Albus Potter, Friends and Foes

Ch 23 The 2021 ICWW

Monday morning Harry Potter ate with his wife, Ron, Hermione and Kingsley. Albus, Rose, Scorpius and Cleo were at the next table in one of the dining rooms in the palace. They had been told that all the Elves were eating together in another part of the castle.

"A good English breakfast," Ron observed, digging into his bacon and eggs. "Not one of those fluffy continental breakfasts that don't fill you up."

The others nodded in agreement as they ate. As they were finishing Ginny wondered, "How are the children going to watch the ICWW? I did not think there was room for them in the chamber."

"The chamber has been enlarged, with visitor galleries on three sides," Harry explained. "In addition there are large television monitors showing close-ups of the speakers. There is real time translation that is, I understand, some combination of magic and Muggle technology.

"The combination of magic and Muggle technology has made life much easier, and most of the people attending the sessions appreciate it, but there are a few old fashion Magi are against anything that they did not grow up with. It is really stupid. Magical trains and automobiles are fine, but not mobile phones and television, just because they grew up with trains but not with mobiles."

"What has 'always been' to people is more what they remember as children growing up than it is any real knowledge of history," Hermione proposed as she finished her breakfast. She glared at Ron, who was reaching for seconds, and touched his belly. Ron signed, obviously not happy. The others grinned. Middle age and the need to watch your diet was not easy for Ron.

Hermione continued, "Too many Magi have no idea how all-encompassing modern technology is. A mobile takes a photograph of someone Apparating and quickly sends it to a group of friends or posts it on some site with many viewers and it is impossible to undo it. New security cameras go up all the time, and if what they record is broadcasted or saved multiple places again we cannot easily undo what they saw. At one time, security cameras just recorded things locally, and you could erase or modify a tape or computer disc. More often now they are connected to the internet, or connected to some large company with the images recorded in multiple places, and finding and modifying everything is a nightmare."

"Magi in most areas have a law that you can now only Apparate to known, secure places," Harry added. "The ICWW is trying to pass a law mandating only Apparating to secure locations worldwide at the start of this session. I understand they have about four hours of horror stories of Magi captured on camera.

"They want to make sure it is not just Apparating, but any visible manifestation of magic, that may not be done where there is the possibility of Muggles seeing it.

"We are having a serious problem with drones flying over magical areas. The Burrow property, Hogwarts, dragon reserves, any large magical area, we have installed anti-drone technology. That is another law we are going to try and pass, enforcing the anti-drone spells over any large magical area."

"I know someone from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement checks all the wards surrounding the New Burrow property before we start to fly," Ginny reflected. "We also had a talk about where you could and could not fly at the start of Quidditch camp, so we do not have students practicing flying in an area where Muggles could see them. Staying secret is harder than it was when I was growing up."

Harry noted, "Over half of the International Conference is going to be taken up with issues of technology and security. We are putting off the issues surrounding Elves until the very end."

"Are any Muggles close to finding out about us, and publicizing it to the wider world?" Ginny wondered.

"So far word of our existence, as magical people or aliens, has mostly appeared in less than reputable publications," Harry explained. "I do not think it is going to stay that way. I get the feeling that there is a group of people who are very quietly amassing evidence of our existence, and if they publicize what they have found widely it will be hard not to admit our existence. I do not think we can keep the Statute of Secrecy for all that much longer."