Wizards are a strange bunch. At first, their world seems magical and wondrous, but the longer you stay, the more you realize that, in many ways, wizards are a stagnant group.
Compared to Muggles outside, the wizarding lifestyle barely progresses. Ages ago, they used owls to deliver messages. And now? They still use owls…
Sure, wizard communication is better than shouting across the street, but they're far behind Muggle technology. Mobile phones exist, the internet has developed rapidly in America, but wizards?
When Dudley smashed his TV game console, the wizarding world had no idea what a Nintendo or an endless source of fun even was!
It was almost inhumane. While other kids were mastering underwater levels in games, wizarding children's leisure activities still revolved around Wizard Chess and such. At the time, Allen thought he had found a goldmine.
Battles, duels, and curses? Forget it. Did you know about Tetris and Tank Battle?
Unfortunately, his dream of profit ended before it began, electronic devices fail around magic.
That was why Dudley's game console broke so fast.
The same applied to Muggle weapons: bullets and guns can't easily kill a wizard, as long as the wizard is prepared.
Even the earliest defensive spells taught by professors could count as "spell-free magic." Before Harry even arrived at Hogwarts, he could make glass vanish. With bullets being smaller than glass, making them disappear would be even easier.
This is why Voldemort preferred creating hordes of undead as an army rather than using the Imperius Curse on Muggle troops. Muggles don't have a wizard's heightened awareness, the control is terrifyingly simple. Combine that with guns, and a soul-controlled Muggle army could easily overwhelm wizard combat teams.
Yet wizards are too formidable, only a wizard can kill another wizard, unless the victim is a completely untrained Muggle.
This explains why the Prime Minister could only tolerate a clueless Minister of Magic occasionally barging in and causing headaches.*
Just one extra word slipped in, but no matter.
Imagine if you were the Prime Minister of a country, and someone with supernatural abilities barged in to tell you, "We're the Dragon League, the Avengers, and a reincarnated god organization. Our kind is walking among you, and we exist. Deal with it." Would you just forgive them?
Of course not. The normal response would be to capture them, dissect them, and study their powers scientifically. Magic, psychic abilities, and combat skills should be analyzed. That's why a self-proclaimed wizard's survival depends on the safety of the people, or sheer luck.
Look at the Minister of Magic, he's survived this long without being dissected. That shows just how overwhelming wizards are compared to Muggle combat power.
So why all this background?
Because right now, an absolutely top-secret meeting was taking place at the Prime Minister's residence.
This was a conversation that would never be declassified. If it were revealed, Britain would descend into panic greater than a war.
Every wizard wields a wand. Against a wand, your gun is useless. Imagine your neighbor walks around daily carrying an RPG, and insists he won't fire it. Wouldn't you still be worried?
At the meeting table stood a Prime Minister and a President, but the entire conversation was beyond their control.
To be precise, their role was to serve as figureheads. The other attendees were taking notes on matters they couldn't understand, fully aware that they would forget everything immediately afterward, as if nothing had happened.
The two leaders exchanged helpless smiles. What else could they do?
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The meeting lasted a long time. In the end, both sides were satisfied.
However, the Prime Minister was puzzled. Just before the handshake, the other side's representative asked a strange question:
"Regarding this collaboration, how does Dumbledore feel about it?"
After a brief silence, Minister Fudge replied with a standardized smile:
"Oh, I'll personally speak with Dumbledore. I see no reason for him to refuse cooperation after our previous successful collaboration."
His words sounded casual, but the Prime Minister could read the subtle tension beneath that smile, a familiarity he had encountered before with this minister.
"Perfect. We'll await your confirmation. Once we know Dumbledore's stance, we can proceed as planned."
As the other party added this final remark, the figurehead noticed Fudge's fingers blanching slightly.
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Allen, of course, had no knowledge of this negotiation. He was busy sulking over a letter from Hogwarts.
The parchment listed an enormous number of textbooks for the next year, so many that it almost seemed like the school had combined multiple students' booklists by mistake.
Other professors' books were mostly unchanged. The new additions were from a professor famous in the wizarding world, whose signature alone carried weight, though it wasn't cheap.
In a wizarding world lacking entertainment, this "master" held the prestige of a celebrity. That was none other than Hogwarts' most inept Defense Against the Dark Arts professor: Gilderoy Lockhart!
Although he had little actual skill, his books were meticulously researched, he never settled for second-hand sources, a model for any aspiring author.
Unfortunately, he had caught the attention of someone he shouldn't have today, even without meeting them.
Everyone knew Lockhart's books were expensive, but this fraud demanded students purchase the entire set!
And Allen was paying more than just the money, Dear Professor, you've successfully caught my attention. Did you know that?
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