Chương 241: 22
XLIII. Balance
Much of a villain's job can be said to have something to do with balance. Walking the thin line between generous and dangerous, not tipping your hand too far in matters of secrecy while revealing just enough…
Guaranteeing a good balance between autonomy and dependence when it comes to your subordinates is good. You will have to delegate eventually, but being too hands off can give ambitious subordinates ideas if they form their own power bases. This can also lead to embarrassing gaffes, like someone forgetting how Roman numerals work while preparing this very manuscript.
Rest assured, the responsible subordinate has been sacked. As in, sewn into a sack and thrown into a river.
The recent incident with Knockturn Alley, while certainly a coup against anyone who would use those artifacts for evil, was helped by the fact that the Alley was something of an acceptable target. No one would cry any tears (or at least be public about it) for Borgin, Burke, and their ilk.
Of course, any future targets would have to be chosen with exceptional care… However, they could get a headstart on preparing their defenses in other ways. Observation was a good way to start- although they were already facing some hurdles in that particular department.
For a vast majority of the month, werewolves looked completely normal, and as such could observe magical Britain as they pleased as long as it wasn't the full moon (and as long as they came up with convincing alibis for their disappearances around that time in particular).
Other than perhaps the Kitsune (who could usually pass for human with careful application of magic) there was some catch for almost all of them. Vampires had that pallor, not to mention the no sunlight thing, Yuki Onna brought a noticeable chill with them, Veela were a touch too conspicuous, Agathe could pass as a human but wasn't good with strangers...
Admittedly, there was the odd human in their ranks as well, typically drawn to the island by a supposedly 'monstrous' relative moving as well, so there was something… but they came to the island to be with their family, not to skulk around in Britain like some sort of spy.
That was a bit of a conundrum, making any plans of gaining influence in Britain difficult. Still, there were ways that they could attempt to sway magical Britain that didn't require stepping foot on the island- or stepping on too many toes, especially not Harry's. The latter meant that the extremities of violence were out, but there were other ways of gaining influence…
While no one wanted to get too cuddly with magical Britain, it certainly wouldn't hurt if, say, their neighbors over in England were too economically tied to Doggerland to try anything clever. Making money with the British would be a great way of dissuading any anti-Doggerland policy choices, on top of the obvious benefits of money.
Selling stuff to Britain was also a great way of getting information about Britain, without even needing to ask. What ingredients- and therefore potions- were in demand? Which weren't? Admittedly that didn't account for potions ingredients any idiot with a wand could collect themselves, but the weirder stuff… you could learn a bit from what rare potions ingredients are in demand.
For example, wouldn't it be good to know if someone was attempting to do something clever with Felix Felicis? Sure, you couldn't use it in competitive sport… but it seemed like a hell of a way to hedge your bets, in a very literal sense. It took months to brew, so you would always know in advance as long as you could gather the proper hints...
Attempting to predict what potions people were brewing and why would be an inherently finicky thing, but it was something sufficiently subtle for their more conspicuous members. They were looking into other means of magical surveillance as well, though- you want information before you act.
There were a number ways in which they could impact the world- at least the wizarding half- and all sorts of positive changes they could make. For example, it was very well known that Harry found love potions distasteful, and that was an opinion shared by a number of the island's citizens, some more passionate about it than others. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, Veela found them a much more vexing issue than, say, werewolves, for reasons that should be obvious.)
They couldn't really stop growing plants they never grew in the first place… but it would be a crying shame if farmers and traders that sold ingredients for love potions went out of business thanks to some completely above the board free market competition, wouldn't it?
Hermione had managed to get herself a job in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical creatures- where she hoped to actually make some changes in the wizarding world. Not everyone could lift an island from the sea and found their own country, you know? She couldn't really disparage Harry for just wanting to be left alone, but she couldn't just sit by and leave the Ministry of Magic as it was.
She didn't have much influence to start, of course- while she was a hero of the wizarding world and all that, she was something of a recent hire. This wasn't helped by the fact that the goblins- who were one of the major magical species they were supposed to communicate with- hated her for the Gringotts kerfuffle. Her presence was… an impediment to discussion, to put it one way.
She was apparently being robbed of the newbie experience by not getting shafted with goblin duty, but when presented with the possibility of severely pissing the goblins off, the Department made the wise choice to back down. That was a good thing, at least for Hermione, as it let her focus on what she wanted to do: house elf rights. Emancipation would be a long way down the road, if it was ever accomplished, but treating the creatures with dignity was a place to start.
Happily, she actually made a bit of headway with the house elves, mainly by using Lucius Malfoy as a bad example. You didn't even have to exaggerate- just point at how the man treated Dobby and say "well, if that's how a major Death Eater treated his elves…"
That did mean that physically abusing your house elves was no longer the appropriate thing to do- at least in front of company- but it was a long way away from anything approaching pay or benefits.
More problems cropped up in other areas as well. Centaurs? While they had certainly been gallant and helpful, Firenze especially, Umbridge had run a smear campaign on them. Hermione did feel particularly bad about that, considering she played no small role in Umbridge's… unplanned visit to the colony. She didn't care for Umbridge, of course, but the toad used the event as a weapon to imply some very unflattering things.
That was the real challenge: digging through all the bias that was so ingrained into people. One particularly vexing thing was how casual everyone was about those disdain for werewolves in particular. "They're just a bad sort, you know?" The shadow of Fenrir Greyback loomed large over the department.
Being… anti-lycanthrope? Was that a proper descriptor? Was distressingly common, but even worse was that they expected her to share the sentiment! She was a wizarding hero, alongside Ron and Harry, so of course people assumed she was against everything they thought was dark.
Of course, there was also the matter of Harry and his island. While the Ministry didn't have exact numbers when it came to werewolves (surprise surprise, they didn't like the idea of getting registered by a government that hated them!) it seemed like many of them had fled for greener pastures, so to speak. The other members of the department considered this a good thing, mostly. "He can take 'em!"
She was, grudgingly, a little jealous of Ron for getting out of the Ministry early; it was a mess, but one that she felt obligated to try her damnedest to fix. There were things she could do to help her friends that you couldn't do on the outside- so she'd suffer through it.
(Curiously, the matter of the Kitsune at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was never really that large of a concern for the Department, despite her evident status as a magical creature. Mysteriously, paperwork intended to arrest her or otherwise make her life more difficult tended to get tied up in incredible amounts of obscure red tape regarding unknown magical creatures. Odd, that.)
Their pace was slowed considerably by the fact that Harry was now towing the Belle Epoque with his own ship- it was quite a bit of extra drag. And Jean Paul was in a near constant state of repairing the ship, once he was repaired from the wounds he had acquired earlier.
He didn't really seem to mind where they sailed all that much, far too preoccupied with trying to get his ship back into proper state… At least until they were approaching the 16th parallel, 16 degrees south of the Equator. There was a certain destination that Jean wanted to visit, and Harry would admit it was definitely interesting…
It was around one hundred and twenty square kilometers and was populated by about four thousand people, who you would call St. Helenians.
No points for guessing which famed historical figure attracted Jean Paul, noted Frenchman, to the island. He seemed particularly starstruck by the whole place. He was clearly more interested than Harry was, but it wasn't like Harry was completely unaware of where they were.
"You do know they moved Napoleon back to France, right?"
"Yes, the remains at Les Invalides. But this is where he lived. Where he died."
"I suppose." Harry commented, not really feeling that passionate about it.
"What an age! When men made something of themselves, when a peasant rose to emperorship! Bonaparte and Bernadotte, Murat and Jourdan..."
He was so excited Harry was almost tempted to share the secret of the Resurrection stone with him. Harry was certain he would be ecstatic if presented with a chance to talk with Napoleon himself. Harry wondered if Napoleon knew how large a shadow he cast over history…
Napoleon's house wasn't too bad, as far as mansions to live out your house arrest went. Perhaps not fitting of imperial dignity, but a charming little place still maintained by the French government, despite it being a British island.
Some part of Harry was hopeful that there would have been some hint of magic in the place, perhaps traces of some wizard who had decided to accompany the Emperor… but nothing. Of course, that assumed that magicians would have liked Napoleon, which was questionable already. He had to know about magic though, right? The idea of the French government just kind of losing track of their magical counterpart sounded pretty funny, if unlikely.
If there was a magical population on St. Helena, Harry and Jean Paul did not find hide nor hair of them. Harry could understand not wanting any foreign wizards butting in on his business, though…
Still, it was a fairly nice island and was, technically speaking, part of his home country. Well, considering that Harry was now a citizen (and sovereign) of Doggerland, and of course there was the fact that it was a British overseas territory and not Great Britain herself…
Wow, there were actually a lot of qualifiers, now that Harry thought about it. It was honestly a little weird to think about- if it wasn't for the Statute of Secrecy, could he be having meetings with the Prime Minister or shaking hands with the Queen?
Admittedly, Harry had never been that interested in the whole monarchy thing until he became one. Unsurprisingly, he didn't really catch much TV, much less any appearances of the royal family. Vernon didn't try to instill any of that love of Queen and country sentiment into Harry, not that Harry would have cared all that much if he did… Harry would admit that they had some very nice crown jewels, though, and Margaret's still had some interest in the British monarchy, even if there was one much closer to home for her now.
Harry and Dudley's correspondence was not frequent. Dudley could understand why, and even appreciate it considering how the infrequent mailing meant a slightly lower chance of Dad or Mum kicking up a fuss about it.
Dudley had a lot of feelings about the whole situation he needed to unpack, and he wasn't even the one who got abused. Of course responses would be slow and not contain much information. Mending bridges was not an instant process.
There was one odd thing though (other than the whole magical mail and loitering owl situation more generally). Admittedly, Dudley hadn't seen much of Harry's writing before this- their correspondence had only started recently after all- but it was a lot nicer than he expected. Maybe the wizards stressed handwriting or something, but seriously, it was gorgeous.
A bit effeminate, maybe, but otherwise a work of art, like something you'd find on a museum piece. Not that Dudley spent a lot of time going to museums and looking at crumbling documents, but it certainly had that look about it, even if the parchment was fresh and the ink (presumably) barely dry.
It was another reminder of just how strange and foreign a world Harry lived in, where a somewhat common mode of communication was parchment letters, delivered by owl, complete with wax seals and everything. The seals were always in a deep red wax, and had a sort of snake motif around the edges that was a little surprising to Dudley. Harry didn't really seem like much of a snakey bloke, other than maybe that time at the zoo with the snake…
Then there were Dudley's replies, which were always in the average lickable envelope and usually consisted of his typical scrawl. You could begrudge the wizards many things, but Dudley would admit that they certainly had style in their own weird insular way. Style that drove his parents up the wall, but a certain type of style nevertheless.
Margaret found some enjoyment in writing Harry's letters. He couldn't fathom why, but he would admit that the end product would almost always look prettier and more official when he did it as opposed to her. It was just a matter of dictating it and making sure she didn't stray too far from the original meaning.
Harry wasn't sure why she kept on volunteering to write Harry's response letters to Dudley considering how mad the mere mention of the Dursley of the family would make her, but she didn't slip any expletives in or anything, so Harry thought it was tolerable. She handled most letter subjects with aplomb (and perhaps a bit more pomp and circumstance than strictly necessary) although Harry could tell that writing letters to Astoria put her in a particularly sour mood.
The contents of those letters could not be more different: Astoria was quite excited about the prospect of meeting over winter break- it would be like the appetizer before she started traveling with Harry during the summer and beyond.
There was also the matter of business correspondence. At least with Mr. Greengrass, the letters were somewhat serious discussions of what goods Doggerland could supply to the Greengrass importing business, and what could be best described as scheming. Harry didn't particularly care if the Greengrasses drove their competitors out of business by undercutting prices or whatever, but he also recognized that the island should probably be making money and all that stuff, for his people's sake if nothing else.
In contrast, his letters to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes were a lot more fun, even if they had also covered business in passing. Harry was happy to help with things like their Defense Against the Dark Arts line of products- thankfully, a lower priority without Voldemort waiting in the wings, but still important- and other miscellaneous odds and ends. Generally, as long it wasn't love potions or whatever, Harry would let the people of Doggerland do what they wanted. Hands off and all that. If they wanted to try making cauldrons using all the tin they were mining up, or anything else… they could go ahead. Not like they had any other uses for it.
XLIV. Allies
Admittedly, the difference between foreign contacts and foreign allies begins to blur at this level. If you've got buddies in the higher rungs of other governments, they're certainly a lot more useful to you than any schmuck on the ground. Of course, they might have appearances to keep up- marching in lockstep with you might make them look weak to their people, or could upset their constituents.
Remember that if your international ally of choice is a republic, there is a significant chance someone who might not like you will come into power. That chance isn't zero in your garden variety dictatorship, oligarchy, or despotism either. Friends protect friends from coups. And help their friends throw coups to solidify their power.
After their visit to St. Helena, their next objective was Benin, to look at their walls. Or whatever was left of them, at least. Despite what you might conclude given the name, the walls of Benin were located in Nigeria and not Benin. Go figure.
From there it was a trip to Benin City- now part of Edo- to look at the walls. Or rather, what was left of them. As it turned out, despite the fact that they were the largest earthworks on Earth (har har) before industrialization, they were just as capable of being torn down as anything else. At least, the parts that muggles could find…
Wizards could do a lot more with packed earth and ditches than muggles could do, though- charms and spellwork led to some truly impressive structures hidden from muggle eyes, menageries and gardens hidden in ditches and rises mere feet away from bustling crowds… the way in which magicians lived just under the non magical world's noses still amazed Harry. They also had- at least, as they saw it- good reason to hide, other than just for the Statute's sake.
Several of the magicians jealously guarded a collection of art, pieces of all sorts made from bronze, ones that had been carefully preserved from the invading British- they certainly gave Harry a scare when they started talking.
"I don't think they like us." Jean remarked.
He couldn't understand a word of what the Bronzes said, but there seemed to be a touch of animosity in their voices- although Harry supposed that could be expected. If he was a magical painting (which had a nonzero chance of happening actually, considering his status…) or sculpture then he certainly wouldn't want to be stolen by some random idiot. A random idiot with a known interest in archeological sites…
Harry said as much, and Jean nodded. "I suppose that's fair- it would probably be a relief though, if you were stuck in some ancient tomb or catacomb for centuries…"
"Still, I wouldn't want to be spirited away from my homeland…" Harry remarked.
Admittedly, he may not have had a lot of room to talk when it came to taking relics without getting permission… (should he consider some sort of publically accessible museum?) At the very least Harry could console himself with the fact that he probably wasn't going to run into a Stuart dynast demanding their royal regalia back, as opposed to Britain just straight up not giving Nigeria the Bronzes, or denying Greece the Elgin Marbles which once graced the Parthenon…
And frankly, Harry thought selling the pieces back to Nigeria when they were literally pillaged a century previous was just adding insult to injury.
While Christmas crept closer to them, the next meeting of the ICW did as well- and that required preparation, considering that Harry was going to introduce Kumari Kandam to the world.
They needed to acquire a Parseltongue that wasn't Harry- to ensure he wasn't fudging the translations for his own gain or anything- and appropriate clothes for the representative…
Harry also helped with the whole making a flag and drafting laws thing. The latter wasn't too much trouble, especially considering that all non-magicals in Kumari Kandam were informed (and, interestingly, capable of speaking Parseltongue) but the former was a trick. Kumari Kandam wasn't exactly a cohesive whole yet. To represent this, their flag was of a snake with many heads. Fitting, all things considered.
Their opening speech focused mainly on international cooperation, creating a better magical world for all, etc. Generally pretty good stuff, and probably a bit less likely to ruffle any feathers than the speech Harry gave about the dignity of non-human magicals…
Of course, the press went wild over a new nation that came so quickly after the last one. They took quite a few photos of Harry shaking hands with the Kumari Kandam representative- Harry was glad that he had introduced the people for Kumari Kandam to cameras with flash before bringing them out into the world, though.
THE PARSELSTATE
[The image shows Harry Potter shaking hands with a fairly Tamil looking man, a flag emblazoned with snakes behind them.]
The International Confederation of Wizards has welcomed a new member to the body: the Parseltongue speaking state of Kumari Kandam. Yes, you read that right! Everyone there, from lowest to highest, speaks Parseltongue as their first language.
According to Harry Potter, he discovered them undersea off the coasts of India. It seems almost fitting that the famed speaker and teacher of Parseltongue should find an entire nation of people who share that distinctive trait…
He seems to be their main intermediary, linking the people of Kumari Kandam and the outside world- all questions directed towards the Kumari representative, and all answers he gave were filtered through Harry Potter…
The next time Harry visited the library (to tuck away some notes he had taken about Kumari Kandam, actually…) he was greeted by Mary. Not unusual- the library was practically her domain, after all- if not for the sheaf of documents she pressed into his arms immediately.
"Uh, what's this, exactly?" Harry asked.
"Good master, I think I found it!"
"Found what?"
"Atlantis!" Well that certainly explained the unusual giddiness…
Leading through the papers, Harry could tell that this wasn't just some wild guess: there were transcripts of interviews with Mermen of both the Mediterranean and North Sea varieties, an annotated version of the original Plato story, piles of maps… but there seemed to be a conclusion at the end.
Well, several conclusions as to possible spots in the Atlantic, but any sort of conclusion with actual evidence behind it instead of hot air was huge. Even better, they weren't too far out of the way, considering that they were in the Atlantic.
"Do you want to come along?" Harry suggested. She did manage to put the pieces together, so if anyone deserved to chase this particular lead with him, it was her.
"Of course!" On the bright side (or perhaps the not so bright side), several thousand feet of water would be good at keeping the sun away...
After handling matters of state, it was time for the holidays- including a meeting with both Greengrass siblings. Harry knew exactly why Daphne was tagging along (or rather, why her parents insisted she tag along).
"Don't you have work to do, or something?" He asked Daphne, genuinely curious. He assumed she wasn't just living off of her father's money, after all.
"It's awfully rich of you to talk about work, Potter."
"I'll have you know I'm gainfully employed as a Prince. What are you doing?"
"An apprenticeship at Hogwarts. McGonagall's thinking of letting me teach some of the early potions classes, so Slughorn can focus on the upper years."
"Multiple teachers for one subject?" Harry asked.
"Yes- Longbottom is helping Professor Sprout as well."
"That's good-" Before Harry could ask any more questions about the changes Hogwarts was undergoing- which seemed somewhat interesting, even if he wasn't planning on sending Teddy there- Astoria cut them off.
"We're here to take a break from school!" Astoria chided them. "Now… where are we going, exactly?"
Harry grinned.
The far reaches of the northern Atlantic turned out to be cold- and they weren't even underwater yet. Thankfully, magic could keep the worst of the chill away- he expected that it would get a lot worse deep under the sea.
"Now what are we here for, exactly?" Daphne asked as they descended into the depths of the ship- which were thankfully warmer than outside. "That smirk of yours isn't an answer."
"It's a surprise." Harry replied.
Admittedly, what Harry was about to do was perhaps a touch mean. It didn't make Daphne's horrified expression as they sunk beneath the waves any less hilarious though. He would give her credit though: she didn't Apparate away. Sure, it could have been her recognizing the fact that Harry wasn't Apparating away and staying put… but Harry liked to think there was a bit of Gryffindor in her. What good was ambition and cunning without the courage to see it through?
Daphne found their descent under the sea fairly boring, once the initial shock had worn off. She didn't spend too long contemplating their mystery destination- it would be incredible if it was what she suspected, but there was no use getting worked up about it. Maybe Potter was just trying to look for undersea resources- or maybe he wanted somewhere suitably exotic to impress Astoria.
Admittedly, that seemed unlikely considering that A) they were on a ghost ship and B) he had brought one of his vampire groupies along. She wasn't too bad, actually, and Daphne had a fairly interesting discussion about potions with her. It was something to do to pass the time while Astoria and Potter made eyes at each other in the most insufferable fashion.
Daphne had made her peace with Potter potentially becoming an in-law of hers: he seemed to make Astoria happy and that was good enough, with Doggerland's gardens being a considerable business benefit besides. Admittedly, she wished Astoria had decided to chase someone whose life was a touch less… eventful, but Astoria could spend her life (her full life, courtesy of Potter!) however she pleased.
That was all well and good, she just wished they'd get on with it! It wasn't like Potter didn't know how to chase girls or anything- he had dated Weasley and Chang, after all- but he certainly seemed willing to take his sweet time. Of course, that didn't mean Astoria was nearly as patient, seizing on the opportunity to cling to Potter's hand as they dove deeper into the ink-black sea.
(Daphne was almost positive Astoria was putting on a scared face to evoke sympathy from Potter, but she would admit that going this deep underwater was unnerving.)
While Daphne generally just tried to ignore her sister's romantic antics (just because Daphne was here to chaperone didn't mean she had to, right?) she noticed that the vampire- Mary- paid close attention to Potter and Astoria, and that did evoke Daphne's curiosity.
"Is something the matter?" Daphne asked.
"Oh, Margaret is going to be most irate about this…" the vampire murmured. Daphne vaguely recognized the name- one of the vampires under Potter's service, and if she remembered correctly, the member of that particular posse who was closest to Potter.
Well, that complicated things a little. Frankly, Daphne couldn't bring herself to care about Potter's various romantic subplots too much, finding the subject far too gossipy for her taste. Of course, it would be most ideal if her sister came out on top out of all the others. A Greengrass shouldn't lose, after all. Why settle with coming up second?
Eventually, the ship seemed to hit seafloor- Potter seemed a little distracted- leading them to a minor bump against the rock below. At first, they couldn't see much of anything outside the ship, considering their current location in the abyssal depths, but as magical lights lit the seafloor, Daphne realized it wasn't natural, unless bricks and tiles occurred in the wild, especially not at the bottom of the sea.
Oh, they were going to make a fortune.
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