Chapter 697: The Man in the Painting(1/2)
The dragon flapped the air with its wings happily, rising higher and higher, and gasping for excitement in its mouth.
"You want to fly?" Felix said to himself on the dragon's back, "Then fly, I'll point you in the direction."
His words told the dragon beneath him in a strange way. The dragon let out a pleasant roar in the sky, then flapped its wings, bathed in the golden glow above the clouds, and flew towards Hogwarts Castle.
On the other hand, the wizard from Diagon Alley hasn't figured out what happened.
A few minutes ago, a big hole suddenly exploded on the roof of Guling Pavilion. The huge roar instantly attracted the attention of half a street. They moved their sight together and witnessed a scarred old dragon crawling out of the hole. First, they poked their heads out, then their bloody wings and claws wrapped in iron chains. The dragon lay on the roof, tilted its head and stood still for a few seconds, like an alternative huge decoration.
Fred and George stood on the second floor of Weasley Magic Trick House and looked out, making a surprised sound.
"That's the dragon guarding the vault? I've always wanted to see it with my own eyes."
"Oh, come on, our vault is not qualified to guard it with a dragon! It looks so cool. How about we hire Lupin to rent the Fire Dragon Magic Light?" One of them suggested.
“I like the idea,” another similar voice said: “It has to be more than twenty feet, and I remember Professor Heip’s demonstration at the Quidditch World Cup and never saw it again, which is a waste.”
More than thirty Aurors appeared, and they had been guarding nearby before, but no one acted rashly. The dragon raised its head and spewed out a ball of flame, scaring people on the street screaming in shock. They stumbled away, fearing that they would be affected. But the dragon stepped on it with force, spreading its bloody wings and flew up. It flew higher and higher, turning into a black spot.
Not long after, Ms. Bones came out of it, and she was intact and calmly directed the Auror to take over the scene.
The big hole that was broken on the roof of the Gringott was quickly repaired. Ms. Bones turned around and went back, as if nothing had happened, except for two more Aurors at the Gringott bank.
Fred and George retracted their satisfied gazes and came down the stairs. The shop was filled with a wide range of goods, and there were noisy and moving gadgets everywhere, but now there was no one and all the guests went to watch the fun. The two looked out the window through the posters on the window, quiet for a while, and then spoke at the same time.
"Joint Announcement of the Ministry of Magic and the Future World"
"You think that notice-one"
The two blinked and laughed.
Early this morning, the Ministry of Magic staff sent a notice to each store in Diagon Alley, inviting all owners to go to Sword Castle to discuss the important matters on the weekend.
But in fact, they learned the inside story earlier. Penelo (the twins love her so much now that they affectionately call her Percy Secret) revealed that Percy has been busy completing a long report recently, about the future of the magic world and the Muggles' business plan. The product list covers multiple categories such as potions, books, magic items, clothing, food, etc.
This is a huge plan, involving all aspects, with so many details and trivialities that make the first time reading a person with one head bigger.
"This matter cannot avoid Future World Company. Lupin and I applied to take charge of this part of the work," Penelo said irritably: "Otherwise, I may not see your brother in a few years. Oh, what am I doing now? Of course, I am picking on his report!"
"Obviously, she enjoyed it," Fred concluded.
Since the Wizard Muggle negotiations have not really begun, now it is only the first step in the entire plan.
Outside Weasley Magic Trick House, Tonks, Ron, and Collins followed several guests and laughed.
"The alert mission has been cancelled," Tonks said affectionately, his hair was pink, and he could tell that he was in a good mood. "Everyone was worried before. Sclinger advised Ms. Bones not to take risks, but she still insisted... Fortunately, the result was good." After that, she looked around with interest.
"What's going on with the dragon?" Fred asked.
"It was said to be an accident, disrepair or something," said Ron.
"It sounds unconvincing," George said.
"It's impossible that they fought in there, right?" Ron shrugged and pulled out a wizard chess piece from his pocket, allowing it to rotate at his fingertips.
Fred raised his eyebrows.
"If I go to check the dance wizard chess in the store now, I won't find that there is a missing knight, right?"
"Just go and look for it." Ron said, "By the way, I just wanted to say that I've trained Animagus... Did Ginny tell you a report?"
"You have become Animagus?" Collins said in surprise.
Tonks slowed down half a beat, reluctantly retracted his eyes from a doll that could hit people, and asked confirmation: "Animagus?" Her hair began to transition to the dazzling violet color.
"It's quite easy." Ron said pretending to be careless.
"This is pertinent," George nodded, "I know only those I know." He turned to Fred, "How many are there? Harry, Hermione, Neville, the little girls of the Aibo family, I can't count them."
"I don't know either, but Cedric often keeps going with "Today's Transformation" recently." Fred replied with a stern face.
Ron pulled down his hair clutch from his head.
"Can you not dismantle your brother's platform?" Ron complained in a low voice when Tonks and Collins selected the goods in the store with great enthusiasm.
Fred and George looked at each other and said in unison: "I'm sorry - no."
Ron raised the wizard chess piece in his hand and muttered, "Did you see these two guys? Remember their hateful faces. I will take revenge sooner or later, but it's all up to you."
The dragon flew north all the way to enjoy the hard-won freedom. Felix stood on its wide back and simply used magic to heal the dragon's bloody wounds, shaved off the chains, and then looked into the scene in the clouds.
He stroked the long spikes on the dragon's back with one hand, looking like a captain holding a mast.
"Fly steadily," he ordered.
They passed through gray and green towns and fields, and soon the scenery became monotonous and repeated. Felix called Sniff out of the silver pocket watch to play cards. After having a flying carpet in the Arctic, Valen quickly adapted and ran around the dragon's back excitedly, and the huge spikes were pillars to it.
"You lost again, Valen." Felix said proudly.
Valen's dark eyes stared at the air in front of him. The sniffing phantom that had emerged from the wizard's card was knocked away by a simple spell. After turning over a dozen, it turned into a wisp of blue smoke and was thrown behind him. It smacked its lips, thinking something was wrong, and it looked at Felix suspiciously.
"I didn't cheat," Felix swore.
Valen randomly scratched his hand and wanted to find flaws. This was a new deck of cards. On the basis of the original, some new cards were added. The Demon King said it was to increase playability. This is true. Valen found many cards that shine when the effect was activated, and he especially liked them.
But after playing there, its winning rate plummeted.
"Shi!"
Valen himself couldn't think of the reason, so he decided to find an opportunity to ask Hermione. The height of the sun dropped again, and the golden light on the clouds gradually became dim, and the dragon began to descend, and Valen ran to the dragon's head. Its weight was like a feather, which had no effect on the dragon at all.
Valen identified a majestic castle complex among the mountains.
Felix patted the dragon on the back, "Your identity is a little sensitive. Uh, it's nothing, but to reduce the trouble, I'll give you a trick before sending you to Charlie."
The dragon roared, indicating that it understood.
Listen to you.
Then its size began to shrink sharply. Valen hurriedly ran back, climbed up Felix's shoulder and looked down. The dragon as big as a small square shrank from sixty or seventy feet long to half, and soon it was difficult to even settle down.
The dragon whimpered twice, trying to open its muddy eyes.
"Don't worry." Felix comforted casually in the air beside it, and then issued an order, "Put your wings away."
The giant dragon is no longer a giant dragon. It looks only twice as big as Valen. The shrinking dragon obediently closed its wings, then fell down, and was caught by Felix. After sucking its wings, it looked smaller and even looked a little pitiful.
Felix fell downwards, and when he descended to a certain height, his empty hand made several gestures. Hogwarts' defense did not stop him, and he continued to fall.
In the castle, Professor McGonagall looked through the documents. She had just contacted Mrs. Maxim. The two exchanged defense measures and school opening hours for their respective schools. The British Ministry of Magic has been moving continuously during this period. For reference, France and some European Ministry of Magic have also successively left the International Federation of Wizards and contacted the Muggle government.
She heard the sound of knocking on the window and looked up and saw Felix wave at her outside.
"You are the vice-president now, Felix." Professor McGonagall opened the window in annoyed manner and stared at him coming in from outside. Valen had already jumped down first. It was far away from Felix, and it didn't want to be scolded with him.
Professor McGonagall brought Felix over and said angrily as he walked, "What should I do if someone sees it? And what are you holding?"
A lizard." Felix said calmly, spewing two sparks from the fire dragon's nose.
Professor McGonagall ignored his nonsense, lowered his head and looked at the creature lying on the small table with a blank flapping wings, and then her two eyebrows were twisted together fiercely.
"Is this... dragon? Or Ukrainian iron belly?
"Well, if others ask, I'll just say it's a mutant lizard, and there are some questions about its origin." Felick said honestly, Professor McGonagall stared at him with a look of not giving up without an answer. "Well, it's from Gringott." He briefly explained the situation.
Professor McGonagall frowned first, then stretched his eyebrows.
"The Fairy Brotherhood, another secretly operating fairy subversion group?" The so-called subversion is naturally subversion wizards.
"Not counting," Felix shook his head. "They at least openly acted, and they promoted the philosophy they promoted did not advocate violence, at least on the surface." He told Professor McGonagall: "It's already rare among goblins."
Cross-eyed Boderick didn't want the peace talks to go smoothly, and he intended to let the dragon guarding the vault make some noise. Of course, he didn't care whether several wizards would die in this process, as it was an accident anyway. Felix didn't care.
Professor McGonagall was not involved in the Ministry of Magic. After knowing that it would not affect the negotiations with the goblins, she turned to talk about something else.
“Bothbarton and Demstrong are in similar situations to ours. Their Ministry of Magic is in secret contact with the Muggle government, and the news has not been made public,” she glanced at Felix and smiled. “Your approach two days ago has not only affected Britain’s decisions, but also other countries.”
Felix nodded, the result was as expected.
As the first Ministry of Magic to openly contact the Muggle government, Hogwarts and the British Ministry of Magic attracted the attention of the world, including the International Federation of Wizards, all staring at their every move, waiting for the results of the first official negotiation.
If it is acceptable, the negotiations in the near future may become a benchmark for communication between the magical world and the non-magic world. Felix has met many observers sent by other countries in the Ministry of Magic in the past two days.
“In addition, Wagadu referenced Hogwarts’ practice and established shelters around the school, where some wizards who exposed their identities lived temporarily.”
"Are those semi-public mediums, fortune tellers and occultists?"
"I heard that even the magician Muggles received a lot of harassment," said Professor McGonagall strangely. "There are some wizards who stay in the tribe, which are relatively exclusive and cannot be accessed by outsiders. The Castrobshe Magic School in Brazil is hidden in the rainforest and has poor conditions, so there is no need to worry for the time being."
"Where is Ifamoni? You missed this school."
"Ifamoni is different from other schools." Professor McGonagall's face showed a hint of sorrow. "The living environment of wizards is not optimistic. You know, the little wizards always show a little different. The local Muggles - they called Maji and launched an activity to find wizards around them..." She shook her head, "Some companies publicly advertise in newspapers to recruit wizards; of course, there are also oppositions, various large and large organizations, religious groups, spring up like mushrooms after a rain, some are registered and some are secretly active."
"Then the American Magic France Association had to order the recall of all students to avoid accidents."
Felix thought for a moment, "The problem of American wizards is difficult to solve, and it is not the time now. After Amelia reaches a preliminary agreement with the Muggle government, the significance of the existence of the wizards' Federation will be promoted in the name of the International Wizards Federation has disappeared most of the time with the complete failure of the Secretariat Act, and it must be found new reasons."
What functions do you want it to perform?” Professor McGonagall asked.
"Transformed from the previous hidden wizard to reconciling the relationship between wizards and non-wizards, and formulate regulations that adapt to the world's pervasiveness," Felix said.
A trace of confusion flashed in Professor McGonagall's eyes. She felt unfamiliar with the future. She glanced at the Fire Dragon who was trying to adapt to her new body shape.
The confusion in my eyes gradually disappeared and became firmer again.
To be continued...