You'd Dare to Even Think of That?

Fudge watched in amazement as Anton used the Levitation Charm to spread the World Map flat before them. For some reason, the sight gave him a sudden urge to join Anton's tutoring class and learn magic.

"Look, the Animagus Office in Hogsmeade Village is here." He tapped the map with a chubby finger, then traced a line across the ocean to another continent. "If we could set up a branch of the Animagus Office in New York, right here, at the Sanctuary Tower in the city center..."

Anton held his cup of tea and looked at the map, then nodded.

"The times are changing. After the peak of Merlin's era came the age of the International Confederation of Wizards. Now the British Ministry of Magic is gradually losing its place at the center of the Wizarding World. The American Ministry of Magic is beginning to rival it—and may even be poised to take its place."

Fudge grew serious as he spoke. "It's not that the European Ministries of Magic haven't tried, nor that the American Ministry of Magic has done anything particularly impressive. Anton, wizards and Muggles are connected in countless ways. The influence they have on each other is far more complicated than it seems."

"The establishment of the International Statute of Secrecy drove the wizarding community completely out of sight of the Muggle world. But that, in turn, paved the way for a certain kind of cooperation between the upper echelons of wizarding society and Muggle powers." Fudge gave a cold laugh. "Pure-blood families are always going on about 'Pure-blood supremacy' and doing their best to promote prejudice against Muggles, yet they're the ones with the deepest ties to them. Nobody dares to say that out loud, of course."

Anton stared at him in astonishment. "That happens too?"