After the members of the Hogwarts Board of Governors left, only Headmaster Dippet, the four Heads of House, and Xiwen remained in the room.
Professor Melesi somehow produced a notebook, took out a quill, and crossed out a line. Then she looked at the final remaining note, raised her head, and said to everyone present:
"Then we have one final task left—restoring the castle's operations!"
The professors all nodded in agreement.
"Indeed. Curfew is almost here, yet the Slytherin students still cannot enter their common room. Look, most of them are waiting outside in the courtyard!" Professor Slughorn said, pointing beyond the door.
"Exactly. The barrel at the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room can no longer turn into a passage. It is completely blocked!" Professor Birley echoed.
Dumbledore joined their conversation with interest. "What a coincidence. The Fat Lady cannot open the entrance to the Gryffindor common room either."
After he finished speaking, the three Heads of House turned in unison to look at Professor Melesi.
"Fine." Professor Melesi spread her hands irritably and said helplessly, "The Ravenclaw eagle-shaped door knocker has stopped working as well."
Listening to the professors' conversation, Xiwen perked up, feeling that he had just learned something extraordinary.
Doesn't that mean I now know the entrances to the other houses' common rooms? Maybe... Xiwen thought excitedly, but immediately dismissed the idea. After all, not every house was as bizarre as Ravenclaw, which did not even use a proper password...
"Cough, cough..." Headmaster Dippet coughed twice, leaning wearily against the back of his chair. He sighed. "But over nearly a thousand years, we have already lost the castle's detailed magical structural plans. With current techniques, we cannot accurately determine how to repair each Magic Node."
"Then I am afraid we can only reconstruct the castle's magical