Because of the damage to the Magic Nodes, the young wizards quickly noticed that things were different from before.
The next morning, while eating in the Great Hall, tapping their plates no longer made food emerge from them as usual. Instead, diligent house-elves pushed several small carts beside the long tables, scurrying along on short legs as they efficiently delivered food to the young wizards who needed it.
This was because food had originally been transported from the kitchen to the Great Hall through magical channels powered by the castle itself. However, after the Magic Node Hufflepuff had left at the kitchen entrance was destroyed, that channel lost its source of magic and could no longer be used.
It was not only the dining habits of the wizards in the castle that were affected; the impact in other areas was just as significant.
For example, a small number of the moving staircases in the Main Tower had fallen completely still. Many classrooms could only be reached through those staircases, so the young wizards often had to cast spells themselves to pull them over before climbing aboard, then cast another spell to push them toward their destination once they were standing on them.
The completely motionless ones were still manageable, since they could at least be moved manually. However, some others seemed to have developed some sort of poor magical connection and kept twitching wildly in place. Even if young wizards used spells to pull them closer, they might suddenly jerk without warning, giving anyone standing on them quite a scare.
One unlucky young wizard had already been flung off a moving staircase because of this. Fortunately, a prefect spotted him in time and caught him with a spell, preventing any injuries.
Faced with this situation, the professors had no choice