Armenian Forest, beside a swaying bonfire.

Senior officials from more than a dozen different magical governments wore solemn expressions, struggling to digest the shocking news they had just received:

A group of unidentified dark wizards had taken advantage of the internal emptiness of various Ministries of Magic to launch a surprise attack on the Ministries' locations.

Judging from the continuous stream of alarms, almost all Ministries of Magic had fallen, something that had never happened before in the magical world.

"The situation is very clear now. We are facing a non-discriminatory, extremely despicable, and outrageous terrorist attack." Atif, the Head Auror of the Turkish Ministry of Magic, said through gritted teeth, "This is a provocation against the entire European magical world, and we must retaliate immediately!"

The French Minister of Magic and the Italian Minister of Magic exchanged a glance, but did not echo Atif's words.

"Undeniably, this is a very bad night. I even suspect we might be ousted tomorrow – but the problem is, now might not be the worst time. Have you considered whether a mysterious force that can simultaneously conquer more than a dozen Ministries of Magic has the ability to wipe us out while we launch a 'counterattack'?" The French Minister of Magic glanced at Fudge and asked, turning his gaze to Atif.

"So we need to unite, rely on a certain Ministry of Magic as a base camp, and concentrate our forces to counterattack one by one."

Atif said in a deep voice, turning his head to look at the Armenian Minister of Magic.

"Mr. Kaz, do you have any suggestions?"

Along with Atif's question, all the wizards present turned their attention to the wizard standing at the edge of the crowd. Although the Armenian Ministry of Magic was the true "landlord," as a weaker Ministry of Magic, they did not have much experience in such multinational talks.

"Uh—"

Armenian Minister of Magic Kaz was not comfortable in this kind of setting.

His gaze drifted slightly for a few seconds before finally landing on Cornelius Fudge.

"Mr. Fudge, judging from the information we have so far, those 'thugs' are very likely to be under the command of that dark wizard from your England – you have the most experience dealing with them. What do you think? How powerful are those 'Death Eaters' and that 'Voldemort'? And what additional information do you have about tonight's actions? What exactly does that guy named 'Voldemort' want to do by suddenly making a comeback—"

"Hiss—we generally don't say that name. We usually say 'You-Know-Who' or 'the Dark Lord'."

Cornelius Fudge took a slight breath and shuddered somewhat unnaturally.

He fidgeted with the top hat in his hand, his expression looking particularly bad.

"In fact, 'You-Know-Who' reappeared months ago – this is a secret of the International Confederation of Wizards, oh, the gentlemen from the Russian Ministry of Magic also know about it. He caused chaos in the Russian magical shopping district, but we are still investigating his purpose..."

"So you knew months ago that an extremely dangerous dark wizard had returned and was lurking in Europe?!"

French Minister of Magic Castor narrowed his eyes and questioned in an unfriendly tone.

"Why have we never heard of your pursuit plan?!"

"Let me explain—"

Amelia Bones pushed up her monocle and took the initiative to answer for Cornelius Fudge:

"This is a decision made by the International Confederation of Wizards, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the British, Russian, and Ukrainian Ministries of Magic after re-evaluating the threat of 'You-Know-Who' – he is more dangerous than any dark wizard before, not only because of his strength, but most importantly, there is reliable evidence that he has created a large number of Horcruxes over the past decade... In a sense, he is now immortal—"

"Therefore, a large-scale manhunt will only spread panic before we find a way to completely kill 'You-Know-Who'."

"Think about it, a dehumanized, unkillable 'Dark Lord'... The only thing we can do is strike at his followers – they are called 'Death Eaters'. However, judging from the current situation, the scale of European 'Death Eaters' clearly exceeds everyone's imagination."

"My God, you're only telling us this now?!" The officials from various Ministries of Magic were a mix of shock and anger.

Even if they didn't understand what a Horcrux was, the fact that he was "immortal" alone made that guy named Voldemort more dangerous than Grindelwald. What angered the officials of the various magical governments even more was that if tonight's situation hadn't spiraled out of control, the British Ministry of Magic seemed to be planning to keep it a secret.

"'You-Know-Who' is more cunning and dangerous than you think—"

Cornelius Fudge explained with a wry smile, "We accidentally caught his chief strategist, 'Peter Pettigrew,' a few months ago, but we dared not delve deeper into the follow-up... There may be many magical families behind him, and even some national-level magical forces."

Fudge didn't say it clearly, but everyone present immediately understood the concerns he wanted to express.

Just like Gellert Grindelwald wreaked havoc in the European magical world back then, his followers were not just scattered wizards.

Many established wizarding families, as well as a considerable number of Ministry of Magic officials, openly supported that dark wizard. Judging from what Cornelius Fudge revealed, there might even be supporters in the form of magical governments... A dagger hidden in the dark is obviously more terrifying.

Atif frowned, pondered for a few seconds, and then asked in a deep voice.

"Regarding the issue of 'You-Know-Who', doesn't Albus Dumbledore have any reaction?"

Cornelius Fudge's face changed a few times before he said:

"In fact, before we left, Dumbledore warned me – but we were... I mean, I had Auror Office Director Rufus Scrimgeour lead a team to guard the Ministry of Magic! But the situation is obviously much more serious than I imagined. According to the news I received, the first wave of dark wizards attacking the British Ministry of Magic alone numbered more than fifty..."

"Sorry, I mean, aside from that, does Dumbledore know how to deal with that 'immortal' dark wizard?"

Atif raised his hand, interrupting Fudge's rambling description, and asked directly.

"Find all the Horcruxes and concentrate your forces to eliminate 'You-Know-Who' in one fell swoop," Fudge said dryly.

"Very good, which means there's no way," French Minister of Magic Castor raised his eyebrows.

"Ahem, gentlemen, perhaps we should first solve another problem?"

At this moment, Armenian Minister of Magic Kaz's expression became a little unsightly. He raised something in his hand and waved it.

"I just received an urgent message from our Transportation Department – the Floo Network throughout Armenia has been interrupted. Or rather, not just the Armenian magical world, but all the surrounding magical worlds bordering us, the Floo Network has collapsed... There are no reinforcements. We must make a decision as soon as possible."

"By the way, there are hundreds of werewolves behind us. If we split our forces to support the Ministry of Magic, what about these werewolves?"

Bones raised an eyebrow, her monocle reflecting a cold light, and pointed to the werewolves behind them.

"In the last wizarding war, the werewolf legions belonged to You-Know-Who's dark forces. If those dark wizards take the opportunity to come and rescue the werewolves while we split our forces, what should we do? My suggestion is to stand still. After the Floo Network is repaired, we should deal with the werewolf problem first. The Death Eaters cannot occupy the Ministry of Magic for a long time. Recapturing the Ministry of Magic is not that urgent—"

"I also suggest dealing with the werewolves first." Atif nodded, thought for a few seconds, and agreed.

"No, we must retake the Ministry of Magic before dawn, no matter what—" Cornelius Fudge waved his hands vigorously.

At the same time, several other Ministers of Magic nodded in agreement with the British Minister of Magic, their expressions solemn.

The collapse of the Floo Network meant that they had to split up and "walk" back to their respective countries to find a way to retake the Ministry of Magic.

After all, apart from the fireplaces in the Ministry of Magic, the Floo Networks between countries are not interconnected.

The werewolf problem was indeed a hidden danger, and they knew the danger of splitting up, but if they could not lead the Aurors of their respective Ministries of Magic back to their respective countries before dawn, the angry and fearful citizens would definitely tear these senior officials to pieces in the first instance.

"Actually..."

At this time, Lockhart, who had been watching from the sidelines, suddenly interjected:

"I do have a win-win solution..."

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Yay!