Chapter 612

Felix had deliberately entered the Ministry of Magic through the visitor’s entrance – also known as the red telephone booth.

This had been blown apart by the Death Eaters using magic to cut off the Ministry of Magic’s access to the outside world and cause a riot. The Ministry of Magic had later brushed it off with the excuse of an ‘underground gas pipe leak’ and Felix had wanted to see if the mobile ice cream van was still available, but unfortunately the street corner is now empty.

The woman’s voice in the phone booth was as cold and raw as ever as if nothing had changed. But after crossing the thief’s downfall, Felix was prescient enough to cast some magic on himself, one that would make him less noticeable.

He stopped for a moment at the reception space in the main lobby of the Ministry of Magic.

A dozen or so Squibs – that much you could tell from their clothing – had gathered around several of the receptionists and were asking questions, the bearded receptionist haphazardly dealing with questions coming from all directions.

“Quiet – all quiet -” he shouted as his beard twitched, struggling to maintain order, “fill out the forms first –then go back and wait for an announcement, I don’t have the bloody exclusive wand in my hand, not even one!”

“Why do we have to leave our phone numbers?” One of the Squib asked.

Others shared the same question. It is no secret that the employees of the Ministry of Magic never use those things for work, as they preferred to use two-winged, well-trained owls.

“The Ministry of Magic is going to set up a temporary office two blocks from here at a later date – in a yellow office building that has access to dropped calls – or telephones, I don’t care what it’s called. ” The bearded receptionist said grumpily.

Not far from there, a fountain made of gold made a gurgling sound of water.

Felix arrived near the lift where a young red-haired man was waiting anxiously, holding a thick stack of documents in his hands, and with an impatient look on his face, he pushed the paper plane blocking his view away and pressed the upward button.

“Percy?” Felix called out.

Percy was taken aback, and the sheets of parchment in his hand were scattered all over the floor. “Professor Hap?” He greeted as he waved his wand in a panic to get the scattered sheets back into his hands. He knew there was someone around, but for some reason, he hadn’t had the slightest thought of looking at that person just then.

“I have some business to finish at the Ministry, is Ms. Bones in her office?”

“Yes, sir, she is.” Percy said, at which point the door of the lift opened. The two men stepped inside and Percy, without moving, smoothed his hair and said, “I just happen to be going to the Minister’s office to deliver an important document.” He explained.

The lift started to move upwards and several lavender paper planes hovered above their heads.

“Sir?” Percy mumbled.

Felix looked over at him with a slight smile, as if they were still in class and Percy had just asked a question.

“I was there that day, the product launch of the exclusive wand …” he said with slight excitement, “I thought hard about it when I got back, some thoughts were playing around in my head and I wrote a report overnight, you know I am working in the Department of International Magical Co-operation and-”

“It has something to do with exclusive wands?”

“Yes.” Percy’s nose glistened with a fine sweat and his cheeks slightly flushed, “I think – an exclusive wand would greatly enhance our standing internationally, the news hasn’t spread yet, but someone has already sent a letter to our department, sir, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity –and if it’s handled correctly, it could achieve as much result as a tournament of champions or two, or the Quidditch World Cup, if not much better …”

The corner of Felix’s mouth twitched slightly.

He had received similar letters.

The news of the exclusive wand was first announced on August 1, and the official product launch was pushed back by a few days to accommodate all guests. A few well-connected people from abroad had the opportunity to know about it in advance, but they were unable to confirm its authenticity, which was why they wrote to ask about it.

“Is this your own idea?” He had quite a soft spot for Percy, well, in Felix’s mind he had a good impression of any people who could take the initiative to take responsibilities over.

“Actually,” Percy swallowed a little, “I also got some inspiration when Penelope complained to me yesterday when she got off work that the owls from all over the world were going to swamp her, and that the letters were a mix of French, German, Spanish and other languages, and some of the letters were written in a language that she had never even seen before. ”

“I see, so your report has been handed in?”

“Yes, this morning.”

“I will mention it to Ms. Bones, but don’t expect any results.”

“That will be enough, sir!” Percy said cheerfully, “It’s a critical time for me at the moment, Ms. Bones has shown great trust towards me, but my age is a big issue, I mean, I have to maintain enough respect when the new Head of Department comes in … I have applied for a transfer to the International Magical Trading Standards Body office, and There is hope that I will become Head of Department there.”

That was indeed something to be quite proud of, when Percy was just a year out of school he had already been involved in the big international events such as the Tournament of Champions, the Quidditch World Cup and the Ancient Rune Exchange, and for a long time, he hadn’t had a boss at the top of his head.

It was only natural that he would stand out.

But it sounded like such a hassle. Who would the new head of the department be? Felix wondered wistfully. The question swirled around his head, but he found himself not actually interested in the answer as the door of the lift opened and the two men walked around a few corridors and stopped as Percy straightened his body and knocked solemnly on the door.

“Please come in.”

Ms. Bones answered stiffly, sounding like she was in a bad mood. Percy opened his mouth and stepped stiffly inside.

There is someone else present in the office.

In addition to Ms. Bones, who had a stiff expression and was sitting on the couch, two other pairs of people were present, and the first thing Felix sensed was the restlessness that surged through the office, and of course, he could see it with his eyes.

“Oh, it’s Percy,” Ms. Bones said, with a hopeful gleam in her eyes, “Is there something urgent at the Ministry that I need to deal with?”

“Uh, I just came by to drop off a document.” Percy said with a stiff smile.

It was clear that the answer wasn’t exactly flattering and Ms. Bones sat back in her chair with disappointment. “Yes, thank you, Percy, just leave it on the table, I’ll look at it later. I am busy right now -” she hummed through her nose, “entertaining guests.”

“Mr. Hap?” At that moment, a surprised voice called out.

From the couch seat, a young blonde bounced up and strutted over, walking around Percy and showing a familiar face.

“Jura?”

It dawned on Felix that Jura’s presence here is quite appropriate. He had at least three reasons: Jura had been a Professor at Ilvermorny and had a close relationship with the former Headmaster who had been murdered; after leaving school he had chosen to enter the Magical Congress of the United States of America and was part of the Auror squad that had gone after Voldemort; he also represented the central force of the Revolutionary Society and needed to show his abilities and presence from time to time too.

It is just not clear when he had arrived in Britain.

Jura shook Felix’s hand in a slightly exaggerated manner. He had matured, his eyes were firm, but at the moment there was a hint of thirst in those eyes, and after a slight hesitation Felix became considerably more enthusiastic, opening his arms and hugging him, patting him affectionately on the back. But in his heart, he couldn’t help but think that doing something practical really does train people.

Looking over Jura’s shoulder, Felix saw that one of the two pairs who had faced each other earlier instantly grimaced.

“They are-” he asked in a whisper.

“The Stewards.” Jura said in the same whisper.

Felix instantly associated the name with James Steward, one of the founders of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the muggle husband of another – or in other words, the Witch Isolt Sayre, the actual founder of Ilvermorny’s husband.

And the Witch Isolt Sayre is a descendant of Slytherin.

When you think of it that way, the purpose of the Steward family’s visit is obvious.

When the two separated, Ms. Bones was already standing in front of them, and she said with relief, “Thank goodness, Professor Dumbledore had informed me, I just didn’t expect you to be the one who would come – to be honest, I really- ” she pursed her lips, not allowing herself to say anything mean.

Jura became slightly embarrassed.

He was personally well aware that they had been harassing the Minister of Magic for the past few days and simply refused to leave. But the snakewood wand is just too important, that they could afford to ignore the bad reputation that will spread later – they didn’t dare make any move when the snakewood wand was in Voldemort’s hands, but now that Voldemort has supposedly been defeated, they immediately come over with hungry eyes to claim it.

He had held on persistently without attempting to go through Mr. Hap’s door for this. But this persistence soon faltered as members of the Steward family subsequently arrived upon hearing the news, claiming to reclaim their ancestors’ relics.

“Felix, let me introduce them to you,” Ms. Bones said with a smile, seemingly happy that she is about to get rid of a nuisance. Her eyes glanced over to a somewhat balding old dark-skinned wizard, “The man accompanying Mr. Edmund is the Deputy Headmaster of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Mr. Greg, and these two-”

“My name is Melville, Melville Steward.” A young man said with eagerness. “Mr. Hap, I have heard of you, and you should understand our feelings of reverence for the relics of our ancestors, our constant desire to recreate the glory of our family, and it goes without saying that we are rightfully entitled to claim ownership of the snakewood wand.”

“I-” Felix opened his mouth.

“Our bloodline is perfectly well documented, without any semblance of ambiguity, and can be traced all the way back to Martha Steward, Isolt Sayre’s eldest daughter, who, despite being a Squib and married to a No-Maj husband, unquestionably has a pure bloodline of Isolt Sayre.”

“Uh, congratulations?” Felix said with an open mind.

The young man stared, not expecting to hear such a response. At that moment, the slightly older, middle-aged wizard behind him came over with a smile, stepped forward to shake hands, and said politely, “Hello, Mr. Hap, I’m Melville’s uncle Blaze Steward.”

“Hello, Mr. Steward.” Felix nodded his head.

“About the snakewood wand-”

“Well, Mr. Steward, I hope you understand that I am not a judge and that I have been just entrusted with the task of returning the wand to its rightful owner -”

“We are the true rightful owner of it!”

“You can try it and see if it will respond to you.” Felix took out the snakewood wand and several pairs of fiery eyes immediately glued upon it, Blaze Steward subconsciously took two steps forward to pick it up.

“I mean, call upon it and let it respond to you on its own accord.” Felix said as he shook his head and took a step back.

“It is just a wand! Mr. Hap!” He said with vexation.

Felix put away the snakewood wand, a little disappointed that it seemed that neither of the two Steward family members present knew the Parseltongue. The atmosphere was a little awkward for a while, when Ms. Bones spoke, “Felix, can we talk alone?”

“Of course.” Felix agreed.

They went to the small lounge next to the room, closing the door behind them, and Felix spoke up, “Amelia, I have tested, and Steward’s people-”

“Oh, that’s just a minor thing. I don’t give a damn about who gets the snakewood wand.” Ms. Bones said, and Felix was slightly taken aback as she continued, “What I want to know is that report, and what you really think of it.” Her last statement was close to a whisper.

“What report?”

“The one you handed in with the title ‘The Challenge Muggle Technology poses to Wizard’s Statute of Secrecy in a Modern Age Setting’,” Ms. Bones said as she leaned closer to Felix, raising her head and gritting her teeth, “I can’t believe you are quietly throwing up so much trouble, do you know I’ve been having trouble sleeping these days?”

“I don’t know,” Felix said honestly, “First of all, let me state the fact that I didn’t cause this trouble, it was your responsibility to prevent the magical world from being exposed, and you should be thanking me for pointing out the oversight in your work.”

Bones glared at him in exasperation and had to admit that Felix had a point. But why was she the one that had to deal with such a mess one after another?

“Then, why you didn’t mention this during Fudge’s tenure?”

“It’s not like I know him well.”

“… What about the exclusive wand thing? Don’t say it was an accident, I found out that you have been secretly pushing the matter, and everything you have done revolves around one purpose, and that is-”

“Preventing the exposure of the magical community, and preparing the means to deal with it when it is exposed.” Felix nodded, “You’re welcome, it’s what I’m supposed to do.”

The two stared at each other for a moment, and Ms. Bones was defeated, and said under her breath, “Okay, I admit – if half of your report is true, I have no reason to accuse you, and on the contrary have to thank you for it – But you mustn’t pull away and do nothing about it!”

“Uh, this …” Felix hesitated, and Ms. Bones raised her eyebrows. “Madam, please be mindful of your image, you are seen by the public as the tough, bold, iron-fisted woman minister who led the people out of the shadow of war.”

“What kind of image do I have?!” Ms. Bones couldn’t help but exclaim, her eyes staring straight at him, “I have absolutely no confidence – it’s a huge mess right now, and with the Squib issue to deal with over the next few days, more than half of the staff at the Ministry are so busy that they don’t have time for anything else. Not to mention all those people out there constantly buzzing and quarrelling beside my ears, and they can’t even be shooed away.” She raised her chin towards the outside of the lounge.

“… I’ll help out with the suggestions at best, like giving advice or something.”

“Then it’s a deal.” Bones agreed with a snap.

The agitation faded from her face, and she became serious and satisfied. Seeing Felix stare at her, with what seemed to be a startled gaze, she smoothed her hair gracefully – her short hair had turned into a shoulder-length bob at some point – and said thoughtfully, “Sirius said you would buy this sort of speech, I didn’t think it would be true.”

“Sirius.” Felix chewed on the name as if he had just eaten an every flavour beans, “He’s really impressed me … maybe I should take him to dinner and get to know him again.”

So it was because Sirius, the ‘traitor’, had tipped him off that Ms. Bones was able to fool him – not exactly a trick, at least her emotions weren’t faked, she was genuinely worried and vexed. It kind of struck Felix as enlightenment that being able to observe emotions was not foolproof.

“Don’t even think about it, you won’t be able to find him in a short time,” Ms. Bones said in a rather disgruntled tone as she rolled her eyes, “He took Harry on a trip all over the world as soon as the product launch was over yesterday.”

The two who had just been facing off against each other seemed to be on the same page at this point.

That was a quick run … Felix thought as he rubbed his palms together, but it wasn’t easy to tell, maybe Sirius originally had this plan in mind, but Amelia had stalled him with some work and didn’t let him go, so he came up with this way to get rid of the problem.

Felix suddenly had a bit of an itch on his hand.

“What task did you originally intend to give him?” He asked tentatively.

Ms. Bones rolled her eyes. “Well, you’re always so perceptive … Sirius has been spending some time in Muggle society for a while, and I wanted him to do some research first, by visiting some people as a teacher and systematically observing the level of development the Muggles have undergone over these years. But that will have to be postponed for now.”

“A wise choice, ma’am.”

“Thank you for the compliment.” Ms. Bones said dryly, “Let’s go out first and wait until we get those people out of the way before we discuss it more carefully, I have a bellyful of questions.”

“Oh, not today, I might have to make a quick trip to Ilvermorny. I have a new understanding of the ‘return the thing to where it belongs’ and a guess as to why Dumbledore said I am the best person for this task …”

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