After leaving Old Voldy's office, Anton didn't use Moonlight Floo Powder or any other means of travel to leave right away. Instead, he strolled around the American Magical Congress with light steps.
It wasn't because he had nothing better to do. Powerful emotions were surging through the place.
Hope, longing, yearning, anxiety...
So many people with such intense emotions had gathered that their collective consciousness had formed a magical field.
It was clearly abnormal. Back when Anton had wandered New York during the Nuclear Explosion time loop, searching for magical fields that might give rise to Dark Magic Creatures, most of what he found had been formed from negative emotions.
Just as Dark Magic was often more powerful than conventional magic, negative emotions in the mind were more likely to unleash power than positive ones.
Even the most ordinary hatred was enough to make a Wizard cast devastating magic. Love, on the other hand, had to grow exceptionally intense before it could become something extraordinary.
He went down the stairs inside the Magical Congress to the first-floor hall, then continued down another level. The noise rose around him at once.
Night had fallen, but the place was still in Full Illumination, packed with people.
There were nervous-looking teenagers, women scolding their noisy children under their breath, men pushing through the crowd beside the vending machines with Coffee in hand, and even white-haired old people...
Anton edged up behind a few people who looked like students and craned his neck to peek at the forms they held.
One of the forms read:
John Eddy, 17, male, identity number...
Status: Squib; Bloodline Magic Talent: Fantastic Beasts affinity (medium); assessment: no career recommendation.
Just then, a boy came out of an office, practically bursting with excitement. Waving his form, he squeezed through the