The Return to Hogwarts

Is he a wizard with extensive knowledge, or a chef who is exceptionally skilled at cooking?

Before Hermione could continue asking, Professor Blaine, who was watching the three of them, suddenly became serious. He spoke in a tone of solemnity he only used when imparting important advice during physical education class.

“I hope the three of you remember this, I mean you absolutely must remember it, Harry, Hermione, and Ron--”

Professor Blaine leaned slightly forward, his serious demeanor making them uneasy.

"If one day you encounter a moment where you need to prove your identity to me, then say this name, and tell me that this is the name I personally told you. You can't say anything else, just say this name, understand?"

There were too many things that were hard to understand, and for a moment, Hermione didn't know where to begin. But under Professor Blaine's oppressive gaze, she nodded and asked in a trembling voice,

"You mean this name, which is a pre-arranged code we use to verify your identity, right, Professor Blaine?"

"That's a very accurate description, Hermione—"

Amosta nodded approvingly.

"This matter is extremely important, and you must remember it. If you forget it, it could have unpredictable and serious consequences!"

Zhou Nan!

Although still completely confused, Professor Blaine's stern instructions made Hermione understand the importance of the matter. She memorized the two pronunciations and vowed to recite them several times before going to bed every day. Harry and Ron beside her also had solemn expressions, promising to do so while desperately reciting the pronunciations.

Amosta stared at the papers on the desk, looking for any other valuable information, seemingly in no hurry to leave. Harry, his two companions, however, were quite different. They exchanged glances, signaling to each other with their eyes, appearing hesitant to speak. Finally, Harry mustered his courage and asked...

"Professor Blaine?"

"Ok?"

Amosta, who was trying to pull open a desk drawer, answered with his nostrils.

"We... I mean, do you have a way to get out of here?"

"No need to rush--"

Amostella smiled and said casually, "When the time comes, we can leave on our own. We still need to wait here for the owner of the room to return—"

Are we waiting for the room's owner to return?

Click!

The crisp sound of springs meshing suddenly rang out in the room. Although it was faint, it sounded like thunder to Harry, his two friends, and they turned their heads sharply to look at the door, where they saw the doorknob slowly turning.

Is the room's owner finally about to reveal themselves? Who owns this eerie office? And why is it connected to that terrifying corridor hidden in the kitchen?

"Right away, no matter what you see later--"

Amosta stepped back from his desk and gently nudged Harry and the others in the back, gesturing for them to stand aside.

"Remember to stay calm—"

Chapter 657 Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff

2023-12-21

Remember to stay calm. Does Professor Blaine know whose room this is? But why specifically tell them to stay calm? Even if this is Professor Dumbledore's new office, is it really necessary to give them such a serious instruction? Of course, for Harry, if this office were Snape's, it would certainly be quite frightening!

Finally, the brass doorknob was turned all the way, and with a creak, the tightly closed door slowly opened. A short figure walked into the office with graceful steps, and then casually closed the door behind him.

House-elves?

The person who walked into the office was not one of the castle's staff members, but a house-elf. Hermione looked at Professor Blaine and noticed that he was also somewhat surprised.

Harry quickly discovered that this house-elf was unusual.

First, there's the clothing. Although the little elf's clothes look very retro, they're actually quite well-matched. Unlike Dobby's strange mix-and-match style, this outfit perfectly matches the wizard's aesthetic. Moreover, the clothes it wears are very clean and not sloppy at all.

Secondly, it's their expression.

Harry had generally seen house-elves who were obsequious, their expressions always revealing, to varying degrees, fear and discussion when facing wizards—a trait even Dobby couldn't escape. But this house-elf was completely different.

The little elf seemed to be in a good mood. It stood up straight and walked towards the desk with a smile on its face and humming an unknown song, carefully holding a finely carved, elegant-looking golden cup in its hand.

"Professor Blaine, it seems..."

Harry and Ron were observing the house-elf, but Hermione had already discovered the most important detail.

The little sprite walked straight to the desk without even glancing at the people sitting next to it, as if they didn't exist.

This guess was too strange. Hermione subconsciously looked at Professor Blaine, only to see him staring intently at something. Following his gaze, Hermione discovered that Professor Blaine was looking at the golden cup in the elf's hand.

Everything about this little elf seemed off.

As it passed by, a startled Ron stumbled back a few steps, but the little elf seemed oblivious to the scene. Instead, it kept smiling, placed the golden cup containing a purple liquid on the table, looked around, and then walked to the windowsill, examining the dust on it with its fingers.

"It can't see us, can it?"

"If you still don't realize this by now, that would be incredibly foolish," Ron asked Professor Blaine.

"Did you do this to prevent us from being discovered?"

Professor Blaine did not answer Ron's question. He bent down and stared intently at the golden cup on the corner of the table.

“Dobby knows every elf in the castle, Harry Potter—” Dobby whispered to Harry, “but Dobby has never seen it—”

Harry was about to say something, but his expression suddenly turned horrified, as did Ron and Hermione beside him.

The little sprite, whose owner was unknown, continued humming a song. After confirming that the room was clean to a satisfactory degree, it walked back to the desk from the windowsill. Then, it passed directly through Professor Blaine's body, who was studying the golden cup, and began tidying up the slightly messy desk. What was even more surprising was that the little sprite could pick up the books and papers on the desk that they had always been unable to reach!

"It's a ghost!"

The sight of the house-elf passing through Professor Blaine's body was so striking that Harry couldn't help but scream.

Harry couldn't think of any other possibility besides a ghost!

"Could it be that"

Ron, who witnessed this scene, turned deathly pale. He was breathing heavily, and his fingertips were trembling uncontrollably.

"Does this mean we've stumbled into a ghost world, which is why we can't touch anything in the room, and this little sprite can't touch us either?"

Ever since entering this office, a strange feeling had been tormenting Harry and his friends, and Ron's speculation had pushed them into an abyss of fear. Even the usually rational Hermione felt a chill run down her spine, as if all the ordinary objects around her were exuding a sinister and eerie aura.

The three of them instinctively moved closer to Professor Blaine; in this office, Professor Blaine was the only person who could give them a sense of security.

call--

Amosta straightened up and let out a slight sigh of relief.

When Dumbledore destroyed the exquisite locket that Slytherin had been hanging there, he had taken out a book that described the Hufflepuff Cup. The cup in the book had real runes at its base, similar to those on Gryffindor's sword, Slytherin's locket, and Ravenclaw's crown. However, the one in front of him did not have them.

Amosta did not doubt that the golden cup in front of him was fake; he simply said that at this point in time, the four giants had not yet tampered with their respective legacies that almost represented their identities.

"This is not a world of the dead, and the little sprite before me is not a spirit either—"

Amosta, his thoughts pulled from the golden cup, said softly.

"You can think of it as us being under an illusion spell in this room; this office is showing us something that happened in the past—"

Professor Blaine's words undoubtedly relieved the three young wizards—illusion magic, that sounded much safer than accidentally wandering into the Land of the Dead.

"Professor Blaine—"

Hermione looked remorseful; she felt it was all her fault that the three of them, along with Dobby and Doom, had fallen victim to illusion magic, and that she had even implicated Professor Blaine.

"Do you have a way to break the illusion magic in the room?"

"You could give it a try--"

Even magic left over from a thousand years ago is not without flaws. Amosta stared into the void, a glint of light flashing in his pale purple eyes, as if he had already seen through the illusion. He spoke calmly.

"But I think we'd better not rush into trying. The original owner of this office clearly wanted to show us something of value, and leaving now would be a waste of our adventure."

Adventure?

Ron clicked his tongue. He didn't think it was a strange encounter to accidentally enter this eerie office, but Professor Blaine looked nonchalant and didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave the room, so he had no choice but to suppress his repulsion and remain quiet.

After confirming that the group would not encounter any danger, Hermione seemed a little relieved, and her curiosity began to stir again.

Who exactly owns this office?

Hermione couldn't help but ponder this question, while the house-elf with incredibly bright eyes, who was busy tidying up the desk in front of them, further piqued Hermione's curiosity.

This little elf exudes an aura of freedom, unlike the elves in the kitchen and outside who enjoy being enslaved. How did the elf's employer manage to do all this?

Hermione watched the house-elf intently, trying to figure out the secret of this creature whose behavior was natural yet incredibly strange for a house-elf. However—

Click!

Suddenly, the office doorknob was turned open again!

The woman who walked in that year was a middle-aged woman. She was slightly plump, but her gentle demeanor possessed a strange power that could soothe the heart. Moreover, her wine-red eyes were as bright as stars, surpassing even those of Professor Dumbledore, who had extremely penetrating blue eyes, or Professor Blaine, whose pale purple eyes held magic.

This middle-aged witch did not appear alone; behind her followed another witch who looked much younger but appeared very tired.

Upon seeing the younger witch, both Harry and Ron's eyes flickered.

The most beautiful and alluring women Harry had ever seen were the Veela he had met at the Quidditch World Cup final. However, compared to the young witch before him, Harry found those Veelas to be utterly vulgar!

but--

Harry frowned as he stared at the two witches who walked in. At first glance, they seemed quite remarkable, and he felt a sense of déjà vu about them.

"Who are they?"

Ron whispered to Hermione, having already learned some things from Professor Blaine's earlier remarks. The office they were in likely belonged to a former Hogwarts staff member, and probably someone quite famous. Like Harry, Ron felt a sense of familiarity and turned to look at Hermione, but upon seeing her, his brow furrowed immediately!