"Minerva, it's pretty late. What brings you here at this hour?"
Dumbledore took a deep breath. His first priority was to deal with the only outsider in the room—Hogwarts' deputy headmistress and his most reliable ally: Minerva McGonagall.
If she couldn't give him a good reason for barging into the headmaster's office in the middle of the night, he was definitely going to make sure she understood there were consequences for this kind of thing!
(Even though he's the one who gave her the password.)
McGonagall had been stunned by Ariana's earlier wild statement, but she quickly recovered and rushed to explain why she'd come:
"It's like this—just a short while ago, a new name appeared in the Book of Admittance."
"That's normal, isn't it? The more names in the Book, the better. It means the magical world is thriving."
"If only it were that simple."
Her expression tightened. She gave Dumbledore a complicated look, then glanced behind him at Tom, took a breath, and said:
"The problem is… the listed birth year is 1885."
"It's just—wait. 1885?!"
Now Dumbledore was the one stunned.
1885?
That was practically his age!
Meaning a man or woman over a hundred years old had just been magically recognized and admitted to Hogwarts? That was impossible!
"You're sure you didn't read it wrong? Not 1985—1885?"
"I'm certain."
If this situation weren't extremely weird, she wouldn't have rushed to the office at midnight, nor would she have overheard that almost-career-ending conversation earlier.
'But who is that girl? I don't think I've ever seen her at Hogwarts… but something about her feels oddly familiar.'
McGonagall studied Ariana, but no matter how she tried, she just couldn't connect the dots between the girl and Dumbledore.
"Minerva, what's the name? I'll visit personally. I want to know what happened to make a centenarian suddenly manifest magic."
Dumbledore cut off her thoughts. Regardless of the situation, someone of that age should definitely be approached by him and no one else.
"Dumbledore…"
McGonagall's tone turned strange.
But with everything happening so quickly, he didn't catch the hint—he thought she was concerned about Tom and Ariana being present.
"Don't worry, Minerva. They're trustworthy."
"No,"
McGonagall shook her head, raising her voice:
"The name that appeared in the Book of Admittance is Dumbledore—Ariana Dumbledore."
"Ariana?!"
"Meow?!"
"Me?!"
All three of them—except McGonagall—yelled at the same time.
Especially Dumbledore and Tom, who both snapped their heads toward Ariana.
"Um… Albus… is there some mistake? I'm not… alive."
Ariana lifted off the ground, floating to prove her point. She looked normal enough, but she was a ghost—very genuinely a ghost.
"Well… I mean… maybe that could work? (・–・)"
Dumbledore glanced at Tom, whose jaw had practically fallen off.
If Hogwarts could admit a cat as a student, then letting a ghost enroll didn't seem that unreasonable.
'Wait. Did I just see what I think I saw?'
He stared at Tom, but Tom had already slapped his jaw back into place.
A ghost student? Big deal. Compared to a cat wizard, that wasn't even surprising.
"Hold on, Albus. Are you telling me this young lady is your sister… and she died over a hundred years ago? At age fourteen?!
By Merlin's beard—this world has gone insane!"
McGonagall felt her entire brain shutting down.
As deputy headmistress—and a very mature cat Animagus—she could accept a cat student.
But a ghost student?
"Headmaster, have you even considered the consequences? If we set this precedent, what about the rest of the ghosts?
Let's forget the others—what about Moaning Myrtle? Are we supposed to let her re-enroll in Ravenclaw, or keep her haunting the bathroom like always?"
The potential chaos made McGonagall's vision blur. Maybe she wasn't paid enough for this job.
"I'm sorry, Minerva, but I want you to give Ariana this chance. Not just because she's my sister—what matters more is that she's never had the chance to learn and live alongside peers."
Dumbledore had noticed it—the flicker of longing in Ariana's eyes when McGonagall said her name appeared in the Book.
She wanted friends.
She wanted to experience the magical world she never got to know.
That was the real reason behind his decision.
"When she was alive, she was isolated because of her Obscurial condition. Now that the Book has acknowledged her, I want her to meet people her age—well, close enough—and see the world."
"By Merlin's beard… she was an Obscurial?!"
McGonagall nearly fainted.
A ghost she could handle.
But a ghost Obscurial?!
If she didn't trust Dumbledore's character, she'd honestly suspect that recent "Dumbledore's Going Senile" article in the Wizarding Whirl magazine might actually be true.
"After becoming a ghost, I believe she's no longer—"
"No, Headmaster. The Obscurus is still inside her."
Madam Marjorie—the portrait who had been silently watching—suddenly spoke.
"When I met her in the portrait world, her Obscurus was on the verge of erupting. I don't know why it suppressed itself afterward, but you cannot—and cannot possibly—contain it forever."
Dumbledore fell silent.
As her brother, he wanted to grant her wish.
As a headmaster, he couldn't endanger the school.
This wasn't like Lupin.
A werewolf's danger was predictable—one night a month, manageable with precautions.
But an Obscurial?
It could erupt at any time.
'Maybe… I can ask Newt for help?'
He looked at his disappointed little sister.
'And this unique student as well… Newt would definitely be interested.'
(You all mean that dark thing inside Ariana, right? If that's what you're talking about… I might be able to fix it.)
Tom spoke up, noticing the gloomy atmosphere.
With two people who understood cat-speech present, he didn't need the whiteboard.
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