The wizards' celebrations did not last long. When the dazzling fireworks finally stopped lighting up the sky...
The emotions buried beneath the excitement of defeating Voldemort surged up like boiling water.
The Wizarding World had suffered devastating losses on an unprecedented scale. When the special editions rushed out by the major newspapers reached everyone's hands...
Only then did the wizards gain a clearer understanding of the consequences of the "Battle of New York."
Of more than sixty thousand wizards, over thirty thousand had been lost. More than ten thousand had died in the first air raid.
Another ten thousand or more had died in the subsequent battles against the Dark Wizards and the mixed forces of Demon Hunters and Muggles.
More importantly, the dead had all been the elite of the Wizarding World!
The British Ministry of Magic issued an emergency announcement: under emergency regulations, the former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Susan Bones, would take office as Minister for Magic.
She would lead the response to the earth-shattering upheaval that was sure to follow.
Two headmasters from the major magical schools had died: Karkaroff, the headmaster of Durmstrang, and the headmaster of Castelobruxo.
As for the officials from other Ministries of Magic, the Auror forces, and the families qualified to obtain tickets to the final round...
Their losses could only be described as devastating.
More crucially, the International Statute of Secrecy had become nothing more than a worthless scrap of paper, and calls for vengeance rose throughout the Wizarding World.
But those with foresight advocated negotiations with the Muggles. If war truly broke out between the two sides, the only possible outcome would be mutual destruction.
The ones they wanted to destroy more were the Church.
The Dark Wizards had fared even worse. There had