From Hogwarts to Sturhaven

Professor Snape stood still, even as Harry cast a suspicious glance at him.

Once the Gryffindors' footsteps had completely disappeared, Snape whispered to Dumbledore, "Was it him?"

“What?” Dumbledore turned around, then realized what he meant. “You mean Voldemort? No, not at all. I’m pretty sure we won’t be bothered by him again this year.”

"What exactly is that basement..." Snape was interrupted.

“I can assure you, it’s not some monster lurking in the Chamber of Secrets, nor is it dark magic,” Dumbledore said. “Go back and check on your student, Severus.”

Snape looked unmistakably angry: "As you wish, Headmaster."

After Snape left, Dumbledore began to slowly repair every wall of the underground classroom.

Only after all the repairs were completed did he address the empty stairwell, saying, "How's your fire dragon, Ivy?"

"His temper is as bad as ever, or maybe he's a little frightened?" Ivy, dressed in a green Slytherin relic robe, appeared out of thin air.

He had overheard the entire conversation between the three professors and the three students, and while Dumbledore was repairing the walls, he had taken a peek into the Chamber of Secrets. Nobeta and Howling Flame were both fine, but they seemed rather boring.

"The dragon-raising permit will be delivered by early next year at the latest, then we won't have to worry about it setting the castle on fire."

“Our minister is indeed susceptible to the influence of gold,” Dumbledore sighed. “He has been corrupted by power far faster than I ever imagined. But it has given me a reminder—power may be more terrifying than the most evil dark magic in the world.”

Dumbledore was a typical reformist wizard. Although he advocated that Muggle-born, pure-blood wizards and half-blood wizards should enjoy the same status, he did not take any measures to change the status quo, whether it was making suggestions to the Ministry of Magic as the Chief Wizard of Wizengamot or spreading this idea in the school as the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Perhaps, as he himself said, he feared power more than dark magic. Therefore, he was very careful in using his influence, simply sitting in this ancient castle, quietly observing the changes in the magical world.

Ivy had no intention of commenting on Dumbledore's ideas; he only wanted to study magic, nothing more.

“Sometimes, society still needs some authority, especially in combating crime and maintaining order,” Ivy replied casually, waiting quietly for his next question.

“You’re right, Ivy. We all need order.” Dumbledore smiled, then asked, “Have you figured out anything about what happened in the castle?”

Ivy shook her head with a serious expression.

He never doubted that he was a master of magic, but in the recent incidents involving magical creatures, his speculations and responses seemed to have been ineffective.

The black dog that resembled Sirius Black had disappeared; the basilisk in the secret chamber remained silent; the wicked bird that had appeared in the Forbidden Forest had been told it could not survive in the Scottish Highlands climate; and the giant beast that had crashed through the castle walls tonight all gave him a sense of something unusual.

“It’s certain that magic was involved.” Ivy had tried many methods to figure out what exactly happened in the underground classroom.

There are no signs of ancient wizarding magic here, nor is it ordinary dark magic. Apparition is even less likely, as Hogwarts Castle has been enchanted with an anti-apparition spell that only the headmaster can break.

While the mage's first-circle spell detection granted Ivy extraordinary magical vision, it could only confirm that magic had indeed been cast within the underground chamber. Ivy couldn't even discern which spell had influenced the remaining magical aura on the ground.

There are only two possibilities that could lead to this situation.

First, this magic does not belong to the D&D magic system, such as wizarding spells.

Secondly, the difficulty in identifying this magic far exceeds Ivy's cognitive system.

Considering that there might only be one D&D wizard, Ivy, in the entire British wizarding world, he still preferred the first outcome.

Dumbledore stared blankly into the dimly lit basement corridor for a long while before speaking: "You know what, Ivy? I've been thinking of an old friend."

“Newt Scamander.” A smile crept across his white beard. “When he was young, he always carried an unassuming leather trunk, but inside it was a whole different world.”

Get the bag!

Dumbledore's words awakened Ivy, whose bag had disappeared since he woke up in the Room of Secrets.

"It seems you've thought of something?" Dumbledore looked at Ivy with an inquisitive expression.

Ivy nodded and said, "More than a hundred years ago, I had a magical artifact that I used to save magical creatures."

"Like Newt's magic suitcase?"

“That’s right, I call it a bag. It’s a square, unremarkable leather bag. But it’s been enchanted with a Threadless Extension Charm and a Summoning Charm, so it can hold all sorts of random things.” Ivy gestured to show the size of the bag.

"The magical creatures I rescued from poachers are stored inside. I will then take them back to the House of Requirement, where a house-elf will help take care of them."

The house-elf who takes care of the magical creatures for Ivy is named Diego. He is Professor Matilda Weasley's house-elf, and it was she who assigned Ivy the task of carrying the bag and rescuing the magical creatures.

As for Matilda Weasley herself, she was the head of Gryffindor more than a hundred years ago, as well as the vice-headmaster and transfiguration professor, exactly the same position as Professor McGonagall at Hogwarts. It's hard to say who imitated whom.

“I usually carry it with me, but it disappeared after I woke up a year ago.” Ivy began to explain her speculation. “At first, I thought that the house-elves took it and released the magical creatures in the Room of Requirement. But now it seems that there may be more to the story.”

During the more than one hundred years that Ivy was unable to move, it's possible that Professor Matilda Weasley had Diego take the bag away and release all the magical creatures inside.

It's possible that the Weasley family's current decline is related to Matilda—Professor Weasley—spending all his wealth to save magical creatures. After all, more than a hundred years ago, the Weasley family was a pure-blooded family that could be served by house-elves.

“Perhaps after the bag was used up, it was thrown back into some corner of Hogwarts. If someone found it and discovered its use, it’s entirely possible that such a series of events could have been created.” Ivy added after speaking, “Even if it wasn’t the bag, a similar magical item could have been involved.”

Only those spatial artifacts that involve the storage of living creatures could possibly allow magical creatures to suddenly appear in a corner of the castle, wreak havoc, and then suddenly disappear.

“It seems we are indeed on the same page.” Dumbledore nodded. “However, such a prop is too well concealed, and opening it rashly could easily cause unnecessary chaos… Perhaps we can check the students’ luggage during the Christmas holidays? If there is no similar prop inside, it means that another wizard has infiltrated Hogwarts.”

Upon hearing Dumbledore mention other wizards, the first name that popped into Ivy's mind was Sirius Black, an Animagus who was also the first black dog to appear in the castle.

Maybe the four robbers discovered Ivy's bag back in school, but are only using it to cause trouble now?

Chapter 180 Washroom

"It's a shame I wasn't there. If I had seen that behemoth that crossed the underground classroom, I could have turned it into a bleating lamb with a powerful Polymorph spell," Lockhart declared to students of every year during Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Ron booed in response.

Hermione glared at Ron and said, "How could you treat a professor like that!"

“You have no idea what he did when the underground classrooms were vandalized,” Ron said. “He was the first one to crawl under the desks, God, in front of so many students. And he could still say something like that? Did he think everyone had forgotten about it?”

"You didn't see it!" Hermione persisted.

“Neville saw it,” Ron continued, further damaging Lockhart’s image in Hermione’s mind, “In his own words, ‘At least I’m still sitting in my chair, not rolling under the table like Professor Lockhart.’”

Hermione remained silent.

Ron shrugged, pulled out a ruler, and measured his magical history paper. The ghostly professor Binns required a length of three feet, and Ron's illegible paper was eight inches short of the required length.

Just then, Harry joined them.

Although the trio are always inseparable, Harry always seems to run into some strange trouble, especially in Potions class.

He was kept after school again, so he was able to meet Ron and Hermione in the library after lunch.

"Do you think the legend of the Chamber of Secrets is true or false?" This question has been bothering Harry for days, especially since every student in the hallway is talking about it.

“It’s fake.” Ron replied without hesitation.

“Really,” Hermione said, offering the complete opposite opinion.

“If the heir to Slytherin could truly eliminate all Muggle-borns from the school, he would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?” Ron completely disregarded the word “Chamber of Secrets.” “Whether it was the ominous sight you saw, the wretched bird that attacked the first-year students, or the big creature that appeared in the underground classroom that day, they were all just magical creatures that happened to wander into the school. There’s nothing to make a fuss about.”

Harry looked at Hermione again, who snapped her book shut: "The reason is simple—all legends have a certain factual basis, and magical creatures that shouldn't have appeared have indeed appeared in the castle. Who knows, the next one to appear might be one with enormous destructive power."

Now that the score is tied one to one, Harry doesn't know whose advice to take, so they decide to ask the professor of the history of magic together.

€€€€€€€€

Professor Binns didn't have much to tell them, and it was almost identical to the rumors already circulating in the castle about the secret chamber.

Harry and Ron both thought Professor Binns's words were meaningless, but Hermione disagreed.

"If the Chamber of Secrets is truly a very secretive legend, then why did it spread so quickly after the first bloodshed?" Hermione asked her two friends.

Seeing their blank expressions, Hermione knew she had asked the wrong person, so she continued to explain, "Hogwarts is an ancient school with a history of over a thousand years, not to mention it's a place where magic is taught, so it's perfectly normal for some legends to circulate here. But why is the Chamber of Secrets the first thing that comes to mind, instead of an ancient wizard like Ivy from over a hundred years ago, or the goblin who once fought him at Hogwarts?"

"Why?" Harry asked, bewildered, not understanding the difference.

"It's because I don't know why!" Hermione replied angrily. She was really fed up with these two's brains and secretly resolved to urge them to do their homework, at least to exercise their minds.

The answer to Hermione's question was actually quite simple: the Chamber of Secrets had been opened once fifty years ago, and the Ministry of Magic had reopened its investigation during the summer holidays. Although no progress was made except for consuming many bottles of wine, the Ministry's actions eventually reached the school through students whose families had civil servants.

Therefore, after the bloodshed, the "Chamber of Secrets," which had been mentioned during the summer holidays or in letters to parents, immediately became the rumored truth, even though it was actually unrelated to the series of events that occurred at Hogwarts this year.

Harry and Ron wanted to warn Hermione that they were on the wrong path, but they dared not make a sound, as they realized they were outside Lockhart's office. If they got caught up with him, it would probably be quite a while before they could escape.

“This!” Harry whispered, drawing Hermione's attention as she rushed forward. “It’s this armor!”

"The one that can talk?" Ron also stopped in front of the gleaming armor, holding a giant hammer in his hand, faithfully guarding the empty corridor.

“Hey! Hello!” Ron waved his hand in front of the armor's eyes, if it really had eyes.

Naturally, no one answered.

"Can it really talk? And in three completely different voices at that?" Ron was beginning to doubt his best friend's story. "Could it be that three ghosts are hiding inside playing tricks on you?"

"No!" Harry's attempt to stop him was too late; Ron ripped off the visor of his armor and brought his face inside.

“There’s nothing in there!” Ron mumbled, then realized his head was stuck inside the helmet, as if the armor had lifted the visor and swallowed his head whole.

"Help me!" Ron called out to his good friend Harry.

Harry reached for the helmet's visor.

Hermione tapped her vinewood wand lightly on the mask, and Ron's head popped out of the armor, the clanging of metal making quite a noise in the corridor.

"Who's outside?" All three of them heard Lockhart's voice.

"Let's go!" Harry urged his two friends away from Lockhart's office.

Lockhart was number one on Harry's "list of people he least wanted to see at Hogwarts." Incidentally, Snape was number two. Harry hesitated for a long time before placing him in this position because Snape didn't bother Harry like Lockhart, and Harry gradually got used to the occasional deductions and detentions.

“Hide here!” Ron quickly opened a door. He didn’t want to see Lockhart either, because he was “allergic to his smile.”

"Hey!" Hermione had no time to protest before she was pushed through the door, and two boys filed in and quickly closed the door behind them.