Hogwarts: Undercover Death Eater Replaces the Dark Lord

"Although I still have some questions I want to ask you, it seems that I don't have the opportunity today..."

As he spoke, he turned towards the front of the train.

Before Lycos could react, he found that Dumbledore seemed to have merged into the air and disappeared from the spot in a trance.

He paused for a moment, then turned to look at Cassandra: "Don't you want to talk to the principal?"

"If you want to talk, you can go to the principal's office and talk to him alone. I'm sure he'll be happy to do it." Cassandra curled her lips. "Anyway, I'm not interested in being questioned by him."

"It seems like he can completely understand a person just by asking a few questions... It's a very uncomfortable feeling."

"Actually, I feel the same way." Lycos shrugged. "This is what happens when you talk to someone who is too smart... It seems like no matter how hard we try to hide our secrets, they can't escape his eyes..."

He saw the prefects starting to organize everyone back to the carriage, so he and Cassandra walked back to the box they had just been in.

This time, Lykos was much more obedient. He sat down next to Cassandra, keeping a person's distance between them, fearing that she would say something shocking again...

Not long after, Draco entered the box with Crabbe, Goyle and Dobby, and squeezed into the seats opposite Lex and the others.

"It's finally over. Today has been so tiring." Draco slumped on Crabbe's chubby belly, a look of despair on his face.

"So what did you do today?" Lycos asked casually. "Hidden under a blanket all afternoon?"

"I... I'm not talking about physical fatigue, I'm talking about mental exhaustion!" Draco retorted dissatisfiedly, "It's too exciting, I've never experienced such a scene in my life..."

Lycos didn't bother to pay attention to him and turned the topic to another person present.

"So what took Dobby so long to find Dumbledore?" he asked, looking at the house-elf standing at a loss at the door.

"Dobby, Dobby doesn't know where the principal's office is." Dobby's eyes were evasive, and his voice seemed to be filled with tears. "There is no one in the castle, and I can't ask for directions..."

"I don't mean to blame you." Lycos chuckled. "It's not a big deal, is it? Just tell me what happened."

"Okay, okay, thank you, Mr. Hayden." Dobby wiped his tears and continued, "Dobby... Dobby wandered around the main tower for a long time and finally found a magic painting that showed him the way, but there was no one in the principal's office."

"I looked in the magic painting and asked where the Vice-Principal's office was, but there was no one there either... Dobby wandered around the castle for a long time before finally remembering the Great Hall. He found all the professors there preparing for the start-of-term banquet."

"So...so it took Dobby a long, long time to find Headmaster Dumbledore. Dobby is a useless house-elf!"

As he spoke, Dobby wanted to bang his head against the table again.

Lycos quickly pressed it down and gave Draco a stern look.

"You'd better stop the habit of punishing house-elves, or Dobby won't even be able to speak complete sentences in a few days!"

As they talked, the area around the Hogwarts Express suddenly lit up.

Lycos let go of Dobby and was stunned for a moment.

He clearly felt that the entire train was under the influence of an unknown magic and became as light as paper.

"Everyone hold on tight!"

A loud voice came to my ears.

"Get ready—go back to school!"

……

Chapter 120: The Strange Sorting Hat Song

"Is this the magic that drives the train that Cedric mentioned?"

Lycos looked at the passing scenery outside the window and his mood slowly calmed down.

Driven by magic, the train sped along, and the trees and houses were stretched into long lines, forming mottled dots of light along with the stars in the sky.

However, it seems that this speed of progress is in line with its name "Hogwarts Express", which is in sharp contrast to its previous slow efficiency that took most of the day to complete the journey.

Before long, a towering castle appeared in front of us.

On the dark horizon, high on the clifftops across the Black Lake, rose the silhouetted turrets and towers of Hogwarts Castle.

The lake was calm, dark, and smooth as a mirror, and the sky was the beautiful blue-purple of night.

The stars are scattered in the blue-purple night sky, and the starlight is sprinkled on the tops of the castle towers, covering each tower with a piece of fine silver gauze.

Under the starry night sky, the train pulled into its final destination, Hogsmeade Station.

The senior students, who had already had the experience of getting off the train many times, had already packed their things and were ready to get off and head to the other side of the station to take the driverless, magic-powered carriage to the main gate of Hogwarts Castle...

However, the train door did not open.

"Why isn't the door opening? Is there something wrong?" Draco asked in confusion, standing at the door of the carriage with his package on his back.

"I don't know." Lycos shook his head in confusion. "But there are quite a few people who are unconscious due to magic overdraft. They can't get on the carriage by themselves... I don't know what solution the prefects can come up with."

Because of the original novel, Lycos knew very well that the unmanned, magic-powered carriages mentioned by the senior students were actually pulled by the Thestrals.

Because of the special nature of the magical creatures called Thestrals, only those who have witnessed and understood death can see them. Otherwise, all they see is a transparent expanse of air...

So few people know that these carriages are pulled by magical animals.

However, even such a magical Thestral could only pull the carriage and had no way to help the unconscious little wizards leave the carriage.

Lycos always felt that transporting the unconscious little wizards was a huge project, and he was afraid that he would not be able to send them away for the time being...but these people were in urgent need of treatment and could not be delayed any longer.

"Maybe Dumbledore will have a solution?" This was the only thing he could think of.

Just as the students in the carriage were still daydreaming, Dumbledore's loud voice reached everyone's ears -

"Given the number of sick and injured people on our trains, we are taking a new approach to returning to school this year..."

"Now, everyone, sit tight!"

As soon as he finished speaking, many young wizards noticed that the train shook slightly.

Just when some people were wondering if something had gone wrong again, the front of the train was steadily suspended from the track.

Driven by the front train, the carriages behind it also left the track one by one, appearing at an angle, and flew out of Hogsmeade Station lightly, as if the rails on the ground extended into the air...

Lycos grabbed the window frame beside him to steady himself, and took Cassandra's arm.

He lifted his foot to move away from Goyle, who had rolled out in a ball because he lost his balance, and then stuck his head out of the window.

At first glance, he saw a pair of broad golden-red wings, gently flapping in the blue-purple night sky like a newborn sun.

"Is the Phoenix's flying ability so exaggerated?" Lycos's mouth twitched. "It can even fly with an entire Hogwarts Express. I think this bird can single-handedly take on all the Death Eaters..."

He had always known that the magical creatures in the wizarding world were magical, but he had never imagined they could be this magical.

There are nearly a thousand people in this train!

"It shouldn't be as exaggerated as what we see."

Cedric also walked out of the box at this time and gave his own judgment on the current situation.

"The entire train must have been cast under the Light as a Feather spell, so the Phoenix only felt a small portion of its weight... Otherwise, the carriages behind the locomotive would have been hanging vertically to the ground, instead of floating in the air like they are now."

"It seems to make sense." Lycos nodded. "But are we also under the Light as a Feather Curse? This kind of spell doesn't seem to be used on humans..."

"That rule doesn't apply to Dumbledore." Cedric laughed. "To Dumbledore, the magic in our bodies might be no different from ordinary matter."

"That's true." Lycos nodded thoughtfully.

In his opinion, if the gap in magic power between wizards is too great, they can indeed ignore many rules of spellcasting.

For example, Transfiguration, which cannot be used on wizards, was used by Alastor Moody to punish Draco in the original book;

In the cave where Voldemort placed the Horcruxes, Dumbledore took Harry on a small boat that could only accommodate one person... This was because Harry's magic power was indeed not as powerful as Dumbledore's.

These things happened because the gap in magic power was too huge, so many rules were ignored.

"So, we're all under the Light As A Feather Charm now?" Draco asked suddenly curiously, "Then I won't die if I jump from here, right?"

He pointed below the window, where there was a lawn on the side of the castle.

"You can try." Lycos glanced at him. "If you can't make up your mind, I can help push you down. That way, you can be considered a pioneer in exploring the truth of magic."

"Forget it..." Draco quickly shook his head and said, "I still want to live a few more years."

The long Hogwarts Express soon landed smoothly on the wide lawn south of the Quidditch pitch.

Because of its length, the train couldn't stay straight across the grass, so Dumbledore cast another spell, causing the carriages to curl up next to each other, forming a coiled pattern and resting on the grass.

White beds were already waiting next to the train.

Madam Pomfrey, the head nurse of the school infirmary, and other nurses rushed over one after another, ready to treat the patients with exhausted magic power and the injured.

The house elves inside Hogwarts Castle also coordinated with their movements, using magic to send the little wizards out of the carriages and place them on the beds...

"Give everyone a bottle of stimulant first, at least to stabilize their mental state."

Madam Pomfrey was very excited and kept shouting out instructions.

"Those with minor injuries don't need to be taken care of for now. Don't let them develop the habit of being overly dependent on others..."

Hearing this, Draco, whose fingers had been scratched, withdrew one hand awkwardly.

"Nurses, hurry up! Your mission is very important!" Madam Pomfrey continued to shout, "Send the most seriously ill children directly to the school hospital and be prepared for emergency treatment at any time!"

Lycos pulled Cassandra aside and asked the nurse from the school infirmary who came to rescue the wounded to drag out a young wizard who had overdrawn his magic power from the carriage.

After all the sick and wounded were taken away, students like Lecos who were in good condition finally had the chance to get out of the carriage.

Walking outside, he happened to see Dumbledore and the Head Boy walking together.

"Professor Dumbledore, isn't our way of returning to school too unique this year?" asked the Student Union President with some concern.

"It's fine for other grades, but the first-year students didn't get to experience 'Retracing the Founder's Path'...isn't this too much of a departure from tradition?"

"How about I take them back and take the boat on Black Lake to the castle again?"

He looked at Dumbledore questioningly.

"That's not necessary." Dumbledore smiled and shook his head. "Rules are dead, but people are alive. Now that the little ones have arrived at Hogwarts Castle, why force themselves to retrace the Founder's path?"

"I think what they gained today was not only coming to Hogwarts, but also witnessing the experience of fighting together with those senior students..."

"To bring Hogwarts closer together is more than just a single step, 'Retracing the Founder's Path'... Only by facing dangers and challenges together can we strengthen our convictions!"

Dumbledore pushed up his half-moon spectacles and looked at the newly elected Head Boy with his deep blue eyes.

"I understand, Professor." The student union president nodded heavily.

Then, Dumbledore saw Lycos not far away, and immediately left the Student Union President aside.