The familiar horse paths, the familiar iron fence gates, and the more familiar lawns, lights, and Christmas groves...... and the outline of the castle, which had been largely obscured by snow.

Even the sweet smell of Christmas pudding in the air is quietly rolling in the wind between the mouth and nose.

In the blink of an eye, the gloom and desolation of Azkaban suddenly transformed into the quiet and warmth of Hogwarts. But at this moment, in Maca's heart, this warmth is as shaky as falling into an ice cellar.

“…… What do you think? Surprised? ”

A muffled voice came out of the lump of ice, and if it weren't for the silence around them, it would have been hard to hear what was being said.

Maca didn't answer.

He just silently lifted the staff in his right hand and slammed it into the ground. The hard black stone then made a solid "click" sound.

There was no doubt that at that moment just now, he, the rune array, and even the layer of black stone under the glyph stone slab had all been transferred to this side......

And the so-called "here" is in front of the school gate of "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry".

Maca licked her lips, the prickly touch making him feel uncomfortable.

"That's right—"

He glanced behind him, and the faint blue glow had faded...... Many of the curved stone slabs have appeared as the magic dissipates, and a series of finely interlaced cracks have appeared.

"It was a pleasant surprise."

Before he could finish speaking, Maca jerked her staff forward, and a sudden burst of floating spells threw the one-man-tall ice lump into the air.

In the next second, a dazzling, almost scorching beam of light emerged from the top of the staff, blasting the ice cube into a frosty white powder along with the people inside.

It's a pity that some of the most important things in the lump of ice have long since left silently.

"Hoo ......"

I raised my head and watched the snow fall in the drowsy night sky, and my face was followed by a little more coolness brought by the melting of the snowflakes by body temperature.

But at this time, what he wanted to see was not snow, but a boulder that was approaching here.

To be honest, he did think enough about this plan, and even put the extremely low probability of "Helmo taking Old Eun's body on the spot" on guard.

But he never expected that Helbo would forcibly "cut off" all the rune arrays that were in operation, and use the magic of spatial movement to move the entire Hogwarts neighborhood.

Looking at the scene, if it weren't for the fact that the space within the campus had been reinforced by the founder, he was afraid that the formation would have appeared directly in the center of the school.

But...... Of course, for a meteor that falls from the universe to the ground, such a small distance is nothing at all.

"Three months to go."

Maca stood still and nodded, then waved her hand to clean the black stone and carved slabs on the ground, and then restored the messy horse path and lawn.

In three months, when the Earth turns to a fixed position, the boulder from the universe will follow a predetermined path into the atmosphere and land exactly there.

In terms of the accuracy of the data that Ewen Ravenclaw gave back then, the error would not have been more than three feet.

Perhaps, this will be the greatest crisis Hogwarts has faced since ancient times.

……

"Tuk-tuk."

There were two knocks on the door, and McGonagall, who was digging through her recent papers, suddenly looked up.

"Please come in."

The last three days and two nights should be the most jubilant time in school.

Although it was late at night, and the wandering in the school courtyard outside had stopped, everyone should still be playing in the auditorium, or in some other classroom or hallway. Even the professors of the school were laughing with the little wizards at this time.

At a time like this, who would come to the principal's office to look for her?

No, it wouldn't have been too unusual for that kid to come before today. It's a pity that now he has left temporarily.

With Professor McGonagall's "Please come in", the office door opened.

"Professor McGonagall, good evening."

"Maca?"

As you can see, McGonagall looked surprised. Because she had the impression that Maca was a man of his word, and some decisions that once he said it, he would definitely do what he wanted.

When Maca proposed a temporary resignation, McGonagall had tried to keep her on several occasions, but she had not been able to keep her. But who knew that in less than one night, he actually appeared in front of him again.

"You're not ......," McGonagall said, "Oh, of course I'd love to see you stay—there are things we can discuss together, and you don't have to do it alone." But...... How did you come back so quickly? ”

Maca turned and closed the door, then gently walked to the chair not far from her desk and sat down.

"Because, there are some things that don't need to be done anymore."

As he spoke, a wry smile appeared on his face. You know, this kind of expression is extremely rare to see on him.

"What the hell is going on?" Seeing this, McGonagall hurriedly asked

However, in response to Professor McGonagall's questioning, Maca didn't know where to start.

In the past, when Dumbledore was still around, Maca had a lot of communication with him in secret. For example, he discussed with Dumbledore how to deal with Voldemort's plan, and also collaborated on a big escape from prison.

But since Dumbledore left, he had had a hard time finding someone who could actually help him.

Although, Maca has never been the kind of person who needs to be mentioned for everything.

With no one to tell him what to do, he struggled to solve many problems, even settling the crisis that the Devouring Mirror almost destroyed Hogwarts on his own.

But this time, something had to be said.

"Professor," Maca said in a deep voice, after a moment of silence, "please prepare for evacuation within three months." ”

"The whole school evacuated?"

Hogwarts has never had to evacuate teachers and students from the castle, and even during the wizarding wars of the ages, Hogwarts Castle has always been one of the few last lines of defense in the British wizarding world.

There are all kinds of defensive magic left over from ancient times, there are also many powerful wizards, and there have even been several powerful people in the world's famous magic world.

For Minerva McGonagall, who has always been proud of the school, the "school evacuation" is tantamount to "abandoning the family...... No, it could be much more serious than that.

But since this sentence came from the mouth of Maca, it was impossible for McGonagall to take it seriously.

“…… Why? What the hell is happening...... No, I mean, what terrible thing is 'going to happen'? ”

Hearing this, Maca sighed slightly and said:

"In about three months, a huge boulder flying from space to Earth will turn into a meteor and fall at the school gate."

"Space? Meteor? Hogwarts? McGonagall was stunned, "How do you know?" Did any prophet prophesy? ”

"No, there is no need for prophecy." Maca shook her head and said, "Because that meteor is simply the ...... that I 'picked' by myself."

To be honest, just his sentence is simply more terrifying than the sentence "Meteors will fall at the school gate" just now. If it weren't for him, Marca McLean, I'm afraid McGonagall would have kicked the speaker out of the headmaster's office.

"This ...... Why? Professor McGonagall's chest froze, and she held for a moment before she said incredulously.

Not far away, Maca, who was sitting in a chair, leaned back on the cushioned chair and thought for a moment, and then opened her mouth again.

"Professor McGonagall," he asked, sitting up straight, rather earnestly, "do you know of a wizard named 'Ewen Ravenclaw'?" ”

Maca still hasn't been able to tell Professor McGonagall too much, as there are so many things involved.

Therefore, he could only choose to pass over many things casually, and only select information related to the meteor fall to inform the other party cautiously.

Just like the secret of Old Eun's identity, Helbo's Horcrux, and the "Star Picking Project" that destroys Horcruxes with meteors.

Of course, there are also terrible failures such as "lifting a stone and shooting yourself in the foot" that has only passed.

In the end, it's not complicated, it can be summed up in one sentence alone, that is, - was brutally shaded by the cunning Helbo.

“…… So now it seems that tonight's Helbo has actually been hiding his true purpose all along. From the beginning, he tried to disguise himself as Eun and was discovered by me, then showed his strength to force me to fight him, and then used the soul of old Eun to induce me to block his movements, and made me activate the final step of the formation when I thought I had caught the best moment. ”

Maca believes that he did not lose unjustly this time, but the price is really too heavy.

After listening to his account, McGonagall couldn't help but ask:

"So, can't you change the trajectory of that meteor again?"

"Yes, yes," Maca said immediately, "but it's too late in time—it was only after I had old Eun's data that I was able to design that array." But even with that much detailed data, it took a lot of time......"

If we wait for the meteor to smash this land into ruins and then calculate the result, even if we can make a new rune array again, it will obviously be useless.

"So ......"

"So, get ready to give up the castle! And then...... I'll try to think of other ways to do it if I can. ”

In the end, Maca gave such a sentence, stood up and said goodnight and left.

McGonagall had wanted to stop Maca and try to find out more about his thoughts. But when McGonagall saw his slightly tired face, she only opened her mouth, and let him disappear into the door of the office in silence.

"Alas......"