Futility and Future

As the doors of the great hall opened of their own accord, hundreds of figures stormed in to confront what they had been told was the greatest threat to them in history. Greater even than Grindelwald and Voldemort.

It was the combined might of not only the Hogwarts professors, but also the entire ministry including the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge.

And what they found within was the man they had gathered to fight, lounging in the throne that usually resided in the headmasters office, with only a single witch at his side, Hermione Granger. Meanwhile, the rest of the students they had come to save were gathered on the other side of the hall, with the boys unconscious while the girls were waiting and watching the exchange.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!*

Great thundering steps echoed in the hall as a mountain of a man stormed towards Alex, his expression one of a rare fury as he seized the edge of Alex's cloak threateningly.

"I have half a mind to turn ya into dog chow!" Hagrid snarled at Alex as he tried to lift him up by the cloak, only Alex hadn't even budged from his place as he looked up at the giant calmly.

"Hagrid! Alex did nothing wrong!" Hermione said as she tried to reason with him.

"Listen to her Hagrid. I don't want to have to fight you." Alex said to him, his voice carrying soothing tones and a hint of divine power to try and get the half-giant to settle down.

Even as he said that though, Alex found the end of a wooden stick in his face as Rose pointed her wand at him from under Hagrid's arm, the tip less than an inch from his nose.

"Give me a reason. I'm begging you." She practically growled at him with righteous fury, making Alex glance upwards as he could feel Hogwarts herself broiling with anger at the threat, coupled with the ceiling rumbling as it mimicked thunder.

"Go ahead." Alex replied with a smirk, even as numerous Aurors surrounded him and pointed their wands at him.

"You think you can just come into MY castle, MY life, and do whatever you want?" Rose snarled, sending another wave of anger through Hogwarts.

"Of course. Or did you think that you could just do what you've been doing to these people for the rest of your life, and never face any consequences?" Alex asked her.

"You-?!" Rose started angrily.

"We can take it from here, headmistress." Fudge suddenly stated, drawing Alex's attention to him for the first time. And standing beside him was a squat toad-like witch, which actually made Alex twist his expression into a scowl.

"For your crimes, you will be taken to Azkaban to await your trial and sentencing." Fudge stated while making himself look important, like this was HIS achievement.

"And may I ask what crimes I am being arrested for?" Alex asked him.

"No, you may not. Take him away!" Fudge decreed, prompting the Aurors to move in.

Before they could even put a single hand on him though, Alex casually waved his yet again.

"""!?!"""

There was an immediate shift as all of the Aurors, professors, and miscellaneous men under Rose's influence suddenly had themselves severed from it.

"What the...?"

Such comments and mutters could be heard as all of the guys under Rose's influence found their minds snapping back to their own.

What Rose had done wasn't anything as convoluted as using the Imperius curse or actual brainwashing to control them, but instead smaller spells, potions and abilities unique to her to subtly manipulate their line of thought, similar to the Devil's Charm ability. So each and every one of them grew confused as their minds snapped back to their original line of thinking.

"Did I really....with SNIVELLUS?!" Sirius Black exclaimed with disgust as he recalled that all of the tension between himself and Snape was not actually 'sexual' tension, but a deep loathing for one another.

"I think I'll need to wash my mouth out..." Remus said beside him, recalling all the things the two of them had done together at Rose's behest, and with others.

As confusion grew amongst them, Rose grew furious with Alex for what he did.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" She screamed with her wand pointed at Alex's face, point blank.

Unlike the previous killing curse sent his way, Alex was prepared this time as he grew curious about how the spell actually worked. He even made a couple preparations for if it actually managed to kill him, some spells to anchor his soul and restart his heart if need be.

But it was unneeded.

Instead of killing him, the curse rebounded off of Alex's skin to instead hit Rose herself square in the face.

Alex blinked as his fellow reincarnator was sent flipping backwards, head over heels, before crumpling in a heap on the stone floor.

Smiling wryly at the vindication he could feel from Hogwarts herself, Alex glanced back at the female students who had been watching with mouths open in disbelief, and told them, "and THAT students, is why you do not use an Unforgivable Curse. Any questions?"

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Fudge roared as he rounded on Alex, immediately blaming him for everything going on. From his own confusion regarding why he just let Rose do whatever she wanted for the last few years, to the confusion of his Aurors and the professors as well. In his mind, Alex must have used a Confundus charm to confuse them all in order to prevent his arrest.

"All I did was remove the charms and such that Rose placed on all of you." Alex said with a shrug, before waving his hand at Rose as her body turned to dust.

The effect then began to reverse itself as her body reformed before their eyes, before she took in a deep breath as her body came back to life.

"W-what happened?! Rose demanded as she sat up, her chest heaving erratically as she tried to rationalize the fact that she had just died, for a second time.

"Your killing curse didn't work as well as you hoped. But I'm sure it's just some slight performance issues. Please, feel free to try again." Alex said, while simultaneously weaving magic itself so that ALL of the spells directed at him would rebound to the caster.

"BOMBARDA!" Rose readily cried as soon as the words were out of Alex's mouth, only for her own head, part of her chest and left arm to be blown to smithereens before it started to reform once again. As Alex was only reforming Rose's body though, the damage to her robes remained as her left breast hung out where everyone could see it.

"You-! REDUCTO!"

"CONFRINGO!"

"EVERTE STATUM!"

"SECTUMSEMPRA!"

"CRUCIO!"

No matter what spell Rose used, whether Unforgivable or not, she was unable to do a single thing to Alex. Instead, she herself had suffered the effects of every single spell as they rebounded, before Alex healed her so she could try again.

Now, she was completely naked while writhing on the floor in absolute pain as her own Crucio backfired onto her, leaving her even unable to lift the spell on herself.

Meanwhile everyone around could only watch, as if even Rose, who was the most powerful sorcerer in the world, was unable to do anything to Alex, then what could they do?

Plus there was the question of if any of them actually wanted to help her after everything that had happened in the last several minutes.

"Alright. I think this is enough for now." Alex said as he took mercy on Rose, and lifted the torture curse from her.

For a moment Rose just laid there on the stone floor, her chest heaving as she tried to recover from the horrible and agonizing pain she had just inflicted onto herself. Which was even worse than all of the deathly injuries she had inflicted before that.

At the same time, her mind was racing as she tried to figure out how to deal with this bastard who seemed intent on taking everything she worked for away from her.

None of her spells worked, that much was sure. And neither were her gates, or she would have been able to drop him at the bottom of the ocean, or used them to cut off his limbs by closing them. And she couldn't use her druid powers to directly unbind him, as going so would trigger a rebound that would kill her.

That left her final cheat, Death Attribute Magic.

Rose had never used that ability in direct combat before, instead using the Death Attribute to work on her ability to destroy/consume souls, as well as the various other uses it possessed.

As the Death Attribute though, Rose didn't need to mold it into some kind of powerful attack. She simply aimed her focus on the man before her, and sent her magic out at him directly.

Alex's eyes widened as he sensed what Rose was doing, and he hurriedly teleported Hermione, Hagrid and everyone else he could to the other side of the great hall as quickly as he could. UNFORTUNATELY, he was unable to teleport everyone before a swirling mass of black magic consumed him.

Rose smiled victoriously as screams of pain and suffering reached her ears from within the mass of Death Attribute Magic, which she controlled to swirl around the man in a vortex of death.

"FINALLY!" Rose cried as she felt the extinguishing of souls within the vortex, which she effortlessly shattered with her Soul Break skill.

Just as she was about to celebrate her victory though...

"I suppose it's about time I properly introduce myself."

"?!?"

As the voice came from within the vortex of pure death, Rose suddenly felt an ominous feeling crawl up her spine. As if Death himself was looming over her.

Before she could even blink, Rose felt something within the vortex consuming all of her Death Attribute Magic at a rapid pace. Soon they were once again able to see Alex, standing calmly within while a held a large and sinister looking scythe in his hand. A scythe that was rapidly absorbing the Death Attribute Magic.

"I am Alexander D. Morningstar." He declared, his voice booming throughout the great hall to all of its occupants. None more so than Rose, who felt an increasingly oppressive force with each syllable that came from Alex's mouth.

"Also known as the Dragon Emperor, I rule over Asora, a land that is home to devils, angels, fallen angels, youkai, dragons, phoenixes, and even gods."

With each additional syllable, Rose found it harder and harder to breathe, let alone stand or look directly at Alex himself. As if some kind of divine authority was preventing her from looking upon his glory.

And then he began to approach her, his every step echoing throughout the hall until he stopped directly in front of Rose, making her look up directly at him for the first time.

"Rose Evans. Goodbye."

"!!!"

Panic filled Rose from that one word, prompting her to try and flee for the first time since Alex had appeared. Unfortunately she ended up tripping on nothing and falling to the floor, only to look up and see Alex standing there like the reaper himself.

"Please.....no!" Rose pleaded as she tried to crawl away backwards, never once taking her eyes off of Alex for fear that he would kill her as soon as she looked away.

"I was only trying to make everything BETTER!" She cried out, as if that one sentence made everything she did ok.

Then, faster than she could follow, Alex grabbed her by the throat and held her up in the air in front of him so that her feet couldn't even reach the ground.

If it were at all possible, Rose's fear shot up even more as Alex's skin began to turn pale and his eyes turned red, before opening his mouth to reveal two sharp fangs.

*Drip drip drip.*

Urine flowed down her legs onto the stone floor below, filling Hogwarts with even more disgust before Alex sank his fangs into Rose's neck.

Some of the best blood Alex ever tasted filled his mouth as he drained every single drop from Rose, also triggering a flood of memories as he witnessed both her previous life and this life. And as he saw what it was that turned Rose Evans into Rose Evans, Alex grew bored.

Her story was a simple one of a girl who loved reading, including fanfics. Unfortunately, she was one of those girls who were unable to tell the difference between fanfics and the source material, which was what led to her unwavering belief that someone like Dumbledore was evil.

Not only that, but she was also obsessed over her own desired 'ships', which was what led to her trying to tie various people together regardless of her existence. Harry and Hermione for example, despite the fact that Rose literally groomed Harry from infancy to be her perfect lover, and would arrange for him and Malfoy to fuck one another to relieve their 'tension' while fulfilling her personal fantasies.

By the time the final drop of blood passed through his lips, Rose Evans was dead.

Alex released his hold on her corpse like trash that he was no longer interested in, allowing it to turn to dust before it even hit the ground, and become scattered by a non-existent wind.

What did capture Alex's interest though was a certain trio of artifacts that Rose possessed, and had survived her magical barrage of self-destruction.

"Interesting..." Alex muttered as he held out his open hand, and the Elder Wand flew up into it of its own accord. And the second the wand was being held by him, Alex felt a sense of warmth flowing up into his arm.

Following it, Alex also ended up collecting the ring that housed the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility. And the moment that the cloak fastened itself around his shoulders, and the ring slipped itself onto his finger, a notification went off in Alex's mind.

[NOTICE! The title 'Master of Death' has been added!]

"Cool." Alex said, twirling the Elder Wand with his fingers as he contemplated how to use it. After all, he had never needed a wand to cast magic before.

"You're a vampire?!" A voice demanded, distracting Alex from testing out his new toys as he recalled that everyone else was still there.

"Only when I want to be. Same with being a werewolf." Alex said as he approached them, stepping around the two withered corpses of those he had been unable to save, one sporting a green bowler hat, while the other resembled a dried up toad.

"And how does that work?" The woman who had spoken previously asked him, her guard still up as she kept her wand raised.

She was obviously the one in charge at the moment since the men could NOT be trusted, and were still disoriented from everything that had happened. And as he looked at her, Alex racked his brain to put a name to the face.

"You're Amelia Bones, right?" Alex asked her.

"Indeed. Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." She stated while remaining on guard.

"Good! I think a promotion is in order then. I hereby grant you the title of Minister of Magic, since tragedy has struck and there is now an opening." Alex said while glancing back at one of the corpses, the one with the green bowler hat specifically.

"And by what right do you have to appoint me?" Amelia asked him testily.

"By my own right. I'm already the owner of Hogwarts. And as an emperor, I suppose it's only right for me to take over the Ministry of Magic and put my own proxy in place to run the day-to-day operations." Alex said as if it were the most casual thing.

"What do you mean you 'own' Hogwarts?!" Squeaked the tragically short professor Flitwick, giving voice to what the rest of the professors and staff of Hogwarts wanted to know. Especially the governors who actually controlled things like the appointment of headmasters and budgets.

"I mean what I said." Alex said plainly, irritating them all since everyone was still confused on WHAT exactly was happening.

"Let's discuss this later. For right now, we have some more pressing matters to deal with."

As he said that, Alex waved his newly acquired wand to dispel the barriers he had erected earlier to protect the students. He then conjured enough hospital beds to fill the entire hall before teleporting the still unconscious boys onto them.

"Poppy." Alex called out, making the school nurse flinch as she hesitantly approached him.

"Yes?"

"These boys have all been manipulated and sexually used by Rose as well. Please see to them in any way you can. Call for help from St. Mungo's if you need the extra hands, and I will also be calling my own people to assist as well due to the possible severe psychological trauma these boys may have endured."

The nurse turned ashen when she heard of what happened to them, and immediately departed to collect her potions and remedies in order to best treat them.

"That goes for all of you as well." Alex continued, turning his attention to the men amongst the professors and ministry officials. "Each of you will stay to be examined and treated for whatever it was Rose did to all of you. However, I expect that all of you will not need nearly as much attention as the boys here."

As he spoke, Alex was also sending a message through the Chatroom for Anne about the situation. Thankfully she kept her questions minimal, and replied that she would organize a task force to treat everyone affected by Rose.

With both issues addressed, Alex turned to depart the great hall while saying over his shoulder, "as for the rest of you, I believe that it is already late enough. Please return to your dormitories for the night, and try not to wander off."

"You heard him!" Hermione barked, using her position as Head Girl to mobilize the female students, who had just been standing there idly and awkwardly the entire time.

With their professors also agreeing on sending them back to their dorms, Alex halted as he briefly pondered something before Hogwarts granted him the information.

"Tweets!"

*Crack!*

"Yous called for Tweets, master?" Asked a humanoid creature that stood only a few feet tall, dressed in what looked like a clean pillowcase that carried the crest of Hogwarts.

"""!?!"""

Needless to say that the professors and ministry officials all had even more questions as the creature, a house elf, appeared at Alex's call. After all, house elves were bound only to their master, and if the house elves of Hogwarts acknowledged Alex as their master through their particular brand of magic, then it meant he truly owned Hogwarts now.

"Have some platters of food taken to each of the common rooms for the students. I don't know if all of them got enough to eat before they were disturbed, and want to make sure they go to bed full tonight."

"Of course master! It wills be done!" Tweets exclaimed while bowing deeply, before disappearing with another crack.

"Now then." Alex said to the spectators, drawing their attention back to him from the spot the house elf had disappeared from. "If you would all follow me to the headmaster's office, I will explain everything as best as I can."

Without waiting to see if they were following, Alex then resumed his departure as he made his way to the headmaster's office with Hermione falling in step behind him.

Though she thought she would need to show him the way, Hermione was surprised as Alex walked purposely through the shortest route to the office, with even the temperamental staircases aligning themselves perfectly as he traveled.

Both were due to Alex being the master of Hogwarts, resulting in him instinctively knowing the shortest path to take despite never having set foot in the school before, and the school itself assisting him in getting there. Even when he arrived before the griffon statue that guarded the headmaster's office, it simply stepped aside at his approach to allow him through.

Alex stepped onto the automatic spiral staircase behind the statue, and rode them upwards to a weathered wooden door that opened automatically to welcome him in.

The throne-like chair from before was back in its place behind the desk in the office, while applause greeted Alex from the portraits of all the previous headmasters and headmistresses.

"Finally! Someone got that filthy mudblood out of here!" Declared one portrait, earning him numerous dirty looks from his surrounding portraits while another sighed.

"Phineas... I would ask that you refrain from using such language. It is most uncouth." Said another portrait, one depicting an elderly man with long silver hair and a matching beard, complete with halfmoon spectacles, and a crooked nose.

Alex smiled briefly at the second portrait, depicting none other than Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

For a moment Alex entertained the idea of bringing Iroh here to have a conversation with Dumbledore, before dismissing it since there were more important things to focus on right now.

He instead quickly took his seat in the chair behind the desk, HIS desk now apparently, before looking over his numerous guests.

"Gabby."

*Crack!*

Another house elf, a female this time, appeared before them and gave a low bow before Alex at his call.

"Please bring some refreshments for myself and our guests." Alex asked her.

"As master wishes!" Gabby declared, vanishing before reappearing a moment later with several trays of food and drinks.

"Thank you. And all of you, please enjoy. What I have to say may take a while. So you all might as well get comfortable."

Conjuring several squishy chairs as he said so, Alex waited for everyone to be seated before he launched into his tale with Hermione.

First, he gave some background regarding who he was and on Asora itself, including information on several of the races that called it home, as well as some of the different worlds they were connected to. Then, Alex explained how he had gotten into contact with Hermione and the direction things had gone in from there.

After finding out the truth about Harry and Rose, Hermione elected to stay with him in Asora while also divulging for the first time about Rose's existence to him.

Alex then skipped ahead to how he and Hermione had been summoned, while having sex, from the world they were in to this one by Rose in an attempt to 'rescue' her. Only, Alex derailed the summoning by teleporting them out of the passage of portals, and accidentally deposited them in the great hall. From there they were aware of everything that happened.

After that, Alex outlined the way the timeline SHOULD have gone and the changes Rose made just so she could style herself as a hero of the wizarding world, and live the life she wanted without repercussions.

"This is.....a lot to take in..." Amelia Bones said when Alex had finished speaking, her mind swirling with all of the information he just gave them.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Alastor Moody asked while everyone else was in deep thought, being one of the ONLY men present since Rose never laid a hand on him, along with Flitwick.

"Well, I'd suggest truth serum if it were an option. But I'm warning you now that it probably wouldn't be effective on me since I'm immune to most passive effects, like intoxication and so on. Feel free to try it though." Alex said with a wry smile, to which Moody just glowered at him with his false eye trained on him intently.

"I'm still stuck on the part where you said Hogwarts submitted to you... What does that mean? How can a CASTLE submit to someone?" Asked another Auror that accompanied Amelia, with bubblegum pink hair named Nymphadora Tonks.

"Sometimes certain objects or even locations can develop their own consciousness over time, becoming things called Genius Loci in the circumstances of the latter. It's a reason why certain cities that have existed for a LONG time feel so alien to the people visiting them.

"Hogwarts has existed for over a thousand years, and is special in that it specifically houses the entire population of wizarding Britain at one point or another. That much sheer magical presence and belief is more than enough to help a powerful Genius Loci to develop, helped also by the borderline reverence the school is regarded with, and the addition of some of the most powerful witches and wizards in history making their homes here as professors.

"Not only that, but I also possess a divine authority over magic itself. When I touched on that before all of you stormed the great hall, it unexpectedly resulted in the consciousness of Hogwarts herself submitting to me, making me the defacto owner of this marvelous castle. And through doing so, the genius Loci is already growing in power through our bond, in what you could consider to be akin to a symbiotic relationship."

"Fascinating." Said the portrait of professor Dumbledore, who had been listening intently with his trademarked twinkle in his eyes, even as a painting.

"There is also something else I wanted to point out." Piped up another painting, one of an elderly looking witch from the 1300s according to the nameplate below her.

"None of us quite know HOW we are created and put here after our original selves die. Each painting only magically appears after our death, and after we die we just wake up here. And no, we are NOT our spirits trapped in these paintings, just a fragment of our consciousness. Don't ask me how I know!"

"Huh." Alex said as he realized it must have been Hogwarts herself placing all of the paintings in this office after the death of each headmaster and headmistress. It actually made more sense when Alex recalled that Dumbledore's painting appeared almost immediately after his death in the books, though he had been asleep at the time.

"Amazing..." Flitwick uttered as he looked at the stone walls and ceiling around them with a gaze of awe and wonder, a gaze that several other professors shared upon learning the truth of the school they worked at.

"So what now?" Amelia asked, bringing their attention back to her.

"Rose Evans is dead, news of her deceptions is quickly making its rounds as more and more people learn about it, the Minister and his undersecretary are also dead, and you are the 'master' of Hogwarts herself. By the time the sun comes up, the Daily Prophet will have released a special report detailing everything that had taken place here tonight, and this time tomorrow all of wizarding Britain, if not the WORLD, will be asking the same question."

As Amelia finished speaking, Alex was silent as he debated on his answer. He even rose to his feet and made his way to the window, which gave him a spectacular view of the Hogwarts grounds, even at night.

While part of his mind was wondering just WHAT he was going to do with the wizarding world, as he hadn't expected to arrive here this quickly, another part of him longed to have come here and experience this place in his childhood, like just about every fan of Harry Potter wanted. He even would have chosen this place instead of DXD to reincarnate if they weren't supposed to become strong enough to fight other reincarnators.

Smiling wryly at what could have been, Alex also finished thinking about Amelia's question as he turned to face them all once more.

"Well firstly I need to make sure Hogwarts can keep operating regardless of my presence or absence. As such, I need to wake professor McGonagall from the state Rose left her in, and I need to find a replacement for Snape."

"Severus? Why would he need to be replaced?" Professor Sprout asked curiously, thinking the poor man was simply a victim of Rose like all the others.

"Firstly, Snape himself is nothing more than a bitter and spiteful man, who should have never been allowed a teaching position at Hogwarts to begin with." As he said that Alex directed a look at Dumbledore's portrait, who looked away suddenly as if he found his own frame to be very interesting.

"I hold him solely responsible for the hostile relations between the Slytherins and Gryffindors, which go far beyond inter-house rivalry. Not only does he favor Slytherin house to the extreme, but he actively bullies and belittles the students from other houses every single chance he gets. And because the students under his care follow his example, he turned the entire house into nothing but bigoted bullies.

"Secondly, Snape can be considered the reason Rose succeeded in almost everything she did. Not only did they start their sexual relationship clear back in her first year, but his skills were what allowed her to influence and control as many people as she did. As it stands, if he were merely a 'victim' of her actions, then why did he flee while Rose and I fought?"

"""!?!"""

It was only then that the professors especially realized they could not recall the last time they saw Snape after everything began, as he presumably snuck away when it appeared as if Rose was going to lose.

Not only that, but they were also filled with a sense of disgust regarding the detail of his and Rose's relationship, making the portrait of Dumbledore appear even more sheepish than he already was a moment before.

Alex then continued after giving them a moment to digest what he had said.

"Outside of Hogwarts, I plan to remove the corruption that has seeped into every corner of the wizarding world. Corruption and unscrupulous sorts will always exist, but under Fudge they thrived mainly due to the numerous bribes and donations made by the dark pure-blooded families, especially the Malfoy family.

"After that, we will need to decide how to progress with the future of all wizards in this world. I'll either reveal their existence to the muggles in an effort to foster coexistence before they discover you for themselves, or we will undergo a massive undertaking of moving all of the wizards and witches in the world to Asora to live freely without the need to hide. Of the two, I much prefer the first plan though." Alex said, retaking his seat while all of those before him, with the exception of Hermione, were dumbfounded.

"I have to say, that is the WORST idea I have ever heard. And I have heard many, MANY, BAD ideas." Moody growled irritably at him.

"I have to agree. Revealing magic to the muggles will only result in them either trying to control us as their puppets and tools, or destroy us like the witch hunts of the past." Amelia stated.

"Probably. But it is something that will need to happen. Muggle technology is advancing at a rapid pace, too rapid for wizards to keep up with. In a few short decades, they will have devices on every street that will record the goings on like a pensieve, making it infinitely harder for wizards to go out and about without drawing attention to themselves.

"Sooner or later they WILL learn magic exists. And knowing humanity, they will jump straight to the worst possible conclusions upon realizing there is an entire world hidden in front of them. It is better to make that revelation on our own terms than allow them to speculate and spread fear on their own."

Though there was more Alex wanted to say, he left it at that since none of them would even be able to understand what it was he would be trying to explain.

One reason he wanted to rush was also to beat the threat of social media.

Currently, the world of Harry Potter was in the nineties, meaning there were no major forms of social media. However it would be developed VERY soon if this world developed the same way Alex's did.

Once that happened people would be able to spread any and all information they wanted with little to no need to verify the truth. One person posting a made-up story of a wizard misusing their powers in some way, or another spouting a nonsensical conspiracy theory about them, could spark all out war between the magical and nonmagical people of the world.

In short, it would be significantly better and easier to expose magic here and now, than wait for muggles to do it on their own and create problems where none exist.

"There are a few more things I want to address in the near future, but regardless I need someone competent and trustworthy in charge of the ministry. Plus I can't put ALL of my attention on this world all the time, so that someone also needs to be able to keep the place from burning down while I'm busy with other things. Think you would be able to manage, Minister Bones?" Alex concluded while throwing a pointed look in Amelia's direction.

Rather than immediately answer, Amelia Bones was silent as she thought on everything Alex had told them. And truthfully, she knew more than most just how accurate his concerns regarding the statute of secrecy were.

More and more often she had to make sure that her Aurors didn't miss any possible muggle devices that might have captured evidence of their existence, their cameras specifically. And recently they had even found ways to make cameras that produced moving pictures, just like their own magically enchanted photos, and carry them with them instead of just using them in their studios.

Not only that, but some of her Aurors and muggle specialists even told her about muggle devices called 'satellites', devices that could take pictures of the planet from space itself.

How long until such devices accidentally photographed a dragon den, a giant village, or a herd of centaurs?

No. Their age of secrecy was rapidly coming to an end, and this was a fact that Fudge remained decidedly ignorant of by his own decision.

So, after much thought, Amelia Rose from her seat and stood before Alex as he reclined in the throne-like chair behind the desk.

"When do we start?"