great-warnovel Chapter 73 Muggles and Wizards
Chapter 73 Muggles and Wizards
Harry had been to the surface, but only to the top of Cliff Street and the part of the valley that had once been a village. Because it was right in the center of the blast, the radiation concentration was still terrifyingly high even decades later, and parents would never let their children wander around there.
In fact, even powerful wizards would only go in and out quickly after taking the potion and would not stay inside for long. It was a true death trap. Muggles who stayed inside for even a short while would turn into a puddle of water and die painfully afterwards. In the words of Muggle scientists, their DNA or some other chain was destroyed. Lily didn't quite understand, but being from a Muggle family, she was happy to absorb scientific theories.
But things are different now. With the magic of sapphire as a foundation, combined with anti-radiation potions, adult wizards can stay in high-radiation areas for extended periods of time, making it possible to search for family relics or clear ruins.
Mr. James kept saying he wanted to go back to the old house to look for it, maybe Harry's great-great-grandfather's portrait hadn't been destroyed yet.
The Potter family has a long history, and like other wizarding families, they naturally have many portraits of their ancestors. However, when James's grandfather, Henry Potter, Apparated away with his wife and children before the nuclear explosion, he did not have time to take any other portraits with him.
Later, the chaotic times prevented Henry Potter and Fremont Potter from leaving behind portraits during their lifetimes. James's parents even passed away within a few days due to an outbreak of radiation-induced dragonpox, and they did not even get to see Harry's birth.
This also made Mr. James always concerned about the so-called "family heritage." The Potter family was excluded from the Holy Twenty-Eight Houses. In addition to always intermarrying with Muggles and always going against the nobles, it is possible that this was also a factor. They lost their ancient magical heritage.
In order to visit the ruins of the village in the valley, Harry and his friends have been working tirelessly lately, not only becoming exceptionally skilled at making anti-radiation potions and white essence, but also learning the recipe for bone-regenerating essence ahead of time. This has greatly pleased Lily, who has even promised to take them to Malfoy Castle for a day at the end of the holiday.
Hermione had it easier than the three boys. Apart from some reinforcement potion practice, Madam Lily only taught her the new potion recipes, and she had the rest of the time to herself.
In the eyes of adults, girls are less troublesome and won't cause trouble. Of course, Hermione certainly wouldn't cause trouble. She just wandered all over Cliff Street and got to know many wizards and Muggles.
Among them, Mrs. Bathilda Bagshot, whom Harry called a weirdo, really liked Hermione. Especially after learning that Hermione had been rescued from the Green Flame Party and that her parents had died from the Killing Curse, she held her tightly, sighed repeatedly, and gave her some undercooked bear cookies.
This old lady is very old. She is the aunt of the Dark Lord Grindelwald and has witnessed Dumbledore and his nephew come together and then part ways. She has witnessed the whole process of the world going from prosperity to collapse and was cursed as a relative of the destroyer for a long time. Therefore, her mental state is not very stable.
When she was lucid, she was like a wise elder, gently telling Hermione the long history of magic. Unlike Professor Quirrell, this old woman told Hermione the story of magic from the perspective of someone who had experienced it firsthand.
When she's confused, she's just like a crazy Muggle woman in the wild, stealing berries from blackberry fields and getting herself all dirty. But Hermione doesn't mind; she'll clean her up carefully, just like she would her own grandmother. She's never met her grandmother, and wild Muggles don't live long; few live past thirty.
She also met Dudley and the Dursleys. Dudley's burly physique made Hermione realize for the first time that Harry hadn't misjudged her. In this time of year when everyone was struggling to get enough to eat, how could a child be so fat? Even Draco's former tagalong, that greasy fatso, wasn't that big.
The Muggle children didn't have much interaction with Harry and his friends. They had their own teachers and a small school on the fifth floor of Cliff Street, where they would have classes every day with several Muggle professors. Although they were called professors, they were actually just adults who had read some books.
They don't have many holidays either, and the small classrooms also serve as a form of childcare, providing a place for children to be taken care of while parents are busy. When they get a little older, they will work with the adults.
Muggle children have a complicated attitude towards young wizards, a mixture of envy and jealousy. They would peek at Hermione and her friends using magic from afar, and if they were discovered, they would immediately turn their heads away, pretending to be indifferent.
They would usually gather in the blacksmith's workshop to watch the wizard blacksmith and Muggle blacksmith forge all sorts of strange things, and exclaim in amazement.
Dudley would sometimes be brought by his parents to the Potters' house for meals, but he would just eat in silence and not interact much with Harry and the others.
Mr. Dursley was a taciturn, burly man who worked in the excavation team. His main responsibility was to select suitable and safe locations for excavation after the wizard's blasting to expand the area of Cliff Street. Because of his experience in construction and management, Mr. Dursley was also a squad leader.
However, he seemed to have a deep-seated fear of wizards. When Lily was busy in the kitchen, he would always look at the flying pots and jars with a terrified gaze, muttering something under his breath.
Aunt Penny, on the other hand, had endless complaints. She was always nagging about how her husband was incompetent, that the food he earned wasn't even enough to feed their precious Dudley, and how their house was too small, not as spacious as the Potters' house.
But since they were all Muggles and didn't have the ability to maintain the Unseen Extension Charm, the wizards were worried about problems if they expanded it too much without permission. Lily could only listen from the sidelines and offer help as much as she could.
In fact, they hadn't been in Cliff Street for very long. Before that, they had lived in the Muggle settlements in the wild, living hand to mouth. Even when James and Lily got married and wanted to bring them over, they resisted fiercely. It wasn't until the Evans and the Dursleys' elders passed away and they could no longer survive in the settlements that they had no choice but to come and seek refuge with Lily.
In the end, Aunt Penny would cry and say that the root of everything was that she wasn't a wizard. She would say that if she could cast spells like her sister, their family would be so much better off. Finally, she would ask Lily again and again, unwilling to give up, whether it was possible for adults to awaken magical talent, and so on.
At times like this, Hermione would wonder if, in the words of Madam Bagshot, Gellert Grindelwald's idea was to build a world where wizards ruled over Muggles, then in some sense, that had already been achieved.
Both Godric's Cliff and Malfoy Castle took in a large number of Muggles, and the number of Muggles far exceeded that of wizards. Wizards provided shelter, and Muggles provided labor. Although the status of the Cliff was much more equal than that of Malfoy Castle, and the Muggles in Malfoy Castle worked about as hard as house-elves, compared to the perilous wasteland, there were still plenty of Muggles who would do anything to get in as slaves.
There is no such oppression in Cliff Street. The Reconstruction Committee strives to implement the equality strategy proposed by Dumbledore and others, and there is no discrimination in the distribution of work and food. It only judges based on ability and needs. However, in a subtle way, Muggles who cannot cast spells are still naturally at a disadvantage.
When Fiendfyre ignited Paris and the Dark Lord loudly announced the existence of wizards to the world, was the current situation destined from that moment on? Does the world of equality and love that Dumbledore pursues truly only exist in his ideals?
I wonder if there are any large settlements outside that are entirely composed of Muggles? Or perhaps the territory of fairies? What is life like there?
Hermione hopes to grow up quickly so she can have the opportunity to see more distant places.