Hogwarts doesn't need a savior

He raised his wand, murderous intent in his eyes, "In my opinion, it would be best to kill all those traitorous wizards and then use the Imperius Curse to control these Muggles as well."

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd, who were already afraid to breathe, immediately felt hopeless. Some tried hard to maintain their remaining dignity, some were on the verge of collapse, and some simply collapsed to the ground, crying in fear of death.

There may be exceptions among these Muggle officials, but there is not a single Muggle-born American wizard who does not know the vicious notoriety of Grindelwald.

Decades ago, he was a man who could do more than what he said.

"We didn't do this! We were also forced!"

A sharp voice came from the crowd. Lin En looked in the direction of the voice and saw a tall and thin witch who looked to be about fifty years old.

Her words seemed to turn on a switch. In an instant, everyone was begging for mercy, biting, and making excuses... a disgusting and nauseating scene.

"Noisy."

Lin En's calm words were like pressing the pause button. The ugly crowd immediately froze in place. Not to mention continuing to speak, they didn't even dare to blink, for fear of angering this ruthless character who even nuclear weapons couldn't kill.

The so-called reputation is forged through real victories on the battlefield where real swords and guns are fought.

Seeing that the situation was almost heated, Dumbledore took a deep look at Lin's back and said softly, "Many people have lost their lives today, including wizards and Muggles."

He lowered his head, looked at the president who seemed to have lost his soul, hid his disgust, and continued, "The biggest danger has not been completely eliminated yet, and we should not rashly increase unnecessary risks. If we are not careful and cause a new storm, it will be bad."

Just like he did with Grindelwald, Lynn did not comment on Dumbledore's words. He looked deeply at the people who were either happy or sad.

Dumbledore's advice was like the last straw in front of a drowning man, tossed in the surging waves.

Fear spreads over time like weeds growing wildly in the heart.

Lynn didn't say anything for a long time, just sipped from a cup of water.

The almost frozen air made everyone feel as if their hearts were entangled by some invisible chains. Even people like Powell who were not involved felt cold all over, not to mention the president and others.

Finally, when they were about to collapse, Lin En, who had drunk a glass of warm water, put the cup away again, stood up and walked to the president. With a light flick of his finger, the middle-aged man who was slumped on the ground was pulled up, like an involuntary puppet.

"What they both said makes sense. As the leader of the Stargazers, killing all of you treacherous guys will not appease my anger, but I don't deny that you have done useful things, even if your motive is to kill us all - after all, this is also our previous consensus."

The president's face turned pale and blue, and he couldn't figure out Lin En's thoughts, so he could only try to remain calm.

"What do you want to do?"

"It's not important." Lin En's eyes flashed with a dark color, "What's important is what we should do."

He put a lot of emphasis on the word "we", which gave the president, who thought he was doomed, a glimmer of hope.

"what should we do?"

Praying, longing, begging for mercy, complex emotions are intertwined in a simple repetition.

Lin En found it a little funny and said softly, "I am quite satisfied with this attitude, Mr. President."

A hint of color appeared on the president's gray face.

In just a few moments, he was sweating all over, his suit was soaked, and he looked like he had just been pulled out of the water.

The word "embarrassed" is not enough to describe his condition.

And the people behind him are not even as good as him.

No matter how high a position and power one holds, very few people can remain calm in the face of real death.

At least not here.

This is exactly the effect Lin En wanted.

He said calmly, "Trust is a very precious and difficult to regenerate thing, but cooperation is not. More than a century ago, a Muggle politician said that there are no eternal allies or eternal enemies, only eternal interests. I agree with this statement. It is true between Muggles, and it is also true between Muggles and wizards."

"Palmerston... I understand what you mean." The Prime Minister said bitterly, "You remind me of a saying of Kemal. Please rest assured that we will be loyal friends until our common enemy is eliminated."

"You didn't fully understand what I said. I said that trust is a very precious thing." Lynn said calmly, "Now what we need is a means of restraint that can make each other feel at ease, whether wizards or Muggles."

A list that had been drawn up before arriving appeared on the table.

Chapter 623: Cornerstone of Cooperation

If the result cannot be changed, then most people will make a rational choice between active acceptance and passive acceptance.

For these politicians who are scheming against each other all the time, this is something that doesn't need to be considered.

Especially after experiencing the great terror between life and death.

The so-called allies and constraints are nothing more than special products of the times and circumstances. There is no reason to reject them, let alone the ability to do so.

After deeply realizing the conceptual gap in individual abilities between Muggles and wizards, the president, who had originally planned to capture all powerful wizards and extremely dangerous monsters in one fell swoop, almost immediately gave up this unrealistic fantasy and became more docile than a lamb.

When Lynn left, a preliminary framework for a cooperation agreement had been established, with the main purpose of jointly guarding against evil forces including Merlin, and with two clauses added: wizards would supervise weapons of mass destruction, and wizards would set up a separate organization to take over part of the deterrent force.

There is also a draft regulation to limit the flow of goods and official personnel between Muggles and wizards.

Even though many processes cannot be completed in a day and the specific details cannot be completed in a hurry on site, the direction has been set and cannot be changed.

With Merlin and the monsters "wandering" in front and Grindelwald's watchful eyes behind, Lynn was not worried that anyone would reject the proposal from him and the entire wizarding society behind him, both emotionally and practically.

Even if there really is such a person, there will only be one result.

There is no need to wait for the magic of the legendary wizard, the Muggles themselves will completely destroy him.

Everyone present knew it and had this tacit understanding.

Repaying trust with friendship and repaying conspiracy with control, this is Lynn's consistent style of doing things, and it is also almost the only solution strategy for the wizarding society in the face of such changes.

Even Dumbledore did not express any objection.

-----------------

At the same time as the tone of the alliance was agreed upon, Euphemia, who had left Canada alone, had already arrived at a remote town on the western foot of the Ural Mountains and met Batty who had been waiting for a long time.

Deeply regretting that he had not been able to take part in the battle, he approached Euphemia as soon as he saw her, anxious and asking questions.

After knowing the result, he felt half happy and half worried.

The good news is that the crisis has been resolved, but the worry is the unprecedented painful price and a series of chain reactions in the future.

Even though most of the people who lost their lives in the war had never met him, his gloomy mood was still difficult to ease.

After thinking for a long time, he said in a heavy tone: "If I could move faster, maybe the situation would be different."

"I guess you would think so, but I won't enlighten you." Euphemia pursed her lips, "Because we still have a lot to do, and there are many things that only we can do."

"Of course I understand this..."

Batty took a deep breath, "What do you need me to do?"

"Three things. Only if you do it yourself, Lin En and I can rest assured." Euphemia crossed her hands on the table with a serious expression. "First, the research on the meteorite. The origin of that thing may be more mysterious than Merlin. Although there is no problem at present, we must always consider future generations."

"With me here, nothing will go wrong at the institute."

"It's not enough to just avoid mistakes. We also need to improve research efficiency. Starting in the summer, Inès will help you, and Victor will also organize more people to join in."

"Is it so serious...?" Euphemia's seriousness startled Barty, but he quickly calmed down and said in a deep voice, "This is my job, you don't have to worry."

"That's good." Euphemia's expression eased a little. "The second thing is that we need you to work with Dmitri Mikhailov to take out those extremely powerful Muggle weapons separately and control some of them to ensure that they can be used at any time."

"You mean the bombs? What's the reason?" Batty asked.

Euphemia said patiently, "Muggles have an almost blind faith in their technological weapons, especially super weapons like this, and that's exactly what we want to take advantage of."

"I see. You want to use a method that Muggles can understand to achieve deterrence, just like I did before." Barty immediately understood. "Compared to magic, they are more direct and more effective. Even people who don't understand or believe in magic can understand them."

"You are indeed the most suitable candidate." Euphemia looked at him approvingly. "Frank and Alice will help you, and Amelia will also facilitate these tasks. If necessary, I can come forward to help you solve those difficult problems."

"That's the best." Barty thought for a moment and nodded slightly, "But where should we start? Although we can use the Imperius Curse to control that drunk president, it's not that easy to transport the things away. This is a sensitive matter."

"Lynn has already made a plan." Euphemia took out a scribbled note, "Go find the person listed here. Your target is not Russia. Don't forget that it has neighbors to the west. There are many weapons there that are used as burdens and bargaining chips."

"You mean... with you guys around, it's easy for me to become as unthinking as someone else."

Batty quickly figured out the key point, raised his eyebrows, and said in a serious and teasing manner.

Far away in a foreign country, Brian, who was directing the stargazers to clean up the battlefield, cooperating with Muggle officials, the Ministry of Magic, and the International Confederation of Wizards to clean up the mess and find a suitable excuse for this incident, sneezed loudly.

Euphemia was naturally aware of his insinuation and she pursed her lips in laughter, her heavy mood slightly relieved.

Seeing this, Batti also smiled.

He said softly, "If I'm not mistaken, the third thing is the highlight of today, and it's very troublesome, right?"

"You are still so sharp."

"If I didn't have this insight, I wouldn't have been able to stay with the Death Eaters for so many years, let alone deal with Voldemort." Barty said complacently, "We are like-minded partners. No matter what happens, you can rest assured and leave it to me."

"I understand what you mean, but... what we are going to do this time is very special." Euphemia hesitated for a moment, her brown eyes drooping slightly, "Regarding Merlin, there are a number of unknown monster strongholds that he told us about before his death. The monsters there are recovering at different speeds."

Batty narrowed his eyes slightly and frowned.

"From what you said, you don't plan to catch them all at once." He said slowly, "And Merlin is already dead... Are you going to use him to set up a trap?"

Euphemia did not answer this question.

She said softly: "Even if the Muggle government and the Ministry of Magic reach a tacit agreement and make every effort to cover up the facts, wizards are still at great risk of being exposed. Now is not the time. We need a long enough period of peace."

This is not the answer, but it is exactly the answer Batty needs.

"On one side is the threat of force that can at least lead to mutual destruction, and on the other side is an enemy hiding in the dark whose true or false identity is unknown and who may appear at any time. Everyone knows which choice to make."

Barty's tone was calm, his face expressionless, "This is not a long-term solution, but it can buy time - time for you to create new security for the wizarding world."

"Only you can do this well." Euphemia clenched her fists silently. "We have to kill the monsters, and we can't kill them all. We have to control some of them, let some go, and then closely monitor the ones we let go, and slowly strangle them."

"Like Merlin," Barty said.

"Like Merlin," repeated Euphemia, "but we must learn the means, not the ends. Lynn says that you are the one who can do this well."

"...Sometimes I really think you are very cunning." After a long pause, Batty said with a wry smile, "You always throw such difficult questions to me and make it impossible for me to refuse."

Euphemia looked straight at him.

"Because he trusts you the most, and so do I. We both believe that, no matter what time it is, you are still the Barty who walked side by side with us at Hogwarts. You must also believe that our original intentions will not change at all."

Chapter 624: The Spider Web of Lies

After hearing what Euphemia said, Barty was stunned at first, then he showed an expected but helpless expression.

"I knew it would be like this... That's why he didn't come here by himself, but asked you to be his lobbyist - words like this would never come out of his mouth."

"Is there any difference between us?" Euphemia asked with a smile, raising the corners of her eyes.

The only response was a slight snort from Barty.

-----------------

Half a day later, Paris.

Thousands of firefighters were still searching through the rubble as the president, whose term was about to expire, greeted the media outside his official residence.

This was an impromptu speech given in response to an emergency.

"…Unfortunately, we lost many of our compatriots in this sudden explosion. This is an unimaginable moment of grief. Now, each of us is doing our best to save the lives trapped at the disaster site by all means. We are concerned about everyone who died and lost contact in the explosion, as well as the rescue workers. We will also find out the cause of the accident and hope that all sectors of society can unite to face this disaster together."

The haggard president spoke in a heavy tone. After his speech, he looked around and waited for reporters' questions.

The sound of shutter clicks rang out from the audience.

Although all forces were gathered and traffic and personnel controls were imposed in the area in advance on the pretext of the British Prime Minister's visit, this still could not prevent the cumulative arrival of disasters and deaths.

Even if the Confusion Spell and the Oblivion Spell cover every aspect, an entire destroyed block is still clearly visible there, and there will always be people who know about it who have been missed.

There are also media reporters rushing to the scene.

The increasingly advanced information media has made magic lose the magic it had when the Statute of Secrecy was first introduced centuries ago.

"Mr. President, you mean this accident was a complete accident?" A reporter stood up. "But this is an entire city block, and the continuous explosions almost completely destroyed it. What kind of accident is this? Are you sure this is not some kind of premeditated terrorist attack?"

"Well...according to the preliminary investigation at the explosion site, no signs of human factors were found. Of course, we will conduct a more in-depth and detailed investigation." The president said in a cautious tone, "The investigation will continue."

After a brief silence, another reporter asked: "The British Prime Minister, who was visiting our country, was also nearby when the incident happened and was injured. Could this incident be related to this? Will it affect the relationship between the two countries?"

"I have already answered your first question. As for your second question, I have met with Mr. Major not long ago and discussed the matter with him face to face. We both believe that the strong friendship between the two countries will not be damaged and the originally scheduled visit will proceed as usual tomorrow."

The president responded in a formulaic tone.