Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 280 The Fate of Czechoslovakia

A question mark slowly floated up above Harry's head.

No, would it be helpful to Miss Grindelwald?
Oh right, if Mr. Bagman wants to contact Vivi, then he'll have to go through the official channels of the Austrian... Greater German Ministry of Magic, and they might make him wait a few business days for a reply.

But if you're going for the "wife" route... no, the "boyfriend" route, then you'll quickly pass on useful information to the other person.

"disappeared?!"

Harry frowned; he could hardly believe what Mr. Bagman was saying.

"Mr. Crouch is a director, after all. How could he suddenly disappear?"

“Well… to be honest, we don’t really know what happened either,” Bagman sighed. “He… he just stopped coming to work, and it’s been two weeks now. His assistant—that young Percy from the Weasleys—says he’s sick, and it seems he keeps sending owls to give instructions… but you absolutely must keep this a secret, only tell Miss Grindelwald, okay, Harry? Because Rita Skeeter is always asking around, and I bet she’ll exaggerate Barty’s illness, making it sound like a disaster. She’ll probably say he’s disappeared like Bertha Jorkins.”

“I understand.” Harry nodded, then asked, “So, is there any news about Bertha Jorkins? I remember Percy mentioned it during the summer holidays, saying that the Ministry of Magic was having a lot of trouble with it, especially Mr. Crouch, who had put a lot of effort into it.”

“No,” Bagman said, his expression becoming tense again. “Of course, I’ve sent people to look for her… It’s very strange. She must have gone to Albania because she met her second cousin there, and then she left her cousin’s house to visit an aunt in the south… and then she disappeared without a trace.”

At this point, Mr. Bagman clicked his tongue, picked up a tissue from the table, and spat out a mouthful of saliva. "Damn it, I just don't understand where she went... She doesn't seem like the kind of person who would elope... But who knows... Sigh, what are we doing talking about Bertha Perkins here? I think it's necessary to inform Miss Grindelwald about Mr. Crouch; she'll definitely be very interested in it."

“Wait a moment.” Harry nodded and said to him, “I’ll send a message to Vivi now.”

After saying that, he took out a crystal ball from his pocket and dialed Vivi's number.

Vivi looked very busy. She was wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a very formal suit, and seemed to be looking down at some documents.

After answering the phone, Vivi looked up and asked, "What's wrong, Harry?"

“That’s how it is.” Harry cleared his throat and, under Mr. Bagman’s shocked gaze, recounted in detail what Mr. Bagman had told him.

Vivi frowned in thought. After processing the information, she looked up and asked, "Is this matter only known to people within the Ministry of Magic?"

“Yes, Mrs. Potter… Miss Grindelwald.” Mr. Bagman misspoke, almost saying “Mrs. Potter”.

In English, it is customary to say "wife" first, followed by the surname.

Sure enough, upon hearing Mr. Bagman's slip of the tongue, Vivi revealed a barely perceptible smile.

“I understand,” she said. “I will discuss this with Dumbledore.”

“Then the Ministry of Magic…” Mr. Bagman hesitated.

“Mr. Bagman,” Vivi asked with a smile, “do you think Fudge would tolerate an outsider like the Greater German Ministry of Magic interfering in the internal affairs of the British Ministry of Magic? Of course… not just Fudge, but any mature politician would probably not tolerate such a thing, after all, Mr. Crouch’s disappearance does not endanger Fudge’s political life… of course, if outsiders get involved, it could very well threaten his political life.”

“Alright,” Mr. Bagman nodded. “I understand. Thank you for your explanation, Miss Grindelwald.”

Harry turned his head, and Cassandra, with a sarcastic expression, silently repeated, 'Thank you, Miss Grindelwald.'

"Okay, if there's nothing else, I'll hang up now," Vivi said again. "I have some urgent matters to attend to..."

"Are you busy lately?" Harry asked with concern.

“Oh, it’s alright.” Vivi put down the documents in her hand and placed her hands on her lap. “Recently, the Czechoslovakian Ministry of Magic approached us, wanting to merge into the Greater German Ministry of Magic. We are handling the relevant matters.”

When she spoke, she emphasized the word "proactive".

The meaning is quite clear: it was their own choice, and it has nothing to do with Orange Cat.

Czechoslovakia was originally a unified country, but after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the Czech Republic and Slovakia began to separate in 1992.

However, the wizarding world has clearly not reacted as quickly as the Muggle world, and the two countries' ministries of magic have not yet been separated.

"Do you think it would be the Czech Republic or Slovakia that took the initiative?" Cassandra rolled her eyes and whispered to Harry.

"Probably not," Harry replied softly.

“I heard you both, why don’t you speak a little louder?” Vivi said lazily. “Alright, I don’t have time to play games with you, Casey—well, see you another day, Harry.”

After saying that, Vivi hung up the phone.

“This thing…” Mr. Bagman was clearly not concerned about the fate of Czechoslovakia; his attention was focused on the crystal ball.

“Oh, this is the telephone,” Harry introduced to Mr. Bagman. “It’s a remote instant messaging product developed by Mr. Flamel.”

"Cool." Mr. Bagman's eyes lit up, his face clearly showing his desire.

Harry, understanding the unspoken meaning, smiled and said to Mr. Bagman, "If Mr. Bagman likes it, I will talk to Mr. Flamel about your needs and have one custom-made for you."

"How embarrassing..."

Despite his words, Mr. Bagman clearly meant, "Then I'm embarrassed to say that."

“By the way,” Mr. Bagman suddenly lowered his voice, “how’s your research on that golden egg going? After the Christmas holidays, it’ll be the second project.”

“I haven’t had time to study it yet,” Harry said truthfully. “I plan to study it later, since there’s still plenty of time before the second project.”

Mr. Bagman thought about it and agreed. With Harry's ability to completely defeat the Hungarian Hornet head-on, the difficulty of the second project wouldn't make much difference to him.

“Okay,” he said. “If you’re still clueless as the date approaches, feel free to ask me—but of course, this is confidential.”

“Okay.” Harry accepted Mr. Bagman’s offer, but he didn’t intend to ask Mr. Bagman for the answer directly. That would seem like cheating.

In reality, he didn't need to cheat at all.

After chatting for a few more minutes, Mr. Bagman tactfully left.

After all, the two people in front of him were on a date, and it wouldn't be right for a middle-aged man to be a third wheel.

“He’s finally gone.” Cassandra picked up her butterbeer, half-closing her eyes. “Honestly, he was quite the talker, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah, he was quite the talker.” Harry picked up his glass and clinked it against Cassandra’s. “But thankfully he’s gone… Of course, if he hadn’t reminded me, I might have forgotten about the golden egg…”

"A golden egg?" Cassandra put down her glass, looked up, and asked, "You mean that silly golden egg you pulled out in the first project? Ha, it's just as silly as you..."

"Hey," Harry said, annoyed, "what do you mean, 'as stupid as me'?"

Cassandra smiled without saying a word; she simply enjoyed the feeling of teasing Harry.

This is one of her little hobbies.

"So, do you have any clues?" Cassandra asked again. "About this golden egg... I just heard that Mr. Talkative say that this golden egg seems to be a clue related to your next competition event, right?"

“I don’t think so.” Harry shrugged. “Do you think that golden egg will tell me the truth? Like, it’ll tell me, ‘Hey, kid with glasses, listen up, the next competition is…’ and that?”

"Hahaha……"

Cassandra was amused by Harry's antics. She covered her mouth and laughed for a while before saying to Harry, "Have you ever tried to open that golden egg?"

Harry said nothing; he took the golden egg out of his purse.

Before putting it in, he repeatedly told Alfonso not to break the golden egg.

It now appears that Alfonso did follow his orders.

Under Cassandra's watchful gaze, he opened the golden egg.

Immediately, a piercing sound erupted, engulfing the entire bar.

"Hey!" Mrs. Rosmerta shouted, covering her ears in annoyance. "Hey kid over there with glasses, can you put that weird thing of yours away?! Merlin's apron, what the hell is that?!"

Harry put the golden egg back on, and the shrill sound subsided.

Cassandra was somewhat stunned by the sound, which is understandable, given that she was the first to be hit.

“I told you,” Harry shrugged. “This thing doesn’t seem to have any intention of telling me what the next project is—or rather, it’s not going to cooperate at all.”

It took Cassandra a while to come to her senses.

"What did you say?" she asked, stunned.

Oh no, I've scared the girl half to death.

Harry repeated what he had just said, and Cassandra thought for a moment before saying to Harry, "Perhaps we're opening it the wrong way, don't you think?"

"Isn't it opened the right way?" Harry frowned and asked. "What way? Shouldn't I open it like this, or should I use some kind of spell... like Alohomora?"

“No,” Cassandra said. “I mean, that sound…reminds me of a legend.”

"What legend?" Harry asked with interest.

“It’s related to the Sirens.” Cassandra said after a moment of thought, “According to Greek legend, the Sirens, half-human and half-bird sisters, sat in a flower garden, singing enchanting songs. Their sweet voices lured passing ships to the island, where they would crash into the rocks and perish. All the sailors and ships that passed by were bewitched and led to their destruction, none of them escaping.”

"King Odysseus of Ithaca followed the advice of the witch Circe and took careful precautions against the Sirens. Before the ships reached a place where the singing could be heard, Odysseus had himself tied to the mast and ordered his men to plug their ears with wax. He also warned them not to heed his commands and gestures when passing the island of the dead."

"Soon the rocky island came into their view. Odysseus heard a mesmerizing song. So enchanting was the song that he struggled desperately to free himself from his bonds and cried out to his crew to sail toward the siren sisters singing in the flowery meadow, but no one paid him any attention. The sailors sailed onward until they could no longer hear the song, at which point they untied Odysseus and removed the wax from his ears."

"The sirens' song was all for naught this time. The eldest of the three sisters, Persepolis, fell deeply in love with Odysseus, who resisted the temptation of the song. After his ship passed, she threw herself into the sea and drowned."

"Is she sick?" Harry asked, completely bewildered.

Cassandra shrugged and continued, "It is said that Parselope became a ghost after her death. The songs she sang on the sea were hoarse and discordant, but underwater they were like heavenly music... I wonder if it has anything to do with this. Perhaps you could try opening the golden egg underwater?"

Harry thought about it for a moment and realized that this might be a solution.

"Then let's go to the Black Lake?" Harry scratched his head. "But isn't it a bit too cold to go to the Black Lake this time of year?"

"Are you stupid?" Cassandra rolled her eyes at Harry helplessly. "Why don't you go to the bathroom? If I remember correctly, there's a bathtub there. Why don't you fill it with water and put the golden egg in it?"

“You know what, it really is true.” Harry thought about it and realized it was true. He patted Cassandra on the shoulder and said, “That’s a really good idea… but forget about the school’s washrooms, I’ll think about that when I get back to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place tomorrow… Do you want to come back with me?”

"Why would I go back with you?" Cassandra asked, puzzled. "This is your competition, not mine."

“No, you have to give me a Christmas present,” Harry said very formally. “I’m very upset that you forgot about my Christmas present—so I’ve decided to make you give it to me.”

"Supplement, supplement what?" Cassandra asked somewhat guiltily.

"Hmm..." Harry tossed the golden egg around, grinning at Cassandra, "So, as compensation, you can take a bath with me—"

(End of this chapter)