthew never forgot the name.
He has always wanted to avenge his father with his own hands, but putting aside the issue of strength, after the world-renowned duel ended with Dumbledore's victory, Grindelwald was sentenced to life imprisonment in Nurmengard by the International Confederation of Wizards.
This verdict was recognized by the Magical Congress. As a member of the American wizarding community, Matthew lost the opportunity to seek legal revenge on Grindelwald.
But he is also rational and knows his own level very well. Even if Grindelwald is not imprisoned in the end, he will not be so hot-blooded as to go and die alone in the name of revenge.
So Matthew could only unify his stance with that of the Congress. As long as Grindelwald was willing to abide by the judgment and stay in Nurmengard, his revenge would be considered avenged.
But now the Witch Party has started to resume its activities in Northern Europe. In the past year, he even changed his surname perfunctorily, and became the principal of Durmstrang without even changing his name.
Of course, the Parliament and Matthew are not blind. Grindelwald's behavior has touched their bottom line in dealing with this matter.
Matthew stared at Dumbledore intently.
He came to Hogwarts Castle not only to serve as a judge on behalf of the International Confederation of Wizards, but also to represent the Magical Congress of the United States of America, to find out the position of the old man in front of him.
"I have always respected you, Albus." Matthew said seriously, "Not only did you defeat him and avenge me and my family, but you are also my most trusted person. Now, I just want an answer."
"Have you completely cooperated with him now?"
When he finally asked this question, Matthew's voice became calm instead, like a pool of stagnant water that only needs a small stone to cause huge waves.
As he stared, Dumbledore shook his head.
"Since you trust me, you should know that I value feelings, but I won't act on them. He is indeed a member of the Wizarding World, but our cooperation is limited to the deal on how to defeat Riddle. I will not support what he does, and I don't have the time and energy to figure out what he is going to do after he walks out of that prison. Now he and I are just getting what we need, otherwise I wouldn't be the only one coming to Hogwarts Castle now."
His voice was even, and his blue eyes never strayed from Matthew's gaze as he spoke.
Matthew's originally tense body finally relaxed.
Grindelwald has been serving as the headmaster of Durmstrang for more than a year. The reason why the Magical Congress has not taken any action for such a long time is that it wants to find out Dumbledore's position.
In the eyes of some insiders, they clearly understood the relationship between the two old men. The Parliament had been arguing for a whole half a year about whether or not to involve Dumbledore in their next counter-action against Grindelwald.
Even though Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix have now been reduced to being driven out of Britain, no one in the Magical Congress still dares to underestimate him.
Therefore, they finally decided to take advantage of the opportunity of the Triwizard Tournament to let Matthew, who already had a good relationship with him, get in touch with him and find out what kind of relationship Dumbledore and Grindelwald had now.
Now Dumbledore can finally give those people in Congress a temporary relief.
As long as the two of them do not completely unite, Congress's subsequent actions will be much easier and there will be fewer unnecessary considerations.
Dumbledore crossed his arms, his eyes not moving away from Matthew's face.
"I gave you the answer you wanted to know. Now, can you answer what I want to know?"
Matthew's expression was serious, and he spoke very solemnly.
"Until the result is clear, the Congress will not provide any help to the British side. We have no intention of interfering in your dispute with him. In fact, more people in the Congress are on your side. But because of Grindelwald's problem, we must focus on him first."
"Until the outcome is clear..." Dumbledore repeated Matthew's first words and chuckled.
There was no shame on Matthew's face.
"If you ultimately fail and he succeeds in becoming the master of Europe, then we will certainly have to reevaluate the relationship between the Congress and him. If his ambitions cannot be restrained, or if he wants to repeat Grindelwald's mistakes, then we will follow your path."
Dumbledore stared at him.
"You have so many Muggle-born wizards. There are not even more than three nominally pure-blood families in the whole of America. Even Ilvermorny was founded by wizards and Muggles together. The attitude of Congress towards pure-bloodism is just to wait and see?"
He laughed, and his smile was still gentle, without any sense of sarcasm.
"It reminds me of the old saying that the real brains in Congress died out after the great debate in the 18th century about 'nation or race'."
The American wizarding world has only existed for a short time. Although it now plays an important role in the international wizarding world, when the United States as a country had not yet been formed, the so-called Magical Congress was just a loose organization composed of a group of European wizard immigrants.
In 1775, when the Muggle War of Independence officially broke out, the wizards who immigrated to this land were faced with a choice.
Should they help Muggles and fight for their new country, or should they protect the wizarding community, avoid contact with Muggles and not participate in this war of independence?
This "nation or race" choice caused a great debate throughout America. The then President of Congress, Elizabeth McGilligty, presided over this controversial meeting in the large conference room of the Congress headquarters. Thousands of wizards participated in the discussion. In the end, someone was sent to ask for the opinion of the British Ministry of Magic.
The British Ministry of Magic responded with a simple and concise sentence: "Stay on the sidelines." The opinion of the President of Parliament and most senior officials was also: "Don't interfere in this war."
Ultimately, they did not participate in any official war, but they still took actions to protect their No-Maj neighbors from time to time. In addition, wizards would also celebrate Independence Day in secret.
The person who almost tore up the Statute of Secrecy completely at that time was the Magical Congress of the United States of America itself. Fortunately, the smart people among them chose the right path.
Because wizards' participation in the war cannot change any situation at all, their choice will also trigger wizards all over the world to think the same way.
When faced with a war between countries, wizards, who are also distinguished by relying on the Muggle regime, will choose to stand with the country or consider the wizards as a whole.
The restraint of the Magic Congress prevented this chaos from happening, but this was their most outstanding contribution to protecting peace.
They had made the right choice in the past, but Dumbledore was extremely disappointed when it came to Voldemort.
These American wizards were so obsessed with seeking revenge on Grindelwald that they simply did not see the harm that Voldemort would bring to the world.
How can we expect that an organization centered around pure-blood power will not set its sights on the fertile land of America, a bloodline vacuum, after it has digested the European pie?
Matthew's expression remained unchanged in the face of Dumbledore's words, and he spoke very seriously.
"We have never ignored any threat, Albus, but no matter what, there should be a priority. Grindelwald's problem must be solved first!"
Dumbledore looked at him and shook his head slightly. He had never intended to convince him, so there was no talk of disappointment.
"Well, it's time to end this reminiscing. If you really want to ensure fairness in the upcoming competition, I suggest you go to the castle and meet my former student first."
After asking all the questions he needed to ask and knowing all he needed to know, Matthew had no plans to stay any longer.
He rose from his chair and gave Dumbledore one last blessing before leaving the office.
"I hope your Warriors can perform well in this game. I have heard about his recent deeds in the United States."
Dumbledore did not stand up to see him off, but just sat in the chair and watched his back leave.
After Matthew closed the door of the headmaster's office, the portraits on the wall behind Dumbledore, which were pretending to be asleep, suddenly became restless.
They were chattering about the conversation between the two parties just now, and denouncing the stupidity of the decision made by the Magical Congress on Voldemort.
Only Dalys, who once worked as a healer at St. Mungo's, asked with a frown in the frame.
"They will really be impartial in our war with the Dark Lord?"
Phineas scoffed.
"I'll remind you, Dalys, that when politicians speak, especially so-called diplomats, you can just treat their mouths as anuses that fart."
In response to the old man's dirty words, Delis just glared at him in dissatisfaction.
"But he's still Albus' friend isn't he?"
"Friends?" Phineas exclaimed, "Talking about friends in politics is probably the only way to talk about friends is through troll diplomacy!"
"What the attitude of the Magic Congress is does not depend on what Matthew says now." Dumbledore did not participate in their quarrel, but said softly, "He has been blinded by the hatred brought to him by Grindelwald. He does not care about or want to care about the attitude of the Congress towards the war between us and Riddle."
"But he was right about one thing, that is, they will not interfere in our affairs until the situation is completely clear."
Dumbledore was silent for a moment when he said this, and then he spoke thoughtfully.
"Phineas, help me find Professor Rosier. I have some questions I want to talk to her about first."
…
Hermione was tidying up the mess in her dormitory.
Including the students from Durmstrang, there were less than thirty people who came to Hogwarts Castle, so their accommodation was more spacious, and each person had a private room with plenty of space.
But Hermione was not alone in the dormitory she was in at the moment.
"I have said many times, Ms. Grey, that I have no interest in the so-called Ravenclaw diadem."
Hermione couldn't remember whether this was the sixth or seventh time, but she had repeated the same words no less than five times since the ghost came to her.
Ms. Grey still looked the same as when Nick first brought her to meet Jon, and it was obvious that she had been in contact with Hermione for a long time.
"Miss Granger, you are eager to acquire knowledge and possess extraordinary wisdom. If my mother were still alive, you would definitely be her favorite type of student. She might not give the crown to me, but she would definitely give it to someone like you."
Hermione had heard this kind of talk countless times, and her answer remained the same.
"So? Just because you recognized me on behalf of your mother, I have to help you find the crown? That doesn't make sense, ma'am. I am very clear about my abilities, and I have no interest in the story you told or the heritage ."
Ms. Grey stared into Hermione's eyes, as if she wanted to see through the girl completely.
"I know you want to help that boy, right?"
Hermione paused, but she continued speaking without raising her head.
"I want to help, not to do anything that might cause trouble for him just to help you at this time."
