A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 163 Eavesdropping

The elevator descended rapidly, and after a brief period of darkness, Felix caught a glimpse of the light beneath his feet growing larger.

A cacophony of sounds reached their ears as they arrived at a massive underground structure.

Felix looked at the patterns and murals on the vaulted ceiling.

Maxwell noticed his gaze: "We've adopted a new style—constellation patterns, and some historical events. See that big sphere?" He pointed to the silver-white sphere above the dome, which was emitting a soft light, illuminating the entire foyer as if it were daytime.

"This didn't exist before; it's all thanks to the minister before me."

The elevator landed, and Felix stepped out of the "birdcage." He looked around. The circular hall was divided into two levels. On the first level, several long desks were placed side by side in the center of the open space. Most of the seats were occupied, and people were walking back and forth in a hurry.

The second floor was supported by some columns, and at the very edge was a passageway with railings. He saw someone standing in front of the railings, looking down at the people below.

"Are the buildings here arranged horizontally?" Felix asked.

"What? Oh, yes, it's like a spider web, and we're standing right in the center," Maxwell said. "Unlike the British Ministry of Magic, I heard you've dug down more than ten floors?"

"As far as I know, it's the tenth floor," Felix said.

Next, Maxwell led Felix out of the hall and down a wide corridor to a small office. A sign on it read: Temporary Registration Point 2.

"I'll bring you directly here, so you don't have to go to the front desk and ask the receptionist, there's always a long line..." Maxwell pushed open the door. "Good afternoon, Willie. I've brought a friend to register for the Muggle Studies Conference."

A light-haired wizard looked up. "Of course... there have been so many people coming lately, I haven't even had time to relax." He suddenly looked at Felix: "Do you like playing 'Bomb'?"

Maxwell interrupted him impatiently, "Willie, we're in a hurry, we need to get to the hotel soon. I get so angry just thinking about that American woman."

"Ha! But you have to follow her orders, right?" The wizard named Willie handed over a form while registering Felix's wand. "Just fill it out casually, mainly the name, country, and purpose of visit."

Maxwell's beard twitched. "I'm following the minister's orders."

Felix quickly filled out the basic information, ignoring the section on magical proficiency on the form. When he handed it to Willie, the wizard didn't even glance at it before stuffing it into the drawer, then turned to Maxwell with a gleeful expression and said, "But the minister told you to listen to her. Did that woman make you work as a waiter?"

Maxwell responded with a rude gesture.

As they left the office, Maxwell explained, "This meeting was requested by the Magical Congress of the United States from the International Confederation of Wizards, and after all the committee members approved it, we were tasked with hosting it."

"Why don't you go to America?"

"What they asked for, who knows what they were thinking?" Maxwell clearly didn't want to talk about it, and Felix guessed it might be related to the 'woman' he mentioned.

The two arrived at a fireplace. "We're using the FiloNetwork, a temporary connection. The Busles Hotel, got it? You go first."

Felix grabbed a handful of Floo Powder and, amidst the shimmering flames, clearly shouted "Hotel Busleys," before disappearing from sight.

Felix stepped out of the fireplace. The hotel's interior was decorated mainly in red and gold, with the most striking features being the red carpet and golden stone pillars, which reminded Felix of Gryffindor House at Hogwarts.

He found it slightly amusing.

Soon, Maxwell emerged from the fireplace, led Felix to a room, and then hurriedly left.

Felix pushed open the door. The furnishings inside were simple. He spent some time casting protective spells before wandering around the hotel.

The hotel has seven floors. Felix strolled down to the first floor, chatted with the receptionist for a few minutes, and quickly determined that it was a Muggle hotel in a very remote location.

"Your tour group is really strange. Tourists only flock here in the fall to see the flowers and scenery. Right now, it's all bare..."

"And once we moved in, they wouldn't let us clean the room and made all sorts of strange demands."

Felix gave a few perfunctory replies; he didn't know how the French Ministry of Magic had negotiated and didn't want to say more.

There were two men standing at the door, one hand in their pocket. They looked very much like Maxwell, and he guessed they were guards assigned by the Ministry of Magic.

Felix asked the waiter if a guest named "Karedy Bubbaje" had arrived. The waiter checked the service list and said, "No, her room is 203, and it's currently vacant. It was just cleaned this morning."

After a polite thank you, Felix began to walk up from the first floor, checking for any traces of dark magic.

Along the way, they encountered several wizards from different countries. They were also invited experts, and Felix chatted with them for a while. Apart from those who couldn't understand each other's language, most of them were very friendly.

On the fourth floor, he discovered a huge auditorium with hundreds of seats.

"It seems the meeting is taking place here."

The fifth and sixth floors were empty, but Felix walked through them one by one until he heard some noises on the seventh floor.

"Did I really see it? Or was it actually a hotel staff member?"

Felix's figure gradually blended into the surrounding environment, his footsteps barely audible, and he stopped at the door of room 705.

The sounds inside were very faint, but Felix saw two bright sources of magic through the black-and-white perspective. He tapped the wall with his wand, and the point where the tip of the wand met the wall became soft.

The conversation inside the room reached Felix's ears clearly—

"Haven't you received the list yet?" It was a woman's voice.

"No, he's just being stubborn," a deep male voice said.

"Can't you—" The woman's voice suddenly stopped, as if she had been put under a tongue-locking spell.

"You've also realized the problem; we can't take harsh measures, at least I refuse."

The woman muttered a curse under her breath.

After a long pause, just when Felix thought the conversation was over, the man said dejectedly, "This is a complete disaster."

Footsteps approached, and Felix quickly left.

Inside the room, he was still pondering the intelligence he had stumbled upon.

It turns out that one of the attackers from last time has been caught. Judging from the conversation between the two sides, the attacker's identity is quite special, which makes them hesitant.

Is he a relative of some official?

Felix suddenly felt that the Galleons he had spent were not worth it—the information he had obtained was not as good as what he had overheard while standing at the door.

(End of this chapter)