Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world.

Chapter 63 The Poems of Rowena

Time passed quietly, and November quickly came to an end. One day, I woke up to find that heavy snow had suddenly fallen on Hogwarts.

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

The courtyard, which was usually filled with young wizards, was now deserted.

Even the corridors were much quieter; the weather was too cold, and the draft seemed to penetrate to the bone.

The fireplaces in the common rooms of the four colleges are always burning brightly.

Everyone basically stays huddled here, only moving their thickly wrapped bodies with a sigh when class starts.

Therefore, Snape's Potions class was the most unpopular class, without exception, because the Potions classroom was in the basement, which was cold and damp, and the esteemed Professor Snape was even unwilling to light a campfire for the young wizards.

He said to everyone, "Potion ingredients thrive in darkness. You must learn to be patient and draw nourishment and energy from your own greasy fat. I must say, Hogwarts feeds you far too well!"

But in reality, his own office is quite warm.

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

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

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

It should actually be called Vaughn's project notes for his new potion.

"...In the process of separating properties, I discovered a very strange phenomenon: the properties of potion ingredients are not limited to what the material itself is made of, or what kind of magic it possesses. The emergence of properties also includes an ineffable mystical aspect, such as the influence and positioning of legends on it..."

"Take the petals of henbane as an example. It has always been the main ingredient in love potions, but in reality, henbane is not a magical plant. It does not have any magic called love. Its material composition can only be used for sedation and pain relief (Muggles have also used it as an herbal medicine)."

"Until I went through the Hogwarts library and discovered something interesting—several hundred years ago, it was suddenly given new meaning by Muggles."

"It all started with a wizard's prank, who told Muggles that hymens could deceive people into love and bewitch them. The Muggles believed him, and in the midst of the anti-wizarding movement at the time, they passed down this lie as a way to identify wizards."

"The wizard who wrote the book mocked the stupidity of Muggles, but hundreds of years later, in modern times, henbane, which was originally only used to calm and relieve pain, has actually acquired the effect of bewitching people's minds, and thus the love potion was born..."

Upon reading this, Snape couldn't help but look up: "Is this true?"

Which part?

"Muggle lore can imbue materials with properties."

"Oh, you just saw Henjamina?" Vaughn paused selecting materials, thought for a moment, and said, "I can't say for sure, but based on the materials I've tested so far and their related plants, it's highly likely."

This is a bit beyond common sense. Even Snape and other apothecaries have never examined potion ingredients they thought they were familiar with from this perspective!

They had always assumed that it was the combined effect of magic and ritual during the potion-making process.

Is it...

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

Snape, a believer in purebloods, was somewhat uneasy.

He gently wiped his forehead, where a fine layer of sweat had appeared unnoticed, and then continued reading.

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

This is, after all, a paper on potions, and it mainly discusses potions.

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

"This highly poisonous plant is common in both the wizarding world and Muggle society. In the wizarding world, it has always been used as an ingredient in poisons or as a blending agent for certain potions. However, in Muggle legends, it has been given a unique use since ancient times: killing wolves!"

"So it's also called wolfsbane aconite, or wolfsbane grass... I've successfully isolated this characteristic, and it may have unique functions, such as inhibiting werewolf virus!"

Snape finally put down the paper.

He wanted to smash it to the ground, but for some reason he didn't. He wanted to get angry and question Vaughn, but he didn't know how to start.

His face was ashen, and he struggled to suppress his anger as he asked Vaughn, "You want to develop a cure for werewolves? Why?"

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

Snape was speechless.

He couldn't bring himself to ask any more questions. He paced back and forth angrily for a few steps, then turned and left, tossing his cloak behind him.

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 drug he wanted to develop was wolfsbane!

The words he spoke to Snape were indeed one of the reasons he chose to develop this potion. Fenrir Greyback was ambitious, and over the years, countless families and young wizards had suffered at his hands.

He scratched them, infected them, and turned them into uncontrollable werewolves!

Then, by exploiting the wizards' fear and rejection of werewolves, they artificially created a marginal class in the magical world, a group of homeless and pitiful people.

They had no future and no prospects, and when they finally had nowhere else to turn, they were forced to become members of the Greyback werewolf army!

That's why Vaughn wanted to develop the Wolfsbane Potion. Once it was successfully launched, it could save countless families and eliminate a major threat to the wizarding world, or rather, the Ministry of Magic!

At that time, fame will naturally come rolling in.

"If it weren't for the research and promotion of the wolfsbane drug, why would I bother with Old Deng's pretense? It's precisely because I want to use his name that I'm doing this. Fudge hasn't gone too far yet and is still listening to Old Deng. I hope he won't be ungrateful..."

Silently thinking, Vaughn began to select auxiliary materials based on the characteristics extracted from aconite.

More than half an hour later, Snape, who had run away, hurriedly returned.

His long face remained tense, but Vaughn, who knew him well, knew he was no longer angry.

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

Vaughn shrugged. "I can't find a werewolf, Professor."

"..." Snape shook his head violently, gritted his teeth for a long time, and squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth:

"Come out with me for Christmas!"

"Okay, Professor... By the way, I heard you dislike the Potter family's shampoo. I'm planning to develop a new type of shampoo product; 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 students staying at school for Christmas. Vaughn, Ron, Harry, and the twins all signed it.

From that day on, the atmosphere at the school became nonchalant.

The young wizards were distracted all day, each eagerly anticipating the holidays. Finally, a week before Christmas, as the wrought-iron gates of Hogwarts, which had been closed for months, slowly opened, the Hogwarts Express, trailing thick smoke, arrived from the distant mountains.

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

When I returned, Hogwarts was mostly empty, like a desolate wilderness after a heavy snowfall in the early morning, vast and silent.

The twins skipped and hopped on their way to Hogsmeade, already knowing in advance that Vaughn would give them 10 Galleons for their Christmas present.

They were going to select materials to develop new products for the Weasleys Magic Tricks workshop. The previous Canary Cookies had become very popular because of Ron's "passionate" demonstration at the Quidditch match.

The little wizard was happy to spend a few copper nut to buy this prank item, and then casually hand it to a friend, who would suddenly turn into a huge, fat canary while the friend was talking or reading.

The twins, working together, successfully dismantled numerous groups at Hogwarts between the time after the Quidditch match and before Christmas.

Some young men with unconventional ideas, like buying cookies for their girlfriends, have even found themselves single.

Compared to the twins' ambition, Ron and Harry, the academic underachievers, had rather unremarkable pursuits; they planned to spend the whole day playing wizard chess in the common room.

Harry didn't actually like it because he was too bad at it, and the chess pieces never listened to him.

"Foolish chess player, would you like to try and shove my sword down your head? Why don't you let that damned king go? It doesn't matter if he dies!"

"Merlin—someone save me! My lower body is gone—"

The abnormal knight who broke his lower body to disobey his commands and then crawled on his upper body became Harry's nightmare that night.

They all ran away, leaving Vaughn alone, but Vaughn really liked the peace and quiet of having so few people around.

He wandered around the vast, empty Hogwarts a few times, then borrowed a book from the library and took Fruit Tea to the Black Lake.

Thanks to the decreasing temperatures in the Scottish Highlands, the Black Loch has frozen over with several feet of ice, which is solid and firm.

Normally, many little wizards would appear here, clumsily gliding back and forth on the ice like fat penguins, but today they were all gone. Vaughn conjured up a deck chair, wrapped himself in a velvet cloak, basked in the hazy winter sun, and lay down comfortably.

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

As can be seen from its artistic title, this is another work with a strong Ravenclaw school vibe, and its author's name is even more fitting:

Rowena Ravenclaw!

That's right, it's Ravenclaw, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the legendary witch from a thousand years ago, renowned for her wisdom.

She left behind countless works throughout her life, but few of them were related to magic; instead, the majority were literary works.

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

If Slytherin was able to leave behind the Chamber of Secrets, then what about the other founders? Vaughn reviewed their biographies and concluded that Helga Hufflepuff was the least likely to have left behind the Chamber of Secrets.

She was a very low-key and gentle witch whose greatest joy in life was cooking. If one had to say that she left behind a secret room, it would most likely be the Hogwarts kitchen.

It is next to Hufflepuff Rest, with a disguised door that it will only open if you tickle the pear-shaped doorknob.

As for Gryffindor... it's hard to say. There seem to be a lot of records about him in the wizarding world, but they all focus on his high-profile style and fiery temper, which has confused his true personality.

In Vaughn's view, the most likely person to leave behind the secret chamber or its legacy is Rowena Ravenclaw!

He opened the poetry collection, followed the table of contents to the target page, and immediately saw a line of elegant handwriting (Hogwarts' collection consists of the founder's original calligraphy):

I wander along the path of time

When I looked up

Wherever you look

There are shadows always around me

That was my close friend.

We shared joy and had heartfelt conversations.

……

The shadow built itself a tomb

Right below my beloved castle

When one day I am tired and weary

I will hold flowers that commemorate Helena.

He fell into a deep sleep nearby.

After finishing the poem, Vaughn didn't turn the page again. He had come across this poem by chance while browsing through the Ravenclaw anthology, which was why he had specifically sought out the original manuscript.

The poem has a touch of the Lakeside School, which fits Ravenclaw's literary and romantic character.

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

"Over the years, many people have interpreted this poem, believing that Ms. Ravenclaw wrote it because she was saddened by Helena, and that the shadows and tombs in the poem were her foresight of her daughter's fate."

But Vaughn had a different opinion.

He felt that those people were misled by Helena's name and that they were unaware of the existence of the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin.

This poem was likely written by a Ravenclaw woman who was seriously ill, reminiscing about her former friend, Salazar Slytherin, who had already passed away.

Because of Helena's betrayal, she longed to have someone to talk to and confide in, but she was also afraid of bringing shame to her family. So she could only express her distress in her poems to the shadow of Slytherin, who had long since departed.

But she had already made arrangements for her own fate.

The poem's ending reveals that she may have discovered Slytherin's Chamber long ago, and that she had built a place next to it to hide her own secrets.

May everything about her rest in peace with her death!

Vaughn closed the poetry collection, shut his eyes, and basked in the sun, lost in thought.

He had given up hope of finding the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin. Recently, he had been studying memory magic and was reviewing his memories of his past life, focusing on various details from the original story.

Based on the information he had recently reviewed, he could conclude that the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin had likely been opened multiple times.

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

House Gaunt, direct descendants of Slytherin.

They have been hiding the entrance to the secret room, which means that the secret room has probably been searched countless times by them.

The valuable things have likely all been taken, leaving only an old snake to trap those who come after!

(End of this chapter)