Hogwarts Wasteland: The Witch from the Borderlands

Chapter 97 Faith and Trouble

Hogwarts continued its leisurely pace, having already entered Italian territory after the start of the school term.

The location chosen by the wand was Rome, or more precisely, the Vatican, which was one of the cities where Muggles flocked to seek refuge during the war.

But now, everything has long since turned into ruins.

In the early stages of the war, wizards were stunned by the sudden nuclear bombs launched by Muggles, but by the time they realized what was happening, the pervasive power of magic had completely blinded the Muggles.

Although fairies help distinguish them, there are fewer fairies than wizards, so how can they possibly manage?

With the help of spells such as the Confusion Charm and the Imperius Charm, wizards can easily find military bases where Muggles are hiding in bunkers and manipulate the commanders' minds to make them throw bombs at their own people.

Or perhaps a daring wizard would Apparate with the impending nuclear bomb, appearing above the Muggle city.

Then leave in an instant.

From that time on, Muggles also had to start worrying about nuclear bombs suddenly detonating overhead.

It was precisely because, in the later stages of the war, these annihilating weapons were indiscriminately used against both friend and foe that the entire world was plunged into a devastating state of widespread nuclear contamination.

As a religious city, Vatican City initially attracted many Muggles seeking refuge there. Most of them believed in Christian doctrines and thought that wizards were apostles of the devil, and that only in this holy city could they find protection.

Nearly a million people flocked to Rome, with only the most capable able to gain entry into the Vatican.

But when the nuclear bombs were detonated mercilessly over St. Peter's Square in the heart of the city, their God did not protect them. Tens of thousands of people gathered there, some praying, some scrambling for the meager food distributed, but many more, oblivious and with devout faith in God, turned to ashes in the flames that purified everything. Even in this apocalyptic war, this event was a tragedy.

This is Hogwarts' destination. After using the Brilliant Stone to clear the city of radiation, the children can safely search the ruins for materials related to their "inclinations" and forge their own wands.

Although this city once rejected wizards, it has many things that are full of special meaning and are believed and prayed for by people. These things also have powerful magical effects and can therefore be used to forge wands.

There are many children this year, more than forty new students, plus second-year students Ron and Neville, as well as other children who were rescued at Christmas. Except for Daphne, who still uses the wand she bought in Malfoy Castle, most of them chose to participate in this wand selection, making a total of more than fifty people.

There weren't enough professors, so Wen mobilized the seventh-year students. They were not much different from adult wizards, so helping the professors clear dangers inside and outside the city was not a difficult task.

Fortunately, the brooms that Malfoyburg compensated last year were plentiful, and the professors and senior students each carried a child, so there wasn't a problem of not having enough to go around.

Harry accompanied Ron and the others to the courtyard early in the morning to wait, while Hermione did not go; instead, she went to the Hall of Brilliant Stone on the fourth floor.

She will stay here with Dumbledore to ensure the stability of the pyroxene.

In the past, when the theory of pyroxene was not mature enough, Hogwarts could only absorb radiation in places like Cherokee where there was a nuclear leak. For safety reasons, they had never tried to test a real nuclear explosion zone.

This year, Hermione chose Rome, a city destroyed by a nuclear bomb, precisely because of her successful summer practice in the Valley of Godric.

"If we could completely eliminate the radiation here, perhaps the Muggles would return to this city," Dumbledore said, with a huge mirror beside him—the Mirror of Erised.

It was enchanted, revealing the view outside the school: a massive castle slowly ascended to the high ground on the edge of the city, stopped, and looked southeast. There was a whole scorched, abandoned city of Rome, slightly better off than the Valley of Godric, with more buildings remaining, but still not many. Further east, the ancient Colosseum, more than half collapsed, stood like a silent tombstone.

In the slightly higher Vatican area, although surviving buildings can be seen, it is all pitch black, with some resilient, radiation-resistant dwarf plants covering the former streets and houses.

Because there's no need to cover exposed nuclear materials, we don't have to sit on the roof like we did last year.

"If you succeed, you'll have even more trouble." Hermione stared intently at the Brilliant Stone, watching Dumbledore slowly manipulate it, gathering the radiation outside the castle to the top of the castle tower, then turning it into a thin stream of water that dripped down and flowed into the Brilliant Stone.

This level of control is far superior to Hermione's; she can only roughly absorb the surrounding radiation, but she can't make everyone else around her feel it like this.

Dumbledore laughed: "If those nobles can be considered trouble."

Because Godric's Hollow was exposed, the various wizarding communities were in turmoil. But Dumbledore wasn't going to tolerate them. Taking advantage of Malfoy Castle's previous closed-door policy and its failure to help those in distress, he said he didn't have time to deal with these issues until he had appeased his students and professors.

The nobles had no choice but to accept it. Dumbledore was very powerful, and Hogwarts was hard to find. Malfoy Castle could only raise another batch of supplies and send them to the school, but their messengers couldn't even get into the headmaster's office and were turned away.

"But Hermione, if the Brightstone Ritual can really be replicated, would you be willing to make it public?" Dumbledore asked, staring at Hermione as he manipulated the magic.

Using a powerful magical item to absorb the surrounding radiation and make it more habitable is a very significant magical technique.

Hermione turned to look at him: "I don't mind my magic spreading, but Professor, the essence of this ritual to remove radiation is to gather it together and form a highly powerful brilliance stone."

"And to stabilize the pyroxene structure, this magic will transform it into a self-circulating entity that absorbs surrounding energy."

The powerful core, which continuously produces energy, is not gradually depleted with use. Even if it is temporarily exhausted, it will gradually recover. The powerful gems within, such as the one at Hogwarts, are even more terrifying than nuclear bombs because they can be reused repeatedly.

Are you sure the leaders of those wizarding communities are qualified to possess such a thing?

Dumbledore fell silent. He knew those nobles better than Hermione. They were more greedy than Muggle capitalists and had no bottom line than the devil. They were now on the side of the white wizards only because the territory of the Wizarding Party had no soil for nobles to take root. There was only the distinction between the strong and the weak. Wizards ruled Muggles, and the strong ruled the weak.

Otherwise, how could these rotten parasites possibly be allied with Dumbledore, who was dedicated to rebuilding the world and advocating for peaceful coexistence between wizards and Muggles?

If these people were to obtain the Shining Stones, even if each one were not as powerful as the one at Hogwarts, even just Hermione's would be enough for them to commit far more evil deeds and truly become tyrants ruling a city.

In fact, they would scheme and plot against each other to seize ownership of the pyroxene, and when they finally failed, they would derange themselves by detonating the pyroxene to recreate a nuclear explosion!

"By then, the nobles might really become a problem."

He looked into the magic mirror and saw the professors and senior students orderly carrying the children out of the castle and landing in every corner of the city ruins.

"Never mind, maybe we can wait a little longer," Dumbledore said in a low voice.

Turning my head, I saw the girl beside me intently staring at the dazzling heart of energy, promptly correcting any potential deviations.

This made her seem exceptionally reliable.