Chapter 1007 The Hunting on Christmas Day

The dawn of Christmas has arrived.

The weather was cold and everything was white.

The three "Reserve Major Arcana" all slept in the Hyperion last night, and they were woken up by Elena early in the morning.

She looked particularly excited. The heavy and obstructive wizard robe had long been replaced by a close-fitting, golden-red-toned Hyperion "Valkyrie" battle suit. In her arms, she held the new clothes of the other three people, as well as the Christmas gifts prepared by the little wings.

"Wake up." Elena admired the sleeping posture of the little wings on the bed and opened the curtains.

Outside there was deep blue silence.

The winter sun shines down from a very high place, reflecting a little light outside the window.

Occasionally, you can see a few large herrings or other creatures swimming by in the distance.

"Elena - are we under the black lake in the school?" Hannah yawned, rubbed her eyes and looked around.

"Well, didn't I say it last night? The Hyperion entered submersible mode at midnight as planned..."

Elena nodded and explained while throwing Hannah's clothes and gifts to her.

"Merry Christmas, our lovely silly little boy. Officials from the Ministry of Magic should have arrived at the school auditorium. When the last round of inspections and task assignments are completed, today's hunting activity will begin. Hurry up and change your clothes and welcome them. Let’s celebrate the holiday this afternoon.”

Hermione sat up, suddenly wide awake.

"Wait, we have to wear this?"

"Must wear it."

Elena said, she casually lifted Hermione's quilt, sat on the bedside and spoke condescendingly.

"If we encounter the basilisk head-on, I hope you can at least be protected by armor - and Valkyrie can prevent you from looking directly at the basilisk. But even so, it is best not to look indirectly at each other. Of course, this It’s just an insurance measure.”

Different from conventional magic armor, the faceplate of Valkyria's "Valkyrie" armor uses magic imaging techniques.

Like a holographic image that can automatically switch the perspective spiral, the Valkyrie in the "magic mecha" can freely choose the perspective image presented in front of her: for example, top-down perspective, first-person perspective, third-person perspective, horizontal zoom. Extend angle etc.

At this moment, Luna also got up from the pillow in a daze.

"Good morning, Elena," her eyes seemed to be unable to focus, and her voice was wavy, "Have you received my gift?"

Unlike Hermione who was sober and alert, Luna had no objection to the Hyperion's tight-fitting battle suit.

On the contrary, she quite likes the design of the "Valkyrie" battle suit, at least it doesn't have many scattered parts like other clothes.

"Well, your gifts... may not be received for the time being—"

Elena shrugged, glanced at the lake bottom scenery outside the window, and said with a smile.

"Not to mention that the Hyperion will block the real name coordinates. Even if the owls can find our location, they can't swim."

"Come and take a look at your gifts. I have helped you prepare your Christmas gifts in advance this year!"

This year?

Hermione raised her brows and looked at Elena thoughtfully.

So that’s it, so last year’s white-haired dumpling was indeed a heartless little guy? !

As for those expensive and sumptuous gifts, most of them were prepared by Grindelwald and Dumbledore, right?

She had previously felt that those serious gifts did not seem to be Elena's handiwork. Moreover, Luna also had doubts after returning to school, which confirmed some of Hermione's guesses from the side. However, no matter how they tortured Eileen, Na's tone in this regard is quite cautious.

Compared with last year's expensive and formal gifts that seemed like something only elders would choose, this year they look obviously much weirder.

Or is this a "normal" Christmas gift for Elena?

What Hermione received was a small and exquisite magical music box.

With just a few turns, the piano music played by Elena will sound in the music box.

The name of the piano piece is "Hedaway Variations". Hermione decided to start learning piano after this Christmas, starting with this piece;

Hannah got a handwritten booklet called "Kaslana's Cooking Notes".

It is filled with recipes and recipes for a variety of delicious dishes, all of which are Hannah's favorite dishes.

In this way, even when she returns to the Leaky Cauldron, or when she is occasionally craving for food, Hannah can follow the steps above to make dishes that suit her taste. There are even many records of things that are not done in the Hogwarts kitchen. , "Kaslana" exclusive private kitchen;

The gift Luna received was a little more special. At first glance, it looked like a picture album.

However, most of it consists of gray outlines and blank pages.

According to Elena, its official name is "Fantastic Beasts Encyclopedia 0.98". When Luna discovers a new magical animal, or an unknown magical animal, she only needs to use it to record it, and the corresponding illustrated book will be lit up in it.

If you encounter a magical animal that has not been registered in the "Fantastic Beasts Manual", a prompt and a new page will appear.

And on the low table in the captain's lounge not far away, the steaming custard cereal for four nights was still exuding a charming aroma.

The rich aroma of custard mixed with the unique fragrance of oatmeal gradually awakened the hunger of Hermione, Luna, and Hannah who had slept all night.

Bacon and egg foam is served on a pure white plate, with crispy potato wedges next to it. Tomato jam, blueberry jam, strawberry jam, and butter are arranged in small dishes next to it, as well as several pieces of raisin cake and chocolate cake. Placed on the top of a dessert stand on a low table, it looks particularly tempting.

"Sorry, we can't show up at Hogwarts Castle today because there are many outsiders."

Elena scratched her cheek, looked at the wings who were still changing clothes, and explained a little embarrassedly.

"If nothing else goes wrong, the Christmas dinner may only be spent around the castle or on the Hyperion, and the Hogwarts kitchen cannot send dishes to the ship. Anyway, let's make do with it for the time being, you guys? If you feel bored, you can take a walk on the boat..."

Only then did Hermione and the three notice that there was a small hidden room at the other end of the Hyperion's captain's room.

Through the crack in the door, you can vaguely see what seems to be a very small simple kitchen.

At this time, a white apron was hanging on the door handle.

"So today's breakfast is..."

Hermione raised her eyebrows and moved her gaze from the apron to the edge of the low table not far away.

Ever since the house elves at Hogwarts became proficient, Elena, as the chef, rarely cooks by herself.

If Hermione remembered correctly, the last time she had breakfast made by Elena was during the first semester last year.

She lowered her head and looked at the tinkling magic music box in her hand, then looked at the recipe book in Hannah's hand and the illustrated book next to Luna's pillow, and a warm feeling of comfort suddenly surged in her heart. Even if Elena became the Fairy Queen of Gringotts and Miss Fool of the Major Arcana, the distance between this white-haired dumpling and them did not become distant because of this, but instead became closer and more sincere. .

"Yes, I made them all with my own hands - don't waste them!"

Elena nodded proudly, the little hair on her head shook arrogantly, and she said fiercely.

"In short, you are all under house arrest on the Hyperion. Before the end of today, your scope of activities is limited to the hull of the Hyperion. Your main task today is to study and observe the Destiny Group and Hogwart Coordinated operations between Ci and Gringotts."

"...Well, don't worry, Elena. We know the importance of this operation."

Luna closed the strange "Fantastic Beasts Illustrated Book" in her hand, suddenly turned her head, and looked at Elena seriously.

"But, you have to answer me a question first -"

"Huh? What's the problem?"

"In the Hyperion's combat plan, there is a 'top' mobile combat unit..."

Luna stood up and zipped up the tight-fitting combat uniform with some difficulty, her silver-gray eyes fixed on Elena's face.

"When the basilisk is out of control and there are holes in the defense network, the Hyperion will first carry out a round of replenishment strikes. So the mobile combat unit mentioned in it shouldn't be...you, right? Sister Elena? This is you. Have you communicated with other Major Arcana members in advance?”

"It's just an unplanned contingency plan, just improvising -"

Elena shrugged, held Luna's little face in her hands, and squeezed it toward the middle in annoyance.

"I have a sense of propriety. It's okay to do this kind of thing cheaply, understand?! Come on, don't make such a fuss, breakfast is almost cold!"

…………

Meanwhile, Hogwarts School Great Hall.

The sumptuous breakfast put everyone in a good mood, including the wizards from the Ministry of Magic who were about to hunt down the basilisk.

It is true that in the wizarding world, the legend about the basilisk may sound quite scary.

However, considering the luxurious lineup of this "basilisk hunt", generally speaking, most employees of the Ministry of Magic are still very relaxed.

After all, there are two top wizards, Albus Dumbledore and Newt Scamander, leading the team on the front; there are two monster-level alchemists, Nico Flamel and Otto Apocalypse, in the castle area. If you sit still, even if the Sphinx's lair is down there, it will be ruined.

In the eyes of the Ministry of Magic and members of the Hogwarts School Board, this operation was more like a large-scale political gold plating.

In fact, Cornelius Fudge even contacted several media outlets in advance, but did not tell them the specific reasons.

When the good news from Hogwarts arrives, he will set off with the reporters on standby, arrive at the school as soon as possible, and start a series of publicity work - in peacetime, such heavyweight political capital It can be said to be what every politician dreams of.

Save the wizarding world from the dark conspiracy, solve the werewolf problem resolutely, and eliminate the monsters in Hogwarts...

With so many political achievements, even without Dumbledore's support in the future, Cornelius Fudge is confident that he can secure the position of minister.

If he's lucky, he may have a chance to challenge the record of being the longest-serving Minister of Magic.

After Dumbledore passed away, even the position of chief wizard of the International Confederation of Wizards was not completely hopeless for him.

After all, in the eyes of many people, he can be regarded as half of the "direct line" successor supported by Dumbledore. Even if his relationship with Hogwarts was slightly tense due to Umbridge's incident some time ago, as long as he can succeed in If a nail is planted in the school, it will be considered a success.

However, compared to the relaxed and casual expressions of the Ministry of Magic officials, Dumbledore and Newt always had a somewhat serious expression.

Without the "prophecy" of Elena, who has the gift of "sight", they would not even know the specific location of the secret room and the types of monsters that may exist in it. But even so, the specific information about the secret room is still Quite limited.

You know, Hogwarts Castle originally belonged to the Slytherin family.

As Salazar Slytherin's back-up man in the castle, no one knows how many mechanisms and magic traps there are in the Chamber of Secrets.

More importantly, if the two of them failed to keep the big snake in the secret room, once it had the opportunity to escape outside Hogwarts, it would cause too many problems - light The magicians on the Hyperion are a big trouble.

Of course, fortunately, their preparations and staffing are quite luxurious.

Even if the basilisk managed to escape from the secret room, it would not be able to leave Hogwarts alive.

After the last piece of pudding disappeared from the plate on the auditorium table, Dumbledore stood up and led everyone out of the auditorium, heading to the entrance to the secret room they had explored earlier, and officially started the plan, which had been negotiated for several months before being finalized. Operation "Winter Hunt".

…………

Moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the second floor of Hogwarts Castle.

This was originally an ordinary girls' bathroom, and many girls would go to the toilet here after leaving the auditorium.

But it has been in a semi-abandoned state since Myrtle Elizabeth Warren was killed here when the Chamber of Secrets was opened decades ago, and she wandered here as a ghost for a long time. And starting from this semester, it has been directly listed as one of the new restricted areas.

However, today is obviously an extremely special day.

Dozens of officials from the Ministry of Magic, Professor Dumbledore, and Newt Scamander all appeared in this bathroom.

Myrtle, who used to be noisy and sensitive, hid in the toilet cubicle with some fear, nervously looking at the adult wizards outside - she had vaguely seen this scene somewhere before, and her body suddenly became light and airy decades ago. At that time, this place was also very lively.

As for the reason why these big shots gathered here again, she naturally knew it very well.

The Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets had finally been discovered, and the beast that had taken her life could finally get its due.

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Great!