Mysterious Journey
Chapter 649: The Demon King's Plan
Devon, near Ottery St Catchpole.
Among the once desolate low mountains, a small wizarding village had emerged at some point.
Some time ago, after soliciting the opinions of "local villagers," the Ministry of Magic officially designated this new wizarding village, named Quibble, as one of the key wizarding settlements in Britain. The Burrow, near the village, was naturally included.
As for the origin of the name Quibble, it was extremely simple – "The Quibbler."
With the increasing sales of *The New Quibbler*, and the growing number of subscribers to new magazines derived from it, such as *A Bite of Hogwarts* and *Mysterious Journey*, Xenophilius Lovegood's original family workshop was clearly no longer able to support such a vast news magazine operation.
Naturally, with joint investment from Hogwarts and Gringotts, *The New Quibbler* rapidly grew into a behemoth in the European wizarding world, employing nearly thirty wizards and several goblin accountants.
For the sake of work and communication, some of *The New Quibbler*'s wizarding employees voluntarily moved to live next to editor Xenophilius Lovegood's residence, which was perfectly reasonable…
As for why the proportion of foreign elderly people was high at the beginning, that was not important.
Anyway, as time went by, the number of residents in the village gradually increased. Now, nearly a hundred wizards, plus at least several dozen goblins, had chosen to settle in this inconspicuous, remote village.
"After this… we should probably limit the number of new residents…"
Dumbledore rubbed his temples, looking rather helplessly at the white-haired toddler beside him.
"If this continues, it won't be a wizarding village, but a wizarding city. Even if Cornelius Fudge is stupid, he won't believe that thousands of foreign wizards have moved to Britain from afar for the sake of a magazine."
"Rest assured, Professor Dumbledore, everything is under control."
Eileen, with her hands behind her back, nimbly skipped along the cobblestone street, answering casually.
"We have simulated it many times. Given the current number of Aurors in the British wizarding world, even if they mobilized all personnel to raid this village, it would only be like a drop of water in the ocean, disappearing without a trace."
"...I'm not worried about the safety situation here!"
Dumbledore glanced at the surrounding houses and streets, sighing with a bit of weariness.
In just this short distance, he had already seen at least five wizards acting as sentries. More importantly, every few houses there were two or three goblins "chatting" on various street corners.
This scene appearing on goblins who valued time as money was as comical as a giant writing poetry.
"Eileen, Mr. Lovegood is only running a magazine, it's a bit of an overreaction to spend so much manpower and resources to build a wizarding settlement like a fortress…"
"No, on the contrary, this is just a prototype. The future scale will be ten times larger."
Eileen slowly stopped, turning to look at the old wizard behind her, answering calmly.
"You must know that any wizard with some basic math skills can estimate how much money Mr. Lovegood will earn from these publications, as well as the scale of *The New Quibbler*'s daily turnover. Besides, the Weasley family is nearby. With the temptation of money, plus your reputation, they are likely to have been targeted in secret."
"Therefore, I think it is very necessary to provide basic security for the Lovegood family and the Weasley family – on this point, you have already given me a rather wrong example. Compared to breaking into smaller units and self-preservation through hide-and-seek, I believe more in the reliability of the wolf pack effect and the power of the collective."
"On the other hand, the wizarding world does need to establish a complete social system, a social network. This cannot rely solely on illusory institutions and galleon reforms. Everything ultimately needs a reliable material carrier."
"Besides…"
Eileen paused slightly, looking at Dumbledore with a playful smile.
"Wouldn't this also make it easier for you to control the overall situation? If I let all the destined employees and newspaper employees break into smaller units and hide in various corners of the wizarding world and the non-wizarding world, wouldn't you be a little worried?"
"Worried about what? Worried that these wizards won't find suitable housing in the future?"
Dumbledore glanced at Eileen with a slightly scrutinizing look, raising his eyebrows meaningfully.
Eileen looked around the street, nodding earnestly and answering softly in a joking tone.
"It's not impossible, you know. Buying a property now is not as easy as it was decades ago. Just the identity information alone is enough for the Ministry of Magic and those wizards to have a headache…"
Since the enforcement of the *International Statute of Secrecy* became stricter, and the rapid development of the non-magical world after World War II, even with the assistance of magical space magic, the range of residences that wizards could choose was not as wide as before.
Apart from a few wizarding families who lived alone in desolate corners, more wizards often chose semi-wizarding settlements registered with the Ministry of Magic (referring to wizards living in Muggle villages after the *International Statute of Secrecy* came into effect, similar to Godric's Hollow), or hid directly in Muggle cities under the supervision of the wizarding world.
However, Eileen knew that this situation might not last too long.
With the advent of information technology and the era of big data, real estate accounting would become more and more complex, and it would become extremely difficult for wizards to completely hide their tracks in the non-magical world – the web-like social relationships would slowly suffocate the wizards' living and struggling space.
Whether it was the academy city centered on Hogwarts, or the planning of Quibble Province, they were actually trying to alleviate the outbreak of these contradictions from another aspect, delaying the arrival of the final day as much as possible, and buying her enough time.
However, all of this was still too far away for Dumbledore, who was limited to this era.
Perhaps only when that day really came, and the wizards looked back at her current preparations, would they understand that there were no coincidences or luck in this world. There were only well-prepared plans and inevitable trajectories.
As they spoke, the two passed through layers of magical protection and arrived at the newly renovated Lovegood house.
Luna Lovegood, accompanied by her father, was already standing on the lawn outside the garden fence, pulling a large suitcase, waiting for Dumbledore and Eileen to pick her up – according to the agreement, they were going to Newt's house for a sleepover.
"Everything is starting to get interesting, isn't it? Professor Dumbledore."
Eileen glanced at the Whomping Willow trees planted next to the Lovegood house, as well as the magical, visibly intimidating Knotgrass, and the goblins' outposts, which were faintly visible under the continuous Disillusionment Charm.
There was no doubt that, after her continuous indoctrination with crisis theory, Xenophilius Lovegood was no longer the timid, indecisive, and naive dreamer he once was – he had changed a lot to protect his daughter.
Power and dreams, both are needed. This is the world of adults.
…………
At the same time.
On the outskirts of Hogsmeade village, in the area between Hogwarts Castle and the village.
"Albus Dumbledore" led the house-elves, along with experts and scholars from various research institutes in the former Soviet Union, to this vast area planned as the "Hogwarts Foreign Faculty Living Area."
"Mr. Dumbledore, all the houses have been built, and all the daily circulation facilities can be activated."
The house-elf in charge of repairing this living area bowed, speaking in a rather respectful and shrill voice.
"Very good." Dumbledore nodded lightly, turning to look at the former Soviet scholars beside him, "Everyone, this area will be the place where you will work and live for a long time, and your first task is…"
Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, paused slightly, looking around the environment, and skillfully issued instructions.
"First of all, complete the magnetic field survey and physical constant measurement within the Hogwarts area as soon as possible, master the English spoken and written language of the Scottish region, and… summarize a set of general knowledge subjects suitable for children aged 11 to 18. I want this content to include literature, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry…"
"Don't worry, although Hogwarts students are relatively young, they are also real wizards. With the help of magic, their physical strength and energy can easily break through the limits of the most hardworking Muggles in the non-magical world."
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Gu Ya~ Asking for hearts, asking for hearts~~