Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 191 Underground Secret Room
The talks with Cabunara did not last long.

After exchanging information, the two immediately decided to go to the fir tree to check what was going on with the trapdoor.

Besides Severus and Cabnala, they didn't bring many people with them on this trip; only two Albanian Aurors accompanied them.

With the clear information provided by Lockhart, Severus was the first to spot the animal carcasses on the hill, all of them dead, without a single wound on them.

Have you investigated the cause of death of these creatures?

"Upon arriving in this land, we immediately sent the carcasses of the dead animals on this mountain back to the Ministry of Magic for testing and autopsy. The Ministry's conclusion was that they all died from the same curse."

"curse?"

"Yes, an extremely powerful curse that almost drained the life force of these creatures. We haven't been able to find out what it is in any known form of black magic."

Severus also walked up to the corpse of a bower-bearer and examined it for a moment.

"This state of death is somewhat like a killing curse."

"The appearance is indeed similar to the Killing Curse."

Cabona also came to Severus's side. He stretched out his wand and gently poked the corpse. The next moment, the seemingly intact Bowtruckle shriveled up and became limp, clearly indicating that its interior was already hollow.

"In fact, this curse is more brutal than the Killing Curse, and it can cause fatal damage to a living being's body."

Severus looked up at the animal carcasses scattered throughout the hill. All sorts of magical creatures had gathered there, including some groups of magical creatures such as the Puffy and Bandimang, as well as some powerful creatures that posed a threat to wizards, like the Evil Spirits.

After observing the carcasses of the magical creatures for a while, Severus and Cabona did not linger there any longer. Instead, they found the fir tree and began searching around it.

According to Lockhart's description, Severus and his three companions searched for more than ten minutes but found nothing.

Just like Lockhart told another big lie, he had never actually discovered any special trapdoor here.

After the search yielded no results, Cabunara also looked at Severus.

"Nothing was found here."

Severus stroked his chin thoughtfully, recalling Lockhart's description of the trapdoor.

He believed that Lockhart was unlikely to be lying.

Since he was the one who brought this up with Andrews in the first place, wanting to invite him to come here for an adventure, if it was just to boast, he wouldn't have needed to tell a lie that was so easy to verify and so easily exposed.

If Lockhart wasn't lying, then why can't they find the trapdoor now?
Severus glanced at Cabunara, then at the two Aurors beside him.

Using a comparative approach, the only difference between Lockhart and them is that Lockhart is a third-rate wizard.

His long neglect of magic had rendered him unable to control his power effectively in most situations. The three people present, including Severus, Cabona, and others, were at least Aurors carefully selected from among the wizards. Even if their level wasn't that professional, they were certainly better than the average wizard.

So, is it related to magic?

With that thought in mind, Severus began to fumble in the inner pocket of his robe.

Not long after, he took out a small bottle of amber-colored potion.

"I have some guesses. If the things hidden here can't be discovered by ordinary wizards, they should be related to magic itself."

Cabona looked at the potion in his hand.

"what is this?"

“A small potion that targets magic and temporarily reduces a wizard’s spellcasting ability.” Severus opened the bottle. “The duration depends on the dosage. If I only drink a fifth of a pint, the effect will last about half a minute.”

After he finished speaking, Severus drank the small vial of potion in one gulp.

Subsequently, his body did not undergo any obvious changes, but in Severus's own perception, the magic within his body became noticeably chaotic and difficult to control.

But this chaos is being gradually smoothed out by the body's own corrective abilities.

Severus stopped paying attention to his magical abilities and instead focused his attention on the withered grass under the fir trees.

This time, Severus made a discovery very quickly.

He could clearly see a rusty brass handle among the withered grass. Under the astonished gazes of the four, Severus reached out and grabbed at thin air in a pile of withered grass.

The air itself seemed to have a great weight, and Severus looked like he was using all his strength, then a sudden "creak" sound rang in their ears.

The next moment, in front of Severus, Cabona and the others saw a dark tunnel entrance appear before them.

A stone staircase, weathered and marked with obvious signs of human excavation, descends from top to bottom, stretching into the darkness they cannot see.

At this point, Cabona and the others finally saw the trapdoor that Severus had been hiding all along!

“Just as I thought,” Severus said. “A special protective spell has been cast here, and the door is completely hidden. Only those with low magic power, or those with no magic power at all, can see it. Normal wizards don’t even have the chance to touch it.”

Kabunara looked at the stone steps that went deep into the ground, took a deep breath, and then made arrangements.

"Berisha, go and call five more people."

Before long, five Albanian Aurors were brought over. Cabunara made arrangements: he had two Aurors guard the entrance, while the rest followed him and Severus as they ventured deeper underground.

All seven wizards used illumination spells to light up the dark tunnel.

Cabunara took the lead, with Severus and the other five Aurors following behind him in pairs.

The tunnel was very long, with two sections broken off due to the collapse of the rocks above. Fortunately, Kabunara had enough people, and they cast spells together to quickly overcome these obstacles.

They continued walking down the stone steps for about an hour until they finally reached a spacious area.
Here, there are collapsed stone buildings everywhere, and you can still vaguely see ancient runes engraved on the surrounding stone walls.

“A wizard once stayed here,” an Auror said.

At the very moment his voice rang out, many fires lit themselves up around the walls.

The eerie green light illuminated the entire space, revealing that the small plaza they were in was not the end of the tunnel. To the side opposite the stone steps, a narrow path led deeper into the tunnel. While the Aurors' attention was focused on the newly discovered path, Severus noticed the ceiling of the underground plaza.

The area was not illuminated by the green firelight; it was dark and deep, making it impossible to see what was there. However, after Severus raised his wand, which was glowing with the illumination charm, high in his hand, he could vaguely see what appeared to be a large hole there.

The opening didn't look like it was carved out by a person; there were no protrusions to climb over, it was basically just a line winding upwards.

"Mr. Snape!"

Cabunara called out.

"Come quick! Look here!"

Upon hearing his voice, Severus did not linger. He put away his wand and quickly walked to Cabunara's side.

They had entered the narrow path, where torches were lit, and before them stood a stone statue carved into the wall.

What kind of bird does that look like? It's chubby, maybe a fat quail, or maybe a chicken.

“Can you recognize what this is?” Cabunara asked.

Severus stared at the statue for a moment. It had clearly been ravaged by time, and could only maintain the superficial bird-like form, while more detailed features were no longer discernible.

“I don’t recognize him,” Severus shook his head.

Cabunara gestured for an Auror with a camera to step forward and take a picture of the statue before they continued on their way.

This time they didn't walk for as long; after about twenty minutes, they emerged from the narrow path.

What appeared before them was a huge mural!

The mural bears many marks of time, with varying degrees of damage in many places. However, because it is large enough, even so, Severus and his companions can still look up and see the entire mural!

It was a portrait of a man dressed in knight's armor, and three witches of different styles, cheering and celebrating around a spring.

The Albanian Aurors were utterly astonished upon seeing the painting.

As local wizards, they were naturally aware of the legends circulating in this forest.

Good Luck Fountain!
However, the legend that once attracted sorcerers from several countries near Albania to search for it but never found any trace of it is now presented on this ancient stone wall in front of them.

At this moment, Severus had already walked up to the stone wall and reached out to touch the cold stone.

"Does anyone know when the story of the Fountain of Good Fortune began circulating among the wizarding community?"

The fourteenth century!

"A Albanian Auror murmured."

"At that time, Peter had just finished writing The Rabbit's Croaking Stump, and not long after, he published The Fountain of Good Fortune! But before that, many legends about the fountain that could bring good fortune to people had already spread throughout Europe!"

Severus then pinched off a small amount of lime stained with old mural dye from the stone wall and rubbed it in his hands for a while.

"This mural is much earlier than the 14th century, probably dating from the 4th to the 6th century."

Cabunara stared at the huge mural and guessed aloud.

"Did Beethoven see the story of the Fountain of Good Fortune elsewhere and then compile it into his collection of stories? Then why is this painting here? Was such a complex underground chamber built just to protect a mural?"

Severus's attention was also refocused on the painting.

It was only then that he noticed that, in addition to the knight and three witches surrounding the spring, he could also vaguely see the obstacles that the knight and witches encountered in the original story of the Fountain of Good Fortune.

A huge, entirely white earthworm that is blind.

Steep cliffs that seem daunting at first glance.

A winding river encircles half of the mural.

Because they are located on the edge of the mural, they do not stand out as much as the figures in the center and are easily overlooked.

But Severus's attention was keenly focused on the white earthworm.

The earthworm opened its large mouth, which was full of fangs, but there were no other facial features above its mouth. Yet Severus inexplicably felt that something was trembling slightly in the area where the earthworm's eyes were.

He frowned, raised his wand, which was glowing with an illumination charm, and moved closer to the earthworm.

Under the white light, he was certain he wasn't mistaken. The earthworm, which had originally been just a figure in a mural, seemed to come alive, opening its eyes, with skin moving above its mouth!

In an instant, Severus recalled the large hole he had seen in the ceiling of the underground plaza outside, the strange, fat bird carved on the stone wall of the path, and the animal on the small hill on the ground that had died so mysteriously without any visible injuries.

The next second, he abruptly extinguished the illumination spell in his hand, turned around, closed his eyes, and shouted.

"Don't look! Don't look at the murals! Close your eyes! Close your eyes!!"

Just as Severus was speaking, the white earthworm in the mural suddenly opened a pair of eyes that shouldn't have been there!

Three Aurors, including Cabnala, realized what Severus was saying and either turned their heads away or closed their eyes.

But three Aurors were completely caught off guard, staring directly into those wide-open eyes.

The three of them stopped breathing, their heartbeats, and their thoughts all stopped at that moment!

With those eyes fixed upon them, the lives of three Aurors ended silently in this underground chamber.

The mural trembled, and a huge creature was bursting out of the stone wall.

That's a snake!

A snake king far beyond human imagination!
(End of this chapter)