The room erupted in laughter at the Russian Minister's words, and the French Minister was so angry that he almost slammed the table and left…
The morning soon ended in an endless row, and Ivan was shrewd enough to notice that Piers also seemed to show a lack of interest, neither directly nor explicitly in favour.
The only one eager to make this happen is the French Ministry of Magic…
As noon approached, the meeting was adjourned and Wilkinson set the date for the second meeting to be nine o'clock the next morning.
"We're having a meeting in the morning?" Yvonne couldn't help thinking it was a waste of time.
Pierce shook his head and glanced at the goblin leading the way. He then lowered his voice and explained to Ivan that such an important topic could not be discussed directly at the Convention. The only things that mattered were the afternoons and evenings.
After all, it was only in private that sensitive topics could be discussed. If the various wizarding powers could come to an agreement, then tomorrow's meeting would naturally go smoothly… but if not, it would have to be pushed back a day.
"Although the Russian Minister and the President of the Asian Association did not seem to care much about the alliance, in fact, they only wanted to use it as a bargaining chip…
Grindelwald's actions had put the entire wizarding community at risk, so a coalition was bound to have to be formed. However, there were priorities. The Continent was most affected, and the fact that they could not wait meant they had to fork out more money and shoulder more responsibility…
There are also a lot of details that need to be discussed in private, such as how many men each country is sending and who will be in command of the army, which are very important and inconvenient to discuss openly."
Pierce explained the situation to Ivan in detail. After more than ten years as the Chief Executive, he might be average at magic, but he was very familiar with political matters…
'So you're saying I hate politics…' Ivan sighed, glad he hadn't become Minister for Magic. He didn't want to waste his time on such nonsense.
"This afternoon, I'm going to see the Asian President first, get his opinion, and talk to some of the North American delegates. Are you going to join me?" Pierce asked.
"No, just tell me the results when you get back," Ivan said, shaking his head at Pierce's suggestion.
Percy, on the other hand, was in high spirits. He was like a fish in water in such a political meeting. In the short time he had been in the gallery, he had been chatting with several North African wizard representatives. Now, he was even volunteering to fulfill his duties as an assistant and accompany Pierce as a recorder.
However, Piers was clearly not happy with him, and used this as an excuse to arrange for Dawlish to replace Percy as his assistant.
"Gentlemen, this is your room. If you have any orders, just press that button and someone will come to your aid…" The goblin led Ivan and the others into a lounge and pointed to a red button on the wall.
It was said to be a room, but in fact, it looked no different from a room. The space was divided into two floors, with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a living room.
After a morning of bickering, Pierce was exhausted. After lunch, he went back to his room to rest. Later, he would have to wrangle with the wizarding representatives.
Alone in the bedroom, Ivan took the suitcase from the goblin servant and rummaged through the thick books.
However, these books did not have much to do with magic, as they contained information on Deathly Hallows that he had gathered over the past few days.
Among them are Great British Magical Matters, modern European Who's Who and other generally credible official books, as well as many unofficial histories, novels, and even more absurd legends.
The most common mention of this information is the Elder Wand, which kills wizards every few decades or century, or claims to have the most powerful wand in the world.
Not much is known about the Cloak of Invisibility, as it did not change hands as often as the wand, and was only known to Peverell and members of the Potter family.
The situation with the Resurrection Stone was similar to that of the Invisibility Cloak. Other than the fairy tale book, there was almost nothing else to be found. Ivan had no choice but to open the book that Topples had previously obtained, which contained information on the Gaunt family tree.
"Will the head of the house die young?" Ivan gently touched the old parchment in front of him and looked at the names on it, lost in thought.
From the information on the family tree, it seemed that the previous heads of the House of Gaunt had lived very short lives, none of them past the age of fifty, which was strange among the generally long-lived wizarding community. Some had even died mysteriously within a year of being head of the house… as if they had been cursed.
"The cause of death was…suicide!" Ivan read, a chill running down his spine.
This was not a Resurrection Stone, but a cursed stone!
Ivan did not believe this to be a coincidence, as legend had it that the second brother killed himself because of the Resurrection Stone.
As for why the subsequent family members were all right?
Ivan was inclined to believe that a certain generation of the head of the House of Gaunt had realised the terror of the Resurrection Stone, but was reluctant to part with such a treasure, so he created a ring to seal the power of the Resurrection Stone, and even took the method of using it with him to his grave, lest future generations suffer the same fate.
This explains why the last of the Gaunts knew nothing about the Resurrection Stone.
Ivan pondered for a moment, then slowly reached down to his neck and pulled out a silver pendant from his collar. At the bottom of the pendant was a disc the size of a coin, with a diamond-shaped crystal in the middle—the Resurrection Stone!