The Return to Hogwarts

"Oh, really!" Ron said breathlessly, brushing back his sweaty bangs. "That's a brilliant idea!"

Harry stopped trying too, and looked at Hermione.

"The Silent One. What is that, Hermione?"

"The Obscurials are wizards, Harry—"

Hermione answered the question effortlessly, “Some wizards who have suffered great psychological trauma will have their magical powers go out of control in their bodies, thus giving rise to powerful but unstable and uncontrollable dark forces that can easily harm themselves or others.”

Harry, his two companions, and the two house-elves all fell silent.

The golden afternoon sunlight streamed through the windows into the office, the glaring light making the view outside blurry and indistinct.

"The Vatican. Isn't that a Muggle religion?"

Ron frowned, looking disgusted.

"Why don't they lock those three Obscurians up in Azkaban? Burning them at the stake is so barbaric. And what is the Royal Wizarding Society?"

"Has the Daily Prophet reported it?" Harry continued to ask Hermione for an answer, as Hermione was one of the few Hogwarts students who regularly read the Daily Prophet.

"And Keldon."

Harry racked his brains trying to recall the name of the city. Since the Dursleys had a habit of watching the weather forecast after dinner, he had a general idea of ​​English city names, but he truly didn't know which county Celeste was in.

"--Is this a wizard's special name for Muggle cities?"

Harry pressed on with his questions.

However, Hermione's 'know-it-all' ability failed her this time, and she couldn't answer any of Harry and Ron's questions.

Fear stems from the unknown. Although they are in a quiet and peaceful office, upon closer inspection, everything here is full of inconsistencies and eeriness. Harry and his friends gradually realize that this office probably does not belong to any professor at Hogwarts.

"Let's leave here first—"

With each second they lingered there, their fear grew more intense. During the brief silence, Harry had already formed an idea. He stopped paying attention to the other writings on the desk that might prove the room's owner's identity and instead called to Hermione and Ron, running towards the wall where a huge floor-to-ceiling oil painting hung.

"We just collapsed right under this painting—"

Harry looked at the painting and said seriously.

This floor-length oil painting is the only landscape painting among the decorative paintings in the room. The painting uses black and yellow paint to render a wide valley in a very warm way. A breeze blows across the golden wheat field, and birds circle under the low but incredibly blue sky. A path dividing the wheat field extends from the bottom of the frame all the way to the far distance in the painting.

"You mean, this painting is the real door, Harry?"

Hermione pressed her face close to the painting, carefully observing every detail, but unfortunately, with her eyesight and knowledge, she couldn't see anything wrong with it.

"Let me give it a try!"

Hermione raised her grapevine wand to the portrait and, under the eager gazes of Harry, Ron, Dobby, and Doom, muttered something under her breath.

Hermione's wand tip showered down beams of enchanted light, but these beams vanished upon touching the painting like mud flowing into the sea, producing no reaction whatsoever. This, however, proved to them that the painting probably did indeed conceal some secret.

"Perhaps we should try a different approach—"

After a moment's thought, Harry pulled Hermione away, who refused to give up, and then used his magic to target the painting.

"What are you planning to do, Harry?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

“Maybe we should learn from Seamus—” Harry cracked his knuckles and shrugged. “When traditional methods don’t work, an explosion might have an unexpected effect!”

"Wait, Harry!"

Hermione was startled and immediately tried to stop him. But Harry, having been trained, reacted with lightning speed. With a flick of his wrist, a silent red beam of the Disarming Charm shot out like an arrow, disappearing into the painting in an instant!

call!

And this absurd act actually had an effect. The still oil painting rippled like the sea under the moonlight. The bent ears of wheat in the painting swayed wildly as if they were experiencing a gale. In the far distance of the field road that divides the oil painting, a dark shadow suddenly appeared and quickly magnified in their field of vision!

Sensing the approaching danger, Dom pulled Hermione away from the painting and stood in front of her, while Dobby tackled Harry to the ground. Only Ron stood there dumbfounded, staring blankly at the painting that had suddenly changed.

The waves in the oil painting grew larger and larger, and at a certain moment, the painting suddenly burst into light. Amid Harry's roar, Ron staggered backward and fell, frantically using both hands to support his body as he retreated!

Wow!

The shadows on the screen became clearer and clearer, and then—

boom!

Amostella leaped out of the painting and landed on the ground. Looking at the three young wizards and two elves lying on the ground before her, she raised an eyebrow and a cryptic smile played on her lips.

"Have you all had fun?"

Professor Blaine?!

The three of them stared at the person who suddenly appeared in the painting, their mouths agape—it was as if they could fit two eggs in it!

Silence, surprise, awkwardness

After a complex emotional journey, the three young wizards slowly got up from the ground and stood obediently in a row in front of Professor Blaine. Although they looked trembling with fear and awaiting reprimand, the three young wizards were genuinely relieved.

"I'm so glad to see you three are still alive—"

Amosta said in a relaxed tone, "Otherwise, I, as the director of the student safety office, would have no choice but to submit my resignation to the school board."

"It's all my fault, Professor!" Hermione's lips were pale from being pressed together, her voice trembling with tears. "It was me... I insisted on coming in to check on things. Harry and Ron were just worried I was in danger."

Harry and Ron clearly knew they'd gotten into trouble again, and almost gotten themselves into trouble as well, but they weren't going to let Hermione take the blame alone. Both boys were eager to say something, but Professor Blaine stopped them before they could speak.

"Don't rush to take responsibility, you three—"

Amosta's gaze swept around, and upon taking one look, his brow furrowed, his relaxed demeanor vanished, and his expression immediately turned serious.

"Our troubles are probably just beginning."

Chapter 656 Recognition of Names

2023-12-21

"You've already explored this room, haven't you?"

Amosta squinted, carefully examining everything in his field of vision. He didn't rush to explore the room, but instead asked softly.

So the three little ones immediately began to recount their story. From the moment they regained consciousness after collapsing on the ground in front of the painting, to Harry's attempt to cast a spell on it, including their attempts to reach the books on the bookshelf and open the door, and the news Dobby saw on the room owner's desk, they told everything in great detail.

As Harry listened, he noticed that Professor Blaine remained calm until the 'Royal Wizarding Society' was mentioned, at which point a subtle change appeared in his expression.

“Do you know what the Royal Wizarding Society is?” Harry asked eagerly. “And this office—we thought it was Professor Sprout’s office, but Dobby said it doesn’t belong to any professor—”

Amosta didn't speak. After listening to what they had just experienced, he quickly walked to the room owner's desk. He wanted to see the newspaper with his own eyes.

Upon seeing Professor Blaine, who remained silent, Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged bewildered glances. They all realized that this room might be even more mysterious than they had imagined, and they had never seen Professor Blaine display such a solemn expression before!

"Have we done something terribly wrong, Professor—"

Since Amos Tower appeared, the three young wizards and two elves had found their leader. They followed Amos Tower closely, and seeing Professor Blaine's serious expression as he looked at the newspaper, Hermione suppressed her fear and said nervously,

"Will I be expelled, Professor Blaine?"

“I don’t have that plan at the moment, Miss Granger—”

Amostella teased the little witch, but he remained expressionless.

Three young wizards from the Royal Wizarding Society of Keldor were sent to the stake by the Papacy.

Amostah's lips tightened as he looked up and examined the uniquely styled office once more, a guess gradually forming in his mind.

It's unclear how passionate the office owner is about cooking, but most of the books on this desk are related to cooking. Before leaving, the office owner was probably designing new recipes, because Amosta, Harry, and the other two saw that the top sheet of a stack of parchment facing the office chair had many ingredients and cooking methods scribbled on it.

Amosta's gaze swept across the top of the stack of parchment. Among a bunch of archaic English words, two words suddenly caught his eye, causing his pupils to dilate violently, his breathing to quicken, and he collapsed onto the table, staring intently at the two words that looked like random scribbles!

Professor Blaine's dramatic reaction naturally shocked Harry and his companions. They had all seen the hand-drawn recipe on the top sheet of parchment, which appeared to be for chocolate and raspberry ice cream. This was a very common dessert in Hogwarts' dining halls, something every wizard there had eaten countless times, so there was nothing surprising or shocking about it.

The quick-witted Hermione swiftly spotted two strange words in the direction Professor Blaine's gaze was focused, and from this she guessed that this was probably the reason for Professor Blaine's shock.

"Is this... Chinese writing, Professor Blaine?"

Hermione asked blankly. She had not formally studied Chinese characters, but when she was studying at a Muggle school, she had interacted with Chinese students and seen the beautiful, square characters they wrote on paper.

Chinese characters?!

Are there any Chinese people at Hogwarts?

Harry racked his brains trying to figure out the problem, but all he could think of was Cho Chang's beautiful face.

"So that's where it was."

After a long silence, Amosta shook his head and chuckled, saying something that none of the three—Harry, Harry, and the others—could understand.

But Professor Blaine didn't seem to intend to explain the meaning behind his words. He turned to look at the three of them, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“You’re right, Hermione, these are Chinese characters—” Amosta said, “and they’re pronounced ‘zhou-nan’.”

Zhou nan?

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, along with the two house-elves who had become almost invisible, each silently recited the mantra several times.

Every faculty and staff member at Hogwarts is a knowledgeable wizard, so it's not particularly surprising that they can read and write some Chinese characters. After all, that mysterious Eastern country is also a nation with a long history and a thriving magical civilization. In order to study the magical theories of that country, it's perfectly normal for professors to know some Chinese.

But what does this pronunciation mean?

Hermione asked the question, and then she saw Professor Blaine give a perplexingly complicated smile.

"It's a person's name, Hermione—"

Whose name?