Patriarch Delacour, his weathered face beaming with a smile, clasped his hands together. "Mr. Cavendish, please enter!"
"You're too kind," Erwin replied smoothly. "Fleur and I are equals; we're good friends. Please, just call me Erwin."
Erwin subtly nodded toward Fleur. The astute Veela and her father understood the implication immediately. Fleur's eyes curved into crescents as she glanced at Erwin, and the Delacour patriarch's smile widened noticeably. The other heads of the pure-blood families in the room exchanged knowing glances. The message was clear: if they wished to survive, the Delacour family would now be Cavendish's primary representative in France.
"In that case," Patriarch Delacour said, his tone shifting from formal to familial, "I'll take the liberty of calling you Erwin. Please, take a seat. Everyone has been waiting for you."
Erwin nodded and sat. Fleur naturally took the armrest of his chair, a gesture that solidified the alliance publicly. Erwin didn't stop her. He needed influence in France, and granting Delacour his favor would naturally increase their standing. His management style was straightforward: the Cavendish family remained in the spotlight, while the mundane affairs of governance were delegated to vassal families.
In England, the Malfoy family served this role as administrators, managing the pure-bloods and the Ministry. Erwin only needed to manage Lucius, who was currently ecstatic to have ascended to the position of the second most powerful individual in British wizarding society—second only to Erwin himself. Only the Parkinson and Selwyn families were considered his equals.
The Selwyn family, as the first to swear allegiance, should have ranked second. However, old Selwyn had no interest in titles, and his heir, Charlotte, was remarkably capable but content to serve. They remained largely uninvolved in politics, yet no one dared underestimate them. Everyone knew the Selwyns were under Cavendish's direct protection. Charlotte was a favorite of Erwin's; now serving in a key position, she was so highly valued that many suspected she would have been Minister for Magic already, were she older. Consequently, the wizarding world treated her with utmost respect.
The French pure-blood heads greeted Erwin with polite deference, and he responded in kind. The atmosphere at the banquet remained pleasant, filled with casual conversation and calculated compliments.
After the meal, the Cavendish shop on Wizarding Street in France closed for renovations. Surrounding shops were acquired, and construction began on Cavendish Tower. France's wizarding world's capitulation was faster than anyone expected, yet it seemed inevitable. After the battle where Erwin had slain a god, his power was undeniable. In the current wizarding world, mentioning Erwin carried more weight than mentioning Dumbledore.
Erwin had abandoned his previous restraint. The Cavendish family had bared its fangs, actions that threw the wizarding world into turmoil, yet they possessed the strength to quell any unrest. This was the crucial difference. Erwin conquered France without bloodshed, completing the final piece of his map of the Western magical world.
That night, Erwin and Fleur stood on the rooftop, gazing at the stars. It was Fleur's insistence; Erwin would never choose to freeze in the night air otherwise. Ravenclaw, released from Erwin's protection, roamed the streets of France invisibly. Erwin didn't stop the spirit; the ancient founder deserved some freedom.
Fleur sat beside Erwin, breaking the silence. "Erwin, why did you do all this? Unifying the magical world is a dream many chase but never achieve. You've accomplished it so easily. Do you want to be King Arthur?"
She voiced the doubts lingering in the hearts of many. Erwin's pace was terrifyingly rapid, accomplishing in a few years what took others lifetimes. Yet, this speed bred instability, suppressed only by the Cavendish family's overwhelming might. Fleur understood that without genuine stability, this constructed order would eventually fracture.
Erwin understood her concern, but he didn't offer reassurance. If the wizarding world were eternal, he might care about long-term stability. But with a great calamity looming that could annihilate them all, such concerns were meaningless.
He looked up at the constellations, his voice calm. "I am giving everyone a chance to survive. If they follow my plan, they have hope. If they don't, they are doomed. I am not harming them; I am saving them."
Fleur looked at him, her expression filled with suspicion and longing. Erwin offered no further explanation. Under the starlight, he seemed shrouded in a veil of mystery. She felt she couldn't see through him, couldn't understand him. Even though he sat right beside her, he felt impossibly distant, as if he existed on a plane she could not reach.