Chapter 34 – The International Confederation of Wizards
Harry's conference room was full, and attendees kept arriving. Fortunately, the room kept expanding, to maintain a state of only moderately uncomfortably full. Apparently all of the thinking peoples of the United Kingdom needed to be represented, so we had Goblins, Elves, Centaurs, Unicorns, a single Giant, two Merpeople in a large crystal tank filled with water, spiders, a single troll, not just Tony and Mrs. Toms, but also the Taoiseach of the Irish Republic, which of course meant we also had to have Erasmus. Odin was also be with us, as was Baalak to represent the ancient spiders, and Arce to represent the Vanir. Viktor, Cho, and Monsieur Delacour had also joined us.
Harry began the meeting with a simple sounding, but vexingly complex and incredibly contentious question: "How much do we need to tell them now and what decisions to we need from the International Confederation of Wizards?" This produced a rather loud bedlam. Harry used his wand to project his voice so loudly that the walls really did noticeably vibrate: "We also should try to anticipate what the ICW will demand of us."
Total chaos. Chaos can be extremely loud, but a lone, highly amplified voice rang out above the din. "Is that all? And you expect us to achieve that in less than a day. Are you insane?" The din had silenced halfway through these comments, so the "Are you insane?" part was seared in my mind, and unfortunately, everyone else's mind.
After a minute of silence, in which I think we all begged our ears to function again, Harry meekly replied "I apologise, Erasmus. I know it's a lot to ask of all of you. There truly isn't an alternative. Events have moved very rapidly. I called this meeting a day ago, so you have at least had a little time to think about it. I tried to schedule a later date with the ICW but owing to some mischief by the minority members of our Wizengamot, the president of the ICW demanded a meeting tomorrow. Mrs. Longbottom has briefed you on the basic facts. The God Odin, of the world Asgard, has asked to speak for fifteen minutes, then we really need to get down to business."
Odin explained about his world, the Light Guardian, Yggdrasil, and the other worlds. Tony thanked him and spent five minutes describing the problem with the friends across the pond and the threat they represented, emphasising how Voldemort and his followers had shattered the International Secrecy Statute. It took the whole night, but we did come up with answers that were acceptable to a large majority of those present.
What do we need to tell the ICW?
- How the Voldemort Wars and the current opposition have trashed the ISS
- The presence of circles, the Black Stone, and the Durmstrang White Column
- The existence of other inhabited worlds which it was possible to travel to
- Yggdrasil
- The ancient Aesir, how the worlds became populated
- The Quest and the Battle of Hel
What did we need the ICW to decide?
- How to integrate magical humans with the nonmagical population
- How to educate and provide employment and documentation to these magical humans
- How to provide additional, larger sanctuaries to the non-human magical beings and non-thinking magical beasts
- How to deal with non-magical governments which currently weren't aware of our existence
What was the ICW likely to demand?
- tours of circles, the Black Stone and the White Column
- visits to other worlds
- an end to the 'episodes' caused by our opposition party
- their own magical circles
- some will want help to remain hidden from their unfriendly governments
What will we disclose to only the ICW chairman?
- seid
- the God-ribbons and moving through time
- Adrienne's child
We had time to eat and then would have to be right off to ICW headquarters in Jerusalem. As the Ministry Elves brought platters of food, including raw minced for the spiders, small fish for the Merpeople, and grain for the Unicorns, Harry inquired who was able to Apparate to the ICW. "I can't. I confess, I've been too busy to travel there."
Hands went up: Shacklebolt, Dad, Viktor... and McGonagall, Hermione, Cissy, Percy, and Odin. All ofthe last five surprised me.
There were so many of us, we needed to Apparate in shifts. Hermione and I went in the first batch, with Percy as our Apparator. Since we had nonhuman magicals and magical animals to bring with us, it was just Percy, Hermione, and me, plus Odin among the humans. We also transported Aagog, Baalak, Boldgog, and Pegasus. I asked Percy how he knew the location of ICW headquarters, while my husband did not.
"Harry has been unbelievably busy. As you know, we've had a lot of problems. Harry knows all the details and wanted to postpone examination by truthtellers or even a Legilimens. I thought Harry would have told you. I've been our official representative to the ICW. McGonagall filled in, while I was on Vanaheimer, so I introduced her to the place, before we left. She's only attended one meeting. I've only done two. The Governing Delegation doesn't meet often. Okay, everyone, hold on tight to the people on either side of you. I need a tight ring. This is a tricky long-distance Apparate and Pegasus will unbalance our circle."
There was a wrenching in my gut, but I controlled it and didn't barf as we landed. I was forced to admit to myself that Percy was a better Apparator than me. He brought our circle in almost perfectly flat. Those, including me, whom he thought could handle a little fall came in eight inches off the ground. Pegasus arrived about three inches above ground level. Happily, the thick wool carpeting cushioned my slight fall.
"Off the arrival circle, fast, fast," Percy sternly directed us. "The next group is coming in right behind us."
We quickly followed his instructions. I told Percy that I would start introducing Odin to the delegates. "I'll come with you and introduce both of you. Bring Hermione. Better yet, let's wait for the next group, and I can introduce Arce and Harry to the delegates at the same time."
Percy hadn't even finished speaking, when I heard a pop and turned to see Harry and Arce arriving in the next group, under the pilotage of McGonagall. She also brought her group in very smoothly. Harry shared a few words with Percy, then asked McGonagall to organise the others, while Percy introduced us to the Delegates.
As we walked to the dais, I said hello, in passing, to Mr. Brown, who whispered to me "the Bad Dude is the chairman." Good to know.
Before we reached the Dude, we met the Delegate from China and Tibet, Mr. Tsieh, the Indian delegate, Mr. Subramanian, the Egyptian delegate, Mr. Ein Gadi, I knew the Greek delegate, then there was The Bad Dude. He didn't look bad, or even especially imposing. He was at least a decade older than Mom and Dad, short, very thin, with white-grey hair, and a professorial look about him. I had to wonder how many bad Wizards he had killed to get what must be his nom de guerre. Hermione had taught me that word. I felt a shove from Hermione and moved on to the next delegate. We passed an empty seat, presumably Percy's and then came to Mr. Lopez, the Mexican representative, then Little Ba'al, whom I was for some reason surprised to see, then empty seats for Viktor and Monsieur Delacour.
I should mention that as Minister, Harry was the first to be introduced, I was introduced as the Mother of the Future and Harry's wife and Percy's only sister, Hermione was the Muse, Odin was the Great God Odin the ruler of the world Asgard and Arce was the Keeper of the magic on the world Vanaheimer.
Our last arrival: two Merpersons in a large tank of water, transported by Shacklebolt, arrived before our introductions were complete. No, they weren't quite complete. I saw that Callista was introducing Tony, Mrs. Toms, Erasmus, and John Bruton, the Taoiseach of the Republic of Eire.
As we took seats, or standing space, The Dude gaveled the meeting to order. He immediately asked "where is Gamot Parkinson? It is he and Minister Potter, with whom our greatest attention is to be directed. Also, where is former Minister Weasley?"
"I'm right here," Dad stood.
"If I might suggest an approach," Harry was standing in front of The Dude. "We have so much information to present, that I felt it best to leave Gamot Parkinson for a later day. When you called this meeting, you didn't include a demand that Gamot Parkinson must appear, so I was advised that I lacked the authority to require that he be here. If you issue such a demand, I can have him here in about a day I believe it is going to take longer than that to discuss everything, which needs to be considered.
"We are prepared to talk about the events which have made it very difficult for our people to remain hidden. For multiple administrations, the British Wizarding community has been required to work ever closer with the elected leaders of the nonmagical people of the United Kingdom to cover the incidents created by Voldemort, the Death Eaters and their successors. Also, as we restored disused or malfunctioning magical sources, formerly nonmagical Britons have become magical in growing numbers. They first came to our attention through incidents of wild magic, sometimes extremely obvious and disturbing major incidents of wild magic. The government of the United Kingdom, through a few key agents read into the secret of our presence among them, have helped us to obscure these events. You've been introduced to the British Prime Minister and one of his key security officials. With your permission, they will speak to you about their observations on the increasing difficulty of preserving the ISS and their suggestions for how we need to move forward in Britain, and possibly in other nations. Our community has also approved and supported a Quest, which has been led by my wife Ginny, who has been chosen by the Light Guardian as the Mother of the Future, and her Muse, Hermione Granger. The Quest is sponsored by the major God Odin, who rules another world, called Asgard. With your permission, they will also speak to you, along with a magical representative from the world called Vanaheimer. Do you wish to hear from them?"
"I certainly want to hear about all of those things. I also want to hear from Gamot Parkinson. I'll call for a vote of the Delegates to issue a writ demanding his presence. I agree with Minister Potter that we are dealing with very weighty issues, which will take time to discuss, so I suggest that we give Gamot Parkinson 48 hours to appear before us. Does Minister Potter wish to comment against that motion?"
Harry replied that he supported the resolution. It passed unanimously and Harry dispatched Mrs. Longbottom and Director Shacklebolt to obtain the Gamot. I'm not saying The Dude was obviously uncomfortable with Odin's presence, but he did state "I'm sure that a major God, like Odin, who rules an entire world must be very busy, so I'm going to ask him to be the first speaker, so that he can tell us about the Light Guardian, the other Gods and Goddesses, the other Worlds and Yggdrasil. That will give us a good background for the rest of our discussions, then we can excuse him and allow him to return to pressing duties."
As Odin stood up to address the Delegates, he sent me a Stone message My presence clearly threatens them. I will say what must be said as quickly as possible and leave you and Arce to explain the rest after I depart. Perhaps it was unwise to bring the ravens and wolf.
You think? I don't even know where the wolf had come from. Odin hadn't initially brought it, when we travelled to Earth. That was a tad scary. I would have to think on that, but for now I turned my full attention to what Odin was saying. There were no surprises. He spoke of Yggdrasil, the ancient history of Asgard and the emergence of the Light Guardian as wisest of the ancient Aesir shed corporeality. He enumerated the worlds "which I am in contact with". I was very glad he didn't refer to his domain. I paid very close attention to the rest, fearing that he would reveal too much about seid-space. He did not mention the God-ribbons or travelling back in time and managed to make seid sound less scary than I think it is. Still, this was a topic we had agreed should not be shared with the entire group. He talked of Valhalla, the Valkyries, and our Quest's successful, with a lot of help from non-Questers, invasion of Hel. He spent a lot of time stressing the importance of that action and suggesting that perhaps that was the final Ragnarök. He touched briefly upon "Black Stones on other worlds, which are subsidiary to Yggdrasil", saying that I would explain more about Black Stones, magical circles, and my Quest. Of Questing, he said only "Quests are ordained by Yggdrasil and the principal God, who is me. They are sacred expeditions launched when the state of the magical realm has become so unbalanced and, frankly, grim that special remedial action is called for. It is a selfless, sacred undertaking by the Questers. The Mother and her Muse hold especially holy positions. They are under the protection of myself and Yggdrasil. I do not exaggerate when I say that, apart from the Light Guardian, Yggdrasil is the wisest and most powerful entity you could ever encounter."
Odin submitted to questioning with a dignified good grace, befitting a benevolent major God. The presence of his wolf may have inhibited questions, but Odin did agree to host the Delegates and the leaders of their magical governments on Asgard. Of course, they were welcome to visit his palace of Valaskjalf, and the Palace of the Brave Dead, Valhalla. He would introduce them to Yggdrasil. No, they wouldn't want to travel to Hel. I thought Odin said far too much about the Battle of Hel, mentioning the involvement of the British soldiers. "Traditionally it is most perfect if a Quest includes female representatives from each thinking people on a world. Being magical is not a requirement, although I understand that Captain Davies has recently demonstrated magical ability."
Of course, that did it. Captain Davies was added to the list of persons we were required to produce.
Next up was Arce. I was getting the new impression that The Dude wasn't so much afraid of Odin as strongly desiring that subsequent discussion be kept in house among magical Earthlings. Arce was also promptly sent on her way after describing the various battles on Vanaheimer, telling how helpful the Questers had been, describing the duties of the Servers, and, most importantly, extending an invitation for the Governing Delegation to visit "at least the pyramid and Great Black Stone, on Vanaheimer."
After Odin and Arce departed, The Dude declared "that was all very interesting and informative, but I thought it best that we are able to continue these discussions with just the inhabitants of our own world. I think perhaps Mrs. Potter makes the most sense as our next witness, so that we can put discussion of all these new worlds and new magic behind us and move on to the ISS. I grant that we will have to pursue all of this at greater depth in the future. I do fear that our British brothers and sisters have been holding out on us and keeping far too many secrets. We will come to that, presently. Now then... Mrs. Potter."
Unfortunately, the task of describing how our Quest initially went wrong fell to me. Fortunately, Hermione joined me in telling the history of the Quest, including our time in Hel, on Vanaheimer, and defending our world against various attack by other-worlders. I talked about how we used the Stones, Hermione spoke of Yggdrasil and White Columns, I spoke of repairing and building circles, we both spoke of how we had assembled our multi-peoples Quest team and how female soldiers came to join the team. The Dude called a lunch break, before moving on to questions. We had talked for over an hour. We and our husbands were invited to join The Dude and the ICW's full-time Secretary for lunch in the private executive dining room. How could we refuse, even if this risked offending the leaders of other communities, particularly Tony?
The Secretary was a very elderly Asian man, whom I hadn't previously noticed in the Deputies' Chamber. He introduced himself as Merlin Afshar. He told us that he was Persian and a hundred and forty years old. He recognised that Merlin was an unusual name for a Persian, crediting an overly whimsical and highly literate mother. He was totally home-schooled. There was a small magical academy outside Teheran, but his parents had chosen not to send him. The food was excellent, but The Dude and Merlin kept up a lively chatter, mainly peppering us with questions, but also providing details about the Delegates, the ICW, and their home communities.
"The initial witnesses, including Ginny and Hermione, are necessary to bring the Delegates up to speed on magical realms about which they know next to nothing. However, the matters relating to the ISS are of greatest importance and delicacy. Matters have moved so rapidly in Britain and Western Europe. First Grindelwald, then Voldemort, and now your outraged traditionalists. I understand that all of this inevitably led to unavoidable exposure of your community to many nonmagical. What you need to understand is how scary this is to many magical communities. You have achieved a satisfactory rapprochement with the nonmagical government of Britain. Whether or not that working relationship will prevail with future nonmagical governments is an open question in my mind. What is not an open question is how the level of openness to which you are moving will work for all of the communities."
"Yes," Merlin hastened to tell us, "our nonmagical government is very bad. We could never disclose our existence and expect to survive. The community of Chinese magicals is terrified by the prospect of exposure. They would surely be either weaponised or killed."
"It's not just a matter of governments, which would slaughter us," The Dude warned us. "Those of us 'across the pond', as you say, must deal with a government which is the major military and political power on this world. They are endlessly aggressive, both economically and geo-politically. They would seek to use us as spies and soldiers. The goal would be to gain advantage over other non-magical nations. I feel that we must stay undisclosed at all costs. Note that I said undisclosed. Undisclosed is not the same as hidden away in tiny pockets as a separate society. Britain is scarily unique. Your human magicals are probably less integrated into the larger society than any other magical community in the world. Your Witches and Wizards are less aware of the surrounding culture and the skills needed to prosper or even survive in it, than Witches and Wizards in any other part of the world. Your Hogwarts provides an awful education and those of you who are home-schooled fare little better. Yet, you have more contact with your nonmagical nation's government than any other community. You have dealt with Viktor and the Delacours enough to know that all of this is true, even in comparison to Western European Witches and Wizards. Every Delegate will applaud your efforts to prepare your people to integrate fully into British life. It is the increasing and increasingly formal ties to the British government which are of great concern."
"I know that I made an extremely serious error in my dealings with former Minister Weasley. I never should have agreed to allow the pretence that Wizards sort-of existed in America. That is very dangerous. The American government will seek to find them; they have many resources to do so. We will have to cut back the size of our magical academies. I am the leader of our smallest magical academy, although it mixes magicals and nonmagicals and pretends to be a normal high school of the boarding variety and religiously affiliated college. I'm afraid that ruse may not last much longer, and I will need to protect our graduates."
"I'm very sorry that we have caused you and the other magical communities so much trouble. How can we help you?"
"We may have to convince our national government that magic exists only as a sparse occurrence in Britain. Ideally, we would convince them that reliable magic doesn't exist at all, beyond minimal activities, such as sometimes shown in ESP card-predicting tests, or strong intuition/premonitions, or sensing the presence of a dearly departed one or a notorious historic ghost. Salem should not be viewed as even a former locus of real magic."
"I'm willing to follow your lead in protecting American magicals. I'm sure Tony will also cooperate," Harry promised.
"That's good. As good as I could hope for. I like your Tony. Don't over-trust those who work for or will follow him in office. People of all nations, magical or not, are easily frightened and can be viciously illogical when they feel threatened by that which they are incapable of understanding, of that which seems on the surface to be irreconcilably different. I think Tony heard way too many secrets today. I think doubly so for Mrs. Toms. Ginny and Hermione still must be questioned. I'm afraid that will likely require hours. I want to hear from Tony and Mrs. Toms and send them on their way, before that questioning occurs. Most of your problems may stem from Mrs. Toms. Think about it. She has spied on you. It is time to return the favor. We must consider who can best pull that off. Most of your people are too well known to her. The ICW employs a few professionals, beyond our Secretary. I think they possess the proper skills. They don't largely speak English, but I think Ginny's Black Stone can teach them that."
We talked about what it was like to grow up with as many brothers as I had, or to step away from your nonmagical parents as Hermione and so many Gryffindors had to do. The Secretary told us about tales of magic in ancient Persia. The Dude told us how difficult it was to interest most American students in learning or even in pleasure reading. After-dinner port was on offer with dessert. I chose to keep my wits about me.
