"The Underworld... evil spirits returning..."
Bones felt waves of dizziness wash over her. All the joy brought by Voldemort's defeat had completely vanished.
They had clearly thwarted the Dark Wizards' invasion of Hogwarts today. She had personally witnessed You-Know-Who fall for a second time.
So why did she have to learn such terrible news on a day that should have been worth celebrating?
Bones felt as though the sky itself was collapsing.
"There's no need to worry. The evil spirits won't return to the living world immediately. They'll need time to confirm that the news is true, and they'll also have to make preparations. We should still have at least one or two months."
Seeing that Bones looked close to tears, Helga offered a few words of comfort.
"What will the evil spirits do?" Dumbledore had weathered far more storms than Bones, so he recovered his composure much faster.
What he needed to know now was what those spirits would do once they returned from the Underworld.
"Kill."
Helga's expression became extremely serious.
"The Underworld holds the souls of powerful beings who died in the past. Although the seal between that realm and the living world has been broken, a barrier still remains. Crossing that barrier will inevitably come at a cost."
Helga began explaining the Underworld to them.
"If the evil spirits pay that price to return to the living world, they'll naturally need some way to replenish the spiritual power they lose while crossing the barrier. The fastest way to recover that power is through killing. By killing others and devouring their souls, they can restore themselves.
"Besides repairing their spiritual forms, they can also reconstruct their physical bodies, or possess someone else's body and use that to achieve resurrection."
Listening to the evil spirits' objectives, Bones and Dumbledore both felt a chill run through them.
Now they understood what the world was about to face.
Would these evil spirits returning from the Underworld obey the Statute of Secrecy?
Most likely not.
That was exactly why Professor White had said the Statute of Secrecy was about to face complete and systematic destruction.
Bones could feel her hands trembling uncontrollably.
"I'll do everything I can to protect Hogwarts," Helga said.
Her statement reassured Bones somewhat.
After all, this woman was an ancient wizard, and she had just helped Professor Dumbledore suppress You-Know-Who. Bones still had considerable confidence in her.
Dumbledore, however, was mulling over Helga's words, and he actually managed to notice something.
"But the ones violating the Statute of Secrecy would be the evil spirits, wouldn't they?"
A gleam seemed to flash across his half-moon spectacles.
"The wizarding world wouldn't be exposing itself. The Underworld would."
"Hm?"
Bones froze for a moment, then suddenly realised that Dumbledore was right.
The situation did not seem quite as terrible anymore.
Of course, wizards might still come under attack, since many of them lived among Muggles.
But when dealing with this sort of "supernatural incident," wizards clearly held an advantage over ordinary Muggles.
"And this may not necessarily be a bad thing. It could become an opportunity for the magical and non-magical worlds to reconcile and gradually integrate with one another."
Dumbledore's words surprised both Bones and Helga.
Bones was shocked by the idea of the magical and non-magical worlds integrating.
Helga was startled because Dumbledore's thoughts happened to align almost perfectly with those of her two old friends.
Now all three of them had heavy thoughts on their minds.
After exchanging a few more words, they were already beginning to show signs of parting ways to deal with their own matters.
At that moment, after discussing such major issues as the return of the Underworld, the chaos the evil spirits would cause, and the possible integration of the two worlds, Dumbledore suddenly felt as though he had forgotten something important.
A few seconds later, he abruptly slapped his forehead and immediately turned toward Helga.
"Professor White, may I ask where that Mr. Gryffindor is?"
Dumbledore's expression became serious.
Since that "Godric Gryffindor" had claimed to be the leader of the Society, then why had the Society's Mages tried to attack Hogwarts?
How could Dumbledore possibly believe that someone capable of doing something like this was the founder of Gryffindor House?
To be fair, Dumbledore actually thought it would have been more believable if the man had claimed to be Salazar Slytherin instead.
After being driven out of Hogwarts by the other three Founders, Slytherin could have held a grudge and secretly founded the Society.
A thousand years later, he could have returned to Hogwarts with the intention of destroying the school and taking revenge on the other three Founders.
That would have made perfect sense!
Of course, Dumbledore only dared think such a thing privately.
He absolutely could not say it aloud. If he did, he would undoubtedly offend a certain someone beyond repair.
"He was Loki, one of the remnants of the Norse gods, disguising himself as Godric. Loki possessed Godric Gryffindor and took over his body. That's also why the ghosts failed to notice anything wrong."
"His purpose in infiltrating Hogwarts was to destroy the seal."
Helga revealed almost the entire truth to Dumbledore and Bones, leaving both of them stunned once again.
The two felt that the shock they had received during these ten minutes of conversation exceeded everything they had experienced throughout the rest of their lives combined.
Bones now had a head full of question marks.
What did any of this have to do with anything else?
Why were Norse gods involved now?
Where had she even ended up?
Was this still Britain?
Dumbledore was doing slightly better, but only slightly.
During his conversations with Professors White and Aries, he had heard about Ragnarök and knew that the four Founders of Hogwarts had been the ones who brought twilight upon the gods back then.
The four Founders and the Norse gods had indeed shared a few minor disagreements.
Today's battle was merely a distant echo of that ancient war.
"Then where is he now? And Mr. Gryffindor is..." Bones could not help asking.
"He's already been sealed away. Gryffindor's condition is unusual, but he isn't dead."
When answering Bones's questions, Helga was practically telling her everything she asked.
"That's good."
Bones breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly realised something strange.
Why did Professor White know absolutely everything?
But after remembering that she came from ancient times, Bones quickly accepted it.
She was an ancient wizard, after all.
Wasn't it perfectly normal for her to know more ancient secrets than modern people like them?
Having an elder at home was like possessing a treasure. The saying truly wasn't wrong!
However, that proverb immediately made Bones think of Professor Binns, and she was suddenly reminded of just how unfair the world could be.
They were both "old," but Professor Binns was far, far inferior to the woman standing before her.
After pushing those random thoughts from her mind, Bones seriously began asking the two of them for advice.
In this unprecedented upheaval, greater than anything seen in the past three hundred years, what exactly should she do?
"Tell the wizards to be careful and protect themselves," Helga advised, focusing on the return of the Underworld.
Dumbledore, meanwhile, believed the immediate priority should be reassurance.
They needed to calm the people outside who did not know the truth and let them understand that the disturbance had already been suppressed and that everything at Hogwarts was under control.
"Mm-hm."
Bones nodded repeatedly, then asked another question.
"Should the tournament still continue?"
"Yes!"
Before Dumbledore could answer, Helga immediately spoke up.
There had been a minor interruption, but the tournament absolutely had to be finished!
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI