Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 216 Good Fortune Before the Fountain of Good Fortune

"According to the story, shouldn't we encounter a giant white earthworm here?"

After walking into the lush, botanical-garden-like hillside, Harry observed his surroundings and asked curiously.

"That's just a legend!" Draco lectured him, trying to sound like an adult. "How could such a creature possibly exist in reality!"

Severus ruffled Draco's hair and spoke.

"Maybe that earthworm really did exist, but I dealt with it when I found the whistle."

"How is that possible!" Draco still questioned. "How could there be such a large earthworm in this world!"

"To be precise, it was a snake, a very special snake."

Severus looked up and saw a winding path leading to the mountaintop directly ahead of them. The forest didn't cover the entire mountain, and they would reach the bare, steep peak a little further on.

Blake, who was walking at the back, kept a wary eye on his surroundings. His senses and intuition as a canine made him feel that something was wrong with this place, making him very uncomfortable.

Especially considering Severus and his companions' current attitude, they didn't seem like they were on an adventure at all; they looked more like two adults taking two children and two pets on a picnic!
It's not even accurate to say it resembles them, because Lupin really did bring food in case they stayed there too long and their stomachs couldn't take it.

This casual attitude only intensified Blake's inner unease.

After walking through this garden for about two hours, we finally left.

They even found a place to rest once in between, seemingly not caring at all whether the wizards who had arrived before them might have already reached the top of the mountain and successfully found the Fountain of Good Fortune.

After reaching that steep hillside, the road ahead was no longer so smooth and easy.

The mountain walls here are very steep, and it is difficult to climb them by hand without the aid of tools.

Severus and Lupin also tried to cast spells, but found that Apparition was impossible to use in this place, and almost all magic had no effect on the steep mountain wall.

If they want to climb higher, they can only do so by climbing with their own hands.

After climbing for less than twenty minutes, Harry was panting heavily. He lay on the stone wall and complained in dissatisfaction.

"Logically speaking, shouldn't there be a message at this point asking for the fruits of our labor, and then we'll be able to pass the level successfully after our sweat drips onto it?"

“Don’t treat this like an adventure game, Dudley,” Lupin warned. “Those legendary stories are definitely embellished and altered; nobody really knows what the real situation is.”

Draco then looked up, staring at the mountaintop that hadn't moved for a while, and said loudly.

"We've been climbing for so long, but there's no sign of us getting any closer to our destination! It's just like in the stories, there are traps on the hillside, and if we just keep climbing like this, we'll never reach our goal!"

“But we don’t have any better options, do we?” Severus looked at the two children and reassured them. “Since you chose to come in together, there’s no turning back now. We have to move forward no matter what.”

Hearing Severus's words, Harry and Draco stopped complaining and continued climbing the mountain, sweating profusely.

Two more hours passed, and they were still circling around halfway up the mountain, showing no sign of getting closer to the summit!
Now, not only Harry and Draco, but even Lupin and Severus could see that if they couldn't find the right way up the mountain and just kept walking like this, they probably would never reach the summit in their lifetime.

"Legend has it that when we come to this steep mountain wall, it will remind us that we must reap the rewards of our labor."

Severus began to recall the earliest versions of the legend of the Fountain of Good Fortune, hoping to find clues from them.

"But if the white serpent I encountered in the underground ruins before finding the Silver Whistle symbolized the earthworm obstacle before finding the Fountain of Good Fortune, then the serpent did not offer any warning, such as asking me to prove my pain to it."

“But if you had just killed the snake, you would have passed the test,” Lu Ping said.

“Yes.” Severus looked up at the mountaintop. “However, given our current situation, it’s impossible for us to simply level this mountain.”

Just as they found a platform to rest and were thinking about how to get up the mountain.

Blake was also looking for a place to relieve himself.

Although he is in dog form now, he can't bring himself to do something like a real dog defecating in public, especially with two children around. He has to maintain his image no matter what.

However, the cliff face was bare, and finding a secluded spot was not an easy task. Blake wandered around for a long time before finally finding a slightly more private place behind three protruding rocks.

Just as he was about to lift his leg to release, a furry figure suddenly appeared in the corner of his eye.

Harry's pet, Fluffy, had somehow come with Black here. It jumped onto one of the three rocks, looking down at Black with its big, curious eyes, as if waiting for his next move.

At first, Blake just thought he was a brainless beast. He could have been completely unconcerned. But being stared at by those eyes, he felt an overwhelming urge to urinate, yet he couldn't pee at all.

"Get out of my way, you little idiot! Go find them, don't bother me!"

The male announcer's voice rang out from Blake's collar as he shooed the fluffy creature away.

However, instead of leaving, the fluffy creature hopped onto Blake's head, which drove Blake crazy. He kept waving his front paws, trying to knock it off his head.

"You stupid ball! Get off! Or I'll tear you to pieces! Hurry up! My patience is running out!"

Just as Blake was running around haphazardly, trying to shoo the fluffy dog ​​away, he suddenly lost his footing and his entire body fell straight down!
Fortunately, the pit he fell into wasn't very high; he just tripped and fell, and quickly got back up.

Once he had regained his footing, Blake could finally see his surroundings clearly.

It turned out to be a cave hidden in the hillside!
Another section of the cave clearly led towards the summit, a path they had never discovered before. This discovery prompted Blake to scoff. He had absolutely no interest in the so-called Fountain of Good Fortune, but he wouldn't hide his discovery from Severus and the others.

Before returning to the hillside, he found a corner to relieve himself, and then went back to Severus and the others to tell them about the cave.

Soon, Severus and the others arrived here with Blake.

“You’re absolutely amazing, Black!” Harry exclaimed excitedly.

Draco was also cheering. He didn't know Black's true identity yet, because during the day, both Harry and Lupin called him Black, and this surname was not uncommon in Britain, not just limited to that one pure-blood family.

Severus smiled and complimented Blake, but he was soon drawn to a strange, pungent smell.

Why does it smell like urine?

Surprisingly, Blake took the initiative to lead the way and urged them on.

"Let's hurry up and move forward! We don't even know if this road is passable, let's not waste time here!"

Urged on by him, Severus and his companions also began to continue their ascent towards the summit from the cave.

This time, they could clearly feel the change in altitude; they no longer had that feeling of going around in circles no matter how high they climbed.

After walking for about an hour, they finally reached the exit of the cave.

When they emerged from the exit, they discovered that the steep, bare mountain wall had appeared behind them. Reaching this point meant that they had overcome that obstacle!
This outcome delighted Severus and his companions. Moreover, they discovered that they had reached the very top of the hill, where a garden-like area lay before them.

However, the thick plant walls blocked out what was inside, and you could only vaguely see a misty, watery area in the very center of the garden!

"We're almost at the finish line!"

Harry and Draco cheered excitedly, but a river about four or five meters wide blocked them from the garden.

Blake tried to swim across first, but as soon as he entered the water, his body began to sink uncontrollably. It was Severus and Lupin who worked together to pull him out of the water.

Then Severus and his companions tried various spells, but none of them could get them across the river.

Even though Severus took out a bottle of growth potion from his pocket and poured it on a blade of grass, hoping to make its leaves grow all the way to the other side of the riverbank, the grass was suddenly pulled into the river by a force just as it was about to reach the center of the river and couldn't get out.

They found themselves in trouble once again.

The difficulties they faced were the same as those in the legendary story of the Fountain of Good Fortune. However, in the story, this river, like the cliff and the white earthworms, would provide clues for intruders to pass through. But this river, on the other hand, had no clues at all.

Severus and his companions did not sit idly by and wait to die. They discussed their options and began searching along the riverbank, trying to find a bridge or other path across it.

However, their area of ​​activity on the mountaintop was very limited, and after searching the entire area, they found no clues whatsoever.

Just as they were in trouble again, Harry, who was frowning and racking his brains for a way to cross the river, suddenly noticed that his pet, Fluffy, had somehow gotten close to the riverbank.

This made Harry reach out to stop it.

"No! Don't fall!"

He tried to grab Pu Rongrong, but he didn't notice a stone on the ground and tripped and fell flat on his face!
Just as his body was tumbling and about to fall into the river, Harry, in a moment of panic, grabbed something cold and hard in the muddy ground on the bank, which stopped his forward momentum.

"Dali!" Lupin shouted, "Are you alright?"

Harry got up from the ground, covered in grass clippings and dirt, but his other free hand was still tightly clutching the fluffy cat.

"I'm fine, but I think I've grabbed something."

Before Harry could finish speaking, he stared in disbelief at the thing he was holding that had helped him steady himself.

It was actually a long, thin iron chain!

The other end of the chain was submerged in the water, and as he pulled hard, there were signs that something in the water was about to be pulled out!
Severus and Draco also noticed what Harry had discovered, and the two of them walked over with Lupin.

"Pull hard! Dali! This should be the key to our crossing!" Severus shouted.

Harry's expression also became agitated. He put down the fluffy cat in his arms, grabbed the chain with both hands, and began to pull it back with all his might.

But a ten-year-old boy's strength is limited, and it wasn't until Severus and Lupin reached out to help him that the suspension bridge hidden underwater was finally pulled up!
"We're so lucky!" Harry shouted. "Now the last obstacle in our way is gone!"

"I simply can't believe how lucky we'll be after bathing in the Fountain of Good Fortune, given our current luck!" Draco exclaimed, his face flushed.

Lupin was securing the chain to the trunk of a tree, while Severus blinked at the bridge before him.

He seemed to have a feeling that something was wrong with his two consecutive lucky streaks, but this feeling was quickly dispelled by his excitement!
In any case, they have already arrived at the gates of victory. As long as they cross this bridge, they will reach the finish line and finally find the legendary Fountain of Good Fortune!

So the four people, the dog, and Pu Rongrong didn't linger. After securing the suspension bridge, they crossed it and arrived at the garden.

Once inside, they discovered that the plants here were exceptionally lush, with all sorts of vines intertwined to form thick, continuous walls, turning the place into a maze!
However, after discovering that they were in a maze, Severus and his companions showed no signs of distress, because they had just remembered something.

Lupin opened the box he always carried with him and pulled out an old, huge map made of dragon skin!
(End of this chapter)