"Quiet, everyone!" Jon called out from beside the white marble tomb.
After a moment of chaos, the square grew slightly quieter, though it was still somewhat noisy.
Hogwarts faculty and students, wizards and witches who had come out of respect, officials from various magical departments... Though they had not yet fully recovered from the shock, many were now watching the young man with growing curiosity.
"Is this some kind of joke..."
"This boy... isn't even of age?"
"McGonagall says he'll be Hogwarts' new Headmaster?"
They chattered among themselves.
Jon hadn't expected a single sentence from him to calm the crowd, and he was not surprised by the situation.
"I know you're all shocked" he said calmly, his voice steady yet somehow reaching everyone present. "I also know many of you are wondering why someone as wet behind the ears as I am would be entrusted with such responsibility…"
The crowd gradually grew quieter.
Many witches and wizards began listening carefully to the young man's speech.
"...To be honest, I was just as shocked when I first heard it!" Jon shrugged lightly. "I had the same doubts you have—perhaps even more so..."
"When Professor Albus Dumbledore told me that Hogwarts had decided I would become the next Headmaster, my first reaction was to ask how I could possibly be worthy of such a role. I even asked him to find someone else.
But Professor Dumbledore told me this was Hogwarts' decision, and no one could change it—not even him..."
As he spoke, Jon raised the emerald bamboo wand in his right hand and gently tapped it against his forehead.
Threads of silvery mist slowly drifted from his temple. Under his control, the strands floated toward his left hand.
In that hand, he seemed to be holding a small box glowing with an ancient light.
"What's he doing?" many wizards wondered.
It didn't take long for them to understand.
Standing beside the white marble tomb, Jon flicked his wand lightly.
Instantly, an intense burst of light erupted from his left hand.
Everyone present instinctively raised their hands to shield their eyes.
...
When the blinding light gradually faded—
"What is this?" Minister Amelia Bones exclaimed in shock.
"What kind of magic is this?" Rufus Scrimgeour, standing beside her, gripped his wand tightly and scanned the surroundings warily.
The shock wasn't limited to the two Ministry officials.
Many prominent figures of the wizarding world were present at Dumbledore's funeral, yet almost no one immediately understood what magic had just been cast.
"Everyone, don't panic," Jon Hart's slightly lazy voice sounded around them.
"This is just an illusion. None of this can actually harm you..."
At once, many people realized that everything around them was an illusion.
They now found themselves inside a strange space.
The surroundings were nearly pitch black, while a vast starry sky stretched above their heads.
"This looks like... the top floor of Hogwarts Castle?" Professor Minerva McGonagall was the first to recognize it.
Most of the people present had either studied at Hogwarts or were currently part of the school.
Under the faint glow of the starlight, they quickly confirmed their surroundings.
They were indeed "standing" on the very top of Hogwarts Castle.
Before them stood two stone monuments—one large and one small—and beside them were two wizards, one old and one young.
"It's Dumbledore!"
"And the other one... isn't that Hart?"
"He looks a bit shorter than he does now!"
"The scene you're watching happened a year ago," Jon explained calmly. "Right here, on the top floor of Hogwarts Castle.
That was the moment when Professor Dumbledore first told me that I would become the next Headmaster of Hogwarts."
Just as Jon had said, the illusion unfolded.
The illusory Dumbledore stood beside the illusory Jon, explaining the inscriptions on the stone monuments... describing Hogwarts' ancient inheritance magic... and explaining how the castle itself chose its guardians.
The crowd watched everything in stunned silence.
When the scene finally ended—
"...And that is exactly what happened," Jon said, clapping his hands lightly.
The illusion vanished instantly.
Thousands of witches and wizards suddenly found themselves back beside the white tomb of Albus Dumbledore at the edge of the Black Lake.
Jon continued speaking.
"In such a bewildering situation, I ended up becoming the next Headmaster of Hogwarts.
I originally thought I would still have a long time ahead of me—plenty of room to grow and prepare.
But none of us expected Professor Dumbledore to make such a decision... or to leave us so suddenly."
"To be honest, I'm still a little overwhelmed right now.
But since I made a promise to Professor Dumbledore—and since Hogwarts itself chose me—I can only fulfill the responsibility that now belongs to me."
Jon's voice gradually became firm and resolute.
...
The witches and wizards present still seemed unable to recover from their shock.
It wasn't just the illusion they had witnessed.
It was also the incredible magic this young man had just performed.
He had casually displayed his own memories for everyone to see—and the images had been so vivid and lifelike that they felt completely real.
If they were being honest with themselves, almost none of the wizards present believed they could accomplish something like that.
And this boy had not even turned seventeen.
The expressions of astonishment remained—but the looks of ridicule and contempt had almost entirely disappeared.
"Jon... is actually that powerful," Harry Potter murmured as he slowly came back to his senses.
"No wonder... no wonder Professor Dumbledore sent him to lead us in destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes..."
"Grandfather?" Rolf Scamander, a fourth-year Hufflepuff student, looked at his grandfather in surprise. "What's wrong?"
The elderly Newt Scamander gently shook his head.
He and his grandson were sitting quietly in an inconspicuous corner.
He was shocked—because this was not the first time he had seen this magic.
The last time he had seen it...
...was a very long time ago, in Paris.
And the wizard who used it back then was named Gellert Grindelwald.