"Kacha."
"Gah—"
The door of Buckingham Palace, which had been frozen for a long time, was pushed open again. Accompanied by the falling frost and ice shards and the crunching sound, the door slowly opened, revealing the dark hall to everyone.
"Clang!"
The long-lost black iron gate finally opened wide and hit the withered stone pillars on both sides. It made another long sound, and everyone who was distracted suddenly came back to their senses.
"Back here again."
Harry, who sighed in a low voice, looked obviously a little unhappy, but in the end, he just grumbled and fell silent again.
Then, everyone saw Hermione standing at the front seeming to turn her head slightly.
"Let's go!"
She didn't really look back, or rather, she only turned back halfway before turning back again. But whether it was a few friends or members of the three major families who saw that scene, they all knew in their hearts that she was probably subconsciously looking towards Maka, who was walking further back.
But she still didn't look.
Following Hermione's words, no matter what they were thinking in their hearts, everyone once again followed her pace and stepped into the dark door one after another.
The hall was undoubtedly very dark, especially when it was heavily enveloped by the ice from the outside world, and no light could come in. Just relying on a little light from the newly opened door is naturally not enough.
However, when the two heads of the three major families and a big housekeeper habitually wanted to raise their wands and cast a wand luminous spell to illuminate, they heard a soft "Peng" coming from both sides in front of them. There was a sound, and two faint blue flames suddenly appeared from the middle of the hall pillars.
That was because the magic torch fixed on the pillar noticed that new guests were coming, and automatically lit up the fire.
After that, the torches on all the hall pillars were like an army led by those two men. As the "Peng Peng" sounds sounded from the door for the first few times, they continued into the depths of the hall, and the entire space in the hall suddenly became a mess. brightly lit.
"Sure enough... gone?"
Ron looked towards the top of the stairs at the deepest part of the hall. On that step, in the shadow where even the light from the torches could not shine, the throne stood empty and alone in the middle. And the tall, ferocious, yet inexplicably reassuring figure that was supposed to be sitting on top was no longer there.
"We have left, and Rebes and the others have also left. Then he... of course has no reason to stay here alone, right? This is a very obvious reason."
Hermione replied to Ron indifferently, but it was not difficult to see from her back, which also tilted her head slightly, staring blankly at the unmanned seat in the shadows, that even though she said so, It seems that he is also looking forward to something.
But what was she expecting? I'm afraid even she herself doesn't know this.
A moment's pause made everyone's mood become more complicated and heavy.
However, after going through all the preparations and psychological preparations before departure, it is obvious that nothing in this world can really stop these people from moving forward.
After pouting slightly, Hermione once again led everyone forward.
The sound of kicking footsteps intertwined with the figures on the floor of the hall. In this dead space, some people's memories, some people's anxiety, and some people's confusion and suspicion gradually overlapped.
Everyone paused again in front of the not-so-long steps, and then climbed up the steps, making the throne at the top of the steps more and more clearly visible.
When the shadows could no longer cover everyone's attentive inspection, the unknown expectation in Hermione's heart seemed to be completely gone.
Indeed, there is no one here and nothing is left.
This made Hermione, who had been insisting on coming this time, suddenly start asking herself, what's the point of standing here now
As for making everyone's trip in vain, it doesn't matter. It's obvious that no one cares about it at the moment.
Especially for those people from the three major families, just coming to this city of icicles to take a look is already a great reward!
However, Hermione was undoubtedly unwilling.
Suddenly, Hermione, who was silent, suddenly turned around, and by standing at the highest level, over the heads of everyone behind her, she looked directly at Maka, who was still halfway down the stairs.
She didn't say anything, and she didn't know what she wanted to say to him, so she just looked at him.
Until Ginny beside her suddenly pulled her arm, pointed to the armrest on the side of the lonely throne in front of her, and said with some hesitation, surprise, and vigilance:
"That is-"
"ticket!"
The person who then let out a low cry was none other than Harry, who had always had a sullen face along the way.
Then, yes... although the small rectangular piece of paper on the armrest of the throne is almost integrated with the frost on the surface of the armrest, making it difficult to distinguish.
But as long as you notice its existence, any British wizard who has enrolled in Hogwarts since the opening of the Hogwarts Express will probably not be able to mistake it -
White background, black stripes, and the big "9 and three-quarters" platform logo in the center.
It almost makes the heartbeat of every Hogwarts kid here skip a beat.
Hermione, who was attracted by Ginny and Harry's words, had no intention of looking at Maka at this moment, and just stared at it in surprise, surprise, and hesitation along with everyone else.
After being stunned for a while and pondering silently in her heart, she was the first to step forward and stretched out her wand towards the train ticket that seemed to be embedded in the frost.
No matter why it appears here, you have to check it with the magic spell before thinking about anything else.
And obviously, everyone behind her would not have any objections to this.
Unfortunately, Hermione soon waved the wand in her hand and cast several spells. Then she took out some parchments and cards with ancient magic texts, and continued with Luna, Ginny and others. After testing for a while, I found nothing.
It wasn't until they had to admit that they didn't find any traces of magic on the ticket with their current magical attainments that everyone finally asked Maka behind them to come forward and take a closer look.
And the final answer was...
"No doubt," Maka raised her hand towards Hermione, "Take it off! There is really no magic trap on it, it's just... an ordinary old ticket."
After saying this, he glanced in the direction of the ticket again, and then looked away.