"Ian, I'm washing fruits now, have you returned to the mortal world?" After manifesting, Ariana floated in the air like a curious elf, flitting around.
She curiously passed through the dim corridors, as well as the ancient railings and stairs. For this school she once yearned to see, the girl finally had the opportunity to witness it firsthand.
"It's much larger than I imagined." After wandering around, Ariana floated back in front of Ian, her expression excited and her tone filled with genuine awe.
"Never mind Hogwarts for now, Ariana, I think I've really encountered a ghost this time!" Ian saw Ariana's face showing a rather peculiar expression.
He hurriedly explained seriously, "It's true, unlike childhood, the ghosts I saw as a kid were fake, but this time, I've been tricked by a real old ghost!"
Facing Ian's words.
Ariana was a bit dumbfounded.
However, she still held the treasure sword floating at her waist in the Patronus state, "Do you need me to help you deal with some terrible evil spirit?"
Instead of feeling afraid, the girl seemed rather eager to face the challenge.
"Pandro said I'm really powerful in this state, maybe not just evil spirits, I can even help you slay dragons." It's safe to say Pandro might have influenced Ariana with some unhealthy hobbies.
"Oh my! What's going on!"
Silly Barnabas on the wall continued to exclaim in disbelief.
"It's talking! Your Patronus spoke! She's actually able to communicate with you!" Silly Barnabas, finding it hard to believe, tried his best to stick his head out of the picture frame.
"What's going on with your Patronus, Little Wizard! There's something odd about you!" Silly Barnabas pressed his entire face against the picture frame, his voice sounding rather noisy.
"..."
Ian held the magic wand and ran away quickly with Ariana from Silly Barnabas's portrait. If the world they were in now was Hogwarts's inner world, Silly Barnabas might crawl out of the picture frame like Sadako, and he didn't want to see anything that might frighten him and his friends.
"Let's go find Dumbledore!"
Ian hurriedly ran towards the owl shed.
He remembered that Albus Dumbledore and Abeforth Dumbledore were passionately wrestling in the shed tonight, and faced with this tricky problem, Hogwarts's headmaster was the first person he wanted to ask for help.
The idea was certainly not wrong. After all, Dumbledore's magical skills and understanding of unknown powers far surpassed Ian, who had just started to dabble in magic.
Moreover.
With Ariana cheering on the side, not to mention helping Ian solve the mystery on his hand, Dumbledore might even be inspired to tackle some advanced math problems and achieve miraculous results!
"Aren't you going to put me in a gift box?"
Ariana also had a bit of an innocent daze, and since Ian hadn't explained what had happened, she just recalled Ian mentioning something about having her pose as a Christmas present.
"So many owls."
Ariana floated directly into the owl shed.
"Not here!" Ian indeed felt a bit unlucky; he couldn't find the two centenarians in the owl shed, which had returned to complete silence after the event.
Empty.
Only a group of owls that didn't sleep at night turned their heads to look at the Little Wizard and his Patronus; indeed, Ariana's silver glow made her appear quite dazzling.
"I remember you said your brother Albus became the Headmaster of Hogwarts, surely he doesn't live with owls, right?"
"Of course, I'm not saying this is bad, but it seems a bit lacking in dignity to live here?" Ariana teased the owls before looking back at Ian.
"..."
Ian knew Ariana lacked much common sense in the mortal world; it wasn't noticed in the Misty Illusion Realm, but in the real world, certain situations were obvious.
Hmm.
It might also be related to Ian saying he was taking her to find Dumbledore, but instead bringing her to the owl shed late at night.
"Earlier your two brothers were fighting here." Ian recalled his memory; it was around the time he crawled out from the Underground Palace into the Room of Requirement.
Since Ian peeked at the two brothers fighting, quite some time had passed.
After that, Ian had also seen the twins being caught during their night adventure, as well as an exchange between Snape and the double agent Quirrell, before entering the secret passage in the abandoned second floor washroom. Within a few hours, forget about fights between centenarians, even the most intense twenty-something adults would have simmered down by now.
"Let me have a look."
Ian didn't manage to find Dumbledore's presence on the Living Map he pulled out. He did see Grindelwald, though the Living Map indicated Gilderoy Lockhart.
This Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts was still in the office; judging by the movement frequency of the little black dot, he was clearly pacing around without resting.
Seeking Grindelwald was also an option.
However.
Dumbledore absolutely was the most suitable choice—Ian had seen the old man's memories, and from even a small part, he knew the elder had intensely researched time and life and death.