"...so rather than spend ourselves chasing a secrecy that may already be lost beyond recovery, I believe we should begin, instead, laying the foundations for a lasting peace between our two worlds."
Half a world away, the same words echoed through a small conference room where a dozen men and women sat around a long table, their attention held firmly by the large screen mounted at the front.
The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, or S.H.I.E.L.D., was perhaps the only major organisation outside the magical world with a clearer understanding of the turmoil that had unfolded over the past day, clearer perhaps than even the Muggle governments themselves. Well, with the exception of a certain old monarch.
In any case, they have been watching every development since the previous night, and their senior leadership could scarcely be said to have slept at all. But the expected exhaustion was nowhere to be seen on any of their faces, replaced instead by solemn focus.
Peggy Carter folded her arms slowly and leaned back in her chair, a weary breath leaving her, and something quiet, something knowing, settled in her eyes, as though she already knew where all this was leading but had no particular wish to go there.
Beside her, Alexander Pierce watched in silence, a similar glint passing through his eyes, though his thoughts might have followed a very different path. Like Peggy, he was also looking beyond the present, already weighing the consequences of what was unfolding, only where one saw a world on the brink of change, the other saw opportunities waiting to be exploited.
Across from Peggy sat Nick Fury. Though still a young man, his mind was just as sharp, sharp enough to see that the world had reached another turning point. Ordinarily, change was not necessarily a bad thing, but Fury had always been the sort of man who believed there was little sense in fixing something that wasn't broken. In this case especially, he had no idea whether it would prove a blessing or a disaster.
An almost tangible silence filled the room. It has remained that way from the moment Maverick began his address, broken only by the steady sound of his voice carried through the broadcast, each of them lost in their own thoughts.
And they were far from alone. Across the world, countless others watched in that same silence.
In the Great Hall at Hogwarts, scarcely anyone gave a thought to their supper. Plates sat forgotten before them, the food slowly going cold while every eye, student and professor alike, remained fixed on the great screens mounted along either side of the Hall as the speech continued.
In the Leaky Cauldron, glasses no longer clinked and conversations no longer filled the room. Tom the innkeeper remained behind the bar, rag in hand, having forgotten all about the glass he was meant to be drying as his eyes stayed fixed on the screen above the shelves of Firewhisky with everyone else.
In the kitchen at the Burrow, Arthur and Molly sat before their own small screen, saying nothing at all.
Across Diagon Alley, shopkeepers stood in their doorways, half in, half out, unwilling to miss whatever was said next.
It was much the same in every magical community across the world, people watching in silence, their thoughts kept to themselves, heard only within the privacy of their own minds. Some saw in the changing world an opportunity waiting to be seized. Others would rather not have seen it at all. Some were pleased, while no small number also feared what it might entail.
But whoever they were, be it a student, a professor, friends huddled together in a pub, a family gathered in their own front room, an ordinary witch or wizard going about an ordinary evening, someone answering to an international organisation, or a head of state seated behind closed doors, all of them, in this moment, felt the very same thing. That the world as they knew it was about to change.
The more Maverick spoke, the more intently they listened. His address was far from finished.
"In fact, we have long since demonstrated that peaceful coexistence with the non-magical world is entirely possible..."
Some hushed murmurs had begun to echo through the chamber now, after he proposed abandoning the Statute of Secrecy altogether, but no one had yet risen to challenge him openly. Perhaps they dared not, or were simply waiting for one of the Archmages to voice the first objection.
In any case, the floor remained his. At the same deliberate pace, he continued to circle the centre of the chamber, his eyes moving over the assembly as he spoke.
"After." He paused, glancing briefly toward the long table, toward Dumbledore in particular. "After Headmaster Dumbledore's victory over Gellert Grindelwald, the situation left to us was not so very different from the one we face tonight. Was it?"
In truth, the people inside the chamber understood exactly what Maverick was pointing at. Most of them had lived well over a century, so it was hardly a lack of wisdom holding them back. It was, simply, their stubborn refusal to face what was in front of them.
But Maverick wasn't addressing only to the Assembly here at this moment. His words were meant for the entire world, for the non-magical leaders, international organizations, and ordinary witches and wizards watching from every corner of the globe.
It was they who would ultimately have to face the new reality he was picturing. That was precisely why he was taking the time to emphasize every point. He needed each of them, every single one, to understand why the proposal before them was the only realistic path left, whether one looked at tomorrow or the decades beyond it.
"And the decision we made wasn't so different from the proposal I'm putting forward today."
He let his gaze drift across the chamber. "I know many of you sitting here today were part of that decision. You voted in favor of a cooperative agreement with the non-magical world. So the idea of coexistence shouldn't be anything new—"
"—Is it your contention that," interjected Master Weiguo, speaking for the first time since Maverick had begun his address, "that the proposal this assembly passed back then is the same in principle as the one you are placing before us today?"
"Not at all." Maverick turned to face the long table, giving a slight shake of his head. "Back then, the exposure never spiralled beyond our ability to control it, I understand that. But there was still some exposure. At the very least, we were no longer a secret to the leaders of the free world..."
"And how, precisely, is that relevant to your proposal?"
"Entirely relevant, Mr Speaker." Maverick met his gaze without flinching. "Did we not compromise then, too? You yourself voted for a cooperative relationship with the leaders of the non-magical world, rather than simply Obliviating them."
"It was immediately after a war, young man." Guimarães leaned forward slightly in his chair, "You weren't there. Some books alone cannot teach you what it was like to live through those days..."
Maverick turned to face the man, calmly waiting for him to finish.
"Both sides were exhausted. The death toll had long since passed into the millions, and everyone was desperate to put an end to the bloodshed. The compromise, as you've so eloquently described it, was the only path to peace..."
"Which I'm not denying, Speaker Guimarães," Maverick replied. "In fact, had I been alive at the time, I would have wholeheartedly voted in favor of that decision as well. Because it was the right decision. For that time."
He paused. There was no challenge in his tone, only simple matter-of-fact certainty.
"My point is simply this: from that moment onward, our existence was no longer an absolute secret. Under the terms of the agreement we reached, those among our people who wished to do so were even allowed to seek employment within non-magical governments..."
He turned slightly, letting his gaze pass over everyone seated at the table.
"Tell me, then, my dear colleagues. Was that not coexistence? If we could compromise then, why can we not do the same tonight?"
"You are overlooking one detail, little Rick. Back then, the decision was never ours alone to make."
Caught slightly off guard, Maverick turned toward his teacher, one brow twitching ever so slightly.
Was the nickname really necessary?
He kept the thought to himself, and replied calmly, "Naturally, Teacher. It was an agreement, after all. Both sides had their own conditions. And one of ours was that the non-magical governments would spare no effort to bury any and all knowledge of our existence. After that... time took care of the rest."
"Quite right," said Edward, with a lazy shrug.
After giving his teacher a nod, Maverick turned back to the chamber.
"Fifty years have passed since then. Those who witnessed magic, no matter how much they insisted on what they had seen, were eventually dismissed as nothing more than exaggerated storytellers."
He paused. "But we cannot hope for the same result tonight. Obliviating the entire population of the earth is not the answer, and I trust the greater part of you would never entertain so ridiculous a notion."
There was no arguing that. A small handful of wizards had spoken in its favour, true enough, but Maverick was certain it would never carry, even without him in this chamber. Even Master Weiguo, who had seemed, until now, the most likely to stand against him among the Archmages, would surely never allow such a thing.
Powerful as the man was, he could hardly be foolish enough to believe the non-magical world would simply stand by and let it happen. What the old Archmage's own solution might have been, Maverick couldn't say for certain. But it would not have been that.
"Which leaves us two options." He let the words hang a moment. "We might feign ignorance, sit down once more with non-magical leaders, ask their help in burying the matter, and wait, for however long it takes, hoping the world forgets, the way it forgot once before."
He sighed.
"If this were fifty years ago, it might have worked. But today, when non-magical technology has advanced so far and information travels across the world in an instant, no longer through newspapers and radio alone... that's simply not a strategy we can afford to rely on."
By asking the right question and answering it logically, he laid out his reasoning for everyone watching and listening.
"There is television now, found in nearly every household across the world. Radios are even more numerous. But more importantly, information can now be preserved with remarkable ease. What people see and witness no longer simply disappears. It is recorded, copied, and shared across the world with a speed we can't even comprehend."
He let the words sink in before continuing.
"Even if we deny it, even if the non-magical leaders themselves stand before the world and claim that everything people saw was a lie, it will no longer be enough. All it takes is a handful of photographs or a few recordings. Before we can even begin to respond, they will already have been seen by millions, perhaps even billions, of people. And once that happens... there is no putting the genie back in the bottle."
The hall was once again enveloped in pin-drop silence. Maverick had said all that was needed to be said, and now it was time to find out whether the night would end diplomatically... or whether he would have to flex his magic after all.
He turned once more toward the center most Chair.
"So let us take a vote. Right now, this evening, Mr. Speaker. The whole world is waiting for our answer..."
His gaze traveled across the long table, beginning with Takamura on the far right, meeting the eyes of every Archmage in turn until he reached his teacher on the other side, before finally returning to the old man seated at the center.
"By your authority, sir..." he said. "Let history remember this night as the moment the wizarding world turned a brand new page."
—————————
Hey guys,
I've posted an auxiliary chapter about the rewrite, so do check it out if you haven't already.
⚠️ If you enjoy the story, please donate your daily Power Stones. They are an essential nutrient for both this story and the author's survival ⚠️
If you wish to support me, you can visit my P@tr3on, where you can read 20+ extra chapters ahead!
You can find this story on Webnovel, Royal Road, and FanFiction, all under the same author name: RyanFic. Updates drop first on Webnovel!
PAT r30n [.] com / RyanFic
Thank you so much for your support. It means the world! 💙😊