Chapter Forty – The Reality of the Matter
The anger in the room was palatable. Dumbledore was not surprised by that.
It had been a week since the attacks against the Order and the Death Eaters. He had done his best to rebuild the defenses around the Order's headquarters. The ease with which the Crown's mages had penetrated the house was impressive. Even with aid from Edgar's extensive collection of books and knowledge of counter-spells.
The pictures were finally starting to behave in a normal manner. Even the portrait of Sirius' mother was back to shouting at everyone who entered the house.
He had to make the other members of the Order understand that working with these Muggles was essential. At the very least he had to make certain no one attempted to obstruct either the Crown's or the still largely unknown Council's efforts against Voldemort. It was unlikely the Order could survive being caught in such a crossfire. One incident had already been far too costly.
"There are two groups of Muggles able to use magic?" Bill Weasley asked. "I still don't understand."
"As I explained," Dumbledore said. "The British government has long maintained a small group of mages whose function is to protect the citizens of the British Commonwealth from supernatural threats." It was as much of truth as Dumbledore could share with the Order without telling them about the Covenant or revealing everything about the Wizarding world's history.
"And they attacked us," Charlie Weasley said. "And you expect us to trust them now."
Dumbledore sighed inwardly. He glimpsed over at Sirius. Thus far he had followed Dumbledore's admonishments and remained silent throughout this meeting. Dumbledore knew that would not last for much longer. At least they were past the random shouting. He had finally calmed every down to the point where they were at least sort of listening.
"They were after Sirius," Dumbledore said. "From their perspective he was an escaped murderer, one who had killed thirteen people, twelve of their citizens. They had little faith in the Ministry's ability to capture him, so they acted on their own."
"But Sirius is innocent," Molly Weasley said. "They had no reason to attack us. No reason to kill Remus."
Sinclair decided to become involved. "They did not know that. I did not know that. All the available evidence pointed to Black's guilt. He was free and they believed most likely working with Voldemort again. The Crown needed him to find Voldemort."
"You helped them," Charlie said. "They couldn't have done anything without you."
"Have you not been paying attention child," Sinclair said. "They have their own magic. There are six billion people living on this world. Are you all so surprised that magic can exist outside our little world? They were going to strike anyway. My goal to was limit their strikes solely to Voldemort."
"You failed," Sirius said. "You let them kill Remus. And now you expect us to work with these killers."
"If I had known, I would have stopped them," Sinclair replied in an even tone. "I did not learn the truth until after I discovered Pettigrew was among the captured Death Eaters from the Council's attack. A feat they accomplished entirely without my aid."
That made everyone in the room pause. Muggles had captured five Death Eaters in a single strike. It had taken squads of Aurors to accomplish similar feats during the war. This was entirely new ground for most of the assembled Wizards. They were not use to thinking of Muggles as threats.
"Muggles can't have magic," Arthur Weasley said. "We would have known. I've never seen any evidence of Muggle magic."
"They keep themselves as well hidden from the rest of Muggle world as we do," Dumbledore replied.
"That doesn't matter," Sirius said. "We can't work with them. They are nothing more than killers."
"They acted to protect themselves from a threat," Dumbledore replied. "They, like all of you, know the Ministry is incapable of dealing with Voldemort. Their actions were logical."
"What's 'logical' about murdering Remus," Sirius said. "These people cannot be trusted."
Dumbledore observed the nods around the room.
"Then we will keep the Crown out of this battle," Sinclair said.
Dumbledore turned towards his friend. What was Edgar planning?
"What are you talking about?" Sirius said.
"It was the Crown's forces that attacked the Order," Sinclair said. "The Council had only limited involvement. I can persuade the Crown to pull back if they can be convinced that we can deal with Voldemort."
"We can handle Voldemort," Sirius replied.
"As effectively as we handled him last time?" Sinclair replied. "Our 'effectiveness' is the reason they are so quick to intervene now. No, the only way I can keep the Crown out is if we work with the Council."
"No," Sirius said.
"The Council was not directly involved in the attack on the Order," it was a lie, but Sinclair needed to bring this argument to a close. "And they did capture five Death Eaters. The Crown is confident in their ability to deal with a threat like Voldemort."
"But how?" Arthur asked. "They can't possibly have experience dealing with someone as powerful as You-Know-Who."
"I have seen them in action," Sinclair answered. "And it should be obvious from what they have already accomplished that they are quite capable of dealing with Voldemort's Death Eaters. There are threats elsewhere in the world as great if not greater Voldemort. They have spent centuries confronting such threats."
"We have only your word on that," Sirius said.
"And mine," Dumbledore said. "I have already met with the Council and seen a demonstration their power. They will make very powerful allies."
"We don't need them," Sirius insisted.
"Yes we do," Dumbledore said. "They are already committed to eliminating the threat from Voldemort. We can not keep them from this battle and trying to stop them is not an option."
Arthur looked at Sinclair. "You can keep the ones who killed Remus out of this?"
"Only if they can be convinced that the threat from Voldemort can be dealt with," Sinclair answered.
"I said, we can deal with Voldemort," Sirius said. "They have no reason to get involved."
"They will not stand by and allow innocent Muggles to be murdered by Death Eaters. Not again," Sinclair replied. "And from their perspective our past performance is not a comfort. Working with an organization as powerful as the Council will alleviate those concerns. Consider what I said. There are six billion people out there. Do any of you think they will allow what happened thirteen years ago to occur again. If we do not deal with Voldemort, they will deal with us."
Again a pause came to room. Six billion Muggles. And they knew about the Wizarding world. Some even had their own magic. They had proven they could penetrate the defenses of their world and kill or capture Wizards. The concept was totally alien to them. They had always considered the Wizarding world separate from the Muggles. The lone beacon of magic in the world. Now, everything they had spent a lifetime knowing to be true was turned on its head.
Worse, they always thought they had to protect the Muggles, that Muggles were not a threat the Wizarding world. Now they knew the Muggles could defend themselves. That the only reason they had not done so in the past was because they relied on the Wizarding world to deal with its own threats. If they failed to deal with Voldemort. If Muggles started dying. Six billion people.
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"That was not how I intended for that meeting to proceed Edgar," Dumbledore was speaking privately with Sinclair.
"Fear can be a powerful motivator Albus," Sinclair replied. "They agreed to meet with theCouncil."
"You have no intention of keeping the Crown from this battle," Dumbledore observed.
"Of course not," Sinclair acknowledged. "Sophia would never accept that. But they don't have to work directly with the Order to be effective. So long as the Council works with us and Sophia is kept apprised of our activities I can effectively coordinate their actions with ours."
"You're playing a delicate game Edgar," Dumbledore said.
"No more delicate then we have been playing since we learned the truth of our world," Sinclair countered. "Besides I spoke the truth. The Muggles will no longer sit by and allow Wizards to kill them with impunity. No matter the outcome of this battle Albus, our world will never be the same."
"I am aware of that," Dumbledore said. "I had hoped we would have more control over the situation. We are not ready yet."
"That choice has been taken away from us Albus," Sinclair said. "I told you many years ago this day would come. The day when the Muggles stopped ignoring us. Our lack of preparation means what happens next will occur on their terms instead of ours."