Just as she was about to continue questioning him, Dumbledore had already extended his arm by the window:
"Come, my dear Fawkes. From England to America, we have a long journey ahead of us."
"Caw!"
Fawkes was reluctant, but it could not disobey its master's command.
A moment later, amid a burst of blazing fire, the old wizard and the phoenix vanished. In the vast headmaster's office, only the portraits' snores continued.
Along with Matilda's soft sigh...
A hundred-year-old wizard was about to spend the entire night crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
And on the other side of the sea, another group of elderly wizards had likewise stayed up all night, now entering the tense and thrilling voting stage of a parliamentary session.
Bang! Bang!
In Woolworth's circular grand chamber, Josiah Parker struggled to force open his swollen, drooping eyelids and listlessly tapped his gavel.
Yet he was utterly unable to stop the uproar below.
Ever since the Committee of the Whole had reached a consensus and formally submitted the proposal to "sanction illegally assembled werewolf groups" to Parliament according to procedure, the entire chamber had erupted.
As expected, the Stewart family opposed it with all their strength.
The Potter, Weiss, and Fontana families, who had voted in favor during the Committee of the Whole meeting, suddenly reversed their stance as well, waving banners and shouting behind the Stewart family.
Even the other nine families that had originally been firm in their support had become ambiguous in their attitudes, while the Pure-blood Alliance, including Rappaport, looked on coldly.
The Committee of the Whole's resolution had actually been stalled.
However, Josiah Parker's mood remained unaffected.
Because he knew perfectly well that this was only a minor setback—a response from the Twelve Pure-bloods and the Pure-blood Alliance to his sudden attack during