The cold night in mid-July, when a funny man in a lime green bowler appeared at 10 Downing Street, seems all but a long-forgotten memory. Time has made an early grave of power and people, has erased from view the moment in which a desperate, failing Ministry of Magic called on the Prime Minister of England for solidarity. A testament to the peace brought by the Boy Who Lived and his unwavering, courageous comrades. A testament to the fact that now, more than ever, the world can rest easy in the unequivocal knowledge that the Dark Lord is, indeed, dead. That’s not to say there haven't been uprisings – murmurs of the next great Wizard who would come to impose a terror none had seen before him. But it had never come to pass. With an efficient Ministry, one whose true aim was that of justice – always justice – it seemed that the end to that fateful Prophecy had instilled a lasting sort of order.

And it had.

But while life went on as usual in the magical world, the dementors were not without misery to feed on. Even as the rules slackened, even as the face of the magical world shifted to resemble in an aesthetic way that of their muggle counterparts, it seemed that the divide between the two had never been wider. As Wizards and Witches moved further from the roar of Muggle London and into their own metropolitan dwellings, it seemed to many that the time had come to sever ties altogether. Perhaps had Shacklebolt not been consumed with the task of rebuilding so many corrupt institutions, he would have given pause to the distant rumblings that could be heard on the muggle television which now sat in many a wizarding home.

When Harry Potter defeated the Death Eaters, he seemed to defeat along with them some of the more stringent boundaries between muggle and magic. In 2021, there seems to be no reason why the Wizarding World shouldn’t partake in the extravagant technology that muggles have long since enjoyed. The cultural shift has brought with it a whole plethora of consequences and implications: everything from the clothing kids wear to the music they listen to has been blown wide open. It isn’t uncommon to hear a 40-something prematurely using the phrase “Back in my day, we didn’t have all this new-fangled technomaggigies…” Cell phones, iPods, computers – why not? Why shouldn’t we? We’ve fought a war. We’re the unconquered. We deserve it. But despite the closing gap of what is and isn’t accessible to magical folk, the world still accepts and operates under the rules of the The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Perhaps it was convenience, or perhaps the time-consuming task of rebuilding an entire world that has kept them so far removed from muggle dilemmas, muggle wars. Because while the dementors no longer fed on their misery, there was no ignoring the fact that they were breeding rather quickly. That something, somewhere was amiss.

September 11 changed the face of the world. So did December 25, 2009, Easter, 2014, and countless days like them. In 2021, there seems no reason why the muggle world should be expected to survive. A raging war battles on, a war based on religious zeal and stubborn pride, on fiscal greed and political corruption, on the growing grey area that marks the lines between good and evil. Starvation sweeps the poorest of poor, biological attacks leave even rich countries destitute, rising temperatures have seen thousands of environmental features destroyed and terrorism seems as common as turning on the television. England is on the brink of losing control. Suddenly, the magical world is faced with a terrible decision: a decision which seems almost counter-intuitive to those goals Harry Potter worked for 25 years ago. It is no longer the Minister of Magic warning the Muggle Prime Minister of what is to come; it is now the remaining fragments of the G8 Leaders who beg for the magical world to intervene. For the first time in memorable history, the magical world is being asked to step in and impose order; step in and seize control; step in and use force.

The England of 2021 is only recognizable through geographic landmarks and the skyline which has managed to salvage Big Ben, despite a series of attacks on the city between 2012 and 2017. Having lost great face in the apparent “War on Terror”, England stepped up its policies surrounding immigration in 2015 after several internal terrorist cells were uncovered. Whether or not it is true, whispers that the cells were only days away from a massive biological attack on the country have pushed fear and paranoia about ‘outsiders’ to a near breaking point. Perhaps because of its isolation from the continent, England has been escaped many of the modern-day plagues which have ravaged France, Germany, Italy and others. Internally, however, it is damaged as its counterparts. With a government barely holding onto power and a public raging against the state of affairs, virtually three quarters of the Middle Eastern population living in England have been expelled from the country. This process began in 2016 and was supposed to have been completed by 2018. In 2021, there are still planes leaving daily. Many of those being extradited were born and raised in England; it doesn’t matter. Everyone and anyone was, to England, a threat.

For the small population of Middle Eastern (and increasingly, Western Asians) allowed to live in England for various reasons, many have been ghettoized. Those who once had plenty have been reduced to very bare, very public living. London has become one of the top-wired cities in the world and one cannot even so much as say the word Arab or bomb without the police pouncing. Cameras set up about the city, MI:5 Intelligence Agents are able to watch the goings on 24-7. Beyond London, the English countryside remains one of the most unchanged landscapes the world over. Considering the major drought in Africa and huge environmental catastrophe in Southern America, one can only consider themselves so fortunate as to reside in the still green, still thriving rural England. After a deadly strand of typhus swept the United Kingdom from 2013-2015, most began to realize that a retreat from the major muggle metropolitans was necessary for their safety.

The question now is fight or flight. With wizarding cities springing up, nearly invisible to the muggle eye, one can feel as if the war and destruction is occurring in some far-off, distant planet. Somethings, however, are unavoidable: the leaders of the G8 warn that the Middle Eastern Nations are very near being capable to reach the United States of America by nuclear means. Once that ‘Great Bastian of Hope’ is destroyed, it will only be a matter of moments. Curiously, some witches and wizards find that it is becoming increasingly difficult to remember and perform spells they would have normally been able to without aide. Could it be that the two worlds are more intrinsically linked than it would seem? Does the Wizarding World’s fate balance as precariously as that of the muggle’s?

In 2021, the Wizarding World is faced with a single, crucial decision: to seize power, to take control, to make peace. Is it time, perhaps, to lift the age-old statue, to break the boundaries between magical and muggle? To let go of tradition, and looking only toward the uncertain future.

The decision is yours to make. Welcome to Unconquered.