The afternoon sunlight filtered through the blinds, creating alternating stripes of light and shadow on the desk piled high with documents.
Moody's wooden leg impatiently tapped the ground, producing a "knock, knock, knock" sound that annoyed everyone else.
But Moody's irritation surpassed anyone else's; he was originally adept at handling this kind of paperwork.
His Magic Eye spun wildly in its socket, scanning over every page of the documents spread out before him. Suddenly, with a loud "thud," a pile of papers was slammed onto the desk.
"Look at this!"
Moody said angrily: "No eyewitness reports, the crucial sections have been ink-stained! The hotel register book has also been mysteriously burned! Do these guys think we're all fools?! Bringing such rubbish to try and fool us!"
Kingsley set down the file in his hand. Compared to Moody's fury, he appeared exceptionally calm, maintaining a steady rhythm even in his voice:
"But they've provided—oh, according to them—it's all the investigation materials. From a procedural standpoint, it's impeccable."
"Procedures?"
Moody sneered, his Magic Eye fixated on the wall as he ground his teeth, speaking fiercely:
"This trash is cleaner than plates licked by House-Elves! I think that Ezra Hughes did it on purpose! Perhaps they're in cahoots with the Scourers!"
Compared to their previous relatively free operation, this time they arrived at the Magic Congress with an official identity, yet faced more restrictions—
Staying at the Congress-appointed hotel, having to report their itinerary to the Congress, traveling in vehicles arranged by the Congress, and the so-called "investigation" was limited to examining materials in a temporary office provided by the Magic Congress.
"Don't make unfounded assumptions, Alastor."
Kingsley continued unhurriedly: "This treatment, didn't we already anticipate it before coming?"
"The Magic Congress currently can't provide us with a result, and they don't want us investigating freely in their territory, so they're giving us this stuff as a stalling tactic."
"But if they really dug the Scourers out of the gutters, I suppose they wouldn't hesitate to give us a result."
He turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the skyline of New York outside the window.
When his gaze returned, it briefly intersected with Moody's sharp eyes.
Moody's Magic Eye suddenly stopped turning, fixating on Kingsley's face.
After a moment, he heavily sat back in his chair, squeezing out a cold snort from between his teeth: "Let's hope you're right!"
The other Aurors accompanying them saw the disagreement between the two bigwigs and all remained silent, while Kingsley adjusted his sleeve, a slight curve crossing his lips.
Their true purpose for this trip wasn't to be cooped up in an office reviewing documents, nor was it to investigate the Scourers' stronghold.
The hope for investigation lay outside the Congress Headquarters.
And what Kingsley and the others needed to do was actually just patiently wait, maintain necessary activities, and at the critical moment, become a well-coordinated surprise force!
Despite the fact that the most challenging and crucial tasks were entrusted to a student, Kingsley had great confidence in Vid's ability and in Vid's Poppet.
In this world, there are people who are born with extraordinary talents and missions, their lives destined to be a grand epic.
Kingsley's most outstanding quality is that: when needed, he can step up and shoulder the burden; but when someone is more suitable than him, he can also step aside and willingly play a supporting role.
...
After Moody stopped complaining, the room suddenly became quiet, with only the "rustle" of documents being flipped through.
[Ah... I was in a good mood that morning, went out to buy milk, bread, and eggs, and heard the neighbor's dog bark three times... No, didn't see anything special.]
[That's right, I suspect the attacker might have been invisible, so no clues were left... Certainly not a guest of the hotel, everyone was sitting in the lobby drinking coffee that day...]
[Why was everyone there? I don't know, maybe because everyone likes coffee. I recently bought a new kind of coffee bean imported from Brazil, it's said to be...]
Tonks raised her head from the lengthy and meaningless introduction of coffee origins and looked at the others.
As expected, everyone seemed as pained as she did, their faces unknowingly scrunched up, as if they'd bitten into a sour lemon.
They didn't want to waste time here but worried about missing any important clues, they had to go through all the materials.
However, for some reason, the previously irritable Moody seemed to have calmed down again, he merely didn't touch the documents in front of him, his eyeballs occasionally turning in his eye socket, not knowing what he was looking at.
Tonks decided to liven up the atmosphere a bit; she coughed twice, pointing to her nose, and suddenly said: "Everyone look at me!"
Everyone instinctively turned their gaze over, just in time to see Tonks with a "pop," transform her head into a dog head with googly eyes.
The silence lasted about a second.
Soon...
"Pfft—"
No one knew who couldn't hold it in first, but a laugh squeezed out from their nose, followed by explosive laughter filling the office, even Kingsley, who was always serious, lowered his head, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
Moody glared, his Magic Eye that was originally scanning the ceiling turned back to stare at Tonks, just as he was about to say something, he saw that dog head turning towards him, displaying a silly and dumb expression, even blinking eyelashes as long as an inch.
Moody's facial features twitched, wanting to laugh yet wanting to reprimand, ultimately turned into a helpless snort tinged with a bit of admiration.
"Haha!"
Tonks' head turned back to its original form, triumphantly threw her head back, and the bubble gum-colored hair bounced a few times along with it.
Just as she was about to say something, the office door suddenly swung open.
A woman dressed in a custom-tailored dark green robe, with a clock-shaped brooch pinned at her collar, stood outside the door. Her black hair was styled in large waves, her brows slightly furrowed, staring at the unusually cheerful people in the room in wonder.
—She knew the transferred documents from the Auror Office were all useless and set for destruction, no matter how one thinks, these British Wizards should either be upset or angry, their mood definitely far from good.
Thus, before entering, the woman had braced herself for facing rage and questioning, but unexpectedly found laughter and merriment.
She paused for a moment, then put away her confusion, revealing a flawless smile:
"Good afternoon, everyone."
She said in a clear voice: "I am Laira Picquery, the aide to Chairman Hosone. I am honored to represent Chairman Hosone, and extend a special invitation to our friends from the United Kingdom to attend tonight's banquet organized especially for you."