By the time Hermione finished telling her sixth story, the clock on the wall had read 11:05 pm.
There was a quiet darkness outside the Hyperion, and even the "Succubus Paradise" in the distance became a little quieter.
As the last story ended, Hermione closed the book "One Thousand and One Nights" in her hand and stretched tiredly. The golden-red jacket slipped from her shoulders. She turned her head and looked at the coffee being brewed next to her.
Elena looked a little expectant.
Phew... She blew the hot air off the coffee cup and felt herself becoming slightly more energetic.
"Shall it begin? General meeting of the Major Arcana."
"Well, it starts in twenty minutes."
Elena nodded, picked up two cups of coffee and placed them in the hands of Hannah and Luna.
It is always easy to get sleepy when listening to stories, so she specially added some spices to the two cups, and
“Wow, it’s so bitter”
Hannah's face suddenly wrinkled and she stuck out her tongue.
On the other side, Luna, who accepted the coffee cup sleepily, also woke up instantly.
Considering that she would go to sleep later, Elena did not add magical ingredients, but chose the most primitive sensory stimulation method.
"Although you can observe today's meeting, as the reserve Major Arcana, you can only observe."
Elena smiled and shook her head. She reached out and pulled Hannah and Luna up from the big bed. They came to the long table on the right side of the captain's podium and sat down one after another. They began to arrange their clothes, hair, and explain some things.
Basic etiquette, so as not to cause any jokes later in the meeting.
Hermione, Luna, and Hannah nodded solemnly.
This is the top wizard salon in the magic world today, and any one of the wizards alone can shock the magic world.
Even without Elena's advance warning, they still knew the specifications of this meeting.
After taking a look at the little wings sitting upright on the chairs with their tight little faces, Elena nodded secretly in her heart.
These little guys are much more obedient than her wand, and they are worthy of being the reserve devil executors she values.
However, overall it's not a big problem.
Because she also has the highest management authority in the Captain's Office of the Hyperion.
If necessary, she can even gag the ball directly... to be precise, group and single-body silence magic.
…………
In the evening, 11:25.
Elena nodded towards the other three little witches, and each took out a Major Arcana card.
Three thin metal card slots rose up on the conference table in the captain's room, with a pair of unfolded wings engraved on the front of the card slots. They put the cards in their hands into the card slots, and the metal made a pleasant sound and turned into a
The light curtain expanded in mid-air directly in front of them.
The screen gradually stretches and deforms.
At the beginning, there are major Arcana main cards turned over one by one, with the name and pattern of each card printed on them.
As they put the cards in their hands into the card slot, the Major Arcana that originally corresponded to them was flipped over in turn and replaced with each person's portrait.
Of course, only the frame and background look like portraits, and the people inside are real-time images of everyone. This is much higher resolution than the magical portraits in Hogwarts, and they can even see everyone's eyes.
Reflective color in pupils.
"Wow"
Hannah looked at the light screen projection directly in front of her in surprise.
For her, this was no less than seeing the animation transformed by Elena for the first time.
The image of Professor Dumbledore was already waiting in the air. Not far below him, the [Tower] and [The Hanged Man] were all waiting on the line. The location belonging to the [World] was not far away.
It stops flashing and seems to be still trying to connect to the network.
A few minutes later, Nick Flamel's image also replaced the [Magician] card and appeared in the light and shadow in mid-air.
"Can they hear us and see our side?"
Hermione quietly kicked Elena under the table and asked in a low voice.
Elena raised her eyebrows, hooked her toes on Hermione's calf, and answered calmly without looking away.
"You can only see the picture, but if you want to hear the sound, you must activate the magic power to connect to the 'Tarot Communicator' in front, but it is limited to other than the Hyperion. This magic power is only available on the Hyperion.
Supplies can be provided directly from the hull."
"Eh? In other words, Professor Dumbledore and the others can"
Hermione glanced at the screen in a panic and tried hard to free her calf.
She felt as if her calf was entangled by two pythons, and there was no way to pull it out again.
"Well, the voice is very clear, Miss Granger."
At this moment, in the light and shadow directly in front of him, Dumbledore said with a smile.
The old wizard's eyes slowly passed over Elena and the others, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems that Elena still kept her promise and did not lead these children to play wildly, nor did she lawlessly hold any weird parties on the Hyperion while she was away from school. Judging from their backgrounds and clothes, she was even better than them.
A few old guys need to be more decent.
"However, we may have to wait a while, [Queen] and [Hermit] haven't connected to the remote conference yet..."
Dumbledore paused, turned his head and asked a few questions in a low voice not far away, and continued.
"As for Mr. [World], there may only be sound and no image can be displayed. Miss [Fool] obviously did not consider this issue when she designed this system. Maybe we can replace Mr. [World]'s portrait with him in the future."
s position."
"Well, this is not a problem. I will try to get a portrait of Mr. [World] in a while."
Elena nodded, and at the same time, with a calm expression, she took off Hermione's shoes under the table and threw them aside.
How dare you kick her secretly under the table? If you don't give her a lesson, that's not okay.
"In fact, if it were not for the fact that today is the first time that three reserve members have participated in the meeting, it would not matter if the real-time video was canceled."
Elena glanced at Hermione seriously, let go of the prey she had just captured, and frowned at the last two empty seats.
"If they haven't connected yet, why don't we start first... There's no one late for a Tarot session."
"Sorry, it's a little late."
At this moment, the Major Arcana belonging to [The Hermit] flashed a few times and turned into the appearance of Mr. Lovegood.
Different from the sloppy appearance before, Xenophilius Lovegood appeared in the frame this time. He had obviously combed his hair a little. His original fluffy white hair was tied behind his back, and his robes were also changed into a clean set.
The white robe and roughly trimmed beard make him look more reliable than usual.
Immediately afterwards, Newt Scamander also appeared in the original position of the [Queen].
"Then we are now"
"Well, I might not be able to hear the whole meeting. Tina will get suspicious."
Before Dumbledore could speak, Newt said quickly and looked at the other Major Arcana with some embarrassment.
"All in all, my opinion is the same as Professor Dumbledore's. If there is a vote, that's it. I'll disconnect first."
Snapped.
After Newt finished speaking quickly as if reciting a tongue twister, he quickly disappeared into the light curtain in mid-air.
The [Queen] turned over again, as if everything just now was an illusion.
"..."
"..."
"..."
In the captain's room of the Hyperion, the three little witches subconsciously turned their heads to look at Elena.
As Newt appeared and disappeared, the solemn meeting that originally lingered in their hearts suddenly became strange.
Especially Hermione, who had lost her shoes and had to huddle her feet together, felt that Elena was trying to scare people with this so-called General Meeting of the Major Arcana, which was too casual. The future of the wizarding world is controlled.
In the hands of these people...is there really no problem?
"Ahem, okay, then everyone is here. Let's start today's agenda directly."
Dumbledore cleared his throat, as if he was not affected by Newt's early departure at all.
Strictly speaking, this is the first remote meeting.
Prior to this, most of the Major Arcana meetings were held offline. Today's remote light and shadow connection is more used for daily scattered exchanges and conversations rather than plenary meetings. In fact, in Dumbledore's original vision,
, it doesn’t matter even if the connection is not successful.
"This temporary meeting is mainly divided into three agendas, revising the details of the 'Snake Catching' clearance, establishing mentors for reserve members, and..."
Dumbledore pondered for a moment, then turned his head and exchanged a look with Grindelwald.
"How to respond to the werewolf group's cry for help may involve the use of force. You should understand what I mean."
Originally, if there were only problems between Lockhart and Mr. Lovegood, Dumbledore would still be hesitant to initiate an impromptu meeting.
But before Gilderoy Lockhart arrived in the principal's office, several letters from the Ministry of Magic and the International Federation of Wizards, as well as news from the saints on Grindelwald's side, directly prompted Dumbledore to launch an emergency
Decisions of the Interim Major Arcana Council.
As time went by, Dumbledore gradually changed his mind and no longer regarded the Tarot Club as just a cloud development platform for Elena.
As the Headmaster of Hogwarts, there isn't much that Dumbledore can do.
However, if you add the identity of the Tarot Club [Pope], it will be completely different.
"The weekend night has just begun, let's discuss it in this order..."
Elena frowned, looked thoughtfully at the heads on the light screen, and said in confusion.
"Has there been any change regarding the clearance of the 'Snake Catcher'? If there are students who insist on staying in school, why don't they just contact their families or the Ministry of Magic directly to solve the problem? I don't understand what needs to be revised in this regard.
You mean clearing, not hunting, right?"
"Not inside Hogwarts, but outside the school."
Gilderoy Lockhart cleared his throat and answered proactively.
Judging from the surrounding environment, he should have returned to his office, with a portrait of him hanging behind him.
"Outside the school? I don't understand, Mr. [Hermit]"
"The project at the institute has reached a critical moment. It would be a pity to evacuate at this time."
Lockhart said quickly, paused for a few seconds, raised his head and looked around at all the members of the Major Arcana in the light curtain, and continued.
"As the main person in charge of recovering memories and guarding research results, I don't think it is necessary to carry out evacuation and cleanup work so early. We can flexibly adapt to the actual situation of the 'Snake Catching Plan'. After all, in the final analysis, off-campus evacuation is just the worst case scenario."
The derivation results..."
"So, you choose to take risks in order to save half a month, rather than a plan that is later but can make the risk 100% zero?"
Elena held her chin gently with her left hand and looked at Lockhart with her lake-blue eyes, seemingly disappointed.
"In my opinion, they are as important as the evacuated students from Hogwarts. Moreover, you should also know how much risk and effort we have taken in order to invite those scholars from the former Soviet Union.
Sacrifices are huge irreparable losses.”
For a long time, the wizarding world has been divided into three, six, and nine levels. In the eyes of many wizards, Muggles are even worse than house elves.
She had imagined that someone would question the decision to evacuate the study, but she did not expect that Gilderoy Lockhart would take the initiative.
"More important."
"Um?"
"Obviously, the research that those scholars are doing, and their wisdom...at least right now, is more important."
Lockhart said in a serious tone. After repeating what he just said again, he continued to speak in a deep voice.
"Interrupting the current research or even protectively erasing the memory is just a matter of waving a magic wand for us. But there may be intangible losses, but it is possible that they would rather risk their lives.
To avoid. Maybe I don’t understand the content and principles of their research, but instead of erasing the spark of inspiration, we can at least try to keep some monsters away from them."
Elena took her chin off her left hand, glanced at Lockhart in surprise, and asked softly.
"So, what if, I mean what if, the basilisk escapes and gets into the research area?"
"I will lead the field resistance of the Foundation WIB and cover the retreat of those researchers."
"Then what if someone takes advantage of the chaos to leak the secret, or flees?"
"If it really happens, then I will personally go to catch him and find a way to erase the leaked information."
Is this guy... really the big bastard from before?
Elena glanced at Lockhart with a strange expression.
Unexpectedly, Lockhart just joined the Foundation and took charge of WIB for less than a year before it would grow to this point.
Apart from the shortcomings of being temporarily single, she couldn't find anything wrong with her. It seemed that she would have to find a way to get this young wizard who was blooming in her second spring to get married and start a business. Otherwise, if things continued like this, Hermione, Luna, Hannah, etc.
Little girls may want to chase stars.
But, on the other hand...
Elena looked at Lockhart's serious expression.
Gilderoy Lockhart is now much more handsome than his previous exaggerated appearance.
"Okay. This is your purview anyway, Mr. Hanged Man."
Elena nodded and said in a brisk tone, "I don't have any questions, what about you guys?"
"I think we should just build a chicken farm next to the research institute..."
Grindelwald scratched his ears, looked at someone 'off screen', and said with a grin.
"Regarding this point, Mr. [The Queen] happened to have made a suggestion before to build several chicken farms around Hogwarts to restrict the basilisk's escape route. As for Mr. [The Hanged Man]'s WIB team, usually
We happen to be stationed there to raise chickens, which can be regarded as strengthening our defense."
"It is best if the research process is not disturbed. Although time and life span can be extended, inspiration and energy cannot."
Nico Flamel also echoed that even if the magic stone is not his now, he still adheres to the attitude of saving when he can.
As the [Fool], [Tower], and [Magician] expressed their opinions one after another, Dumbledore and Xenophilius naturally had no reason to object. Lockhart quickly got the commitment and permission he wanted.
In exchange, if the basilisk escapes, he will be responsible for covering it.
"Then, the follow-up matters here will be fully handed over to Mr. [The Hanged Man]. Now, the next agenda."
Dumbledore nodded with a smile on his face, pressed his right hand softly, and continued to promote the meeting as the moderator.
"About the three reserve Major Arcana proposed by Miss [Fool], as well as the projects they are responsible for and the candidates for their respective mentors. According to the results of the previous discussion, the three newly added reserve Major Arcana are:
[Chariot] Hannah Abbott, [Justice] Hermione Granger, and [Priestess] Luna Love"
"Ahem, sorry, I have a problem with this!"
At this moment, a voice suddenly came out, interrupting Dumbledore's voice.
"The newly added reserve Major Arcana today will only include [Chariot] and [Justice]. Miss Luna Lovegood does not meet the conditions to join the Major Arcana. Even if she becomes a reserve, she will not be able to join the Major Arcana."
Never be promoted to full membership of the Major Arcana."
"At least until I leave the position of [hermit], she will never be able to remove the prefix of reserve..."
Under Luna's calm gaze, Xenophilius added decisively.