great-warnovel Chapter 344 Rebooting the World Cup
Chapter 344 Rebooting the World Cup
Chapter 344 Rebooting the World Cup
"Don't worry too much, everyone will understand," Dumbledore comforted her with a smile. "Every year I receive so many gifts that they could fill an entire room, but only a few people actually receive them."
As the greatest white wizard, even though he rarely appeared in public for the first fifty years, he still received gifts from all over the world every Christmas.
People don't expect anything in return from Dumbledore; anyone who thinks that way will be spat on and told, "Ask yourself if you deserve it!"
After reaching the peak of strength and reputation, subtle changes do occur in how one treats others. The Battle of Hogwarts changed many things, including Hermione herself.
As her power became more widely recognized, her status quietly shifted. When people mentioned her, they would first regard her as the great wizard and the person in charge of Hogwarts, and only then as a 14-year-old girl and student.
"You may not realize it yet, but you must gradually get used to this change." Dumbledore taught the child before him like someone who had been through it all.
After experiencing Tom's downfall, he realized more about how much influence seemingly insignificant little things in life can have on a person.
"Hagrid recently told me that the children in Aragog have also started worshipping the moon."
"??" Hermione's eyes widened.
Hilmi was in charge of teaching the werewolves, and she didn't interfere, but she could sense that more faith was flowing into the lunar form recently, a devout prayer mixed with animalistic instincts.
"Eight-eyed giant spiders!? They don't have a custom of moon worship! Nor do they need to maintain their sanity under a full moon, so why?"
"People admire me, not because I can bring them any real benefit, are they?" Dumbledore smiled.
Power is the very reason for faith. Werewolves believe in order to gain rationality, which is actually utilitarian. The admiration and longing that come from strength, on the other hand, seem purer.
While the eight-eyed spiders didn't really need the moon, Hermione's display of power captivated this beast race that admired strength. They possessed considerable intelligence, and even referring to them as "them" seemed like an insult. This was evident from the fact that Hermione couldn't distinguish whether the beast worship flowing towards her came from werewolves or spiders.
These monstrous, multi-legged reptiles are not as muddled as people imagine; they are simply driven by more animalistic instincts, making them quite bloodthirsty and brutal.
"No wonder those spiders guarding the gate acted all obsequious to me." Now the mystery is solved, Hermione thought, feeling both amused and exasperated.
"You need to re-evaluate your relationships with the many people and things around you," Dumbledore said, bringing the topic back to the present.
"It's not just about how you see them, but more importantly, how they see you, and which one you prefer and are more comfortable with. You need to take the initiative in this."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully.
"Compared to your own grasp of people and things—" The White Wizard paused, seemingly wondering if he should be trained in this way ahead of time.
"What's actually more difficult is assessing the relationship with other factions from Hogwarts' perspective."
Hermione paused for a moment. Hogwarts now had three Arch Wizards, riding the wave of a great victory. All sorts of forces from around the world flocked to it, contributing money and manpower to help build the new Hogsmeade. In such an atmosphere, there shouldn't be much to worry about, right? Who would dare to offend Hogwarts now?
But she soon realized the subtlety of it all.
The Finger Witch lacked experience in high positions, but her ample wisdom allowed her to immediately realize the problem after the White Wizard pointed it out.
"There's an old Eastern proverb: 'A tall tree catches the wind.'" Dumbledore noticed Hermione's apparent understanding.
"Our strength has almost exceeded the limits that others can accept."
The three great wizards belonged to the same faction.
Going back in time, only the four founders of Hogwarts can be compared to this situation.
Before Hermione appeared, Grindelwald and Dumbledore almost represented the two extremes of the wizarding world. Even Voldemort, the least powerful wizard, was able to establish the Green Flame Party, which was hated by everyone, in the heart of the Wizarding Party's influence. The Dark Lord's previous attitude towards him was mainly indifference. As long as Voldemort did not openly oppose him, he would not wipe them out, because a great wizard can do too many things.
A powerful force earns the respect and awe of others, but an excessively powerful force will be feared.
With virtually no major wizards to be found in the world, and with only the Dark Lord to represent the Sorcerer Party, Hogwarts seemed rather out of place.
"They may not be our match, but they certainly won't be happy to see us get better," the old ghost said, expressing his concerns.
"We can see a flood of collaborations and smiles, but we can't see the many behind-the-scenes talks and conspiracies."
"Hogwarts should not expand any further in the short term, nor should it show any greater aggressiveness." When he said this, he was still a little worried about whether the young and spirited girl could accept the stifling and low-key approach, but Hermione's eyes immediately reassured him.
"Power is merely a means to maintain peace, not the meaning we pursue."
"I still miss the giant tree covered with roasted chicken, lemon sorbet, and rock cakes, and everyone in the castle under the tree." She smiled as she recalled the scene she saw in the Mirror of Eris when she was in her first year of high school, which was her dream when she first came to this world.
Dumbledore laughed as well: "Not being able to display force doesn't mean we can't continue to expand Hogwarts' influence; it just means the way we do it needs to change."
This was precisely Hermione's weakness; she awaited the old wizard's guidance.
A document was pushed in front of her: "Scrinker has been thinking about this for a long time, and I think now might be a good time to get started."
Discussion on the feasibility of restarting the Quidditch World Cup
Hermione knew what they were up to as soon as she saw the title.
The Irish Greenhawks have a long tradition of flying broomsticks. Their children are helped onto real broomsticks by adults to practice flying from the time they can crawl. In their community, there is a special museum to display the various Quidditch trophies they won before the war.
Wood has been working on this since the beginning of the semester, and he plans to dedicate his life to the revival of Quidditch as soon as he graduates.
"The Muggles used to host the Olympic Games to embody the spirit of peace, friendship and progress. I think we should also give the Quidditch World Cup a new meaning," Dumbledore said enthusiastically.
"But this is just our intention. Can we persuade others, especially the other 'sponsors' in our city—" For such an activity that consumes a lot of manpower and resources, Beauxbatons may be unwilling to spend money because they do not see any benefits.