Chapter 313: Tang Tang Nade

"When I wrote to Anna asking her to send the dress, she told me they aren't taking a holiday this Christmas," Ivy explained. "The servants gossiped and speculated that Grandpa should be coming home on the 24th."

In previous years, when Old Sir was always running here and there, Harry and Ivy would choose to stay at school for Christmas, and would take the opportunity to give the servants time off so they could go back to be with their families. This year, since the butler had told the servants so definitively that there would be no time off, there was clearly only one reason: Old Sir intended to come home for Christmas.

"I'll go to the owlery and see," Harry said. "Maybe he sent us a letter."

When Harry arrived at the small shed on top of the tower where feathers were flying everywhere, he indeed found two letters that hadn't been delivered yet. According to the process, he should have received this family letter at breakfast the next day, but Harry didn't care about that anymore and opened it immediately.

"Harry, I expect to return to Tang Dun soon. If you don't have anything important to do in the magic world, then I hope you can bring Ivy back for Christmas. I invited your godfather, Sirius Black, and he has already happily agreed, willing to spend the festival with us.

I have made good progress in Albania; it's no exaggeration to say that I have realized my life's ideal. If you are interested in these stories, we can talk about them slowly after we get home."

Another letter was sent by Sirius, in which he confirmed Old Sir's arrangements, stating that he would be very happy to go to Tang Dun for Christmas, and he also highly praised George Crawley as "the most cultured and intelligent Muggle I have ever met."

At the same time, Sirius's letter also said another thing: "... I hope you can bring your friends to visit Lu Ping on Saturday, which is the day after the ball. He is spending Christmas with the werewolves in Gilnis, but he also misses you very much."

After reading the two letters, Harry felt warm in his heart. No matter when, receiving concern from relatives always makes people feel comfortable.

When he returned to the common room with light steps and told them about these arrangements, Ivy was so happy she almost jumped up, and Luo En also looked very expectant.

However, on Wednesday, Zhang Qiu told him something: "Tang Tang Nade is expected to meet us in Gilnis on Saturday. He also specifically instructed us to be sure to bring Alina."

"Is that so? If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten," Harry suddenly felt a bit lost. "Alina is Tang Tang Nade's subordinate after all."

"Relax, they are just an investor and an employee," Zhang Qiu patted his shoulder. "Put your attention on the ball first."

The two indeed put a lot of energy into the ball, but neither was for the other.

Harry focused on the students from outside schools. He talked to Krum and learned that Rodolphus had adopted a strategy of increasing and extending holidays, greatly reducing the students' willingness to oppose. Even Krum himself was slightly shaken because of the 45-day Christmas holiday. The situation at Beauxbatons was okay, but Stewart was an overly tough and radical hawk. They denounced all conservatives who opposed LGBT, while also attacking the followers of the Dark Lord. Although conservatives included dark wizards, they also included too many innocent people. The student organization of Ilvermorny was about in Tang Tang Nade's hands, because their current strategy was almost exactly the same as Tang Tang Nade's own: accumulate strength, but don't choose a position. Koldovstoretz and Mahoutokoro both chose neutrality, but the former seemed to have various inconveniences to participate, while the latter was simply not their business. The representatives of other third-world magic schools were all immersed in the ball. Harry thought they should have smelled the undercurrents to some extent, but chose to play dumb because they didn't want to get involved.

Zhang Qiu focused on the movements of the professors in the school. She thought Snape dancing was a signal worth pondering, especially since he chose Professor McGonagall as his partner for the opening dance. The dancing of professors couldn't be like children thinking about love gossip, but had to pay attention to the political signals within it. If there was anyone influential enough in Hogwarts who might topple Snape, it was only McGonagall. Now McGonagall and Snape were united, and the signal sent to the outside world was: Hogwarts was already a solid piece. And McGonagall's second song choice was Arnold, which predicted that the cooperation between the school and the Ministry of Magic was much deeper than most people imagined.

The two exchanged slightly during the break. Zhang Qiu pointed out that this ball was a sign that Snape was about to speak strongly; he had already formed his own power and declared it to the public. And Harry thought he could take advantage of the situation and raise the right to speak of the student group by borrowing power. He had long wanted to make some reforms to the Order of the Phoenix.

When Harry returned to the dormitory, Luo En was walking around the room excitedly, clearly his spirit was a bit abnormal.

"They kissed," Neville explained in a low voice.

"Hey, Harry, you're back? What did you and Zhang Qiu go do?" Luo En's tone carried a hint of pride.

"We were discussing reforming the Order of the Phoenix," Harry said naturally. "I think the identities of Kingsley and Moody are very awkward. Whether the cooperation or separation between the Order of the Phoenix and the Auror Office is a question worth discussing. And the abilities of Dedalus, Emmeline, and that group of people are really lacking. Either change the standard for absorbing members of the Order of the Phoenix, but I hope more to establish a relatively perfect internal training system..."

Luo En gradually calmed down. He scratched his head awkwardly and said embarrassedly: "Ah, you always think so comprehensively, I... Hey! Let's talk about it tomorrow; I'm going to sleep first."

"Tomorrow? There are quite a few things to talk about tomorrow." Harry thought of Tang Tang Nade, and his heart felt a bit complicated.

The next morning, Harry took stock of all the students preparing to go to Gilnis. Besides him and Zhang Qiu, there were Luo En and Alina, Jin Ni and Ivy, Cui Ge and Luna, and Neville and Hannah. There were quite a lot of people, mainly because Lu Ping had accumulated quite a good reputation during his teaching period at school.

Then, in that empty classroom where they gathered, the wardrobe door suddenly opened with a bang, and Nymphadora Tonks, with bubblegum-pink hair, laughed at them.

"Haha, children!" she said. "Looks like I came just in time. Shall we go?"

This wasn't Harry's first time traveling by TARDIS, but it was the first time for many other students. Jin Ni tried hard to restrain herself from touching and asking questions, while Alina didn't restrain herself.

"What I think is very magical is that space-time theory also includes the study of fate," Tonks said without concealment. "The moment I decided to set off was exactly when you finished gathering. This is not a simple coincidence; it is brought by the guidance of fate. So at this very moment, we truly understand that sentence: when you need the Doctor, he can always appear."

"Even... now, does the guidance of fate still play a role?" Harry asked.

"The power of fate lies in the fact that it is everywhere in space-time. Opposing fate means simultaneously opposing one's own past and future," Tonks said nonchalantly. "Now, fate certainly exists, but it is not that strong; you can easily break it."

"Okay." Harry didn't continue to ask. He admitted that after time was frozen, perhaps space-time theory could still play some role, but it was still not something he could understand. Especially since the tone of these people was still mysterious.

After arriving in Gilnis, they chatted with Lu Ping for a while and were taken to visit Gilnis by Tonks. After the visit, Tonks took them to play a "Werewolf Game," which was very similar to the Avalon board game invented by Tang Tang Nade. Both were games that relied on speaking to distinguish or disguise different identities.

It wasn't until the evening that they saw Sirius, Lu Ping, and Tang Tang Nade again at the dinner table. Looking at the slightly tired expressions of the three, Harry realized that Tang Tang Nade still treated him as a child, and when he arranged for him to play games, he had already finished talking about business with the adults.

Fortunately, Sirius didn't really treat Harry as a child. In the evening, when Tang Tang Nade started to take the children to burn a bonfire, he and Harry sat in Lu Ping's office and began to discuss Tang Tang Nade's proposal very seriously.

"Strategic Weapon System Deployment Plan?" Harry picked up a thick document. "Is this a draft?"

"Before looking at this document, we must first understand the Greymane Wall under construction," Lu Ping said slowly. "This is a high wall imitating the Middle Ages. The body of the wall is built with red bricks, and reinforcement spells have been cast. Most importantly, we have arranged multiple magic nodes inside the wall, covering Gilnis to form an unbreakable anti-Apparition ward, while applying Muggle-repelling charms and various other protective spells."

"The role of the anti-Apparition ward is to force the enemies of the magic world to launch an attack from the ground, so they have to face this giant wall," Sirius added.

Various high-power Muggle weapons flashed through Harry's mind. He didn't think the defensive capability of the Greymane Wall would be as powerful as Sirius imagined.

"Mentioning the Greymane Wall is to explain that we have turned Gilnis into a place that is easy to defend and hard to attack. If we have a long-distance strike weapon that is powerful enough, then we—although it's a bit childish to say so," Lu Ping smiled, "then we are invincible."

"No one can break our high wall, but we can launch over-the-horizon strikes against enemies anywhere at any time," Sirius whispered. "Gilnis itself is a deterrent."

"If you want to establish a magic version of nuclear deterrence," Harry said calmly, "first we must have an attack method that is powerful enough, and second, we must have a means of precise delivery. Both are indispensable."

"The delivery can be completed by analyzing the TARDIS technology; Tonks has almost completed it," Lu Ping said.

"And this attack method is what Tang Tang Nade is preparing to help us deploy, using ritual magic combined with the magic power of hundreds of people, and then using large equipment to launch it centrally," Sirius's tone carried a hint of fanaticism. "He calls this 'Focusing Rainbow'." ===== CHAPTER 314 =====