Although Weilan didn't agree with this statement, he chose not to question Hermione.
Just as she said—"Much of the history from over a thousand years ago is untraceable."
Weilan lowered his head and finished the rest of the Chocolate Frog, then watched the rapidly receding silhouettes of the dark scenery outside the window to pass the time.
Ron, Dean, Seamus, and Neville continued chatting. They talked about Merlin, then other great Wizards, and then themselves.
Weilan listened to their wild imaginings of the future, and soon shook Hermione's arm, pulling her out of her book to answer his question:
"Hermione, do you think... there have ever been Wizards in the magic world who became 'gods'?
This was an interesting question. Hermione puffed out her cheeks, thinking as she replied:
"Actually, I considered this question during the summer I received my Hogwarts acceptance letter."
"According to Professor Binns, the closest existence to a 'god' in History of Magic should be Merlin. He was incredibly knowledgeable and gained the 'Authority' of 'Time'—"
"Wait."
Weilan interrupted her, "What is 'Authority'?
"This is indeed a very old term, and no magic books use it anymore. But Professor Binns is a very old ghost Professor, so he explained to me what 'Authority' is."
"Simply put, just like Muggle knowledge is divided into many fields such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc. In each field, there are some Muggles who are naturally suited to learn it, and we call this 'talent'."
"If this talented Muggle chooses to delve deeply into their field of talent, then many years later, an extremely proficient Muggle in that field will be born."
Weilan was a Muggle in his previous life, and for the first eleven years of this life, he dealt with Muggles in an orphanage, so he easily understood Hermione's introduction.
"This principle also applies to Wizards.
If a Wizard, when young, shows extraordinary talent in a certain field of magic, and is willing to spend most of their life researching the magic in that field, then as knowledge accumulates, quantitative change will eventually lead to qualitative change."
"When he achieves peak control over the magic in that field, he can gain the 'Authority' of the corresponding field.
Wizards who gain Authority can be said to be the closest to gods; they can disregard rules and manipulate events within their corresponding field, and opponents are completely helpless against them."
"The 'Authority' of the legendary Wizard Merlin is 'Time'."
Weilan listened carefully and finally raised his hand to ask:
"So, I have a question: a Wizard who gains 'Authority' is only 'close to a god', so what is the difference between him and a god?
"The difference is that they all died."
Hermione answered him, and she wasn't joking, "Gods are immortal. Even if a Wizard gains 'Authority', they cannot escape death. Unless they gain some special Authority..."
"What special Authority?
Weilan's curiosity was burning brightly.
"I don't know. Professor Binns didn't tell me. Maybe if you listen carefully in your next History of Magic Class, he'll tell you?"
Hermione mischievously blinked, forcefully extinguishing Weilan's little flame of curiosity.
"Oh—"
Weilan drew out the sound, relaxing his body against the back of the chair, "Let me guess, I think this special Authority should be 'Death'."
Weilan's guess was not unfounded; the original Harry Potter mentioned Death.
"Possibly, but I have no evidence."
Hermione answered him.
The train slowed down, and in the distant wind and rain, a magnificent, brightly lit Castle vaguely appeared.
There were chaotic footsteps, voices, and the sound of luggage being dragged on the train. Weilan got up, pulled out his luggage, and prepared to get off.
"First-year students, over here—"
Hagrid shouted with a lantern in the pouring rain. The crowd automatically split, and the first-year students braved the heavy rain, gathering towards Hagrid's massive, sturdy figure.
Weilan struggled to open his umbrella in the wind and was about to walk towards the horseless carriages.
Crookshanks' cage got wet, causing the cat to continuously hit the cage and meow loudly.
Hermione was falling behind, and Weilan, afraid they would get separated in the downpour and crowd, turned back, grabbed her hand tightly, and moved forward.
After several twists and turns, they finally got into a carriage. The carriage carried them along a small path, and the Castle lights flickered blurrily in the rain, but became increasingly bright.
After they got off, they entered the Entrance Hall. Peeves was ambushing there, attacking the students, who had just endured the heavy rain, with water balloons.
So the drenched students were drenched again. If Weilan hadn't reacted quickly and raised his umbrella, he and Hermione probably wouldn't have been able to keep their robes relatively clean.
Peeves' pranks continued until Professor McGonagall appeared.
Minerva McGonagall, the Hogwarts Transfiguration Class Professor, a Witch with square glasses and hair in a bun, was about to stop Peeves' actions when her scolding words suddenly caught in her throat.
"Oh dear! House-elf, why are you here and not in the kitchen?
She walked towards the corner hidden by the oak door behind the students.
Following Professor McGonagall's gaze, Weilan noticed a pair of wrinkled little feet behind the heavy door.
As Professor McGonagall waved her wand and closed that half of the oak door, the little creature hiding behind the door revealed her full appearance.
It was a House-elf, with big eyes, big ears, and bruises and scars all over her body.
On her hairless body, she wore a ragged tea towel with the Hogwarts crest almost falling off, and it was covered in many kitchen stains like flour, eggs, and grease.
"Hehehehe, ugly thing! Ugly thing!
Peeves laughed and threw the remaining water balloons at the House-elf.
The poor House-elf was dazed by the water balloons. No matter how Professor McGonagall scolded Peeves, it was useless.
It wasn't until she couldn't stand it anymore and brought up Dumbledore's name that Peeves cackled, threw all the water balloons, and disappeared behind the marble staircase.
"I'm sorry, Madam McGonagall! My name is Kiki."
Kiki shrieked from behind the door: "But Kiki shouldn't be here, Kiki is leaving now! Leaving now!"
She moved her short legs, wanting to leave, but every few steps she would stumble, and soon Kiki couldn't stand up anymore.
"This House-elf needs treatment!
Hermione, heartbroken, stepped forward to check on Kiki's condition.
Ron, feeling very strange, asked Weilan: "How can House-elves appear here? Don't they all avoid us and work secretly?
"Indeed strange."
Having lived at Hogwarts for three years and never seeing a House-elf outside the kitchen, Weilan realized something was wrong with this House-elf.
【Subtle Observation】 quietly activated, and Weilan came up behind Hermione.
Professor McGonagall was trying to make Kiki conscious. Weilan took this opportunity to use 【Subtle Observation】 to observe Kiki's wrinkled body.
First to catch his attention was the tea towel Kiki wore as a uniform, as a House-elf serving Hogwarts.
This tea towel had several rough tears, and the Hogwarts crest on the tea towel was only attached by a few threads, almost about to fall off.
Kiki's whole body was dry and free of rainwater, but it was stained with grease, the kind used for cooking.
This indicated that Kiki had come from the kitchen.
Weilan looked towards the door in the Entrance Hall that led to the kitchen.
Following this direction, Weilan found subtle abnormal light reflections on the ground.
It was the grease stains Kiki had left on the ground.
In the past scene recreated based on the shape of the grease stains, Kiki stumbled out of the kitchen and into the Entrance Hall.
She looked terrible, her steps unsteady, constantly falling, trying to use her last strength to cross the Entrance Hall and enter the Great Hall.
When she struggled to reach the center of the Entrance Hall, the oak door slid open with a creak. Kiki looked terrified and quickly hid behind the door.
After that, Peeves slid with water balloons in his arms to above the ceiling. The water seeping from the water balloons wet the high walls, and Peeves was preparing to ambush the incoming students...
"Madam McGonagall, Kiki is very sorry, Kiki just wanted to ask Mr. Dumbledore for help."
Under the effect of Professor McGonagall's spell, Kiki's consciousness returned, and she cried and mumbled: "But Kiki really can't hold on, and the other House-elves in the kitchen can't hold on either."
Hermione's gaze immediately sharpened: "Kiki, don't be afraid, say everything you want to say, I will do my best to help you!"
"Thank you, you are a kind young lady."
Kiki looked gratefully at Hermione, "The Hogwarts House-elves are all poisoned, very, very seriously poisoned!"
"What?
Everyone looked incredulously at the weak Kiki.
"I'll notify Dumbledore immediately!"
Professor McGonagall gasped, "Kiki, can you still hold on? Can you tell me the whole story?"
Kiki's big eyes were filled with helpless tears: "The food is problematic... Kiki doesn't know why, today is the start-of-term feast, and Kiki was happily preparing food for the feast with the other House-elves."
"But I don't know why!"
Kiki let out a painful shriek: "The bread we made is problematic; that bread has a fatal allure. Although not eating the master's food is a House-elf's upbringing, that bread made every living creature unable to resist."
"Soon, a House-elf with weak willpower tasted the bread, then two, three, four... Kiki also couldn't control herself, but only tasted breadcrumbs."
"After eating the bread, everyone had problems!
They seemed to see things that weren't there, flailing their arms and legs. Maybe because Kiki only ate a little bit of breadcrumbs, Kiki isn't that serious, just dizzy and unable to walk steadily...
So Kiki, who isn't serious, wants to tell Dumbledore about this! Kiki doesn't know what's going on, Kiki is afraid that the other food everyone made is also problematic!"
Professor McGonagall stood up in horror: "Hermione, if it's not too much trouble for you and your friends, could you please take care of Kiki for me? This matter is very serious..."
Hermione immediately replied: "I'd be happy to help the House-elves!"
"I'm not troubled."
Weilan quickly said, pulling Ron's robe at the same time.
"Me too."
Ron was nudged into saying this.
After arranging Kiki, Professor McGonagall looked around at the watching students and said loudly:
"All other students, enter the Great Hall and continue the start-of-term ceremony!"
Professor McGonagall left, full of worry. Kiki was very dizzy, and Weilan and Hermione were both afraid she would fall into a deep sleep, so they took turns casting spells to keep her awake.
Students continuously poured into the Great Hall, and occasionally someone would stop near Weilan and his friends for a moment, but they would quickly leave.
Soon after, Dumbledore, the Principal of Hogwarts, arrived.
He was a calm and peaceful old man with silver-white hair and a beard, and today he wore a dark green robe embroidered with stars and moons.
Behind him were Potion Class Professor Severus Snape and Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse.
Weilan, who was supporting Kiki, felt as if a long century had passed. Handing Kiki over to Snape, Weilan couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
Although this greasy-haired old bat often made things difficult for Gryffindor, his ability as a Potion Master was beyond doubt. If Snape couldn't brew an antidote, then no one could save this group of House-elves now.
