The Game of Politics
When Cassie finally ended her class at the strike of one, her seven students left the hall in a state of complete exhaustion. They slowly dragged themselves into the lounge and collapsed into the comfortable sofas and couches. A half-dozen elves were summoned with refreshments and potions. Four others brought huge feather fans and began waving them. "Did…mum…get the black....family madness?," said Lyra, still gasping for breath.
"I dont think so,she married dad,I dont think you get it after marrying a black" Harry said after he recovered his breath.
Thirty minutes and a handful of potions later, the four(Harry,Neville,Theo and Daphne,the others had no lessons for the day) had recovered some of their stamina, but were not feeling like having a full lunch. Instead, the elves brought several snacks and sandwiches. Around three, several owls arrived carrying a large parcel. It was the books Cassie had promised, and the rest of the afternoon was spent going through them. When the clock struck six, the students ascended the stairs to Sirius's study.
"How did you like your new tutor?" he greeted them.
"Dad do you get the Black family madness if you marry a black?Harry asked.It was really lyra's question but since he was getting lessons with Sirius he asked it now.
Sirius chuckled at Harry's question, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Ah, the infamous Black family madness. Well, my boy, let me tell you a little secret," he began, leaning back in his chair with a mischievous grin. "It's not something you catch from marrying into the family. No, no, it's more like a hereditary curse passed down through generations." He paused for dramatic effect before continuing, "But don't worry, it's not all bad. It just means we Blacks have a tendency to be a little...eccentric, shall we say? Some might call it madness, but I like to think of it as creative genius,but no Cassie does not have it."
Harry raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "So, what you're saying is, being a Black means we're destined for greatness and a touch of insanity?"
Sirius nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly! Just look at our family history – full of brilliant minds, daring adventurers, and yes, a few oddballs thrown in for good measure. Embrace it, Harry, embrace the madness!"
The group erupted into laughter, the tension from the day's intense lesson finally dissipating as they shared jokes and stories with Sirius.But after 5 minutes they settled for the lesson.
Now, today I was going to introduce the basics of diplomacy and negotiation. Instead, I decided to let you derive them for yourselves first-hand. Follow me," said Sirius, indicating the side door. They did so apprehensively, still remembering what lay on the other side last time. The sight that greeted them was quite different. Several comfortable couches were placed in the four corners of the rectangular room, each of them surrounded with the telltale shimmer of a privacy ward. The center of the room was occupied by a massive square table, probably large enough for twelve. As they came closer, it became apparent that on it lay a huge map of Europe and several boxes of strange counters on the side. The children and Sirius gathered around the table.
"A game?" Harry inquired.
"Very observant, Harrt. This game was introduced in Slytherin about a decade before my time,atleast that is what Cassie said and it has been immensely popular since. I'm sure you will have quite a challenge when you get to Hogwarts."
"How does it work?" Harry asked.
"Before you, there is a map of Europe at the start of 1900. You will notice that the seven great powers have different colors, while the rest is 'unclaimed' territory. Now, since we have only four players, we won't be needing these." Sirius waved his wand and Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy disappeared from the map, leaving more empty territory behind. "Before we go any further, we must determine who you will be playing as." He took out a small black pouch, offering it first to Harry, who reached in and pulled out a small white colonial pith helmet,. "Britain," Sirius announced. Next, Daphne got a dark blue bicorne with a red, white and blue stripe on it. "France." Neville pulled out a black fur hat with a golden double-headed eagle in front. Russia. A red Ottoman fez was left for Theo. With a flick of his wand, Lucius enlarged the hats to normal size.
"Are the hats strictly necessary?" Harry asked as he was putting his helmet on.
"Not really; just a Slytherin tradition that was started by your father when he was showing off his transfiguration skills one night we were playing and then your mum told everyone and the rest is history. Now then, back to the game. Each power starts off with two armies and a fleet, except Britain, which has two fleets and an army, and Russia, which has two of each due to its size." Sirius hadn't even finished speaking when several of the little soldier and ship figures in the boxes came to life and assumed their positions on the map. They were amazingly detailed, right down to the soldiers' distinct uniforms and the little swiveling turrets of the dreadnaughts. "This may be obvious, but armies can only move on land and fleets only on water or into territories adjacent to water. A fleet can also carry an invading army across a body of water," he continued his explanation, "Each unit is of equal strength, so it takes a numerical advantage to overpower your enemy in a particular battle. Turns represent six months, and if a unit of yours ends up in an unclaimed territory at the end of the turn, you gain it. You will also notice some of the provinces have supply dumps in them." Little piles of crates and gunpowder barrels sprang up across the map like mushrooms. "You can only have as many units as you have supply depots, and the first one to capture more than half of them wins. Since you are new to the game, you will play with five-minute turns. Write your orders to your units on a piece of parchment, and give them to Twinky here at the end of each turn. He will read them out." A house elf appeared with a pop, and he was wearing a comically oversized military cap.The four still looked rather confused by the whole exercise. Noticing that, Sirius explained, "This is not meant to be a simulation of history, geography or warfare. The point is the negotiations between you. You cannot win by military tactics alone. You must make compromises, treaties, alliances. And when the time is best, you must break them and take advantage of the chaos. That is why I have provided you with several couches with privacy wards. Now, I'll check back in an hour, I have some work to do." Sirius went out of the room to his desk.
The first few turns went smoothly, with all four staying around the table. The partition of the unclaimed regions was negotiated peacefully and in the open. Harry ceded Sweden to Neville, in exchange for eastern Scandinavia and access to the Baltic. He also claimed and occupied the Netherlands and northern Germany all the way up to Berlin. He and Daphne agreed to keep the English Channel demilitarized and that the British fleets wouldn't enter the Mediterranean without previous agreement. Daphne took Belgium, the Iberian Peninsula, Bavaria, and most of northern Italy, ceding North Africa to Theo in exchange for Sicily. The latter had already agreed to a demilitarized zone in the Black Sea with Draco, so he easily stormed through the southern and eastern Balkans. Neville gobbled up the remainder of eastern and central Europe all the way to Vienna. "It is now being the spring of 1903," Twinky announced. The atmosphere suddenly became much tenser. There were no more unclaimed territories, so the next move would definitely mean war. The question was who would blink first. Harry nodded to Neville and the two withdrew behind one of the wards.
"Look, Harry," Neville began, "I say we take them out first and then we can finish the game between ourselves."
"You're about as subtle as a stampeding elephant," Harry teased. "But as it happens, I was thinking along the same lines. Not immediately, though. I'll try to ally with Daphne first. You do the same with Theo, and we'll stab both in the back. Then we can have our game."
"Let me move the Finland fleet into the southern Baltic. This way it will look as if I'm preparing to attack you," Draco suggested. Harry though for a moment. True, that would be a good ruse, but it was also leaving his continental armies dangerously exposed from the north.
"Fair enough," he eventually decided, "but stay out of Sweden. And maybe move the army from the Ukraine into Galicia to frighten Daphne so I can convince her to join me."
"Will do."
With that decided they left the silenced corner and set off in opposite directions. Harry joined Daphne on one of the larger couches, where she had just been in conversation with Theo. "Well, Harry, are you here to tempt la gloirieuse France into an alliance?" Daphne inquired playfully.
"Perhaps later. I just want to confirm our demilitarization agreement for the Channel." Harry replied with pretend nonchalance.
"Naturally, I will give you at least two turns advance before I drive my fleets up the Thames."
"Yes, and while you're doing that, Neville will already be sacking Paris. That's what I wanted to warn you about. He was just trying to get me to ally with him, get rid of you two and finish the game by ourselves. That, for one, would be boring. You see, I've known Neville basically all my life. He's predictable and impatient. I reckon he will try to storm through you and won't stop until he reached Portugal. With you out of the way, neither Theo nor I could stop him, alone or together." Daphne was now looking at him intently.
"How do I know you're not up to something with him?" she finally asked. Harry laughed.
"You've seen how much I enjoy winding him up. Besides, he knows me well also, so if it comes down to the two of us, we'll be at it for hours. Oh, and here's a little gift for you: better reinforce the Vienna garrison, Neville will be moving in Galicia next turn," Harry said and left in the direction of the table to prepare his orders for the turn. Soon the rest had taken their positions as well, and Twinky began reading out the orders for the turn. Sure enough, Draco moved into Galicia. Everything else, however, was quite unexpected. The Russian fleet in the Baltic was met and sunk by two British ones, from Kiel and Copenhagen. The British army in Norway moved into Sweden, and the one in Berlin invaded Livonia.
"Why, Harry, I'm heartbroken!" Neville exclaimed in mock disappointment. Theo had apparently gambled on Harry playing aggressively, as he had launched a pincer attack against Russian-held Romania from Bulgaria and against Sevastopol from Armenia. He was successful in the former but overwhelmed by two fleets and an army at the latter, prompting a retreat. Daphne had shifted her forces eastwards toward Vienna, nevertheless keeping two fleets in Brittany and Belgium in case Harry got too ambitious, and had also seized Naples from Theo.
Things were looking disastrous for Neville, but the following turn brought a new set of plots and betrayals. Instead of marching on to Moscow, Daphne turned her forces against Harry and overran the Ruhr, Saxony and Berlin. Harry was thankful he had moved back some forces to the west and could therefore counterattack from Kiel and the Netherlands next turn; his Baltic fleets remained unimpeded and took St. Petersburg, but he realized he would not hold it beyond the following turn lest he become dangerously stretched in the north. Theo had again gambled on an attack against Draco, so when that failed to materialize his own offensive failed and Neville's counteroffensive managed to push him out of Armenia and the Trebizond.
The next two hours saw a series of similar reversals and stabs-in-the-back. The border territories between the four powers had changed hands too many times to count. When Sirius came in two hours later, all of them were engrossed in heated negotiation and their positions were remarkably similar to those at the start. "Ah, a stalemate!" he declared, "Let's call it a draw, shall we." He waved his wand and the figures went back to their boxes and the map folded by itself as soon as it had been vacated. He then turned to his students again and asked, "How did you like your first taste of Realpolitik?"
"It was fun, dad," Harry replied. The others responded similarly.
"Indeed, but remember you are supposed to learn from this. I had a few eavesdropping charms in place and took notes on your discussions and moves, so we will analyze them next time. However, there is one thing in particular that I wanted to point out tonight, and let me say I was quite pleased you managed to figure it out by yourselves." The four suddenly sported proud grins. Sirius continued, "I am talking about the concept of the Balance of Power. There were several times where one of you was close to annihilation, but the final blow would have made the country that delivered it more powerful than the other two. That is why in each case you prevented that with a betrayal and changed your alliances. You realized that your continued survival was contingent on whether the other powers would remain evenly matched. It took muggles several centuries to come to the same conclusion, and even then it was only due to particularly insightful ones such as Machiavelli, Metternich and Bismarck, whose works we will all eventually study. Now then, off you go! It's dinner time!" Sirius concluded, dismissing his class.