Volume 4: The Sea and the Ship Heading North Chapter 167 Muggle Government
The relationship between wizards and Muggles has always been complicated.
However, due to the special nature of magic, whether this relationship is maintained has always been decided by the wizard.
Ever since the Statute of Secrecy came into effect in the wizarding world, the two sides have completely severed their legal ties, and the title of "wizard" only exists in Muggle legends.
But it is not the case that the two sides will never have any contact with each other again. In most magical governments, wizards and Muggles are allowed to fall in love freely.
These Muggles who came into contact with wizards, or later formed families, gained the right to know the existence of magic.
From this aspect, we can see that while the "Secrecy Law" is strictly enforced, it is also flexibly applied to certain issues to a limited extent.
For another example, today's magical governments are actually all established based on the political system formed by Muggles. So for the convenience of law enforcement, the leaders of each Muggle government will have the then Minister of Magic come to inform them of the existence of the magical world on their first day in office to strengthen cooperation between the two governments.
According to some standards that John learned from the original book, communication between heads of government must be mainly centered on the Minister of Magic.
The existence of magic allows them to manipulate people's memories in many ways. In order to maintain the Statute of Secrecy and at the same time strengthen cooperation and let top leaders such as the Muggle Prime Minister know about the existence of wizards, it is impossible for the Ministers of Magic not to think of imposing some restrictions on their cognition.
For example, it was clearly described in the original book that when the current British Prime Minister came to power, Fudge personally came to him and introduced him to the existence of the magical world.
This reveals many of the problems hidden behind the scenes.
Anyone who can become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom must have been a senior political figure in the Muggle government before becoming the Prime Minister, but he still had to wait until he became the Prime Minister before he could truly know the existence of wizards and magic.
This most likely means that the political powers relaxed by the Statute of Secrecy are only for the Prime Minister, otherwise Fudge would not have come in person to say it, rather than the outgoing Prime Minister or other Muggles telling the new Prime Minister in advance.
It is very likely that after the Prime Minister steps down, wizards will come to erase his memory of wizards and magic, and even during his term of office there will be various restrictions to prevent him from leaking information about the existence of the wizarding world.
After all, once someone with such an identity breaks the "Secrecy Act", there will be no way to turn things around.
The wizarding world has put so much effort into reaching a cooperation with the Muggle Prime Minister. Generally speaking, the most they are prepared to do is to allow the wizarding world's law enforcement work to collude with Muggles.
Learning magic is equivalent to an ordinary person getting a gun with unlimited bullets. A dark wizard who has committed a crime is equivalent to a thug with a gun. Such a thug is likely to use ordinary Muggles as shields during the pursuit and hinder the work of the Ministry of Magic.
Therefore, it is particularly important for the two governments to have channels of communication. Criminals in the magical world can also be wanted by Muggles. They will generally not be caught, but they can also make Muggles alert and not foolishly approach dark wizards when they meet them.
Now, Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix led by Dumbledore have become wanted criminals under Voldemort's government.
The Muggle captain I just met said that the Hogwarts school emblem is a symbol used by the terrorist organization that the British government has been wanted.
This means that Voldemort's government has completed the sharing of law enforcement information with the Muggle government.
There were only two possibilities Jon could think of.
The first is that after seizing power in the entire British Ministry of Magic, Voldemort did not change the previous strategy of the Ministry of Magic's contact with the Muggle government. He still allowed Fudge and the current Prime Minister to communicate with each other and devoted himself to stabilizing the situation in the wizarding world.
The second, and worst, guess is that since Voldemort could use seven years to lay out his plans in the French Ministry of Magic, there is no reason for him to let go of another government that is right in front of him, a Muggle government that he despised and looked down upon and wanted to get rid of as soon as possible.
With absolute information advantage, it is easy for wizards who possess magic such as the Imperius Curse, Legilimency, Veritaserum, and Apparition to control some Muggle high-ranking officials.
But Jon frowned and thought for a long time, feeling that what he could think of, Dumbledore could not fail to think of. Just like what happened in the carriage this time, it was enough to prove that the old man was much more thoughtful than him.
Dumbledore must have also made arrangements on the Muggle government's side, but judging from the current situation, Voldemort has the upper hand in this arrangement.
By asking for directions once, Jon was able to obtain a lot of information indirectly.
But there was no point for him to worry about other things. After all, they had already gone out to sea, and what they should be most concerned about now was their current situation.
Still in the lounge, on the same map, Jon marked a point near the east coast of England.
"We are here now. Neville's judgment is correct. The carriage has been heading east. The sea we are heading to is the North Sea. The direction we are heading in was determined by the stars last night. It is heading straight north."
George and Neville both looked towards the top of the map.
Just north of the United Kingdom is the Faroe Islands, a Danish territory. To the northwest of the Faroe Islands is Iceland, and to the northeast are European countries such as Norway, Sweden, and Finland.
Judging from the direction of the Hogwarts' current voyage, if there is no major deviation from the route, then they should be heading to these two places.
But Jon and the other two thought for a long time but couldn't figure out if there was anything related to Hogwarts or the Order of the Phoenix in Iceland or Norway.
But George hesitated for a moment, then frowned and recalled.
"I seem to remember that when Ron first entered school, Charlie complained to me that they were going to a very cold place to carry out a mission. At that time, he asked his mother to prepare several sweaters and coats for him. I wonder if this has anything to do with our destination this time."
These were all he could remember. Even in the Weasley household, his two brothers Bill and Charlie would usually not tell their family members about their work in the Order of the Phoenix. Especially George and Fred, the two troublemakers, a lot of information would be kept from them.
Jon stroked his chin, looked at the map, and didn't say much.
Now that they have determined their location and the direction they are sailing, the students on the ship can at least feel more at ease that they are not too far away from the UK.
And then there were many other things on the ship that Jon needed to deal with.
For example, they are about to spend their first important holiday away from their professors - Halloween - on the sea.
