Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 502 Centralization of Power
The Leaky Cauldron at the end of June was not much different from usual.

At least that has always been the case for old Mr. Tom Abbott—

Apart from a few serious-looking Ministry of Magic staff members coming over a week ago and posting a huge notice at the Leaky Cauldron entrance—

Temporary Agreement During Voldemort's Resurrection

The following is a long string of text, the gist of which is that at least fifty witnesses at the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic witnessed the return of the mysterious figure…blah blah blah… in order to protect the lives and property of the vast majority of the British wizarding community…blah blah blah…

Old Tom glanced at it briefly—

Most of the instructions were unimportant; rather than being temporary agreements, they were more like life tips for a special period or a kind of aimless reward.

Most of them are things like "Don't travel alone after dark," or "Don't follow strangers to unknown places," or "If you feel you are being followed, run to a crowded place."

One of the things that concerned Old Tom the most was—

"If you discover any suspicious persons or inappropriate remarks, please report them to the nearest Auror. The nearby Aurors will verify the information. Those who successfully report will receive a reward of at least 500 and at most 2,000 Galleons, depending on the circumstances."

In addition, old Tom received two large stacks of purple booklets with eye-catching text printed on them:
The Hogwarts Educational Reform Act

The Internal Purification Act of the British Ministry of Magic

Whenever a new traveler arrives at the Leaky Cauldron, Tom has to hand them two of these booklets—

In the words of the Auror who brought the two stacks of pamphlets, "This is an order from the Ministry of Magic."

In fact, this behavior was completely unnecessary, because Cornelius Fudge's political reforms had been reported by various media outlets of the British Ministry of Magic several days earlier, and most well-informed wizards were already familiar with the contents of the two pamphlets.

Even the Daily Prophet, which is usually on Connelly Fudge's side, went all out to criticize him—

The "Mr. Nice Guy" has revealed his true colors and is plotting to become the next devil.

The unspeakable monster of power is approaching Wissengamo.

A despicable traitor has sold out the Ministry of Magic to the Muggle army!

But soon, after Cornelius Fudge led a Muggle army to occupy the Ministry of Magic, public opinion gradually shifted—

Cornell Fudge settles the opposition

Connelly Fudge is preparing his inaugural speech.

The great and wise President Cornelius Fudge will officially assume the presidency of the Magical Federation tomorrow.

Fudge's political reforms initially faced significant resistance, that much is undeniable.

But as Tierra had predicted, what they were preventing Fudge from gaining such great power was not preventing Fudge from concentrating such great power.

They did everything in their power and media influence to discredit Fudge, and even resorted to violence to force Connelly Fudge to step down.

To everyone else, Connelly Fudge is like a piece of tender and delicious fresh meat, which smears sauce on itself, pours oil on itself, turns on the fire, and fries itself until it is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

—And Cornelius Fudge certainly thought so too. Every Minister of Magic came to power with great ambition, but their ambitions were quickly worn away by compromises with various factions.

If the Minister of Magic himself comes from a pure-blood family, it's fine. Relying on his family's power, he can disregard one or two factions and accomplish one or two things that will make him famous or infamous for eternity.

However, a nice guy like Cornelius Fudge can only try to please everyone, walking on thin ice, carefully satisfying the needs of all parties in order to maintain his hard-won status and glory.

This has been the case from ancient times to the present.

Wizards are a race with great power. To put it nicely, they are extremely free and self-centered; to put it bluntly, they are a pile of shit when they are together, and scattered like sparse grains of sand when they are apart.

This is why medieval wizards performed so poorly when faced with the slaughter of Muggles who had no technological aids and no special abilities.

Because wizards have almost no organizational ability, no matter how skilled they are or how strong their individual abilities are, they can hardly form an organization to fight against the medieval Muggle floods whose organizational ability far surpasses that of wizards.

On the other hand, even in the Middle Ages, when faced with the massacre of Muggles and the crisis of national extinction, wizards only formed a loose organization like the Wizarding Council and a school like Hogwarts that was more like a sanctuary, rather than forming a unified magical empire.

Unless an extremely powerful wizard appears, or some extremely dangerous external environment forces them to unite, wizards will never be able to come together as a unified whole.

Grindelwald did it before 1945, and Dumbledore always had the opportunity to do it after 1945.

There was no one else besides them.

As Tiera once said, in a race like wizards that highly values ​​individual strength, only absolute power can bring absolute authority.

If Voldemort's turmoil had lasted any longer, and if his wayward son hadn't joined the Death Eaters, Barty Crouch might have had a chance to temporarily integrate the British Ministry of Magic into a highly unified organization.

However, without absolute power to maintain control, such a highly united organization cannot last long.

Throughout the long history of wizarding, even in the hundreds of years since the emergence of the Wizarding Council, there have been far more than one dark wizard, or a president of the Wizarding Council, or the Minister of Magic, who have considered unifying the entire British wizarding world.

Some relied on black wizards who sided with them, while others, like Tyrell, used cunning and intrigue to concentrate all power in one place. But soon—

These powers will be broken up again.

As Tierra said, the other powers in the Ministry of Magic never opposed the concentration of power; what they opposed was the concentration of power in the hands of others.

But one can only bear as much power as one has strength; power that is not one's own will never truly belong to one.

Subordinate dark wizards will be sown apart, and their conspiracies and schemes will be crushed by naked self-interest. The power they seize through these means will soon be devoured by the wolf-like magical tycoons, and the newly formed power will soon be scattered again.

The day before the speech, Connelly Fudge was pacing nervously back and forth in his room—

His mood is currently fluctuating between extreme excitement and extreme anxiety.

The excitement stemmed from the fact that he had reached a height never before attained by any Minister of Magic, and wielded power unlike anything he had ever possessed before.

The concern stems from this crucial period, just before his inaugural address and before he is about to receive the medal representing the Grand Secretary of the Magical Federation—

Tiera, who truly wielded absolute violence, disappeared.

(End of this chapter)