Chapter 870
Deception and Truth
Chapter 870 Deception and Truth
"Haha, my dear audience member Harry Potter, you must have seen our performance, right?" Fred said with great enthusiasm. "Tell me, how did your Muggle relatives react?"
“Even Aunt Petunia was watching intently, completely unaware that you were all real wizards,” Harry sighed. “They’re busy making phone calls right now, wanting to be the first audience member to ‘reveal the magic.’”
Fred snapped his fingers triumphantly: "That's the effect we wanted! But just saying we used steel wire isn't enough. Reveal the secret! At least explain the steps clearly, or even recreate them, for it to be a true revelation."
“That’s it,” Harry couldn’t help but say. “Dullie’s IQ is like he has troll blood; he’ll never get the show’s thousand pounds in his life.”
Suddenly, the twins burst into laughter through the communication pea.
Harry was infected by their laughter, and he couldn't help but smile. His earlier worries didn't seem so bad anymore, but he still repeated Hermione's concerns.
The laughter ceased as soon as the words were spoken. Fred and George exchanged a glance, and when they spoke again, their voices were unusually devoid of any mockery.
"In this matter... the Ministry of Magic had no other choice, Harry."
Harry's heart sank.
“Something’s happened in America.” George leaned closer to the communication pea and said, “The Purge has created a video that exposes the magical world and is showing it to the higher-ups of the Magical Congress.”
“Fortunately, they didn’t actually circulate the video in Muggle society,” Fred said. “But unfortunately…”
“They could do that anytime,” Harry murmured.
George paused for a moment, then said, "...That's it!"
Fred continued, "So the only way for the Ministry of Magic to cover up a possible truth is to use a large number of elaborate deceptions."
“A fake is a fake, and it may not fool everyone,” George said. “But we can’t wait until the wizarding world is exposed before we regret not doing something!”
After the call ended, Harry looked out the window—
In the garden, Uncle Vernon and Dudley stood on the withered lawn, still arguing loudly about how to perform the magic trick, relying on their clumsy understanding.
"It's definitely a rope!" Uncle Fern's thick hand waved wildly in the air. "It's an invisible thread."
"But the people at the TV station said your method is wrong!" Dali interrupted his father gruffly. "There must be a trap under the table!"
Harry watched the two arguing heatedly over a thousand pounds and suddenly realized that the magical battles on screen, though seemingly ordinary, were actually...
Perhaps it will be more thrilling than any real magical duel!
……
"Ding--"
The wind chimes hanging on the door rang out with a clear, crisp sound, then began to vibrate.
The owner of the White Bridge Inn looked up and saw two ordinary-looking men enter. He glanced at the wands peeking out from their sleeves and knew they weren't Muggles who had wandered in by mistake.
So the boss lowered his eyes uninterestedly and asked listlessly:
Good afternoon, gentlemen. Would you like to stay overnight?
“No, just food,” Derain said. “Stew, a butterbeer, a steak. What do you want, Reed?”
Wade paused for a moment, then realized that "Reid" was a pseudonym that Derain had given him on a whim, and laughed, "A plate of pasta and a glass of water."
Unlike the attention they had received before, Wade, with his ordinary-looking face, received no special treatment whatsoever. They were led by a waiter to a wooden table in a corner, where only a few nearby tables glanced at them casually. Inside the hotel lobby, there were quite a few diners.
The wizard in uniform is loudly complaining about his demanding and poorly paid job;
Some people were nervously discussing rumors about a certain video and debating whether they should temporarily move to France.
Several young people were also indignantly criticizing the current Magic Congress for its slow response and inefficiency.
Clearly, the recent rumors have made many people uneasy, so they are inquiring about information in wizarding communities like the White Bridge Inn.
Even the hotel's in-room entertainment system stopped broadcasting talk shows and dramas, and instead switched to broadcasting Muggle news channels.
Just as De Laine's stew was served, a name was mentioned by someone at the next table, slightly tipsy—
"You all know that Wade Gray, right?"
"Haha, who doesn't know this name now?" The person at the table said with envy, "He invented so many things and hasn't even graduated yet. It's said that he's earned enough money to buy the Capitol."
"Then I'll tell you something in secret."
The drunken man lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "That genius alchemist... his real surname isn't 'Grey,' but 'Grindelwald'—he's a descendant of that man!"
Derain's body tensed instantly, and his hand under the table twitched slightly, ready to draw his wand at any moment.
The man's cold gaze swept over the red-faced, throbbing sorcerer, before silently turning his gaze to Vader.
Wade picked up his water glass, took a sip, and shook his head slightly at the same time.
"Come on, Oliver!" A more composed-looking witch interrupted the drunken wizard, scoffing, "You've only had a few drinks? And you're already spouting nonsense! If you were one of them, would you send such a talented junior to study with the enemy?"
"Hey, talent isn't something you're born with! Before Wade Gray got into alchemy, who could have imagined he'd reach this level?"
The drunken man said with feigned seriousness, "Grindelwald originally intended to plant a spy next to Dumbledore, but who knew that spy would be made of gold! Now he's so regretful he's run away from Nurmengard..."
The logic was absurd, and a few low laughs rang out around them—not in agreement, but as mockery of the drunk man.
The drunk man seemed to be getting agitated and immediately raised his voice slightly:
"You don't believe me? Then think about it, can a Muggle-born kid achieve so much in just a few years?"
"It is precisely because he has an extraordinary lineage and received the best upbringing from a young age that he has a solid foundation and is able to make remarkable breakthroughs!"
"It seems...it seems to make sense..." the crowd said, still somewhat doubtful.
It was that witch again, coldly saying, "When others achieve something, isn't it because they are exceptionally intelligent and hardworking? There are plenty of pure-blooded, carefully nurtured heirs in the American magical world, so why hasn't a genius like that emerged?"
Feeling somewhat embarrassed by the accusations, the wizard named Oliver dropped another bombshell:
"Do you know that the recent video wasn't done by the Purgers at all, but was staged by the UMNO themselves! They just wanted to create chaos in the United States!"
"And think about it, who most wants to break the secrecy law? And who has always wanted wizards and Muggles to fight each other?"
“In the last hundred years… no, even in the last thousand years, there has only been one person… He not only dared to think, but he also dared to do! In order to achieve his goal, he was willing to drag billions of people around the world down with him…”
This explanation sounded much more credible than the previous baseless speculations, and the surroundings instantly became much quieter.
However, contrary to what the drunk man had imagined, the crowd did not express righteous indignation, nor did they seem to hate Grindelwald after realizing the truth. Instead, they revealed a hint of fear.
(End of this chapter)