Bring a fairy tale to Hogwarts!

Dumbledore fell silent. Dumbledore fell into thought.

Dumbledore silently took a step back, avoiding the grains that surged toward his feet.

This room was originally decorated by Professor Flitwick. There were burning magic candles on all four sides, illuminating everything, and countless tiny rustling sounds overhead, belonging to a large group of winged keys.

These keys fluttered about in the high, vaulted ceiling, sparkling like jewels, almost like tiny birds. Their graceful forms perfectly demonstrated Professor Flitwick's superb mastery of magic.

—But compared to Victor's nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine cursed grains, Professor Flitwick's arrangement seems rather childish.

"...I didn't know you were so skilled in curses, Professor Victor." Dumbledore paused for a moment before speaking, "Is the aging spell you mentioned the Age-Increasing Curse?"

"No, it's another commonly used spell in our area. With the right potion, it can still save them."

"The curse hasn't taken effect yet, Headmaster, you don't need to stand so far away. It will only change when the clock strikes midnight tonight," Victor added.

"I see... It is indeed very exquisite..."

Dumbledore stared at the grains for a while before asking with interest, "You just said this is only the first step? Are there any more to come?"

Victor nodded, walked directly to the bag, reached into the bag that was still spewing out grains, exerted a little force, and pulled out a huge oil painting with gold trim.

The oil painting depicts an ugly goblin. It has a wrinkled little face, its features almost squeezed together with its pointed nose, and its beetle-like eyes gleam with malice. At this moment, it is angrily pulling at its hair and stomping its feet furiously in what appears to be a tavern.

As Victor took it out, he casually remarked, "This painting is called 'The Failure of Rumpelsterskin.' It was given to me voluntarily by a bard, and it depicts a foolish goblin."

"Ah, old people always become curious about everything. I'd like to ask, why is this fairy so foolish?"

"He helped a farmer's daughter turn straw into gold and become the queen of the kingdom, in exchange for taking her first child. But the queen regretted it after giving birth, so the fairy gave her a second chance."

Victor paused for a moment, without saying it explicitly, but Dumbledore immediately understood that this was one of the foolish things—giving someone the option to renege on a promised deal, which was hardly wise.

But the mention of "children" in the story made Dumbledore frown slightly, sensing the cruelty between the lines.

"...He gave the Queen the chance to guess his name. His name was unusual, and he thought no one could guess it, but he happily told it to someone while drunk in a tavern, and the Queen overheard it. So he foolishly did someone else's work for free, and later, his anger tore him in two."

As Victor was speaking, he had already taken the painting and walked to the door leading to the next room, where he hung it up.

But at that moment, the fairy in the painting moved, its nose and face contorted with rage, and it screamed shrilly:

"No, that's not true!"

"The devil told her! The devil told her!!"

But as it said this, its eyes were fixed on Victor.

Then, in its rage, the goblin stomped its foot so hard that it sank it into the tavern floor! Once inside, it let out another angry screech and tried to pull its foot out. Dumbledore saw that, because of its excessive force, the body in the portrait even began to emit wisps of gray smoke, as if it were about to crack…

"If you dare to lay a hand on me again, I'll make sure you never have the chance to lay a hand on me again," Victor said calmly to the fairy in the painting.

The fairy's screams suddenly stopped.

It stopped pulling, and the malice or rage in its eyes vanished. It simply stood there, staring blankly at Victor for a while. After a dozen seconds, it silently shut its mouth, calmly walked out of the ground, and returned to its original spot.

It's as if intelligence has regained its dominance.

After it emerged, the tavern floor in the scene began to undulate slightly, planks grew out from other places, and soil surged up, quickly restoring the ground to its original state, as if nothing had happened.

After standing still, Rumpelstilskin respectfully asked, "I'm very sorry, what brings you here?"

Victor said coldly:

"Watch this place carefully. Don't let anyone pass through this room until someone brings you the ears of grain. But even if they get the ears of grain, you must use various riddles to keep them occupied. Only those who answer fifty-six riddles correctly in a row can pass. If they try to force their way in, you should lead them to attack you, causing the spell on the picture frame to take effect automatically..."

"Excuse me, may I interrupt?" Dumbledore smiled politely from the side, "What exactly does the spell on the picture frame refer to?"

"It consists of inscriptions carved on it, created along with the portrait, that automatically retaliate against anyone who casts a spell on it."

After he finished speaking, Victor added, "Don't worry, it's absolutely safe and harmless."

"It's just an enhanced version of the 'Faint' spell. I read the Wizarding Law when I first came to England, and I would never do anything against the rules."

"...Then I'm relieved."

Dumbledore rubbed his temples, seemingly unwilling to think about why Victor wanted to read "The Wizarding Law" as soon as he arrived.

After a while, he remembered something else:

"But I might have to come back later to improve the protective magic for me and the other professors. Is it a bit too...ruthless to require me to answer fifty-six riddles correctly to pass?"

"I can arrange for your portrait to be displayed so you can pass, Principal."

"No," Dumbledore shook his head, "there's still room for loopholes. It wouldn't be safe if the intruder had Polyjuice Potion. Let's set a password to open the door."

"How about we use—Open Sesame?"

Victor and Dumbledore stared at each other with smiling faces for a moment, their empty black eyes seemingly devoid of emotion, simply staring at him in silence. After a long while, they turned their heads back to the portrait and nodded slightly.

"Can."

"Then it's settled."

Dumbledore concluded with a smile, then turned around, preparing to leave the room with Victor.

But before leaving, he couldn't help but sigh:

"I must say, the protective magic you designed is probably the most difficult of all the levels—even Voldemort himself would take at least half a day to complete it."

"This is absolutely foolproof."

At that time, Voldemort will probably shout: Riddler, get out of Hogwarts!