I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 397 The Red Queen

"Mr. Sanchez," Umbridge said with a cold smile.

"Call me Rozier, thank you," Irving added.

"Yes, Mr. Rozier." She changed her tune directly without any objection, "You don't seem to have that right."

"Really?" Owen finally looked up from the table and gazed at Umbridge. "Before I came back to England, newspapers and celebrities from many countries in Europe, Africa, and North America wanted to interview me, but I was too eager to go home and declined them. Well—now that I think about it, I was really careless. I should have accepted their interviews—and had a good talk with them about the British Ministry of Magic's plan to establish a dictatorship at Hogwarts."

"This is not dictatorship," Umbridge said sternly.

"I think it's up to the readers to decide, not you, or that committee." Owen looked away. "Alright, this is really annoying. Even eating can't be peaceful. Hannah, take the trays and go back to the lounge. Can you really eat anything here?"

Irving stood up and walked out.

He had no need to cause trouble for Umbridge; he hadn't experienced the old toad's antics yet.

Let's wait a couple of days and see.

Of course, this is all on the premise that the other party doesn't cause him any trouble.

"Hmm—" Hannah would fulfill all of Owen's requests, unlike Hermione, who would consider whether she should do them.

As for Luna—even Owen couldn't figure out what she was thinking sometimes, let alone get her to listen to him.

Following in Owen's footsteps, Hannah also stood up, picked up her plate, and strode out of the auditorium.

"Hey, wait for me." Justin hurriedly got up and followed.

Next up were Susan, Ernie, and the others.

Then, the entire Hufflepuff table erupted in commotion.

One by one, everyone stood up, carrying plates and bowls, and left the auditorium in a grand procession.

"Wait—you guys stop right there!"

Umbridge roared, her face turning ashen.

The authority I had painstakingly built up over three months seemed on the verge of collapse.

This is something she absolutely will not allow.

She finally managed to

But it was no use. This time, her voice was much more normal, but it didn't stop the young wizards from walking.

More young wizards stood up and joined the departing group.

Harry was even faster; he and Justin got up almost simultaneously.

Following Hermione and Ron, Seamus and the others also chose to leave the Great Hall.

In the blink of an eye, all the Gryffindors were gone.

Three minutes later—except for the Slytherins, all the other young wizards from the three houses ran away.

"Damn it!" Umbridge roared in anger.

"Bang!" She slammed her plate on the ground, her eyes filled with resentment, a stark contrast to her usual expression.

Not all the remaining Slytherins liked Umbridge either; nobody liked her—they only supported her reluctantly because she brought power to Slytherin.

And if they lose this power, they won't hesitate to kick them when they're down.

At this moment, quite a few small snakes were watching the show with cold smiles.

But to say how miserable Umbridge is now, it's hard to say. More miserable than those poor guys hanging in the doorway.

He couldn't even let out a wail—because his mouth was gagged.

"Draco—" Umbridge suddenly spoke.

She wanted Draco to bring a patrol team to intercept the young wizard.

But just as he was about to speak...

Suddenly, on the long table in the auditorium.

The food on the tables of the four academies disappeared in the blink of an eye.

It was spotless, the tabletop looked as if it had been wiped clean, and it gleamed with a waxy sheen.

"What happened?"

The Slytherins looked at each other in astonishment; this was something that had never happened in all their years at Hogwarts.

This has never happened before.

While the Slytherins were stunned and at a loss.

At this moment, all the food in Hufflepuff's common room appeared out of thin air.

Plates were scattered like a carpet across the tables and cabinets in the lounge.

Those that couldn't be placed anywhere floated in mid-air.

From the vine ladders leading to the men's and women's dormitories, to the rest platform on the second floor.

And throughout the entire hall on the first floor, the young wizards were holding up their plates and shouting loudly.

"Oh! Long live Irving!"

"Long live Kyrie Irving!!"

Everyone screamed and celebrated the victory.

The surroundings looked as if they were hosting a banquet.

Similar scenes also occurred in the other three lounges.

"What's there to celebrate?" Irving asked, reclining in his armchair.

The plates float in front of him; whatever he wants to eat, the food will bounce and jump right up to him.

At this time, the wise men are busy eating—only the fools are still celebrating.

It's obvious—most people are fools, and he's the only one busy making a living.

Lunchtime flew by.

Irving quickly filled his stomach.

He slumped limply in the chair, his body forming a large "X" shape.

His long silver hair cascaded down his back as he rubbed against the chair, cascading down like a waterfall.

Gradually, the cheers in the lounge subsided.

Many people looked at Irving with surprise.

Especially when they met his gaze, everyone couldn't help but feel a little hot, their eyes turning red.

At that moment, Hannah was the first to react.

Her eyes scanned the surroundings scrutinizingly before she came up behind Irving.

"Why have you grown your hair so long?" she asked gently.

"I had no choice," Owen said lazily. "It's growing too fast. I'm not a hairdresser; I can't cut my own hair, so I'll just leave it like this."

"Growing too fast?" Hannah asked calmly, reaching out her hand and running her fingertips through her silky silver hair.

"Good!" Her eyes lit up. She was about to ask Owen what kind of conditioner he used, but after thinking about it carefully, she realized that he was probably born with it. Owen didn't seem like a wizard who would use such a magical thing as conditioner.

"It only took seven days for it to spread from a bald head to its back," Irving said, utterly dejected. "The only saving grace is that it stopped growing after it reached a certain length."

"So fast?" Hannah's fingers flew as she helped Owen put his hair up in a bun.

Her blonde hair was also very soft, and she usually wore it in braids, one or two.

Therefore, Hannah is very skilled in this area.

"Is it a potion? Or a curse? This is clearly very unusual."

"It's a curse," Owen said pessimistically. "Even if I kill the person who cursed me, it probably won't change anything."

Even if he defeats the Outer God, the changes in his body will not stop.

"Okay—" Hannah's heart sank. She was worried that something might happen to Owen; she was afraid and anxious.

Never mind—it's over, isn't it?

"Owen." Justin popped his head up. "I heard from Harry and the others that you were there during the Battle of Poseidon?"

"Yes, what's wrong?" Owen stared at the ceiling with his eyes open, giving Hannah more room to maneuver.

"Good heavens! You were here after all!"

This immediately stirred up all the young wizards around, who were eager to go.

During the summer holidays, the Daily Prophet repeatedly reported on Hermione's involvement in the war, claiming she was the pride of all British wizards, which the Hufflepuffs found strange at the time.

How could Kyrie Irving not be there for such a "feast"?

They searched through the entire newspaper, but they couldn't find Irving's name.

"Tell us! What exactly happened back then?"

"I heard that a super hurricane in the Mediterranean almost destroyed a country."

"Are there really millions of Muggles affected by the disaster?"

The little wizards blinked excitedly, sitting there one by one, ready to listen to the story.

"It's normal for a super hurricane to affect millions of people." Owen went along with their wishes and began to explain slowly, "However, the direct casualties were mainly from the Muggle merchant ships that were passing by at the time, and the subsequent attacks by the [Ominous] monsters."

"How many people could there be?" Susan came over to Hannah and joined in combing Owen's hair.

"Hey, hey—just do it casually and it'll look fine. What are you two doing?" Owen raised his eyes, looking at his discovery with increasing 'greatness,' and quickly stopped them.

Susan smiled, parted her braids, and started braiding them again.

"The death toll is estimated to be over 10,000," he continued. "The hurricane was located right on a sea route, with a lot of ships passing by."

"Ten thousand?" The young wizards around gasped.

Justin—who reacted the most—because his mother wasn't among those 10,000 people.

We have Hermione and Harry to thank for this.

They saved his mother—which is why he fought so hard to protect Hermione this year, resulting in Hufflepuff's score being at the bottom.

"After some of the [Children of Ominous Signs] escaped, the number of casualties is estimated to be around tens of thousands."

"Tens of thousands—"

If you're a Muggle, you might not be surprised by the deaths of tens of thousands of people. After all, conflicts in the Middle East or Africa have resulted in hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of deaths.

But for a young wizard...

Tens of thousands of people—that's almost the total number of wizards in all of Britain!

The Quidditch World Cup only attracted 100,000 wizards, and that was from all over the world.

Tens of thousands of people—equivalent to one-third or one-quarter of the World Cup squad.

"And those who died from being afflicted by a curse are not counted as direct casualties."

"Good heavens—what about the Law of Secrecy? Tens of thousands of Muggles are dead—the wizarding world can't be kept in the dark anymore!"

At this point, a young wizard raised a question.

As soon as he said it, it immediately resonated with many young wizards.

Everyone nodded—yes—what about the secrecy law?

Hearing this, Owen rolled his eyes at them. "You guys—the heads of government of various countries already know that magic exists. For example, after the new British Prime Minister takes office, the Minister of Magic will meet with him on a chosen day. The British royal family, the Queen also has court wizards to protect her safety."

"This time, it's just that more people in the government know about it."

"I see." Ernie nodded. He sat next to Justin, and as a pure-blood wizard, he was clearly unaware of these things.

Most young wizards don't know this; they still think the magical world and the Muggle world are truly two parallel worlds that don't interfere with each other.

"However, this time it has indeed caused a great stir, and many ordinary people have witnessed some magical phenomena. Moreover, this is not like decades ago, when information was still transmitted by telegram. Now, a phone call can be made and the whole world knows. Many rumors are spreading."

Such a massive leak is beyond the capacity of even the International Confederation of Wizards to handle; they cannot possibly cast a forgetting charm on all Muggles in the region.

"What should we do then?" Justin asked.

"Are we going to coexist peacefully with Muggles?"

"Heh—coexistence is inevitable, but whether it will be peaceful or not is another matter," Owen replied lazily.

"Yes! I heard that Muggles used that weapon to deal with the monsters in the sea." Justin looked quite worried. Like Hermione, he was also a Muggle. If things got too tense between the two worlds, their positions would become very awkward.

"Owen," he said, his gaze falling on Owen, who was being styled in various ways by the two playful girls, "do wizards have magic to defend against that kind of weapon?"

"."

Hearing this, Irving rolled his eyes at him, "What nonsense are you talking about!"

In an instant, temperatures reached hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius, a fireball several kilometers high, and an air blast wave tens of kilometers wide. What about their defenses?

"You just have to Apparate away before it explodes. As soon as the light comes on—you can give the middle finger to the sky."

"Why?" he then asked.

Owen, however, lacked the patience. The main problem was that he couldn't understand the explanations. Among the young wizards, only Hermione could roughly grasp the underlying principles, because in addition to reading magic books, she also enjoyed reading various Muggle science books. Hermione always carried books like "A Brief History of Time," "The Universe in a Nutshell," and "The Elegance of the Universe" in her bag.

Old Deng didn't even know if he could understand this principle.

He was silent.

My head was spinning rapidly.

After a long pause, he finally spoke: "This is difficult to explain. The principle is very complicated, and you simply cannot understand it."

Um—never mind.

Simply put, massive matter causes spacetime to curve. For example, the spacetime around the sun is affected by the sun's enormous mass, resulting in spacetime curvature. Planets, on the other hand, move along their geodesics, which is equivalent to uniform linear motion in an inertial frame of reference.

The sheer mass and ejection of matter from such a weapon at the moment of explosion would cause subtle distortions in spacetime. Although these distortions were extremely weak and would recover instantly, they would have a significant impact on Apparition spells. For example, the instability of spacetime would render the spell impossible to cast, or the distortion would cause the wizard's body to separate during Apparition. In short, you had to Apparate away before the explosion; once the fireball lit up, all you could do was wait to die.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Irving looked around.

Then came a series of brand-new, freshly baked papers, gleaming with clear, foolish eyes.

"I can understand it—" Justin said, "but I don't understand it when the individual words are put together."

"Get lost!" Irving yelled.

"Read more books, read more books! You never listen! I think I should ask Hermione to send a letter to your mother and ask her to find you some physics and math tutors to give you some extra lessons over the summer."

"No—" Justin jumped up immediately, "Those are some of my few days of freedom."

"Tch—you guys are beyond saving."

Irving turned his head away.

After a moment of confusion, the young wizards regained their energy.

They made a lot of noise and asked him many questions.

Irving responded calmly.

This continued until the first class in the afternoon.

In Hufflepuff, the afternoon class for fifth graders is History of Magic.

Owen finally went to class with his wife's hairstyle, carrying the textbooks Hermione had prepared for him, along with Hannah, Justin, and the others.

Life is tough!

In class, Professor Binns' familiar and nostalgic panting and drawn-out voice made Irving extremely happy.

Although most of the young wizards collapsed and fell asleep within five minutes of the start of class.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Irving tore a page from his notebook, dipped it in ink, and quickly wrote on it with a quill pen.

—The Red Queen

—I am happy to inform you that our plan can be carried out. I have prepared what you requested, and I have also included a small gift.

Please contact me as soon as possible.

— Vincent.

After class, he found a little elf in the lounge.

Since that incident in the kitchen, the young wizards at Hogwarts have shown respect to the few wizards involved, and even ordinary wizards are happy to help you if you need it.

"Find a public owl in the school and send this letter to Malfoy Manor, addressed to Lucius."

"Yes, sir." The little elf nodded and then disappeared from the spot.

They have one more class in the afternoon.

Or rather, he himself had an elective course.

Ancient script, such as Nirvana.

Frankly, there was no need for him to take this course anymore; Professor Bassheda Baburin probably knew more runes than he did.

After all, he had received knowledge from the previous successor of Dean Bridged Weasley, such as the fact that the magical world had always been slow to study Niven, and there had been little progress in this area over the past few hundred years.

In the evening, he met Hermione at the library.

Around six or seven o'clock, the library was packed with people.

Hermione said it was because Umbridge didn't teach them any decent magic at all, while Dumbledore somehow found a huge pile of brand-new magic books and scrolls, containing a lot of novel magic, which attracted everyone.

Owen became interested and searched through the library for a long time before discovering that Dumbledore had moved the books from the underground vaults of Ionia to Hogwarts.

Those magic scrolls might contain evil dark magic in one of them; the old headmaster is incredibly audacious.

However, Hermione said that some of the magic books did indeed contain very useful spells. Some young wizards had learned new things from them.

Something new—it's probably something like teaching you how to summon an Outer God from scratch.

Oh well, since Dumbledore brought the stuff back, it's his fault. I'm too lazy to bother with it.

"What are you doing?"

On the long table in the library, Owen watched Hermione cast a spell on a Galleon.

"You wouldn't research ways to break fairy magic and then clone Galleons, would you?!"

"I'm not that bored!" Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "This is a fake Galleon. It's a kind of alchemical tool. By transmitting many fake Galleons, they are made into a simple communication tool."

Umbridge forbids us from practicing magic in private, so I plan to secretly form a resistance organization; this is my tool for connecting the members.

"She doesn't allow you to practice magic in private? How nosy!" Owen shouted, but just as he was about to speak again...

Someone tugged at the pant leg next to me.

He was startled, and looking down, he saw a familiar little elf.

"Sir, your reply." He handed Irving a letter that was not branded with any sealing wax or seal.

Then it disappeared with a "poof".

"Wow, so fast?" Owen was slightly taken aback.

It seems our Red Queen has been waiting for a long time.

Otherwise, why would they reply so hastily?

"Who is it?" Hermione looked up, her eyes gleaming with a dangerous light.

"Not a junior wizard at school," Owen replied, while opening the letter.

"That's the little wizard from Paris."

"What are you thinking about?" Owen chuckled, glancing at the letter.

—Tonight, 11 p.m., Hogwarts Observatory.

—The Red Queen

"Hogwarts?" Owen was stunned the moment he saw the letter. Was Hogwarts a place that anyone could come and go as they pleased?

What makes her so confident that she can get into the school?

And—Dumbledore is still here tonight.

Although he's not at school most of the year, he just happened to be there tonight, and he couldn't have picked a better time.

Hermione had been watching Owen's expression closely, and as his expression gradually turned to astonishment, she suddenly spoke in a strange tone, "It doesn't say on there that you have to meet there in the middle of the night, does it?"

"."

Owen rolled his eyes at her, then handed the letter to Hermione.

The moment Miss Granger glanced at the letter, her expression froze.

"I"

"Congratulations, you guessed right." Owen leaned his head against her shoulder, looking at her with a half-smile.

Faced with the boy's teasing, Hermione's expression became very unnatural. She placed the letter on the seat and then stared intently at Owen as if interrogating a criminal.

Who is the Red Queen?

"Why don't you go and see for yourself?" Irving teased. "It's 11 PM tonight." He then glanced at the non-existent watch on his left wrist and said, "The show starts at 6:30. We'll go have dinner first, then you can go back and get some sleep. Remember—don't stay up late!"

He slowly stood up, and with a wave of his hand, all the books on the table floated up on their own and returned to their original places on the bookshelves.

"Let's go," he said, extending his hand.

Miss Granger was full of doubts, but despite her teasing, she always trusted Irving.

She took his hand, though she was a little unaccustomed to it.

The two then quickly left the library.

Everyone enjoyed dinner very much.

Because that old toad did not appear at the main table.

The Geminis even excitedly set off fireworks.

Fireworks exploded in the sky above the auditorium, and then two green sprites appeared, dancing with their hands on their hips.

Even though Christmas is still more than twenty days away, everyone is already feeling the festive atmosphere.

After dinner, on his way back to the lounge, Irving came across several portraits of people playing musical instruments and singing joyful tunes.

It seems—it really is a holiday.

(End of this chapter)