Hogwarts.

When Harry and his friends returned to school, what came into view was the Black Lake, which was covered with frost and had not yet thawed.

The mermaids cursed.

Use a fork or magic to break as much ice as possible.

The giant squid was also helping, and with a flick of its thick tentacles it smashed a large piece of ice.

They saw Harry and let out sharp cries.

Harry responded with an equally shrill cry, the merman sighed, and a few continued to scream.

Harry waved his wand and conjured up a bunch of props suitable for breaking the ice.

“Oh, what is that?” Ciri leaned over and stared at the group of strange-looking little creatures.

"Mermaid." Harry introduced briefly, "A sub-human species of magical animal, friendly to humans."

"Just now they wanted me to help them break the ice."

He paused, "Seeing that I once beat up their clan, but I didn't have time, so I got them some tools."

Ciri looked at the mermaid who was working harder to break the ice after having the right tools: "Your life here is wonderful."

"Hogwarts is like Kaer Morhen," Harry said softly.

They entered the castle.

Ciri exclaimed again. Hogwarts didn't look big from the outside, but once you stepped through the door, you'd realize that the internal structure was much more magnificent than Kaer Morhen. Most importantly, it didn't have the gloomy temperament that a normal castle would have. Even in the middle of the night, the lights made the castle exude a warm atmosphere.

"Who is it?" Harry and the others did not hide their actions. The sound of footsteps attracted a sharp cat's cry and a somewhat hoarse shout.

An old man holding an oil lamp walked out of the darkness.

The footsteps were as silent as a cat's.

Ciri took a half step back.

The warmth I just felt was immediately replaced by a sense of horror.

The appearance of this person perfectly matched her initial imagination of a thousand-year-old castle.

"It's me, Filch," Harry answered.

Mrs. Norris rushed out, came to Harry's feet, and rubbed him affectionately.

Ciri was surprised: "Harry! A cat greets you."

It's incredible that a witcher would be liked by cats.

Harry waved his wand and took out a few owl rations from the Sorting Hat, which floated lightly in front of Norris.

Filch looked at his cat's reaction, felt relieved, and approached quietly: "Mr. Potter, you are finally back."

"Hogwarts was attacked today, and Professor Dumbledore failed to catch the culprit."

"and……"

He hesitated a bit when he said this, and then continued carefully: "Your classmate, Mr. Longbottom from Gryffindor, was seriously injured and is still unconscious in the school infirmary."

Harry nodded. "I see."

"Is Professor Dumbledore in his office?"

Filch replied, "He came back this afternoon."

return?

Harry raised an eyebrow.

Did Dumbledore go out after being attacked?

He waved his wand and called forth the Patronus. A beam of silver light flew out and after landing it turned into a huge griffin. Harry sent it to inform Geralt and Yennefer.

Then he took Hermione and Ciri to the headmaster's office.

Say the password and push the door open and walk in.

Dumbledore was not alone in the room, there was also Snape, who was sitting in a chair with a tired look on his face.

"Harry." Dumbledore raised his hand and greeted him. Seeing the white-haired girl next to Hermione, he paused and said, "Is this Ms. Ciri?"

Harry nodded, "What happened to Professor Snape?"

"The fecal matter in your brain has increased so much that even the potion master is helpless."

In response to Harry's ridicule, Snape just looked up, sneered, and said nothing.

"Something happened today." Dumbledore waved his hand, conjured up a few chairs, waved at them, and motioned for them to sit down, "Severus has worked hard."

"Would you like something to drink?"

"What does Ms. Ciri want?"

Ciri replied: "Black tea is fine."

Dumbledore waved his wand and poured tea for them while speaking softly, slowly telling them what had happened today.

Including the goblin rebellion at Gringotts.

The Ministry of Magic's intelligence was transmitted incorrectly. The number of goblins is more than a hundred, three times more than what they reported.

Dumbledore went over and took some effort to repel the goblins.

Severus, who appeared as a Death Eater, was entangled by a group of Aurors. He could not reveal his identity, could not use potions, and could not use the spells he was good at. He was almost dragged down by the Aurors until Dumbledore took action.

The most important thing...

After Voldemort was resurrected, he never contacted the Dark Lord again, and even the Dark Mark on his body had no reaction.

Where did he go?

What are you doing?

There was no trace of Dumbledore, and no trace of Snape.

After listening to this, Harry rubbed his head and said, "It's pretty much what I guessed, Albus. From what I read in Imlerith's memory..."

He hasn't finished speaking yet.

With a bang—the door was pushed open heavily.

Yennefer rushed in wearing her nightgown inside out. Her eyes moved quickly and almost instantly, the arrow hit the target and caught Ciri. In her eyes, there was only this white-haired girl.

"Ciri!" she cheered in surprise.

Ciri stood up, her eyes sparkling: "Yennefer!"

Yennefer rushed over and hugged her.

"My beautiful little girl." Yennefer looked at her, "Now you have grown into a great beauty."

Geralt followed him, silent and smiling.

"Geralt!" When Ciri saw him, she cheered and called out his name, let go of Yennefer, and hugged Geralt.

Snape turned his head away and looked quietly at Fawkes who was sleeping in the corner with two cans of cockroaches in his arms.

Dumbledore took off his glasses, took out his handkerchief, and tapped his eyes: "What a touching family reunion."

Harry conjured up two more chairs. "Geralt, Yennefer, I'm sorry to interrupt you."

Yennefer didn't seem to notice what she was wearing. She just grabbed something and came out with her nightgown on inside out.

Geralt was better, his pajamas were still neat, but he had no shoes on, he ran barefoot.

"Nothing is more important than Ciri." Yennefer shook her head. "Harry, well done. You are now a much better witcher than Geralt."

Geralt shook his head and let Ciri go.

He became a stepping stone.

But he didn't care about that. Ciri's safe return was more important than anything else.

Harry waved: "Let's talk about the past later. Ciri and I met Imlerith in another world."

"From his memory, Eredin abandoned the commander of the Wild Hunt, making him a pawn that would ensure that I stayed in that world."

"Caranthir, Ilerith..."

"They paid such a high price just to make sure I would stay in that world for one day."

"For today..."

He raised his wrist and checked the time: "Oh, it was for yesterday."

"Paying such a huge price just to help the Dark Lord resurrect?" Snape sneered, "The man named Eredin really loves the Dark Lord deeply."

Dumbledore shook his head: "Tom has always been very good at bewitching people."

"The Ain'el elves and another elf called Ain'sid were once the same race." Ciri explained, "They were powerful and elegant. Once, the entire race could travel between different worlds. But one day, they were targeted by the White Frost, and their original world was destroyed by the White Frost."

"They fled from world to world, but the white frost would always chase them from world to world."

"A golden boy, a commander..."

"During the long years of escape, the Ain'el elves lost countless people like this under the white frost."

"Compared to Bai Shuang, the two of them are nothing."

As long as it is not a bargaining chip that will lead to the demise of the Ain'el elves, Eredin can accept anything as long as it can control the White Frost.

Snape said nothing.

Dumbledore didn't comment either.

None of them had experienced that kind of genocide, so it was difficult for them to empathize with Ciri's simple description.

"Professor Snape, can you contact Voldemort?" Harry turned and looked at the even more tired man.

Snape shook his head: "Don't ask such stupid questions, Potter."

"No way to contact him, and no magic can connect to him."

He paused, looked at Ciri, and said meaningfully: "It's like he disappeared from this world."

Harry said nothing.

Dumbledore reached out, summoned a box, and placed it on the table: "But there is good news. The last Horcrux, Nagini, is still in our hands."

When fighting Voldemort, he called out the Patronus not to notify Harry or to notify helpers.

Instead, he went to inform Rita and the others and asked them to capture Nagini.

"But even with this Horcrux, I can't track down Tom." Dumbledore sighed.

Harry looked at Dumbledore. "Albus, what do you think Tom will do to Eredin after he is resurrected?"

Ciri tilted her head: "Harry, didn't you say they were cooperating?"

how……

It doesn't sound like they are collaborators.

"Ms. Ciri, you have never met Tom." Dumbledore said softly, "You don't know what kind of person he is."

"I guessed the same as Harry."

Harry said softly: "Tom didn't show up, and he didn't contact Professor Snape, which means he is dealing with something more important than these."

"What could be more important than these things?"

"That is to take control of the power that you cannot fully master."

"To Tom, the Wild Hunt is not a force that he can fully control."

Ciri was surprised: "You mean, the man named Tom, or Voldemort, will attack Eredin?"

Dumbledore nodded.

Snape suddenly gasped and lifted his sleeve. On the left arm given by Voldemort, the Dark Mark was emitting faint magical fluctuations, and a hot red light was emanating from between the lines.

After a whole day of silence, it finally responded.