She sensed clearly that the senior instructors of Kunlun—possibly in coordination with Hogwarts' leadership including Dumbledore—seemed to be carefully orchestrating some significant plan.
And she appeared to be designated as a component of whatever they were arranging.
Even after returning to her personal quarters, Sunny couldn't fully puzzle it out.
She knew far too little about the broader situation to draw firm conclusions.
However, Sunny had long since learned not to exhaust herself analyzing situations where she lacked sufficient information.
She possessed one significant advantage, cultivated through years of training: when she encountered something she genuinely couldn't comprehend immediately, she simply stopped forcing futile speculation.
She would observe carefully and wait patiently, trusting that the truth would eventually surface naturally through events.
Dismissing these ultimately useless circular thoughts, Sunny turned her mind toward the genuinely exciting prospect of the upcoming exchange term abroad.
She felt inexplicably energized, though she couldn't precisely identify whether the excitement stemmed from the opportunity to spend time with Erwin again, or simply from the prospect of experiencing fascinating new environments and magical traditions.
Sunny didn't immediately begin packing her belongings for the journey.
Instead, she retrieved her enchanted communication device—a Cavendish family product that had made its way to Eastern markets—and activated the connection to contact Erwin directly.
On the top floor of Cavendish Tower in Britain, Erwin's device chimed with an incoming transmission.
He answered the call promptly.
The moment the magical connection established, a bright, characteristically boisterous voice came through the speaker.
"Hey, Erwin! Are you there? Can you hear me clearly?"
Erwin instinctively held the receiver slightly further from his ear to protect his hearing.
He shook his head with fond amusement. "Yes, Sunny, I hear you perfectly well. You can lower your volume—the transmission quality is excellent."
On her end, Sunny sat cross-legged on the edge of her bed, a delighted smile spreading across her face.
"This device is absolutely incredible! So much more convenient than traditional Patronus message transmission!"
Erwin replied with satisfaction, "Naturally. This represents a prototype I personally developed and refined. Where were you recently, by the way? I attempted to contact you several times over the past weeks but couldn't establish a connection."
Sunny sighed dramatically. "Don't even ask! The instructors insisted I assist with an intensive research project in one of the sealed cultivation caves. I was completely cut off from external communication, and only just emerged."
On the other end of the connection, a subtle glint flashed in Erwin's eyes.
So that explained her absence. It seemed his initial assessment had been accurate—Sunny was indeed positioned as a key figure in whatever Dumbledore and the Eastern elders were coordinating.
And their decision to send her into isolated training must somehow connect to him and the upcoming challenges, correct?
Erwin's lips curved upward slightly. The situation was genuinely interesting.
As expected from Dumbledore and his network—their preparations were characteristically thorough and far-reaching.
Moreover, they clearly possessed considerably more information about future events than most participants realized.
He wondered precisely how much they actually knew, and whether they understood that some of their elaborate preparations might ultimately prove unnecessary given other variables in play.
Sunny's voice brightened noticeably. "Oh! There's something important I need to tell you—guess what it is!"
Erwin leaned back comfortably in his chair, already knowing the answer. "Let me guess... you're coming to study at Hogwarts?"
Sunny actually jumped up from her bed in surprise. "How did you possibly know that?!"
Erwin smiled calmly. "You probably underestimate both my position at the school and my intelligence network's effectiveness."
Sunny deflated slightly. "Oh." She felt rather disappointed that her exciting news had fallen flat.
She had genuinely forgotten about Erwin's extensive connections and influence during her isolation period.
Although she'd been away from regular information channels, she occasionally checked on Erwin's public activities through archived reports during her limited breaks from cultivation.
She knew at least the broad outlines of his recent significant actions.
Sunny pouted slightly. "You're absolutely no fun sometimes! Couldn't you at least pretend you didn't already know? It would be much more satisfying if I could tell you the news properly!"
Erwin's tone remained gently amused. "I'll make a genuine effort to act appropriately surprised next time you have news to share."
They chatted casually for a while longer, discussing inconsequential topics and catching up on personal matters, before Sunny eventually ended the call.
Speaking with Sunny genuinely made Erwin feel more relaxed and at ease.
His overall mood improved noticeably—not due to any romantic sentiment, but simply because of the deep-seated connection to familiar faces from his formative experiences.
When interacting with someone from his inner circle of trusted individuals, Erwin unconsciously lowered most of his perpetual defensive guards and strategic calculations.
Naturally, he felt considerably more at peace during such conversations.
Time passed swiftly as the final days before term approached.
With a sudden dramatic surge in foot traffic throughout Diagon Alley and the commercial districts of Cavendish Tower, it became abundantly clear that the start of the new Hogwarts term was imminent.
Unlike previous years, Gringotts' complete disappearance from the financial landscape had caused the Cavendish family's various business operations to absolutely thrive.
Wizarding families, along with non-magical parents bringing their children to purchase school supplies, uniformly acquired communication devices from Cavendish vendors, established credit accounts, and used the integrated payment system for all their purchases.
The Cavendish organization also introduced a new communication device model specifically designed for the upcoming academic year.
Unlike the standard commercial devices that required upfront payment, this particular model was provided at essentially no cost to qualifying families.
It was specifically designed for parents of first-year students, who could receive the device completely free at any Cavendish facility by simply presenting their child's official Hogwarts acceptance letter.
They could then establish a modest prepaid credit balance and use the device for all school-related purchases and ongoing communication.
The Cavendish family didn't charge a single Galleon for the hardware itself.
It appeared, on the surface, to be pure charity and community support.
Of course, whether it constituted genuine altruism or served other strategic purposes only the Cavendish leadership truly understood.
The sheer convenience of integrated magical payment systems proved absolutely irresistible to non-magical parents in particular.
Several London-based families even approached Cavendish representatives suggesting they should implement identical systems throughout the broader non-magical world.
However, that particular expansion was proving considerably more difficult for Erwin to execute practically.
The wizarding world, after all, remained relatively small and contained—a manageable population operating largely outside conventional regulatory frameworks.
He could implement comprehensive changes there through direct action and influence.
But in the vastly larger non-magical world, there existed far too many complex legal regulations, established financial institutions, and governmental oversight bodies to navigate successfully.
Before Erwin's arrival in this world, how many years and how much infrastructure development had been required for mobile payment systems to achieve widespread adoption in his previous reality?
The security protocols, the banking coordination, the regulatory compliance—all were incredibly complicated and time-consuming to establish properly.
Although Erwin clearly recognized the enormous potential profits involved in such expansion, he fundamentally wasn't motivated primarily by wealth accumulation.
He maintained his own specific strategic objectives; everything he implemented was ultimately designed to reshape and control the wizarding world's power structures.
While subsequent events would inevitably affect the non-magical world to some degree, that broader impact wouldn't offer him substantial direct assistance toward his actual goals.
Therefore, Erwin never seriously intended to deliberately disrupt or radically transform the non-magical world's natural development.
They possessed their own pace and trajectory of technological and social evolution.
Erwin had no intention of interfering with that process unnecessarily.
Standing in his private office on the top floor of Cavendish Tower, Erwin gazed down at the bustling crowds moving through the streets below.
Thanks to his sustained efforts over recent years, the active wizarding population was steadily increasing throughout Britain. This demographic growth was directly attributable to Erwin's various social initiatives and employment programs.
Far too many wizards who would have traditionally been forced to break their wands and return permanently to the non-magical world to labor in obscurity had instead been absorbed into Cavendish family operations, provided with stable employment and purpose.
They were, without exception, deeply grateful to the family for these opportunities.
Although Erwin certainly maintained his own strategic motives for these programs, it remained undeniable that he had genuinely brought a fundamentally different atmosphere and set of opportunities to the wizarding community. He had provided countless wizards with viable paths to dignified survival who would otherwise have been abandoned by the traditional system.
Old Tom stood respectfully behind Erwin's desk.
He was delivering a detailed report on the current situation regarding the Azkaban prisoners who had been recruited into Cavendish operations.
Old Tom hadn't disappointed Erwin in the slightest—he had managed the dangerous individuals with remarkable effectiveness.
Those former convicts were now being productively utilized by Tom in various appropriate capacities.
Their daily work assignments weren't physically exhausting, and they received adequate nutrition and comfortable accommodations.
This dramatic improvement in living conditions made the prisoners genuinely believe they had somehow arrived in paradise after the hell of Azkaban.