Hogwarts Wasteland: The Witch from the Borderlands

The thick fog in Godric's Valley has never dissipated. Ever since it was flattened by a nuclear bomb, this valley, which has buried countless wizards and Muggle souls, has been shrouded in a terrifying fog with extremely high radiation concentrations, as if the world itself does not want to see this tragic scene.

Harry joined the Outposts with Hermione as he wished. His Brilliant Stone magic was already quite good, on par with other adult wizards, and he could cast Brilliant Stones smoothly. Ron and Neville were unfortunately not selected, as there were still some dangers outside, and the adults could not take care of so many children while exploring.

The pioneer team had five adult male wizards, and Mr. James was one of them. Lily had repeatedly warned him that if anything happened to the two children, he would be boiled into cockroach food.

The group first arrived at the top floor of Cliff Street. Under the envious gazes of Ron and the others, the leading wizard waved his wand at the rock wall, and the wall, which looked like solidified lava, actually began to flow, splitting open to both sides to form an entrance that could only be passed through by one person at a time.

"Remember this location. This is the only entrance and exit that hasn't been set up with traps. When you wave your wand, imagine the Bowtruckle dancing the Riverdance, and the rock wall will open correctly," James instructed the two children.

"But you're not allowed to go out without an adult!"

"And..." He paused, then said solemnly, "In the worst-case scenario, if you are captured and forced to reveal the entrance to Cliff Street, you must not tell us, even if it means death."

The two children nodded earnestly.

Emerging from the cave, one finds a barren, rocky slope. Although it is the warmest time of July, the temperature outside is only in the teens. The sunlight cannot penetrate the thick radiation clouds, but summer is always brighter than other times.

This is already quite good. Compared to the area where Hermione lived as a child, where she needed to wear cotton clothes even in the sweltering summer, the climate of Godric's Hollow is quite livable.

Looking down from the hillside, many tenacious mutant plants can be seen growing from the cracks in the rocks, but they are no longer visible beyond that. Thick fog accumulates at the bottom of the valley, like a still, stagnant pool of water, devoid of any life.

"It's so desolate here!" Harry stood on tiptoe, trying to see further.

“When you were little, we only ever took you out from the exit on the other side of the mountain,” James explained. “The radiation there is much less, and the vegetation and environment are much milder.”

"Alright, our task today is just a preliminary exploration of the valley's edge; there shouldn't be any major danger," he instructed.

"Once we get closer to the fog, we'll drink the anti-radiation potion, then use the sapphire magic to convert the radiation and gradually advance inward."

"Who is it!" Hermione suddenly turned her head sharply to look at the rocks on the side.

But it was empty.

"There's someone watching me from over there," she said, frowning.

"It might be a mutant beast," another wizard remarked.

"Over the years, more and more animals have adapted to the radiation and have even dared to approach this valley. They are fierce and cunning, and will try to ambush any lone wizards they encounter."

"You two stand between us and don't wander off, especially in the fog."

Hermione didn't think the gaze she had just received was from a mutant. Her senses were very sharp, and she even had the clairvoyance of a hindsight person. The gaze felt more like that of an intelligent being, and it was a malicious spying.

But she couldn't use that reason to convince the Trail Blazers to investigate a vague "feeling".

The group continued their journey, descending the hillside.

As they got closer to the mist in the valley, they could clearly feel an invisible energy slowly intensifying, penetrating their bodies in every way.

Fortunately, everyone was a wizard with strong resistance, and after drinking the anti-radiation potion, they could completely ignore this level of damage.

Hermione recalled the wand selection when she first entered Hogwarts. Cherokee's situation was similar to this place, but back then, there was an entire Hogwarts that used the power of the Brilliant Stone to suppress and absorb radiation, creating a safe zone that first-year students could walk through in a very short time. Now, there's no such thing as a safe zone.

As the altitude gradually decreased, the light became dimmer and dimmer. The thick fog around us obscured our vision, and we could only vaguely see some distorted tree shadows or small animals darting out like the wind.

Although the wizards of the pioneer team were all adults, none of them had experienced the great war of that year, nor were any of them actually born in Godric Valley. They were all descendants of wizards who had escaped from that time. What James was holding now was a village map hand-drawn by Mrs. Bagshot from memory. It was rough, like a child's sketch, and could only provide a rough reference for the layout of the buildings.

However, even with a detailed map, it was useless. The nuclear bomb had basically leveled everything in the center of the village, leaving only some houses on the edge as ruins. Their main purpose in exploring was the cellars that almost every wizard family in the village had. Under the protection of magic, the wizards' houses would be more resistant, and after the nuclear bomb destroyed these buildings, the items in the cellars would have a higher probability of being preserved.

Many wizards like to hide precious things underground, and it turns out that burying them in the ground does indeed help preserve them for a long time.

As they ventured deeper into the fog, a pedestrian path led past a church and cemetery that were now just ruins; this was the farthest the pioneers had ever been.

But now, with the magic of the Radiant Stone, they can go further. Each of them has a starlight hanging above their head, and the surrounding radiation energy is extracted and divided among the seven people, converted into energy for the Radiant Stone magic.

But to everyone's astonishment, Hermione alone had a higher conversion rate than the other six combined. Her long, silver-white staff was like a greedy maw, devouring and digesting large amounts of radiation and storing it in the metal bud at the top.

What they didn't know was that Hermione's wand base was Cherokee's reactor control rod—a specially made demon core metal. Combined with Hermione's magical prowess inherited from the King of Elden, at the Origin level, she could enter even the epicenter of a nuclear explosion unscathed.

However, the area protected by the wand was too small, so she couldn't take so many people too far in. At this distance, the others could no longer completely convert the radiation and could only keep the amount of damage they received within a controllable range.

"We can't go any further, although Hermione still has the energy," James said, somewhat embarrassed.

The other wizards also looked at the girl with admiration. Before they came, when the girl explained her experience with the magic of the radiant stone to them, they thought that she was just an academic little witch who had published a paper under the guidance of a professor, and that her actual application might not be much better than theirs. But when they actually got here, they found that while they had to do their best to maintain the magic, she remained calm and looked around with ease.

In fact, this was the result of Hermione's efforts to expand the absorption range and help others share some of the radiation.

"Let's use this distance as the limit and explore horizontally to find house ruins and cellars."

Hermione felt that gaze upon her again, but she pretended not to notice and stayed close to the middle of the group.

The radiation concentration here is so high that even with her help, the pioneering team is having an extremely difficult time advancing. The guy hiding in the shadows probably isn't having an easy time either.

Hermione planned to keep the guy hanging. She had already figured out some of the patterns of her third eye. The longer something was perceived by her, the clearer it became. Like Lucius's bell, with each use by the other party, Hermione gradually evolved from hearing to sight, until she could see Lucius's face clearly in the illusion.