Chapter 21

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Chapter 21: Loopholes in Hogwarts

As time passed, the Black family slowly prospered under Cole's leadership, and Knockturn Alley has almost become their private domain. All sorts of illegal transactions occur there; anything you can imagine, you can find it in Knockturn Alley. Cole did not prohibit dark wizards from trading in Knockturn Alley; he even established rules. Incidents involving gangsters and thugs in Knockturn Alley have not occurred for many years. There is even a patrol by the Black family in Knockturn Alley, and any troublemakers are dealt with swiftly. Dark wizards should not expect the legal protection of the Ministry of Magic to send them to Azkaban—the Black family will handle matters decisively and send them to hell to meet Satan. Of course, Cole has banned human trafficking in Knockturn Alley. Some dark wizards used to buy magical children for conducting experiments. These children would suffer terrible fates, some reduced to mere specters of themselves. 

Cole realized that Hogwarts' admissions process was flawed. The parchment left by the four founders automatically detects young wizards in England of the right age and magic power. Hogwarts then sends out the admission notice. Before the school year begins, the young wizard, with their parent's consent, can decide if they want to attend. Most choose to go, but some Muggle parents refuse to let their children enter this strange world. In these cases, the Ministry of Magic deletes the memories of the parents and the young wizard who doesn't have a wand and can't perform spells. After experiencing a magical riot, the power within them stabilizes, leaving them unaffected in the future. These young wizards, transformed by their magical abilities, become healthier, smarter, and achieve greatness in the Muggle world, yet lose all links to the magical world.

Students who enroll in Hogwarts benefit from the school's and the Ministry of Magic's protection and need not worry about dark wizards targeting them. However, those unprotected little wizards, still possessing magic, become prime targets for dark wizards to experiment on. Dark wizards roam around, encountering Muggles who have latent magic within them. In the Muggle world, aside from large-scale weapons, there is really nothing that can affect wizards. If someone is abducted, the Muggle police can only report them missing. 

Cole even discovered a loophole. Individuals with different talents possess varying levels of magic. Most young wizards do not have enough magical power to gain admission to Hogwarts until they are eleven. However, exceptionally talented individuals might develop these abilities a year or two earlier. Even if their magic skills meet the criteria earlier, Hogwarts' parchment would wait until they reached the age of eleven before issuing an admission notice. It is during this period that some young wizards draw the attention of dark wizards. Those with promising talent often get taken as apprentices by dark wizards. Not all wizards in the wizarding world were educated at Hogwarts, and dark wizards have their own traditions.

Therefore, Cole felt that this parchment scroll functions almost like half-baked intelligence, admitting students solely based on the original settings of the four founders. The wizarding world is surprisingly old-fashioned, which is evident in multiple facets. No significant innovations in magic spells have been made for years and the textbooks remain the same for centuries.

It's not that wizards reject Muggle items; it's that they simply can't think of using Muggle ideas in their own world. The wizarding world is so isolated that Cole even feels that wizards and Muggles are not the same species. Perhaps a hundred years ago, a genius Muggle discovered electricity, and a series of changes that followed frightened the wizards of the time. Or maybe it's the Muggles who hunted down wizards in certain eras. Anyway, most wizards are very reluctant to come into contact with Muggles. Even some mixed-blood wizards are unwilling to return to the Muggle world after graduation. Feeling the power of wizards makes them not care about the material comforts of the Muggle world. However, as far as Cole knows, there are still many people in the Muggle world who cannot fill their stomachs. In the wizarding world, food is the most readily available thing. Magic potion cultivation can make crops grow quickly. Wizards don't need to worry about these; they can be planted directly by elves. 

No wonder Cole saw the Hogwarts cafeteria in his previous life, and every time he had a meal, the table was full of food. Hundreds of young wizards couldn't finish all the food, so the remaining house elves took it directly and brought new food the second time. Cole didn't understand this extremely wasteful behavior at first, but after understanding it, Cole knew that in the wizarding world, people would never starve to death. For the little mixed-race wizard, this alone is attractive enough—not to mention the magic of magic in the wizarding world. Any half-blood wizard who has experienced power will develop a superior mentality towards Muggles. After all, no one cares about ants that can be easily killed.

But Cole knew that the Muggle world now had weapons that could threaten the wizarding world. It's just that the areas where wizards live are highly overlapped with those of Muggles. Even if Muggle executives know about the existence of wizards, they can't do anything about it. It's not like no wizard has controlled a Muggle Prime Minister. This kind of power makes Muggles fear and yearn for it. To put it simply, wizards are too flexible. Although large-scale weapons can harm wizards, wizards are not fools. You can run away by changing your shape at will, and you may be retaliated against in the future if you are so elusive. This is why Muggles can tolerate the existence of the wizarding world. Otherwise, people's hearts are greedy, and they would rather destroy the power they cannot control.

Unless a large number of wizards betray and defect to the Muggle side, only an insider can deal a blow to the wizarding world. For example, bombing Hogwarts, but with Dumbledore's presence and Hogwarts being built by the four legendary wizards themselves, there might be some protection measures in place. So this is also impossible. The most Muggles can give wizards is status and wealth, but for half-blood wizards, these statuses are useless. Gold and silver are useless. As long as any wizard puts some effort into it, he can live a better life than the nobles in the Muggle world. With an Imperius Curse, Muggles can easily acquire their property, and even their wives can donate it.

So for now, the wizarding world is still very safe. The power that wizards control cannot be matched by Muggle weapons. Unless you want to die together, the wizarding world will always exist. On the contrary, if a wizard wants to control the Muggle world, as long as the plan is in place, Muggle weapons will not be able to react at all. But so far, the wizarding world has never produced such a talent. No, it seems that there has been such a talent. Cole immediately remembered the title Dark Lord. But it was the first generation Dark Lord - Gellert Grindelwald, a legendary wizard who threatened most of Europe. Dumbledore's good brother and old lover.