Chapter 70: Sensational Annoucement
A week passed quickly.
A stadium that was used to hold International Quidditch Match was full of wizards from all over the world. In the past week, news that the genius, Edward Bones, was going to make an announcement that will change the wizarding world has spread so rapidly that it astonished many people.
However, the majority of people inside the stadium were not here because of the announcement, but because they received news that a very rare Monster Duel Card will be given to one lucky participant; the rumors even said that it was one of the Egyptian God Cards.
Although many people knew that this was a ploy to get them to attend the event on such short notice, no one could resist the temptation.
Of course, not everyone was here for the same reason.
The stadium was divided into two; the ordinary people that sat in the seats that surrounded the field, and the people that had seats in the middle of the field.
These people were the really important members of the wizarding world; they were members of the Wizengamot, Sacred 28 and other pure-blood families, a few Minister of Magic from countries like France, Germany, United States, Brazil, etc. Basically, important members of the International Conference of Wizards.
Some important scholars have made contributions to the wizarding world in different fields. The majority of these people were Edward's pen pals that he often exchanged letters with; all of them showed up after Edward personally invited them. As for the others, they only came due to the reputation of this very gifted wizard that is said to have the potential to one day surpass Dumbledore.
The entire stadium was quite noisy with so many people talking to one another. However, everyone soon quieted down once Edward slowly walked to the podium in the middle of the field.
Despite so many eyes looking at him, he was quite calm as he smiled. He looked in the first row of his stadium where the teachers of Hogwarts were seated, along with his aunt Amelia. He looked at the very excited Professor Flitwick and slightly nodded to him.
"I know that many of you are here because of the promised Egyptian God Cards. So, you do not need to worry. After this event is over, I guarantee that one of you will be the proud owner of [Slifer the Sky Dragon]."
Edward's voice traveled throughout the entire stadium such that every single individual felt like they were having a one-to-one conversation with him.
Many people thought that he was just using an Amplifying Charm (Sonorus), but all the elite of the wizarding world were essentially here; so they could tell that this was a very advanced form of magic.
This spell was essentially the one Voldemort used when he asked the students of Hogwarts to hand over Harry Potter before the battle of Hogwarts in the Deathly Hallows movie.
After Edward's words, while most of the elite were thinking about his use of charm, the other ordinary wizards started laughing as they were a little embarrassed.
After waiting for a few seconds for the crowd to quiet down, Edward continued his presentation.
"I am sure that the majority if not all of you here are aware of the Three Unforgivable Curses: the Killing Curse, the Imperius Curse, and the Cruciatus Curse.
"Although the origin of these curses has long been lost in the annals of history, the amount of pain and suffering they have caused amongst us wizards is unforgettable. Whether it was during Grindelwald's rise to power or Voldemort's madness, many of us in this stadium has suffered at the hand of these curses.
"You may have a family or loved ones that had their wills twisted by the Imperius Curse, were mentally and physically tortured by the Cruciatus Curse, or killed defenselessly by the Killing Curse."
Edward paused as he left his words simmered for a bit, rendering the entire stadium into a somber mood.
He was correct as many people in this stadium have suffered a great deal of suffering because of these curses--especially the older generations that were alive for both Grindelwald and Voldemort's rise of power.
Many of them have lost loved ones and close friends during their battle against the tyranny of these dark wizards.
After waiting for his words to sink in, Edward continued: "There is no need to be saddened as today, I have brought hope for all of you. From now on, we--wizards--will no longer fear the power of these Unforgivable Curses.
"We no longer have to worry about our mind being controlled, worry about our soul being tortured while being helpless, worry that we need to be Harry Potter to survive the Killing Curse.
"For today, I, Edward Bones, will announce the Three-Counter Curses that I have studied and created for them. From today on, the Unforgivable Curses will be nothing but ordinary dark arts spells."
All the attending wizards were first shocked, then they all stood up and started applauding out loud. This time it was not just the crowd on the bleachers that applauded, but even the scholars and elites also did the same.
Some people had tears on their faces, some people hugged their families; in general, the entire stadium was enveloped by a joyous mood.
On the row right in front of Edward's stage, the teachers of Hogwarts stood up while also applauding. As a member of the Order of Phoenix, many of them have watched their friends killed during the war against Voldemort and his Death Eater--while being helpless.
So, they knew the importance of such a discovery. They only wished that such a discovery was made sooner; maybe, many of their friends would have survived.
In his seat, Snape had a cold look on his face as usual as he looked at Edward on the stage. Despite his calm exterior, a sense of sadness could be seen flash across his eyes for a brief moment before being replaced by hope and excitement.
Meanwhile, in Professor McGonagall's seat, she also stood up while clapping with a smile on her face. She leaned over the person next to her before whispering: "Albus, maybe we were wrong about the dark arts."
Dumbledore who was also clapping--albeit with a calm look on his face--responds: "Maybe."
However, his eyes never moved from Edward. In his mind, Edward's young figure was replaced by a charming and charismatic blonde wizard.
'He looks just like you, Gellert. Is that a good thing or not?' thought the headmaster to himself.
As for Edward, he waited until the crowd calmed down before starting explaining the spells that he created.
Retcon the retcon???
So, after reading all the comments, many people have pointed out to me that this was my story and I can write it however I want. One of my character flaws is the fact that I want to please everybody--despite fully knowing that is impossible. But I learn something valuable during this experience: no what I do, someone will not be happy. so, I might as well do what's best for me or what I want.
Thus, instead of completely changing the Obscurial plot and making Bellatrix do a completely different experiment, I will modify it a little to fit Edward's morally grey worldviews.
So, if you guys want, you can check out the newly added plots in the , but since things did not change that much, it won't affect your understanding of the story that much.
Title: The Three Counter Curses.