Things Fall Apart, But Then You Build Again

Chapter 6: A New Alliance

“Isn’t that illegal?” Hermione spoke up. “Making a pact like that?”

“No, Hermione, it’s politics. People make such deals all the time. One supports the other in one bill, and then the other returns the favour. It’s how things work,” Malfoy explained matter-of-factly.

“There are a few things I still don’t understand, Malfoy.”

“Such as?” The blond man gritted his teeth in frustration at their continued ignorance.

Hermione decided it was time for another drink and she got him another one. Once more, Malfoy drank it without looking, but couldn’t manage to stop himself from the disgust showing all over his face. “Really, Potter, what sort of a Firewhisky do you keep?”

“I don’t drink it, so I wouldn’t know.” Harry shrugged. “So, you said you wanted to bring about educational reform. Why are the Light Families against it and the Dark Families for it? I would think that it would be the Dark Families that would be against Muggle-borns integrating.” He leaned in towards Malfoy, giving him his full, undivided attention. The other man looked down at the empty glass, collecting his thoughts for a moment.

“The ultimate goal of the Dark Families is to preserve Wizarding Culture. For the Light Families it’s to preserve themselves. They are willing to sacrifice our way of life in order to continue on their names. They freely intermarry with Muggle-borns and use laws to make sure that these Muggle-borns are under their thumbs. If the majority of these magic-users leave the Wizarding world, it doesn’t matter to them.” He paused, readying himself for what he was about to reveal. “There has even been talk of revealing our existence to the Muggles. They think that the Muggles will just accept us and move on.”

Hermione looked at Harry with alarm at hearing this. They both knew that the Light Families were ignorant in their knowledge of the Muggle world and just like Mr. Weasley - they only saw the good side of it. They didn’t know anything about how Muggles dealt with anything new or beyond their understanding. Still, they opted not to comment as Malfoy was explaining further and they needed to hear more.

“The Dark Families want to keep the separation, which is partly why they used to be all for total separation, not even allowing Muggle-borns in. However, the newer generation - our generation has realised that a Muggle-born in the bloodline doesn’t dilute it, because the magic is still strong. Regrettably, that had been the misconception in the past. Remember, the Dark Lord had been a half-blood, so are you, Potter, and Severus Snape was as well. These examples have led to new studies being conducted that have found that Muggle-borns are born when generations of suppressed magic combines in a person, manifesting itself in a great burst. Apparently, all Muggles have a limited amount of magic in them, so no one is completely without magic.” He seemed very excited at that point, his grey eyes were shining almost to the point of twinkling.

Harry realised that the discovery he had just hear about had opened new dialogues among the purebloods. He also feared that it could give new reasons to fight about in their world, but he hoped that this time they would be limited to the debate table and not escalate into drawing wands over it. At that moment he decided that he would do everything to keep that from happening.

“I hope a new war isn’t going to break out over these discoveries,” he voiced his concern.

“Not if I can help it. Usually wars in the Wizarding world require strong leaders that people can stand behind. However, if we are such strong leaders and we keep the fighting limited to words only, I’m hoping we can find a peaceful solution.” He looked pleased at Harry engaging him more. “ One way of changing how people think about Muggles and Muggle-borns is with the power of words. That is why we are actually introducing new terminology. Magic-users are people who are able to use magic. Wizards and witches are those who participate and live in the Wizarding world. So we are actually moving towards not distinguishing between blood but rather culture.” He stopped to catch his breath.