At some point, snowflakes began to drift down from the sky.
Master Li's illusory figure, as though he were walking within a reflection, vanished into the falling snow.
Only Dumbledore remained, gazing at the night sky and the outlines of the mountain ridges winding away through the darkness.
No one knew what he was thinking—
Deep in the night on Mount Hua, in this place unnoticed by anyone, two legendary wizards had ultimately parted on bad terms amid the snow because they could not see eye to eye.
And five thousand miles away, in the Scottish Highlands on the other side of the world, dawn's light had just spread across the sky.
The sky was gloomy. Gray, leaden clouds hung heavily over the heavens like an enormous, uneven slab of stone.
There was no sun. The wind blowing from the Black Lake grew ever more biting, carrying icy moisture that cut like knives.
When Harry and Ron got up, they encountered Hagrid in the courtyard, already dressed in a moleskin coat. Wrapped in fur, the burly, bloated keeper of the Forbidden Forest stood before them like a mountain.
The two instinctively huddled in front of his belly, using it to shield themselves from the wind blowing in through the gates.
"Bloody weather. I'd wager it'll snow today. Harry, Ron, you'd better put on more clothes. Look at you, shaking—like quail."
Harry had no interest in whether he looked like a quail or not. He did not have a fur coat, after all. Breathing warm air into his hands and rubbing them together, he asked, "Hagrid, what are you doing at the castle?"
Other than during holidays, Hagrid generally did not come into the castle.
"Work, of course." Hagrid's voice boomed. "Lots of work. The magical creatures borrowed from the Forbidden