Mysterious Journey

Chapter 425: Worries and Vacation

It turns out that having a good sense of direction is indeed a talent. At least Luna Lovegood is significantly better at it than Aileen.

After navigating familiar staircases and corridors, Aileen and Luna arrived within minutes at the top of the grand staircase on the sixth floor of the castle, leading to the Ravenclaw common room.

"We're here, Aileen," Luna said calmly, stopping.

"Oh, it was so close... I thought it would take much longer."

Aileen looked up at the staircase in front of her, the embarrassment on her chubby face replaced by a nonchalant expression of "what's done is done"—it's not a big deal to lose face in front of her little protegee.

Thanks to the "chicken and rabbit in a cage" fun facts published in *The Quibbler*, the Ravenclaw common room was finally fully occupied for once, and there were no more pitiful figures sleeping in sky-blue sleeping bags in the corridors of the sixth floor this morning.

At the top of the grand staircase was a semicircular platform, directly in front of which was an old, polished wooden board with a bronze eagle door knocker that posed questions. Ravenclaw students usually answered the questions here to enter.

However, the place where Aileen and Luna planned to watch the sunrise was not the Ravenclaw common room.

Extending to the right from the platform directly in front of the bronze eagle knocker was a small balcony protruding outwards.

The balcony was decorated with blue and bronze silk, and emerald green vines entwined around the edge of the balcony, forming a safety railing. Invisible below were thicker branches forming a fine net to prevent students from accidentally falling.

Standing on this small balcony of the castle, one could clearly see the beautiful scenery outside Hogwarts.

On the Quidditch pitch, which looked like a sports field, high flags gently fluttered in the morning breeze, and the golden goalposts looked particularly charming in the thin mist. The azure lake lazily rippled, as if dozing off, paired with the leisurely floating white clouds in the blue sky, creating a scene of tranquility.

Further away, one could see the lush forests of the Hogwarts Forbidden Forest, with tall trees bearing continuous patches of green, shielding curious eyes and appearing slightly mysterious... The green of the Forbidden Forest spread outwards, eventually connecting to the silhouette of distant mountains.

A breeze blew, and the morning sun slowly rose from the horizon at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, casting golden sunlight through the morning mist onto Hogwarts Castle, landing on the faces, hair, and bodies of Aileen and Luna, forming a stunning still life.

After the two quietly watched the morning scenery for a while, Aileen tilted her head slightly, looked at the ethereal little fairy beside her, and thought for a moment before taking the initiative to break the silence.

"Are you homesick, Luna?"

"A little, after all, if Dad is at home alone, he might not eat breakfast on time."

Luna nodded, her eyes unfocused as she looked at the distant lake, and said softly, "Although I came to Hogwarts a year earlier than he imagined, Dad should be able to adjust quickly. I'm just a little worried that after the revamp of *The Quibbler*, Dad won't be able to manage it alone..."

The expression on Aileen's face froze, and she wished she could swallow back what she had just said—to know that she was the culprit for Luna's early admission and the revamp of *The Quibbler*.

"However, I've figured it out these past few days!"

Luna reached out her finger curiously to touch a flower bud on the balcony vine, and said in a light tone, "Anyway, I'm going to come to Hogwarts to study sooner or later. Entering a year earlier means graduating a year earlier... What's more, I can now share more of the work pressure for Dad than before."

After pausing slightly, Luna turned her head and looked at Aileen with her misty silver-gray eyes.

"What about you, Aileen? Do you have something on your mind too?"

Although Aileen had hidden it very well in this regard, and even Dumbledore and Grindelwald had not noticed the slight worry that the girl had always had, she still couldn't withstand a contestant like Luna who relied entirely on intuition.

When in doubt, go through inspiration once, and then follow the feeling—this is the tradition of the Lovegood family.

"Well, I did have something before."

Facing Luna's eyes that seemed to see through everything, Aileen hesitated for a moment, and nodded in agreement.

"If nothing else happens, this may be the last period of comfort for wizards. In less than ten years, the social model of the entire human world will undergo earth-shattering changes. Under the inevitable torrent of that civilization, the role and influence that individuals can play will become increasingly insignificant."

Aileen's words were not obscure. Perhaps Old Carrot and Old Potato could understand some of her feelings, but she wasn't sure how much Luna Lovegood at this time could understand.

For Aileen, what really made her anxious was not the challenges that Aunt Rowling had already spoiled.

Rather, it was the future direction of the wizarding world after the end of the Harry Potter heptalogy, the part that was not written in the original work, and also the most important part—after entering the era of information explosion, the global network information system would soon rewrite the entire world pattern.

You see, just as traditional wizarding families worried, as the proportion of Muggle-born/wizards with Muggle blood in the wizarding world gradually increased, once the barrier between the two worlds was broken through, the situation would definitely not be the ideal "wizarding camp vs. Muggle camp".

In any case, kinship, love, social ethics, and even wealth and power, if the current development speed of the wizarding world continues to progress, when that day really comes, the number of wizards who choose to stand on the non-magical side and become "heroes" supported by a greater number of people will definitely not be small.

And when that time comes, the future of Hogwarts will be completely controlled by others' thoughts.

A brief silence fell between the two again, until after a long time, Luna used her unique, dazed voice and said lightly in a singing tone.

"Although I don't quite understand, that's something for the future. We still have a lot of time now, right? And... according to you, Aileen, at least now, the energy that everyone can exert is still quite huge, right?"

"That's right." Aileen nodded. At this point in time, wizards obviously still had certain advantages.

In fact, until the end of the Cold War, the entire human world's knowledge system was still clearly divided into two blocks, which was like Hogwarts and Ilvermorny today.

Perhaps in some basic content, the two were largely the same, but the higher the level, the more obvious the differences and barriers between the two sides became—language, symbols, gestures, ways of thinking, research purposes... This difference would even be reflected in any unexpected small place, and would continue until one day one side was eaten by the other.

Therefore, in this case, it would be relatively easy for the wizarding world to interfere with and influence the non-wizarding world.

Just like the Ministry of Magic today can still directly connect to the British Prime Minister, convey some important matters that occur in the wizarding world, and seek some necessary cooperation. Of course, in most cases, it is limited to helping to keep secrets.

However, with the gradual changes in electronic technology and social functional systems, the reticular information flow structure will make these seemingly simple tasks complicated—even the prime minister of a country, you need to explain many strange questions to the security department.

For example, why secretly meet a stranger at midnight, or why there is a blank in electronic surveillance, or why there is a security guard with flawed political review around you...

But in the tail end of the Cold War, when the bear has not yet fallen, it is relatively simple to exert influence on the non-wizarding world. If it really doesn't work, you can still use the Obliviate Charm to "load" and start over. This doesn't burden wizards psychologically.

"Then isn't that already very good, Aileen? What are you still worried about?" On the Hogwarts tower balcony shrouded in the morning light, Luna Lovegood's voice drifted over like the mist around the castle.

"My mother once told me that indulging in the unchangeable past, or worrying about the future that has not yet happened, are the most stupid things—it has no meaning other than to increase troubles and waste time. Knowing what you are doing now, and what you are going to do, and persevering without hesitation, is the real wisdom."

"Wisdom and responsibility, those aren't the same thing."

Aileen shook her head slightly, frowned subconsciously, and turned to look at Luna. "Mom? Mrs. Lovegood?"

Pandora Lovegood, Luna's little angel's mother. If Aileen remembered correctly, this witch who only existed in written memories died when Luna was nine years old—and this year, Luna had just turned ten...

So these days, she had been intentionally avoiding this question, afraid of accidentally poking at little Luna's wound.

But what Aileen didn't expect was that Luna Lovegood would accidentally take the initiative to mention her mother, which made her not know how to respond for a moment, after all, it seemed inappropriate to say anything in this situation.

"To be precise... it was what Mom said before she died!"

Suddenly recovering, Luna's bright eyes dimmed and she said sadly.

"Mom was a powerful witch who invented many interesting spells, but last summer a spell of hers went wrong, and before Dad and I could react..."

"I'm sorry," Aileen said softly.

"It's okay, Aileen! Although it was really... really cruel at the time."

Luna shook her head gently, raised her head and looked at Aileen with her misty, slightly protruding eyes.

"Although sometimes I still feel very uncomfortable about it, it's okay, I still have Dad. And it doesn't mean that Mom has completely disappeared from this world, does it?"

"What I want to say is, although I don't understand what you are worried about, Aileen, you are definitely not alone. Professor Dumbledore, Mr. Otto, Mr. Filch, Hermione, Hannah, me... even if there are really any troublesome and thorny problems in the future, we can all help you."

"Uh—maybe..." Aileen said uncertainly.

When there is a conflict between the two sides' ideas, she doubts whether she has the ability to persuade the two old men.

Especially when the continuation of Hogwarts is no longer a bond that binds the common interests of both sides, then what else can be used to restrain Aileen, who is no longer an ordinary girl.

"Not maybe, but definitely."

Luna turned her whole body around. Although she was a few months younger than Aileen, the serious expression on her face at this time made her look like the white haired puffball's older sister. She spoke seriously in an incredibly determined tone.

"Believe in your friends around you. Maybe they can't do anything earth-shattering, but they will form many ordinary, almost negligible but essential details—this is the welcome message of your Hufflepuff college, I think this sentence makes a lot of sense. Don't you think you've thought too much about things you shouldn't be worrying about? Things are already very good now, aren't they?"

This silly little protegee, clearly doesn't understand anything.

Aileen shook her head with amusement, and was about to retort a few words when her gaze touched Luna's serious eyes. The words that were about to slip to her lips suddenly stopped. The two silently stared at each other like two arguing fat chickens.

Luna had a stubborn, calm smile on her face, even though she had no idea that what Aileen was carrying would be the important plan that would affect hundreds of millions, billions, or even two worlds in the next few months.

But, even when faced with Luna's irrelevant questioning, Aileen didn't know what to say, or how to think. Perhaps... she should take a vacation for herself, and give Hogwarts a vacation too?

Come to think of it, it's only been a little over three weeks since the start of school, and she has already made too many big things happen.

Then, for the next week, she should temporarily focus her main energy on school and *The Quibbler*. Without her stirring up trouble, Hogwarts will probably calm down temporarily and return to the peaceful time of attending classes.

"Well, okay... Then, I won't think about so much for now. Starting this week, I'll focus on being an ordinary first-year student, Hogwarts head chef, and magazine editor who studies hard, cooks well, and writes updates hard."

By the end, even Aileen couldn't help but secretly stick out her tongue—unconsciously, the titles and jobs she couldn't let go of had become such a long string?

Aileen stood up and stretched comfortably in the golden morning glow.

After Luna's enlightenment, the heavy anxiety that had been weighing on Aileen's mind seemed to have lessened a lot.

"Let's go, Luna! It's almost time, I should go to the kitchen to supervise them to complete today's breakfast."

Taking one last look at the sparkling lake outside the castle, several plump big blue fish jumped out of the lake, seemingly foreshadowing a hopeful and vibrant future... Hmm, suddenly I'm a little hungry.

Dong——
Dong——
Dong——

————
————

Goo ya, Chapter 1~
Still a large 4000-word chapter~ Goo ya, Fatty Chicken has actually persisted for 11 days, unbelievable!
Hmm hmm, as expected, having motivation is different. I'll announce a major decision in a few days (although many Fatty Chickens in the group may already know about it).
Support () bring