In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 126: The Closed Country

The male wizard quickly finished filling out their information on the forms, and then pushed the two forms in front of Dumbledore and Jon.

"Sign and pay, the cross-country charge for using the Floo network is 10 galleons each, 20 galleons total for the two of you."

They signed their fake names on the form, and then Dumbledore took out twenty gold coins and put them on the desk.

The money suddenly disappeared after it landed on the desk as if the desk was enchanted with some kind of magic that allowed it to collect the money on its own.

The wizard helped them open a door at the back of the third room, behind which there were two non-burning fireplaces.

"The Floo network of the fireplace on the left is connected to France's Floo network, and it can reach any fireplace that is documented within the French Ministry of Magic. Also don't forget the return entry time you submitted, if you don't return after five days, you have to pay a fine of 12 silver-sickle for each day of delay."

After all the precautions were made clear, the male wizard left the room where the fireplace is attached.

Dumbledore and Jon stood together in front of the fireplace on the left, and then Dumbledore passed the box of floo powder from the wall to Jon, and let him pinch out a small pinch.

"Step into the fireplace, our destination is [Montmartre Highland Square No. 126], call out the name of the destination, and then sprinkle the floo powder."

Listening to Dumbledore's instruction, Jon followed the steps he said to do, and then sprinkled the floo powder in the fireplace.

The next moment a rising green flame began to spread from his feet, instantly wrapping his whole body, and then he disappeared.

And in Paris, France, 500 kilometres away in a straight line, 126, Montmartre Highland Square, inside a wizard bar, the flame of the fireplace turned from yellow to green, and then Jon's figure appeared here.

It is not a comfortable experience to travel long distances with floo powder compared to an apparition, but at least Jon is used to this feeling, so after landing, he did not make a mess.

Just after he walked out of the fireplace, less than three or four seconds later, the flame that had turned from green to yellow turned back to green again, and Dumbledore stepped out of it shortly after.

Their destination is a bustling tavern, filled with wizards in robes.

Dumbledore and Jon's presence did not attract much attention, and the atmosphere in the tavern was noticeably more relaxed, and when they sat down at one of the empty tables, a witch clutching a dinner tray soon came over and asked them in French what they wanted to order.

"One Baba au Rhum, two steaks, a glass of cider and a glass of juice."

"Would you like an egg with mayonnaise and Cream of Onion Soup?"

"Well, very good recommendation, then two of those too. Also, don't wait until the end to serve the pastry, you can bring it up with the steak."

"I'll have the back room do it as soon as possible, Monsieur."

Dumbledore's French was so proficient that Jon doubted that the witch even noticed that they are actually two Englishmen.

He took a moment to observe his surroundings before taking the time to address his doubts to Dumbledore while the order was being served.

"Shouldn't there be plenty of ways for wizards to get out of England if they want to? Even if the floo powder and portkeys are controlled, then why they do not just use the Apparition to travel out? It should not be too much of an obstacle to use the Apparition to travel the distance between Britain and France, right?"

Dumbledore explained to him.

"The Ministry of Magic will randomly check the fall points of these Apparitions, and once an English wizard is found to have smuggled his way out, then his name will be recorded and the corresponding punishment will be imposed afterwards, with a minimum fine of 20 galleons, and 3 days in Azkaban."

Jon understood the implications of this, even if the Ministry of Magic under Voldemort had a strong desire to control the entire British magical world, he could not possibly monitor the actions of every wizard at all times.

This is like the muggle world driving on the red light violation, as specified in the non-compliance of that traffic law, if you drive at the red light, if police catch you, you have to admit and pay the fine, did not catch you, it only means that you are lucky enough to get away this time.

And now at the end of the twentieth century, the flow of information is far from being as smooth as in the future, and wizards can only rely on the Daily Prophet for basic information. Now that the Ministry of Magic has full control of the Daily Prophet, and it has almost become the default official daily newspaper, as long as the newspaper features something about the capture of a few stowaways every day, it will have a strong deterrent effect, making British wizards afraid to leave the country at will without filing a report.

But now if you want to register, then, like Dumbledore and Jon, you need 45 gold-galleons to leave the country on the same day of registration, the bribes and fees paid for both.

Two wizards had to pay a total of 45 gold-galleons in bribes and fees to get out of the country. You know that a regular employee of the Ministry of Magic only earns a few dozen galleons a month, and that's a mid-level position, so it's not something any wizard could afford to pay for.

This is basically equivalent to a semi-compulsory closure of the British magical community.

After all, Voldemort's policy of slavery is like driving backwards in history. If British wizards can still communicate with the outside world as before, there will certainly be many problems within the British magical community.

The most visible problem is that there must be an exodus of muggles and half-blood wizards who can't tolerate his reign, and the population will decrease for sure, which is not something Voldemort wants to see, so he made such a move.

As for leaving the country through muggle means, such as aeroplanes, trains and ships, it is estimated that with the nature of Voldemort and those under him, there is no way they would put muggle means of travel in their eyes unless the phenomenon of exodus through muggle means is particularly high, only then they would face the issue seriously in that regard.

In fact, this approach in Jon's view, compared with Voldemort's original crazy performance in the original story, is already very mild, after all, if you really want to leave, you can still escape by bleeding money, even if you can't pay such a sum of money, you can also fly cross-country on a broomstick, although the risk is greater, the Ministry of magic can not prevent travelling cross-country to such a level with their limited manpower.

If he behaves in the way he did in the original story, he is afraid that Voldemort will directly prohibit anyone from leaving the country, and then cause complete chaos within the British magical community.

The dishes they wanted were served quickly, and although both countries are adjacent to each other, the gap in cuisine between Britain and France is as great as the gap in military power between France and Germany in the early 1940s.

Whether the taste of craft or style, French food can beat British food eight hundred times.

For example, Dumbledore's long-awaited Baba au Rhum, the cake was so satisfying that he only shared a bit of cream with Jon in the name that there is wine in the cake, without letting him eat too much, he directly finished the serving very quickly.

Just when they were about to drink their fill, a quarrel noise coming from the neighbouring table suddenly caught their attention.

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