At the same time, outside Hogwarts Castle.

Beyond the gates adorned with winged boar sculptures, a neatly planned "research area" had sprung up.

As the bells from Hogwarts' towers chimed, hundreds of researchers and their families from the former Soviet Union emerged from their rooms, exchanging anxious whispers as they made their way to the research building in sector H.

"Hey, Natasha, do you know what we're doing today?"

Among the crowd, Arkhipovna nudged the woman beside her, asking in a low voice.

"Your family, both big and small, are in that magic castle now. I figured you'd know something at least?"

"Actually, I probably know even less than you do about this. So far, I've only met one wizard, little Frank. As for Alexei and Danilova, I haven't heard back from them yet..."

Natasha shook her head, glancing back with a sigh, a hint of anxiety in her eyes.

She couldn't see the majestic and ancient magic castle that Danilova had described. All she could see was a desolate and abandoned wasteland, devoid of any signs of human activity.

Unlike Arkhipovna from the Landau Institute, Natasha was here as a family member.

Having not signed a "magical employment agreement," she was not only unable to leave the area but also unable to see many of the basic magical facilities or buildings. She had to rely on a simple map to get her bearings.

"Hogwarts Academy City Living Guide—"

Natasha looked down at the card that had appeared on her bedside, musing to herself.

"Judging from the wording, it should be a debriefing of some sort."

The previous evening, after dinner, they had received such a strange card, detailing the location, time, and a brief summary of the topic, which resembled flyers handed out on the streets of Moscow some time ago.

Hogwarts—Academy—City?

This school in the magical world was far more mysterious and rigorous than she had imagined.

Both DC and AC communication tools were experiencing strange malfunctions here, which couldn't be explained by conventional electromagnetic shielding. In her opinion, it was more similar to the data from the Chernobyl accident site.

On the other hand, the area wasn't completely unguarded.

Magic was indeed wondrous, but that didn't mean every user was equally cautious. In just a few short days, Natasha had discovered traces left by others besides their group of "outsiders."

Without a doubt, someone unknown was watching their every move from the shadows of this area.

As they talked, they followed the crowd into the large lecture hall on the first floor of the research institute.

Although the population of the "Hogwarts Academy City" area was still small, most of the buildings and facilities were built to the standards of the world's top research institutes and university campuses.

Even with nearly two hundred researchers pouring in, the lecture hall was only barely filled up to the first three or four rows.

"Over here, Natasha, Bovna! We're over here!"

Before Natasha and Arkhipovna could get a good look around, a hearty voice called out from the seats to their right. An elderly man in his seventies stood up, waving to them.

Vinogradov, a treasure of the former Soviet Academy of Sciences and the Steklov Mathematical Institute.

About half or more of the researchers present in mathematics, physics, and biology had taken his classes. According to Aileen and Dumbledore's original plan, he was supposed to go to Hogwarts as a representative of the Soviet scientific community, but for various reasons, the old man pushed his favorite student, Alexei, out in his place at the last moment.

Obviously, as the "madwoman" of the Landau Institute and Alexei's "Natasha," these two ladies were among the most orthodox "direct descendants." Hearing the old man's greeting, they quickly nodded, smiling as they approached.

At the same time, scholars from other research institutes were calling out to their friends to sit together.

Hogwarts and Tianming's "Spark Transmission Project" was not completed in an instant. For security and confidentiality reasons, most scholars would be quarantined for a period of time after arriving at Hogwarts to ensure that they were not disguised foreign wizards or non-magical intelligence personnel who had infiltrated Hogwarts Academy City.

Therefore, this was almost the first time that all the scholars who had arrived at Hogwarts had truly seen each other.

In fact, it could even be considered the largest academic salon in decades. Even in the last period before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, such a large gathering of top scholars had never occurred.

People gathered, exchanging quiet greetings and whispers, sharing their experiences of the past few days, and guessing the content of today's briefing. If all went well, this should be their official introduction to the magical world.

"So... the host for today hasn't arrived yet?"

Natasha frowned, glancing at the empty podium, her left hand unconsciously touching her lower back.

Compared to the scholars who were taking this opportunity to chat, she was more concerned about the mastermind behind all of this.

In recent days, whenever Natasha proactively asked about this, Alexei would always end all further discussion with reasons such as top secret, insufficient authority, just like he used to do when he worked at the Nuclear Physics Institute.

But whether it was from her husband's hesitant expression or the slightest clues, everything was clearly not simple.

This could never, at least not be, the simple "humanitarian aid" that most scholars believed it to be. Such a large-scale transfer of personnel, spanning almost half the globe, deceiving more than half of the world's population, could never be accomplished by a magic school that needed to teach eleven or twelve-year-old children.

If a mere "middle school" possessed such power, then the magical world would have already surpassed the non-magical world.

Natasha carefully observed the surroundings. The windows were all open, the sunlight streaming unhindered through the semicircular arched windows at the top of the hall onto the ceiling. The doors on both sides of the entrance were not closed, and there were no guards to be seen.

Similarly, she didn't see anyone other than them arriving at the scene.

However, she couldn't see any signs of confusion on the faces of many of the seasoned academic heavyweights present. Under their influence, the atmosphere in the entire lecture hall was quite relaxed, with no signs of panic or tension.

Speaking of which...

Natasha's gaze slowly swept across the faces of Vinogradov, Valerianovich, Mendalov, and others, her eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully. If she wasn't mistaken, they should be important personnel of the same rank as Alexei.

She was well aware of her husband's influence. Gathering such a large group of scholars was not something that Alexei's relatively inexperienced social circle could accomplish. The living fossils in various fields were the ones who had truly leveraged the former Soviet academic circle, and if all went well, she could learn some useful information today.

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out on the podium in the distance.

A somewhat sharp voice, sounding as if it carried a hint of wary cunning.

"Welcome," the voice said in a shrill tone, "welcome, everyone, to Hogwarts."

Natasha suddenly looked up, following the direction of the podium. Her first thought was that she had seen a gnome, and then she thought that it was one of those magical races enslaved by wizards, called "house-elves" by the surrounding scholars.

However, when she finally saw the "little guy" in front of the podium clearly, without even asking the opinions of the researchers around her, Natasha quickly understood—this was definitely not a wizard's servant. Any creature could show cunning and ferocity, but only something with social standing could possess that type of confidence.

It was short in stature, with dark skin, exceptionally long hands and feet, wearing an extremely exquisite gold-trimmed tuxedo. On its left side was a meticulously crafted metal cane, and a silver monocle glittered in its left eye.

Although it looked no taller than an eleven or twelve-year-old child, no one would ignore or underestimate it because of this.

Especially when it suddenly appeared in the lecture hall in a way that no one could understand.

"Please, take a seat, treasures from the non-magical world," it said, snapping its fingers lightly.

With the snap, a huge white screen came crashing down from the ceiling of the lecture hall's podium, and the blinds on the windows around the room were pulled down at the same time. Rows of magical torches were lit in the stepped hall one by one.

In almost a matter of seconds, the style of the entire hall suddenly became mysterious and unpredictable.

"Welcome... to the world of magic, everyone."

The goblin's monocle flashed, and it grinned, revealing sharp fangs, saying, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Chief Executive Officer of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, and also one of the Grade A guides of Hogwarts Academy City, a goblin, Douglas."

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Gu Ya~

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