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Chapter 1676: A War Without Victors (One Hundred and Twenty-Six)
Chapter 1676: A War Without Victors (One Hundred and Twenty-Six)
"Was all of this truly necessary?"
If given a choice, Mrs. Parkinson would rather not return to Britain, much less negotiate privately with Kingsley. At times, she struggled to understand her husband's line of thinking.
The Parkinson family had always been an aristocratic clan among wizards, with a heritage passed down through generations that spared them financial worries. They had no need to covet the Malfoy family fortune.
While it was indeed a substantial inheritance, wasn't living peacefully a better option?
"It was necessary, and it has nothing to do with the Malfoy family's inheritance," Mr. Parkinson replied calmly, as if he had long made peace with his decision and was prepared to face death with equanimity.
"Then what is it about?" she inquired.
"Voldemort has fallen, and our previous investments have gone down the drain. When we make mistakes, we must be prepared to pay the price," Mr. Parkinson explained, well aware of Kingsley's style of conduct. If they chose to flee the country, not only would the Malfoy family's inheritance be confiscated by the Ministry of Magic to mend the mess left by Voldemort's remnants, but their own family fortune stored in Gringotts was also likely to meet the same fate.
"Don't be fooled by the Goblins' tough demeanor. They bowed to Voldemort, and they will most likely bow to the Ministry as well."
"I must protect our family. This is the simplest and most effective way to do so at present," Mr. Parkinson said earnestly, looking into his wife's eyes. "We cannot afford to lose the wealth we have in Gringotts. Even if we retain some assets abroad, it will still mark the beginning of the Parkinson family's decline in my generation. We must think of Pansy's child."
This was the best way to break free from their predicament. By sacrificing himself, he could not only safeguard his family but also ensure that his grandson would inherit the Malfoy fortune. Moreover, the surviving Death Eaters who had abandoned Voldemort would owe the Parkinson family a favor—the kind sealed with an Unbreakable Vow. The family could swiftly overcome their vulnerable state, and there would be no drawbacks. Thus, Mr. Parkinson resolutely chose to embrace death.
It was for this reason that Mrs. Parkinson was ultimately persuaded by her husband, for she, too, understood that some matters were beyond her control.
Had Pansy and Malfoy's child not been a boy, Mrs. Parkinson might never have returned to Britain! With mutual understanding on this matter, the subsequent arrangements progressed even more swiftly than they had anticipated. Soon, they finalized various details, and the pure-blood families who managed to escape unscathed had no choice but to comply.
On the day Mr. Parkinson was summoned by the Ministry of Magic, Kingsley, under the witness of the Wizengamot members, bid farewell to the "hero" who had been slain by an Unbreakable Curse. From him, Kingsley obtained the list of Voldemort's remnants and the location of their werewolf breeding grounds.
That night, under the cover of darkness, the Aurors launched a massive operation to capture the high-profile Death Eaters on the list, "eradicating" Voldemort's remnants.
The charges were conveniently fabricated: attacking an Auror.
It seemed only natural that Death Eaters resisting arrest would be killed, as only Voldemort's loyalists would dare to fight back. Otherwise, even if they were forced to drink Veritaserum, they wouldn't face death.
The Ministry's startling actions left many stunned. No one had anticipated that Voldemort's remnants, who had once posed a grave threat to the entire British wizarding community, would be utterly annihilated by their own kind.
Just as Mr. Parkinson had envisioned, his maneuvers successfully absolved the Parkinson family of their past support for Voldemort.
Especially after the revelation that Voldemort's remnants had been secretly breeding werewolves, no one dared to bring up the Parkinson family's previous allegiance.
Had Mr. Parkinson not used his life to convey this information, one could only imagine the horrors that the next full moon might have brought.
However, the dilemma of how to deal with this large population of werewolves became Kingsley's most pressing headache.
Should he order their execution?
Kingsley didn't want to be branded a ruthless executioner, so after seeking Albert's private counsel, he convened an emergency Wizengamot meeting the next day to bring the matter out in the open.
Frankly, no one wanted to take on this burden.
Nevertheless, the issue had to be addressed, and after much deliberation, they settled on the option of letting the werewolves depart in peace.
The presence of such a substantial werewolf population posed an unacceptable threat to the entire British wizarding community, and it would be irresponsible to ignore it. Yet, no one wanted to bear the weight of this decision. Thus, prompted by a clever Wizengamot member, the Ministry swiftly disclosed the entire affair to the public and, after explaining the situation in detail, pretended to leave the werewolves' fate in the hands of the British wizarding community to decide through a vote.
"When faced with their own interests and safety, people shed their pretenses," Albert commented nonchalantly as he perused the newspaper, which displayed the lopsided results of the vote.
The outcome didn't surprise Albert overly much, and he suspected that many had voted with a heavy heart.
"If there were only a handful of werewolves, perhaps a significant number of troublemakers would have emerged to chastise the Ministry's actions," Albert remarked as he set down the newspaper and discussed the matter with the other professors.
But the number of werewolves was simply too high.
It was out of the question to accept them, as werewolves were rarely seen even in ordinary times, let alone a sudden influx of several hundred. Even the most compassionate individuals would have to reconsider the consequences of such an action.
Confronted with the overwhelmingly one-sided situation, people suddenly realized that they weren't as benevolent as they imagined themselves to be.
There were, of course, those who criticized Kingsley, but their voices held little meaning. He had made his stance clear—the lives of those several hundred werewolves were not for him alone to decide, which was why he had convened the Wizengamot meeting. And the conclusion of that meeting was that the entire British wizarding community should carefully deliberate and then choose between accepting the werewolves or allowing them to pass away without suffering.
Naturally, there were those who proposed alternative solutions, such as accommodating the werewolves or exiling them elsewhere—ideas that were utterly unrealistic.
The Ministry promptly responded to these suggestions.
Accommodating the werewolves was not a simple matter of words. To handle this large werewolf population in a relatively peaceful manner would require a substantial amount of gold.
But the Ministry was strapped for cash! They called for voluntary donations from the wizarding community to fund the construction of a werewolf sanctuary.
Moreover, even if such a sanctuary were built, its maintenance would pose a significant challenge. Otherwise, the werewolves would likely outlive the facility, and one would also have to consider a series of headaches, such as werewolf riots, to ensure that the full moon transformations did not endanger the British wizarding community.
As for the proposal to exile the werewolves, it was outright rejected by the Wizengamot. Aside from the terrible fate that would likely befall the exiled werewolves, the International Confederation of Wizards would never permit such an action.
Thus, faced with an intractable problem, the Ministry opted to eliminate the troublemakers.
(End of Chapter)
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