Hogwarts: My Grandmother is the Queen

End of Chapter 400

“I’ve pieced together his memory.” Snape didn’t turn around. “The fragments pieced together three complete images. The first is the scene of Barty Crouch Sr. in the Resonance Room on the night of November 6, 1981. The second is the scene of him returning home the next day. The third…” Henry walked to the basin. “What’s the third one?”

"See for yourself."

Snape stirred the bowl with his wand, and a silver light spread out, revealing an image.

The first scene: a very dark circular room with dark gray stone bricks on all four sides, and countless tiny sound-patterned stones embedded in the walls.

In the center of the room stood a stone platform, which was completely empty. Barty Crouch the Elder stood against the east wall, his palms pressed against the mirrored stone slab.

His lips were moving, but no sound could be heard.

The sound-printed stones in the reverberation chamber can only capture sounds of specific frequencies, and Old Barty's voice is not within the capture range.

But the mirrored stone slab in his palm was glowing, a faint, pulsed light. Each time a pulse of light appeared, Old Barty's body would tremble slightly, as if struck from within by something.

The scene lasted for about three minutes. Old Barty withdrew his hand, took a step back, and stared at the mirrored stone slab for a while.

His lips moved clearly: "The receiver is in place, seventh layer."

Screen switch.

The second scene: Old Barty's house, a small study.

He sat at his desk, parchment spread out before him, a quill pen clutched in his hand. He was writing that letter.

After he finished writing, he rolled up the parchment and stuffed it into the envelope, drawing three arcs on the envelope.

He then called the owl, tied the envelope to the owl's leg, and went to the window.

Night fell outside the window, and an owl flapped its wings and flew westward. Old Barty stood by the window for a long time, then turned and said something to the corner of the study.

Henry read the lip movements: "If I am gone, tell the Duke of Cambridge."

The scene changes again.

The third scene: This study, but at a different time.

Old Barty looked older and more haggard, with gray hair and sunken eyes.

He sat at the same desk, with another roll of parchment spread out in front of him.

He was writing, but very slowly, pausing every few words, as if he were struggling with something.

As he finished writing, he put down the quill, pressed his hands on the table, and his body trembled slightly.

Then he looked up and said something towards the direction of the study door.

Henry didn't need to read lip movements to hear this; Snape's Legilimency had already extracted the sound.

"The door cannot be opened. Something is waiting behind the curtain on the seventh floor; it has been dormant for fourteen years. If it emerges, all seals will be broken."

The image faded, and the silver light in the meditation basin returned to calm.

Henry remained silent for a long time.

"When is the third scene?" he asked.

"According to the timeline of the memory threads, it was March of this year," Snape said. "About three weeks before he died."

55

"He said all the seals will be broken," Henry began. "The point along the Black Lake is the seal."

"Are you sure you want to go to Black Lake now?" Snape asked.

"Tomorrow morning." Henry put the dark green book into his inner pocket. "But now I need to confirm one thing: there's more than one seal. Old Barty should know the locations of the other seals."

Snape took a new crystal bottle from his robes, at the bottom of which lay the last strand of memory.

"I found this in a fragment of the third image. Before he wrote that letter, he was rummaging through his desk drawer. There was a map in the drawer. The parchment was yellowed, and there were seven points marked on it."

Henry took the crystal bottle and looked at it under the light.

Silvery-white memory threads swirl at the bottom of the bottle, vaguely revealing the outline of a map with seven points distributed in different locations, forming an arc.

"He located the seven nodes," Henry said. "He knows where all the seals are."

"But he only had time to send one message before he died, which was the receiver's serial number; he wrote the rest in the letter," Snape said. "Your grandmother should have received it."

Henry carefully put the crystal bottle away: "I'll go to Black Lake first tomorrow, then return to Kensington Palace."

He turned and walked out of the office. The torches in the corridor had been replaced with new ones, and the light was brighter than before.

When Henry returned to the common room, Draco and Pansy were playing chess by the fireplace.

Draco looked up when he came in.

"How is it?"

"It's been reorganized." Henry sat down by the fireplace and placed the dark green book and the crystal bottle Snape had given him on the coffee table. "Old Barty was trying to send a message during the last three weeks before he died."

Pansy put down the chess piece. "Where's the letter?"

"The letter contained the receiver's serial number and a warning from the seventh layer. But he may have recorded more detailed information in another way." Henry held up the crystal bottle and glanced at the fire. "This bottle contains his memories from rummaging through a drawer. Inside the drawer was an old map marked with seven points."

"Can you restore that map?" Draco asked.

"After we return from Black Lake tomorrow, I'll have Snape extract the complete image of this map." Henry carefully put away the crystal bottle. "But right now, the node along the Black Lake is more pressing. Old Barty..."

The statement "All seals will break" implies that the seals are interconnected. If one breaks, the others will follow. Last night, when the pulse passed through the main vein, the aftershocks shifted a few degrees and disappeared beneath the gravel beach. That node has been awakened.

Draco frowned. "You mean, last night's pulse might have activated the seal?"

"I'm not sure." Henry stood up. "I'll check tomorrow morning."

The banquet hall had been rearranged; the four long tables had been moved and replaced with a dozen or so round tables, the tablecloths of which were dark blue and embroidered with the emblem of the Triwizard Tournament.

The Slytherin cellar style was neutralized, replaced by a deliberately created neutral atmosphere.

We show no favoritism to any school, nor do we neglect any guest.

Three candles were placed on each round table, their flames magically fixed in a silvery-white color, burning steadily without flickering or dripping wax.

When Henry entered the auditorium, Draco had already saved him a seat.

The Slytherin table was split in two, with Slytherin students sitting on one side and Durmstrang students on the other.

Henry sat down next to Draco, opposite a Durmstrang sixth-grade student with high cheekbones and deep...

A silver wolf head badge was pinned to the collar of his robe, near his eye sockets.

The man nodded to Henry without saying a word.

Beauxbatons students occupied the area on the east side of the Great Hall, with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students mixed among them.

Fleur Delacour sat among a group of Ravenclaw girls, her silver hair gleaming softly in the candlelight, talking quietly with a Ravenclaw girl with a ponytail, occasionally smiling.

The Gryffindor table was broken into three parts: one part remained where it was, one part sat next to Hufflepuff, and the other part was squeezed around the round table in the center of the Great Hall.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat at the edge of the central round table. Ron was enjoying a plate of roasted potatoes, while Hermione was talking to Hannah beside him.

Harry sat quietly, twirling an empty cup in his hand, his gaze occasionally sweeping across the Great Hall, as if searching for someone.

Henry picked up his teacup and took a sip; the temperature was just right.

As he put down the cup, he tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table.

Draco turned his head to the side.

"Filch was here ten minutes ago." Draco's voice was extremely low, almost drowned out by the noise of the Great Hall. "The cordon on the eighth-floor corridor has been set up. Dumbledore personally checked the wall behind the tapestry; it's completely shut down. There's no energy fluctuation."

Henry nodded, and the ports of Bagman and Oswald were sealed off under the pretext of structural security risks.

Oswald had left Hogwarts before noon to return to the Ministry of Magic.

Bagman was still in the castle, but Dumbledore, citing the need for post-event cleanup, ordered him to stay in the referee's room and not move around freely.

"And what about Bagman himself?"

"Writing reports in the referee's room," Draco said. "Pansy's watching. He doesn't seem too happy, but he hasn't said anything."

Henry put down his teacup. As Dumbledore stood up, the noise in the Great Hall seemed to be suppressed by an invisible hand, gradually subsiding.

The silvery candlelight reflected off his crescent-shaped glasses, making his blue eyes appear exceptionally bright behind the lenses.

"The Triwizard Tournament is over." Dumbledore's voice wasn't loud, but every word resonated clearly throughout the Great Hall.

In every corner, "Tonight, we gather here not to celebrate who won or lost. There are winners and losers in competitions, but the significance of the three-way battle has never been about the outcome itself."

He paused, his gaze slowly sweeping over the students of the three schools.

The students of Beauxbatons sat quietly, with Mrs. Maxime among them, her massive figure resembling a gentle mountain.

The Durmstrang students quieted down, and Krum sat among them, clutching an empty cup in his hand.

The Hogwarts students looked at Dumbledore with anticipation and a hint of unease—too many things had gone wrong with the Third Project, and no one knew what Dumbledore would say.

"The Triwizard Tournament began more than seven hundred years ago," Dumbledore continued. "Its original purpose was to bring together the three oldest magic schools in Europe, allowing young witches and wizards to get to know and learn from each other. The competition itself is just a formality. What truly matters is what you learn outside of the competition."

His gaze fell on Cedric, who sat at the round table between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. The Goblet of Fire had been taken from his hand, but the radiance on his face had not yet faded.

Harry was sitting next to him, with an empty seat between them, but neither of them sat down.

"Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter arrived at the center of the maze at the same time and touched the same spot simultaneously."

"The Triwizard Cup," Dumbledore said. "According to the traditional rules of the Triwizard Cup, they are tied for the championship. This is only the second time in the history of the Triwizard Cup that there has been a tie for the championship. The first time was in 1792, when two of the three warriors caught the Golden Snitch at the same time."

A low murmur rippled through the Great Hall. Dumbledore paused for a moment before continuing, "But that's not what I wanted to say. What I wanted to say is that tonight we're sitting together, students from Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang—three schools sharing the same table, the same dinner. This is not something that has been taken for granted in the seven-hundred-year history of the Triwizard Tournament."

His gaze swept across the auditorium, his voice calm and steady.

"The Triwizard Tournament was interrupted before. Because of death, because of hatred, because of the rivalry between schools."

Every interruption occurred because we forgot the original purpose of the competition—to understand each other, rather than to defeat each other.

Tonight, I want you to remember one thing: everyone you meet here, regardless of their school, language, or how different their magical traditions are from yours, is your fellow traveler. You share the same magical world.

Mrs. Maxim nodded slightly from her seat. Karkaroff was not present; he had left Hogwarts after the third project, citing illness. Durmstrang students were supervised by their assigned teachers.

Krum sat among the Durmstrang students, his face expressionless, but he gripped the empty cup in his hand even tighter.

Dumbledore raised his glass. "A toast to the Triwizard Tournament. A toast to Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durham!"

Strong. A tribute to friendship and cooperation.

Everyone in the auditorium raised their glasses, the silvery candlelight reflecting on each glass like a shattered starry sky.

After the banquet officially began, the atmosphere in the auditorium gradually relaxed.

Conversations filled the air around the round tables as students from the three schools began to move around. Several Beauxbatons girls, carrying glasses of wine, approached the Slytherin table and began chatting with Pansy and Daphne.

Pansy's French was better than Henry had expected; she spoke French with a Beauxbatons girl.

Daphne occasionally chimed in, asking the girl questions in English, such as where Beauxbatons' castle was, whether there was a cellar in the castle, and whether snakes were kept in the cellar.

Henry picked up his teacup and stood up. Draco glanced at him.

"Where to?"

"Let's go," Henry said. "You don't need to come along."

He walked along the edge of the Great Hall toward the Gryffindor table, and as he passed the Hufflepuff table, Cedric looked up and raised his cup toward him.

Henry nodded without stopping.

When he walked over to the Gryffindor table, Hermione was talking to Hannah about something. When she saw him coming, Hermione looked up.

"Henry," Hermione said, "you've come at the right time. Hannah said Hufflepuff wants to have a joint training session with the Dueling Club. What do you think about it after the start of next semester?"

"Okay." Henry sat down in the empty seat next to him. "You can discuss the specific time with Cedric."

The training facility will be housed in a Room of Requirement; I can apply for it in advance.

Hermione nodded and continued discussing the details with Hannah.

Henry picked up his teacup, took a sip, and glanced across the hall.

Harry sat at the other end of the round table, next to Ron and several Gryffindor Quidditch players.

Ron was telling a joke, and everyone around him burst into laughter.