Mysterious Journey
Chapter 629: A Large Ship
Departure Day, 9:40 AM.
Hogwarts School Gate.
Dumbledore looked at the chaotic scene and the scattering students, feeling the veins near his temples throbbing again.
The old wizard took a deep breath, trying to keep his tone calm.
"So, Miss Kaslana, can you tell me what's going on?"
"Well… I think you should ask them that question."
Aileen blinked innocently, answering without a blush or a racing heart.
"As you can see, I only provided the venue, the rules, and was responsible for maintaining order. As for what grievances or problems they have, I didn't inquire in detail – you know, I'm not the kind of person who likes to pry into other people's privacy."
"Oh, really? But if this old man's memory hasn't failed me…"
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow noncommittally, staring at Aileen with a straight face, and said softly.
"Just the night before last, someone assured me that there would be no more student brawls."
"Well… to be precise, it should be within this semester – and they did all agree."
Aileen corrected earnestly, then shrugged helplessly.
"But, perhaps that's life."
"I have to admit, sometimes things like this happen. You should know that it's not just caused by the divisions between the Houses. As long as people interact, there will inevitably be some small frictions and disputes."
"So, in order to eliminate disputes…"
"You choose to encourage them to draw their wands at school and cast spells at their classmates? To make the conflict bigger?"
Dumbledore frowned deeply, snorted, and couldn't help but interrupt.
"Excuse me, please let me finish, this is important."
Facing the increasingly displeased Headmaster of Hogwarts, Aileen continued to explain at her own pace.
"Hogwarts has a very old House system. In some ways, this system is clearly outdated, or rather, the establishment of this system never considered how to allow nearly a thousand wizards in the entire school to live in harmony."
"You know, the reason for the House divisions was originally due to the separation caused by conflicting ideas."
"If you look back at the past, for example, recently, well, not long ago, those large-scale student confrontations that occurred in Hogwarts, the hatred did not continue, and the scope of the conflict did not expand further. Students have disputes, draw their wands and fight a match, suffer mutual losses, a winner is decided, and then it's over."
"And now, you hope that I can bring new changes to Hogwarts, so that the students of the four Houses can live in harmony. This is, in itself, a pseudo-proposition that is contrary to the establishment of the Houses – complete harmony and the abandonment of past grievances, means that the thousand-year-old House system of Hogwarts needs to be broken, but the purpose of the Houses was never for harmony and friendship."
"The purpose of factional division is necessarily to stimulate competition, and competition will inevitably lead to confrontation."
"In my opinion, instead of simply suppressing this desire for confrontation, it is better to give students the opportunity to vent their pressure in a relatively safe environment. The effect of the end-of-term single-player arena confrontation was actually quite good. Even though Gryffindor's terrible potion reagents caused trouble for many students, after coming down from the dueling arena, everything was over."
"In short, that's it… Do you have any questions?"
Aileen took a light breath, spread her hands, and looked at the old wizard in front of her with an exceptionally well-behaved expression.
Appropriate pressure release, and… a shift of conflict?
Dumbledore silently raised his head, looked around at the scattering students, and he could clearly feel the vitality emanating from the children, as well as the excitement and satisfaction after causing mischief.
Obviously, for these little guys, it was closer to a game than the battle he understood.
"... Okay, you've convinced me, I'll think about that."
After pondering for a moment, a hint of helplessness flashed in Dumbledore's eyes.
He had to admit, if he had heard such a theory a year ago, he would have refuted and denied it without hesitation, but as similar things continued to happen this semester, now his opinion of Aileen's statement was actually…
It seemed to make a little sense?
However…
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, quietly looking at the white-haired little ball in front of him.
"If you are so confident about this matter, why didn't you choose to appear directly in front of me, but instead chose to communicate with me from a distance in this form? Miss Kaslana."
Accompanied by the old man's voice, the figure of the silver-haired little witch standing in front of him gradually flickered.
Then, the girl's body began to dissipate little by little like a bubble in the sunlight. Finally, all that remained in the air was the sound of Aileen using the Transfiguration Charm to move the frequency of air vibration and transmit it in front of Dumbledore.
"I mainly think it looks very Coooooooool…"
Dumbledore watched Aileen disappear silently into the air, and sighed helplessly.
Without a doubt, binary fallback architecture remodeling magic.
Aileen, who was standing by the gate, had been an illusion created by magic from the beginning.
As for the real Aileen Kaslana, she had probably already disguised herself as some upper-year student and was mixed in with the crowd heading to the Hogsmeade train station, leaving his sight.
And in Aileen's original plan…
[The Hyperion will arrive at Hogwarts at 10:00 AM today, please be prepared.]
[Attention! Attention! Please be sure to stay where you are and prepare for the welcoming work!]
"The Hyperion?"
Dumbledore frowned in confusion, and then immediately reacted.
That's right, Gellert seemed to have told him about this.
Some time ago, he and Aileen bought a large ship from the former Soviet Union. After some magical modifications, they planned to form a magical ship similar to that of Durmstrang as school property and temporarily moor it near the Black Lake.
Dumbledore subconsciously took out his pocket watch from his chest, lowered his head and looked at the time.
It was less than two minutes before the ship was scheduled to arrive, according to Aileen. If he were to catch a little guy hiding in the crowd at this time, he would likely miss the moment when the ship arrived at Hogwarts.
For some reason, Dumbledore suddenly felt an ominous premonition…
The reason why Aileen ran away in advance might not be because of the four-House brawl that had just occurred, but because of this large ship that was about to appear at Hogwarts – according to Dumbledore's understanding of this white-haired little ball over the past year, the less foreshadowing, the bigger the problem usually was.
And what made Dumbledore somewhat uneasy and confused was…
It was just a large ship modified from the non-magical world, what could be the problem?
The old man thought for a while, ignored the long train whistle from Hogsmeade Village in the distance, turned around and frowned, looking at the shimmering surface of the Hogwarts Black Lake not far away, quietly waiting for the large ship to suddenly appear from the water.
Dumbledore naturally knew about the magical three-masted ship of Durmstrang Magical School.
Almost every time the principals of the various magical schools gathered together, Durmstrang would subtly compare their magical ship with the Hogwarts Express – this ship was also their vehicle for picking up and dropping off students.
Dumbledore looked at the pocket watch in his hand, silently counting the numbers in his heart.
Nine fifty-nine.
Fifty-eight seconds.
Fifty-nine seconds.
Sixty seconds.
Ten o'clock, one second, two seconds –
Nothing happened.
The lake surface was as calm as ever. On the shimmering water, there was no sign of any ship appearing.
"Hoo… so it was a prank to buy time for escape?"
Dumbledore took a light breath, glanced at the calm lake, and shook his head with a wry smile.
She's still just a child, Aileen, so childish…
However, before Dumbledore could finish the thought in his mind.
The sky above Hogwarts suddenly darkened.
…………
At the same time, the Hogwarts Express had just left the station.
Hermione, Luna, and Hannah were tidying up the compartment while waiting for Aileen. The table and the sides of the seats were now filled with various snacks and drinks.
Outside the slightly open compartment door, the noisy voices of the boys next door could be faintly heard.
Unsurprisingly, Draco or Harry must have made some bad move in chess again, and Ron, of course, was watching from the sidelines.
Since the chessboard assessment at the end of the term, almost the entire school knew that the Weasley family had a little guy who was particularly good at playing Wizard's Chess. As long as Ron Weasley was in the team, it almost meant that they could safely pass the special checkpoint of the third level without injury. In this situation, Harry and Draco would naturally not offer themselves up to be abused.
"Oh my gosh, look, what is that! Above Hogwarts Castle!"
Just then, the girls heard Neville Longbottom exclaim in surprise.
Hermione and the others subconsciously turned their heads and looked back at the Hogwarts Castle, which was gradually shrinking through the train window. They saw a vaguely visible giant silver cloud suddenly enveloping the sky above Hogwarts.
No, rather than a cloud, it was more like a small steel floating island.
"Th-This is…"
"The Hyperion, just a flying magical ship, it's very common in the magical world."
Aileen opened the sliding door of the compartment, walked in with brisk steps, and replied with a smile.
"Don't worry, if you're interested, I can take you up for a visit next semester."