Hogwarts' "Academy City" Research Institute was located outside the school gates.

Due to some special reasons, this area didn't yet have a definite name.

After classes on Friday afternoon, Gilderoy Lockhart and Quirinus Quirrell met at the castle gates as usual, carrying briefcases and passing through the twin-winged boar statues outside the Hogwarts gate, heading towards the largest research building in that area.

Dozens of top scholars from the former Soviet Union were gathered there, with stacks of thick manuscripts piled on the tables, and even blackboards placed in the corridors.

Arhipovna, the "madwoman" from the Landau Institute, walked back and forth between the tables, frowning and constantly checking and recording the parts each scholar was responsible for calculating. In this magical territory filled with strange magnetic fields, the time they all could use computers was extremely limited.

The institute's computers were mostly unable to be turned on – they had to be inside a "magic-Faraday cage" created by wizards to be used normally.

"Lockhart? Oh, thank God, you're finally here!"

Arhipovna looked up, a bright smile blooming on her face as she looked at the two wizards who had just pushed open the door and entered the institute.

The Hogwarts area had a constantly changing "activated" magnetic field. Any non-magical electronic equipment exposed to the magnetic field had a short lifespan. However, wizards could use magic to form a completely enclosed space, creating a physical and magical isolation space, briefly deceiving the Hogwarts magnetic field.

After several months of research, the hypothesis that Hogwarts Castle might possess elementary intelligence had become the mainstream assumption.

In the current expression of the former Soviet scholars, this thousand-year-old castle might have some kind of mechanism. It autonomously emits exploratory wavelengths towards all objects within the Hogwarts range and obtains some kind of temporarily unknown magical echo from them.

If the other party remained silent, Hogwarts Castle would increase the signal, which was also the reason for the burnout of most electronic equipment.

Therefore, the institute had to be very cautious when using electronic equipment, minimizing the time the equipment was exposed.

"Well, to be honest, I might not be so popular today—"

Lockhart said while waving his wand to release the protections on the "equipment room," signaling the scholars to hurry inside.

"Next week is the Christmas holiday, and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will be on break. Professor Dumbledore asked me to inform everyone that during the holidays..."

"Oh, that's okay, you can go enjoy your holiday, we can calculate on paper first."

Arhipovna waved her hand dismissively and quickly walked into the magically isolated zone.

As the last person walked into the room, the metal walls closed again, and all the instruments in the room lit up instantly at the same time.

Dozens of former Soviet scholars, like internet-addicted teenagers who had been deprived for months, quickly went to their respective positions and began entering the formulas they had calculated on their manuscripts, waiting for the central computer to give the final answer, which was also the most anticipated moment for these scholars every day.

"The project is progressing very smoothly, and we have roughly calculated the changing patterns of the Hogwarts magnetic field."

Arhipovna picked up a recording board and waved it excitedly at Quirrell and Lockhart.

"As for magic energy, we also have a very interesting hypothesis. If everything goes smoothly, we may be able to assemble the first—"

"Congratulations, but, just a slight interruption..."

Gilderoy Lockhart chose his words carefully before speaking softly.

"Professor Dumbledore asked me to inform everyone that today may be the last time to use the equipment this year. Please complete the necessary data verification and preservation this weekend, and then we will temporarily clear all the data and equipment in this area—during the Christmas holidays, all the institute's projects will be suspended for a while. Hogwarts is about to be cleared, so you can all go home and rest and have a good Christmas..."

With Gilderoy Lockhart's words, the room suddenly fell silent.

Those former Soviet researchers who were fiddling with the equipment stopped one by one and looked up at the two wizards standing by the door.

"Project suspended? Clearance? Wait, wait a minute—"

Arhipovna was silent for a moment, then turned to look at Gilderoy Lockhart.

She took a few deep breaths, and the recording board in her hand shook helplessly in mid-air.

They were no strangers to requests like this. Months, even a year or two ago, everyone present had heard almost exactly the same request. The most despairing thing for them was the indefinite permanent suspension of the project that Christmas last year.

Of course, this time was no better.

"Going home to rest means... will that regulation be implemented?"

Arhipovna's expression changed several times, her voice slightly trembling.

According to the original agreement between Hogwarts, or rather, the wizards, all non-magical scholars would undergo a memory wipe every time they left the research area.

This would mean that, apart from paper data, all the inspiration, ideas, and thought processes they had not written down would return to square one while they were on "holiday," and they might even completely forget that they had come to the magical world and recorded and researched these things.

"Yes, this is for your safety."

Quirinus Quirrell took out a notice from his pocket and placed it on the table.

"During the Christmas holidays, Hogwarts will launch a large-scale cleaning operation. According to current calculations, this activity may erupt into fierce magical battles, and the scope of the battle may affect the research institute—if that happens, the mortality rate for everyone present can be said to be almost one hundred percent. So, you'd better hurry up and leave a backup now, enjoy Christmas, and wait for the restart after the holidays..."

Restart? Backup? Celebrate Christmas?

Arhipovna smiled rather reluctantly. Clearing their memories at the last moment was like directly erasing all their achievements.

Before a breakthrough result appeared, incorrect content was more important than correct data. Magic might magically protect their brains from damage, but it was very likely to cause omissions in the key experiments during this period, and the risk was too great.

More importantly, unlike before at the Landau Institute, they still had hope in their hearts.

Once the project on the Hogwarts side was called off, they couldn't even form a plan to start over in their minds.

"We, we are about to succeed, really, just give us a little more time—"

Arhipovna bit her lip and somewhat roughly handed the recording board to Lockhart and Quirrell, her voice dry.

"Whether it's magical energy conversion or ternary computers, we are all close to finding the right direction. We absolutely can't stop at this time. Just give us a little more time, even if we die in the research institute, that's better than losing the data. Inspiration often takes a lifetime to wait for..."

"We... have no home to return to, and there is no reason to celebrate Christmas anymore. This is the only place where we can continue our research."

"Don't disband the research institute, we don't need any holidays... Let us... finish this project..."

…………

"You violated the regulations, Mr. Lockhart."

Quirrell Quirinus said calmly, by now they were already on their way back to the castle.

"The Hogwarts clearance order was signed by the entire 'Greater Arcana'. Your task is to convey and execute the order. All projects on the research institute side should enter the final backup, not continue the research... This will cause the final evacuation and clearance to lose buffer time."

"Regarding this point, I will submit an explanation later—"

Gilderoy Lockhart turned around and glanced at the research area not far away, which was still brightly lit.

"Releasing the Obliviate is very simple, but learning is very difficult, and even more difficult than learning is finding what to learn. I will never be a world-changing hero, but I at least understand one thing, I shouldn't stop others from changing the world at this time..."

As the person with the deepest knowledge in memory magic in the magical world today, he didn't want to be the one who was just making up the numbers in the "Greater Arcana."

With his tenure at Destiny and working with the other members of the "Greater Arcana," Lockhart gradually found his direction.

Before the official evacuation begins next Monday, he has to find a way to convince that "Miss Fool."

This way, he can re-initiate a "Greater Arcana" meeting to revise some of the decisions regarding the research institute, even though "Miss Fool" has never overturned her own decisions before, Lockhart still intends to try.

After all...

Lockhart touched the cold badge in his chest pocket and murmured softly.

"We control, we record, we... protect."

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Oh my god!