The elevator descended quickly, and after a brief period of darkness, Felix caught a glimpse of the light that is zooming in beneath his feet.
A cacophony of voices reached their ears as they came to a huge underground building.
Felix surveyed the design and murals on the arch-shaped ceiling.
Maxwell noticed his gaze: "We've adopted a new style - constellation patterns, and some historical events, see that big orb?" He pointed to the silver-white sphere over the dome, which is emitting a soft light that illuminates the entire foyer as if it were daylight.
"It isn't used to be there, all thanks to the previous minister."
The elevator landed and Felix stepped out of the 'birdcage'. He looked around, the lobby is divided into two levels, he is on the first floor, the open space in the center of the several parallel long desks, most of the seats are full, people walk to and fro, walk-in hurry.
The second floor consisted of a number of corridors supported by pillars, the very edge of which happened to be an aisle with a railing, and he saw someone standing in front of it, looking down from above.
"Is the building here arranged horizontally?" Felix inquired.
"What, oh yeah, similar to a spider's web, and we're standing in the center of it." Maxwell said, "Not quite the same as the British Ministry of Magic, I heard that you have opened up a dozen floors down?"
"As far as I know, it's ten floors," Felix said.
Next, Maxwell led Felix out of the foyer and straight down to a small office along an open passage. There is a piece of paper taped on it - temporary registration point number 2.
"I'll bring you straight here and save you the trouble of asking the receptionist at the front desk, which is always full of long lines ..." Maxwell pushed the door open, "Good afternoon, Willie, I'm bringing a friend to register for the Muggle Research Conference. "
A light-haired male wizard looked up, "Of course ... so many people have been coming lately that I don't even have time for pastime." He suddenly looked at Felix: "Do you like playing exploding cards?"
Maxwell interrupted impatiently, "Willie, we're in a hurry, we have to go to the hotel later. The thought of that American woman gives me a fit."
"Ha! But you have to listen to her command, don't you?." The male wizard named Willie registered Felix's wand while handing over a form, "Just fill out the form, mainly the columns for name, country, and purpose of visit."
Maxwell's beard twitched, "I'm following the minister's orders."
Felix quickly filled out the basic information, ignoring the column on the form for specialization in magic, and when he handed it to Willie, the male wizard didn't even look at it and stuffed it in a drawer, turning to Maxwell with glee, "But the minister told you to listen to her, did the woman ask you to do the waiter's work?."
Maxwell returned a rude gesture.
As they walked out of the office, Maxwell explained, "This conference was requested by the Magical Congress of the United States of America at the International Confederation of Wizards, and we hosted it after all the members approved and agreed."
"Why not in the United States?"
"They asked for it, who knows what they were thinking?" Maxwell clearly didn't want to talk much, and Felix guessed that it might have something to do with 'that woman' he was talking about.
The two men came to a fireplace, "Hotel Boathouse, remember? After you."
Felix grabbed a handful of Floo powder, shouted clearly over the turquoise flames, "Hotel Boathouse", and his figure disappeared.
Felix walked out of the fireplace, the interior decorated in red and gold, the most conspicuous is the red carpet and gold stone pillars, which reminded Felix of Gryffindor House at Hogwarts.
He felt faintly amused.
Soon, Maxwell appeared from the fireplace, he took Felix to a room and left in a hurry.
Felix pushed open the door, the furnishings inside were simple, he took some time to apply some protection ward and then wandered around the hotel.
The hotel has seven floors, Felix paced to the first floor, talked to the receptionist, and quickly determined that it is a muggle hotel in a very isolated location.
"You tour groups really odd, it takes until fall for tourists to flock here to enjoy the flowers and scenery and all that. Now it's bare all around ..."
"And once they checked in, we weren't allowed to clean your rooms, and there were all kinds of weird requests."
Felix responded with a few words, he did not know how the French Ministry of Magic negotiated and did not want to dwell on it.
There were two men standing at the door, one hand in his trouser pocket, looking very much like Maxwell in temperament, and he guessed they were guards arranged by the Ministry of Magic.
Felix asked the waiter if anyone named "Charity Burbage" has arrived, the waiter checked the service list, "No, her room is 203, it is still vacant, just cleaned it in this morning."
After a polite thank you, Felix started walking up from the first floor, taking notice of any signs of dark magic.
Halfway up, he met several wizards from different countries who were also invited experts. Felix chatted with them, and most of them were friendly, except for those who really couldn't speak the language.
On the fourth floor, he found a huge auditorium with hundreds of seats.
'Looks like the meeting is taking place here.'
The fifth and sixth floors were empty, but Felix walked past them one by one until the seventh floor, when he heard some movement in it.
'Did I really bump into it? Or is it actually a staff member in the hotel?''
Felix's figure gradually blended in with the surroundings, his footsteps were low and inaudible, and at the entrance of room 705, he stopped.
There is very little sound inside, but Felix sees two brightly shining sources of magic with the help of his black and white perspective, and he nudges the wall with his wand, the tip of which softens as it meets the wall.
Then the sound of the conversation in the room reached Felix's ears clearly -
" Have you got the list yet?" It is a woman's voice.
"No, he's got a tough mouth." A low, manly voice rang out.
"Can't you just--" The woman's voice stopped abruptly, as if a Langlock had been cast.
"You realize the problem too, we can't afford to take the hard approach, or at least I refuse to."
The woman whispered a curse.
After a long interval, when Felix thought the conversation ended there, the man said dismally, "This is a complete and utter disaster."
Footsteps came and Felix left swiftly.
In the room, he pondered the information he had stumbled upon.
It turned out that one of the last assailants had actually been caught, and from the conversation between the two sides, the identity of the assailant is special enough to give them something to worry about.
Is he a relative of some bureaucrat?
Felix suddenly felt worthless for the gold galleons he had spent - the information he got is not as good as what he had overheard while standing at the door.