Chapter 176: Prophecies And The Rise Of The Wizarding World
Everyone has gone mad. This wizard could belong to any faction.
Despair gradually filled her heart. The wizard said nothing more, just stood beside her, as if waiting for something.
After a long while, someone flew over, their arrival bringing a strong wind that kicked up the dust on the ground.
Isabella overheard their conversation:
“Caught another one!”
“Yes, the route is clear. Prepare to head to Boston.”
“Is it a werewolf?”
“Doesn’t look like it. She can do animal transformation, maybe she’s an Animagus. Werewolves, due to the werewolf virus, can’t learn this kind of magic.”
“Huh? You’ve even read Vaughn Weasley’s thesis? Werewolf virus… Hmph, a term pilfered from mudbloods, sounds disgusting!”
“Didn’t you read it too? I think his theory has some merit. Never mind him, what should we do with this witch?”
The wizard who had just arrived remained silent, seeming hesitant. After a moment, he replied, “Take her back… Killing her would be a waste.”
“Need more materials over there?”
“Mmm.” The person seemed unwilling to discuss further. As the air swirled, he seemed to fly off again. “Be careful on your way. The werewolves seem to have sensed our hunt. The full moon is approaching, and these beasts are getting stronger. What did Weasley call it—the activation phase, where the werewolf virus seems to stimulate their bodies and magic as the full moon nears.”
“Ha, I told you, you know more than me.”
“Don’t be long-winded!”
The voice whistled away. Isabella felt herself floating again, a rope tied to her by the wizard who had captured her, binding her to the flying broomstick as she lay on her back.
“Damn America… Why did I let myself get enticed to come here in the first place? Oh, yes, my dear aunt invited me. How wonderful…”
“I shouldn’t have trusted anyone from that family. They said they’d accompany me on a grand adventure across America once I arrived. But after I got here, I couldn’t find anyone…”
Muttering complaints inwardly, listening to the whistle of the flying broomstick cutting through the sky, she couldn’t help but curse the Magical Congress in her mind.
Those bastards, upon her entry, under the guise of regulation, had forcibly confiscated her flying broomstick. If she still had it, she wouldn’t have had to endure days of roughing it, like a beast…
Oh, wait!
“With a ‘Dreamcatcher’, even with a flying broomstick, one can’t cross national borders… Damn the Magical Congress! Dictatorial, corrupt, sickening! They even registered my wand… Wait!”
Isabella suddenly realized.
How had she been discovered in the first place?
Traveling all the way from Minnesota to New York, to evade those Purifiers, she had almost constantly maintained her Transfiguration, except in deserted mountains and forests.
Even one day, when her consciousness was distorted by the instincts of her body due to maintaining a cat’s form for too long, making her truly believe she was a cat, she hadn’t considered stopping the transformation.
Based on past experience, her chances of being discovered should have been very low.
Her wand had been tampered with!
When the Magical Congress registered wands, they had indeed stated that her wand would be marked, but this kind of magical method had been removed for her by the people in that resistance organization months ago.
But the facts now told her that things were not that simple.
Recalling the sudden demise of the organization, and how all their hidden strongholds were raided immediately, Isabella already had a guess as to the answer.
But realizing it only now was too late.
“Sigh… Why call it America, just call it hell…”
Isabella looked at the sky powerlessly.
Silently watching the moon, dejected Isabella suddenly thought of Vaughn again, and how they met.
It wasn’t dramatic at all. Just a bored girl, aimless after graduation, obsessed with Potions, who subscribed to the *Fantastic Potions* magazine and found an obscure, yet uniquely angled thesis within it.
Vaughn was not yet famous then. His thesis hadn’t even garnered industry attention. Only a few editors who reviewed the papers had written some editor’s notes, both supportive and dismissive, without much fanfare.
It was only her, bored, who felt like she had discovered a new continent. While writing letters to Vaughn and exchanging ideas, she began using different personas to criticize the editors who refuted his thesis, gradually stirring up interest.
Wizards are much like Muggles; they can’t be bothered to read serious technical articles, but they are quite eager for controversy and arguments.
That’s why Rita Skeeter could thrive in the Wizarding World!
Isabella hated Rita Skeeter, but she heard that Skeeter later suddenly started supporting Vaughn. Others didn’t know why, but Isabella had a faint inkling.
Perhaps Rita Skeeter had been recruited by him!
She recalled their first correspondence, their first meeting, and their first afternoon tea in the Lovegood’s orchard.
His maturity, his wisdom, made it impossible for Isabella to see him as a child.
But rather as a leader with great personal charisma.
Immersed in memories, by the time Isabella noticed the wind sounds by her ears growing fainter and returned to her senses, the view that had only consisted of the sky and the moon finally had other reference points.
They were treetops receding into the distance.
It seemed they were nearing their destination, and the flying broomstick lowered its altitude.
Gradually, streetlights and neon lights began to appear.
And the sound of cars whizzing by.
After a while longer, the flying broomstick finally slowed down completely and eventually stopped in front of a small building. The gate to the building’s yard opened, and someone came out to greet them.
“Good evening, Georgi. Why have you brought a live one back?”
Isabella heard the middle-aged wizard, addressed as Georgi, reply, “Not a werewolf. Killing her would be a waste. We’ll send her over there.”
“They’re short on materials again?” the greeter asked casually.
Georgi gave a vague hum. Then, a faint chanting sound was heard.
Isabella felt the ropes on her loosen. A Levitation Charm lifted her, and she followed the two men, tied to them.
The greeter leaned in, taking a look at Isabella.
Isabella also saw him.
He was a nondescript bald fatty, wearing a checkered shirt with rolled-up sleeves and an apron, exuding a sense of domesticity. He looked more like a Muggle than a wizard.
Isabella thought this attire looked a bit familiar, very much like the disguises used by some of the underground safe house bosses she had encountered.
“Perhaps this is a hidden outpost set up by the Magical Congress in a Muggle town?”
She mused.
Beside her, the bald fatty appraised her for a few moments, then chuckled at Georgi,
“Quite pretty. Black hair, blue eyes. Maybe she’s French. Perhaps you should consider talking to her, forming a family together.”
Georgi seemed too lazy to engage with his teasing. As he led Isabella into the yard, he asked, “Are the others back? I heard from Joe that the werewolves might have discovered our operation? What’s going on?”
“Yes, the situation is a bit grim. This afternoon, our outer patrol noticed signs of magical combat in a forest. They found two bodies there… You probably don’t know them, Norton and Hailey, a pair of scoundrels. They’re dead. Based on the scene, these two were ambushed. At least 10 wizards fired spells at them. The wand backtrack showed they only managed to cast a Full Body-Bind Curse before being overwhelmed by a barrage of magic in an instant.”
Georgi didn’t care about the unknown dead: “Are you sure werewolves did this?”
“Of course. I went to the scene and saw the werewolf markings—claw marks gouged into the tree bark. Besides those beasts, I can’t think of anyone else who would deliberately leave such a mark. It’s not like someone would frame them, is it?”
Given the current situation in America, framing would be unnecessary.
All the anti-Magical Congress factions would gladly claim credit for any attack against the Magical Congress; that was how they gained renown!
Georgi was just asking out of habit, because being ambushed by werewolves seemed counter-intuitive to him.
“Those beasts have always lacked organization and discipline. How did they suddenly unite?”
“We don’t know yet. We’ll probably have to investigate later.”
“What did they say upstairs?”
“What else could they say? Just told us to be careful, but the hunt for werewolves must continue… Damn Weasley. He’s mixed up with the Federation and has official visiting status. They still haven’t decided how to deal with him, leaving us frontline workers to suffer.”
“What’s there to debate? Hmph, one official status and they’re too scared to act!”
“Some Lords want to maintain an international image, politics is like that. Anyway, let’s not talk about these depressing things. I’ve made some food. You’ve had a long day, rest a while, and wait for everyone else to return.”
“Thank you. I’ll deal with this lady first.”
Isabella, who had been listening intently, felt her heart leap. She saw Georgi approach her, his raised wand emitting a fleeting red light.
Then, darkness enveloped her.
Stunning Spell!
Dammit!
The girl, eager to learn more about Vaughn, felt her consciousness weakly sink into slumber. Her world became silent.
This state lasted for an unknown duration. At some point, a cacophony of sounds gradually emerged from the boundless darkness.
Isabella, like a drowning person, desperately tried to rouse her consciousness. Finally, her senses returned.
“Joe? Joe? What in the world happened? How did he get so injured?”
“Damn it, don’t yell at me! How would I know? He was like this when I found him.”
“Found him? Was there no one else around?”
“No one. His flying broomstick was dragging him around in the sky, I…”
“Idiot! Idiot! Is your head full of dung? Joe is the bait! Georgi, quickly notify everyone!”
Clamor, shouts, and flickering lights.
A flood of sensory information poured in. Isabella, who had just woken up, had a splitting headache, but she forced herself to open her eyes wide.
Her senses gradually adjusted to everything.
She finally saw that she was confined within something, a container resembling a coffin. It was enchanted, and in magical vision, she could see chain-like patterns intertwined on the inner walls before her. The container had an observation window, presumably designed for checking her condition.
At this moment, it also allowed her to look outside through the window.
It was a scene of pandemonium!
“Awooo—”
A wolf-like howl echoed from the distance, a howl that seemed to tear through the night sky.
Closely following, more and more “wolf howls” erupted from all directions.
“Werewolves—”
Someone screamed.
The wizards in the courtyard immediately became agitated. Although they had hunted many werewolves in recent days, it was clear that when the number of werewolves reached a certain point,
even these butchers would feel fear!
Amidst the wolf howls, there was a thunderous roar.
The courtyard wall exploded!
Through the rising debris and dust, several figures with fierce auras appeared in the smoke, accompanied by crackling sounds that twisted space.
“Avada—Kedavra!”
A terrifying green light instantly shot into the crowd.
“Ah!”
Screams erupted from the crowd. The sudden, unblockable Killing Curse killed several unlucky souls in an instant.
It also completely ignited the wizards’ fear.
The lights of various spells lit up, accompanied by shouts, wails, and screams…
Dozens of werewolf wizards, one after another, appeared around them by Apparating. Wizards from the Magical Congress side abandoned their companions and Apparated away.
The chaos caused by the battle almost instantly reached its peak, then quickly subsided.
Soon, the battle entered its final stages.
Flames spread under the moonlight, and the smoke from the explosions was still swirling. Some of the wizards who had been in the courtyard had disappeared, possibly by Apparating or reduced to dust.
Fewer than ten people remained, including Georgi, some sitting, some lying down, some motionless, others still moaning.
And around them, behind the swirling flames, were a group of raggedly dressed wizards.
The firelight illuminated their eyes, making them look like a pack of predators hunting their prey!
A tall Black man walked in from outside the courtyard. The orange-red flames parted at his feet as he approached Georgi and the bald fatty.
Both were severely wounded. Georgi was missing an arm.
The fatty seemed to have internal injuries, spitting up blood.
In the bright firelight, the Black man’s expression was impassive. He observed their injuries, pointed at the bald fatty, and ordered, “He seems to be of higher status, we can keep him. As for this one—”
“Ptooey!” Perhaps knowing his fate, Georgi spat at him, “Beast!”
The Black man’s expression suddenly turned grim.
But he didn’t get angry. He simply bared his teeth in a grin, revealing his snowy white, sharp fangs. “Since you despise us and think of us as beasts, then we’ll keep you until the full moon… Let him personally experience what it feels like to slowly turn into a beast. What do you say?”
“Hahaha—”
His suggestion was clearly met with approval from the others around him. They whistled and cheered loudly.
Georgi’s face grew even paler. He howled, trying to struggle and curse, but a wizard came forward, gagged him, and dragged him away.
The bald fatty was dragged away as well.
The Black man straightened up and surveyed the area, then called out loudly, “My brothers and sisters, search this small building and the surrounding houses. See if these scum have imprisoned any of our kin.”
In response to his call, the werewolf wizards began to act.
In the room, Isabella trembled slightly. The wizards from the Magical Congress were either dead or had fled. Logically, she should be happy.
At least she wouldn’t be sent to some place Georgi alluded to with deep meaning.
But…
Looking at the ferocious werewolf wizards outside the window, Isabella didn’t feel her situation had improved at all!
She wasn’t Vaughn, nor was she someone with an unrealistic abundance of sainthood. In the education she had received, in her understanding, perhaps there were good werewolves, but more likely they were lawless thugs!
Especially werewolves in America.
But her situation rendered her helpless, forcing her to watch anxiously as a disheveled witch, wand in hand, opened the door to this room.
The witch glanced at the two children hanging in the room, and at Isabella locked in the coffin, then paused. “Peters, you’d better come take a look.”
“What is it?”
The Black man from the courtyard walked over. To Isabella’s surprise, he also paused for a moment upon seeing her.
Isabella didn’t have the energy to ponder why. She blinked desperately, hoping these people would at least let her speak.
From the previous conversation between Georgi and the others, although she hadn’t understood why the Magical Congress was hunting werewolves,
she could at least guess why the werewolves were heading to Boston.
Because Vaughn was there!
Even without much knowledge of werewolves, Isabella knew how important Vaughn, his WAC, and his Wolfsbane Potion were to werewolves.
Please!
Please let me say a word!
Isabella desperately blinked her only mobile eye.
To her despair, neither the witch nor the black man looked at her again as they walked out of the room.
Then… he pulled out a mobile phone as big as a brick:
“Ms. Pandora, we… should have found the witch you mentioned… Yes, she looks a lot like the photo…”
…
In the suitcase space, another full moon experiment concluded, and Vaughn fell into thought.
“What’s wrong? Research not going well?”
A voice from the nearby lounge interrupted Vaughn’s reverie. He looked back and saw Ajinbad, holding a pot of tea under the vast canopy of an oak tree, waving at him casually.
Vaughn was a little helpless and temporarily pushed aside the doubts in his heart, walking over. “Don’t you have anything else to do?”
“Of course I have a lot to do, but I don’t like the environment outside,” the old wizard said with a smile. “Just thinking that someone is watching my every move from above makes me uncomfortable. Don’t tell me you’re hiding here genuinely engrossed in research, with no other reason.”
Exposed, Vaughn’s expression remained unchanged. “I have many research tasks, unlike your leisure. The existence of the dreamcatcher is just one reason.”
“Ha, you indeed have alchemy talent. I guessed that you were hiding here and not going out because you saw those ‘nets’ hanging from the sky. You sly kid, you didn’t even give me a hint.”
“The Federation has coveted America for hundreds of years, don’t tell me you don’t know about the dreamcatcher.”
Ajinbad poured Vaughn a cup of tea, saying helplessly, “There’s a difference between being able to see it directly and not being able to see it. At least those of you with alchemy talent can know when the dreamcatcher appears, but we have no sense of it at all.”
He sighed, “Every time I come to America, I deeply understand why Muggles fear wizards… the unknown is the most frightening thing.”
Vaughn took a sip of tea. “Your ability to adjust your mindset is good. I thought those words I told you before would make you worry for a while.”
“Decades of storms have long since tempered my mindset,” Ajinbad chuckled. “You’re the one who’s amazing. Your friend is in America, and his fate is unknown, yet you’re not worried at all. And those werewolves, whatever we can think of, the Magical Congress can also think of it. Aren’t you worried that the Woolworth Building will use you to intercept the werewolves coming?”
Vaughn’s expression remained unchanged, and he calmly continued to drink his tea.
Ajinbad suddenly realized, “Do you have other helpers outside?”
Vaughn smiled, not answering, but the meaning was clear.
Early in the summer vacation, he had arranged for Pandora Lovegood to come to America, and she had “smuggled” in through Muggle channels.
He, leading the delegation, had to handle official business that required dealing with the authorities, so he needed an officially recognized identity.
Pandora didn’t need that; she was very powerful herself and knew various strange spells she had researched.
Furthermore, with Vaughn’s high-profile visit to North America, it attracted a large amount of attention from both official and private sectors. A “foreign tourist” wandering alone would likely not be noticed.
This made it easier for her to act.
For example, investigating Isabella’s whereabouts, and then, before Vaughn’s arrival in America stirred up the greedy desires and sensitive nerves of those from the Magical Congress to the civilian militias.
First, recruit a group of werewolf wizards!
Vaughn was never someone who passively accepted things…
“I have been authorized by the Federation to gather all personnel in the United States of America. They will be coming soon. When will you be ready?”
After a few pleasantries, Ajinbad’s expression turned serious, and he asked.
For him, the most important task at hand was the “Purifiers,” those suspected of being artificially created wizards. After his report, the Federation also attached great importance to it.
Wizards are the foundation of the Wizarding World.
Any action that could shake this foundation would provoke the hostility of those with vested interests. Undoubtedly, as the sole supra-national organization in the world, the Federation was the greatest vested interest—
It rose to power and suppressed magical powers like England, France, and America, relying on the strong support of a large wizarding population gathered from smaller nations.
The wizarding population was the core foundation of the Federation. Therefore, although it had always promoted secrecy laws, the Federation had never attempted to isolate the Wizarding World from Muggle Society like the Pure-bloods of some countries.
The expansion of the wizarding population was closely related to Muggles. The Federation was not so short-sighted!
Now, upon learning that America might be creating artificial wizards, the Federation was highly vigilant. Therefore, when Ajinbad contacted the Federation to gather all their strength, the Federation agreed almost without hesitation.
Even if Ajinbad’s requests would expose their infiltrators in America and ruin over 200 years of effort, they were willing to do it!
Vaughn was well aware of Ajinbad’s urgency. The Federation absolutely would not allow the existence of “artificial wizards.”
Or rather, they would not allow the technology for creating artificial wizards to be in the hands of a magical superpower like the United States of America!
Not only were they afraid of America seizing this opportunity to grow stronger, but they also had to consider the issue of technological diffusion. Once a new technology appeared, the possibility of leakage and diffusion would become infinitely large.
What stage had the “artificial wizard” technology reached? What was its success rate? What was the cost? Were there sufficient technological barriers?
These were likely the questions they were eager to understand.
Similarly, Vaughn also wanted to understand these things.
That’s why he didn’t refuse when Ajinbad proposed cooperation earlier.
“I have already notified the families I am cooperating with. They will bring all their personnel in America in the next two days under the guise of delivery.”
Slowly sipping his tea, Vaughn no longer concealed anything. “My people have recruited a group of werewolves, and they will arrive in Boston soon. However, as you said, the Woolworth Building will not wait for me to assemble my forces. They probably already know about my actions…”
The all-pervasive surveillance of the dreamcatchers prevented Vaughn from contacting Pandora for the time being.
Although he was unsure about Pandora’s situation, based on his analysis of the situation, Vaughn could infer that as she and the werewolves got closer to Boston, the resistance they encountered would definitely increase.
The steam from the teacup rose gently.
Looking through the rising steam, Vaughn gazed forward, but in his eyes, he saw another scene—what his Guardian Spirit, stationed outside, was seeing.
On the rooftop, a silver-blue cat narrowed its eyes. The world within its gaze was completely covered by a curtain descending from the clouds above.
Alchemy symbols flickered under the night sky, dense, like stars falling to earth.
They glided like silk blown by the wind, smooth yet formless, across every building, every inch of space, every corner of the city.
Boston had become a besieged city!
…
Under the same night sky, New York.
This international metropolis was still brightly lit, even late at night.
“Muggle…”
A luxury car drove slowly along Fifth Avenue. Sitting inside, with one arm resting on the car window, Michael Graves looked at the road on either side, a world belonging to Muggles.
The polite smile he had worn when meeting Vaughn and Ajinbad was gone. His face was stern and cold.
It seemed this was his true demeanor.
Cars sped past, and no Muggles noticed the slow-moving luxury car, yet they instinctively made way.
Even if one of them was clearly fleeing.
“Wooo—”
The wailing siren of a Muggle police car flashed by. The flashing red and blue lights made Michael Graves frown. Soon, he heard the sound of gunfire from afar ahead.
Bang bang bang bang—
The gunshots quickly became continuous. People on either side of the road screamed and fled, while others, drunk or delirious, cheered loudly.
A look of disgust flashed across Michael Graves’s face. “…All filthy and base creatures!”
Why did such creatures as Muggles exist in the world?
Even more absurdly, wizards were born among Muggles!
He hated Muggles, and had done so since childhood, despising their stupidity, anti-intellectualism, arrogance, and madness… When he was born, Muggles were entering what was called a golden age. Throughout his growth, he had never seen any glorious humanity in Muggles.
He only saw them indulging in pleasure, lost, degenerate, and insane in abundant material possessions and hedonism.
The 1960s were a turning point.
Before the 1960s, the Federation’s wizarding community generally considered Muggles to be the greatest enemy of wizards. After the 1960s, this sentiment shifted—of course, it was the Pure-bloods’ views that shifted.
“…Muggles’ impoverished spirits cannot adapt to the productive forces they control. They consider themselves one of the two poles of the world, but look at what their younger generation has done? Alcohol, drugs, sensual pleasures, and what about hippies… Muggles are deeply immersed in the revelry of living for entertainment and consumerism.”
“They claim to have reached their peak, but I see they are about to fall into the abyss. The monster of capital has opened its bloody maw, and ‘freedom’ will ultimately bring repercussions. This process may take decades, but it will surely come, because I saw it in a prophecy…”
This was in 1968, at a congressional assembly on whether to reinstate the Rappaport Law, where Patrick Wilkinson, then a representative, delivered a speech.
Wilkinson, one of the twelve original Auror lineages, like Graves who commanded the Aurors, controlled the Department of Mysteries at the Woolworth Building.
Unlike the Department of Mysteries in England, the Department of Mysteries here did not have the Obliviator mechanism. All its Seers and Alchemists obeyed only Wilkinson’s will!
Muggles were destined to decline, consumed by the prosperity they themselves had created. At that time, it would be an opportunity for the Wizarding World to rise and solve its chronic problems once and for all!
Patrick Wilkinson’s speech laid the foundation for a series of subsequent policies by the Magical Congress.
This included reinstating the Rappaport Law, and even enacting the Rappaport Law First Amendment, Second Amendment, and a series of other laws to strengthen the isolation between wizards and Muggles, as well as plans to crack down on vanguard organizations and infiltrate Muggle governments.
As it turned out, Wilkinson’s prophecy submitted to Congress that year was not wrong.
The speeding and gunfight ahead gradually faded, but the suspect seemed not to be dead. A person’s mad roar could be faintly heard from over there, and the Muggles who had scattered and fled began to gather again.
The luxury car, maintaining its steady speed, slowly drove past the area where people were gathering. Michael heard someone in the crowd shouting:
“How dare you pressure him! Even if he’s a criminal, shooting civilians in the street…”
“You should treat him!”
“My God, it’s too cruel!”
“…”
Michael’s face twitched. Even now, he could not understand the thought process of Muggles.
“A fool sacrificed by capital…”
He could only comment as such.
Ignoring the increasingly agitated Muggles by the roadside, Michael opened a document in his hand.
This was a report.
