At the dining table, the conversation between Felix and Sirius continued —
"As long as Kingsley agrees, he's the nominal organizer," Felix whispered.
"I'll tell him, but he might not be able to come until tomorrow morning. You know, as Aura from the Ministry of Magic." Sirius spat out a chicken bone as he spoke.
The relationship between the Phoenix Society and the Ministry of Magic was very interesting.
The two were independent of each other, but they were inextricably linked. Many members of the Phoenix Society were also officials of the Ministry of Magic.
Amelia Burns was well aware of this, but she did not intend to do anything about it.
On one hand, it was out of respect for Dumbledore, and on the other hand, it had a more positive practical significance.
The personnel of the Ministry of Magic were very complicated. Many wizards could establish relationships with pureblood families by taking a few detours. It was not an exaggeration to say that the Ministry of Magic was a sieve.
The waterfall could only wash away the spells, but it could not detect the inner thoughts.
For some important missions, such as guarding the Hogwarts express train, Ms. Burns had to carefully select the participants in addition to keeping it strictly confidential in advance, in order to prevent leaks.
And in terms of keeping secrets, the Phoenix Society had a natural advantage.
After dinner, Felix estimated the time and took Hermione out of her house.
"I've set up a spell near your house," Felix said. "It has a similar effect to Trace Silk. When someone casts a spell nearby, I'll immediately receive the news.
And the current situation is not so serious. Lord Voldemort is adopting a strategy of shrinking. You don't have to worry about the comfort of your family. "
"I understand." Hermione nodded lightly, but her eyebrows still hid a deep worry that couldn't be dispelled.
"You seem to have something on your mind, Miss Granger."
Felix pointed to a bench under a lush Platanus tree. "Why don't you sit over there? I was resting there." He was referring to the time when he came out of the Department of Mysterious Affairs. Hermione easily understood what he meant.
"Professor —"
At this time, the two of them were sitting on a bench, watching the Muggle community as they passed by and strolled by.
Felix turned his head slightly and looked in the direction of Hermione, gazing at the beautiful sunset.
"Wizards and Muggles really can't coexist?" Hermione asked hesitantly.
"What do you think?" Felix asked gently.
"I think," Hermione was reserved at first, and then she began to talk as if she had been holding these words in her heart for a long time. "Of course, I hope that the two can coexist. After all, I'm sandwiched between them. I'm referring to my birth.
However, I've read in books — well, I've also been given a similar assignment in my History of Magic class — that wizards and Muggles were not estranged in history, but the result was not good. They were hostile to each other and many conflicts broke out. The vigorous witch-hunting movement in the fourteenth century was just a microcosm of this background. "
"That's right," Felix said in agreement.
"Also, many wizards chose to stay away from the crowd. The explanation in the books was that they didn't violate the Secret Law, but in fact, this phenomenon existed long before the Secret Law was implemented. There's also a saying that wizards don't like Muggles and can't stand the smell on them, but —"
"Sounds like the self-comforting words of a loser?" Felix couldn't help but smile.
Hermione hesitated for a moment, but still nodded imperceptibly. "But shouldn't wizards have the upper hand?
After all, they have magic? "
"Well, this question is more complicated. I'll try to explain it.
You can see from the social structure of wizards that a mature wizard is equivalent to a miniature society. He can use magic to meet most of his needs.
This leads to the fact that wizards are far less connected than ordinary people. In other words, it's difficult to organize them to work toward a common goal.
As far as I know, the last person who did it was still locked up in Newmungaard. "
"Gellert Grindelwald?" Hermione whispered. The name seemed to have magic.
"Yes, but he also took advantage of the people's dissatisfaction with the Secret Law."
Felix said calmly, "And, you've overlooked a rather important point. Magic is rare in the real world, but it's quite common among wizards —"
"Isn't that natural?"
"Of course not."
Felix said in a scholarly tone. "I've been in contact with some occult societies. They take magic very … well … perhaps the word 'sacred' can be used to describe it?
Do you think they can imagine that real wizards use magic to wash clothes, cook, make fires, and water flowers? "
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows, thinking hard.
"So, well, wizards are used to using magic to solve all kinds of problems, and daily life magic is the mainstream?"
"They're the people, or pragmatists, but they're definitely not soldiers."
Felix summarized briefly. "Magic is not a weapon in their hands, but a tool — at least for most wizards.
So, when faced with an unexpected situation, they won't make a better choice because of magic, especially children.
In order to protect their families, wizards choose to take the initiative to retreat. "
"But there are exceptions," Hermione said affirmatively. "The fourteenth-century diviner Wendling liked to be burned very much. He allowed himself to be caught in various disguises as many as forty-seven times."
"In that era, wizards who had 'no worries' always lived more freely," Felix said.
The two sat quietly for a while until the sky gradually darkened, casting shadows on the ground.
They watched a young couple go out for a walk. Their child, probably only one or two years old, was staggering in front.
"Professor, when did the word 'Muggle' appear?" Hermione asked again when the family passed by.
"Ah, that's an interesting question.
I guess you want to ask if the word has a derogatory meaning? "
Felix asked with a smile. Without waiting for Hermione to answer, he continued. "The specific origin is no longer verifiable. No one knows what the wizard who first said 'Muggle' was thinking, but he did have an advantage. At that time, the magic world did not have a unified term for 'non-magical people,' so the word was accepted by more and more wizards."
"As for whether it has a derogatory meaning, it depends on the tone of the speaker. The Weasley family and the Malfoy family both used the word, but their ideas must be very different. You should know about this, right?"
Hermione's shadow nodded.
"But generally speaking, if you use the word in a conversation with ordinary people, it still has a trace of the wizard's arrogance and disapproval.
It's a very subtle difference, perhaps only a little wizard born in a Muggle family can understand. "
"Why is that?"
"Do you want to be labeled?" Felix asked rhetorically. "Especially when you don't know the meaning of the label?"
"Of course not —" She suddenly understood. "That's why you never used the word 'Muggle' when communicating with my parents."
"I was trying to reduce the communication barrier." Felix nodded slightly. "It's obviously easier to understand using 'ordinary people' or 'non-magical people,' but if you're talking to a wizard, it's very weird and cultured."
Hermione understood a little.
She preferred the professor's approach, which showed respect to the speaker.
"What about the first question?"
"Can wizards and Muggles coexist?
I can't give you an answer, Miss Granger, but I think the trend of integration is inevitable. To be more precise, I think the magic world will be exposed to ordinary people sooner or later. "
"Oh, I see!
So, Professor, you set up the 'Future World' company? "Hermione asked sharply.
Felix chuckled.
"I want to build a buffer zone. This is the natural responsibility of us — the wizards born in Muggle families."
Hermione smiled. Although she never felt inferior about her family background, she still felt angry and sad when Malfoy called her a 'mudblood.' From today onwards, if Malfoy said such things again, she would only pity him and think he was shallow and ignorant.
Although Malfoy had not said much in the past two years.
Was it also because of the professor?
Hermione thought. She was a little regretful that she could not see this scene in the time travel.
At first, she was like a shadow that should not exist, out of tune with the whole world. She wandered aimlessly between the castles and venues of the Hogwarts, and even the ghosts could not find her.
But she also saw a lot of secrets that she could not access before.
Hermione survived the most difficult days with the food in the beaded bag, but the food always ran out. Just when she thought she would be trapped in time and starve to death like those time travelers, the God of Luck finally came.
A crack appeared in the Time Turner.
In the midst of nervousness and fear, Hermione found that she had regained her physical body. She hurriedly sneaked into the kitchen to steal food. After a full meal, Hermione was in the mood to think about whether her actions had changed history, or whether she was part of the many strange rumors in the Hogwarts.
A ghost who stole food?
But she was too hungry to care so much at the time.
It turned out that she was right. Two hours after that, she was taken through a time jump, and her body returned to a state of near nothingness. Fortunately, she gradually figured out the pattern and could do some things that she wanted to do but could not do before.
For example, send a letter.
After about a month and a half, Hermione found that she had a physical body in her normal state, as if she was wearing a layer of invisibility.
She guessed that as she got closer to the normal timeline, she was also getting closer to reality.
It was only a matter of time before she was discovered.
So she escaped from school and returned home, ready to record her experience and spend the last time with her parents.
After that … Hermione pursed her lips and looked at Felix. "Thank you, Professor."
"What?"
"Oh, I mean, I seem to have found a new goal, including the previous one — Professor. I plan to enter the Ministry of Magic after graduation," Hermione said.
"Bad news. I thought you would choose the 'Future World' company." Felix sounded a little troubled.
"I won't give up ancient magic words," Hermione said greedily.
…
Felix and Hermione returned to Blake's old house. Before they could say a few words, it was time for bed.
Mrs. Weasley stopped Ron from bragging about her new broom and chased them back to their room.
"That's the Nimbus 2000!"
Ron and Ginny shouted at the same time.
But Ron immediately looked at Ginny warily. "You don't expect me to lend you the broom, do you?"
"Stingy."
Ginny snorted and stood up proudly like a proud cat.
"Well, children, you should go to bed early. There'll be a lot of work tomorrow," Mrs. Weasley said with experience.
"I have to wake you up early, or someone will get lost again …"
She was right.
Early the next morning, the whole house was in a state of chaos and chaos.
Mrs. Weasley and the portrait of Mrs. Blake hanging in the hall shouted at the same time.
"Don't use magic!
You two idiots — "
"Filthy bastard, defile the house of my ancestors —"
Harry put on his clothes and stuffed his toiletries into the suitcase. The others were also in a hurry. They didn't breathe a sigh of relief until they boarded the Hogwarts express train.
"Fred and George wanted to cast a spell on the suitcase, but it almost hit me …" Ginny explained to Harry what happened in the morning.
Harry scratched his head and didn't know how to face Ginny alone. Just now, Ron and Hermione went to the coach. "Uh, are you okay?" As soon as he said that, he felt terrible.
"I'm fine."
Ginny smiled. They carried their luggage and looked for an empty coach. Not far in front of them was a blonde girl with messy, dirty hair that reached her waist.
"I see Luna. Let's go there," Ginny said.
Harry looked up. Even though he only saw the back of a person, Harry immediately recognized her from the way the person floated into the carriage in a trance.
They squeezed through the crowd and picked up Neville on the way. "Oh, my God, Harry, I thought I was late," he said happily. "Almost."
On the other side, Felix came to a coach near the front. He opened the door and saw several Aura and members of the Phoenix Society sitting quietly inside.
"Hello."
Kingsley, Drex, Moody, and Dedalo Digo nodded at him.
Felix picked an empty seat and sat down. It was obvious that Moody's nervousness was acting up when so many people were sitting in the narrow carriage. He was uncomfortable all over, his eyelids twitching, and his rough hands seemed to be trying to grab something.
"Don't pull out your wand, Alastair," Dedalo Digo, who was sitting next to him, said carefully.
Felix blinked and felt that this trip had become interesting. He took out a coin and let it jump on his fingertips. His mind was also spinning.
The words that Dumbledore said to him in the middle of the night appeared in his memory. Well, what excuse should he use to leave?
Should he go to the snack cart to buy snacks?
He sighed silently. He felt that it didn't fit his image.