Chapter 1093? Bastion Fireplace
The train continued north, and the window panes were now a thick, sticky gray that gradually deepened until the lights in the corridors and in the luggage racks came on. The train wobbled, light rain was beating on the windows, and the wind was getting stronger.
The train seemed to slow down as it saw mountains and woods under a dark purple sky.
"We're finally getting there." Ron, who returned to Harry's box after his tour, looked away from the chocolate ball that Fleger ate, "I'm starving to death, I want to have a big meal... I hope Alan doesn't Take chicken legs off the menu…”
"No." Ginny leaned on the window and looked out: "This is not Hogwarts...Why did the car stop?"
"Then why did it stop?" Ron asked strangely, "Did something happen?"
Harry looked at the mechanical watch in his hand: "I won't encounter any dementors to check again..."
The train was getting slower and slower, the sound of the wheels became quieter, and a male-female voice echoed on the train: "The train will arrive at the new Hogwarts platform in three minutes, please leave your luggage on the train, we I'll take you to school."
"Fortunately, the rain has basically stopped." Ginny looked back from the window gratefully. "Ron, we have to check the carriage. Is there any little wizard who fell asleep and stayed in the car?"
"Leave me alone, other prefects will do it." Ron waved his hand impatiently, ignored Ginny, and called Harry and the others to get out of the car. The cold night made everyone shiver.
The train slowed down faster and finally stopped. Passengers pushed and shoved, rushed to the door, and got down to a newly built platform, which was much more elegant than the black and small one before.
After seeing the scenery, Harry and the others walked out with the crowd. Turning a corner and leaving the platform, a huge wall suddenly appeared in front of them, which was built next to this station.
"This is the boundary of Hogwarts' previous expansion plan?" Neville hugged the rifle he didn't want to move, and poked his head around the empty pits that couldn't be seen from the left and right, "It's full of brackets...it's really deep enough .”
"The railway is here? There is no railway anymore... The previous platform has been changed so far away from Hogwarts?" Dean Thomas complained, "We can't make it to the dinner party by carriage... "
"Let me see where Hogwarts is... I didn't even see the Black Lake." Seamus looked around, his mouth opened wide, and he said in a daze, "Are those shadows in front of us the city walls? It's so weird..."
Then there were some fluorescent flashes of light from the other side of the wall, and some figures in robes came over: "Students of Hogwarts, please come here!"
Seeing someone guide them, this relieved the little wizards who didn't know the way because they were different from previous years.
Harry noticed that the Aurors who used to guard Hogwarts in H94 uniforms had disappeared, replaced by wizards similar to them, but in black and wearing ancient protective robes.
"Who are these people? Or are the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic changing their costumes again?" Justin Fenriely slapped Ernie McMillan beside him with his arm.
"Didn't you see the umbrella symbol? The necklace hanging outside the robe is also the symbol of omniscience? That's the armed force of the umbrella..." Ernie McMillan raised his arm and pointed, and then put it on Justin Fenrey's On the shoulder, "There are no Aurors at Hogwarts... I guess Ai... I guess Headmaster Harris wants to completely de-Ministryize Hogwarts.
"
"But isn't the Ministry of Magic also controlled by Principal Harris' family?" Justin was a little confused. He understood what Ernie said, but he didn't understand why Principal Harris did this.
"Anyway, let's just leave it alone." Ernie McMillan shook his head, and he didn't know the specific reason.
Under the leadership of the umbrella staff, the little wizards walked along the spacious stone road on the very flat platform, and crossed a huge arched doorway. Compared with stumbling down the narrow path to the Thestral carriage in the dark, the wizards were treated very differently this time.
The crowd left the platform, and the wizards cheered excitedly and discussed together. The platform was built on a relatively high ground. Harry looked over the surrounding wall, and a very magnificent scene appeared in front of them in the distance. The city wall did not enclose a square shape, but was built into a prismatic shape one after another, and the converging points of the walls formed very sharp corners.
On the top of the city wall, triangular fortresses were stacked, and a very wide ditch was built in front of the city wall. These defensive walls are very thick and very tall. They are all made of hard rock covered with rune-carved metal guards, and they look extremely strong and majestic.
And outside the city wall, the ditches separated by a flat open space looked like a circle of gaps and ditches had been opened outside the city.
"This is a bastion?" Fleiger called out, noticing the eyes of the wizards around him, "This is a way of building an ancient Muggle fort... The essence is to change the city from a convex polygon to a concave polygon, Such an improvement would expose the attacker to more than one bastion face regardless of any point of attack on the castle, allowing the defender to use crossfire for multiple strikes."
"But I don't understand, it's so far away from the school, why build a city wall here? What's the use of that?" Ginny tugged Harry's arm, "Will apparition be banned from this far in the future?" ?”
"It's too far away from the Hogwarts residential area, and it's the first time I've been here." Harry was overwhelmed by the question. He estimated the distance in his heart, and he realized that it was the first time he saw such a magnificent building. "I also don't understand. If it surrounds the entire Hogwarts expansion area, it won't be enough to pull all the wizards in the UK to it?"
"Why does it have to be useful?" Ron leaned against the wall, a little smug, "If you want me to say, Allen is showing off his financial resources, no matter whether he is useful or not, now the largest magic academy in the world is not from Africa Ouagadou is Hogwarts."
"Children, don't forget the super-strong armor spell shield..." An umbrella wizard guiding the children heard their discussion, and spoke with some pride, "This wall is actually equipped with many nodes of protection spells, the most important thing is , if it is activated, it can quickly cast a super-strong iron armor spell shield with a large range, covering the entire Hogwarts and its surroundings... Please go through the gate quickly, don't worry, you will soon be able to Arrived at school."
After passing the city wall, the little wizards found themselves in an urn.
The walls on the left and right sides of the inner city wall of the urn are inlaid with black and shiny dark wood panels, and a row of gilded fireplaces are embedded in the wood panels. Every few seconds, some wizards suddenly appear from a certain fireplace on the left, and With a soft puff sound, some black smoke appeared out of thin air, and some wizards also apparated to this place with some very young wizards in their arms. They carefully cleaned the ashes from the children's bodies and slapped them The back makes it easier for the children who are a little dizzy.
In front of the fireplace on the right, there are some employees wearing umbrella uniforms, and they begin to guide the wizards through the fireplace in an orderly way through the Floo powder, diverting the students at the front, making the whole scene very fast and orderly.
"The scope of banning apparation is really so wide? But many of those children probably haven't used Floo powder yet, isn't it dangerous to use a fireplace?" Neville saw the cute chubby faces of those little wizards. , he couldn't help rubbing his fingers and said worriedly.
"Well! A lot of kids look too young..." Harry nodded in agreement. He remembered that he had mispronounced the name of the place when he first used the fireplace, and as a result, Floo powder took him to the very dangerous Knockturn Alley inside.
"The Floo network of the fireplace on the right should not be connected to the external range, so don't worry about these children mispronouncing, anyway, they can't leave this range." Ginny looked at Harry's puzzled eyes and explained, "Sirius didn't tell you Is it? My dad complained when he was building the new Burrow over the holidays, that he might have to turn the fireplace extra times for work...though Apparation should not be disabled in the morning, I didn't expect such a large coverage this time."
"If it's not an extraordinary period, usually the barrier that prohibits apparation will only be opened near a few schools." The umbrella armed wizard who guided them before explained, "If Hogwarts is too big to teleport now, Makes us look too much like Muggles and is not good for the economy...in fact, today is what Headmaster Harris meant, he didn't want to change the tradition of having to take the train first to come to Hogwarts, so the first day of school is special ...Of course, the elementary school and university are not the same as your situation, they are much more convenient...Well, children, it's your turn soon, go quickly."
The group of Gryffindors turned their attention back to the fireplaces, each of which stood in front of an oak barrel filled with sparkling floo powder.
"Although there are only two Sickles in one scoop..." Ron, who was in the front row, was a little dumbfounded, "But how many scoops in such a bucket...are they all free?"
"Yes, the fireplace is free, red-haired gentleman, please hurry up..." the employee of the umbrella urged Ron, "You should go to Hogwarts Station." He had already said that I don't know how many times, the voice is a little hoarse.
"Floo powder doesn't feel good..." Ron, who was being urged, muttered, pinched a pinch of shiny powder and threw it into the flames, and with a whoosh, the fire turned green and the flames rose, and he walked straight into the fire Here, he said the address as clearly as possible, "Hogwarts Station." The figure disappeared without a trace in an instant.