"—I will first report to the assembly on a heinous incident that occurred in Oxta last night—"
Twelve massive Roman columns supported this classically styled circular chamber, its concentric rings of seats all filled.
Every nation across Asia, North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Oceania with a magical civilization had sent its representatives stationed in Paris to attend.
The solemn faces and dim candlelight made the atmosphere within the vast chamber oppressive to the extreme.
The seven seats at the center of the concentric circles belonged to Chairman Dumbledore, the five permanent vice chairmen—including Amosta Breen and Hope Draegen—and Minister Tres Nash of the French Ministry of Magic, the rotating vice chairman.
Minister Orlonkos Adenauer of the German Ministry of Magic stood at the central dais of the grand chamber, his left arm bandaged and hanging from his neck in a sling, delivering his report to the assembly.
Contrary to what most people had imagined,
Minister Adenauer, renowned for his fiery temper, did not appear particularly enraged. There was no excess expression on his pale face, but the unnatural pauses in his speech and the faint sounds of his labored breathing revealed that he was far less calm than he appeared.
"At 9:27 last night, a group of rioters appeared near Brandenburg Gate, Berlin's famous Muggle attraction. They indiscriminately attacked Muggles in the vicinity, directly resulting in thirty-one Muggle deaths and one hundred seventy-two injuries."
No newspaper in any country, Muggle or wizarding, had yet reported the incident.
Yet the wizards seated in this resplendent chamber were no ordinary people. All of them had already heard the news.
However, only the German Ministry of Magic possessed the precise casualty figures.
Without question, this was a grave incident worthy of being written into modern wizarding history, much like the collapse