A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 697 Another Way

Felix's vision suddenly blurred, and he whispered:

"simple?"

Hermione froze, feeling a wave of dizziness wash over her. She took a step back, trying to keep her voice calm. "Professor, I am Hermione, Hermione Granger."

"Your middle name isn't—"

“Jane!” Hermione blurted out. She smoothed her hair, her thoughts gradually clearing. “I heard from the Ministry of Magic staff that Umbridge’s middle name was also Jane, and I really disliked her, so I changed my name.” She emphasized again, “My name is now Hermione Jane Granger.”

"Oh, uh, that's good."

A strange feeling welled up in Felix's heart, an emptiness, as if a friend he had kept in touch with for a long time but never met had disappeared forever. He was about to speak when Sirius, Burns, Dedalow Duggard, the short Professor Flitwick, Sprout, Neville, Harry, Ron, Seamus, and others gathered around him.

Sirius Black grabbed Felix by the neck.

"You scared us all, man! We almost thought you weren't coming back." He grinned broadly. "Tell us, what did you see on the moon? We can't let this go to waste."

"Yes, Professor," a student chimed in.

Felix glanced at Hermione, who had been pushed to the back, then waved his hand in front of everyone, and Moon Soil and two containers appeared out of thin air. With another wave of his hand, a huge, freely floating, expansive blue bellflower-like flame appeared above his head, allowing everyone to see what he held in his hand.

"What is this?" Ms. Burns asked, holding her breath in disbelief.

"I brought it back from the moon," Felix said. The crowd fell silent for a moment, as if trying to understand the meaning of his words, before suddenly they cheered loudly and clapped enthusiastically. The commotion attracted students who remained in the castle, who poured into the courtyard...

Harry clapped along, he was so excited. It was true, there really were traces of wizarding activity on the moon. Neville's eyes lit up with excitement, "That's amazing! I want to go to the moon too."

He wasn't alone in thinking this way. Harry had the same thought; he even regretted failing his OWLs exam in astronomy. Those dry star charts and tongue-twisting names of celestial bodies suddenly became vivid and lifelike, so captivating as they lingered in the deep, cold starry sky.

Besides the moon, where will Professor Hepburn's next target be?

Mars?

Titan?

Ganymede?

Harry looked around for Hermione, wanting to get her opinion, but couldn't find her. He turned around and saw Luna calmly handing Hermione a light blue handkerchief. After Hermione took it, Luna patted her back haphazardly, as if caring for a sick animal. Harry suddenly understood something.

Harry turned to look at Professor Hyp, who was receiving congratulations from everyone. It was nighttime, and the blue bellflower flames illuminated the professor's face clearly and brightly. The professor's lips were slightly upturned in a gentle smile, just like when he taught his students. Harry had seen this smile countless times in Dumbledore's Pensieve.

On the contrary, the people around the professor were standing with their backs to Harry, so all that could be seen were the black backs of their heads.

"He's so dazzling, isn't he?" Luna asked dreamily.

Hermione didn't reply, but simply returned the handkerchief to her. Luna then stood quietly beside Hermione, and the two of them watched Felix surrounded by the crowd. "He looks so calm and intelligent; that's exactly what the wizarding world needs right now." She hummed softly, almost singing, "Superior wisdom is humanity's greatest treasure."

"What do you want to say?" Hermione asked curtly.

"You look a little unhappy," Luna said bluntly. "I think you need some comforting or something."

Hermione rolled her eyes. She should have expected it; Luna's reaction was different from most people's. She sincerely hoped Luna's article wouldn't infect too many people. But her mood suddenly improved, and she asked with some curiosity, "Luna, don't you ever have worries?"

"Yes, I have," Luna said.

Hermione listened intently, but after a dozen seconds there was still no response. She blinked, realizing that Luna had already answered the question in her mind. "I mean, how do you deal with life's troubles?" Hermione asked patiently, offering her own method: "I usually look for answers in books, but I don't think that'll work right now."

"Think of happy things," Luna said, shaking her head so that the little carrot earring hanging from her ear almost hit Hermione. "A person can only do one thing at a time. When your mind is occupied by other things, worries won't bother you. I like to draw, and recently I've become obsessed with writing." She nodded firmly after saying that.

"But the problem is still not solved!" Hermione exclaimed. She actually wanted to argue with Luna that her greatest hobby was daydreaming alone, completely immersed in her own world, but she had a premonition that if she said that, the topic might immediately veer off course and veer towards some creatures that only exist in Luna's imagination.

She didn't want to spend the rest of her time arguing about whether Bubblennose and Heliopa existed. Hermione glanced at Felix, oh, and the Moon Frog! She bet Luna would definitely ask about it sometime.

Luna's light-colored eyes stared intently at her, her large, protruding eyes revealing a calm madness. "It will all be resolved eventually, though perhaps in a way we never expect—"

"For example?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"I've been thinking about what I'll do after graduation," Luna said seriously. "A regular job probably isn't for me—"

Hermione covered her mouth and chuckled. She found it hard to imagine Luna's future work. Compared to her, Fred and George were both mature, steady, and predictable.

"So you've found it now?"

"I think I'll become a magizoologist and travel all over the world," Luna said calmly. "I can use my free time to search for undiscovered magical creatures, draw them, and document the process of discovering them. I already have my first goal."

"Where is it?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"The Arctic!" Luna said excitedly. "Felix said there's a magical ferret-like creature there that loves to eat hot dogs."

"That's impossible!" Hermione exclaimed. "How could any magical creature like to eat human food?"

"Nothing is impossible," Luna unexpectedly retorted. "Isn't Valen an example?"

"That's different. Valen was raised by the professor," Hermione said instinctively. She suddenly had an urge to drag the professor over and ask him what he had said to Luna.

Luna paused, then mumbled, "I'll prove it to you." She then became absent-minded, seemingly pondering what kind of hot dogs to prepare, before suddenly snapping back to reality and asking, "What about you?"

"Me—what?"

"I heard you want to be Minister of Magic."

"Oh, oh, yes."

"I hope you succeed," Luna said earnestly. Then, as if remembering something, she asked, "You don't like fairy pies, do you?"

"Luna," Hermione said softly, "there is no such food."

The conversation fell into an awkward silence again. Hermione decided to change the subject before Luna brought up the Aurors' rotten tooth conspiracy; perhaps she could say a few words about it? Hermione considered herself an expert on gum disease, but she reluctantly gave up the tempting idea.

"Have you ever thought about joining the Ministry of Magic? Working in the Department of Magical Creatures Control? If Ms. Burns hadn't started this new department, I would have chosen it after graduation—and you'd see a lot of old friends, Harry, Ron, Neville… even though it's a different department."

"I've always been friends with them," Luna said.

Hermione knew Luna only talked to people about topics that interested her; when she wasn't interested, she would immerse herself in her own world, appearing absent-minded, or, like now, veer off into other topics—Hermione gave up trying to persuade Luna, staring at her as she enthusiastically counted on her fingers, rattling off a string of club members' names, "...and Ferrenze, Hagrid, Grapp, Wunder, Uru—"

"Who is Ulru?" Hermione asked reflexively. "I know the others. I didn't expect you to know Gromp too. Did you know him through Hagrid? And Wunder, I saw him when I went to the school kitchen. He likes to study recipes." She rattled off the list as if answering a question in class.

Luna waited until she finished speaking before saying, "Uru is a Thestral, Hagrid calls him Uru."

Hermione pondered for a moment, "That seems to be true. Hagrid mentioned it in class... Oh, by the way, did you find the King of the Thestrals?"

"Found it," Luna said.

It was a strange feeling. Hermione had never imagined that she would one day open up to Luna (she thought Luna's topics were all too abstract), but when it actually happened, she found it wasn't so bad, like whispering to a Halloween pumpkin.

Luna left, wandering to a corner of the courtyard. The crowd gradually dispersed, and Professor Hyp handed the lunar soil and two containers to Ms. Burns. "I'll take them to Gringotts for appraisal first. Just then, Bill talked to me about the Pan-Magical Alliance during the day; the goblins' attitude was ambiguous." She shook her head.

Pan-Magic Alliance?

Hermione's eyes lit up. She chased after Ms. Burns in the direction she had gone.

Felix cautiously stopped her, hesitatingly saying, "Granger—" "I understand, Professor!" Hermione said, and she dashed off. Felix was somewhat bewildered. What was going on? Had he misunderstood?

He stared at Hermione's retreating figure. The moon in the sky and the torches in the courtyard cast two shadows, which first overlapped and then separated. Hermione then turned into Hogwarts Castle.

A moment later, Harry furtively pulled Ron aside and stood guard in the foyer.

"What's up?" Ron peered towards the door. "Neville and Dean went to the kitchen to get some food. They said they're going to have a good celebration."

"We'll talk about it later," Harry said, not entirely sure. "By the way, are you still in touch with Collins?"

"I think so?" Ron thought for a moment and said, "I saw her at the Ministry of Magic just two days ago. She's become a squad leader now..."

"Um."

A few minutes later, Hermione returned.

"Ms. Burns has agreed!" she announced excitedly.

"Promise—what—" Harry asked in surprise.

"I asked Ms. Burns, and she said the Pan-Magical Alliance was progressing slowly, so I asked if I could help, and she agreed!" Hermione said as she walked up the stairs. "The Ministry of Magic's staff are at a standstill in their negotiations with centaurs and goblins. The former aren't interested in an alliance, you know, they prefer to keep to themselves and don't give anyone a friendly look, and they especially dislike the presence of she-wolves and vampires in the alliance..."

"But the biggest problem lies with the fairies. They want to remain neutral, but Bill has learned that there's more than one voice within the fairies, and they could change their minds at any moment. This stems from the centuries-long, volatile relationship between fairies and wizards, with the earliest conflicts dating back to the early days of the school—"

"How come I didn't know?" Ron interrupted.

"The sword of Gryffindor," Hermione said briefly, and Harry and Ron immediately understood. Goblins had a morbid view of ownership; they insisted that anything made by a goblin belonged to them, even if the wizard had paid for it. Once the wizard died, the goblins had the right to reclaim the item.

The sword of Gryffindor was forged by the goblin king at the time. Would Hogwarts hand over the sword of Gryffindor to a goblin? Absolutely not.

"The Ministry of Magic will not agree to the idea that the fairies are neutral in name only, but are actually a secession from the magical world, especially since they control the magical world's economy and the right to mint coins! We must reach an agreement with the fairies before negotiating with the government."

"Okay, I think I understand," Ron said slowly, "but what does this have to do with you?"

"I drafted the earliest paper!" Hermione exclaimed as if her tail had been stepped on. "I've also spent a lot of time researching the cultures of different races and their taboos. Now all I have to do is find a narrative that both sides can accept..."

"That's not easy," Ron muttered. "And I didn't say anything, so don't get worked up."

“Yes, Hermione, you’ve been a bit sentimental lately,” Harry interjected, half-jokingly adding, “I thought you were in love.”

Ron was taken aback, then looked at Hermione with shining eyes. "Really? With whom?"

Hermione glared at Harry fiercely.

“That’s not important,” she retorted fiercely. “If you think that all the books I’ve read, the magic I’ve learned, and the hardships I’ve endured since I was a child were just for the sake of falling in love, then you’re wrong! The current situation is far more complex than what Voldemort has brought us. The slightest mistake could destroy everything we value. This is a change unprecedented in the thousand years since Hogwarts was founded. We can’t expect the professor to do everything by himself.”

"I spoke with Luna, and she plans to become a magizoologist, searching for ferrets in the Arctic that love hot dogs," Hermione said. Harry and Ron's eyes widened. Had they heard her right? Hermione raised her voice: "If the world is full of war, can that dream still come true? Will she be forced to join the Ministry of Magic, wielding a wand and fighting Muggles? And ultimately die in some conflict?"

Harry's heart sank; he couldn't imagine the scene.

Luna Lovegood, eccentric and quirky yet intelligent and kind, always seemed calm and unmoved by anything. But if Mr. Xenophilius Lovegood were to die in the conflict… He shook his head violently, unwilling to think about it further. He didn’t want to know what Luna would become.

"Luna wants to become a magical creature expert, and there's nothing wrong with that. I want to become Minister for Magic and participate in the series of major changes that will inevitably occur in the magical world after the move towards peace. You two want to become Aurors—which happens to allow us to protect the ideals of others while realizing our own."

She suddenly turned her gun on Ron. "Didn't you ask if our names would appear in Professor Hyp's legendary tales?" Ron paused, desperately trying to recall, "Um... yes, that's right. Neville said more than one character appears in the storybooks."

"Actually, there's another way," Hermione said.

"What is it?" Harry asked quickly.

"Everyone—" Hermione pointed to Harry and Ron, then to herself, "you, me, everyone in the wizarding world, we are all part of this legendary drama, we are all legends!"

Let me say a few words from my heart.

This book is nearing its end, and in order to write a complete story, the issue of the female lead must be resolved; it can't be ignored. It needs to be either a single female lead or no romantic pairing. Now it's confirmed that Hermione will be the female lead.

Some readers may recall that until near the end of the fourth-year storyline, it was still uncertain who would time travel. Harry and Hermione both received the same information: anyone could go. This was because the author himself was undecided and only finalized the decision at the last minute (if Harry had been chosen, the Jane Foster storyline would have been scrapped).

The entire sixth-year storyline was added at the last minute; it wasn't in the outline. The original plan was for Dumbledore to die in his battle with Voldemort, and for Grindelwald to escape from his cell and wreak havoc. Why did it change? Because they couldn't bear to leave Dumbledore with any regrets.

And so, the sixth grade came about.

This part of the plot is actually a bit thin, so resolving the previous foreshadowing, the intersection of wizarding society and Muggle society, and the trio's coming of age (growing up) are all important parts.

Out of concern, Hermione's growth was moved to the present.

The author previously stated that he wouldn't write ambiguous plots, and I indeed don't think the previous chapter was ambiguous. Just like writing about Ron's character flaws was to show his growth.

Of course, there's another reason: since Hermione is confirmed to be the female lead, there needs to be some flashback scenes to avoid a jarring ending.

Why choose a single female lead over a no-romance scenario? It's because I couldn't bear to. The protagonist can live for many years, and everyone can predict that he will become the principal, remain behind the scenes, explore the stars, and overlook the vicissitudes of the world. It would be too lonely if he were alone.

(End of this chapter)