Volume 4: The Sea and the Ship Heading North Chapter 217 Conspiracy
Lyon, France.
Dumbledore looked at the parchment in his hand with a serious expression.
He frowned and spoke softly.
"Has anyone from our team verified this news?"
Mag took a deep breath.
"According to the news from Mr. Iniesta, they secretly sent people to try to contact the first batch of Muggleborn wizards who were transformed from the correctional facility. They have all become completely changed people. The Dark Lord has completely brainwashed them. Everyone has become a fanatical supporter of the theory of blood superiority, believing that Muggleborn wizards are born to be pure-blooded slaves. He almost exposed the people who came into contact with them."
Dumbledore looked at the parchment in his hand in silence, listening to McGonagall's report, and spoke again after a long time.
"All those imprisoned in that correctional facility are adult wizards. They have already formed their own solid worldview. It is impossible to achieve such an effect so quickly with simple brainwashing. These people are most likely controlled by the Imperius Curse, or their cognition is forcibly changed by the Forgotten Curse."
"Such a method can only have a short-term effect. The willpower of adult wizards is not like that of children. A long-term Imperius Curse will wear away their lives. And if the memories and will inserted into them by the Oblivion Curse are in stark contrast to their original will, they will often fall into self-doubt, deny themselves, and even commit suicide."
McGonagall's face turned pale. She could hear from Dumbledore the miserable future of these people.
"These people have obviously fallen into his hands... Isn't he trying to oppress them? Why did he take their lives?"
Dumbledore sighed.
"What was Iniesta's reaction?"
"The French have wanted to rescue their compatriots for a long time, and now they can't wait any longer. When I came here, many people surrounded me and said that we must express our position as soon as possible. If we delay any further, the so-called equal rights front will have no need to exist. They will not just watch their compatriots turn into human-shaped house-elves. They will take action on their own."
Dumbledore listened to McGonagall's story calmly, and then he spoke slowly.
"This is what he wants to exchange for the lives of those released from the correctional facility."
McGonagall was suddenly stunned. She thought about what Dumbledore said, and then her eyes widened.
"He wants us to take the initiative and attack that correctional facility!"
"From his current actions, it seems that this is ." Dumbledore crossed his fingers calmly. "Iniesta should be able to see this. His methods are very straightforward. He uses these hemp-blooded wizards without any disguise. But even if someone can see this, what can we do?"
"There is no way to suppress the anger of those French wizards. Even if we explain all the pros and cons to them, they will not consider them at all."
Mag's lip trembled.
"But why would the Dark Lord want us to attack the correctional facility? What good would that do to him?"
"Remember when we pushed out the two Aurors that John and his team had captured from Azkaban, you were all wondering why those French wizards who had surrendered to the Dark Lord didn't react at all?"
Dumbledore suddenly talked about something else.
Two weeks ago, in early December, the Wizarding Equality Front pushed McNeill and Scabior out. They hacked into the French Wizarding Radio (the magical community has its own radio station. By the 20th century, will they have their own TV channel?), and then fed the two wizards truth serum. In front of all the wizards in France who were listening to the radio, they revealed the fact that the French Ministry of Magic Auror team had been taken over by British wizards.
The French Ministry of Magic under Voldemort's control also reacted very quickly. When the Wizarding Equality Front (hereinafter referred to as "Wizarding Equality Front") was preparing to broadcast the report for the second time, they directly cut off the radio station. Therefore, Dumbledore had no idea how many French wizards who had defected to Voldemort knew about this incident that day.
However, the reaction did not occur as drastically as they had expected, which disappointed many wizards on the wizarding horizon.
"I actually have a very reliable source of intelligence here." Dumbledore said, "After we spread the news through the radio, those pure-blood and half-blood wizards in France actually caused a big riot, but it was all suppressed by the Dark Lord with bloody means."
"While using the pure-blood theory to rally a group of people around him, he still did not forget the means he used to establish his authority when he first rose to power. Submission is rewarded with benefits, and disobedience is given death."
"With his unparalleled personal strength, he can certainly make some voices disappear, but he cannot erase people's inner thoughts. These thoughts may not be a problem at ordinary times. As time goes by, some things will be slowly forgotten, and some things will become habits."
"But in France today, he has not yet achieved the same level of stable rule as he did in Britain."
"He must have another incident happen to attract everyone's attention. This incident must not only be big enough to attract the attention of every French wizard, but it should also enhance his prestige and unshakable dominance in the hearts of the French people."
Listening to Dumbledore's story and thinking about the cause and effect, McGonagall naturally understood the answer to her question.
"So his idea to attract the French's attention was to lure us into attacking the correctional facility?"
" That's right. Now in the whole of Europe, we are the only organization that clearly opposes his rule. He needs a big victory to consolidate his position in France, or in other words, to consolidate his position in Europe. And he needs to destroy our manpower as much as possible. We are already at a disadvantage in terms of numbers."
"Is he so confident that he can defeat us?"
Dumbledore's eyes were calm.
"I was defeated by him before. The number of elite wizards he led was nearly three times ours, and we had just joined the group not long ago. Many of the wizards we took in had no combat experience, and the correctional facility was a fortress he built with his own hands. If the gap between the two sides was this big and he still didn't have confidence, he wouldn't have achieved what he has today."
Mag's face looked extremely ugly, and there was a strong sense of frustration in her voice.
"Then we really have no chance at all?"
Dumbledore did not answer her question immediately. He gently tapped the back of his hand with the index finger of one hand, and after a moment he seemed to be muttering to himself.
"Whether there is a chance or not...it all depends on Riddle himself."
