Under the cloak of night, the girls quietly returned to Hogwarts Castle.

As they landed one by one on the open-air terrace of the Astronomy Tower, the clock struck midnight.

Just as they had left, no one noticed the figures descending from the sky.

The noise and lights in the Great Hall of Hogwarts had long since vanished, the Ministry of Magic officials and reporters had departed, and the corridors of the castle were left with only the mottled shadows projected by the moonlight and the faint sound of water from the surrounding lake. Hogwarts had fallen asleep.

Obviously, this time they wouldn't be foolish enough to barge into the headmaster's office, that would be throwing themselves into the net, wouldn't it?

Leaving the Astronomy Tower terrace, they carefully made their way through the corridors to the kitchen below, using the fireplace in the Hogwarts kitchen to smoothly transport themselves to the Hufflepuff dormitories, as if they had never left.

This was the most exciting and wonderful Christmas that Hermione, Luna, and Hannah had ever experienced in their lives.

For the first time ever, they experienced what it felt like to be older sisters, soaring through the sky outside the school on flying broomsticks. This was a holiday entirely their own, and they had even, seduced by the succubus, gathered around the bedside in the bedroom and secretly drunk a few glasses of wine.

This gave them the illusion of becoming adults, and the joy of a successful stealth mission and drinking forbidden drinks was simply too wonderful.

To the point that when they lay in bed to fall asleep, each girl had a faint, excited blush on her face.

However, since returning from the shores of Loch Lomond, one thing had been lingering in Ailina's mind.

It wasn't until she returned to Hogwarts and lulled the other little chicks to sleep that Ailina had the time to carefully consider it: what exactly was she pursuing, and when the end was reached, would her sacrifices and gains really allow her to be without any regrets.

In the room on the shores of Loch Lomond, Benitez's suggestion was a proverb from the Gospel of Matthew.

However, Ailina knew very well that her problem was not about losing herself.

As a transmigrator, her initial thought was simply to use her foresight to make the people around her live better lives.

However, as the worldline changed, more and more people gathered around her, and the power she could change and mobilize gradually became more and more unimaginable - she now bore on her shoulders not just the fate of one or two people, but the future of two worlds.

The magical world and the non-magical world have been at peace and separated for too long, but the two will eventually come to a moment of honest meeting.

From the day Ailina stepped into Hogwarts Castle, she was destined to be unable to avoid this future.

Compared to Voldemort, Grindelwald...

This is the real disaster countdown that could upend everyone's lives and trigger large-scale conflicts if not handled carefully.

Perhaps no one in the original world could lead this transformation, but with the help of foresight, Ailina had found a glimmer of hope - opening the magical era in human civilization before the Internet age arrived.

Just as she had told Benitez before, she was trying to bring the legendary fairy tale world to reality.

Only... even she herself had never seen the future of the fairy tale's descent.

More importantly, as time went on, she began to not understand what she was pursuing.

"For the greater good," "Fairy tales descend into reality," "A world where no one gets hurt," "Protecting world peace"...

These were not what she truly wanted. They were more what those gathered around her yearned for. From beginning to end, what she hoped for was definitely not these great ideals. Ailina knew very well that she was never a saint with the well-being of all people at heart.

The right direction is more important than any amount of effort.

She had to find that answer as soon as possible.

Ailina carefully pulled her arm out of Hannah's embrace and quietly slid out of bed.

Hannah, Hermione, and Luna were sleeping soundly, and even when Ailina accidentally made a noise getting out of bed, it didn't wake them. Ailina walked to the mirror in the bedroom, looked at the unfamiliar but familiar figure in the mirror, and gazed at the beautiful lake-blue eyes that shone like stars.

It was a very strange feeling, the person seemed to be her, and yet seemed to be someone else.

In fact, she had almost forgotten what she used to look like.

The person in the mirror... Wait?!

Suddenly, Ailina reacted.

She knew where she should go to find that answer.

She flicked her wand gently, and the robes hanging on the rack floated over silently.

Perhaps probing the heart is very ethereal in the non-magical world.

But in the magical world, or more precisely, in Hogwarts Castle at this time, if you were just looking for inner desires, there happened to be a magical item that could tell her the answer - the Mirror of Erised, which could reflect all the desires in people's hearts.

Nighttime strolls in Hogwarts were not a good idea, especially for a person with a poor sense of direction.

Even with Little Snack and Backup Rations as guides, the possibility of getting lost was not small.

Hannah mumbled a few words in her sleep.

Ailina wondered if she should secretly wake up one of the little chicks.

However, for some reason, Ailina didn't do that in the end.

This was her heart - at least before the unknown answer - she hoped to face it alone.

Ailina tiptoed out of the bedroom, walked through the common room, and crawled out of the Hufflepuff House's barrel door.

The corridor directly ahead was empty.

The fruit painting at the entrance to the Hogwarts kitchen was right in front of her, but Ailina didn't plan to go inside to find a guide.

"Little Snack, Backup Rations, it's up to you!"

She said in a low voice, shaking the sleepy little three-headed dog and little fat chicken.

After a long period of collaborative training, the biological clocks of Little Snack and Backup Rations had been completely adjusted. Their daily routines were now as well-behaved as those of a normal little wizard, going to bed on time every night after lights out and waking up on time at six or seven in the morning to await summoning.

Of course, in certain special circumstances, staying up late with the world's cutest and gentlest little master was also a must.

Since the little phoenix had not yet entered its mature form, Ailina did not carry Fawkes, but chose the most traditional wand lighting.

"So, destination... eighth floor of Hogwarts Castle, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet."

Ailina said softly, glanced at the hounds who were not moving, and thought for a moment and added.

"It doesn't matter if you don't know which painting that is, you know how to get to the eighth floor of the castle, right? Just find a tapestry when you get there."

"Cluck!"

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

This time, Little Snack and Backup Rations, who had been standing there as statues, finally reacted and gave affirmative responses.

"Shh - if you cause me to be discovered, you - "

Ailina nervously looked around, lowered her voice, and threatened fiercely.

"Little Snack, you go in front, remember to walk slowly, Backup Rations, you are responsible for maintaining vigilance and calibrating the direction."

As she had guessed, even though Little Snack and Backup Rations were more intelligent than ordinary magical creatures, they still lacked a certain amount of understanding in art appreciation. If she was going to be taking solo nighttime strolls in the school often, perhaps she should properly cultivate their ability to distinguish human art.

But that didn't matter now, after all, her goal tonight was very clear - the Mirror of Erised in the Room of Requirement.

The Mirror of Erised is a magical mirror.

According to Albus Dumbledore, it shows "the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts."

The name "Erised" is "desire" spelled backward, like a reflection in a mirror.

The Mirror of Erised is very old, no one knows who created it, how it came to Hogwarts School. Generations of Hogwarts teachers often brought back interesting things from their travels, so it may have come to the castle unintentionally in this way.

In fact, the mirror has done more harm than good over the years.

Many wise wizards would spend their time in front of the mirror, becoming detached from reality.

They become obsessed with the illusory scenes they see, unable or unwilling to accept that it is only a fantasy.

Some even went crazy because of the images they saw, because those scenes only existed in the mirror frame, and they could not realize them.

Therefore, at the request of Professor Dumbledore, since about 1891, the mirror has been kept in the Room of Requirement.

In the original timeline, in order to create a fun and safe "Philosopher's Stone copy," Dumbledore would have taken the Mirror of Erised out of the Room of Requirement and modified it slightly so that the Philosopher's Stone could be hidden inside, as the final stage of the Philosopher's Stone defense.

But under the torment of the two Dark Lords, Voldemort couldn't even make it past Halloween before lying down in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries with Quirrell.

The original "Philosopher's Stone defense" also became the "Dark Arts Defense Practice Assessment Test" after being recycled.

And the Mirror of Erised naturally did not come into play and was returned to the Room of Requirement.

...

"Woof! Ooh! Ooh—"

A few minutes later, Little Snack stopped in front of a white wall.

It habitually barked once, then quickly reacted, and the subsequent barks turned into flattering whimpers.

Opposite this white wall was the huge tapestry, where Barnabas the Barmy was trying to teach trolls to dance ballet, only to be beaten up in return.

"Turn your head away, or I'll burn you - "

Ailina glanced at the troll who was turning to look at her and threatened in a low voice with a smile.

The troll immediately turned back and continued to beat up its poor ballet teacher with all its attention.

The Room of Requirement can be said to be a mysterious place in Hogwarts Castle. It changes scenes and appears according to the needs of the wizards.

When the user concentrates on the place they need and walks back and forth across the wall in front of the entrance three times, a magic door will appear on the wall, through which they can enter the Room of Requirement after it has changed. This should have been one of the most mysterious legends of Hogwarts.

However, for Ailina, who had opened her "Heavenly Eye," there was obviously nothing mysterious about it.

She recalled the description in the original, concentrated and walked back and forth in front of the white wall.

"I want to find a place to put things, I want to find a place to put a mirror, I want to find a place where professors store things..."

When Ailina turned around for the third time, a very smooth door suddenly appeared on the wall.

Little Snack stared intently at the door that suddenly appeared, its six eyes full of vigilance.

"Don't be afraid, we've reached our destination -"

Ailina picked up Little Snack and snapped her right fingers.

In the air, Backup Rations, who was gliding and keeping watch, flew down silently and gently landed on her little master's shoulder.

Ailina grasped the bronze handle, opened the door, and walked into the unknown room with a calm expression.

This was a huge space no less than the cathedrals of London.

Columns of light cast from high above reflected what looked like a city of towering walls, the walls of the "city" all made up of items hidden by generations of Hogwarts students. Along the streets were piles of rickety, broken furniture, mostly evidence stuffed in to cover up miscast spells, or hidden by house-elves to maintain the dignity of the castle.

It seemed that some unknown entity had simply sorted through the various items, with thousands upon thousands of books behind the broken furniture.

Without exception, they were all forbidden books, books that had been scribbled on, stolen books, or manuscripts and letters that were to be destroyed.

Last year, Ailina had found all the Hogwarts past exam papers inside, and had been very successful in the final exams, ultimately using this rote memorization ability to trick Hermione into losing that "one hundred times" punishment game.

And further back were scattered, messy, mountainous piles of things.

For example, there were winged slingshots and Fanged Frisbees, which were relatively new items, several of which were still weakly hovering over the mountainous piles of forbidden objects; some broken bottles contained congealed potions; and there were hats, jewelry, cloaks, things that looked like dragon eggshells; several stoppered bottles were still flashing with evil light; and there were several rusty swords and a large blood-stained ax...

"I want to find a huge mirror, it may be covered up, Backup Rations, go see where it is -"

Ailina raised her arm, calmly said softly, and released her beloved little pet.

A moment later, Backup Rations flew back triumphantly.

Under the navigation of her own little pet, Ailina walked unhurriedly into one of the small alleys of this treasure pile, turned right, passed a giant specimen, walked a few steps forward, turned left, and circled several times, finally stopping in front of a large object covered in black velvet.

"Phew, well then, let me see -"

Ailina breathed a sigh of relief, tapped her wand lightly, and commanded the velvet to drop a little.

There were many dangerous contraband items in Hogwarts, and she didn't want to trigger some terrible curse because of some accident.

As the fabric slid down, the golden frame along the top of the mirror first appeared, with a line of words inscribed on it:

"erised stra ehruo ytubeca fruoy tonwohsi"

Perhaps for Europeans, this seemed like a very wonderful, well-hidden riddle.

However, as Ailina, whose previous life's soul came from the East, Chinese people had more than one direction when reading words.

"I show not your face but your heart's desire."

Ailina tilted her head back and read the metal inscription from right to left, muttering thoughtfully to herself.

"That's right, this is it, the Mirror of Erised - so can you tell me the answer? The legendary mirror..."

She stood there, pondered for a moment, took a deep breath, walked towards the large object, and reached out and tore off the black velvet directly.

The legendary Mirror of Erised appeared.

----

----

Yay!