Chapter 96 — The Statute in Ruins
Chapter 96: The Statute in Ruins
I stood in the dressing room and gazed, with a rather distant expression, at the mirrors, the costumes hanging on the rail behind me, and the bustle of people moving around them. But if I'm honest, I was not simply standing and looking; I was fighting off a state of shock brought on by the unexpected news my mothers had just delivered.
The Queen had, by royal decree, abolished the Statute of Secrecy throughout her realm. This was happening in a great many countries at the moment, and that in itself was not surprising. What was surprising was that they had specifically chosen me to appear on the first television broadcast in Britain dedicated to this subject, where I, as a representative of the wizarding world and a scion of an ancient and noble House, was to explain to the public who and what wizards actually were.
I was not alone, of course; my mothers would never have let me come here unescorted, so I had a contingent of loyal witches, wizards, and Squibs ensuring my safety. But none of that changed the fact that I was in shock.
It helped, at least, that I had dealt with the press before, even if only the wizarding press, so I had some idea of what to expect.
"Ten minutes."
The presenter came over and placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it lightly.
"Don't worry, lad, it'll all be fine."
The familiarity grated on me slightly. Not that I clung particularly to my title as heir to the House or future Earl, but I had grown rather accustomed to that kind of informality coming only from people who either had no idea who I was, or had been granted explicit permission by me to address me that way. And the former were few and far between, because in the wizarding world, if you were not an idiot, you learned to respect certain boundaries.
"I am not worried."
I carefully lifted the man's hand from my shoulder, which left him momentarily off-balance.
"And please, do keep to a reasonable distance. I have no objection to a first-name basis and so forth, but certain boundaries shouldn't be crossed. It is, at the very least, rude to someone you've only just met."
"Hmph."
The presenter snorted, and I found myself wondering whether he even knew what today's program was actually about, or whether someone had simply told him the bare minimum and he hadn't bothered to prepare.
We would find out soon enough.
"We're on in three minutes."
While turning all this over in my mind, I had already made my way to the comfortable chair and settled into it. Scanning the audience, I spotted several wizards, including some from my security detail. They were not difficult to pick out, dressed in robes, which were already drawing bewildered glances from the Muggles around them.
"Three, two, one, we're live!"
On the last word, the title music played, and almost immediately after it faded, the presenter began.
"Good evening, good evening, good evening, I'm John Cope, and this is An Evening with John! And tonight we have an extraordinary edition, because a little bird has been whispering in my ear that magic is real..."
He laughed at that, as did much of the studio audience. I gave a quiet snort of my own.
"...and joining us tonight is a rather remarkable young man who is here to prove that it is! Please welcome, Draco Black!"
Despite the host's mocking tone, the applause was quite generous. People were happy enough to welcome any novelty and willing enough to hear my story.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen."
I rose from my chair and gave a brief bow.
"So then, Draco, when did you first realize you were a wizard?"
The condescension in his voice was audible to everyone in the room.
"You know..."
I glanced thoughtfully at the ceiling.
"...before I answer your question, I think I'll make use of something I prepared earlier. I rather suspected you might not believe that magic is real, and so I contacted Her Majesty the Queen's service, which means that tonight, somewhere in this studio or one of the dressing rooms, there should be a gentleman carrying documents confirming his credentials, along with several very interesting papers."
I looked at the host.
"I think we ought to invite him out, and..."
"That won't be necessary."
The host waved me off. Apparently he was enough of a celebrity to run his program however he saw fit. Unfortunately for him, this was not that kind of program.
"I rather think it will be."
A distinguished-looking man entered the studio floor, walked up to the host, and showed him his credentials.
"Ha! I could buy papers like that in any underpass..."
"Then call to verify. Every person in Britain knows that if an official of the law comes to your door, you can call the police and confirm that the individual is who they say they are. I appreciate that our local constabulary does not have clearance to access my department's databases, MI-0, but they can at least make contact with us, and it would take no more than twenty minutes."
"My program doesn't have that kind of time to spare."
The host was growing impatient.
"On that point, you don't need to worry. Tonight's broadcast has no fixed end time. It will continue until all the important matters have been addressed, and it is being transmitted simultaneously across every television channel in the country. If you had seen fit to prepare for this program rather than disregarding the brief your editorial team sent you, you would have known that."
"What on earth do you think you're doing?!"
The show's director ran onto the floor, quite indifferent to the fact that this was all going out live.
"I told you! This episode was commissioned from the Palace!"
He said that last word in a tone that left no doubt as to which particular Palace he meant.
"Oh, come on, Pete..."
"This is not a joke!"
"Pete,"
The presenter's swagger was draining away, though he still hadn't entirely convinced himself that any of this was real.
"Perhaps you might sort this out offstage?"
I drew both the director's and the presenter's attention back to me.
"In the meantime, I can give the background with the help of our colleague from MI-0. Shall we?"
"Of course, Lord Black."
The director gave me a nod and immediately took hold of his presenter's arm and pulled him offstage. The cameras swung to focus on me.
"Very well. The story begins in the Middle Ages. Everyone knows that chapter of history, the so-called witch trials."
There were a few chuckles from the audience.
"And 'so-called' they remained, in your history, the history of ordinary people. In the history of those to whom nature granted the ability to do extraordinary things, however, that period was entirely real. We stood at the threshold of a global war, with witches and wizards on one side and ordinary humans on the other, and it would have ended in mutual annihilation. Yes, you already outnumbered us even then. But wizards, then and now, are weapons in their own right. Each one walks around, you might say, with an assault rifle and a handful of grenades."
I paused thoughtfully.
"And so the most powerful figures of that era, and by 'most powerful' I mean not only kings and queens but the greatest wizards on the planet, drew up a document. The so-called Statute of Secrecy."
I nodded to the MI-0 representative, who produced a document from the case.
"This is the original of that agreement, enchanted to be indestructible. And under its terms, wizards created a state within a state. We paid our taxes, in our case to the Crown, but in essence we were isolated. Not merely isolated: we concealed ourselves behind specialized enchantments, often living in the building right next to yours, a building you were entirely unaware of, because it was hidden within a fold of space."
At this point the presenter returned to the stage, white as chalk, having clearly been given a thorough talking-to backstage.
"How is that even possible?"
The shout came from the audience.
"It's simply magic."
I shrugged easily.
"Most wizards, if you asked them that question, would probably shrug and say it works and leave it at that. It's much the same as if I asked you how a television works: what would you tell me? That you plug it into the wall and it goes?"
Laughter rippled through the audience. I was privately aware that this was probably the most charitable answer I could give: saying that they simply lacked the capacity to understand the principles by which magic operates would have made me come across as an insufferable prig.
"That said, I can demonstrate. All I need is three apples."
A tray bearing three apples was brought to the stage.
"Watch: first, I use magic to hide the middle apple."
I cast a Disillusionment Charm on the middle apple. All anyone could see me do was trace a small flourish with my wand and touch the apple, after which it vanished.
"And just as we can hide an apple, we can hide a house. Then..."
Two more spells.
"...we apply a slight adjustment to visual perception, and only two apples appear to be on the tray. Concealing a house is naturally more complex, and requires a considerably deeper level of enchantment. But fundamentally, it all begins with exactly this sort of spell: the kind any fifth-year student can perform today."
"A f-f-fifth-year?"
The presenter, still pale and now stammering, managed to ask the question.
"Most of us attend an actual school, and for roughly half the wizarding population of Britain that's quite sufficient for a comfortable life: provided you didn't spend your time idly and stuck only to the standard curriculum. In general, any graduate of Hogwarts, that is, Britain's school of magic, who put in even a modest effort preparing for adult life, particularly in their sixth and seventh years, will have the skills to build a decent life for themselves."
"What about further education?"
The question came from the audience.
"Broadly speaking, we wizards live, in social terms, in the Middle Ages. We have Guilds. The Healers' Guild, the Combat Mages' Guild, the Potioneers' Guild, and so on. Advanced training after school typically takes the form of an apprenticeship under a Master or Magister in whichever discipline one wishes to pursue. Those with sufficient means can begin that kind of training while still at school. There is also a second route: vocational courses run by whatever institution you intend to join as an employee."
"And you personally..."
The presenter was sweating and clearly did not know what to do with himself.
"I am comfortable enough financially. I had private tutors from an early age, and after entering Hogwarts one of the Heads of House took an interest in me and offered me a personal apprenticeship."
I shrugged pleasantly.
"But... but... but..."
"Why go public with all this at all? You were talking about the Statute of Secrecy, so why break it now?"
The question came from Rita Skeeter, who was seated among the audience in a smart little suit. Few people there would have taken her for a witch.
"Miss Skeeter? I'm surprised to see you here."
"You know this woman?"
"Yes, she is a member of the press, from our side of the divide. I confess I hadn't expected them to invite a journalist quite so... colorful. Though on reflection, perhaps only she is capable of covering this story in a way that is suitably scandalous and yet genuinely informative at the same time."
I turned to address her question directly.
"To answer you, Miss Skeeter, the reason is this. The dark creatures whose name has become known to us..."
I flicked my wand and a glamoured image of a Grimm appeared in the air.
"...are not going to stop appearing. On the contrary, their numbers will only grow, and every influential individual in the world, on both sides of the Statute, already knows this. Which means the time has come to come together. Not necessarily to declare our undying love for one another, but at least to acknowledge that we need each other."
"Need each other? What are those things? What does all this mean?"
Rita rose from her seat and made her way down to the floor with a pronounced sway of her hips, then settled herself into the empty chair.
"It is quite simple. There exist many worlds."
I let my gaze travel slowly across the audience.
"By worlds I do not mean planets; I mean worlds. Some may consist of a single planet. Others will contain millions of planets, much like our own. What has happened is this: our world has begun to merge with a neighboring one. And this cannot be stopped, not at our current level of magical and scientific development. The Grimm are a mortal threat native to the world that is merging with ours. These creatures respond to emotion, to negative emotion in particular."
"Like Dementors? Though I thought Dementors fed on positive..."
"No, Rita, not Dementors. The Grimm. They come in as many varieties as there are species of ordinary animals in our world, and they will keep coming endlessly. And in that world, as far as we have been able to learn, there is an entire continent inhabited solely by Grimm, no people, no other sentient life."
The studio went quiet.
"When the Convergence is complete, the Grimm will become our problem. Along with them will come those who hunt them. One woman is already training the finest witches and wizards from across the world in their methods: how to kill them, what the customs and knowledge of her world have to offer, and everything else that may prove necessary. There will be others like her in time, but there will never be enough of them. So the very least we can do is stop working against one another."
"As an officer of MI-0, I can confirm Lord Black's account. All nations have begun preparing for conflict with these creatures. Governments are in talks about standing down operations against one another. In short, the world is preparing for a war the like of which it has never seen."
"Precisely. And I am here tonight to introduce the people of Britain to magic, to show them that it is real, and to prepare them, if I may put it that way, for what is coming."
"But what are we supposed to do?!"
The shout came from one of the men in the audience.
"What should you do? My advice, while there is still time, is to join, if not the armed forces, at least a shooting club, and learn to handle at least one kind of weapon. Or to enroll on a course and acquire a qualification that will be in high demand when the war inevitably arrives."
I looked out across the audience with complete seriousness.
"And now I will turn to a more detailed account of wizards and what we can do: abilities that will soon be available to ordinary citizens of Britain as well."
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