The magical world only resembled a fairy tale within Hogwarts itself. Once students graduated...? Sigh.
The fairy-tale illusion shattered, and wizarding society revealed itself to still be a cruel and realistic society, perhaps even more unfair than the Muggle world.
"Pure-blood families monopolise the vast majority of resources, from Ministry positions to businesses in every industry... but are Muggle-born wizards truly inferior to pure-blood wizards?"
"Is there really nobody capable of creating better broomsticks or alternatives to broomsticks? Is there really nobody capable of inventing alternatives to Floo Powder? In the past, such things did exist... but now they've vanished."
"Why? Flying carpets are illegal, and the officials who created those laws were pure-blood wizards. Alternatives to Floo Powder were once invented as well... but soon afterward, people claimed these cheaper powders carried enormous dangers, and that only Floo Powder was stable and safe enough. So Floo Powder remained, while those substitute powders disappeared without a trace... was that truly the case?"
"Then... what can we do to change all of this?" Filius Flitwick asked timidly.
Among everyone present, Filius Flitwick was undoubtedly the most affected.
Because of his unique bloodline, he was destined to endure far more strange looks within the wizarding world...
To put it bluntly, his status was not much higher than that of werewolves and other discriminated groups...
So when Wade explained these social realities, Flitwick became filled with confusion and uncertainty about the future.
In truth, if not for Albus Dumbledore, Flitwick would never even have been able to enrol at Hogwarts!
In the original history, for Flitwick to eventually become Professor Flitwick... Wade believed it must once again have been the result of Dumbledore's efforts.
Otherwise, Flitwick's life after graduation likely would not have gone very well.
Given Flitwick's appearance, there was even a possibility that his wand might have been confiscated...
"There is a way, mate! Of course there is!" Wade said cheerfully. "If we can't even achieve this level of equality, then how could I dare claim that my dream is to build a beautiful world?"
Hope once again appeared in Flitwick's eyes, but quickly dimmed again. "But breaking their monopoly after so many years... that's incredibly difficult... if we touch their bottom line before we've fully grown strong enough ourselves, they could crush us with ease... just like the flying carpets and those unnamed powders that could replace Floo Powder..."
"Yes, every beginning is difficult... but fortunately for us, someone has already taken the hardest first step on our behalf. Someone has already done the work of offending people. Right now, every pure-blood wizard is focused on that person's every move... and that's exactly when opportunities begin to appear!" Wade said with a smile.
"Who?" Flitwick asked.
"Gellert Grindelwald... Have you forgotten? That policy he introduced at the Ministry before... where anyone could enter the Ministry through examinations and take up various positions... those exams don't care whether you're pure-blood or Muggle-born!"
The moment Wade finished speaking, everyone gasped in shock. None of them had expected that the first person to attempt breaking the pure-blood families' monopoly would actually be Grindelwald!
And he had even succeeded!
At the Ministry of Magic no less, the very place where monopolies should have been the hardest to break!
Tom had been quietly listening from the back the entire time. The moment he heard those words, he instantly sucked in a sharp breath!
He understood better than anyone that Grindelwald's actions, which originally seemed intended merely to improve his reputation and increase his prestige... had Wade pushing things forward behind the scenes all along!
Then... what if Wade's real goal from the very beginning had been to use Grindelwald to break the pure-blood families' monopoly over Ministry positions?
On the surface, it looked as though Wade was merely helping Grindelwald whitewash his image and seize power. In reality, he was wielding Grindelwald as his sharpest spear!
Grindelwald had taken the first and most offensive step, yet the pure-bloods did not dare move against him and could only hide in the shadows while observing cautiously.
And during this period, while all those pure-blood wizards had their attention focused on Grindelwald, they failed to notice the undercurrents quietly moving beneath the surface!
Many people had already begun developing different ideas!
If so many ordinary-born individuals could now hold high-ranking positions within the Ministry of Magic, then... what about the other industries?
The pure-blood wizards had failed to realise that many people had already started eyeing the cake in their hands!
It could be said that ever since the Ministry reforms began, the inseparable monopoly maintained among pure-blood wizards for so many years had finally developed a crack!
This giant beast called monopoly had been wounded and had begun to bleed... countless greedy eyes were already fixed upon it... all that was missing was the first person willing to charge forward.
Right now, everyone's attention was focused entirely on Gellert Grindelwald. Nobody noticed that Wade was secretly stirring things up behind the scenes.
As long as Wade continued pushing things forward in secret and encouraged others to take the lead in charging ahead... Damn..
The pure-blood families might easily eliminate one or two people who dared covet their cake, but what if the number of such people kept increasing?
Most importantly, Grindelwald did not care about pure-bloods or non-pure-bloods. He only cared about wizards and non-wizards. As long as someone was a wizard, that was enough!
On this point alone, those pure-bloods were destined to never stand on the same side as Grindelwald.
Therefore, for Wade to use Grindelwald as the one standing at the front and confronting the pure-blood families was not difficult at all.
And while the pure-blood families were busy fighting against Grindelwald, all those people who had already begun coveting the pure-bloods' share of the cake would start swarming forward together...
Once that happened, the pure-blood families, unable to divide their attention everywhere at once, would suffer a fatal blow to the monopoly they had maintained for so long. Social resources would finally have a chance to be redistributed.
In other words, after Grindelwald completed the Ministry reforms, he transformed from Wade's sharpest spear into Wade's sturdiest shield...
Tom could not help rubbing his nose. If Grindelwald ever discovered he was being used like this as a weapon... who knew whether he would completely lose his composure...
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