Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 61 @! #

"Open!"

Ike spoke in Parseltongue, and the snakes on the stone wall responded, gradually opening to both sides.

Ike walked into the room behind the wall and looked around.

The room wasn't large. Against the wall directly opposite stood three large bookshelves. In front of the bookshelves was a table, with scattered parchment piled haphazardly on it. On the other side were two long tables side-by-side, with some instruments that Ike couldn't understand on them.

The whole room was covered in dust, and just a few steps stirred up a lot of it.

"Completely cleaned up!"

A whirlwind swept the dust out of the room, and Ike lit up two more orbs of light to illuminate the room and began his inspection.

After some investigation, they couldn't help but feel discouraged.

Comrade Lao Fu was too ruthless!

The bookshelves, desk, and what might have been the lab bench must have been protected by dust-proofing magic before; Ike could still see some runes and magic circles on them.

The three large bookshelves were nearly empty, containing only historical documents and mythological tales, none of which concerned magic. The parchment on the desk was also damaged; Ike could only vaguely make out that it contained experimental records, but the records were so badly damaged that he couldn't even discern what kind of experiments they were.

"@!#"

Ike cursed for a long time before stopping. Voldemort's actions were extremely unethical!

He completely emptied Slytherin's treasure trove, leaving nothing of value behind, and even used magic to try and destroy it.

There were obvious burn marks on the desk and bookshelves, and the parchment was mostly burned with holes or missing corners. Ike had initially thought the walls of the room were naturally blackened, but now it seemed they were blackened by fireworks!

It's possible that the protective measures left by Slytherin were completely destroyed in that fire.

After carefully collecting the remaining books and parchment, Ike cursed a few more times before leaving in disappointment.

The basilisk hadn't returned yet, and Ike ignored it, casting a Guiding Charm and emerging from the washroom sink in the direction his wand was pointing. Without lingering, he went straight back to the Ravenclaw dormitory.

After spending several hours in the secret room, not long before dawn, Ike put the books and parchment into the box and climbed into bed.

When I woke up, it was almost noon.

After washing up and having a quick lunch in the auditorium, Ike went straight back to his dormitory.

Stuart and Terry will likely not stay in the dorms on Sundays, as they'll be at the Quidditch pitch with the Ravenclaw Quidditch match approaching. This saves Ike a lot of trouble.

Ike took out the books from the box containing the Unseen Stretching Charm, quickly flipped through them, and felt even more disappointed.

The Nibelungenlied, the Edda, the Saga, the Book of the Shield Bull, and the Book of Thoth—except for the Book of Thoth, which is a book about the ancient Egyptian god of wisdom that Ike had never seen before, the others are Norse and Celtic mythological texts, much of which Ike already knew.

"That's ruthless! That's ruthless!"

Ike casually tossed the basic book back into the box, cursing under his breath.

I didn't pay much attention last night, thinking there might be some clues in these books. After all, books that Slytherin could collect must have something special about them. But after flipping through them, Ike felt that they might just be for reference. Slytherin might have found some clues in these myths and then conducted some research.

Unfortunately, after Comrade Lao Fu swept through it, nothing useful was left.

Undeterred, Ike picked up the parchments again, trying to find some useful clues. The result was disheartening; just like the night before, Ike couldn't find anything.

"A small amount of floating grass, some dragon blood, ... crushed bone pieces, ... leave it for three days, do not..."

Ike stared at this passage, which might be some kind of potion recipe, for a long time, but he had no clue whatsoever. He swore that there was nothing like it even in "Powerful Potions".

Want to restore it? There's simply no way to start!

After packing his things away, Ike went to the Quidditch pitch to find Stuart and the others.

I'm starting to lose my temper...

The Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor match is just over a week away, and this presents an opportunity. A few days ago, during the Lion-Snake battle, Harry was attacked by a crazed slithering ball, and although he eventually caught the Golden Snitch, he still broke his arm.

Unfortunately for Harry, Lockhart joined in the fun again, removing the entire bone from Harry's arm. Having spent so much time recuperating at Madam Pomfrey's, he definitely wouldn't make it to the Griffin-Hawk duel.

Roger was delighted with this, as the opportunity to end Ravenclaw's more than ten-year losing streak against Gryffindor was within reach. He had been putting a lot of pressure on the team's training lately, almost to the point of being comparable to Gryffindor's tyrant, Wood.

The young eagles were also full of anticipation. Quidditch fanatics Stewart and Terry would go to watch the team practice almost every day, and Professor Flitwick also made things easy for them, giving the team permission to occupy the Quidditch pitch indefinitely.

When Ike arrived, the team had already been practicing for a while. He greeted Stewart and then sat quietly to the side, watching seven or eight people ride old five-star and seven-star motorcycles flying around in the air.

They were just relaxing, and even though they still couldn't understand what tactics Roger and the others were practicing, it didn't matter.

The weather was already quite cold at the end of November, but thanks to the warm-up spell, Ike didn't feel too cold. It was just tough on the players flying in the air, though; Ike could hear them sneezing every now and then.

Magic is not allowed in Quidditch matches; players can only try to keep warm by wearing thick clothes, but obviously, it's not very effective.

I stayed with Stuart and the others until evening, and after dinner, we chatted for a while in the common room.

The Chamber of Secrets and the Heir are no longer the most pressing topics for young wizards; Harry's experiences during the Lion-Snake War are. Aside from that, there's Lockhart, whose unreliability once again proves the validity of the "Anti-Lockhart Alliance," which has kept Stuart, Terry, and others incredibly energetic, frantically expanding the alliance's size.

Unfortunately, the league has made no progress so far, and apart from confirming that Lockhart is an incompetent person, they have not found any other evidence.

Ike simply watched them discuss passionately without revealing any clues.

The alliance brought together the vast majority of people at Hogwarts, which is a good thing in some ways.

Monday morning was Potions class, and nobody wanted to be late for Snape's class, so everyone left early.

The next morning, Ike, Stuart, and the others arrived at the Great Hall to have breakfast, only to find the young wizards inside looking anxious and talking about something.

Stuart leaned over, then quickly returned with very bad news.

A second attack occurred.

First update, and more.

(End of this chapter)