I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 315 Miss Granger Has Gone Mad

Hermione's heart leaped into her throat the moment she stepped into the Chamber of Secrets.

She was already very tired.

I can barely lift my arms.

The intense ordeal, lasting over four hours, left her physically and mentally exhausted.

It wasn't just her body, but also her magic. She wasn't that freak Owen; as an ordinary wizard, her magic was nearing depletion. She had to be careful; if she continued to cast spells blindly, she might collapse from exhaustion due to the depletion of her magic.

"Hoo—" Miss Granger took a deep breath.

It eased the fatigue in my head.

Honestly, she would rather fight seven or eight fire dragons in the open daytime than run to this cramped place at night, even if it's just to catch a fluffy creature.

Turning her head, Hermione saw the water monster's head stuck less than a few feet away from her.

It was like the power had been cut off; it froze and stopped working.

"It's a close call." Miss Granger gave a bitter laugh.

Then, just as she was catching her breath, the wall behind her suddenly began to slowly heal.

The entrance vanished without a trace.

The sudden turn of events made Hermione instinctively tighten her grip on her wand.

Typical Irving-style level design.

The same applies to the Fire Dragon level; for everyone except myself, the ancient puppets would stop attacking after entering the inner circle.

He called this design "water discharge".

It's said to leave a little hope for the warriors to clear the game.

But the healed wall before us clearly has a deeper reason; perhaps it also carries the meaning of closing the door to trap the dog, cutting off the warrior's escape route.

Hermione guessed that what she was about to face was probably the final challenge of the game.

Given Irving's progressively increasing difficulty design, he will definitely place a powerful creature at the end.

What could it be?

She wasn't curious at all; she just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

Gripping her wand tightly, Hermione mustered her rare courage and, with a resolute air, stepped into the depths of the room.

She found herself standing on one side of a long, dimly lit room. Many stone pillars, carved with coiled serpents, towered and supported the ceiling, which seemed to melt into the darkness above, casting long, eerie shadows into the room, which was filled with a mysterious, verdant atmosphere.

She moved forward cautiously, each step echoing hollowly and loudly through the eerie walls. She remained vigilant, watching her surroundings, ready to unleash a cutting spell at the slightest disturbance.

As she reached the last pair of pillars, a sudden sound rang in her ears. Hermione quickly looked around and discovered that behind a group of pillars on her right, a huge red lion had appeared.

It looked about the same size as Hagrid, but instead of a lion's face, it had the face of a middle-aged man.

Its head was surrounded by long red hair, and the most striking feature on its face was its ugly, large nose. Above it were a pair of tightly closed eyes, and three rows of sharp, long fangs protruded from its mouth, telling it that this was not a simple human face.

"This is—a man-headed lion-bodied scorpion-tailed beast!" Hermione's eyes widened as she stared at the two black horns above the monster's head.

Its horns are thick, segmented, and curve backward, resembling those of a male gazelle.

And the wings on its back.

Of course, the most important thing is its tail, with a stinger that looks like a scorpion's, but is much thicker.

Even a young wizard who has never taken a class on magical creatures can guess the simple truth that being stung by such a poisonous needle would result in immediate death.

"The human-headed lion-bodied scorpion-tailed beast and the others actually brought out such a monster."

A sphinx with a man-headed lion's body and a scorpion-tailed form, a magical creature prohibited from entering the country by the Ministry of Magic at level xxxxx.

Native to the Mediterranean coast, the Sphinx is a fearsome beast, and every discovery of it has been accompanied by the deaths of a significant number of Muggles, and even wizards.

It takes dozens of wizards working together to capture a single sphinx with a scorpion tail. This is because its hide possesses the ability to resist all conventional spells. Therefore, subduing it with magic is extremely difficult.

Most wizards would choose to make traps, dig a hole, cover it with soil, and wait for one, two, three, four, five.

However, the human-headed lion-bodied scorpion-tailed beast is not stupid at all. In fact, this creature's intelligence is almost the same as that of humans. It's just that because of its violent nature, it is prone to losing its mind when attacked.

Therefore, ordinary traps are of little use against him.

If you're planning to dig a pit, at least put yourself in that situation and see if you'll fall into your trap.

Remember—never imagine Justin and Ron. Those two, even if you put two chicken legs hanging in the air in the hallway, they would grab them without hesitation and take a big bite.

The human-headed, lion-bodied, scorpion-tailed beast is much smarter than them.

So you need to bring in a wizard who is slightly more intelligent.

"Damn it—"

Hermione hid behind a stone pillar on the other side and cursed.

The sphinx with a human head, a lion's body, and a scorpion's tail was dozing behind the stone pillar on the right.

A soft humming sound came from his mouth.

Her voice was melodious and pleasant, with a distant and magnetic murmur that possessed a certain magic.

Although Hermione was relieved that at least it wasn't a series of attacks, as she would be attacked as soon as she entered the area.

But the situation isn't much better now.

She didn't prepare anything.

As for items like magic traps, don't even think about it; they simply don't exist.

The only trap she could think of was to use a softening spell to dig a hole in the ground.

But after glancing at the thick marble floor, Hermione abandoned the idea.

To create a trap that could bind a man-headed lion-bodied scorpion, she would have to dig a pit at least ten feet (three or four meters) deep.

Even deeper.

Not to mention whether she has enough magic power to complete this feat, even if she could, would that lion-headed, scorpion-tailed beast just stand by and watch?

The slightest unusual sign might awaken it.

It seems that digging traps is a dead end.

Thinking to myself.

Hermione poked her head out, her eyes scanning the sphinx from head to toe.

She noticed an iron chain around the other person's neck. The chain resembled a pendant, and the pendant was an iron can. Presumably, the can contained clues about the next match.

In other words, he had to fight this human-headed, lion-bodied, scorpion-tailed beast.

"Or should I kill it with Soul Torrent while it's asleep?"

Hermione did consider other spells, including the Fiendfyre curse, but the thought of potentially burning her alive made her abandon the spell.

As for the other spells...

Based on the black magic defensive spells she knew, none of them could penetrate the hide of the Sphinx.

Source magic is the most effective.

Moreover, it was as if her day-long misfortune had finally come to an end.

Casting source magic requires a long preparation time.

But right now, the lion-headed, scorpion-tailed beast is sleeping, giving her plenty of time to gather her magic.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

A fleeting opportunity!

Hermione's heart was pounding.

She didn't hesitate for long between the two choices because—casting source magic was the safest option. Traps could fail, but Hermione was confident that as long as her spell hit it, even if it didn't kill it, it would at least severely injure it.

Her eyes were shining—completely unaware that she had completely misjudged Owen and the professors' intention in setting up this challenge.

In fact, that human-headed lion-bodied scorpion-tailed beast had been given a large amount of the Water of Life and Death.

The Water of Life and Death, also known as the Living Hell Soup.

It is a potent sleeping pill that the young wizard learns in the sixth grade.

It is made by heating together daffodil root powder and mugwort.

This tests the young wizard's rationality in intense battles.

Reaching this point signifies that the warriors have been through countless battles. When facing the final mythical creature, can they remain calm and adopt the most effective method to pass through?

For example, using a Disguise Charm or Concealment Charm to secretly steal the item from the neck of the Sphinx. That's the standard answer.

Cedric and Krum used this method.

To the professors' utter surprise, in the second competition, only Miss Granger foolishly managed to complete the level.

They all followed the shortcut Kyrie Irving mentioned.

So they arrived here without much effort, and faced the human-headed lion-bodied scorpion-tailed beast with full spirits, they naturally calmed down.

As for Hibiscus later on.

Wearing the Infinity Gauntlet, her challenge was simply opening portals—and then searching for the correct one in the wrong direction. Although it wasn't easy, it was much better than Hermione's situation, at least she didn't have to walk.

As for the iron can with the head of a lion, the body of a scorpion, and the neck of a man-eating beast, that was even simpler for her. She could just snap her fingers, open a portal, and get it in no time.

Miss Granger was the most unlucky one. She experienced Owen's twisted humor level in its entirety.

Therefore, she couldn't calm down at all at that moment.

Of course, it could be that he's been with Irving for a long time, or it could simply be Gryffindor's nature, or more likely it's the pent-up frustration of four hours exploding at this moment.

At this moment, Miss Granger had no idea that there was another way to sneak over and steal the jar.

Her mind was filled with nothing but casting a spell—cast the spell quickly!

His eyes turned bloodshot, and his expression gradually became unrestrained, as if he wanted to devour someone.

"Damn Irving Sanchez!"

Miss Granger has gone mad—

At this moment, what she saw before her was no longer the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin, nor was it some kind of sphinx with a man's head and body.

This is Hufflepuff's common lounge.

That's the damned Owen Sanchez sleeping there.

The grapevine wand shone with a bluish-white light, accompanied by the almost overflowing flames of Granger's anger.

"soul--"

She shouted through gritted teeth.

The peaceful, secluded room was suddenly shattered by noise.

Tiny specks of magic converged from all directions at the tip of her wand.

The bluish-white gradually turned into a pure, dazzling white.

The light shone on Hermione's face, adding a cold-toned filter, making her expression look quite terrifying—more than a hundred times more intense than a normal angry reaction.

"Rapid current—"

It took a good ten seconds for the light to condense completely.

Then, Hermione gave a powerful push, and the magic, which could no longer be suppressed, surged forth like a tidal wave, creating waves that crashed wildly towards the poor sphinx.

The rapids were as thick as a tree that two people could hug, and the blue, green, and white light created a spectacular sight.

"ah!!!"

The moment the torrent of magic surged over the sphinx, the pain emanating from its very soul jolted the beast back to its senses.

But even after regaining consciousness, they couldn't escape the magic's reach and could only scream in agony, enduring the curse head-on.

"Ah~~~~"

The confined space seemed to amplify the echoes, and the screams coming from the head of the lion-headed, scorpion-tailed beast grew increasingly miserable and weak.

This sent a chill down Herman's spine, and goosebumps rose on his skin.

But this did not stop her from casting the spell.

In his class on magical creatures, Hagrid said that magical creatures with human heads have intelligence almost identical to that of wizards, which means they can also fake death, launch surprise attacks, and feign defeat.

Therefore, when fighting these magical creatures, you must make sure that the other party has truly lost the ability to resist, otherwise you will definitely suffer losses, or even lose your life.

Hermione deduced from the screams of the sphinx that it still had plenty of strength left.

After all, they still had the strength to scream, right?

Several more seconds passed.

It might not be that long.

But Hermione, who was casting the spell, felt like each day was an eternity.

The final Origin Magic drained the last bit of magic from her body.

Her head began to throb with a sharp, needle-like pain.

There are ten thousand needles.

Her head ached all over, and her limbs were in no better shape. She gradually squatted down from her standing position, half-kneeling on the ground, and could barely continue casting spells by supporting her right hand with her left.

But she couldn't keep this up for long.

Exhaustion, like a raging torrent, surged wave after wave, trying to bury her and drown her.

Finally, the moment when the screams of the Sphinx and Scorpion were no longer audible.

Hermione then stopped casting the spell.

"Thump!" She fell to the ground, her eyelids trembling.

He gasped for breath for a long time.

After a few minutes, she regained some strength.

Hermione then struggled to her feet.

He staggered toward the human-headed lion-bodied scorpion-tailed beast.

The energy consumption of source magic is indeed incomparable to that of modern spells.

Any spell that reveals natural phenomena and is called a source of magic, whether it is a stargazing spell or a calamity spell, requires a long and stable output of magic power, and casting the spell is very mentally taxing.

Given Hermione's current condition, it's already a miracle that she didn't faint immediately.

"Was that too much?"

They slowly walked up to the creature with the head of a lion, the body of a man, and the tail of a scorpion.

With her heavy eyelids open, Hermione saw that its body looked as if it had been scorched by high temperatures, covered in charcoal and emitting black smoke. The smell of burnt, minced meat assaulted Hermione's nose.

The Soul Flow spell is essentially a magical illusion that mimics microwaves, causing matter to resonate, much like a microwave oven used by Muggles.

However, wizards discovered the nature of this world thousands of years ago and then used magic to recreate it.

This is a spell with an extremely large range. As long as the caster has enough magic power and control, it can even cover an area of ​​several kilometers. After it is cast, the earth will be left with huge craters and traces of high-temperature melting, just like a sunken volcano.

It looked like it had been hit by a meteor.

The charred body of the Sphinx was due to the intense heat. If Hermione continued casting the spell, it might be "roasted" alive, or its soul might be shattered first.

"This—" Hermione suddenly noticed that the metal tube around the neck of the sphinx was melting.

Whatever was inside before, it would not survive under such high temperatures.

"What, what should we do!"

Miss Granger panicked immediately. She first managed to use a spell like "Clear Spring Water" to cool down the iron pipe, and then took it down.

He began chanting the restoration mantra again.

The magic flowed into the jar along his grapevine wand.

But it had no effect whatsoever.

The scenario she wanted to see did not occur.

This only proves one thing: this jar is a magical item, and damaged magical items cannot be easily repaired with a repair spell.

Unless you know how to make this magical artifact.

"Oh God! I should have dug a trap!" Hermione wailed.

He stood there dejectedly.

Even though she won the match, it felt like she didn't really win.

The whole night was spent on it, but this is the final result!

She stood there, tears welling up in her eyes, completely disoriented.

------

Meanwhile, Owen and Harry, who had been waiting in the bathroom, were idly chatting about recent events.

Harry, ever the outspoken one, recounted a strange dream he had recently had.

This alerted Irving.

In fact, the Harry in front of him was a bit strange. It wasn't that Draco might have drunk Polyjuice Potion and been impersonating Harry, but rather that it was a connection between him and Voldemort.

Normally, at fourth grade, he should be getting headaches from time to time.

The truth is, Harry rarely had any contact with Voldemort, and he didn't see anything beforehand when Voldemort led the attack on Hogwarts last year.

This situation can only mean that Voldemort's soul has undergone a change.

The essence of his soul and the wisp of soul within Harry's body had changed. It was as if they were originally both water, but now Voldemort's water had been filled with ink, naturally weakening the connection with Harry.

Of course, this is just Irving's speculation, and no one knows the truth.

However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Since Harry can't contact Voldemort, Voldemort can't contact Harry either, which saves him the trouble of learning Occlumency.

Moreover, in the long run, the more Voldemort fills his soul, the weaker the connection between him and his Horcruxes becomes. Perhaps one day, he will no longer be able to resurrect himself using Horcruxes. At that time, anyone could easily kill him with a single blow. That would be fine too.

Shh! Someone's coming.

Just as Harry was rambling on, Owen, with his sharp ears, suddenly heard footsteps coming from outside the bathroom. And they were getting closer and closer.

The two stopped talking and looked towards the door.

A moment later, the green wooden door was pushed open.

"It's you." Harry's expression turned unfriendly the moment he saw who it was.

(End of this chapter)