Seven years after Hogwarts was founded, the very first batch of students was finally approaching graduation.
Most of the human wizards had already grown into young adults, some had even begun dating while still in school.
Only the elves remained unchanged.
Their slow growth meant their appearance was no different from when they first enrolled; standing among the first-years, they didn't look out of place at all.
Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic jointly established theOrdinary Wizarding Level Examination (OWL) for fifth years,and the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test (NEWT) for seventh years.
OWLs determined whether a student could continue into the sixth and seventh years. NEWTs decided a student's career path after graduation.
Of course, these exams mainly applied to students from Sylas's territory. Elves and Dúnedain generally returned to their own communities after graduation, so they felt less pressure.
But for human students like Adam Bailey, who were about to graduate and settle in Hogsmeade or nearby towns, choosing a career weighed heavily on them.
For wizarding families in the territory, the most desirable job was naturally to remain in Hogwarts, becoming a professor was a respected and well-paid dream.
The next best choice was a position in the Ministry of Magic.
The Ministry had long become a unified government body under Sylas's authority, and departments like the Department of Transportation and the Auror Office were especially coveted.
The Aurors were an elite unit directly serving Sylas's armed forces, many fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-year students dreamed of joining them.
Another popular choice was working at the dragon farm near Isengard.
After years of development, the farm now stretched across the southern Misty Mountains and housed thousands of wyverns.Hundreds of wizards worked there, and even so, they were perpetually short-staffed.
Their duties included raising wyverns, breeding them, guarding the farm, preventing escapes, and fending off intruders. They also slaughtered one or two wyverns a year for the market.
Every part of a wyvern was valuable.
Dragon nerves and heartstrings were purchased by Ollivander's and crafted into wands. Dragon blood, liver, and heart were prized potion ingredients sold in Diagon Alley.
Because dragon materials were rare and produced in tiny quantities,their prices were sky-high.
1 ounce of dragon liver cost 1 Galleon, no larger than a pigeon egg.
Dragon blood was even more insane; a pint could sell for hundreds of Galleons.
Other parts, like horns, bones, and meat, were equally expensive,and demand always exceeded supply.
The dragon farms thrived without needing a single coin from Sylas or the Ministry. Slaughtering just one wyvern each year covered all expenses and salaries, with profit to spare.
Even the manure was profitable.
Extremely fertile and ideal for magical plants, it was produced in huge quantities by thousands of wyverns every day. Collecting and processing it became its own well-paid profession.
Because wyverns were dangerous creatures, wizard employees at the farm were carefully selected and highly trained.
Beyond the "state" jobs, Ministry, dragon farm, Hogwarts, many shops in Diagon Alley were also hiring.
All in all, Hogwarts graduates rarely struggled to find work.
After several years of development, the wizard population under Sylas had grown significantly, now approaching five thousand.
Magic flourished.
New wizarding towns were established near Hogsmeade, Bree, and Isengard.
And with no "Statute of Secrecy" or "Muggle Protection Act" in force,it wasn't rare to see wizards freely flying across the sky on broomsticks.
...
Another end-of-year banquet arrived.
The graduating seventh-year students were filled with reluctance and nostalgia.
At Phoenix House, Adam Bailey tearfully embraced his two closest friends.
Among the three, the elf Alanier still looked only eleven or twelve, a child by elven standards. After graduation, she would return to the Valley of the Dark to continue studying elven lore until adulthood came, long after humans her age had already grown old.
Anlomir, a Dúnedain and already an adult, felt deep affection for Hogwarts after living here seven years. But despite Adam Bailey's invitations to join the Ministry of Magic, he gently refused.
He chose instead to return to his own people and serve the Dúnedain.
As for Adam Bailey, he graduated with top marks and entered the Ministry's Auror Department, becoming colleagues with his father, Mr. Bailey Sr.
Other graduates spread into many paths, some joined different Ministry departments, some found work at the dragon farms, some became employees in Diagon Alley shops, and others opened businesses of their own.
Meanwhile, back in Hogwarts Castle, Sylas and Arwen's twins, Elseth and Elroth, were now four years old.
Loved by everyone from the moment they were born, the two children grew up surrounded by affection and attention.
They travelled frequently between Hogwarts, the Valley, and Lórien, becoming beloved by elves, humans, and wizards alike.
Because of their mother Arwen's elven blood, their development differed greatly from human children. They could speak soon after birth, and their intelligence was astonishing.
By age one, both children already spoke fluent human and elven languages. They ran, played, and were often invited by students into their common rooms.
Before age three, Elseth and Elroth grew at a pace similar to human toddlers, but after turning three, their growth slowed dramatically.By their fourth birthday, they looked almost unchanged from the year before.
Their physical maturation would remain slow for centuries to come:
When their human classmates reached adult height, Elseth and Elroth would still look like children of seven.
When humans entered old age, the twins would only just be reaching elven adolescence.
And when those same humans had lived out their entire lives,Elseth and Elroth would finally be fully grown.
In recent years, thanks to their precocious minds, the twins had been attending various classes with older students.Their magical knowledge already rivaled that of much older peers.
Given their exceptional talent, Sylas did not require them to wait until school age to use wands.
After receiving earnest promises from both children that they would never misuse magic, Sylas personally crafted their wands.
Elseth' wand was carved from the heartwood of a Mallorn tree in their garden.
Elroths' wand came from a branch of the White Tree.
Both wands shared the same core, phoenix feathers donated by Sylas himself.
Because of that, the two wands could work together to cast spells with amplified power.
And more importantly…
The phoenix-feather core allowed the twins to summon their father instantly in danger, and it allowed Sylas to locate his children at any moment.