Chapter 1 – The News
I watched as my father, King Jude, moved to address the High Wizarding Council. He stood in the center of the semicircle of chairs, which seated the 13 members of the council. Behind him sat my mother, Queen Arielle, my thirteen year old brother, Jace, and me, Oliver. All 16 of us had our eyes on him as he paced back and forth, eventually settling in one spot.
"It has been 79 years since the Ministry of Magic fell, and the Wizard Dominion rose to power. My grandfather, King Don was the first king of the Dominion. Then my father, King Percy took over the throne. He held the throne when the Muggles found out about the Wizarding world. Only a year after that, my father passed away and I became the new King of the Dominion."
A member of the council spoke up, addressing my father with a very questioning tone of voice, "King Jude, what is this meeting about? Why have you called the High Council together?"
King Jude looked to the council member and spoke, quick but articulate. "Something has happened. Our mission to live in peace with the Muggles can no longer be completed. You see… something has happened."
Several members of the council began talking to each other. Some of the newer member's voices were frantic. Alderman Acer, the head of the council, remained calm and silent. He simply stared at my father, fingers interlocked and in front of his face.
My father waited as the voices of the council became hushed murmurs. He began again, "As I was going to say, something has happened. The Muggles we had been living in peace with have finally finished what we had feared. They now have devices that can avert magic. As you all know, electronics are unable to work around magic. However, they have invented several devices that aren't affected by our magic. They have devices that allow them to see past our magical barriers, phones that work near places heavy in magic. They also have invented a new type of weapon… one that can shoot through magical shields."
Twelve of the members of the council began to talk, all of their voices frantic. My father returned to his throne, and sat down. He waited for a few minutes as the news sank in for them. Finally, Alderman Acer spoke up.
"Be quiet! The king simply stated facts. He never told us if this is a threat or not. Please wait until he confirms this as the case or not before you begin panicking."
King Jude began speaking once more, "Thank you, Acer." He stood again, and confirmed everyone's fear. "You see, I haven't just called you together to inform you of new technology. The reason I called this council together is because the Muggles have declared war on us."
The room was completely silent. One man spoke up, "You're kidding, right? The Muggles have declared war on us?" Many of the people began laughing.
My father shouted over the laughter. "Enough! You dare act as though I would take a council meeting so lightly? You dare say that I would lie?" He walked over to the member's seat, put his hands on the table in front of him, and spoke through gritted teeth, "I don't joke."
The council member sank back in his seat, and apologized for his outburst. King Jude returned to his seat. "We need to know how to deal with this issue we have. How do we deal with this problem?"
Alderman Acer was the first to speak up. "Lord, as you know, schooling begins in less than a month. I suggest that we either post legions of aurors at every school."
Another member spoke in contrast to Acer, "But what school is safe? We are now at war with those who can see us. With only 1000 or so students with less than 50 members of staff per school, the Muggles could easily lay siege to a school, if what you say about the technology is true. I suggest we move them to one school and leave it at that."
My mother spoke for the first time this meeting, "No, we can't do that. However, we can move them to fewer schools. Instead of the 5000 students over the five schools, why don't we move them to two close to each other? We can post aurors at both schools. That way, our aurors aren't spread so thin, and one school isn't overcrowded."
The council murmured in agreement. King Jude nodded, and then brought this to vote. In a unanimous decision, the council decided that the students would attend three schools relatively close to one another. This involved the Italian wizard school, Scuolmagi, and the English wizard school, Hogwarts.
My father stood up, and addressed the council. "The decision has been passed. Due to the war, school will still resume as scheduled, but instead of attending five separate schools, the students will be respectively split between the Italian school, Scuolmagi, and the British school, Hogwarts. Students from the Americas will be transported to one of the schools through Apparition. Acer will be in charge of letting each of the students know which of the schools they will be attending. Thank you, the meeting of this council is over."
