Ministry of Magic

"How about we call it Mark One?" Xiwen said with a rather wicked sense of humor.

"What kind of name is that? It has no uniqueness at all!" Helena said, looking at him with disdain.

"Is it really that unremarkable?" Xiwen fell into self-doubt.

To be honest, the name "Mark" isn't particularly unique; it simply means "model number." But at least it's concise and clear, right? You can immediately tell it's a product series, which can motivate you to continuously improve.

'Besides, it's not my fault it sounds bad! You should ask a man named Tony Stark how he came up with such a name,' Xiwen thought to himself, shifting the blame.

Unable to reach the Young Wizard Xiwen, Helena reached out and patted the Ghost Xiwen, urging, "Hurry up, at least think of a name that people can remember!"

'Is the name Mark One I hard to remember...?' Xiwen thought to himself, but didn't dare to say it aloud.

The hasty way Xiwen named the Little Cat revealed that he was truly not good at naming things. However, with Helena watching him intently, he dared not give a careless answer and could only rack his brains...

"How about combining the names of the two spells we're using?" After much thought, Xiwen finally came up with a good idea. "Combining the names 'Rings of Raggadorr' and 'Protego', we can call it 'Raggatego'!"

Helena thought about it for a moment after hearing it, then slowly nodded, barely accepting the name.

Xiwen silently breathed a sigh of relief.

The next two weeks passed quickly as Xiwen spent his days attending classes, his evenings researching and improving the Raggatego, his weekends doing homework, and occasionally going out to look for his cat.

On Friday night of the second week, Ignatius knocked on the dormitory door.

"Xiwen, Professor Merrythought asked me to tell you to be in the Vice Principal's Office at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow morning," he said. "Since I couldn't find you before curfew, I had to come and notify you after curfew."

"Oh, I was practicing magic outside," Shivn explained apologetically to Ignatius, then asked with some confusion, "Prefect Pwett, do you know why Professor Melos wanted to see me?"

"I'm not quite sure about that either," Ignatius shook his head.

"Alright, thank you for your help, Prefect Pewett." Shwin was a little confused, but he still thanked Ignatius for the news.

"It's nothing, no trouble at all," Ignatius waved his hand and said. "But it's almost the weekend, and you were practicing magic outside until curfew."

"It's quite rare to see someone so diligent in their first year!" He gave Xiwen an appreciative look before leaving the dormitory.

"Xiwen, what big thing have you been up to behind our backs again?" Abu asked curiously after Ignatius left.

"What do you mean 'again'?" Xiwen's lips twitched.

He then glanced at the date and realized that tomorrow was the trial of Professor Lore and the other two, and he was to attend the Judgement as a witness.

At 8:00 a. m. the next day, Xiwen knocked on the door of the Vice Principal's Office precisely on time.

Sandrine was already seated on the sofa in the Vice Principal's Office, chatting with Professor Merrythought. Professor Merrythought seemed to have a lot of praise for Xiwen, and Sandrine was smiling happily.

"Mr. Rozier arrived right on time!" Professor Merrythought said with a smile.

Sandrine waved happily to Xiwen and said with a smile, "Vice Principal Melesi was just praising you! Apparently, you're quite good at Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"So-so," Xiwen replied with a casual smile.

"This is not the time for modesty, Rozier," Professor Merrythought said, feigning a stern expression. "If the best student in the class is only so-so, does that mean I'm a bad teacher?"

"Uh, Professor, I didn't mean that!" Xiwen's expression froze, and he quickly said.

"Alright, enough joking around," Professor Merrythought chuckled, speaking kindly. "The trial will officially begin soon, and you, as witnesses, should arrive at the courtroom a little early."

"Armando specially arranged an internal passage to the Ministry of Magic for you, so you can go directly to the Ministry of Magic through the fireplace in your office. Armando should have arrived by now."

Sandrine bid farewell to Professor Merrythought, then went first into the fireplace of the Vice Principal's Office and headed to the Ministry of Magic.

Xiwen followed to the fireplace, grabbed a handful of Floo Powder from beside it, and sprinkled the powder into the fireplace. The flames in the fireplace instantly turned into a cold, green flame.

Then Xiwen stepped into the flames and clearly announced his destination, "The Ministry of Magic."

This time, Xiwen learned his lesson and held his breath beforehand to avoid choking on the furnace ash.

The green flames suddenly enveloped him and quickly descended, transforming the scene before him into a long, narrow, and magnificent hall.

The hall was very long, stretching almost to the horizon. The floor was made of dark wood that had been polished to a shine, and the peacock blue ceiling was inlaid with Winky gold symbols that were constantly moving and changing, like a giant high-altitude bulletin board.

The walls on both sides were inlaid with many gilded fireplaces. All the wizards came to the Ministry of Magic from the fireplace on the side behind Xiwen, but occasionally a wizard could be seen leaving from the fireplace on the opposite side.

Therefore, Xiwen speculated that the fireplaces on both sides were designed for entry and exit, thus preventing people from bumping into each other while entering and exiting at the same time.

"Hey, little wizard, don't block the fireplace exit!" An older clerk in a suit patted Xiwen on the shoulder and said.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Xiwen quickly made way and walked to Sandrine's side.

It was rush hour, and the Ministry Atrium was still quite crowded, with green flames flickering inside the fireplace.

"There are a lot of people now, stay close so you don't get lost," Sandrine said, grabbing Xiwen's hand. "We need to go down two more floors to reach the Courtroom."

Xiwen stared stiffly at his hand being held, feeling extremely awkward. He didn't consider himself a child anymore, and being held by his mother's hand made him feel ashamed. So he secretly tried to pull his hand away.

However, Sandrine seemed to have discovered Xiwen's little scheme, and immediately gripped his hand tightly, giving him no chance at all. Xiwen could only resign himself to letting her hold him.

'Being dragged around with this appearance shouldn't be shameful, right?' he thought to himself, trying to deceive himself.