Hogwarts: My Grandmother is the Queen

Chapter 391 continues

After the projection dissipated, the green light above the platform slowly sank down and receded back into the patterns on the surface of the stone pillar.

Henry stood at the edge of the platform, looking down at the stone steps leading to the entrance.

The narrow, steep steps extend downwards and disappear around an unseen corner.

As he stepped down the first step, he heard a deep closing sound behind him.

The doorway, along with the corridor he had come from, had completely closed off.

The stairs were longer than he had expected. He walked about three hundred steps, and the stone steps under his feet began to widen, turning from a narrow and steep spiral staircase into a gentle slope. New lamps appeared on the walls on both sides of the slope.

He stopped at the end of the slope.

Before me stood a massive stone door, its surface devoid of any keyholes or handles, a smooth, dark gray stone surface bearing an inscription in clear, upright Old English script.

"You made your first choice before entering this passage. Now you have to confront the reasons why you made that choice."

Henry touched the surface of the stone door with his gloved left hand. A steady warmth emanated from the positioning stone, and then the stone door slid open slowly to the sides.

The space behind the door was larger than any of the previous rooms.

The dome was so high that its top was invisible, and the surrounding walls stretched into the distance, disappearing into the darkness.

The ground was covered with a layer of polished stone slabs, and thin lines of green light flowed through the seams between the slabs, like a huge map unfolded.

He went inside, and the door behind him slowly closed.

Then he saw the glowing network diagram on the ground.

Starting from the center of this underground space, the map expands in all directions. He can see the location of the main castle building, the tower, the direction of the Black Lake, the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and even some areas he has never set foot in, marked with gray lines on the map—blank areas that exist on the map but have not yet been explored.

About three feet away from his feet, there was a square area, about two feet square, that was darker in color than the surrounding stone slabs.

He walked over and squatted down to examine it. The surface of that area lacked the spiral pattern; instead, it bore a short inscription: "In your first choice, you chose downwards. Now, please confirm: did you choose downwards because you believed what you needed was there, or because you feared that going upwards would reveal something you didn't want to face?"

Henry finished reading the passage and straightened up.

You can choose not to answer. But your actions will be more honest than your words.

He stepped over the stone slab and continued walking forward.

The network pattern on the ground changed with his steps. Where he walked, the brightness of the green light would decrease slightly, as if the energy was being directed in his direction, while the path in front of him would become brighter.

The map was guiding him, or rather, it was adjusting the content it displayed based on his direction.

He walked for about five minutes, and a pale yellow dot appeared in the center of the map. The dot was small, but its color was completely different from the other green lines.

He stopped beside the point of light. A number was engraved on the edge of the stone slab directly below it; it was an ancient number, but he recognized it.

seven.

He crouched down and touched the location of the light spot with the positioning stone.

The positioning stone is not responding; this is not an ancient magic node.

He touched the surface of the stone slab directly with his finger. The slab was cool, smooth, and unremarkable. But the number "seven" was indeed carved there, the characters neat and the edges sharp, as if it had just been carved recently.

He got up and continued walking. A second pale yellow dot appeared on the map, at the fork of a green vein.

He went over to look, and the number was "nineteen". After walking for about ten more minutes, a third point of light appeared, and the number was "thirty-one".

These three numbers correspond to the number of nodes he has confirmed so far: seven active, nineteen confirmed, and thirty-one recorded.

He stood beside the third point of light for a moment, then looked up ahead. At the far end of the map, where all the green veins converged, there was an empty area, devoid of any light, only a uniform layer of gray, like a deliberately left blank canvas.

In the very center of that blank area, there is a symbol.

The symbol is circular with a dot in the center, surrounded by three arcs of varying spacing, just like the iconic layout of Hogwarts Castle.

The central point is the main castle building, and the three arcs represent the outer city wall, the middle courtyard, and the inner tower area, respectively.

But around this symbol, there is a fourth arc, thinner and lighter in color than the first three, almost blending into the gray background.

The location of the fourth arc corresponds to a region farther than the boundaries of the map he was familiar with, extending into the depths of the Forbidden Forest and the area opposite the Black Lake.

He memorized the location and shape of the symbol, and then continued walking forward.

After walking for a few more minutes, the green veins on the map began to narrow, shrinking from a wide radial network into a clear main road that led directly to the blank area in the center.

New structures began to appear on both sides of the main road: stone pillars. There was one approximately every ten steps; the pillars were smooth and without any...

The spiral pattern consists of pure dark gray stone pillars, all of uniform height and arranged neatly, like a line of guards protecting the road.

As he passed the seventh stone pillar, he felt a slight tremor coming from the ground, as if some kind of weight was falling from a distance.

He stopped, and the tremor did not repeat itself.

As he continued walking, he felt the same vibration again when he passed the fourteenth stone pillar. This time it was clearer and lasted longer, about two or three seconds.

As he passed the twenty-first stone pillar, the third wave of vibration occurred. He crouched down and touched the ground with his gloves, and the positioning stone emitted a change in temperature.

He stood up and quickened his pace.

The arrangement of the stone pillars ended after the twenty-eighth pillar.

A new space appeared ahead, not as large as the previous domed hall, but equally spacious. In the center of the space stood a high platform, taller than the one he had seen in the third trial, about shoulder height. The platform was circular, about four feet in diameter, and made of dark gray stones, with green light flowing between the seams.

He walked to the front of the platform.

There are three things on the table.

On the left is a short staff, about a foot long, made of dark wood, with no decoration or carving on the surface, so simple that it is almost crude.

In the center is a circular stone disc, about one foot in diameter, with a spiral symbol engraved on its surface. A thin layer of silvery-white metal is embedded in the pattern of the symbol.

On the right is a letter, in an ordinary off-white envelope, without a signature or postmark.

He picked up the short staff first.

The moment it touched the staff, a clear heat flowed through the positioning stone glove, and a ring of green light appeared at the end of the short staff, indicating that it had been activated.

He raised his short staff and gently traced it across the ground in front of him. A thin, green streak of light shot out from the end of the staff, landing on the ground about six feet away from him. The streak of light lingered for about two seconds before slowly dissipating.

He did not test it a second time, but placed the short staff on the edge of the high platform and picked up the stone disc.

The stone disc was heavier than it appeared, with smooth and warm edges. The silver-white metal embedded in the spiral patterns had a subtle pulsating feel to the touch, as if it were alive.

He slowly traced the spiral pattern with his finger, but the stone disc did not react.

Finally, he picked up the letter.

The envelope wasn't sealed with wax; it was simply folded. He opened it, pulled out a neatly folded piece of parchment, and unfolded it. On it was Bakal's handwriting: "You brought three tools into the trial. The locator stone allows you to sense direction, the beacon allows you to record your path, and the emblem allows you to unlock the entrance. Now you stand deep within the fourth trial, and you need to take one thing out. Not to acquire, but to determine. The three tools correspond to three items; you can only take one. What you take will become your proof of entry into the next stage. What remains will not reappear."

Henry folded the letter back into the envelope, placed it next to the stone plate, stepped back, and looked at the three items on the table.

He doesn't need to think for long.

The short staff is a weapon that can unleash the energy of ancient magic and is useful in combat, but he already has a wand and has sufficient means of self-defense within the magical environment of Hogwarts Castle.

The stone disc is a key, perhaps corresponding to an undiscovered node or entrance, but it already has two emblems and is gradually drawing its own map. The letter—or rather, the envelope—contains a piece of text, a message.

He reached for the letter and put it in his inside pocket.

The short staff and stone plate on the high platform lit up for a moment, then dimmed, as if a layer of luster had been removed from their surfaces, leaving them gray and silent.

A low tremor came from the bottom of the platform, and a vertical crack appeared in the center of the platform, from which a green light shone.

The platform split in the middle and slid to both sides, revealing a downward stepped passageway.

The steps were narrower than before, allowing only one person to pass at a time. The walls on both sides were as smooth as a mirror, reflecting his image.

He walked down the steps.

There were forty-seven steps in total, he counted in his mind. When he reached the forty-seventh step, the ground beneath his feet turned into a flat stone slab. The passage ahead turned sharply to the right, and after turning, he entered a place completely different from any of the spaces he had been in before.

It was a library, with rows of bookshelves stretching from the ground to a dome whose height was unknown. The text on the spines of the books was in a language he did not recognize, but each book had a small piece of silver-white metal embedded on its side. The metal surface was engraved with different symbols, some were spiral patterns, some were combinations of straight lines and dots, and some were letters that did not belong to any language he knew.

The aisles between the bookshelves were wide and flat, with thick, dark carpets on the floor. The carpets were woven with intricate patterns that subtly changed as he walked, as if they were alive.

The air was filled with the smell of old, dry paper, mixed with a faint herbal fragrance.

A faint sound came from afar, like the sound of turning pages, or like someone whispering in the distance.

He moved slowly along the aisles between the bookshelves, the beacon pendant maintaining a steady warmth against his chest, while the temperature of his positioning stone gloves changed slightly depending on the direction he moved, with some bookshelves being slightly warmer and others slightly cooler.

He stopped in front of a bookshelf. The books on that shelf were noticeably different from the others; the metal plates on their spines were dark gold, and there were far fewer of them—only about a dozen books on the entire shelf.

He pulled out one of the books.

The book cover has no title, only a line of numbers in ancient numerals.

He opened the cover, and the handwriting on the inner pages was extremely similar to the research notes he had seen in the underground study before—it was the same person's handwriting.

The contents record a structural analysis of an ancient magical network, including a section that mentions the distribution of branches of the core channel, which is the same energy core he touched during the second trial.

He closed the book and put it back in its place, then pulled out another one. This one was even shorter, only about twenty pages long, and it described an ancient group of wizards known as the Entry Weavers, whose duty was to establish and maintain the nodes and passageways of an ancient magical network.

The book mentions that the Entrance Weavers built multiple passageways beneath Hogwarts Castle, one of which was the main passageway, while the others were branch passageways.

Just as he was about to pull out the third book, he heard footsteps behind him.

The footsteps were very light, but they were clearly audible in the quiet space.

He turned around and saw a figure emerge from between the bookshelves about twenty feet away.

He was a middle-aged man, wearing a dark gray robe. He had a thin face, a sharp jawline, dark brown hair, and some graying temples.

He looked to be in his forties or older, with an air that was somewhere between a scholar and a craftsman.

The middle-aged man stopped about ten feet away from Henry, his gaze falling on the positioning stone glove on Henry's left hand. After a moment, he nodded slightly: "You passed the platform's selection. You took that letter with you."

"Who are you?" Henry didn't finish his question because the middle-aged man didn't look like any of the Guardian's portraits, nor like any living person he had ever seen.

The way this person stood there was so stable, as if he had never moved or even considered moving.

"I am someone who has walked this path before," the middle-aged man said. "My name has been erased from the records. That history doesn't need to be remembered, but the path itself needs to be walked to the end. The fact that you are standing in this library means that you have come far enough. Now what you need to do is find something, a book, without a title, with a dark green cover and a dark gold metal plate on the spine, with a symbol engraved on it."

The middle-aged man raised his right hand and drew a symbol in the air: a circle with a dot in the center and three arcs around it.

Henry's gaze lingered on the symbol for a moment; it was the same symbol he had seen at the end of the network diagram, only it was missing the fourth arc.