The room was dimly lit by the faint glow of an enchanted lamp.
Aurelian paced slowly back and forth, his arms crossed behind his back, in front of the old portrait of Salazar Slytherin. The founder's dark eyes followed him with a mixture of curiosity and gravity at the information he had heard.
Several hours had passed since his visit to the bar in Knockturn Alley. Hours since he had first heard from others the rumor of a truth that the world was not yet willing to accept:
The Alliance was being reborn, and Gellert Grindelwald was not only alive... he was gathering forces for a new war.
The silence was absolute before Salazar's deep voice broke the stillness.
"You have brought me truly disturbing information, boy," said the portrait, narrowing his eyes. "If all you have heard is true... the wizarding world will once again be stained with blood."
Aurelian paused, resting a hand on the mantelpiece.
"I know... and that's why it bothers me," he replied frankly. "All I've seen these past few months... is the fragility of the Wizengamot, the blindness of the Ministry, and the growing fanaticism of the Alliance... I don't know where all this will lead us."
Salazar nodded slowly.
"Wizards forget that history is cyclical. That ignorance is a curse, more harmful than any spell."
The portrait inhaled as if it still had lungs.
"Tell me, Aurelian... What do you think would really happen if the conflict you fear so much with the Alliance were to come to pass? What would happen if Muggles and wizards went to war?"
Aurelian did not hesitate.
His voice was calm, cold, with a simple and absolute truth.
"It would be total extermination," he said with certainty. "A complete and total extinction of magical people and creatures."
The old Slytherin's eyes widened slightly, surprised by the firmness of his response.
Aurelian continued.
"Wizards are powerful, that's true. They can destroy mountains with some effort, alter minds, and manipulate the fabric of reality. But Muggles..."
He paused, remembering the thousands of images from his past life.
Missiles.
Nuclear bombs.
Chemical weapons.
Automated systems capable of killing in seconds.
"Muggles have a hundred thousand ways to kill without having to move from one place. They don't need to point wands, concentrate, or expend much energy. A single missile... is like a killing curse but on a larger scale," he said with a sad smile. "With enough precision, it can wipe out any magical society in seconds. No matter how well hidden it is."
Salazar frowned. The idea seemed to challenge his centuries-old supremacist beliefs about beings he considered inferior to himself.
Aurelian, noticing that he wasn't speaking, continued.
"If Grindelwald starts a global war against them... If he convinces the magical community to come out of the shadows..."
He looked the portrait straight in the eye.
"The Muggles would surely win. Not because they are superior, but because their... science is far superior to our magic in terms of large-scale destruction. When human beings discover something new, they are afraid, and fear makes them ruthless."
Salazar was silent for a long time. When he spoke again, it was with a new tone of respect.
"A thousand years ago, I thought Muggles were just fragile creatures. Fearful. Incapable of understanding the greatness of magic. But you... you speak of them as if they were sleeping giants."
Aurelian nodded.
"That's because they are. If you wake the giant... the first thing it will do is crush what it doesn't understand or fears."
The founder's eyes narrowed.
"So... according to your view of the world... is the fate of our race to disappear?"
Aurelian shook his head slowly.
"Only if we continue to be so stupid as to believe that we are better than them."
He took a deep breath.
"The answer is not in hatred. Nor in war. Nor in supremacy. It is in discretion. If we cannot understand each other... it is best to prepare for the worst. If a storm is coming, we must be ready to weather it... not to provoke it."
Salazar remained silent. His expression changed constantly, no longer that of a condescending old lord, but that of a man who for the first time saw a truth he never imagined would come to pass.
"You are... a very perceptive person, aren't you, Aurelian?" Salazar finally said with a small smile. "A wizard who understands power... but also its limits."
Aurelian looked down with a serious expression.
"If Grindelwald unleashes this war... there will be no victors. Only death and destruction."
Salazar nodded.
"Then, my son... you have a responsibility to prevent it."
Aurelian clenched his fists. His shadow fell across the floor like that of a rising king.
"I know," he whispered. "I am sure I will succeed."
The fire in the fireplace crackled. The portrait of the founder remained silent, and the night wind gently blew against the windows of Gaunt Manor.
War had not yet broken out... but it could already be felt beginning to erode the walls of the wizarding world.
I continued talking to Salazar, more interested in asking about these modern-day Muggles. He began to recount what he knew about them, their advances, their history, how they organized themselves, how kings and nobles had almost ceased to exist.
Salazar's eyes seemed to pierce through Aurelian's physical body, as if he were trying to see directly into his mind.
"So billions..." Salazar repeated, slowly modulating the word as if it were a concept foreign to his time. "Not even the greatest empires of my time dreamed that one day there would be numbers this large."
Aurelian nodded, crossing his arms in front of the portrait.
"And that's not all," he continued. "They are connected. They talk to each other in a matter of minutes, travel between continents in a few hours... and every year they get faster, more efficient. Centuries ago, a conflict could be confined to a kingdom or a village. But today, Salazar... a small spark can ignite half the planet."
The founder's eyes shone with a mixture of fascination and concern.
"In my time," he said in a grave voice, "we wizards did not fear Muggles... the truth is, they weren't that dangerous. Their tools were primitive, slow, and difficult to manufacture. It took months for an army to march, weeks for an order to be transmitted. If a town rose up against a wizard... it was a matter of crushing it before anyone else heard the rumor."
Aurelian clenched his jaw.
"Now every Muggle has a device that allows them to communicate instantly. Clearly, it doesn't need magic to work. No matter how fast a wizard is... they can multiply their reach millions of times without even moving."
Salazar narrowed his eyes again, his expression darkening.
"Isolation is our greatest shield," he said slowly. "The ignorance of Muggles is our wall. If that wall ever falls... the situation becomes truly dangerous."
Aurelian moved a little closer to the portrait.
"What scares me the most are their weapons... Explosives. Chemical weapons, biological weapons... their technology that kills from a distance, without the need to see their enemy directly. Even if all the wizards in the world had the strength of an Archmage, they would not be able to cope with the attacks of the Muggles." He raised a finger, emphasizing his point. "They can attack us without rest, and their weapons are almost unlimited... especially when they want to eradicate us."
Salazar frowned.
For the first time since Aurelian had fully awakened him, his ancestor seemed... truly concerned.
"Wizards always made sure to keep the upper hand. Always."
Aurelian looked down for a moment.
"We no longer have that advantage," he said firmly. "Muggles record everything, study everything, and copy everything. You can't just wipe out an entire city or move thousands of people without leaving a trace. They would find out."
Salazar remained silent for several seconds. When he spoke, it was in an almost paternal tone.
"So... if there are so many Muggles, if their weapons are so terrible and their communication so fast... What solution do you see to prevent the extinction of wizards?"
Aurelian inhaled slowly.
He was standing in front of Salazar Slytherin, one of the most brilliant and feared wizards in history. The words he used mattered.
"There is no single answer," Aurelian began, "but there is one path that is better than another, and that is to do something our society has always avoided... we need to evolve, change, and adapt."
Salazar raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
Aurelian continued, walking slowly around the room as he spoke.
"Magic can no longer survive in such isolation. For thousands of years we have hidden, believing that this kept us safe, and it worked very well for a time. But now there are billions of Muggles. They have technology we do not fully understand, weapons capable of destroying cities in seconds. Their governments communicate instantly across the world, their armies move with speed, their scientists develop new things every year, it will become increasingly difficult for them not to find out about our world."
He paused, staring into the fire in the fireplace.
"If we don't change... we won't stand a chance in a war."
Salazar nodded slowly, analyzing each word.
"So what do you propose?" asked the Slytherin, narrowing his eyes. "Allying ourselves with some of them? Fleeing the world? Revealing ourselves? Dominating them, as many of our people have wanted to do?"
Aurelian took a deep breath. He had been pondering that answer for years. He sat calmly in a chair, crossing one leg and resting his elbows on his knees.
"There is no simple solution," he warned. "Integration would be impossible. War would be suicide, and hiding will become increasingly difficult... So all that remains is to look further afield."
Salazar narrowed his eyes.
"Further... like what? Are you talking about hidden continents, islands that neither Muggles nor wizards know about?" he asked, genuinely curious.
Aurelian shook his head slowly.
"Further than that. I mean... another world."
The portrait remained motionless for a moment. He was surprised, confused, and subtly uneasy.
Aurelian continued.
"In the worst case scenario, if no solution works, if our destinies inevitably lead us to destruction... wizards could leave this planet and settle on another. We could terraform it and adapt it to magical life, build a new home where there are no eternal conflicts with Muggles."
Salazar's expression faltered for a second, unable to hide his disbelief.
"Go... to another planet? What kind of witchcraft are you talking about? What place is that? What does 'planet' even mean?" he asked, his serious tone now tinged with genuine disconnection from such knowledge.
Aurelian couldn't help but laugh, a soft, almost affectionate laugh.
"It's... somewhat complicated to explain to someone who doesn't know that... term," he admitted with a smile. "It has to do with the universe, the stars, distant worlds... many things that didn't exist as concepts in your time."
Salazar looked at him with narrowed eyes, as if trying to decide whether his heir was being brilliant or simply delusional.
"Explain it to me," he ordered quickly, although his voice betrayed curiosity more than anything else.
"I will," Aurelian promised, "but not today. I'll need time, drawings, and a lot of patience to explain what a galaxy is."
The portrait of Slytherin sighed deeply.
"My heir... I no longer know if you are a visionary, a madman, or both at the same time."
Aurelian smiled, leaning back calmly in his chair.
"Perhaps a little of both, Salazar. But the important thing is that, if that dark future ever comes to pass... we will have options. Even if those options seem impossible now."
The portrait remained silent, watching him with genuine respect.
"You are... different from other wizards," it finally said. "Perhaps that is exactly what this world needs."
The room fell silent again. Aurelian stood up, looking at the window where the stars were beginning to appear one after another in the night sky.
Perhaps, he thought, one day he would reach them.
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