Mysterious Journey

Chapter 930: Old Father

Under Professor McGonagall's urging, the students reluctantly left the Entrance Hall one by one.

From the Entrance Hall to the various house common rooms, the sounds of curious, panicked, and excited discussions hardly stopped for a second.

Students who had witnessed the whole event were animatedly recounting the details of the "Dark Lord Guidance Battle" to those who hadn't, so excited that they seemed to be the "ordinary castle caretaker" who fought against six opponents single-handedly. As for the Aurors and Umbridge, they were invariably described as foolish and outwardly fierce but inwardly weak.

Meanwhile, Aileen finally reunited with the Little Wings, who were standing at the other end of the crowd.

"Aileen, what exactly happened just now..."

"Well, it's not convenient to talk here. I'll tell you slowly when we get back to the dormitory."

Before the "Miss Ten Thousand Whys" could finish speaking, Aileen looked around and preemptively answered.

Regarding Professor Quirrell, Umbridge, and the Ministry of Magic Aurors, even if she didn't say anything, the core focus of the major newspapers and magazines in the next few days would inevitably be on this aspect. Rather than letting the Little Wings hear those secondhand versions, it would be better for her to explain in detail.

As for foolishly explaining everything clearly in the Entrance Hall?

Then she wouldn't be able to enjoy the luxurious bathtub that night, would she? She had finally gotten herself a top-notch bathroom. If she didn't make good use of it, it would be too wasteful, and completely inconsistent with the thrifty style of the Goblin Queen of Gringotts.

On the other hand, the confidentiality of the Hogwarts Entrance Hall was indeed somewhat lacking.

Quirinus Quirrell's accident was a warning that certain inconspicuous details could trigger extremely tricky chain reactions.

There were too many ways to eavesdrop, take photos, and record videos in the wizarding world. There were as many as twenty media outlets on site today. Before the house-elves and castle caretakers had cleaned up the castle environment, she didn't plan to express too many opinions in such a public place.

"Wait, wait! Don't go yet."

Xenophilius Lovegood watched his daughter, who was talking with her friends and preparing to leave the Entrance Hall, and subconsciously took a step forward.

"Uh, it's still early. How about I tell you first—"

According to normal logic, Xenophilius would never stand in front of that witch—just like those ignorant and arrogant Ministry of Magic officials, wizards who ignored the Dark Lord usually didn't have a good end—but his feet just moved unconsciously, blocking the witch's path.

"Mr. Lovegood? I didn't expect you to come, what a coincidence."

Aileen frowned slightly as she looked at the editor-in-chief of *The Quibbler* who suddenly appeared in front of her.

"The faculty lounge is over in the Great Hall. The joint press conference between the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts should be starting soon. As for storytelling, perhaps we can wait until later when we have time. After all, in my personal opinion, your journalistic work at the magazine is more important."

"I wrote those things a few years ago. There's nothing worth expecting—"

Mr. Lovegood said quickly, his gaze occasionally passing over Aileen and looking at his most beloved treasure.

"Alright, Dad. I'm very happy that you came to see me."

Luna sighed helplessly, noticing her old father's gaze.

"But Aileen is right, I can't affect your work. Besides, we have our own responsibilities—as prefects, we have to guide everyone back to their respective common rooms with the heads."

"Uh, that'll definitely be late, then. I can take you to Ravenclaw Tower later—"

Xenophilius Lovegood opened his mouth. His brain was quickly turning, as if returning to the lightning of his initial courtship.

"No need, Dad. I can sleep in Aileen and Hannah's room tonight."

Luna shook her head quickly, glaring at her embarrassing old man with some dissatisfaction.

"Okay, I'm not a three-year-old anymore. Counting last year, this is my second year at Hogwarts. You really don't need to worry about this, worry about that all the time. I'll be relieved as long as you work hard—without me supervising you at home, your output has obviously decreased recently. Don't worry about me, go and do your work, I have Hermione, Hannah, Aileen with me..."

Her gaze wandered among her surrounding besties, her expression somewhat embarrassed and annoyed.

Although Aileen, Hermione, and others didn't say anything, Luna felt an inexplicable irritability and discomfort in her heart. She would rather see her father confidently talking about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks as usual, rather than this kind of care like coaxing an ignorant child.

"Dad, go—"

Luna frowned and repeated again.

"Oh, oh—"

Mr. Lovegood looked at the Little Luna who was starting to get angry, and then looked around.

Although he was somewhat insensitive in terms of social interactions, it had been long enough for him to gradually react.

That Luna who once depended on him, was fragile and helpless, and whose world only had him, had grown up. She had begun to have her own friends, her own social circle, her own little bit of responsibility and planned arrangements—he, on the other hand, would make the current Little Moon feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"Uh, I'll go get you some things. You guys wait here for a while, don't go anywhere."

Xenophilius Lovegood looked at Luna, turned around without saying anything, and hurried upstairs.

Mr. Lovegood was very tall and looked particularly conspicuous among the Hogwarts students. The girls looked at him in confusion as he struggled to move forward in the crowd going upstairs, repeatedly saying sorry while hurrying forward, and soon disappeared around the corner of the stairs.

"Luna, is your dad bringing you a gift?"

Hannah turned her head and asked with some confusion.

"...Probably not? Dad doesn't usually give me gifts. He's a careless adult who can't even remember his own birthday."

Luna also shook her head blankly, standing on tiptoes to look at where her father had disappeared.

However, such things were not uncommon in the past.

Mr. Lovegood would occasionally remember something and then start moving around in a flurry—perhaps a sudden fragment of inspiration, or perhaps he had forgotten to pay the稿费 (gǎofèi - author's fee), or perhaps the flower bushes outside Little Mountain had bloomed, or even forgetting to purchase food for three meals...

In short, this scene was too familiar to Luna. Her daily life with her father was always full of surprises.

"Forget it, let's help the heads persuade everyone to leave first, anyway, it'll probably be a while..."

Luna shook her head and turned to look at the still noisy and crowded Entrance Hall.

There weren't many student leaders at Hogwarts. Including the twenty-four heads from the four houses and two student representatives, there were only twenty-six people in total.

This wasn't the orderly scene after dinner in the Great Hall. A constant stream of students was still coming upon hearing the news, and many of the students who had previously been watching were still lingering in the Entrance Hall, or wandering around the castle—after such an intense conflict, most people were quite excited at this time.

Obviously, as prefects, they first had to disperse those who were still lingering in the Entrance Hall.

"Oh, that's right—as usual, I'll deal with those stubborn guys, Luna you and Hermione are responsible for most of it..."

Hannah looked around the noisy Entrance Hall and nodded quite seriously, moving her arms left and right.

"rua—"

"Luna, Seal View! Whirlwind—"

Hermione's wand waved gently, and howling cold winds poured in from outside the oak doors, driving the students in the Entrance Hall.

On the other side, Luna deftly tapped her wand in the air.

The light in the Entrance Hall dimmed silently. Except for the few alleys leading to the various house common rooms, other corners of the Entrance Hall gradually became cold and dark, making people unconsciously want to leave those places.

After several months of practical training and cooperation as prefects, their skills and responses in this regard had improved far too much compared to when they first started school.

Of course, Aileen was not watching the show from the sidelines either.

At the house-elves' suggestion, Aileen scanned the various corners of the Entrance Hall one by one, patiently and kindly persuading the students who were still lingering in the Entrance Hall to go back to bed—after last year's Quidditch match, her persuasiveness had suddenly become much stronger.

…………

A few minutes later.

Under the efforts of Aileen and others, almost all the students in the Entrance Hall had dispersed.

Just as Hannah was about to ask Luna if they should continue waiting, they saw Mr. Lovegood holding a large pile of things and struggling to squeeze through the crowd going upstairs, returning to the Entrance Hall—he was especially careful when going downstairs, completely different from before.

Soon, the editor-in-chief of *The Quibbler* returned to their side.

When they got a little closer, Hannah, Hermione, and others realized what Luna's dad had gone to do just now.

Xenophilius Lovegood walked up to them and dumped the pile of things in his arms onto a clean stone chair next to the corridor: three sets of black Hogwarts wizard robes, three schoolbags, and a pile of scattered small things.

"You guys left in too much of a hurry, your clothes and things were left in the library—"

Mr. Lovegood casually explained, while picking up a thick wizard robe and draping it over Luna's body, gently patting it.

"It's very troublesome to leave things in the library, you're bound to get a stern lecture, and the weather is cool now. If you catch a cold, the taste won't be good—it's better not to drink Madam Pomfrey's invigorating potions if you can avoid it. Oh, right, because I don't know which ones are yours, I packed all the small things, you guys can divide them up yourselves..."

The middle-aged wizard couldn't help but say a few more rambling words before suddenly stopping again.

He shrugged his shoulders, patted out the wrinkles on the edge of Luna's robe, seeming very relaxed.

A few seconds later.

"I'm leaving first, I can't miss the big news over there. If you need anything, just write me a letter!"

He hurriedly muttered to himself, took a few steps toward the Great Hall, and turned back to look at Luna.

"You guys should go back to your dormitories, don't chat too late at night, you still have classes tomorrow—oh, of course, I know I don't need to tell you these things, I'm just a little, um...remember to recommend *The Quibbler* to your classmates."

Mr. Lovegood waved his hand in a somewhat comical and flustered manner and quickly walked towards the Great Hall.

However, before he could take two steps, he suddenly stopped again.

"Miss Kaslana?"

Xenophilius looked at the little witch standing in front of him and asked carefully and confusedly in a low voice.

"Oh, right, I suddenly remembered just now—"

Aileen said thoughtfully, gently pressing her finger against her lips as she pondered.

"Professor McGonagall said that all the school's teachers should go to the faculty lounge for a brief meeting. The Hogwarts head chef, house heads, and Hogwarts prefects should勉强 (miǎnqiǎng - barely) also be considered school teachers, right..."

"If Mr. Lovegood, you don't mind, why don't you wait in the Entrance Hall for a moment, and then we'll go together?"

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Hooray!