The Wizarding World's Nuclear Weapons

"Keys? What keys?" Yvonne asked curiously. Since Connor had told her that the North American Ministry of Magic was going to hold this joint meeting, they had been talking about the so-called keys.

Connor looked around at the noisy crowd, then took a few steps closer and said in a low voice, "You've seen the Magical Exposure Level Clock over the hall, right?"

Ivan nodded, having been briefed by Pierce on the subject as soon as he entered the room, which was used to monitor global conflicts and assess how exposed the wizarding world was.

The levels are non-threatening, low-level, medium-level, high-level, dangerous, unexplained, severe, and urgent.

Connor went on to explain.

"More than fifty years ago, during the time Grindelwald was active, there were so many tragedies that the wizarding community was on the verge of being exposed."

"One of the most dangerous was the Obscurial Affair, when every Muggle in New York witnessed the existence of magic and a war between two worlds nearly broke out."

"So, after that incident, in an attempt to calm a Muggle-wizard feud, and to avoid repeating the same mistake, the wizarding community gathered the wisdom of over a hundred Master Alchemists and created a powerful alchemical device that could cast Confunding Charms on an entire city in an instant, making them forget all the things they did not know," Connor explained solemnly.

"But it also distorts their minds and causes them to kill each other?" Ivan murmured, rubbing his chin.

The key must have been used to activate this alchemical device.

No wonder Connor and Pierce were so cautious about it. It was almost like a wizarding nuclear weapon!

If the radicals of the wizarding community were to learn of the existence of this alchemical device, they would raise their voices about wizard-controlled worlds.

However, Ivan guessed that it would take a lot of magic to activate such a powerful alchemical device, so it was impractical to try to control all of humanity with it, or wizards would not have to be so careful about hiding themselves.

"There's probably more than one key, isn't there?" Yvonne asked, remembering that Conal had reminded her a few weeks ago to tell Pierce to bring a key, and that the Russian Minister now had what appeared to be another key.

"Five in all…" Pierce said slowly.

It didn't explain which five people had the keys, but Ivan had an answer, as evidenced by the number of seats in the meeting.

The key was split into five pieces, presumably to prevent the holder of the key from deciding to walk alone, due to the irreparable consequences of their ambition and selfish desires.

Five sets of keys to the leaders of the five wizarding powers ensured that the alchemical device would only be activated if the wizarding world really needed it.

In that case, the recent attacks were probably not a coincidence, but a plot by Grindelwald to get them to hold this meeting to collect the key and gain control of the object.

"And who suggested that you bring your keys with you to this joint meeting?" Yvonne asked again, this time under suspicion.

"It's the French Minister…" said Conal hesitantly.

The crowd immediately turned to look at the French Minister, who frowned in displeasure. "It is true that I suggested this meeting, but that is because Grindelwald has caused a great deal of unrest in Europe, and if left unchecked it is likely to get out of hand, so we need to clean up several key cities in France…"

Ivan stared at the French Minister for a long time, then looked at the French Aurors. Although he could not see any flaws, he was still suspicious.

Grindelwald had been active in France for some time, and he would not have believed that the French Ministry of Magic had not been infiltrated in the past six months.

"What about Mr. Iris? He's probably one of your henchmen. Didn't you bring him with you this time?" Yvonne suddenly thought of the wizard she had met at the French Ministry of Magic, the one who could pose a slight threat to her.

At first, he suspected that she might be one of Grindelwald's Saints, but he could not be certain, as there was nothing suspicious about Iris's record. He had worked for the French Ministry of Magic for over ten years and had helped Aurors capture many Saints.

"Of course not. Iris needs to stay at the French Ministry of Magic and take care of things in my place…" the Minister said impatiently. He needed to ensure that he still had absolute control over the Ministry in his absence, so it was impossible to bring all his cronies with him when he went out.

Ivan let the Minister's explanation sink in. He could tell that the Minister was not lying, and without sufficient evidence, he would not be able to convince the North American Congress to investigate a Minister and his entourage from a magical nation.

There was a great deal of discussion among the assembled wizards, and a stalemate ensued. Seeing that the investigation was going nowhere, several Russian wizards immediately turned their attention to Percy, intending to convict the British wizard who had killed Igor, before deciding to arrest the possible culprit.

Completely stripped to his underpants, Percy lay curled up on the floor, shivering under the condemnation of the Russian wizards.

It was only because Pierce was wary of Percy being a British wizard that he defended him.

By common law in the wizarding world, if a wizard is under the influence of the Imperius Curse, he or she is considered a victim and the crimes committed during this period are considered non-existent.

However, the Russian wizards were not impressed. The Imperius Curse was a very secretive spell, and it was impossible to determine whether a wizard had ever been afflicted with it before.

"I'm sure Mr. Percy would be happy to take Veritaserum or be tortured to prove his innocence…" Ivan interrupted the Russian wizards.

No, I'm not happy about it… Percy's first instinct was to shake his head. Taking Veritaserum was not a comfortable thing to do, not to mention the fact that Aurors often asked their targets awkward questions in order to make sure it worked. Basically, once they finished asking, they were close to social death…

However, under Ivan's cold gaze, Percy swallowed his words.