I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 250 The Secret in the Castle

I chatted with Hannah for a long time.

But she consistently avoided discussing family matters with Irving.

They talked about many things together.

From the new changes in the classroom since the beginning of this semester to the expectations and opinions on the semi-finals.

It's like a group of friends chatting.

However, both sides could feel a sad, thick barrier separating them.

Friday.

Owen and Harry went to a magical creature protection class together.

This is an elective course, not organized by college. You can see students from all four colleges in the classroom.

This is the last class of the week.

A deep, resonant bell rang out from the castle, crossing the damp grounds. get out of class was over, and the students dispersed.

There were also some young wizards who walked down the gently sloping lawn toward Hagrid's hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Hagrid stood outside the cabin door, one hand holding the collar of his enormous hunting dog, Tooth.

Several open wooden crates lay at his feet, their teeth chattering and struggling against their collars, seemingly trying to examine the contents of the crates.

As they approached, a strange crackling sound reached their ears, interspersed with faint explosions.

"Good morning!" Hagrid said, smiling at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "It would be best to wait for the rest of you. I don't think anyone would want to miss this."

He said, "This is my new research; I spent the whole summer studying 'detonating' snails!"

"What is it?" Ron asked.

"Blast-tailed snail!" Hagrid repeated, "A new species I've bred!"

"."

"I suddenly have a bad feeling," Ron whispered to Harry. "I bet it's not going to be anything good."

"That's what I think too," Harry replied in a low voice.

He knew Hagrid; the half-giant's aesthetic sense regarding magical creatures was, while not drastically different from theirs, completely mismatched.

"You'll love it!" Hagrid seemed completely oblivious to the worry flickering in the young wizard's eyes.

He just kept talking excitedly to himself.

Watching the little wizards gradually gather around.

He casually ignored Owen and continued speaking to the other young wizards, "This is a completely new species, one you will never see in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

"Heh—" After a year of torment, the young wizards who were still here all knew what Hagrid's surprise would be. No one had any expectations. They preferred to learn about some common creatures from "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" in a proper manner.

For example, unicorns.

While brushing its fur, you can even collect some of the hairs to sell for free!

Hagrid bent down excitedly and then opened the box at his feet.

"Disgusting!" Lavender Brown screamed and jumped back a few steps.

Ever since Hermione silenced the girl with a Forgetfulness Curse, she hasn't dared to provoke him much anymore—Professor McGonagall lifted the Forgetfulness spell for her, deducting fifty points from Hermione's score for it.

But Harry, along with many others in Gryffindor, supported Hermione's actions.

Because Lavender was just too annoying during that period.

Of course, the biggest reason she's no longer obsessed with her buddy's good looks is probably because after being bitten by the vampire, she became—well—how should I put it—even more beautiful—her skin is whiter, firmer, and she's lost a lot of weight. Her facial features are more defined, and the baby fat on her cheeks has disappeared.

She grew taller and developed very rapidly.

More importantly, she suddenly possessed a unique charm that she had never had before.

A bloodthirsty, mysterious, and alluring aura captivated many male witches.

Miss Brown has become the most beautiful girl in Gryffindor.

She herself enjoys being pursued by boys.

"It's disgusting!" Harry frowned as well.

This thing looks like a large, shelled lobster, all white and slimy, and it looks terrifying. Many legs are sticking out haphazardly, and you can't see its head.

Each box contained about a hundred of them, each about six inches long, which crawled around on top of each other, dazedly bumping into the sides of the boxes.

They also emitted a very strong smell of rotten fish and shrimp.

Every now and then, sparks will shoot out from the tail of the blasting snail, and then with a soft pop, the blasting snail will move forward a few inches.

How should I put it!

This thing is like the failed, defective product created by those legendary mad scientists.

Aside from being disgusting, they are utterly useless.

Not to mention the girls, even Irving frowned repeatedly.

It can only be said that Hagrid does have some talent in breeding hybrid magical creatures; after all, normal people can't create such things.

But his aesthetic sense is clearly a bit too outrageous.

Especially this idea—a hybrid of a human-headed sphinx and a fire crab.

Irving wanted to know how he came up with such an evil idea.

"Bang!"

The tail of the blasting conch in Ron's hand suddenly exploded.

Sparks flew onto his hand, and Ron cursed under his breath, gritting his teeth against the pain.

"How did you get all these Blasttails?" Harry poked his head out, looking at the group of Blasttails in the box, and asked with a rather grim expression. "There's nothing like that in the book."

"They're a new species, the offspring of a sphinx and a fire crab. I even named them the 'Bombtail Snails.' Aren't these little guys adorable?!" Hagrid waved his hand, seemingly pleased that Harry had asked. "You know, it wasn't easy. Sphinxes almost never let any creature near them, so getting them to cooperate and produce offspring is even more difficult. I probably used over sixty fire crabs this summer to succeed."

"That use of the word 'use' is brilliant!" Irving said, his lips twitching.

"I feel so sorry for the fire crabs, so small—yet they have to suffer so much."

How am I supposed to aim?! You bastard!

One of them is at least several tens of inches tall. A normal-sized sphinx with a human head and a manticore resembles a small house.

another.

Mom!

That's so evil.

Thinking about his past experiences, whether it was a fire dragon, a three-headed giant dog, or an eight-eyed giant spider, none of them were much safer than the blasting-tailed snail.

In Hagrid's eyes, they were all adorable little scoundrels!

Furthermore, the Department of Magical Creatures Protection under the Ministry of Magic has a law explicitly prohibiting the creation of such new magical creatures—the "Prohibition of Animal Breeding Experiments Act." (For the first time, Owen chose to side with the Ministry of Magic.)

Moreover, the man-headed lion-bodied scorpion-tailed creature is not a native British mythical creature.

It was a magical creature with a human head, a lion's body, and a scorpion's tail. A monster with a red lion's body, a human face, human ears, and blue eyes.

It has three rows of sharp teeth on both its upper and lower jaws, and its tail has a deadly stinger like a scorpion, which can be shot out in any direction.

Native to Greece, it is extremely rare and dangerous, and is one of the most dangerous magical animals known to date.

Its skin repels almost all known conventional black magic defense spells, and under normal circumstances, wizards are powerless to control this creature except through black magic.

There have been instances where wizards attempted to capture this creature, only to be met with its fierce counterattack.

That accident ultimately led to the Sphinx unexpectedly arriving in Muggle town.

Thirty thousand people were brutally killed by a human-headed, lion-bodied, scorpion-tailed beast.

Violent, cruel, and bloody.

However, the Sphinx with a human head, a lion's body, and a scorpion's tail was an intelligent creature with a high level of language ability.

Therefore, it's safe to say that Hagrid used force against that poor, man-headed, sphinx-like beast.

Secondly, wizarding countries prohibit the sale of such dangerous creatures, and the "Law Prohibiting the Sale of Dangerous Magical Creatures" has also been trampled on by Hagrid.

"It seems that the development of legal awareness in the wizarding world has a long way to go!" Owen said to Hermione in a seemingly casual tone, turning his head away.

Miss Granger rolled her eyes.

Then, with a cold expression, he took a lot of strange food from Hagrid and began feeding the disgusting creature.

The next few days.

After several rounds of lessons, the young wizards gradually regained their previous form.

Slowly, everyone returned to the state they were in last semester.

September passed by in a flash.

The cool breezes of the Scottish Highlands began to blow away the heat around the castle.

The seasonal plants in the greenhouse were all tinged with a light yellow hue.

It was one evening.

The lights in Hufflepuff have gone out.

The only light in the common room, besides the stars outside the window, came from the few magical plants that Professor Sprout had brought, which emitted fluorescence and swayed in the darkness.

This provided some light in the darkness, preventing it from being frightening.

Irving tiptoed out of the common room.

The castle wasn't pitch black; in fact, strange fireflies and braziers provided illumination throughout the place.

The light only disappears completely at the spiral staircase.

Because portraits also need to sleep.

With the illusion spell applied, Owen easily traveled from the basement to the second floor of the castle.

Perhaps to make it easier for students who frequently travel between the library and classrooms, there is a shortcut nearby leading to the library on the fifth floor.

The entrance and exit were covered with tapestries.

Hogwarts Library is the second largest library in all of Europe (the largest being Beauxbatons). The sheer size of its collection is astonishing, with thousands of books, thousands of bookshelves, and hundreds of narrow aisles.

No wizard dares to say that they know exactly what books are in the school library.

Yes, you don't need to read every single one of them; even just the titles alone wouldn't be enough for a wizard to remember them all.

Even Dumbledore.

Generally, the library closes at 8 p.m.

Irma Pines, as a librarian, was as strict as Professor McGonagall.

She would never compromise with any minor wizard.

If you want to secretly study in the library at night, you'll have to come up with some unconventional methods.

Ravenclaws are quite experienced in this regard.

Of course, Irving's purpose was not a particular book.

He used a lock-picking spell to break open the library door, then sneaked inside, and only stopped after reaching the restricted section.

"So it really is here?"

Before Irving's eyes was a clearly visible silver ribbon, winding like a river.

Those are traces of ancient magic.

Clearly, its origin lies in the banned book zone.

"It's really hard to find!"

Perhaps because it had been so long since anyone had opened the secret chamber hidden in the castle containing information about ancient magic, he couldn't see any trace of ancient magic at all in the castle.

That's true. If he could see, he should have noticed it last semester.

However, Irving was not discouraged and continued to unleash ancient magic throughout the first month of school.

Magic is like a river; it will follow the dried-up riverbed to find the source it wants to see.

Sure enough, after he had drained himself dry for a month, the secret was finally revealed.

Is it the restricted section of the Hogwarts Library?

Irving looked ahead.

The restricted area is a section located at the back of the library, separated by a rope.

The books stored here generally contain content unsuitable for young students, such as extremely powerful black magic.

Students can only borrow books from this library after obtaining permission signed by the teacher. The librarian will then retrieve the books for the student upon receiving the permission slip.

Of course, Hogwarts, you know, for young wizards these days, getting in and out of the forbidden books section is no more difficult than going to the toilet.

The only difference is whether they want to get in or not.

He easily crossed the rope that was shrouded in powerful warning magic.

"Um—is anyone inside?"

Owen intended to cast a confusion spell on the rope, but upon closer inspection, he realized that someone had cast the spell on the rope before him.

Sure enough—after entering the restricted book area, he noticed something amiss after taking only a few steps.

In the corner of the bookshelf.

An oil lamp sat on the dusty table.

The oil lamp emitted a faint light, and a large pile of books sat beside it.

These books are only half—half in a physical sense, as if they were cleaved in two by a knife.

Moreover, there was a faint herbal scent in the air, a scent that Owen was very familiar with, as it permeated the entire greenhouse.

The smell of pus from the tuber of the Babo plant.

In addition, I could hear the soft rustling sound of writing.

"Tsk!"

Even a fool could tell who that guy in the distance wearing an invisibility cloak was!

First, let's rule out Granger, because only Harry would come to the restricted section alone in the middle of the night, wrapped in an invisibility cloak, carrying many—well—alchemy-related magical books, excerpts.

Hehe o(*￣︶￣*)o

It's okay, ignore her.

Owen, under the influence of the Disillusionment Curse, walked straight past her.

However, he only blew a breath of cold air and turned off the light in the instant he passed by her.

Hey.

"ah!"

The subsequent loss of light caused the unseen mysterious figure to let out a short, sharp scream.

"Bang!"

It was the sound of a book falling to the ground.

Then came a cry of pain, "Ouch!"

Hmm—I guess the book fell and hit her foot.

"Hehe—" Owen chuckled as he walked past her.

Although he couldn't see Hermione's panicked expression under the Invisibility Cloak, that didn't stop him from continuing to light the lamps—well—lighting them a different color.

"Phew~"

It seemed to be a whisper from the abyss, accompanied by the sound of something being ignited. The oil lamp was relit, but this time, the light it emitted was no longer orange-yellow.

This time it's a deep, ethereal green.

Okay—what kind of terrified sound came from behind me?

These are not things that Irving cares about.

He simply followed the footsteps of ancient magic with a lighter pace.

The library is very large.

After following the river for more than ten minutes, Irving finally spotted a pool of water.

In fact, magic surged into the ground there, forming a fountain on the surface.

He crouched down and gently tapped the ground, a hollow echo immediately resounding.

"Hogwarts has so many secrets!"

The castle is 1,500 years old, and no one can say that they know all the secrets inside. Young wizards can only keep exploring and compiling information, just like the Marauder's Map made by Harry's father, Sirius Black, and Lupin.

"The secret has been revealed!"

A faint golden light flashed across Owen's wand.

Like radar, it penetrates the earth.

"Oh, I see!"

Irving stretched out his palm and touched the ground.

Then it felt like my feet were sinking into a mud pit, and my whole body began to seep into the ground.

A little magic trick.

The simple infiltration magic possessed by the Aurors.

It can directly penetrate walls without magical protection, which is much more stealthy than using a lock-picking spell to enter through the main entrance.

Only Gryffindor fools like Harry Potter would obediently use the front door.

Normal people would choose to take the stairs.

"Thump!" Just like first-year students or young wizards passing through the devil vines, Owen landed steadily in the underground chamber located in the restricted section of the library.

"Fluorescent lights!"

The pale light illuminated the surroundings.

To Irving's surprise, he thought there might just be a narrow corridor below.

But from what I saw, this place is quite large.

It should be said that this place was originally part of the library, and stacks of bookshelves still stand in the dark, seemingly endless hall.

But the falling dust buried their brilliance.

One can imagine that in the past, Hogwarts' library must have been much larger than it is now, perhaps even divided into several floors.

But something happened in the lower level that caused the principal at the time to hide it.

Judging from the few old books scattered on the surrounding bookshelves, it can be inferred that this "event" was extremely urgent, resulting in many books not yet having been moved out.

Continuing to follow the guidance of ancient magic, Owen walked forward alone.

The sides are filled with cluttered bookshelves and cabinets, and sometimes you'll even find a gold-plated globe.

There are also some portraits and the like.

However, the image in the painting is clearly gone, probably because it has lost its magic due to years of neglect.

Portrait paintings also need to be cared for by a wizard.

Unless extremely precious materials are used and powerful protective spells are applied, it is already quite remarkable if a portrait painting can be preserved for several hundred years.

Not all paintings are without images; some are landscape paintings.

Although the magic has been lost, the paint from before is still on the canvas.

For example, there's a painting of the death of a werewolf next to Irving.

A werewolf with a ferocious face lay in a pool of blood, surrounded by a woodland, and the moon in the sky was as round as a lamp.

As you move forward, the amount of clutter around you increases.

Abandoned armor, broken lampposts, mirror frames without glass, and so on.

Irving had to step over those things very slowly.

"here it is!"

(End of this chapter)