Hogwarts Great Hall, lunch was in progress.

With Aileen's termination of the competition, the first half of the inter-college contest officially came to an end.

The score was temporarily fixed at [3:1], with Gryffindor House slightly leading Slytherin House by two points.

Although many Slytherin students raised questions after the game, such as Rubeus Hagrid's final spell being "life-threatening".

If according to the competition rules previously announced by Aileen, Gryffindor House should have been directly judged to have lost.

However, Aileen, who had the "final interpretation right," uniformly used the reason that "Forceful Impact" did not belong to a high-risk spell to deal with it—as for Valkyrie's explanation, it was even simpler, some superficial Transfiguration spells and new type of Flying Broomsticks' linkage magic skills.

It must be admitted that, compared to the truth, the Slytherin students cared more about whether they would suffer the wrath of the witch.

After simply stating their position, no one would choose to stubbornly argue with Aileen in this regard.

"That spell..."

At the staff table, Professor McGonagall pondered, hesitant to speak.

She had never seen such a powerful attack, which was more like a magical light cannon than a Forceful Impact.

A wizard's ability comes from themselves, and the wand is only an aid, which is beyond doubt—even the legendary Elder Wand cannot exceed the limit.

No matter what was special about that "umbrella wand," the "source of power" of the magic light cannon released by Rubeus Hagrid must be himself.

And what made her even more suspicious was that Aileen's response to such a terrible magic attack was too easy.

As the Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall didn't believe in the nonsense of Transfiguration plus Flying Broomsticks.

If it were that simple, she could even chew up this dining table in front of her and eat it—she had never heard of a broom with this function!

What's more, she had never heard that the magic armor transformed from a Flying Broomstick could withstand the Forceful Impact issued by almost ten wizards combined.

In fact, even if she put aside the strange magic armor, Rubeus Hagrid's umbrella wand was dangerous enough. After the game, she specifically told Hagrid once that unless necessary in the future, try not to unfold that umbrella to cast spells... Just a most simple Forceful Impact, half of the Quidditch pitch was almost gone.

"Well, I know, Mr. Hagrid's spell looks a bit out of line—"

Before Professor McGonagall could finish speaking, Aileen's voice suddenly came from beside Professor McGonagall's chair.

The Deputy Headmistress turned her head and saw a silver-haired little dwarf speaking, while passing by behind a group of professors, and naturally climbing onto the empty chair in the middle to sit down.

"However, this is also Mr. Dumbledore's suggestion. He hopes that we can deter some 'salvageable' adults at Hogwarts as much as possible."

"I just received news from the Ministry of Magic and Professor Dumbledore..."

Aileen took out her wand and tapped the high-backed chair under her butt lightly, urging it to automatically change to a height suitable for her.

At the same time, a light golden "menu" silently appeared in front of each professor, but it was not the usual recipe information on it.

A few lines of vigorous, neat, and beautiful italic characters appeared one by one, and everyone recognized the writer at first glance—Albus Dumbledore, the current Headmaster of Hogwarts.

[To all colleagues at Hogwarts:]

[When you see this simple message, I should be having another discussion with Tom Riddle about the question of existence.]

[The Ministry of Magic and we now roughly understand the way he 'rose from the dead'—he created a large number of Horcruxes—and this further confirms the necessity of my trip.]

[Undeniably, we are now facing the most dangerous dark wizard in centuries, who has an unknown number of lives, but this afternoon, the number of his resurrections can be reduced at least once. As the person who personally introduced him into the magical world back then, I have a duty to make up for and fix the previous mistakes. Perhaps I can't stop his ravages forever, or what awaits us are 'several' or even 'dozens' of undead. If I don't come back, I hope Hogwarts doesn't give up hope... There is no evil in this world that cannot be dispelled.]

[Similarly, I still believe in everyone's desire for the light. Therefore, before this possible farewell departure, I ask the four House Heads to set up magical defenses around the perimeter.]

[From the start of the general attack at noon today until the midnight bell rings, the Hogwarts area will be temporarily closed, and no wizard can enter or leave.]

[If I do not return successfully before midnight, Minerva McGonagall will temporarily take over as Headmistress, responsible for coordinating the school's work.]

[At the same time, Miss Aileen Kaslana will temporarily serve as the Headmaster's Assistant, participating in any possible attack and defense situations that may arise later.]

[At the same time as the general attack is launched, the Ministry of Magic will also issue a notice with the same content. Any wizard who tries to travel through the Hogwarts area during the 'restricted travel' period must be a dangerous person who has violated both the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts' bans. Please carefully identify and deal with them—try to appease the students and parents and wait for good news from the Ministry of Magic or me.]

[—Your loyal friend, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore]

Accompanied by a line of flamboyant italic signature, the content of this short message also came to an end.

The staff table fell into dead silence, and no one spoke for a long time to break the silence.

At the same time, a translucent silver light curtain flashed across the sky around Hogwarts Castle, falling silently towards the surrounding borders like a dome.

And in the more distant sky, the Hyperion awoke in the clouds, and all kinds of detection magic and non-magic methods were activated. All movements within a twenty-kilometer radius of Hogwarts were displayed on the screen. Any remote strikes or uninvited guests that might target the castle would be intercepted the moment they appeared. This was also the primary defense mission received by the Hyperion.

In fact, in the sand table deduction between the Hyperion and Gringotts, the current Hogwarts is one of the few opportunities for Voldemort's side.

Although they chose to despise that guy tactically, it didn't affect their strategic emphasis on all the danger points that could be turned over.

The most important point is that if they can intercept all the parents of the students in Hogwarts, then they have a natural chance to "turn over a new leaf."

Voldemort is not a kind, understanding, or magnanimous revolutionary leader. The more former Death Eaters understand the madness and terror of that capricious Dark Lord.

According to Aileen's statement, that is: Considering that Lucius Malfoy and others are temporarily considered to be some qualified parents, it is better to "earn" them into the Hogwarts camp.

"Seal off... the area around Hogwarts? Temporary Headmaster?"

After a long time, Severus Snape said softly, turning his head to look at the silver-haired little witch sitting in the Headmaster's seat.

In his original understanding, this was just a bizarre pursuit, but as Dumbledore's short message, which seemed like a "will," everything began to change.

The risk and seriousness of this were obviously greater than the multi-faceted encirclement and suppression described by Professor McGonagall before... This was more like a farewell to a peak duel.

"I don't understand, isn't Dumbledore being a little too cautious and exag..."

However, before Snape could finish speaking, the face of the Head of Slytherin House suddenly changed.

He felt a terrible pain from the fiery roasting coming from his left arm.

Even without lifting his sleeves, he could imagine the appearance of the ugly mark branded on his left arm at this moment—a charred, raw-meat branding iron-like Dark Mark.

Snape thought he had long forgotten... that burning feeling.

But until this moment, he realized that the memories of anger, humiliation, and pain had never disappeared from his mind.

And along with those anger, humiliation, and pain, there was also a trace of fear that had lingered for more than ten years and had not truly left.

Crash—

Bang bang crash, ding dong, crash—

Not far away, a strange chaos appeared inexplicably at the Slytherin House table.

The tableware and cups in the hands of many adult wizards suddenly fell, and plates and goblets fell and scattered on the table and the ground, making a series of clanging collisions.

————

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Yay!