201: Chapter 199 Hogwarts Documentary

Toby guessed that the Queen had probably received Dumbledore's holiday notice in advance, much like parents who, having been told the winter break dates by a teacher, arrive early at the school gates to pick up their children.

The young Queen wore an elegant smile. A step behind her, Suleiman and the Prime Minister stood side-by-side. Further off, reporters were frantically clicking their shutters with their cameras.

The five of them stepped forward and bowed to the Queen one by one.

Wino and Toby had always worked for the Royal Family, so etiquette was naturally second nature to them.

Before meeting at Hogwarts, Leon Klaisi had been just one of the masses, but he had met the Queen up close many times.

Coupled with the confidence brought by learning magic, there wasn't a hint of cowardice in his expression as he bowed.

On the train back to the Blue Star, Toby had estimated the Queen would summon them and had specifically taught Misha the standard movements of the knight's salute.

Now, her tender little face was set in a serious expression, her right hand placed properly over her left chest.

Once the formalities were over, the Queen looked behind them and asked why Rowling wasn't with them.

The five shook their heads, indicating they didn't know.

Rowling wasn't a student but lived at Hogwarts as the Headmaster's granddaughter; presumably, she didn't need to leave school for the holidays like the students.

The Queen nodded in understanding and led the five out of the station.

Outside the station, it was just like the day they had left for Hogwarts.

On the straight street, Soldiers used their bodies to form two cordons. London citizens who had come for the spectacle, people from out of town, and tourists were all crammed together on the sidewalk outside the lines.

Speaking of which, due to the emergence of Hogwarts, London's tourism industry had been flourishing lately.

So much so that the largest portion of the crowd at this time was actually domestic and foreign travelers.

Walking toward the motorcade stopped in the middle of the road, the Queen knew that most of them had traveled to London from thousands of miles away with a skeptical attitude.

Although she had released all the information about the "transcendent" and had herself as ironclad evidence, the Queen wasn't surprised that some still didn't believe it.

After all, in the 21st century, satellite imagery is ubiquitous, and disciplines like astronomy and physics are well-established, yet some people still insist the Earth is flat.

Such people's brains cannot be awakened with facts because there's simply nothing in their heads.

Even if you stuffed him into a rocket and shot him into space, held him by the back of the head and pressed his face against the glass to witness the azure planet in the darkness with his own eyes, he would still give you a confident smile as if everything were under control and tell you—it's fake, it's all fake.

The Queen felt a bit amused deep down.

She hadn't felt this lighthearted in a long time. It seemed that as her body regained its youth, her heart, which had grown indifferent after the ups and downs of life, was also regaining its vitality.

Like a young person.

Sitting in the back seat of her Rolls-Royce, the Queen shook her head and denied it to herself—no, not "like."

"Your Majesty, is something wrong?" Butler Li, sitting in the passenger seat, saw his mistress's strange movement through the rearview mirror.

"No, it's nothing. Let's go."

"As you command."

The motorcade of seven cars drove toward the palace amidst the shouts of the crowd.

After getting out of the car, the Queen led the five to her private sitting room to sit down.

She first expressed concern about how they were doing at Hogwarts, then instructed them to bring summer clothes for the next trip to school.

The Queen wasn't just going through the motions; she spoke to each of the five individually, which took quite some time.

After the small talk, the hour hand of the watch covered the twelve o'clock mark, so they simply had lunch at the palace.

Suleiman and the Prime Minister left first for other matters; the Queen didn't move to the dining room but had the food served directly in the sitting room.

Well-fed and satisfied—oh, Misha was drinking a beverage; children can't drink alcohol.

"Leon." The Queen put down the handkerchief she used to wipe the grease from the corners of her mouth—though she hadn't actually wiped anything off. "I remember you brought a camcorder, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Then, could you give me a copy of the video?"

With her gentle tone, beautiful face, and noble status, the young Leon was a bit flustered. He hurriedly got up, went to the corner of the room, rummaged through his suitcase, and came back clutching the camcorder.

"The memory card is inside. You can take it and use it."

"Thank you very much."

After taking the machine, she chatted with them for a while about the magic they had learned.

Learning that they had all learned a few simple spells, the Queen expressed her hope that they could hold a magic performance before the start of the next term.

And she emphasized that if it violated school rules, they could decline.

Hogwarts had no such regulations, so the matter was settled.

By evening, the five went back to their respective homes, except for Wino.

He was an orphan and had no mother.

Klaisi warmly invited him to be a guest at his home; Leon was a bit dissatisfied but didn't speak up.

After everyone had left, the slightly tipsy Queen called for Butler Li, handed him the camcorder, and instructed him to post the video on the royal website immediately before heading to her bedroom to rest.

...

The next morning.

Before the heated discussion about the "international students" returning from Hogwarts for the holidays could subside, another trending topic exploded across Ying Country's major social media platforms and portals—the Hogwarts Documentary.

At first, someone muttered in the video's comment section, asking if it was AI-generated.

His reason was sound: Hogwarts seemed to intentionally keep its distance from the outside world. As could be seen from the fact that humans hadn't clearly discovered "magic" for thousands of years, how could students be allowed to film videos at will?

This comment was pushed to the top, and netizens spoke out in support and gave it likes.

But after the poster appeared and informed them that it was reposted from the royal website, netizens flooded in, causing the royal website's server to crash for a while.

Besides wanting to see the real Hogwarts, there was also the announcement from the Royal Family that a magic performance would be held in five days.

This made all of Ying Country boil with excitement.

Everyone left messages, and they were surprisingly consistent—where can I buy tickets?

Although there would definitely be a live TV broadcast, it was magic—how could that be as exciting as seeing it in person?

For some reason, the Royal Family did not issue a response to this matter.

Unable to get tickets, the citizens fell into a state of frenzy and threatened to leave their homes and march in the streets in protest!

While it was noisy here, other places weren't quiet either.

Su City, China, Municipal Hall.

Director's Office.

Ye Ming and Lin Miao put their heads together, watching the video playing on the phone screen on the desk. The Director, who had finished watching, stood by the window looking at the empty space downstairs, his expression solemn.

Luo Xiling sat on the sofa in the middle of the room, holding the moon bright sword flat in both hands, muttering something unknown.

"Director," Ye Ming looked up, "its authenticity can be confirmed."

"Yes." The Director nodded and turned around. "They are progressing very fast, at least faster than us. We must speed up."

Having said that, the Director looked around the room: "Where are Zhao Qi and Yue Ruo?"

"Uh..." Lin Miao scratched her head. "Sister Yue is busy searching for people who received Entry Tokens. As for Brother Zhao..."

"What about him?"

"He seems to have had some conflicts with some Taoist priests and Buddhist monks lately."

"Hmm?" The Director looked puzzled, clearly not understanding why Zhao Qi would go looking for trouble with Taoist priests and monks.

"Call him and tell him to get his ass back here."

"Yes!"