"The meeting will be held at the headquarters of the Magical Congress of North America, and will be held in the morning, two weeks from now… the President has asked me to make sure that you are included," Connor said. He paused for a moment, then reminded Ivan to remind Minister Pierce to bring the key with him when he went to the meeting.
"Keys? What keys?" Yvonne asked curiously.
"I'm not at liberty to say, but feel free to ask Minister Pearce. I'm sure he knows more than he's letting on," Conal said carefully.
"Okay, I understand. I'll be there in two weeks." Yvonne nodded, not wanting to put Connor on the spot.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Conal left in a hurry. As the executive director of North America, there were too many things for him to take care of. If it weren't for Ivan-Harrs's critical attitude, Conal would not have come all this way to deliver the message.
After Connor left, Yvonne sat alone in her chair, thinking about what she had seen in her memory, particularly Grindelwald's prophecy.
He was more than eighty percent certain that the visions of the future were real, but not the things Grindelwald had said…
Ivan prefers to believe that he created this future himself after defeating Grindelwald.
… .
For the next few days, Ivan continued his teaching work while receiving reports from Britain and North America.
Although the wizarding world has been complicated lately, with reports of wizards attacking Muggles, Britain, under the strong control of the Ministry of Magic, is the only haven in Europe.
Accidents were a common topic of conversation among Hogwarts students, and the trauma of the attacks during their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was tempered by daily study and play.
Ivan, however, understood the gravity of the situation. The longer this dragged on, the more powerful Grindelwald would become.
Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye, and as the meeting was scheduled for Monday morning, Ivan had to ask McGonagall, his deputy headmistress, for a few days' leave, as well as a few lessons in her place.
"You're leaving Hogwarts tomorrow? Why? Is something wrong?" Hermione asked worriedly after hearing Ivan's plans for a long journey in the Great Hall of Hogwarts on a weekend morning.
The last time Ivan went all the way to France, he ran into Grindelwald and the two fought.
Despite Ivan's relaxed manner on his return, the young witch could tell that Ivan had been staying in the library day and night over the past few months to check on banned books.
"Don't worry, it's just a small meeting. A day at most… well, I mean two or three days at most." Ivan put down his copy of the book he was reading and shrugged helplessly. It wasn't every time he went out and got into one of those terrible things.
"A meeting…" Hermione's mind raced, and then, as if she had just remembered something, she pulled a newspaper out of her wizarding robes and pointed to the front page. "This isn't a joint meeting of wizards from this world, is it?"
"How is that possible?" retorted Ron, not waiting for Ivan to speak. "I heard from Dad that it was the highest-level wizarding meeting in the entire wizarding world, and only the heads of the various Ministries of Magic are eligible for invitations…"
As soon as Ron finished speaking, a grayish-white owl flapped its wings and flew in from the entrance hall, carrying an envelope with the League badge to Ivan.
"Make sure you keep it a secret!" Yvonne reminded him before opening the envelope.
An extremely curious Harry and Ron immediately moved closer, and Hermione whispered to them.
[Honourable Sir Ivan Hals:
The 79th meeting of the World Confederation of Wizards will be held on 18 November at the headquarters of the North American Magical Congress. We sincerely invite you to attend this meeting to discuss the future of the wizarding world…"
Hermione froze mid-sentence, and Ron exclaimed, "No way, they really invited you?"
"If this invitation has the right name, then yes," Ivan said, tucking the envelope away.
"But… but… how…" Ron stammered, still in disbelief.
Unlike Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, who were Muggle-born and had limited knowledge of the wizarding world, Ron was well aware of the significance of the World Confederation of Wizards meeting, which was a gathering of truly important people, with heads of state from all over the world and top players in their fields.
He had previously heard from George and Fred that Percy Weasley had dreamed of following Minister Pearce to the World Confederation of Wizards to see the world, and had spent several days begging people to speak for him.
Even so, Percy Weasley was content enough to use it as an excuse to show off, and the family celebrated.
And now Ivan had received an invitation alone…
"Who knows? It's just a meeting. Maybe I was dragged along by Minister Pearce." Yvonne didn't want to explain any further, as there was no end to it.
If not for the threat posed by Grindelwald, Ivan would never have attended such a pointless political meeting.
According to Pierce, it sometimes took days to discuss an important issue, and it was normal for a meeting to go on without a resolution.
Yvonne only hoped it would be different this time, or at least not in vain.
However, Ivan found it strange that North America chose not to hold a conclave, and instead made such a big deal out of it. Wasn't they worried that Grindelwald would try to sabotage them?
Yvonne was silent for a while, but eventually decided that Grindelwald would be able to get word of the meeting through various channels, probably because there were too many people involved. It would be better to do things openly, making it clear that they were out to get Grindelwald, and at the same time suppressing the believers' arrogance.
He should not have had to worry about security. With so many leaders present, North America would not dare to slack off. Perhaps the trap had already been set and was just waiting for Grindelwald to fall into it.