Chapter 1093? Bastion Fireplace
As the train continued northward, the windows were now a thick, slimy gray that deepened until the lights in the corridor and on the luggage racks came on. The train was swaying, light raindrops were tapping on the windows, and the wind was getting stronger.
The train seemed to slow down as it saw mountains and woods beneath a deep purple sky.
"We're finally here." Ron, who returned to Harry's box after his inspection, looked away from the chocolate balls that Flegg was eating, "I'm starving, 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 you stop?" Ron asked strangely, "What happened?"
Harry looked at the mechanical watch in his hand: "You won't encounter any more dementors to check..."
The train went slower and slower, and the sound of the wheels became smaller. 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 car. We will I will send them to school for you."
"Fortunately, the rain has basically stopped." Ginny retracted her head from the window thankfully, "Ron, we have to check the carriage to see if any little wizard has fallen asleep and not gotten out of the car."
"Don't bother me, other prefects will do it." Ron waved his hand impatiently, ignored Ginny, and waved Harry and the others out of the car. The cold night air made everyone shiver.
The train slowed even faster and finally stopped. Passengers pushed and shoved, rushing towards the car door and descending to a newly built platform, which was much more majestic than the dark and small platform before.
After seeing the scenery, Harry and the others walked outside with the crowd. After turning a corner and leaving the platform, they suddenly saw a huge wall built next to the station.
"Is this the boundary of Hogwarts's previous expansion plan?" Neville held the rifle that he didn't want to move and poked his head around the empty pits with no end in sight. "It's full of brackets... This is really deep. ."
"Is the railway here? There is no railway further forward... The previous platform was moved so far away from Hogwarts?" Dean Thomas complained somewhat, "We can't catch the dinner even if we take the carriage... "
"Let me see where Hogwarts is...I didn't even see the Black Lake." Seamo looked around, his mouth wide open, and he said blankly, "Are those shadows in front of them the city walls? It’s really weird…”
Then some fluorescent lights lit up from the other side of the wall, and some figures in robes came over: "Students of Hogwarts, please come over here!"
Seeing someone guiding them relieved the little wizards who didn't know the way because they were different from previous years.
Harry noticed that the Aurors wearing H94 uniforms who were responsible for guarding Hogwarts had disappeared without a trace, and were replaced by wizards similar to them, except that the color was black and wearing ancient protective robes.
"Who are these people? Or have the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic changed their costumes again?" Justin Finch-Fletchley hit Ernie MacMillan next to him with his arm.
"Didn't you see the Umbrella symbol? The necklace hanging outside the robe is also the symbol of omniscience? That is the armed force of the Umbrella..." Ernie MacMillan raised his arm and pointed, and then put it on Justin Finch-Fletchley's On the shoulder, "There are no Aurors in Hogwarts... I guess Ai... I guess Principal Harris wants to completely de-empower Hogwarts from the Ministry of Magic."
"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. He didn't know the specific reason.
Under the leadership of the umbrella staff, the little wizards walked forward along the spacious stone road on the very flat platform and crossed a huge arched doorway. Unlike before, they had to walk along a steep path after arriving at the platform. Compared with stumbling down the narrow path in the darkness to reach the Yeqi carriage, the treatment of the wizards this time was completely different.
The crowd came out of the platform, and the wizards cheered and discussed excitedly. The platform was built on a relatively high ground. Harry looked past the surrounding wall, and a very majestic scene in the distance appeared in front of them. The thick The city walls are not enclosed in a square shape, but are built into prisms one after another. The convergence points of the walls form very sharp corners.
Triangular fortresses were stacked on top of the city wall, and a very wide ditch was built in front of the city wall. These defensive walls are very thick and very tall. They are made of hard rock covered with metal shields engraved with runes. They look extremely strong and majestic.
Outside the city wall, the ditches separated by a flat open space looked like a circle of ditches with gaps outside the city.
"Is this a bastion?" Flagg shouted, noticing the looks in the wizards' eyes, "This is an ancient Muggle fortress construction method... Its essence is to change the city wall from a convex polygon to a concave polygon. Such an improvement would expose the attacker to more than one bastion face regardless of attacking any point in the castle, and the defender could use crossfire to carry out multiple strikes."
"But I don't understand. It's so far away from the school. Why do we need to build a wall here? What's the use of this?" Ginny tugged Harry's arm. "Will the range where disapparition be prohibited be so far in the future? ?”
"This is too far from the Hogwarts residential area. This is my first time here." Harry was stunned by the question. He estimated the distance in his mind and found that this was the first time he had seen such a magnificent building. "I also don't understand. If it surrounds the entire Hogwarts extension area, wouldn't it be enough to fill it with all the wizards in the UK?"
"Why does it have to be useful?" Ron leaned against the wall, feeling a little proud, "If you ask me, Allen is showing off his financial resources. Regardless of whether he is useful or not, the largest magic academy in the world is not from Africa. Waggadu is Hogwarts."
"Children, don't forget the super strong iron armor shield..." A protective umbrella wizard guiding the children heard their discussion and spoke with some pride, "This wall is actually arranged with many nodes of the protective spell. The most important thing is , if activated, it can quickly cast a super-strong iron armor curse shield with a wide range, covering the entire Hogwarts and its surroundings... Please hurry through the city gate, don't worry, you will be able to do it soon Arrived at school."
After passing the city wall, the little wizards found themselves in an urn city.
The walls on the left and right sides of the inner wall of the urn city are lined with glossy dark wooden boards, and a row of gilded fireplaces are embedded in the wooden boards. Every few seconds, some wizards will suddenly appear from a fireplace on the left, and With a soft popping sound, some black smoke appeared out of thin air. Some wizards carried some very young wizards and apparated to this place. They carefully cleaned the ashes from the children's bodies and patted them. The back makes some children who are dizzy when the followers appear feel better.
In front of the fireplace on the right, there were some employees wearing umbrella uniforms, who began to guide the wizards to orderly transfer the fireplace through the Floo powder, and triage the students at the front, making the whole scene very fast and orderly.
"Is the ban on Apparition really so large? But many of those children probably haven't used Floo powder yet. Isn't it dangerous to use the fireplace?" Neville saw the cute chubby faces of the little wizards. , he couldn't help but rub his fingers and said worriedly.
"Yeah! Many children look too young..." Harry nodded in agreement. He remembered that the first time he used the fireplace, he mispronounced the name of the place, and the Floo powder took him to the very dangerous Knockturn Alley. inside.
"The floo network on the right fireplace should not be connected to the outside range, so there is no need to worry about these children pronouncing it wrong. They can't leave this range anyway." Ginny looked at Harry's confused eyes and explained, "Sirius didn't tell you Is that so? My dad complained when he was building the new burrow during the holidays, saying that he might have to turn the fireplace extra times when he went to work... But Apparition should not be banned in the morning, so I didn’t expect the coverage to be so large this time."
"Except for extraordinary times, barriers prohibiting apparation will only be opened near a few schools. UU Reading www.uukanshu.net" The umbrella armed wizard who had led them here before explained, "Hogwarts is now If it's too big and cannot be teleported, it will make us look too Muggle-like and not good for the economy... In fact, today this is what Principal Harris means. He does not want to change the tradition of taking the train first to come to Hogwarts. , so the first day of school is special... Of course, the situation of the elementary school and the university department is different from yours, it is much more convenient for them... Okay, kids, it's your turn soon, go quickly."
The Gryffindors turned their attention back to the fireplaces. In front of each fireplace was an oak barrel with a lot of shiny Floo powder in it.
"Although one spoonful is only two Sickles..." Ron, who was at the front of the queue, was stunned, "But how many spoons can you get in such a bucket...all for free?"
"Yes, the fireplace is free. This red-haired gentleman, please hurry up..." the umbrella employee urged Ron, "You should go to Hogwarts Station." He had already said this. I don’t know how many times I said it, but my voice became hoarse.
"The feeling of Floo powder is not very pleasant..." Ron muttered after being urged, picked up a handful of sparkling powder and threw it into the flames. With a puff, the fire turned green and the flames rose. He walked straight into the fire. Inside, he said the address as clearly as possible, "Hogwarts Station." In an instant, the figure disappeared without a trace.
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