330 Chapter 329 Politicians (2 in 1)

Dumbledore looked at the male wizard sitting across from him, as if recalling a time fifty years ago that was no less tense than the present.

Percival Graves, Director of Magical Security and the Head of MACUSA's Department of Magical Law Enforcement was murdered, and that murderer not only did not flee afterwards but used an extremely advanced transfiguration technique to take his place and use the official power of MACUSA to reach out to an Obscurial.

Although this incident was eventually uncovered by another of Dumbledore's favourite students and his plans were stopped in the United States, the negative impact it had on the Wizarding Congress could not be eliminated in any way, to the extent that it almost damaged the statute of secrecy completely, exposing the wizarding world in front of the citizens of New York.

And no one was more affected than the Graves family.

Not only did the death of Percival, who served as a Member of Congress, tarnish the reputation of the Graves family in the American magical community, but it also left Matthew, then seven years old, to lose his father and eventually be raised by his mother alone.

Fortunately, Matthew's mother had raised him well, and even after losing his father's previous political standing in Congress, he had relied on his own excellence and hard work to reach his current position as second-in-command of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and was almost certain to be the first in line to replace any of the Department's directors whenever they retired in a few years.

But he has never forgotten the hatred between the Graves family and that murderer!

Gellert Grindelwald, Matthew had never forgotten that name.

He had always wanted to avenge his father with his own hands, but leaving aside the question of strength, Grindelwald had been sentenced to life imprisonment in Nurmengard Castle by the International Confederation of Wizards after the world-famous duel that had ended in Dumbledore's favour.

Such a sentence was recognised by the Wizarding Congress, and as a member of the American wizarding community, Matthew was also deprived of the opportunity to legally seek revenge against Grindelwald.

But he was also sensible and well aware of what level he was at, and even if Grindelwald did end up not being imprisoned, there was no way he could get hot under the collar and just go off alone and die in the name of revenge.

So Matthew could only align himself with the Congress, and as long as Grindelwald was willing to abide by the verdict and stay in Nurmengard Castle, he would consider his revenge avenged.

But now that the 'The Alliance' had resumed its activities in Northern Europe, he had even only changed his last name in a perfunctory manner recently, and had risen to the position of Headmaster of Durmstrang without even changing his name.

Of course, neither the Congress nor Matthew was blind, and Grindelwald's behaviour had touched their bottom line on how to deal with this matter.

Matthew kept a close eye on Dumbledore.

He had come to Hogwarts Castle on this trip not just to represent the International Confederation of Wizards as a judge, but also on behalf of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, to figure out the stance of the old man before him.

"I've always had a lot of respect for you, Albus." Matthew said seriously, "Not only did you defeat him, and avenge me and my family, I have the greatest trust in you as a person. Now, I just want an answer."

"Are you now in complete cooperation with him?"

When he finally asked the question, Matthew's voice had calmed down instead, like a puddle of stagnant water that only needed a small stone to make a huge ripple.

As he watched, Dumbledore shook his head.

"If you believe my integrity, you should know that I value emotion, but not sentimentality. Indeed, he is now part of the Witching Horizon, but our cooperation is limited only to deals aimed at defeating Riddle. I won't support what he's doing, and I don't have the time or energy to figure out exactly what his intentions are after he walks out of that prison. Right now it's just a mutual necessity between him and me, or I wouldn't be the only one coming to Hogwarts Castle today."

His voice was flat, his blue eyes never straying from Matthew's as he spoke.

Matthew's body, which had been tense, now finally relaxed.

Grindelwald had already been the Headmaster of Durmstrang for over a year in a high profile manner, and the reason why Magical Congress had remained inactive for so long was to find out what Dumbledore's stance on this matter might be.

In the eyes of those in the know, they clearly understood the relationship between the two old men, and there was an argument within Congress for six whole months about their next counter-move against Grindelwald, whether to bring Dumbledore into it or not.

Even though Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix had been pushed out of Britain, no one in the Magical Congress dared to underestimate him.

Therefore, they finally decided to take the opportunity presented by the Triwizard Tournament to let Matthew, who was already on good terms with him, make contact and find out what kind of relationship the current Dumbledore and Grindelwald had.

Now Dumbledore has managed to let those in Congress breathe a sigh of relief for a while.

As long as the two of them were not completely united, it would be much easier for Congress to make its next move, with much less unnecessary concern.

Dumbledore crossed his arms, his gaze not straying from Matthew's face.

"I gave the answer you wanted to know, so now, can you answer what I want to know."

Matthew's expression was serious as he said with unmistakable solemnity.

"There will be absolutely no help from Congress to the British side until the outcome is completely clear. We have no intention of interfering in your dispute with him; indeed more people within Congress are actually biased in your favour. But because of Grindelwald's problems, our focus must now be on him first."

"Until the outcome is completely clear," Dumbledore repeated the first sentence of Matthew while laughing lightly.

Matthew's face showed little shame.

"If you ultimately fail, and he succeeds in becoming Lord of Europe, then of course we will have to remeasure the relationship between Congress and him. If his ambitions cannot be restrained, or if he wants to repeat Grindelwald's mistakes, then we will join you in your path."

Dumbledore stared at him.

"You have so many muggle-born wizards that there aren't even necessarily more than three titular pureblood families in all of America, and even Ilvermorny was founded by a wizard and a muggle working together. The Congress' stance on purebloodism is actually just a wait-and-see attitude?"

He laughed, the smile still gentle enough not to give any semblance of sarcasm.

"It reminds me of that long-standing rumour that the people with real brains in Congress died out long ago after the great debate about 'Country or Kind' in the eighteenth century."

The American magical community existed for a short time, and although it now has a pivotal position in the international magical community, before the United States was even formed as a nation, the so-called Magical Congress was only a loose organization of a group of European wizard immigrants.

In 1775, when the No-Maj(muggles) Revolutionary War officially broke out, the wizards who had moved to the New Land were faced with a choice.

Whether to help the Muggles and their new nation in the war, or whether to protect the Wizards as a community by avoiding contact with the Muggles and not participating in the war.

This choice of "Country or Kind" was the subject of great debate throughout America, with the then President of Congress, Elizabeth McGilliguddy, presiding over a controversial meeting in the Great Meeting Chamber of the Congress Headquarters, in which thousands of wizards participated, and at the end of which the view and stance of the British Ministry of Magic were asked.

The reply from the British Ministry of Magic was simple and concise: 'Sitting this one out.' Then Elizabeth's reply was even shorter: 'Mind you do', But they ultimately did not participate in the war in any official way.

But they still acted from time to time to protect their Muggle neighbours in secret. In addition, the wizarding community held their own celebration for Independence Day as well.

The people who came close to completely ripping up the Statute of Secrecy at the time were the American Magical Congress itself, and it's a good thing that the wise ones among them chose the right path.

Because wizards participating in the war would not have changed anything at all to Independence, but, their choice would have triggered a similar reflection from wizards all over the world at the same time.

In the face of a war between nations, wizards, who are also divided based on the Muggle regime, had the choice to stand with the nation or consider wizards as a whole in this situation.

The restraint of the Magical Congress prevented this chaos from occurring, but that is as far as their most prominent contribution to the protection of peace goes.

Once they had made the right choice, but on the issue of Voldemort, Dumbledore was disappointed to the core.

These American wizards were so fixated on going after Grindelwald for revenge that they simply failed to see the damage Voldemort would do to the world.

How could an organisation with pureblood power at its core be expected not to set their sights on the fertile land of America, a bloodline-free zone, after they had finished digesting the European piece of the pie?

Matthew's face did not waver in the face of Dumbledore's words, and he said very seriously.

"We have never ignored any threat, Albus, but it is important to prioritise all matters no matter what, and Grindelwald's issue has to be prioritised!"

Dumbledore looked at him and shook his head gently, having never meant to convince him, and there was no disappointment about it.

"Well, it's time for catching up to end, and if you're really thinking about fairness in the tournament that follows, then I suggest you better go to the castle now and meet that former student of mine first."

Having asked all that needed to be asked and having learned all that he needed to know, Matthew had no intention of staying any longer.

He got up from his seat and gave Dumbledore one last blessing before leaving the office.

"I hope your champion will do well in this tournament, I've heard all about his recent exploits from the States."

Dumbledore didn't get up to see him off, just sat back in his seat and watched his back leave.

Once Matthew had closed the door to the Headmaster's office, the portraits on the wall behind Dumbledore, which had been pretending to be asleep, all instantly began to grow restless.

They chattered about the conversation that had just taken place between the two parties and denounced the folly of the Magical Congress' decision regarding Voldemort.

Only Dilys, who had once also served as a St Mungo's Healer, asked with a frown on her face in the frame.

"Are they really going to be impartial in our war with the Dark Lord?"

Phineas snorted.

"A word of advice Dilys, the words of politicians, especially so-called diplomats, you can just treat their words as if their mouths were nothing but farting anuses."

At the old man's filthy words, Dilys merely glared at him with displeasure.

"But he's still a friend of Albus isn't he?"

"Friend?" Phineas exclaimed groggily, "It's about as close to troll diplomacy as you can get to talking about friendship when it comes to politics!"

"The exact attitude of the Magical Congress is not dependent on what Matthew says now." Dumbledore didn't get involved in the argument between them and simply said softly, "He is now blinded by the hatred brought to him by Grindelwald and doesn't care or want to care what kind of attitude the Congress is really taking towards the war between us and Riddle."

"But he is not wrong about one thing, and that is that they will not intervene in matters between us until the situation is completely clear."

Dumbledore was silent for a moment as he spoke, and then he spoke in a contemplative manner after that.

"Phineas, go get Professor Rosier for me, I have some concerns I want to talk to her about first."

***

Hermione was in her dormitory, tidying up the mess.

There were less than thirty students who had come to Hogwarts Castle, including Durmstrang, so their accommodation was more than generous, with plenty of room available for everyone to have a single room.

But Hermione was not alone in the dormitory she occupied at the moment.

"I have said many times, Lady Grey, that I don't have the slightest interest in that so-called Ravenclaw's Diadem."

Whether this was the sixth or seventh time Hermione couldn't remember, but she had repeated the same words no less than five times since this ghost had approached her.

Lady Grey still looked the same as she had when Nick had taken her to meet Jon for the first time, and it was clear that she had been in contact with Hermione for a long time.

"Miss Granger, you are hungry for knowledge and have an overwhelming amount of wisdom. If my mother had been around, then you would certainly have been her favourite type of student, and she probably wouldn't have given that diadem to me, but she certainly would have given it to someone like you."

Hermione had heard this kind of talk a thousand times before, and her answer remained unchanged even a little.

"So what? Just because you approved of me in place of your mother, I have to go and help you find that diadem? It makes no sense, my lady, I am well aware of my abilities and have no interest in the legend you tell or the Ravenclaw legacy."

Lady Grey stared hard into Hermione's eyes like she was trying to see through the girl completely.

"I know, you want to help the boy out, don't you?"

Hermione's hands paused in their movements, but she still said without looking up.

"I'm trying to help, not trying to do something that could potentially get him in trouble just to help you at this point in time."

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