Chapter 655

For the next few days, Harry's life carried on in an orderly routine.

Classes, homework, visiting the Greenhouse to check on Neville's new seedlings, then going to the library at night to read with Hermione and Ron.

The Confederation occasionally sent one or two brief messages. Kingsley confirmed that the barrier was operating stably, Mr. LeMay had found no anomalies during his on-site review at Node Seven, and Gemma's pursuit operation in America had entered its final stage.

The messages were all short, with no new instructions or precautions attached.

Every evening, the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room was relit. The flames crackled steadily in the hearth, bathing the whole room in warm golden light.

A few younger students began hanging Christmas decorations on the walls. Someone brought streamers and paper flowers. Several Slytherin students glanced inside as they passed the doorway; one of them smiled, said nothing, and kept walking.

One Wednesday morning, while Harry was eating breakfast in the Great Hall, he saw a brown owl fly in from the direction of the Entrance hall and land on the table in front of Hermione.

Tied to the owl's leg was a thick envelope. Inside were not letters, but photocopies of several newspaper clippings.

Hermione opened the envelope, skimmed through them quickly, and pushed the clippings in front of Harry.

"The Confederation Technical Group found a small Ashwinder Party supply warehouse in an abandoned mine in northern Britain last week. It wasn't large, but the documents inside recorded some data about Lucifer and The Chain. The Confederation Technical Group has already sealed off the site."

Harry took the clippings and read through them. "It's all been dealt with?"

"Kingsley said what the Confederation found at the site was a batch of early experimental records, probably items from around