From Hogwarts to Sturhaven

Ivy cast a first-circle spell on herself, the Spell of Language Proficiency, which, as its name suggests, grants the caster the ability to understand all spoken and written languages ​​for one hour.

“The Phantom of the Opera!” The staff member who saw Ivy tugged at his colleague’s sleeve and whispered.

"What else could it be?" His companion said, unsurprised.

"You saw it too?" Their conversation seemed to have gone astray.

“Of course, everyone who works here has seen it to some extent.” If art becomes part of your job, and something completely unrelated at that, you might start to hate it someday, said the seemingly seasoned staff member. “We’re cleaning decorations and maintaining order at the Garnier Opera House. We’re not the artists on stage, but we should still be exposed to art to some extent, right? Newcomers?”

"You mean opera?" the newcomer asked, puzzled.

"They perform in the hall every few days, who wouldn't know that?" A man who had worked at the opera house for many years wiped a speck of dust off a pillar with his white gloves.

"I said, The Phantom of the Opera! I saw him!" The newlywed's excitement hadn't faded as he insisted.

"Of course, backstage, his ugly silicone mask has been sitting there for days. I heard a cleaning lady even tripped and fell because of it..." the veteran said belatedly. "Wait...you mean, The Phantom of the Opera?"

“That’s right there!” the newcomer pointed to where Ivy had been.

The older man looked over suspiciously: "I can't see any difference between it and the tile next to it..."

"Like a blurry shadow, with only an outline, the light is distorted unnaturally there... Yes, just like what you see now..." The newcomer was still trying to describe the scene he saw, and then Ivy moved her feet to make her figure appear slightly outlined under the colorful light of the crystal chandelier.

"Wow!" The old man's eyes widened, he gasped, and exclaimed in awe, "It really is The Phantom of the Opera!"

Ivy quickly swept across the corridor and disappeared around the corner, then peeked out again to observe the two people's movements.

"Where did he go?" the newcomer asked excitedly. "Did you see him? He just glided down the corridor like he was invisible..."

“Underground!” The old man glanced around the corner where Ivy had disappeared and said with certainty, “The space under the Garnier Opera House is huge, enough to fit many Phantoms of the Opera!”

After creating a new legend for the Garnier Opera House, Ivy contentedly crossed the rope blocking the underground passage and went down. He was starting to enjoy playing pranks.

The underground section of the Garnier Opera House lived up to its reputation. After passing through iron gates, wooden doors, and fences, Ivy noticed that the corridor ahead had become lower, and there were damp patches on the floor and ceiling, indicating high humidity. It seemed the rumors of an underground artificial lake were true; she just wondered when the staff had last changed the water. Ivy prayed that the underground lake wouldn't turn into a stinking puddle.

Since customers aren't allowed in, and even the staff only come down once every few years, it's only natural that there wouldn't be any lighting. But Ivy wouldn't be hindered, because the Philosopher's Stone granted him the ability to see in the dark, so the presence or absence of lighting had little impact on him.

Continuing down the passage, the view before Ivy widened again, with many stone pillars forming doorways, resembling a medieval dungeon, except these pillars lacked iron bars and stone walls. Perhaps this was a sewer?

The air began to become somewhat murky, so Ivy released the Disillusionment Charm and cast a Bubble Head Charm on herself to provide fresh air.

An echo came from afar, and Ivy listened intently.

“Gabriel

It was a woman's voice, seemingly calling someone's name.

Could it be that we really encountered the Phantom of the Opera?

Ivy thought about it with great interest, and continued walking forward.

The closed structure of the channel was undoubtedly very conducive to the propagation of sound. Ivy could hear it very clearly, but he could never determine how far away he was from the sound source.

Until suddenly, everything became clear before him.

The underground passage supported by stone pillars ended, replaced by a very open lake. A stone bridge spanned the lake, and a witch stood on the bridge, shouting towards the water.

How was Ivy able to determine that she was a witch?

Because she was holding up a small stick for light. Ivy didn't think Muggles could make a small stick glow.

"Gabriel?" the witch cried, "Where are you?"

She wasn't speaking English, but French, the local language. Fortunately, Ivy's previous display of linguistic fluency hadn't ended, and she could still understand the witch's words.

The underground lake was very spacious, about half the size of a football field. Even if Ivy could see in the dark, she wouldn't be able to make out the witch's face at that distance. However, she wasn't very tall, so she was probably still a student.

As Ivy drew a little closer, she saw that the witch had long, silvery hair that cascaded down like a waterfall, the ends of which reflected the light emanating from her wand, like twinkling stars floating on a river.

“Gabriel?” The witch turned around when she heard Ivy’s footsteps. Ivy saw a pair of bright blue eyes and exquisite features that seemed to have been sculpted by the heavens.

“A male wizard…” The young witch saw the transparent bubble above Ivy’s head and immediately realized that the newcomer was not a Muggle.

"Looking for someone?" Ivy asked with a smile.

It is said that a smile can shorten the distance between people, and after seeing Ivy's smile, the witch did indeed lower her guard a little.

"...She's my sister, she's only six years old..." The witch was clearly a student, probably only fifteen or sixteen years old.

"What a coincidence, I thought you were also here to see The Phantom of the Opera," Ivy joked, while explaining her purpose for being there.

The girl relaxed a bit more, so Ivy offered to help: "Do you need any help? After all, two people are always faster than one."

"Thank you! Thank you! I am Fleur, Fleur de la Kur." Fleur smiled gratefully, revealing a set of clean, even teeth.

"Wait...you're speaking English?" It was only then that Fleur, being French, realized that she shouldn't have been able to understand Ivy's meaning so easily.

“Magic…there are always endless possibilities.” Ivy showed off the wand in her hand, even though it had nothing to do with the spells she was using.

Chapter 151 Dividing the Sea

“You must be a powerful wizard,” Fleur exclaimed, then explained the situation. “Gabrielle and I came to see the musical ‘The Phantom of the Opera.’ We’ve seen it together many times, but today’s performance is in English, and Gabrielle can’t understand it very well, so we went to explore the underground of the opera house. But just a second ago she said she wanted to play hide-and-seek, and the next second she disappeared.”

Gabrielle's name has corresponding spellings in various European languages. Although the spellings differ slightly, the pronunciations are all quite similar. Moreover, it is a unisex name. In English, it can be directly translated as Gabriel, meaning angel. The Archangel Gabriel in the Bible is also spelled this way. Because people generally believe that angels are genderless, this name can be used by both men and women. Ivy initially thought that Fleur was speaking English.

"At first I thought she was joking with me, but so much time has passed and she still hasn't shown up..." Furong's face was full of worry, it seemed that she cared a lot for this younger sister.

"Don't worry, let's look for her together," Ivy reassured her. "Maybe she'll run out on her own soon."

“Unlikely…” Hibiscus shook her head. Her voice was a little hoarse from shouting for so long, but it still sounded pleasant. “Could something have happened to her?”

"Alright, have you searched all those areas?" Ivy surveyed the underground space. The fluorescent light emanating from the tip of Hibiscus Wand spread for only a dozen feet before dissipating into the thick darkness, but Ivy's eyesight was unaffected. He scanned the stone pillars along the underground lake one by one, searching for Gabrielle's whereabouts.

Because no one has been here for a long time, and due to the influence of the water vapor from the underground lake, any human passing by on the surface would easily leave traces, but in Ivy's opinion, there were no third person's footprints here.

"What are you looking at?" Furong couldn't help but rub her shoulders.

In her field of vision, apart from the faint glow emitted by her wand, everything was pitch black. However, the handsome British wizard beside her kept staring intently into the darkness, which made her feel a little uneasy. She couldn't help but wonder if something was lurking in the darkness.

“Of course I’m looking for your sister.” Ivy turned around, realizing how strange her behavior looked to someone without darkvision. “Well, as far as I can tell, there’s no trace of a third person here. If you’re sure Gabrielle came down with you…”

“I’m sure!” Ivy was interrupted before she could finish speaking. Hibiscus glanced at the deep blue lake again. “I suspect she fell into the lake…”

“Alright, let’s stir up this underground lake and take a look.” Ivy waved her wand, drawing a huge circle in the air, and the once calm underground lake immediately began to stir.

Furong exclaimed in surprise and took a step towards Ivy.

Huge bubbles rose to the surface of the lake, bursting and splashing white water. To Furong's astonishment, the entire lake churned and parted to the sides, revealing a ravine wide enough for three or four people to pass side by side.

The separated water bodies of the underground lake form water walls on both sides of the ravine, as if the movement of the water is constrained by completely transparent glass.

This is a 4th-circle Alteration spell that manipulates water. With the Alteration talent granted by the Philosopher's Stone, Ivy can easily part the water's surface with the power of a wizard.

Moreover, he can control water to create waves, huge whirlpools, or guide the direction of a river.

Finding someone underwater couldn't be easier.

“This…this is amazing…” Fu Rong took a few steps forward and said in surprise.

The bottom of the underground lake is a stone floor because the land was a swamp when the opera house was first built. So, in order to stabilize the building and prevent water from seeping into it from the surrounding moisture-rich soil, the architect Garnier simply built an artificial lake underground. To avoid putting too much external force on the building structure, he also placed this underground lake directly under the stage.

Unlike a grandstand filled with spectators, the stage, with only props, sets, and a few actors, was obviously lighter. The artificial lake was constructed of stone bricks and concrete, so the muddy ground that Ivy had envisioned did not appear after she parted the water.

click!

A stone staircase rose from the ground of the passageway in the middle of the water, and Ivy's shapeshifting skills became increasingly refined.

“Come on, Miss Delacour,” Ivy gestured, “let’s go down and take a look together.”

"Just call me Furong." Without feigning modesty, Furong took Ivy's arm. Her palm was icy cold. Before Ivy could even take a step, she grabbed Ivy's arm and walked forward. It seemed she was still very concerned about her younger sister.

The underground lake has a water level of about 4 meters. The water looks very clear, and under the effect of Hibiscus's fluorescent spell, the water shimmers with a beautiful light, making this underground world less gloomy.

"No!" Fleur pulled Ivy forward a few steps, then stopped and looked at him. "Could you make this passageway go around in circles?"

"Snapped!"

Ivy snapped her fingers, and the steps they had descended from the stone bridge were immediately submerged in water. White waves swirled, and a new ravine spread out from where they stood.

After circling around, they had seen the entire underground lake, but they still hadn't found any humanoid objects.

"At least you don't have to worry about her drowning anymore," Ivy comforted her, looking at Hibiscus's furrowed brows.

“Could it be…could it be that she’s left?” Fleur began to consider other possibilities. “If she’s been caught by the Muggle guards, that would be troublesome. They might notify the Ministry of Magic.”

“Hmm… I think Muggles probably don’t know about the Ministry of Magic.” Ivy raised the stairs again and led Fleur away from the bottom of the lake.

"No matter what, thank you for your help, sir..." Although Furong was still worried about her sister's situation, she had at least ruled out the worst-case scenario. She smiled and asked, "I still don't know your name."

“Ivy Doom, a student of Hogwarts,” Ivy introduced himself.

"Ah! So you're not an adult wizard yet?" Fleur exclaimed, seemingly only now remembering the rule that underage wizards are not allowed to cast spells outside of school.

Like the British Ministry of Magic, the French Ministry of Magic uses sleight of hand to track the magical fluctuations of young wizards. She had originally thought that casting spells near an adult wizard would allow her to evade the Ministry's scrutiny. Now, even if she found her sister, she couldn't escape her family's interrogation; letters from the Ministry of Magic would likely arrive in her hands soon.

Chapter 152 Phantom

“Don’t worry, besides you and me, there are two other adult wizards in this opera house.” Ivy blinked. “So don’t worry about the Ministry of Magic sending you a letter. If they do, just write to me and I’ll go and demolish the French Ministry of Magic’s office on prohibiting the misuse of magic. I’ll need your directions then, because I don’t know where the French Ministry of Magic is. Considering the British Ministry of Magic is right below Whitehall, perhaps the French Ministry of Magic is below Versailles?”

Fleur let out a silvery laugh: "No! We don't have a king or emperor anymore! Our Ministry of Magic is below Place Furstenberg, a romantic little square, much smaller than other famous landmarks in Paris."

“Well, I thought the French Ministry of Magic would be more impressive.” After lightening the mood, Ivy steered the conversation back to Fleur’s missing sister. “Where do you want to look next? Maybe the ground floor of the opera house?”

“No…” The smile on Hibiscus’s face disappeared. “I want to keep looking around here… You know, the underground of the Garnier Opera House is like a maze. Maybe Gabrielle just accidentally wandered into some secret passage.”