"You're hesitating, Babajide."
Sensing the conflict in Babajide's heart, Tver suddenly spoke softly.
"You don't know how to deal with muggles, and you don't know how to face the threat they may pose to wizards in the future."
"All you want is to preserve the Statute of Secrecy, even though you know it no longer fits the times..."
"You're hesitating, Babajide."
Tver repeated himself, and Babajide found himself unable to argue back.
He swallowed almost imperceptibly.
"That still does not give you the right to use magic so recklessly in front of muggles!"
Yet even Babajide himself did not notice that, standing before Tver, who was not even a third of his age, his tone had already lost its force.
Tver noticed, though. A smile slowly appeared on his face.
"Come to think of it, I should congratulate you first on becoming President of the Wizards' Union."
"The election has not started yet..."
"But the result is already obvious, isn't it?" Tver said without hesitation.
The wizarding world had long since declined. Even within the Union, where the finest wizards gathered, there was still no one who could compare to Dumbledore.
So with his seniority, and with strength that was hardly lacking, Babajide was already the obvious choice for the next President.
That was also why Tver had been even more pleased to see that the one who came was an old acquaintance like Babajide.
Babajide closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
When he opened them again, the hesitation and struggle from before had vanished.
"I do not deny that I have a strong advantage, but that is for later. What I want to know now is what exactly you are trying to do, and..."
"Why you are knowingly breaking the law!"
The authority he had built over years of work within the Wizards' Union came pressing down with his sharp gaze, refusing to yield.
For an instant, even the howling wind around them seemed to freeze into silence.
But the heavy atmosphere did nothing to disturb Tver's easy smile. He shook his head, then turned and walked toward the edge of the building. One more step, and he would walk right off the safe rooftop.
"You know, the Statute of Secrecy is not actually that airtight."
"When the parents of muggle-born young wizards receive admission letters from the schools, those people already learn of the wizarding world."
"Before the Statute of Secrecy was enacted three hundred years ago, countless muggle ancient books and legends recorded traces of wizard activity."
"I met a muggle today who was trying to investigate signs of magic. Guess what he found?"
His voice rolled out with the wind as it began to surge again, carrying straight into Babajide's ears.
Babajide hesitated, then stepped forward twice until he stood slightly behind and to the side of Tver.
Then he followed Tver's lead and asked, "What did he find?"
"He found Mahoutokoro, in the muggle government's top secret files."
Babajide was not surprised. The Ministries of Magic in various countries all had some channels of communication with their muggle governments. Of course, whether those channels were used depended on the attitude of each Ministry.
"We could revise some procedures. We could hide these muggles better..."
"Impossible." Looking out at the view, which only grew more beautiful as the night deepened, Tver spoke with certainty. "As muggle technology advances, the ways they communicate only become more convenient."
"In the future, when muggle parents learn that their child is a wizard, do you think they will not show off about it?"
"Then we can erase the memories of everyone involved," Babajide said as though it were obvious. The Wizards' Union had been doing exactly that for three hundred years.
"But what if that act of showing off is broadcast to the entire world?"
"That is impossible!"
"No, it is very possible!" Tver pointed at the skyscrapers outside and turned to look at Babajide.
"Three hundred years ago, could muggles have built towers like these? Could they have created a living environment like this?!"
"Did you know there is an American company called Hotmail promoting a method of communicating across thousands of miles called email?"
"Perhaps next month, news of Ilvermorny could be spread all over the world through email!"
"Babajide, if the Statute of Secrecy needs to be revised, how long do you think the sluggish wizarding world will take?"
"Babajide, wizards have never truly hidden themselves!"
"Babajide, we are facing the most critical moment in the destruction of the Statute of Secrecy."
"It is not Grindelwald, not Voldemort, and not me. It is we wizards ourselves. It is muggle science and technology..."
"So tell me, as the future President of the Wizards' Union, what do you intend to do?"
Babajide's brows drew tight, and his expression turned grave.
In the wizarding world, or anywhere else in the world, no one could claim to see more clearly than Tver what the next twenty years of muggle technological progress would look like.
And on top of that, Dumbledore, the former President of the Wizards' Union, had already shared a great deal of information about the wizarding world with him in earlier discussions.
It could be said that Tver was the person in the entire world who understood both worlds best.
Dumbledore was especially sensitive about violating the Statute of Secrecy because of Grindelwald, but Babajide was not.
Tver had even managed to persuade Dumbledore. Was there really any chance he could not persuade Babajide, who had not even become President yet?
Tver gazed down at the brightly lit New York below, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
He did not even need to turn around to know that Babajide was now even more conflicted than before.
"I think I finally understand why Dumbledore looked so relaxed when he stepped down." Babajide shook his head with a bitter smile. "This position really is troublesome..."
"But what about you? Dumbledore has such high hopes for you, and yet behind the scenes you keep entangling yourself with muggles. What are you really after?"
He realized helplessly that compared to the anger he had arrived with, his attitude had already softened far too much.
But he had to admit that the issue Tver raised was even more urgent and sharper than the one he had brought up at the Wizards' Union assembly before.
And he also had to admit that even after a year, the Wizards' Union still had no workable solution.
They did not even have a workable idea.
At that point, Tver stopped circling around the issue. He turned back to face Babajide and looked straight at him.
"Have you ever considered that the Wizards' Union may not necessarily need to consist only of wizards?"
Babajide slowly opened his mouth, but all he heard was Tver continuing.
"If we make use of our channels of communication with muggle governments, and if those governments are willing to stand with the Union and help keep the existence of wizards secret, then all of these problems can be solved."
"But as you just said, muggles could still spread the news among themselves."
"But the muggle media would all tell them in unison..."
Tver bared his teeth in a triumphant grin.
"That all of this is nothing more than a fantasy story from a bestselling novel, and that magic is simply everyone's longing made real in fiction..."