The sun is rising, and the bright morning sunlight shines on the castle of Hogwarts, waking up students who are still lazing in bed.
In the Headmaster's Office on the eighth floor, Kael, who hadn't slept all night, set down the quill in his hand and organized the thick stack of parchment in front of him.
It was the record of his experiences over the past half month—from being forced to accept the task of posing as Dumbledore at the start of the term, to deciding to go to France, heading to Beauxbatons, meeting Professor Viktor, and chatting with him...
According to Professor McGonagall's request, Kael spent an entire night repeatedly recalling as many of these actions as possible, trying to pinpoint the time accurately to the hour... or even the minute.
Of course, there are bound to be errors, since he couldn't possibly check the time before doing everything, but Kael felt it wouldn't matter much as long as the key moments matched up.
While he was writing this, the headmasters in the portraits behind him watched, having stayed up the whole night as well... though they didn't need sleep and were in much better spirits than Kael.
"Wait a moment, let me see the seventeenth page of parchment again."
Kael had just put down his quill when he suddenly heard a voice from behind him.
It was a witch dressed in very medieval-style clothes, and she looked unfamiliar. Kael was certain he had never seen her before.
This was normal, as there were quite a few portraits in the Headmaster's Office, adding up to over thirty, but not every headmaster liked to stay here as long as Armando Dippet and Phineas Black...
About half of them would usually reside in portraits elsewhere, only coming over when something major happened at Hogwarts.
The current headmaster, Dumbledore, being trapped in a time loop was such a major event,
so after getting the news, they all came over.
It was the first time Kael felt the Headmaster's Office was a bit crowded... of course, not truly crowded, as they couldn't walk out, just a feeling.
"What are you spacing out for, hurry up." The medieval witch spoke again, her tone stern, much like Professor McGonagall's when she's angry, but even more rigid and dogmatic than McGonagall.
And from the expressions of those around, she was not someone easy to get along with.
Kael said nothing, just followed her request and removed the parchment in front.
The content on the seventeenth page happened to be about the afternoon he arrived at Beauxbatons, discussing with Professor Viktor in the Alchemy classroom.
"The difficulty division of alchemy... necessary conditions for learning alchemy... alchemy textbooks..."
Though she only looked at one page, the headmaster's expression already turned sour.
"Tell me, why did you ask about these?" she questioned harshly.
"Nothing, just curious," Kael said.
"Curious?" The witch squinted her eyes, clearly not believing Kael's words.
"That's right, at Beauxbatons, this class is very popular among students, so I asked a few more questions," Kael chuckled, "Otherwise, what other reason would I have."
"It better be," the witch coldly said, "Remember, you are just posing as the headmaster, not the real one, don't do anything unnecessary."
"Of course not," Kael said with a smile.
The witch gave him another look.
"I've heard, the current headmaster... Albus Dumbledore has high hopes for you, perhaps one day, you could actually become the headmaster of Hogwarts."
"You're too kind," Kael humbly said, "Professor Dumbledore is like this to everyone."
"But I must warn you," the witch pursed her lips into a tight line, "Even if you do become the headmaster, you are not to arbitrarily change Hogwarts' curriculum... these were set by the greatest witch, Lady Rowena Ravenclaw, and no one can alter them."
"Ah, you're quite right," Kael nodded repeatedly, "Hogwarts' curriculum cannot be altered, that's beyond doubt."
"It's good you think that way," the witch's expression finally eased a bit, she glanced around, "What are you all doing here, why aren't you finding a solution!"
A few headmasters immediately ran off, the rest all remained silent, not even the usually rowdy Phineas had anything to say, keeping quiet the whole time.
"Forget it, I'm going to find Minerva, if you ask me, she's more suited to be headmaster than Dumbledore," the witch left this parting shot before disappearing from the frame.
Afterwards, Kael clearly saw everyone around him breathe a sigh of relief.
"Gave me quite a scare," Armando Dippet patted his chest and said to Kael, "For a moment, I thought you were going to get into a fight with stubborn Madam Pointer."
"Wait, what's her name?"
"Stubborn Madam Pointer," Armando repeated, "She's someone who strictly follows rules, like the hand of a clock, always sticking to the set path, never allowing herself or anyone around to deviate."
"She's also a fervent admirer of Lady Rowena Ravenclaw," Phineas added, "Even if Ravenclaw were to say Hogwarts is round one day, she'd probably believe it without a doubt and take it as true."
"That's quite normal," said another headmaster, "During Noelilde's time, it could be said Hogwarts was at its most challenging period, her character was essential—if it were someone else, Hogwarts might not even exist now."
"Most challenging period?" Kael asked curiously, "Could you tell me more?"