"Dictator..." Murphy held a copy of Dumbledore's letter of accusation, reading it with great interest. "Being praised like this is making me a little embarrassed."
Barty Crouch was speechless.
Was that praise?
Which eye had seen even a single nice word in it?
"Murphy, this isn't the time for jokes. They're serious. If we don't handle this properly, the consequences will be troublesome!" Barty Crouch warned.
"Oh? Tell me, what kind of trouble?"
Murphy set the thick stack of letters aside, crossed one leg over the other, and looked ready to listen attentively.
"Well... we'll naturally be ostracized by the international community. Britain's wizarding world will be isolated and excluded from international affairs. If things get serious, they may restrict trade with us, or even impose bans preventing some of our members from leaving the country..."
Murphy nodded. "Anything else?"
"You could become an internationally wanted criminal. They might even send an international task force to capture you."
Murphy nodded again. "Go on."
"..." Barty Crouch frowned. "You don't seem worried at all?"
"What is there to worry about?" Murphy smiled. "That we won't be able to host the Quidditch World Cup anymore? That we can't join the International Gobstones Club? Or that annual international trade worth less than twenty thousand Galleons? Or perhaps that they'll send three or four experts like Dumbledore to arrest me?"
"Sorry, but I really can't think of anything we need to worry about."
"But..." Crouch still felt that something was off. "Does Britain's wizarding world intend to become enemies with every country from now on?"
"Why would we become enemies?" Murphy asked. "Is some country's wizarding world going to wage war against us?"
"..." Crouch froze for a moment.
Wars had certainly broken out in the Muggle world, and wizards had often joined