Miscellaneous Matters in the Rain

Iris was so nervous that she closed her eyes.

She waited for a long time, but her body didn't feel the chill of lake water enveloping her.

Cautiously, she opened one eye.

To her surprise, she found herself floating above the water's surface.

She sensed that an invisible cushion of air was supporting her from below.

Before she could dwell on it further, Luna, who had snapped out of her daze, grabbed her by the calf and pulled her back onto the boat.

"Phew~"

Luna let out a breath, easing her own tension.

Suddenly, something occurred to her.

"Cypher! You didn't use your wand just now?!"

"Huh?"

Iris, who had been wearing a look of post-calamity relief, also shifted to an expression of surprise.

Last time in Diagon Alley, it had all happened so fast.

Iris hadn't noticed whether Cypher had used magic at all, let alone a wand.

"True, it was sudden, and I didn't have time to pull out my wand. Besides, my spells... well, let's just say I can't cast them properly." Thinking about how, over the break, his spells had a chance of triggering the Blasting Curse effect, Cypher quickly changed his tune.

The choice to have little wizards enroll at age eleven was because, by then, their magic tended to become more stable.

They could cast spells more easily through a wand.

Of course, the trade-off was that from that point on, it became very difficult for young wizards to perform wandless magic.

"Cypher, can you cast this spell at will?"

Seeing Cypher nod, Luna pressed on.

"Can you do it on both of us again?"

Though he didn't understand why, this simple magic he called Mage Hand was effortless to perform.

So Iris and Luna slowly began to rise.

"Iris, can you feel it?"

"Yeah, I thought it was the Levitation Charm at first, but you pulled me back before I could really sense it."

Luna rolled her eyes in exasperation and muttered that she should have let Iris experience a cold water bath.

The Levitation Charm worked by making an object's own gravity disappear, causing it to float gently upward.

That was also why it was so hard to cast on a wizard—their own magic interfered with that delicate balance, unless the caster was highly skilled.

But this magic Cypher called Mage Hand?

It felt like an invisible current of air pressing down on them, while gravity still held them.

"Alright, Cypher, when we get back, Iris and I will look into this properly. We don't understand the principle behind your spell."

"Cypher? Cypher?!"

He was staring blankly behind the two girls.

They turned to look—there was only Hogwarts Castle, revealed against the flashes of lightning and thunder.

They raised their voices to call him, asking him to set them down.

Cypher finally snapped out of it.

The two girls landed safely back in the boat.

"What's wrong? What were you looking at?"

Iris came up beside Cypher, following his gaze—there was nothing there.

"I saw a semi-transparent wall. Professor Rood has already passed through it. It didn't seem to do anything."

"Huh?"

Iris was stunned. In her field of vision, there was nothing in front of her.

Luna brushed her hair back, then her eyes lit up.

"Iris, weren't you complaining that even though we live at Hogwarts, we still have to go to the station and take the train to school?"

"Remember in Hogwarts' history, before the Express existed, new students had to walk a long distance to enter the school grounds?"

The sharp-witted Iris caught on immediately.

"You mean this is the Little Wizard Protection Ritual that the school history vaguely mentions?"

"Yes!"

Seeing Cypher's confusion, Iris began to explain.

"Ritual Magic is a general term—it refers to magic performed with the aid of external objects and specific steps. The Little Wizard Protection Ritual is vaguely mentioned in the books. Through this magic, no young wizard who enrolls will die within the castle."

Cypher nodded, indicating he understood.

It seemed that now, although the young wizards no longer had to travel a long distance on foot to reach Hogwarts, the necessary steps were still indispensable.

Suddenly, Cypher's gaze sharpened.

He noticed that as long as he didn't make the move to activate the 'Mage Hand' spell, the glowing wall in front of him would vanish.

He quickly shared this discovery with the two.

"We don't know. This is beyond our level of knowledge."

After a moment's hesitation, Iris suddenly spoke up to advise.

"Cypher, at most, tell Professor Dumbledore about this. Don't mention it to anyone else."

"Even your grandfather?"

A pause.

"Even him!"

Without asking why—Dumbledore seemed like a wizard on the side of justice, but what about Professor Fergus? A granddaughter having a falling out with her grandfather?

Not dwelling on it, Cypher filed this matter away in his mind and set it aside.

Finally, the small boat reached the opposite shore of the lake.

Cypher disembarked first, then helped the two women onto the shore.

"Are we supposed to climb up?"

Pointing at the winding stone path ahead, Cypher raised an eyebrow and asked.

The two women adjusted their attire and nodded in agreement.

Fine, fine—looks like another part of the Ritual Magic process.

Cypher, who kept up with his exercise routine, dragged the two women up to the top of the hill, panting heavily.

The two apologized, admitting their physical fitness was indeed poor.

Mr. Rood, who had long since disappeared, was now standing guard at the castle's main gate.

Seeing the three arrive first, he nodded in satisfaction.

The three stepped forward to greet Mr. Rood.

Then, somewhat exhausted, Cypher lost the energy for polite pleasantries from their first meeting.

The three huddled together, recovering their strength.

Cold, hunger, fatigue...

These negative effects made Cypher shiver.

The two women noticed.

They silently pressed closer to Cypher.

Time passed minute by minute.

Cypher thought that any new student who could endure the harsh weather to reach the castle was already qualified.

However, he underestimated the longing of young wizards in the magical world for a true magical school life.

Soon, large groups of new students arrived at the finish line, supporting or encouraging each other.

Only one group stood out as out of place—they moved as if bound by strict hierarchy, with those behind never overtaking those ahead.

"Everyone quiet down! Stand in front of the door!"

Seeing that no one else was coming up from the exit, the burly Professor Rood bellowed.

No one talked back at that moment—or rather, no one had the strength to.

Even the unruly Pureblood Descendants lined up in rows.

Professor Rood quickly counted the heads. Good, not a single one missing.

He nodded in satisfaction, secretly relieved.

Professor Rood turned to the massive door, muscles bulging as he pushed it open with force.

Cypher watched, dumbfounded—was this a performance, or did it really require pure physical strength to open? Why not use magic?

That question was forgotten the moment the door swung fully open.

The draft from the opening made the candlelight above flicker slightly, revealing the castle's interior with its intricate patterns and marks of age.

Cypher, at the front of the line, naturally took the lead, guiding all the young wizards in an orderly fashion inside.

What he didn't know was that someone behind him was staring fixedly at him, their red-tinged eyes filled with a gaze of resentment.