On Diagon Alley's cobbled street, Josephine wore a black cloak over her Ministry of Magic uniform, with a sunhat on her head. Quite a few members of the Magical Creatures Control Division under her command who held some rank seemed to have all turned out today as well, following behind her. Their procession cut an imposing figure, drawing the attention of the shops, customers, and portraits in Diagon Alley, looking as though they were about to carry out some important operation.
There were far more Aurors patrolling this area than usual, and even a good number of armed forces from the red Umbrella department were helping stand guard in front of shops that had business dealings with Umbrella—recently, the hard-line plans from Hogwarts and the British Ministry of Magic had not only displeased foreigners, but also frightened some Purebloods at home. Although nothing extreme had happened in Britain for the time being, the Harrises, fearing the embargo issue might be exploited, had still made some extra arrangements in advance to deal with possible emergencies.
In truth, however, among most ordinary wizards in Britain's Magical World, what had actually begun to emerge was a kind of nationalism similar to that in the American Magical World. Of course, this way of thinking was different from Grindelwald's use of an exaggerated sense of life-and-death crisis in America; it came more from the hard-line stance Britain had shown, and from the sense of superiority brought by possessing the Floating City's Energy Core, having the three most powerful wizards in the world—even if one of them was You-Know-Who—and having a true god.
Along the way, most shops had little customer traffic, and some could even be described as deserted. Only Fred and George's Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was bustling with activity. Many wizards Apparated directly here,