From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 303 Ariana
"Albus, Aberforth! You two could be my grandfathers!"

These were Ariana's first words after she was resurrected from the dead.

The two old men laughed at the same time, and then shed tears. They had done a lot of psychological preparation before, thinking about leaving the best and happiest side for Ariana.

As a result, before I could even say a word, I had already started crying.

"Welcome home, Ariana." Dumbledore wiped the tears from his beard and greeted his sister.

Aberforth did the same thing, and then the two old men took Ariana away.

Before leaving, Dumbledore told Ivy that they were going to try to help Ariana control the Obscurus with their own methods, and give her some adaptation training for attending Hogwarts.

The two old men have already entered their eighties, but the newly resurrected Ariana is still a 14-year-old girl in her prime. No matter how reluctant they are, Ariana still has to stay with the young people. The two old men cannot truly resonate with an adolescent girl.

Dumbledore has learned a lot of lessons from his years of teaching, and now he is preparing to put all the experiences brought to him by his students into practice on Ariana.

After all, Dumbledore is no longer the passionate young man who feels trapped by his family, but a wise and respected old man. Over the years, he has had some ideas of his own about the Obscurus and the Obscurus, so he plans to try his own way first.

However, a week after the summer vacation began, Ivy received a letter from Dumbledore. The letter gave an address, which was a very remote place, sparsely populated and protected by magic.

It was a foggy coast with tall trees standing not far behind the rocky coastline.

The air is filled with the fishy and salty smell brought by the sea breeze, but compared with the scorching sun in midsummer, the sea breeze can bring cool water vapor without sunburning people's skin, causing peeling and scabs.

After passing through a small forest, Ivy saw a building built above the woods. There was no doubt that it was a tree house.

Ivy quite likes the theme of wizards and witches living in the woods, which is in harmony with nature.

The wizards' magic can repel mosquitoes and insects, and conveniently bring water and fire, so there is actually nothing inconvenient about living ten feet above the ground.

"Dumbledore!" Ivy shouted towards the tree house. Although he received the invitation, he didn't see a single person.

"Are you the Ivy that Albus was talking about?" A little head popped out from the top of the tree house.

Ivy remembered this pale and thin face: "We met when you were resurrected, right? Ariana."

Compared to Ariana, who was in a weak state when she was resurrected, she didn't look much better now. It seemed that Dumbledore's method was ineffective, at least it didn't have any visible positive effect.

"You're hard to forget." Ariana wrinkled her nose as she lay on the wooden board of the tree house. "But I don't remember inviting you to call my name."

"I'm sorry, but I usually call your brother 'Dumbledore', the one with the smoother beard and hair." Ivy said casually, causing Ariana to laugh a little. "If I call you 'Dumbledore' too, it will make me unconsciously imagine you with a big beard in my mind."

Ariana laughed even louder, but she stopped immediately: "Are you the one Albus asked to heal me?"

"Cure you?" Ivy shook her head. "If you ask me, I'm here to study you. I don't think you're sick. I'm just here to study that magical phenomenon."

"Magical phenomena?" Ariana drawled. "You mean this kind of--"

Black oily magic appeared out of nowhere and quickly rushed towards Ivy, but suddenly changed direction when it was three or five feet away from him and bypassed him.

Ivy stood there motionless. He didn't think this was an attack from the beginning, and the Swordmaster's professional ability [Lightning Draw] also gave him the ability to seize the initiative in the battle. Moreover, his agility of 23 points also gave him absolute confidence to avoid this inappropriate attack.

"——Power?"

The expected scene of Ivy dodging in a panic did not occur, and Ariana curled her lips.

"Interesting." Ivy's body floated in the air, breaking away from the encirclement of the Obscurus' magic power and rising to the same height as Ariana. "You can control the Obscurus to a certain extent. Why is that? Is it your experience in the spirit world that gave you this ability?"

Ivy looked at Ariana with a fiery gaze. A little witch who had returned from death and was able to demonstrate her talent in manipulating Obscurus magic in both the spiritual world and the real world would be an excellent research material.

"...How did you do it?" Ariana, who was lying on the wooden floor, looked up at Ivy, her mouth opened unconsciously. She had never seen Dumbledore fly.

"Magic, it's that simple." Ivy looked at the little girl. She was not the introverted and socially anxious girl that Ivy had imagined. Instead, she looked like a smart and clever girl, just a little malnourished.

But often the more normal the Obscurials are, the more abnormal they are. The magic of the Obscurials has already revealed their identity as time bombs, and those who appear normal often produce greater explosive power.

But this is good news for Ivy, as he is worried that the time bomb might not explode strongly enough.

"I guess your Obscurus magic will still get out of control, right?" Ivy nodded his chin at the girl on the ground, motioning her to stand up.

"How do you know... Yes, it's obvious." Ariana was obviously very clear about the source of the Obscurus' magic power, and understood that as long as it existed by her side, it would definitely get out of control. Moreover, the Obscurus' magic power did run wild during the few days after its resurrection.

It's just that Dumbledore used magic to recreate all the things she destroyed, as if the damage Ariana caused to them never existed, but she knew very well that the past was the past, and Dumbledore was just covering up for her, not making it seem like it had never happened.

"Harry once told me that you fought giant shadow monsters in the spirit world. Did you fight those monsters for a long time? Was it because of your experience in the spirit world that you became able to manipulate the Obscurus magic? Did your memories of the spirit world not disappear? Or have those memories become experiences stored in your soul?"

"Stop, stop, stop!" Ariana waved her hands wildly, obviously confused by Ivy's series of questions. "I haven't agreed to let you study me yet! Why are you asking so many questions at once! "

"So, you are really going to live in the forest for the rest of your life, until Dumbledore... Albus and Aberforth die, and then you become a lonely witch in the forest?" Ivy glanced at her and painted a foreseeable future for her.

Ariana snorted. "Maybe I'll die before both of them. Let them attend my funeral again."

"You've finally survived, don't you want to enjoy the world?" Ivy asked.

"But I hurt others too easily..." Ariana said sadly.

"So you didn't hurt others intentionally?" Ivy began to induce Ariana. As an adolescent girl, she obviously lacked real opinions, but she had the necessary moral concepts.

Ariana did not answer Ivy's question, but asked another one: "If I agree to let you study... can you promise to make me normal?" "That depends on what your definition of 'normal' is. 'Normal human' or 'normal wizard'." Ivy smiled lightly, and seemed to have suddenly developed a strong interest in the tree house behind Ariana.

"Anything is fine!" Ariana obviously didn't like beating around the bush with Ivy. "Anyway, I don't want to see anyone around me get hurt again."

"I can't guarantee what I can turn your Obscurus magic into, but rendering it harmless is probably the simplest way." Ivy seemed to be interested in the oily magic surrounding the tree house again.

Ariana groaned and looked at Ivy with suspicion.

"Okay, girls, let's make these little cuties disappear for now. We don't need them for now." Ivy fanned out a gust of wind with his hands, pushing away the magic of the Obscure that was too close to him.

"I'm unhappy now and can't control them." Ariana crossed her arms across her chest, obviously not prepared to cooperate.

"Okay, then let's just pretend they don't exist." Ivy flew up from the floor of the tree house again, and waved to Ariana who was standing there angrily, "I used my magic to influence you. Imagine that you can fly, and you can fly. Then, follow me."

In addition to providing Ivy with a flying speed of 60 feet, [Summoning the Air Element] can also make nearby friendly targets fly at the same speed of 30 feet. Commanding the air is not a difficult task for Ivy.

Amid Ariana's loud and excited shouts, the two flew towards the seaside together.

The flying speed of thirty feet is actually only slightly faster than the walking speed of a normal person, so after the initial excitement, Ariana quickly mastered the essentials of flying.

"Remember the questions I asked you just now?" Ivy looked at Ariana beside him. "We have plenty of time now. You can answer them one by one."

"I forgot." Ariana said nonchalantly, "Ask again."

This was undoubtedly a child who lacked love, but Ivy was not going to argue with her, so he repeated his question with a smile.

"I can't remember what happened in the spirit world, but fighting must be what I did most in the spirit world." Ariana recalled, "Although I am not very clear about what happened in the spirit world after resurrection, it will help me remember."

"It?" Ivy was keenly aware of the hidden emotion in Ariana's words. "You call the Obscurus 'it'? That sounds like a puppy."

"A moody, but fairly obedient puppy." Ariana nodded. "It... helped me a lot in the spirit world. Without it, I might not have been able to hold on."

“Even though I don’t have many memories left of the spirit world, I know it’s not a good place. It’s full of eerie and scary things… They wanted to capture me… Fortunately, with it, I was able to hold on until you resurrected me…” Ariana shuddered, as if she was filled with fear of what would happen in the spirit world after death.

"This is different from the descriptions of other resurrected people." Ivy recalled the descriptions of the spirit world by the Potters and Harry. "They said that the spirit world can make the dead feel more at ease and peaceful. Why is that?"

"Who knows?" Ariana obviously didn't understand the reason. "I thought the spirit world was a lively place at first! Think about it, there are so many people in the world, and they have died in batches throughout the ages. If their final destination is the spirit world, then the spirit world may have been full! But who knew that it was so desolate inside, and there was not even a ghost in sight."

"That does make sense." Ivy didn't intend to calculate the math problem Ariana mentioned. Ivy never forced himself to understand something he didn't understand, so he changed to another question, "You said that the Obscurus magic can help you remember what happened in the spirit world? Can you tell me in detail?"

"You are not a Silent One, you won't understand." Ariana shook her head, and the oily magic appeared from her side again, surrounding her body like a well-behaved puppy. "It's not just a ball of cold magic, it's alive. It will protect me and change with my emotions. When I'm angry, it's also angry. When I'm sad, it's also sad. We are partners with one heart and one mind..."

"Do you know why wizards can cast spells?" Ivy asked a seemingly irrelevant question.

"Because of the wand and the spell?" Ariana was stunned for a moment before answering tentatively.

"Because of magic and will." Ivy explained, "Emotions are like an amplifier for wizards. Black magic requires negative emotions, and white magic requires positive emotions. But the absence of emotions does not mean that magic cannot be released. When young wizards grow up quickly, the magic in their bodies will riot, making them realize that they are different from others."

"Because of your personal experience, you suppressed the magic in your body with your own will, but it exists objectively and will not disappear just because of your resistance. So these magic powers that have nowhere to vent combine with your negative emotions to form the Obscurus. The 'it' you mentioned is actually a part of yourself." Ivy explained the general understanding of the Obscurus in the wizarding world while observing Ariana's changes.

She was very calm, and even the Obscurus magic that followed her did not change at all, but from the expression on her face, she was obviously dismissive of Ivy's words.

"Dumbledore...well, has Albus already said something similar to you?" Ivy asked with interest.

The reason for the appearance of Obscurus is the conclusion drawn by wizards after a large number of examples, so the possibility of error is very small. Then why does Ariana have a completely different view on the magic of Obscurus?

"Yeah, it's the same old stuff, nothing new. I'm beginning to doubt your ability." Ariana curled her lips, "If you hadn't really resurrected me from the spirit world, I would have thought you were just another liar."

"How do you share experiences and memories with 'it'?" Ivy asked.

The most likely reason for a person to have a different opinion from the general public is his unique personal experience. Ariana obviously fits this description. If calculated according to the time in the real world, she has been active in the spirit world for nearly a century. Unlike other dead people who enjoy peace and tranquility, Ariana and "it" are likely to have been in battles of all sizes.

Although Ariana's memory of the spirit world is now very vague, "it", as a combination of Ariana's negative emotions and magic power, may in turn affect Ariana with this extra hundred years of experience.

"This... is hard to describe." Ariana thought for a moment, "Just like humans are born with the ability to breathe, I just understand what it conveys. Some vague images? A sentence that suddenly pops up? But the images I see in my mind and the voices I hear are more like what I have seen and said before. That's why I think it helps me remember those memories in the spirit world."

From what Ivy knew, the magic of the Obscurus would usually devour the host irreversibly and then turn into nothingness, a typical self-destructor. They were born from the psychological trauma of the host, but formed a subtle parasitic relationship with the Obscurus. They just existed and would continue to hurt the Obscurus, but Ariana and her Obscurus were obviously not such a simple connection.

Coming back from the dead made their connection even more magical.

However, Ivy had no way to verify Ariana's story alone, so he planned to use more radical means.

"I've never seen any Silent One before, so I want to test the connection between you and it, okay?" Ivy stopped. After flying for a while, they had arrived at the rocky coast.

"How are you going to test it?" Ariana had a bad feeling.

"Fighting." Ivy said as a matter of course, "You fought side by side with it in the spirit world for a long time, right? Then fighting must be what you are best at. Maybe in the battle, you can recall something else, and I can use it to figure out the connection between you and it."

Ariana frowned: "Don't blame me if it hurts!"

What is this kid talking about? How could a little witch easily hurt a prepared nine-ring spellcaster?

"Come on," Ivy said loudly, "You can do your best!"

　5000!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)