Chapter 817 Italian Ministry of Magic
The wizarding world in Italy is far more complex than in Britain or any other country.
The 300-year-long witch-hunting movement in the Middle Ages was launched by the Roman Catholic Church. At the end of this bloody dark age, the Church and witches finally reached a consensus and have coexisted peacefully until now.
The Roman Catholic Church is a magical institution established by the church and wizards at that time. It symbolizes the bond that maintains peace between Muggles and wizards.
The Papal Chamber, which is exclusively managed by the Pope, also has a secret organization, the "Office for Magical Affairs".
The organization not only has specially trained Knights Templar, but also many wizards who have joined on their own initiative. They are divided into departments one to thirteen, each with their own responsibilities. It is a violent organization dedicated to protecting the Muggle world.
Once anything harmful to Muggles occurs, Sections 1 to 13 will immediately work together to quietly and thoroughly eliminate those people and objects.
The relationship between the current Roman Catholic Church and the Italian Ministry of Magic has long been inseparable. Although they are responsible for protecting the security of the two worlds respectively, there have been many times of friendly cooperation.
For example, fighting against the attacks of the Witch Party, and resisting Grindelwald's rule.
After the powerful Dark Lord was defeated by Dumbledore, they united all their forces to drive out the Witch Party and successfully recaptured the Church and the Ministry of Magic.
In order to better prevent similar incidents from happening, the Italian Ministry of Magic moved from downtown Rome to the entrance of the Vatican, which is underground in St. Peter's Square.
Vincent and Hermione walked into the square, stepping on the ground made of small black stones.
There are a total of 284 round columns and 88 square columns outside the square. The marble statues on their tops seem to be examining the two people, continuously sending weak magical fluctuations to St. Peter's Basilica behind the square.
Not long after they walked, a bishop in a white robe came towards them from a distance, smiling.
There was no magical aura on him, but the scepter in his hand was an authentic magical artifact.
The cardinal in white stopped in front of the two people, his eyes were particularly calm, "Welcome, may I know why you two are here?"
Vincent took a step forward and politely replied, "Hello, we are from England and we want to visit the Italian Ministry of Magic today for some business."
The cardinal nodded and tapped the ground lightly with the scepter in his hand.
An invisible wave of magic covered the two of them, sweeping over their bodies like a searching spell.
"You two, please."
Led by the white cardinal, the two crossed the square and came to an obelisk that only wizards could see.
There were countless magical runes engraved on the front of it. It didn't take Vincent much effort to decipher that they were the names of the Muggles and wizards who had died during the "Witch Hunt Period".
The cardinal in white tapped the obelisk gently with his scepter, and the name engraved on the front of it began to rotate little by little, finally forming an open door.
"You two, please come in."
The Cardinal in white had no intention of going in. He just watched Vincent and Hermione walk through the door quietly.
The Vatican manages earthly affairs and, in principle, cannot enter the sphere of the magical world.
To wizards, they are just guides.
As visitors, Vincent and Hermione walked through the gate and went down, and soon saw an extremely rare and magnificent sculpture group.
It is about 10 meters high and nearly 30 meters wide, and is composed of various human statues.
Some of them are wearing robes, some are holding wands, some are wearing armor, and some are holding swords and shields.
And they are not completely opposite, but stand together in extraordinary harmony.
"The Proof of the Oath..." Hermione whispered the name of the statue group.
To commemorate the complete end of that bloody darkness, the Italian Ministry of Magic in the 17th century and the then Roman Catholic Church jointly built this statue group.
The two walked around it and took a quick look, then headed towards the exquisite little garden at the back that connected to the entrance hall.
Unlike the British Ministry of Magic, the Italian Ministry of Magic is very retro. If there weren't many wizards wearing modern clothes around, anyone would think they had returned to the past.
Walking through the garden path, the magnificent entrance hall of the Italian Ministry of Magic comes into view.
Perhaps because it is designed to correspond to St. Peter's Square on the ground, the entire lobby also has many round and square columns.
But they all floated under the huge dome, and some even carried visitors to the dome's office area.
This traditional way of transportation is much more interesting than elevators.
Vincent looked at the pillars that were motionless in mid-air from a distance.
Unlike the statues of saints and saints on the top of the pillars on the ground, the tops of the pillars here are all statues of magical creatures, and they do not examine any visitor.
As for the principle of the pillars' flight, it is hard to see, but based on the not-so-strong magical fluctuations around them, it can be seen that the method of activating them should not be too difficult.
Vincent and Hermione didn't understand Italian, so they had to follow the wizards around them to a place that looked like a registration office.
Behind the long counter stood six young women wearing classical short-sleeved Sarkozy robes. They should be employees responsible for reception.
The two walked to the counter one after the other, and the person in charge of reception was a tall, brown-haired girl.
She seemed to know that the two were foreigners and spoke not very fluent English, "Hello, welcome to the Italian Ministry of Magic."
The smile on her face was particularly friendly. "Is this your first time here? Is there anything I can help you with?"
Vincent and Hermione looked at each other in tacit understanding.
There is no harm without comparison.
There is a white cardinal guiding the way at the entrance of the Italian Ministry of Magic, and the reception staff are particularly warm and friendly.
What's in the British Ministry of Magic? The shabby telephone booth at the entrance? And the cold microphone inside?
Putting aside other things, the human touch of the Italian Ministry of Magic alone is enough to kill the British Ministry of Magic in seconds.
When Vincent and Hermione made eye contact, the brown-haired girl at the counter did not show any impatience.
She kept a friendly smile on her face and waited patiently for the responses from the two foreign visitors.
She didn't have to wait long. Vincent first gave a brief self-introduction:
"Hello, we are wizards from Britain. I am Vincent Wayne, chairman of Wayne Enterprises."
He looked at Hermione beside him, "She is my accompanying secretary, Hermione Granger."
The brown-haired girl was surprised. "Mr. Wayne? The British Wizengamot youth representative?"
"It's me." Vincent responded politely, "We are here on behalf of Wayne Enterprises. We want to discuss a cooperation with Minister Marcello Fabius Scipio."
"Okay, please wait." She did not curiously ask what the cooperation was about, but just diligently wrote a few lines on a piece of parchment.
When she had finished writing, she threw the parchment into the air, causing it to grow wings and fly toward the center of the huge dome.
Soon after the parchment sank into the dome, it flapped its wings and flew back.
After reading the text above, the brown-haired girl came out from the counter and walked in front of the two people.
"Minister Scipio is free now. Please follow me, both of you."
Above the dome is an office area with several layers of magical barriers, and of course the office of the Minister of the Italian Ministry of Magic is also up there.
She led them to an open space, then raised her wand and pointed it at a column floating in mid-air with a griffin statue on top.
It floated down slowly and finally stopped sideways in front of the three people.
The brown-haired girl raised her hand and motioned for the two to sit down, "You two, please."
After sitting on the column, it carried the three people slowly to the center of the huge dome.
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