The days at Hogwarts

"See you tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow, Grandpa Bates."

The veteran's words were too concise and even a little cold. Loren thought it was probably because the Grangers were nearby, otherwise he wouldn't know how to ask further questions.

After hanging up the phone, I saw that the little witch next to me had not recovered yet, with a dumbfounded expression.

Loren couldn't help but pinch her cheek.

Well, it's soft, tender and elastic, and feels great in the hand.

Hermione's eyes slowly focused, she looked at him, then looked back at the unfinished cheese and beef burger, and murmured: "Bread, beef patty, pickles, lettuce salad?"

"Well, is there a problem?"

"..."

Hermione shook her head and looked down at the hotel logo on the toe of her slippers. In terms of grammar skills, she would probably never be able to catch up with Loren.

Still have to learn.

……

Woolworth Building, venue for the International Confederation of Wizards.

Dumbledore changed into a silver and white magic robe, and looked much softer. He stayed in the main seat most of the time without speaking, and occasionally applauded for wonderful speeches. He seemed to have become an old wizard who listened quietly, like a witness rather than a participant.

In the front row of the reporter's seat, a lady with blond curly hair and delicate and heavy makeup watched the automatic writing quill write down detailed memory records on the parchment. Compared with those, she seemed to be more interested in the old wizard with gray beard and gray hair. Wearing thick jewel-encrusted glasses, he always looked at Dumbledore.

Rita had a lot of doubts in her heart.

When the Werewolf Inferi incident occurred, she was in a city hundreds of kilometers away and missed many news details. However, she used a special method to find out the exclusive news from the New York Ghost Newspaper... The point that concerned her the most was that Dumbledore Lido, at the time of the incident, Dumbledore had been missing for some time.

Where was he then?

What role did he play in this incident?

What secrets does the chief wizard of the Wizengamot and the president of the International Confederation of Wizards hide?

Rita was full of curiosity, like a beetle lying outside the bud of a flower that was about to bloom, trembling its wings eagerly.

The agenda of the conference entered its second day, and the topics discussed were still some generally agreed-upon topics, such as prohibiting wizards from teasing Muggles in the name of magicians, prohibiting the use of flying magic or flying magic props near the flying steel giant bird in the sky. Even the Illusion Body Curse won't work...

The speakers on the stage expressed their political views passionately and generously, while the reporters below were writing with their pens flying.

Loren was sitting in the auditorium in the corner. Next to her, Hermione listened more seriously than the reporters. She was writing and drawing in her notebook with a ballpoint pen, and turning her head from time to time to express some personal opinions.

He is long-winded and serious, like a bored adult.

Of course, Loren was verbally supportive, and he said this: "Yes, these must be written down, and you will bring them up when you become the Minister of Magic and attend the International Federation of Wizards..."

Hermione only felt that he was acting strangely.

The topics are constantly rotating, and the person speaking is the Director of the Department of Magical Creatures Affairs of the Magical Congress of the United States of America:

"The next discussion is the Prohibition of Experiments on the Breeding of Magical Creatures and the Regulations for the Protection of Magical Creatures, proposed and passed by Newt Scamander in 1965. Over the past thirty years, these two regulations have helped us protect rare magical creatures. Animals, while coordinating magical animals to hide the magical world from Muggles..."

Like other topics, before formally throwing out his proposals and opinions, the director gave a long speech about the role and origin of the regulations, but many wizards from MACUSA present had complicated expressions.

An important help in solving the werewolf inferi incident two days ago was a basilisk.

As we all know, in the magical world, there is an old wizard who gets very close to magical animals, and the closer he gets, the more dangerous he becomes.

Coincidentally, many years ago, New York also suffered a major magical terrorist attack, and it also relied on 5X-level dangerous magical animals to eliminate the crisis.

The same magical terrorist attacks, the same magical animals.

Many wizards couldn't help but murmur in their hearts: Can such a coincidence happen in the magical world?

In the middle of the venue, the spokesperson of MACUSA finished speaking about the information and finally put forward his own point of view: "We recommend that some outdated provisions and regulations in the regulations be revised, and at the same time, the loopholes that have occurred in the implementation of the regulations in recent years should be filled, mainly including the following several aspects……"

The response was overwhelming.

Another issue on which consensus is reached.

……

Loren and Hermione slowly walked out of the temporary restaurant in Woolworth Building. The house elves were skilled in cooking and the food was very delicious. However, in such a formal occasion, the other guests were talking about wizards and Muggles, werewolves and They talked about grand topics like vampires, fire dragons and basilisks. The lunch dishes the two of them talked about didn't taste as good as cheese and beef burgers, and they always felt a little out of place.

I came out of the restaurant after I was about seventy percent full. The corridor was now empty, with only a few staff members passing by from time to time.

The Magical Congress of the United States of America has opened the 20 floors below the Woolworth Building. If you are interested in visiting, you can move around freely.

But Loren just wanted to take a walk after dinner, and Hermione kept him company.

Most of the corridors are portraits of people. Apart from the past presidents of Congress and the original twelve Auror founders, the rest are some wizards with outstanding achievements.

In addition, there are some narrative portraits that tell the history of MACUSA from its establishment to the present day.

The Magical Congress of the United States of America was founded in 1693, after the Salem Witch Trials broke out, and the International Statute of Secrecy had just been enacted. Many representatives of the North American Cube community were elected to co-write laws, and one of them, a militant wizard named Josiah Jackson, became the first president of the Magical Congress.

In an environment like that, militancy and courage were always inspiring.

The first task of the Magical Congress after its establishment was to try and execute those Purifiers who had betrayed their kind. Those who committed murder, wizarding human trafficking, torture and other evil deeds often possessed powerful magical powers, and Josiah Jackson recruited and trained Aurors immediately after becoming Chairman.

The first twelve Aurors fought their way out of the chaotic area to bring order and law, at the cost of only two of them surviving to old age.

In the 18th century, the MACUSA built a large magical building in the Appalachian Mountains as their headquarters. In 1760, Thornton Harkaway was elected president, and the MACUSA moved to Williamsburg, Virginia.

The chairman was an expert on magical animals. At that time, there were no regulations prohibiting private breeding of magical animals. He bred a swallow-tailed dog that was highly aggressive to non-magical people. After the swallow-tailed dogs bred by Harkawi ferociously attacked the local No-Majs, seriously violating the Secrecy Act, Harkawi resigned.

Since then, the Magic Congress headquarters has moved to Baltimore, Washington... and other cities.

During the Revolutionary War, the MACUSA secretly sheltered a large number of Muggle war exiles, leaving behind many strange urban legends.

At the end of the 18th century, Dorcas Twelvetrees, the daughter of Aristotle Twelvetrees, the keeper of treasures and dragon coins at the Magical Congress of the United States, became infatuated with a handsome No-Maj named Bartholomew Barebone. He revealed the secret locations of the MAC and Ilvermorny, information about the International Confederation of Wizards, and all their methods of protecting and hiding magical society.

No one thought that Bartholomew was a descendant of a purger. After gathering as much information as possible from Dorcas, Bartholomew stole her wand and exposed all the magic-related intelligence he had collected, resulting in a serious violation of the International Statute of Secrecy.

The Magical Congress of the United States of America received a stern warning from the International Federation of Wizards. In the centuries since, the International Federation of Wizards and Wizards has never listed the United States as a conference venue, until this year.

Bartholomew Barebone's actions eventually led to the largest memory cancellation since the enactment of the Statute of Secrecy, and Emily Rappaport, then president of the Magic Congress, almost resigned. The incident ended with Barebone shooting someone and being imprisoned by the Muggle government.

Loren looked at it with a question mark on his face: "So the MACUSA never dealt with this Baribone. If he hadn't been imprisoned, there would have been more exposure time and more memory cancellation operations in the future?"

Hermione's expression was also a bit complicated. She looked at the text on the narrative portrait and hesitated for a long time, not knowing what to say.

Dumbledore looked at the depressed and puzzled expressions on the faces of the two young wizards and smiled softly: "Have you tried to look at this from another angle?"

Only then did Loren and Hermione realize that there was someone else next to them, and they shouted in surprise:

"Professor Dumbledore!"

"When did you come?"

"When you saw the swallow-tailed dog incident." Dumbledore smiled, his long white beard and eyebrows fluttering gently, wearing a silver-white mixed magic robe, and his temperament was gentle and friendly, "From another To put it in perspective, even in such a critical time, the wizards of MACUSA did not use magic to deal with an ordinary person, in their words called a No-Maj."

Loren and Hermione were stunned for a moment, lost in thought.

Yes, even in such a critical moment, MACUSA did not use magic to kill Baribone, nor did it use magic to imprison his freedom.

On the wall, the portrait of Chairman Emily Rappaport smiled and stepped back, bowing to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore bent down, made an elegant return gesture, and then continued walking forward with Loren and Hermione: "Well, I have something to tell you, Loren."

"You said."

"Wizard officials at MACUSA are considering awarding Newt the Order of Merlin, First Class."

"Rolf's grandfather, what does this have to do with me?"

"They think that the basilisk in the Werewolf Inferi Incident was commanded by Newt..." Dumbledore stroked his white beard, "If you are willing to reveal your identity to MACUSA, I can guarantee that you will get the same of honor.”

Loren kept walking, waving his hands to reject it irritably: "That sounds like a lot of trouble."

Then the smile on Dumbledore's face became even brighter.

Chapter 407 Return

"How does it feel to transform into a basilisk?"

"To be honest, it's a little weird and awkward."

"If Newt were here, he'd probably be interested."

"..."

Hermione listened to their conversation about the basilisk, walked slowly, and looked at the portraits and illustrations on the walls on both sides of the corridor, which recorded the history of MACUSA.

After the Barebone Leaks, MACUSA remained in Washington for a long time until 1892, when the head of the Organization for the Protection of Humanoid Magical Species abused his power to attack a Bigfoot judged to have misbehaved, an act that angered the nation. The Bigfoot tribe led to a large number of Bigfoots flocking to Washington to protest and riots broke out.

This incident resulted in MACUSA having to use a large number of oblivion spells, and the headquarters also spent considerable manpower repairing the damage caused by Bigfoot. In the following years, wizards infiltrated a new building in New York The construction team - Woolworth Building Engineering Team.

Since then, the headquarters of MACUSA has been located in New York until now.

Loren held his chin in his hand, walked and looked, and finally came to the conclusion: "It seems that every once in a while, large-scale magic exposure incidents will occur in the United States."

Hermione subconsciously nodded in agreement. When she came to her senses, she realized that she was under the gaze of the portraits. Feeling a little rude, she quietly glanced at the portraits in the corridor and breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that they didn't notice her.

Dumbledore greeted the portraits on the wall all the way, as if he knew every one of them and knew him.

"There is no pure wizarding community here like Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. Wizards live in Muggle cities. They are closer to Muggles. If they stay together for a long time, the risk of exposure is higher... Of course, It is also easier for them to absorb the cultural achievements of Muggles."

Dumbledore explained in a low voice: "If one day, magic is exposed to Muggles all over the world, they will integrate into Muggle society faster and adapt to the new environment faster than the closed-minded and conservative wizards."

Hermione nodded. It could be seen from the TV news cover-up of the werewolf inferi incident. Senior officials from both sides of the government seemed to be in close communication with each other. The Aurors released clouds before taking action, and tried to avoid excessive magic during the action, and cooperated with Muggles. The media creates fake news.

Loren was noncommittal.

As Dumbledore just said, from the perspective of wizards, wizards here are more likely to accept new things and adapt to new environments because of their unique immigrant atmosphere and open social atmosphere. But from a Muggle perspective, every large-scale magical exposure incident in history has been accompanied by serious Muggle casualties, including the Scourge, Bigfoot, and Obscurus...

They need to undergo a memory write-off for even the most minor incident.

Anyway, from a Muggle perspective, they have little benefit and are more susceptible to magical events.

Unknowingly, they had walked around a circle and returned to the door of the restaurant. Dumbledore stopped and said, "I'm sorry, I might have to excuse myself first."

"Goodbye, Professor Dumbledore," said Loren and Hermione.

"Wait a moment..." Dumbledore persisted. He lowered his head and took out a palm-sized piece of paper from his silver-white magic robe and handed it over. "Loren, someone asked me to pass this on to you."

Someone asked Dumbledore to hand over something?

Loren took the piece of paper curiously, and Hermione also came over curiously. It was an ordinary postcard. The scenery on the letter was of the glaciers in Alaska. There was only one sentence on the back of the postcard:

[Thank you for the gift of nature and fate, and thank you, and may Merlin bless you - Nagini]

Nagini?

That poor blood-cursed snake-man.

Looking at the dazed expressions of the two, Dumbledore smiled lightly: "She is doing well and is currently revisiting the places she has been. I think she is looking for something, but she doesn't think so. .”

"If you have any reply, you can forward it to me when we meet next time. Then, see you next time."

"Goodbye, Professor Dumbledore."

Watching the white-bearded old wizard walking towards a group of Ministry of Magic officials, Loren and Hermione came to their senses and took the postcard and looked at it again and again.

Hermione had always had great sympathy for this blood-cursed orc woman and was very concerned about her news. She asked in a low voice: "Dumbledore said she was looking for something. What do you think she was looking for?"

Loren shook his head: "People I've known before, places I've been to, etc., who knows?"

Hermione thought about it. Because of the curse in her blood, a woman escaped into the virgin forest before she completely turned into a python and lost her mind. After decades, she regained her human form. The outside world has undergone earth-shaking changes. What will she do? What to look for?

"Who knows..."

……

"This concludes the official agenda of this International Confederation of Wizards. I would like to invite the President of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Wizard of the Wizengamot, the Honorable Mr. Albus Dumbledore, to give a speech!"

Today, Dumbledore wore a large magic robe with red and gold colors. He was solemn and solemn at the same time, showing some majesty, making it difficult for people to ignore his presence.

He stood up from the main seat and did not pick up the sound diffusion device provided by MACUSA. However, a deep voice sounded in the ears of everyone in the audience:

"I, Albus Dumbledore, hereby warn wizards all over the world that the former Lord Voldemort has returned!"

The venue was silent for a few seconds, followed by flashing cameras and panicked inquiries from various magic ministries.

"Mr. Dumbledore, what do you mean?"

"Mr. Dumbledore, volts...isn't the mysterious man dead?"

"Is he behind this Werewolf Inferi incident?"

The sound is like boiling.