Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 63 Rowena's Poem

Time passed quietly, November passed quickly, and when I woke up one day, heavy snow suddenly fell on Hogwarts.

The castle, the surrounding mountains, the Black Lake, and the Forbidden Forest were all covered in several feet of snow.

The courtyard, which was usually full of young wizards, was no longer visited by anyone.

Even the corridors were much quieter. The weather was so cold that the draft seemed to be able to blow into people's bones.

There are roaring fires in the common room fireplaces of the four colleges every day.

Everyone basically stays here, and only when class starts will they sigh and move their tightly wrapped bodies.

Therefore, Snape's Potions class was ranked as the most unpopular class, without a doubt, because the Potions classroom was in the basement, which was cold and damp. The respected Professor Snape was even unwilling to light a bonfire for the young wizards.

He said to everyone, "Potion ingredients prefer darkness. You must learn to be patient and learn to extract nutrition and calories from your greasy fat. I must say that Hogwarts has fed you a little too well!"

But in fact, his own office is very warm.

The fireplace has been burning non-stop since winter began.

On the afternoon when heavy snow fell, Vaughan was sorting materials in Snape's office.

Snape sat by the fireplace, warming himself by the fire while reading the paper submitted by Vaughan.

In fact, it should be said that it is the project notes of Vaughn's new potion.

"...In the process of separating properties, I discovered a very strange phenomenon. The properties of potion materials are not limited to the material composition of the material itself, or the magic it possesses. The emergence of properties also contains unspeakable mystical directions, such as the influence and positioning of legends on it..."

"Take henbane petals, for example. They've always been the main ingredient in love potions, but henbane isn't actually a magical plant. It doesn't have the magic of love, and its composition can only be used to calm pain (Muggles also used it as a herb)."

"Until I looked through the Hogwarts collection and discovered something interesting - hundreds of years ago, it was suddenly given new meaning by Muggles."

"It all started with a wizard's prank. He told Muggles that fairy fairies could deceive people's love and confuse their minds. The Muggles believed him, and during the anti-wizard movement that was prevalent at the time, they passed down this lie as a cultural tool for identifying wizards."

"The wizard who wrote the book mocked the stupidity of the Muggles in it. But hundreds of years later, the henbane, which was originally only used to calm pain, actually has the effect of bewitching people, and the love potion was born..."

After reading this, Snape couldn't help but look up: "Is what is said here true?"

"Which part?"

"Muggle legends can give materials properties."

"Oh, you just saw the henbane, didn't you?" Vaughn paused to select the materials, thought for a moment, and said, "I can't say for sure, but judging by the several materials I've tested and their related plants, it's very likely."

This was a bit beyond their comprehension. Including Snape, the pharmacists had never examined the potion materials they thought they were familiar with from such a perspective!
They used to think that it was the combined effect of magic and rituals in the process of brewing the potion.

Is it...

Muggle legends, after hundreds of years of evolution, will also become part of magic?

Snape, who believed in pure blood, felt a little uneasy.

He gently wiped his forehead, where a thin layer of sweat had seeped out, and continued reading.

Unfortunately, Vaughan did not further explore this issue in his notes.

This was a potion paper after all, and he was mainly discussing potions.

"...This discovery greatly broadened my horizons. I began to consciously look for things that appeared in Muggle legends, and then I noticed a material, Aconitum!"

"This highly poisonous plant is very common in both the wizarding and Muggle worlds. The wizarding world has always used it as a poison ingredient or a concoction for certain potions, but in Muggle legends, it has been given a unique use since ancient times: killing wolves!"

"That's why it's also called Wolfsbane Aconitum, or Wolfsbane Grass... I've successfully isolated this part of its properties. It might have unique functions, such as suppressing the werewolf virus!"

Snape finally put the paper down.

He wanted to throw it to the ground, but for some reason he didn't. He wanted to lose his temper and question Vaughn, but he didn't know how to start.

His face was livid, and he tried hard to suppress his anger. He asked Vaughn, "You want to develop a medicine to cure werewolves? Why?"

Vaughn acted innocent, seemingly surprised by the professor's disgust. "Well, Professor, I think the wizarding world really needs this potion right now. That madman Fenrir Greyback has been trying to expand the werewolf community, and the number of werewolves in the wizarding world is increasing every year."

Snape was speechless.

He could no longer ask any further questions. He wandered around angrily for a few steps, then walked away, swinging his cloak.

Vaughn didn't care. Although Snape hated werewolves because of someone, he believed that the other party would eventually accept his choice.

That’s right, the new medicine he wants to develop is wolfsbane potion!

What he said to Snape was indeed one of the reasons why he chose to develop this potion. Fenrir Greyback was ambitious, and over the years, countless families and young wizards had been harmed by him.

He scratches them, infects them, and turns them into uncontrollable werewolves!
Then, they took advantage of the wizards' fear and rejection of werewolves to create a marginal class in the magical world, a group of homeless poor people.

They have no prospects and future, and when they are finally desperate, they are forced to become a member of Greyback's werewolf army!
That's why Vaughan wanted to develop the wolfsbane potion. Once it was successfully launched, it could save countless families and eliminate a major worry for the wizarding world or the Ministry of Magic!
Then fame will come naturally.

"If it wasn't for the purpose of developing and promoting the wolfsbane potion, why would I bother to flatter Old Dumbledore? I just want to borrow his name. Now Fudge hasn't gone overboard and is still listening to Old Dumbledore. I hope he doesn't go ungrateful..."

Thinking silently, Vaughan began to choose the auxiliary ingredients based on the properties extracted from Aconitum.

More than half an hour later, Snape, who had run away, hurried back.

The long face was still tense, but Vaughn, who knew him, knew that he was no longer angry.

Sure enough, after staring at Vaughn in silence for a moment, he asked, "You haven't tested the Aconitum on the werewolf virus yet?"

Vaughn spread his hands. "I can't find any werewolves, Professor."

"..." Snape shook his hair fiercely, gritted his teeth for a long time, and squeezed out a few words from between his teeth:

"Come out with me on Christmas!"

"Okay, Professor... By the way, I heard you hate the Potters' shampoo. I'm planning to develop a new type of shampoo. Would you like to try it?"

"Vaughn—Weasley—shut your mouth!"

Vaughn smiled and said, "Yes, Professor!" In the second week of December, Professor McGonagall began registering the list of those staying at school for Christmas. Vaughn, Ron, Harry, and the twins all signed it.

From that day on, the atmosphere in school became careless.

The young wizards were absent-minded the whole day, and everyone was looking forward to the arrival of the holidays. Finally, a week before Christmas, as the wrought iron gate of Hogwarts that had been closed for several months slowly opened, the Hogwarts Express came from the distant mountains, trailing thick smoke.

The holidays began, and Vaughn, Harry, and Ron saw Hermione off together.

When I came back, Hogwarts was half empty, as empty and silent as a wilderness after a heavy snowfall in the early morning.

The twins were jumping up and down, ready to go to Hogsmeade. They already knew their Christmas presents in advance - Vaughn would give them 10 Galleons.

They were going to select materials to develop new products for "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes". The previous canary biscuits were very popular because of Ron's "passionate" demonstration on the day of the Quidditch match.

The little wizard was happy to spend a few copper knuts to buy this prank prop, and then casually handed it to a friend, watching his friend suddenly turn into a huge fat canary while he was talking or reading.

The twins, with their own strength, successfully broke up countless gangs at Hogwarts between the Quidditch game and Christmas.

Some guys with unique ideas bought cookies for their girlfriends and were even more happy to be single.

Compared to the twins' career ambitions, the pursuits of Ron and Harry, the poor students, are mediocre. They plan to stay in the common room and play wizard chess all day.

Harry actually didn't like it because he was too bad and the chess pieces always disobeyed him.

"Foolish chess player, are you going to try to stab my sword into your skull? Why don't you let that damned king go? It doesn't matter if he's dead anyway!"

"Merlin - someone come and save me, my lower body is missing -"

The strange knight who broke his lower body in order to disobey his orders and then crawled with his upper body dragging became Harry's nightmare that night.

They all ran away, leaving Vaughn alone, but Vaughn liked the quietness of being away from people.

He walked around the huge and empty Hogwarts for a few times, then borrowed a book from the library and went to the Black Lake with Fruit Tea.

Thanks to the decreasing temperature in the Scottish Highlands, the Black Lake is covered with several feet of ice, which is solid and strong.

Usually there would be many little wizards here, sliding clumsily on the ice like fat penguins. Today they were all gone. Vaughan conjured up a lounge chair, wrapped himself in a velvet cloak, and lay down comfortably in the hazy winter sun.

The book he borrowed was not a magic book, but a collection of poems called "Songs to the Soul".

As you can tell from this literary name, this is another work with a strong Ravenclaw color, and its author's name is even more fitting:

Rowena Ravenclaw!
That’s right, it’s Ravenclaw, one of the four giants who founded Hogwarts School, the legendary witch who lived thousands of years ago and is famous for her wisdom.

She left behind countless works throughout her life, but not many of them were related to magic. On the contrary, literary works accounted for the majority.

Vaughn, who knew of the existence of the Chamber of Secrets, was very interested in the four founders of Hogwarts.

Since Slytherin was able to leave behind the Chamber of Secrets, what about the other founders? Vaughn looked up their biographies and, in his opinion, Helga Hufflepuff was the least likely to have left behind the Chamber of Secrets.

She was a very low-key and gentle witch, and her greatest joy in life was cooking. If she had to leave behind a chamber of secrets, it would most likely be the Hogwarts kitchen.

It's next to the Hufflepuff rest area and has a disguised door that only opens if you tickle the pear-shaped doorknob.

As for Gryffindor... it's hard to say. The wizarding world seems to have a lot of records about him, but they all focus on his high-profile style and hot temper, which actually confuses his true character.

In Vaughn's opinion, the person most likely to leave behind the Chamber of Secrets or inheritance is Rowena Ravenclaw!

He opened the poetry collection, checked the table of contents and jumped to the target page, where he saw a line of elegant handwriting (the ones collected by Hogwarts are all original works of the founder):
I wander along the path of time

When I look up
Wherever you see
There are shadows around me
That's my close friend
We share joy and have heartfelt conversations
……

The shadow built a tomb for itself

Just below the beloved castle

One day I was tired and exhausted

I will hold flowers that remember Helena

Falling asleep beside

After finishing the poem, Vaughan did not turn the page any further. This was a poem he had come across by chance while browsing the Ravenclaw anthology recently, so he had specially sought out the original copy.

The poem has a bit of the Lake School flavor, which is very consistent with the literary and romantic character of Ravenclaw.

But what really caught his attention was the content of the poem.

"Over the years, many people have interpreted this poem, believing that Lady Ravenclaw wrote it out of grief for Helena, and that the shadows and mausoleum in the poem were a foreseeing of her daughter's fate."

But Vaughan sees it differently.

He felt that those people were misled by Helena's name and that they didn't know the existence of the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets.

This poem was most likely written by a seriously ill Ravenclaw lady, recalling her former friend, Salazar Slytherin, who had passed away.

At that time, because of Helena's betrayal, she wanted to have someone to talk to and confide in, but she was afraid of bringing shame to her family, so she could only express her distress to the shadow of Slytherin who had long since left in poetry.

But as for her own ending, she has made arrangements wisely.

The end of the poem reveals that she may have discovered Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets a long time ago, and next to it, she also built a place for herself to hide her secrets.

Let everything of her rest in peace with her death!
Vaughan closed the poetry book, closed his eyes, and sat in the sun, lost in thought.

He no longer had any hope for Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. He had recently been studying memory magic and sorting out his memories of his past life again, focusing on the various details of the original work.

Combined with the information he had recently read, he could judge that the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets had probably been opened many times.

The evidence was that he found the renovation records of Hogwarts. In the 18th century, Hogwarts renovated the entire castle in order to install a sewer system. The person in charge was a man named Corvinus Gaunt.

The Gaunt family, direct descendants of Slytherin.

They have been hiding the entrance to the secret room, which also means that they may have searched the secret room countless times.

It is very likely that all the valuable things have been taken away, leaving only an old snake monster to trap newcomers!
(End of this chapter)