International Confederation of Wizards Conference

In 1104 AD, a great fire broke out in Venice.

A witch, seeking to save a church from being consumed by the flames, used powerful magic to sink the entire building into the canal and protect it with enchantments.

From then on, it became a legendary secret gathering place in the Italian Wizarding World.

Because the church had sunk upside down, the conference hall was actually inside the church's dome.

The curved dome that had once been the ceiling became the floor. Walking across the enormous, brilliantly colored stained-glass windows, one could see schools of fish swimming through the canal and the shifting play of light on the water.

Such a breathtaking place was perfectly suited for an important conference.

This International Confederation of Wizards meeting could be called the most significant conference of the past decade. With the magical information leak in Berlin and the election of a new president on the agenda, every journalist of note had come.

Naturally, Rita Skeeter was among them at this conference, which might shape the future of the Wizarding World.

Though she had been explicitly forbidden from entering, she had successfully bribed an Italian Ministry of Magic employee and slipped inside.

From the moment he saw her, Fudge's good mood sank straight to the bottom.

"Minister Fudge, I heard you strongly pushed for the election of a new president, yet you aren't running yourself. Do you believe the time isn't right yet?"

The time? What time?

Fudge's face darkened. "Miss Skeeter, Wayne Enterprises has long been blacklisted by the British Wizarding World. I will not answer your question."

Rita's eyes lit up even more brightly than her jewel-encrusted glasses. "Minister Fudge, Wayne Enterprises is Wayne Enterprises, and Wayne Media is Wayne Media. The two have absolutely nothing to do with each other."