Chapter 12: Hogwarts

After resolving the trouble caused by Ms. McGonagall, the rest of the journey went smoothly. At dark, as the sun set, the magical train finally arrived at its destination.

With the sound of the whistle, under the direction of Old K, the four of them left the train and entered the deserted Hogsmeade station. The station was located in a village, so the group naturally encountered a "warm" welcome from the zombie villagers.

Inside the station, there were not only humans and wizards but also some house elves and hobbits, as well as strange creatures.

Perhaps they had their own unique characteristics during their lifetime, but as zombies, they were equally dangerous. However, for the three people who had been through so much on the journey, these ordinary zombies were no longer a threat to them.

Old K didn't even need to make a move. Mason and the others used explosives and bullets to clear the station and the village.

It is worth mentioning that Plastique performed quite well during this process.

She was no longer the clumsy girl she once was and became much quieter. When she got serious, her ability to make anything she touched explode was very suitable for this battle.

Looking into the distance from the edge of the Hogsmeade village hill, there was a large lake under the sun. According to the movie, from here, you could already see the main castle of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the center of the lake.

However, when Mason, carrying his gun, looked in that direction, he saw nothing.

There was no castle, nor was there a school.

Under the gloomy moonlight, only a black ruin remained on the island in the middle of the lake. It looked like King's Cross Station with a bomb blown open, while the damage to Hogwarts was clearly more serious.

The entire building seemed to have been flattened by an invisible hand.

The endless forbidden forest could be seen beyond the destruction from this distance.

"Is that the destination?" asked Kite Man nervously beside Mason.

He was standing on a hillside with a large kite in his backpack and a high-speed camera in his hand. Old K had instructed him to go to the island where Hogwarts was located and must return before complete darkness.

But after seeing so much on the way, Kite Man was now very nervous. He was afraid he would not return alive, especially with magical creatures in this world.

"There are certainly plenty of winged creatures, but not as many as you think. Go on," said Mason reassuringly. Mason no longer maintained his silent persona, withdrew his gaze from the ruins of Hogwarts, patted Kite Man's shoulder, and handed him an engineering pistol.

With two modified pistols on hand, Kite Man would at least have a more dignified death.

"My kites were damaged earlier. I need to fix them when I get back."

Kite man sneered, then glanced at the expressionless Mason and muttered softly.

"You seem very familiar with these mechanical things. Can you help me?"

"Okay." Mason nodded and said softly

"We'll talk about it when you come back alive."

This made Kite Man's face even ugly.

A few seconds later, Kite Man jumped out of the hill and quickly moved into the air, changing direction and gliding towards the island in the middle of the lake with the help of the wind.

Mason withdrew his gaze and walked towards the group. Old K was a cautious man and did not set up camp in the bloody village but instead, where a comfortable and warm campfire had been set up when Mason returned.

There was a pot cooking delicious potato stew over the campfire. Old K was sitting beside the fire, sharpening two swords with a whetstone, while Bombshell was on the other side, sitting cross-legged and gazing sorrowfully at the flames.

Mason sat down by the fire and took off his backpack to use as a table. He skillfully disassembled an engineering bomb that he had on hand.

"Do you have enough bullets?" Old K asked, and Mason shook his head. The battle had left him with only one-fifth of his bullets. With Mason's eyes fixed on him, Old K chuckled and casually pulled out a heavy bullet box that fell to the ground with a loud thud.

This made Mason raise an eyebrow and ask, "Storage pockets?"

"Uh-huh. The original name is Dimensional Storage. It's no problem to store a small warehouse worth of supplies, and you'll have a chance to get one after you officially join," replied Old K.

"Of course, if you want good things, you must figure out how to get them yourself. For newcomers, the trading event in March is a good choice, provided you have something that will pique the interest of the old birds," Old K added.

Mason nodded as he packed his bullets. He was very interested in this inside information but didn't want Old K to see his emotions.

"What's the deal with this disaster?" Plastique finally couldn't help but ask Old K after a period of silence. "You said the Star Society travels between worlds. Have you encountered this kind of zombie crisis before?"

"I've seen plenty, little girl. Not every world is as peaceful as yours," Old K said as he served himself a bowl of rice from the pot over the fire. "In the multiverse, there exist almost infinite parallel worlds, and the original intention of the Star Society was to explore these worlds and establish a cross-world organization with coexistence and cooperation as its goal."

"But unfortunately, the more we explore, the more we find that destruction and doomsday are the themes of parallel worlds. What you see in front of you, zombies and nuclear wars, are already mild from the perspective of the end of the world.

"I've even witnessed distorted Earth vanish in an instant. But let's save these disturbing horror stories for later. Once you become an official Star Society member, a manual will be distributed to you. For now, eat something, rest for the night."

"We'll be landing on the island tomorrow morning. We have three days to explore, and I believe we'll come back with a full load," said K, but his answer didn't satisfy Plastique. She wanted to ask more, but seeing that K didn't want to say more, she had to stop.

Mason had been listening carefully and remembered everything.

Thirty minutes later, the kite man returned the camera to Old K. The latter looked at the photo and nodded in satisfaction, and after a few words of encouragement to the kite man, he let him rest

But Kite Man still remembers Mason's promise and rushes to ask Mason to help repair his kite.

Mason opened Kite-Man's backpack by the fire and found that the flight device looked quite interesting, despite its simple appearance. With the flight backpack's blueprint, Mason quickly came up with a primary modification plan.

As he worked, Mason dismantled Kite-Man's eating utensils into a mess and then rebuilt them in a way that made Kite-Man furrow his brow. While deftly screwing pieces together, Mason asked, "This thing is really good. Did you design it yourself?"

"Yes! Aren't I amazing?" Kite Man replied proudly, chewing on his box of food.

"I used to be an aerodynamics expert at Wayne Industries' research and development department, but compared to those cool flying vehicles, I prefer these simple and magical little things. Maybe it's because I was obsessed with kites when I was a kid. But after my divorce, I...'

Kite Man trailed off, shaking his head as if trying to shake off those terrible memories. When he noticed Mason looking at him, he forced a smile and said "Anyway, this flying backpack is my pride and joy!'

"Indeed, the kite you designed has a lot of potential for deep modification,' Mason said, lowering his head and tightening the hex screws. "If we have the opportunity in the future, maybe we can collaborate. By the way, I've wanted to ask, do you know Poison Ivy?"

"Poison Ivy?"

Kite Man was taken aback for a moment before scratching his head and saying somewhat awkwardly, "She's a top-tier villain in Gotham, how could a small fry like me be friends with someone like her? The only big shot I'm familiar with is my former boss, the Joker."

"Unfortunately, he's too crazy and scares me a bit. He killed Robin, Batman's sidekick. That kid, Jason Todd, was only a little older than you, but he died a horrible death. After that, I left his gang. Maybe I'm not a good guy, but hurting children is beyond my bottom line."

"Jason Todd is dead?" Mason raised an eyebrow and asked, "When did this happen?"

"Uh, about a year and a half ago?" Kite Man tilted his head and thought before saying, "Batman almost killed the Joker. That was the first time I saw Batman so angry, like a father who had lost his child."

"Hmm." Mason nodded.

As he stuffed the flight backpack into Kite Man's arms with a calm face, a rolled-up note was also put into the guy's palm.

Kite Man immediately raised an eyebrow and saw Mason gesturing to him under the campfire. Then the two of them exchanged a knowing goodnight and left.

He didn't sleep well that night.

Especially at the darkest moment before dawn, Mason clearly heard the strange roar coming from the island in the center of the lake.

That mournful sounded like some kind of crazy and zombie-like giant creature. When he thought of those weird things that existed in the Forbidden Forest, Mason suddenly felt that the road ahead was not good.

'Hagrid has raised giant spiders, dragons, and three-headed dogs. I hope a zombie dragon won't suddenly jump out during tomorrow's exploration.' This was Mason's last thought before falling asleep.

At the same time, on the other side, Kite Man, wrapped in Hagrid's warm coat, looked at the note in his hand and felt uneasy. But in the end, he calmly tore the note into pieces and stuffed it into his mouth.

After a dozen minutes, a warm and trembling body suddenly slipped into his coat, startling the confused Kite man. He felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist.

Plastique's voice echoed in Kite Man's ear, saying, "What did you just eat? Well, I don't care what you two are planning. I'm joining in. I don't want to die in this place."

"That's not for me to decide," Kite Man struggled to say.

But before he could resist further, Plastique gasped and whispered, "So, I'll have to pay upfront, right? Lonely old man, but I don't have any money. What do you say? What can we do between us?"

.....

The next morning, the group boarded a small boat and crossed the lake to the island's center, with Kite Man leading the way in the sky.

Soon enough, the boat docked on the island, and the heavily armed Old K walked at the front, with Plastique following closely behind. Mason took charge of the back, and they quickly walked the stairs leading into the castle.

But all that remained was a giant statue standing in place.

There shouldn't have been an explosion here, but there was definitely a force almost invincible that swept through, tearing everything apart like a storm.

The towering castle walls were only half left, and three houses were destroyed, only one left.

And those strange buildings hidden in the castles were all spotted out due to the destruction of the place.

They were scattered around the entire island chaotically, crashing into each other like a missile in the sky. Mason even saw the wizard tower tilted and sink into the ground, like a sword stuck in the ground.

The majestic and solemn castle gate was completely gone, leaving only a headless stone gargoyle sculpture standing lonely on the statue.

All the magical miracles were destroyed, which led to Mason seeing the remains of the school's grand hall even after walking up the steps, which was used to welcome new students and hold annual celebrations.

It was also destroyed as if it had been crushed by the claws of a giant beast.

Deep marks were left on the ground. All the luxury and astonishment had disappeared with the wind, leaving only a lonely silence.

"Spread out and explore freely!'"

After exploring the castle's ruins with his special ability and confirming that there were no dangerous things, Old K put away his crossbow and gave orders to the group.

As Mason and Plastique left, Old K kindly reminded them, "Bring back everything you find. We'll handle it together. I believe you two sensible young people wouldn't choose to keep anything for yourselves, especially you, Mason."

"We don't have any storage bags," replied Mason without looking back. "Why would we hide anything? Do you have X-ray vision?"

"Hmm, crude joke, I like it," Old K chuckled and disappeared with a blink. Plastique gave Mason a complicated look before turning and disappearing down a path that led deeper into the ruins.

Mason remained in the ruins of the auditorium, looking around. "Huh!" His sharp eyes quickly noticed something familiar buried under a pile of ruins.

He picked up the dusty, tattered wizard's pointed Hat.

Anyone who has seen the movie knows what this is.

Despite its rough appearance, Mason can still make out some of its shapes, and he immediately checks its label on his System.

Name: Godric Gryffindor's Wizard Hat/Sorting Hat

Quality: Epic Item/Supreme Craftsmanship

Traits: Enhanced Fairy Thinking, Invisible Divination, Danger Prediction, Treasure Storage

Status: Seriously damaged (Can be repaired, complete restoration requires Tailoring Lv. 7, Enchantment Lv. 6, Alchemy Lv. 8, Inscription Lv. 7)

Usage: You can try to talk to the sorting Hat, but you may not get a response

Item Description: It used to be a great hat, maybe a bit neurotic, but now it's just a neurotic mess that wants to be sewn up.

"Is this the legendary opening gift?"

Mason blinked and casually put the almost completely torn Sorting Hat on his head, patting it with his hand and jokingly said

"Hey, are you there?"

No one answered him, and Mason shrugged.

As he reached out to take the thing down and toss it back into his backpack, a piercing, and mournful scream suddenly echoed from the tattered Sorting Hat.

"You! The one who returned from the dead! You belong to...no, no! You belong to...Azkaban!"

Mason was taken aback.

The voice of the thing was really creepy.

It was just like the desperate cries of a half-crazy old man before he died in a horror movie, but that wasn't the end of it.

The tattered Sorting Hat screamed like a madman.

"Castles crumble, glory fades, death howls, despair abounds. Noble blood spilled, common blood mourns, sorrow and misery, noise and chaos. Storms subside, black days dawn, swords clash, and hellish screams.

This grievance must be avenged. This hatred is hard to forgive

Mason Cooper, Swear an oath, make up your mind for revenge! Otherwise, I will eat you."

.....

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