The Admiral of Hogwarts

Time passed little by little, and soon Christmas arrived. Just as all of Europe was immersed in a joyful atmosphere, the Soviet Union, with her fleet of Soviet-style ship girls, appeared in the cold of Moscow. After watching what was claimed to be one of the most important television broadcasts of the 20th century in a hotel, they left the hotel and walked expressionlessly through the snow-covered streets, arriving at the square in front of the Kremlin.

It wasn't Russian Christmas yet, and due to recent events, the entire square was empty, with only a few people wandering aimlessly.

In the biting cold wind, five ship girls in old-fashioned naval uniforms stood quietly on the edge of the square in a hidden corner, looking at a green-domed building in the Kremlin. After waiting only a few minutes, two workers climbed out of a hatch in the roof and lowered the flag that had flown for 74 years.

Seeing this scene, the ship girls present all had slightly moist eyes. Of course, they knew that they didn't have much connection with this country, but the memories left in their souls at birth drove them to come to this place at this time to witness this important moment.

"Alright, we can consider that we've fulfilled a wish, although it's not something to be happy about." After standing quietly for a while, the Soviet Union turned to the remaining ship girls and said, "Next, we should fight for the Admiral and ourselves. Kirov, how are your people doing?"

"They have already entered several regions and controlled a number of territories. If there are no accidents, we will re-establish normal order in those chaotic places," Kirov replied.

"Dzerzhinsky, how is your infiltration into the local magical world going?" After listening to Kirov's report, the Soviet Union nodded in satisfaction and turned to the golden-haired ship girl next to her.

"We have already started contacting them. Although the Muggle world doesn't have a big impact on the wizarding world, changes of this magnitude have still affected the wizarding world. But on the other hand, the current chaos has made it easier for us to infiltrate the local wizarding world."

"Three days ago, I managed to acquire a shop on Chernobog Alley, off Belobog Street in the local wizarding district, that specializes in selling various dark magic tools, as our foothold. If there are no accidents, all of our personnel can successfully enter the local wizarding world within two weeks."

"If that's the case, then that's good." After confirming that the operations in both the Muggle world and the wizarding world were progressing smoothly, the Soviet Union nodded in satisfaction and led the ship girls away from the Kremlin. For them, the victory of the previous operation was far from a real victory. For their plan, it could only be considered a relatively smooth start. They still had many things to accomplish.

Of course, Hugo was completely unaware of everything that was happening in the far north. Because of his trust in the ship girls, he basically wouldn't interfere with any of their actions, except for formulating overall plans in broad strokes. So at this moment, he was preparing Christmas dinner with his family and discussing this year's Christmas gifts.

They received many gifts that morning, apart from their parents', some of which came from their former classmates. However, because they went to school in the magical world, these gifts were more of a formality, and this might be the last year they would receive them. After all, the gap between the two worlds was enough to change most relationships, not to mention that the friends they had made in elementary school were just ordinary friends, and their relationship wasn't very strong.

Another part of the gifts came from new friends they had made in the wizarding world this year, such as a set of old second-year textbooks from the Weasley twins for the two of them. Don't underestimate this set of old books, as they were left by Charlie, and the blank spaces in the book were densely filled with notes of great reference value.

For example, Harry and Ron each sent them a Honeydukes candy gift box and toffee made by Mrs. Weasley. Their roommates also sent them their respective gifts.

The most precious gift came from Hagrid. This kind-hearted half-giant gave them a thick envelope. When Hugo opened it, he found that it was full of things that Hagrid had written down in crooked handwriting about his observations of magical creatures. Although the things recorded in it were scattered and unsystematic, if carefully summarized and sorted out, a lot of knowledge about magical creatures could be gleaned from it.

Although Newt Scamander recorded a large amount of information out of his love for magical creatures, it was only a small part compared to the entire wizarding world's wild ecosystem. And Hagrid, like Newt, had a heartfelt love for magical creatures, so he naturally accumulated a lot of knowledge about magical creatures during his half-century as a groundskeeper at Hogwarts.

Moreover, perhaps coincidentally, the reasons for their expulsions were also very similar. Newt was expelled for illegally possessing a Level 3 magical creature, a Graphorn, while Hagrid was expelled for possessing a Level 5 magical creature, an Acromantula.

However, unlike old Mr. Newt, Hagrid's academic level may have been poor when he was in school due to his bloodline and the fact that he was too young when he was expelled. In addition, after being framed by Voldemort as the scapegoat for the Basilisk killings and experiencing a trial and a stint in Azkaban, he became somewhat颓废 (颓废 is difficult to translate directly without more context. I'm leaving it as is for now).

Not to mention that he was always under the suspicion of being a murderer until Harry's second year in the original story, when he was finally exonerated. Therefore, his observations were not compiled into a book like Newt's, but were only kept in his mind.

However, during this semester, Hermione and the others' heartfelt desire to learn about the various habits of these magical creatures made Hagrid feel like he had found kindred spirits, not to mention that Hagrid couldn't see the kind of disdain that ordinary students had for a school groundskeeper like him.

You should know that in traditional Western campuses, professors often wield great power and are at the top of the school's pyramid. School groundskeepers, on the other hand, are only seen as odd-job men, with a status even lower than that of the students.

But in Hugo and the others' eyes, Hagrid was a very kind elder in the wizarding world who possessed a lot of valuable knowledge. Most importantly, he didn't look down on them because of their background. So they naturally wouldn't look down on him just because he was a school groundskeeper.

For Hermione, people who could master valuable knowledge were worthy of her respect, regardless of their identity. And Hugo knew from his previous life what the cleaning lady in the library and the sweeping monk in the Shaolin Temple represented.

And the sincerity they showed in return was naturally met with the other party's sincerity. Hagrid didn't look down on them just because they were first-year students. So at Christmas, Hagrid, who was very bad at writing, re-copied his previous messy notes as Christmas gifts for Hugo and his sister.

"Hagrid's gift is really too precious." Hermione, who was setting the table, said to Hugo, who was putting cushions on the chairs. "However, it's still a bit messy overall. I think we can use the book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' as a template to organize these things in the second half of the semester, so that we can easily refer to them."