บท 732: Epilogue: Granger

As the month of June came to an end, the heat in the air became so intense that you could even feel it inside the British Ministry of Magic, which was built underground.

Hermione presumed that her bad mood during this period was caused by the approaching competition. All kinds of news related to the floating island multiplied all at once, and Mafalda Prewett, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Wall of Mystery", which emerged out of Hogwarts, commented on the phenomenon by saying: 'No matter what time of year it is, you can at least spot a guy riding a public broomstick and carrying a camera around the island, and needless to say, that's my lovely peer.'

Rita Skeeter, another journalist with a sharp tone and penchant for snarking remarks, after covering topics such as 'Hidden Smuggling Families', 'Excellent Naturalists?', 'Bad Fashion Designers' and other trending articles, she set her sights on the tourists who came to the island. But this time she almost put herself all over the news; when she was asked about her sources, she hinted about bribing the island staff to get a list of famous people in advance, including some members of the Order of the Phoenix, members of the Frontline Lookout and the Ouroboros Club, along with muggle politicians, celebrities, pianist, musicians, and the tennis player who ranked second in the world last year. But most important of all is the chain reaction caused by her recent gloating articles such as "Alternation of power behind the World Cup" and "Panicking People."

Journalists from other countries are also not that far behind. This seems to reinforce the point Mafalda was trying to make, "There are more journalists on the island than tourists." This is of course an exaggeration, and Hermione, who is a senior deputy minister, could not be more aware of this as she is currently approving new applications to visit the island.

"There are about 120 people signed up this morning, and if you include the information synced over from the Muggle government, that number is going to increase by ... two thousand. And that's just one day worth of quantity!" Hermione rubbed her forehead, "The Portkey is totally inadequate, and the number of people who can access the fireplace each day is limited, moreover, it is necessary to ensure continuous accessibility for critical moments ... Didn't we remodel a passenger ship for the British government?"

"The Prime Minister wants that ship to be used as a private vehicle for the Queen and her official entourage to travel." A man from the Department of Magical Transportation replied.

Hermione opened her mouth as if she wanted to mock a couple of things, but in the end, she didn't say anything.

"I can only provide twenty more temporary fireplaces, whose coordinates are located on a small island 30 nautical miles away from the floating island. Let them arrange the pick-up and drop-off boats if they agree, otherwise let them figure out their own way." She wrote down her suggestion and added her name at the end of the document, "Give it to Kingsley." The office fell silent.

Hermione glanced at the time, the hands of the clock seemed to have stopped moving at four o'clock. She went through the list of files in her hand again, the newly legalized articles, the simplified magic potion list review, the private flying broom licence, the opening date of Wizard Town, the draft Anti-Space Smuggling Act ... after confirming that they were all taken care of one by one, she began to stare at the photo on her desk, which she had taken with Felix on Mars, the two of them were sitting on the reddish-brown rocks with desolate dunes and gravel in the background; a sandstorm coming up in the distance with an exotic haze behind them; Valen jumping around with great interest with a Bubble-Head Charm covering her upper body ...

A slight smile of reminiscence appeared on her face as her fingers unintentionally brushed the photo frame. The past few years flashed through her mind.

As an official assistant of the last Minister of Magic, Ms. Bones, her entry into the Ministry of Magic started from a very high position, but there is nothing surprising about it: the Minister of Magic has a number of assistants. There is a special office, the Assistant Minister Office, which is dedicated solely to serving the Minister of Magic. The number of assistants ranges from one to a dozen, and these people normally assume both the role of secretary and advisor, but of course, occasionally there will be a few guys who just get paid to do nothing, will also be included in the ranks.

But Hermione received a full range of work experience here.

From the initial responsibility of reporting information related to Muggle affairs to the gradual exposure of specific affairs of the Pan-Magical Alliance, and participation and development of the rules and regulations for liaison between the various magical races with the Minister's assistant status and government contacts, in which her talent in politics was shown. Three years later, Hermione applied to become an inspector of the International Pan-Magical Alliance, and in the following two years, she went around the world and wrote a series of observation reports that incorporated the local magical circumstances with an international perspective, which provided the headquarters of the Pan-Magical Alliance with a thorough and detailed analysis of the situation, together with the findings of other inspectors.

As far as Hermione was concerned, her perspective was further broadened there.

When she returned to the British Ministry of Magic, she was only 24 years old, but she had been through far more challenging situations than her peers, so much so that she became the Chief of Staff of the Assistant Minister's office after an interview that went so harmoniously that it could not even be considered an interview. Theoretically, she could give orders to Felix back then, who still held a staff position (Felix so far still didn't understand the interrelationship between these posts, and no one had dared to command him).

If she follows the same pace in her political career, she is likely to go further and further down the path of promotion, eventually becoming the Minister of Magic. But her magical path will also become narrower and narrower, and in fact, unlike Harry's smooth path, she would have experienced her own limits much earlier. Although her abilities far exceeded those of the average wizard, she recognized that she might never become an Archmage, with an invisible wall in front of her. This wall has trapped an unknown number of outstanding wizards.

It was the trip to Mars that brought about an unexpected transformation in Hermione's path and life, and in the words, she summed up afterward.

"The transformation of every wizard's magic is inseparable from the great mental transformation, and for me, it happened during the month I lived on Mars. I didn't have to think about all the real-life implications, and I completely left behind all the constraints and concerns. ... Compared to the vast universe, people are extremely insignificant, but when I did my best to light up a small piece of the starry sky, I was able to feel the shock and grandeur from the bottom of my heart, as if all my past perceptions had been overturned."

When she returned from Mars, she wrote a dozen articles exploring the nature of magic, which are mostly conjectures, but they are enough to prove that she has a new understanding of magic, and Felix picked one of them and suggested her to publish it publicly, which was later considered to be a perfect argument for the puzzle of 'the adaptability of magic under extreme conditions'.

In her office, Hermione said to herself, "That feeling was really amazing."

"What's 'amazing'?" A voice interjected. She looked up just in time to catch Harry's odd expression on his face, and Hermione said teasingly, "The scene where you perform the Wronski Feint at the wedding in public."

Harry coughed unnaturally twice. He was getting married for the first time, so some exuberance was inevitable, plus he and Ginny had taken their vow in the sky, and by the time they finished their vow Fred and George had shouted out at the top of their lungs to give them a show, and with masses of lively guests swooping downwards on broomsticks, he couldn't stop himself from doing it ...

"By the way, what brings you here?" Hermione intentionally changed the subject, "I thought you would be too busy to come out at all for a while."

"Pretty much," Harry muttered, "I've missed at least three family dinners, and little Albus is upset with me, there's so much to deal with, it's a city populated by millions of people, bringing together most of the world's nations and authorities, with complex relationships... ...To be honest, I'm a little overwhelmed."

"Perhaps you should learn from how Felix handled it?" Hermione suggested.

"Good idea," Harry said: "dividing every little task to others, occasionally showing up to solve a problem or two, and then in the process, you need to get rid of all the guys who have caused that problem ... I have seriously thought about it, but this style does not suit me. "

Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Did you come looking for sympathy, or did you come to complain?"

"Neither," Harry said with a straight face, "it's because of another matter."

Hermione looked at him from across the table.

"The Ministry has recovered a time-turner during the search in the Nott house, haven't they?"

"How did you-"

"You tell me first." Harry said.

Hermione thought for a moment. "That's right, the Ministry has been working on a project to recover time-turners that have been lost through the centuries, damaged or not; this whole thing started well over a decade ago when Ms. Bones was still in office. Because ... well, you know exactly why."

"Oh, I understand ..." Harry said slowly, one of the two people in this conversation happened to experience time travel and travelled far beyond what the Ministry of Magic allowed, indirectly contributing to the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries getting breached, when someone stole a lot of time energy and the hourglass of the time-turner; who that person was, the two knew by heart.

"Ms. Bones deemed it necessary to conceal the existence of the time-turner, especially at this particular juncture when the magical world is heading towards openness." Hermione explained to him, "It was Headmaster Dumbledore who applied to the Ministry of Magic in the first place, and now this policy has ended with his loss, the time-turner will not appear in the school or in the public eye, and Kingsley and I both agree with this policy."

Harry pondered about Dumbledore's attitude towards time-turners, about the silverware that always littered the long-legged table, and then he pulled a small golden timepiece out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

Hermione's eyes widened for a moment, then the look of surprise faded from her face and became thoughtful.

"This can't be yours." She said.

"It's the Malfoys'," Harry confessed, "Draco was originally going to give it to Professor Hap, but he wasn't sure what he would think, so he compromised and entrusted me to send it to you. He said, uh," Harry scratched his head, "that Astoria is getting well enough to make it to the World Cup opening ceremony in perfect health."

"That's good news." Hermione broke into a smile.

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