Hogwarts Castle, corridor on the eighth floor of the castle.
Elena stopped in front of a huge gargoyle stone beast and was silent for two seconds.
"Dumbledore left you a gift, and the password is your name - as compensation for leaving without saying goodbye."
Before Grindelwald left, he conveyed Dumbledore's apology to Elena, as well as the gift to make amends.
Obviously, just like when the old man left in the original world line, Mr. Principal has always been so skillful and thoughtful.
Since Dumbledore temporarily left Hogwarts, the Headmaster's office has been automatically sealed. Professor McGonagall and the Ministry of Magic tried it a few hours ago.
In a strict sense, Dumbledore has not really stepped down from his duties as Headmaster, and the "soul" of Hogwarts - if it exists - has not received any information about the rotation of the new Headmaster, Minerva.
McGonagall still firmly believes that Dumbledore will come back. As for the officials of the Ministry of Magic, they have not yet figured out how to deal with it. They may have to hold a meeting for a few days to discuss it.
So...what is that spicy old carrot thinking?
Elena frowned slightly and carefully looked at the ugly, quiet stone beast in front of her.
"I am - Elena Kaslana." she said.
This doesn't sound like a password that "Dumbledore" would use.
As usual, the popular passwords in the principal's office are somewhat sweet, and at least they are related to food.
However, the next moment, the gargoyle stone beast suddenly came to life...
It shook nimbly and jumped to the side. The wall directly behind it separated to the left and right, revealing the spiral staircase behind it that slowly moved upward.
The Hogwarts Headmaster's office is located in a separate small tower above the main castle. To a certain extent, it is somewhat similar to the tower in Nurmengard Castle.
Following the movement of the automatic spiral staircase, Elena quickly reached the top.
A shiny oak door stood there quietly, with a gryphon-shaped brass door knocker on it.
Before Elena could raise her hand, the door knocker trembled, made a strange chirping sound that she had never heard before, and slid back silently.
Dumbledore's "active disappearance" did not affect this office. Everything here was as peaceful and orderly as she had seen before.
Those exquisite silverwares were displayed one by one on the table with slender legs, spinning quietly and puffing out fine mist.
The portraits of the former headmasters and principals were all snoring in the picture frame, their heads lazily leaning back on the armchairs or leaning against the edge of the picture frame, but Elena knew that most of them were awake.
Since she succeeded in several rounds of "forced group start", most of the past principals started pretending to be asleep when she appeared.
After all, just as the little witch said, they couldn't rush out of the painting to bite her. In the end, it was the elderly people living in the painting who suffered the loss.
Not far away, Phoenix Fox pulled out its slender neck from its wings, glanced in the direction of the door with its big bright eyes, and let out a sweet chirp.
With the nirvana of the previous generation, this "new version" of the Phoenix was almost raised by Elena since childhood.
In terms of status in Fox's heart, Elena is second only to Dumbledore, who has an ancient contract.
"Gift... gift..."
Elena looked around, and there didn't seem to be anything unusual in the office.
There are no notes or letters on the desk in the center. A quill made of golden and red phoenix tail feathers is leaning on the pen holder, flashing a gleam of luster from time to time.
There are a lot of books missing from the bookcases on the walls on both sides of the circular room, or to be more precise, a lot of books should have been "replaced".
You know, as a wizard over a hundred years old, apart from the knowledge in his mind, Dumbledore's most valuable possessions are the magic books he has collected over the years.
This is much more powerful than the collection of books in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library, and Elena has been coveting the knowledge in it for a long time.
Referring to the way Horcrux-related books are handled, for any high-risk, difficult, or orphaned books, Dumbledore would most likely use the principal's privileges to store them in his bookcase.
Humph, that spicy old carrot has not forgotten this.
Elena glanced at the bookcase. The magic gave her not only strength, but also an all-round physical improvement.
Maybe she can't have the same photographic memory as "Index", but with this kind of large-scale replacement, she can directly compare the differences in her memory without even getting close...
etc?!
Replaced the books on the bookcase?!
Before the dissatisfaction in Elena's heart had time to dissipate, she immediately caught that glimmer of inspiration.
She walked forward quickly and looked at the Sorting Hat on the three-legged table not far away. Sure enough, she saw a small note beside it.
[Please be kind to this ancient, wise and somewhat nagging magic hat - it is the most important treasure of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 】
And to the right of the Sorting Hat who was pretending to be silent, half a step away from Dumbledore's desk, the door of a mysterious black cabinet was not completely closed.
Bright silver light shone out from the gap.
Oh, that thing... is left behind too?
Elena stepped forward and gently opened the cabinet door.
Sure enough, there was a shallow stone basin placed in the cabinet. The mouth of the basin was carved with some mysterious and complex rune symbols and ancient French.
Just like the note pressed under the Sorting Hat, there is also a narrow note pressed on the edge of the stone basin.
But this time, the content written on it is less than before, only a short sentence:
【If you know what it is called, then you are qualified to use it.】
"About...the test of the prophet's 'sight'?"
Elena raised her eyebrows with interest, gently slid her fingers over the letters, and whispered softly with a calm expression.
"Penser...Tamis?"
"Oh no, maybe it should be... Pensieve."
Along with her whisper, a gleam of light quickly flashed around the stone basin, and the silver light in the stone basin gradually became clear, showing its original appearance.
The silver light seemed to be the moonlight gathered together, flowing continuously in it, like ripples on the water surface in the breeze, and spreading out elegantly like clouds, rotating softly.
It is like light turning into liquid, and like wind condensing into solid form.
However, Elena knew exactly what it was: the memories collected by past Hogwarts headmasters.
There is no doubt that the Pensieve is one of the most dangerous magical items.
The danger it may bring mainly comes from its unique operating mechanism, rather than the magic contained in it.
The pensieve can present memories vividly, using every detail buried in the subconscious to faithfully reproduce the memory, thereby allowing the memory owner or others to enter and move within the memory.
Traditionally, a witch or wizard's pensieve, like their wand, was buried with them as it was considered a very personal item.
Unless otherwise requested, any thoughts or memories stored in the Pensieve will be buried with the owner.
However, the Pensieve at Hogwarts does not belong to any individual, but to the school - and its history even predates the founding of the castle.
For a long time, principals of all generations have used it, and they have left their life experiences in the form of memories, making it a precious library that provides various reference data for current principals.
With the unlocked Pensieve, the deliberately replaced collection of books, and the advice under the Sorting Hat... Dumbledore's compensation gift is naturally about to come out:
The entire Hogwarts principal's office was given to her by Old Carrot as compensation.
only……
Elena felt a sense of vigilance and confusion in her heart, and she looked around, trying to find any other clues.
Compared to Dumbledore's departure without saying goodbye, is this gift as compensation... a bit too precious?
unless--
Elena took out her wand and poked the pensieve that was flowing erratically.
As if the memory woven by the moonlight rotates rapidly, a hazy white mist floats silently from the center of the rotating liquid surface.
"Well, dear Miss Kaslana, I want to express my apology to you about a few things."
Dumbledore's looming shadow emerged, and the old wizard's gentle, calm voice sounded in Elena's ears.
"After much consideration, I decided to invite Mr. Jose Benitez to attend the parent-teacher conference at Hogwarts."
"...Well, I already know."
Elena snorted softly and muttered in a low voice with an unkind expression.
"In addition, I also delayed the delivery of the latest developments in werewolf research."
"Salzburg Institute of Magical Maladies and Injuries, scholars from Succubus Island, successfully developed the first batch of werewolf serum."
"Although we still cannot reverse the condition of 'wolf disease', we can use serum injection to transform into new werewolves without resorting to werewolf bites."
"...Wait a minute, you old guy can't--"
Elena was stunned for a few seconds, and a dangerous anger rose in her lake-blue eyes.
Combined with Dumbledore's initial words, a bad suspicion quickly emerged from her mind.
"Therefore, if Mr. José Benítez arrives at the castle, it means that he chooses to voluntarily transform into a wolf..."
boom!
Elena closed the cabinet door hard and tried hard to suppress the anger surging in her heart.
If she continued to stare at that old face, she was afraid that she would be tempted to pull out her wand or destroy the pensieve in a more violent way.
"You'd better pray now and don't let me find you so quickly!"