Returning to Hogwarts after the Christmas holidays, Glenn Hawthorne braced himself for a cascade of troubles. Ever since that inexplicable encounter with Voldemort recuperating in the Forbidden Forest, his nerves had been on edge. Although the festive season brought some delightful moments that visibly lifted his spirits, his formidable self-control kept his growing desire to spend more time with Hermione in check.
Back at school, Glenn received a request from Dumbledore. In his spare time, he began using magic and alchemy to repair and restructure Hogwarts' defenses. Over the course of a month, he employed his Heightened Perception to thoroughly explore every corner of the castle, constructing a comprehensive three-dimensional model in his mind.
It was during this exploration that he uncovered the countless secret passages within Hogwarts. Some were collapsed and impassable, while others were still functional. Together with Hermione—who had become increasingly attached to him after their mutual confession—Glenn explored these passages, ostensibly for investigation but in truth treating it as an adventurous date. He incorporated the details of these secret routes into his mental map.
The passages were a tangled web, connecting various parts of the castle and even some locations beyond its walls. This was... highly unsafe.
For example, the secret passage behind the one-eyed witch statue on the fourth floor led directly to Honeydukes Sweetshop in Hogsmeade. Glenn believed such passages, which allowed direct access to the heart of Hogwarts from the outside, should be sealed off.
However, before taking action, he heeded Hermione's advice and consulted Dumbledore, the current headmaster of Hogwarts. As expected, the response was...
...a firm refusal to alter the passages. All of them.
"Even though I am the headmaster of Hogwarts, I cannot make the decision to change the fundamental structure of this castle," Dumbledore explained. "After all, these are the 'hidden treasures of daily life' left behind by the founders of Hogwarts for future generations to discover."
Dumbledore indeed had a deep affection for the young witches and wizards at Hogwarts. To provide the brave adventurers within the castle with some "unexpected encouragement from their discoveries," he was willing to compromise some of the school's security. This was... incomprehensible.
Fine, let it be. Glenn had anticipated Dumbledore's response based on his understanding of the headmaster's character, which was why he had initially intended to seal off the passages with alchemy before Hermione intervened. Thus, the outcome did not surprise him.
No wonder so many troubles arose within Hogwarts.
But it didn't matter. Since the passages were to remain, Glenn, having already mapped them out, could turn these seemingly hidden pathways into traps for any ill-intentioned intruders if properly arranged.
Therefore, the necessary precautions had to be taken.
Glenn's first step in "arming" Hogwarts Castle was something he had long planned. Upgrading the magical devices that maintained the castle's operations would require extensive research and practice, a task that could not be accomplished in the short term. Similarly, crafting and installing the external and internal defense mechanisms he envisioned for Hogwarts would take considerable time and effort, making it an unsuitable immediate solution for the current state of the castle, which Glenn found quite distressing.
Hence, Glenn decided to install surveillance.
Not the Muggle kind, of course. Hermione had repeatedly mentioned, while flipping through Hogwarts: A History, that Muggle substitutes for magic would fail within Hogwarts. Glenn was well aware of this. Even though he knew how to create surveillance systems, they couldn't function within the "mystical magnetic field" of Hogwarts.
So, why not create a magical-alchemical version of "surveillance" tailored for the wizarding world?
For someone like Glenn, who combined the principles of surveillance with alchemy, this was a straightforward task. Magic could replace electricity, and the transmission of information between alchemical devices via magical energy was simpler than electrical circuits. As for the cameras, they operated on the same principles as the magical cameras Glenn already possessed.
With Dumbledore granting Glenn access to the magical energy source that powered Hogwarts' internal facilities, Glenn began designing and installing cameras based on his prior-life knowledge.
As a former assassin, setting up surveillance cameras to prevent external threats in a building was second nature to Glenn. With ample materials and energy, achieving a surveillance system with no blind spots was entirely feasible.
The manufacturing and installation of cameras were completed swiftly. The real challenge lay in transmitting the signals captured by the cameras to the monitoring terminal Glenn had envisioned. The display screen of the terminal could be created through alchemy, using tiny devices capable of receiving and interpreting magical signals to emit corresponding fluorescent colors. However, the issue was identifying and differentiating the magical signals.
Natural magical energy is pure. Essentially, the magical energy that fuels a wizard's spells undergoes three steps: "absorbing pure magical energy from nature," "mentally processing the received magical energy," and "storing personalized magical energy." This process transforms the originally identical and pure magical energy into unique forms.
In the Muggle world, electrical signals are identifiable due to their diverse forms—amplitude, frequency, phase, and so on. Although Glenn could draw parallels, achieving similar variability with magical energy proved significantly more challenging. Even Glenn himself was at a loss for a solution.
Thus, he turned to Dumbledore, the learned and wise wizard, for assistance.
Dumbledore was intrigued. After using the Chamber of Secrets incident to embarrass the Ministry of Magic—based on testimonies from Ginny, Harry, Ron, and others, deducing that Lucius Malfoy had been the diary's original owner and had attempted to frame the Weasley family—Dumbledore found himself with rare free time.
He enthusiastically joined Glenn in developing what Glenn called the "wizarding world's version of surveillance."
Where Glenn was, Hermione naturally followed. With her intellect, she quickly grasped the content of their discussions and seamlessly joined their efforts.
The research team gained one more member.
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