"Grindelwald is perfectly clear-headed," Wade shook his head. "He knows very well that you've been stalling for time. Otherwise, Mr. Newt Scamander wouldn't have just inspected his setups, declared them unqualified, and left. That's why he's willing to hand the design over to me. This way, he can start his educational reform plan sooner."
"Hmm… since you've signed a contract with him, there's indeed no way to delay things anymore. But that's fine. At least now, he won't come after you over the Elder Wand," Albus Dumbledore said calmly, letting out a sigh of relief, a faint smile returning to his face.
Wade asked in surprise, "Professor, you're not blaming me for disrupting your plan to delay him?"
"Your safety is the most important thing, Wade," Dumbledore said with a smile. "And in truth, delaying him doesn't serve much purpose. We've been stalling partly to irritate Grindelwald, but also to give the students more time to train before attempting the challenges. Their strength is still somewhat lacking, and I worry they might face danger during the trials. But now that the design is in your hands, I feel much more at ease."
"Professor, I can't reduce the difficulty too much, but… I can redesign and strengthen the rescue measures," Wade said seriously.
"That will be enough, Wade!" Dumbledore said, clearly pleased.
In Grindelwald's original designs, the challenges were filled with dangerous dark creatures and magical beasts, while rescue measures were almost nonexistent. Unless you were completely incapacitated, no one would come to save you before the very last moment.
Once you entered a challenge, there was essentially no option to give up.
Either you cleared it and walked out, or you were carried out.
Under such conditions, the likelihood of students facing life-threatening danger increased greatly.
Even the best rescuers could make mistakes. If they failed to reach a student in time, that student would be finished.
Grindelwald's initial harsh philosophy was to let students suffer more injuries. Only by fearing injury would they strive to become stronger and pursue power.
Sometimes, shaping ideology worked this way, subtle and gradual, without the need for constant speeches.
But now that Wade controlled the design of the challenges, he could fully enhance the rescue measures. The contract only required that the difficulty not be lowered. It said nothing about rescue systems.
This way, at least there would be no cases where severely injured students failed to receive timely treatment.
The chances of students facing fatal danger could be minimized as much as possible.
"There's something I've never quite understood, Professor," Wade said.
"What is it?" Dumbledore asked.
Wade frowned slightly. "If Grindelwald's approach were made public, how could parents possibly agree? No one would want their child to undergo such dangerous trials. And if there were casualties, how would Hogwarts face the anger of the parents? How would the Ministry of Magic deal with public outrage? Even a single student death or serious injury could force Hogwarts to shut down, couldn't it?"
Hearing this, Dumbledore's expression turned difficult to read.
Wade could see the conflict in Albus Dumbledore's expression…
"The British Ministry of Magic… along with the Ministries of several neighboring countries, recently passed a new law. To be honest, I initially thought it was quite a good law…" Dumbledore said slowly.
"What law?"
"The Wizarding Compulsory Education Act… Within Hogwarts' recruitment range, all underage witches and wizards must attend Hogwarts for their education. Preventing a child of the proper age from enrolling is a violation of the law. After the law was passed, subsidies for disadvantaged students were also increased… and the timing of this law… was before Grindelwald presented his educational reform plan to me…" Dumbledore explained.
Wade drew in a sharp breath. He had to admit, this move from Gellert Grindelwald was ruthless.
First of all, very few people knew the details of the educational reforms. Even those who had heard of it only had a vague idea, without knowing the specifics.
So before proposing the reforms, Grindelwald had already arranged for this law to be quietly introduced. Hardly anyone had time to react.
In fact, most people thought the law was excellent. It ensured that many young wizards who previously couldn't attend school due to various circumstances could now receive an education. Financial aid was also increased, allowing many poor students to live better lives.
Especially for special cases like Filius Flitwick, enrollment had become much easier.
If this law had been implemented earlier, Dumbledore wouldn't have needed to put in so much effort to get Flitwick admitted.
As a result, the Wizarding Compulsory Education Act passed smoothly.
But this seemingly beneficial law, when combined with Grindelwald's upcoming educational reforms, became a problem instead.
Because it effectively blocked any path for parents to withdraw their children from school. Refusing to let a child continue attending Hogwarts would be illegal.
"What about transferring schools?" Wade asked.
"Transfers are allowed, of course, but they require an application… and until that application is approved, the student must continue studying at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said gravely.
Wade took another sharp breath. An application? As if that would ever be approved easily.
All it would take was a few excuses to drag the process out for ten days or even half a month, until people gave up.
He had seen tricks like this plenty of times before coming to this world.
Albus Dumbledore continued, "It was only after I received Grindelwald's educational reform plan that I realized the connection between the two, but… by then it was already too late. It was also at that moment that I understood just how deeply the British Ministry of Magic had been infiltrated by him. Under normal circumstances, it would take one or two years for the Ministry to pass a new law, but this time it was done in a very short period…"
Wade finally understood. "If the Ministry has been controlled by Grindelwald, then public anger won't affect their decisions at all. As long as the Ministry holds firm, Hogwarts won't be forced to shut down even if students are injured or killed…"
In the original course of events, when Myrtle was killed by the basilisk, Hogwarts nearly closed not because of public pressure, but because of pressure from the Ministry.
Now that the Ministry was effectively in his hands, who could force Hogwarts to shut down?
At the same time, Wade also understood why Dumbledore was so conflicted.
He was blaming himself.
If he hadn't been so wary of power, if he had accepted Headmaster Dippet's suggestion and entered politics earlier, perhaps he could have prevented all of this.
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