A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

“Of course, it’s the four directions: east, south, west, and north. Remember the runes we saw in the tombstones?” Percy said to Penelope.

You mean...that story!

“That’s right,” Percy said loudly, his nose slightly flushed with excitement. “The inscription on the tombstone records information about this place, but there’s something else, namely one of the keys.”

So the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students took out the parchment they had previously recorded and arranged it as needed.

"I have 3-1 here, does anyone have 3-2?"

“I’m ahead of you in line, I’m number 1-7.”

They pasted the parchment onto the wall in order and examined it carefully: "It's obvious that there are groups of ten, and four groups in total."

"The first group introduces the background of the 1842 operation, which is similar to what Professor Hyp said..."

“It doesn’t matter,” Jeffrey said.

Percy rolled his eyes and continued, "The second group introduced the terrain of this place, which is very simple: east, west, south, and north, plus the safe house in the center."

"The third and fourth groups were the trouble that the Ministry of Magic staff encountered at the time. Oh, although the concealment magic failed, the other protective measures were still in operation. Look here, one of the defenses is a large number of inigumo, which are the little skeletons we encountered..."

"That was truly evil! Why didn't the Ministry of Magic arrest him back then?"

"Oh, I think it's probably because they haven't had time to establish the Ministry of Magic yet..."

……

What other defensive measures are there?

“Flybat, magic statue, and devil vine,” Percy said, pointing to the words above.

“Very good~ It seems we’ll have to deal with something similar,” Wood said. “The Infernal corresponds to a small skeleton, so it seems there are similar substitutes elsewhere. But I’d like to ask, what is a Ground Bat?”

“A rather rare magical creature, it looks like a black cloak, glides along the ground, and hunts at night. Some say they are closely related to Dementors, and besides their similar appearance, they are both countered by Patronus Charms,” Percy said.

"Is there anyone here who knows the Guardian Charm?" Wood asked.

No one raised their hands.

Percy revealed part of the truth: "That's not part of the exam, Wood. Nobody would waste time learning a powerful spell they don't need."

Penelope recalled, "Dean Flitwick mentioned this spell in class. I tried it a few times, but only some white mist came out. If someone could guide me..."

“But groundbats are quite dangerous creatures, and the professor won’t let us deal with them. I guess we’ll run into a crow’s nest?” Percy speculated, but he was pretty sure he was right.

“Stop the small talk, where shall we begin?” Jeffrey said.

“The tombstone area is the place we are most familiar with, so it will save us time.”

"very good."

They stepped out of the safe house, and Percy held his wand flat in his palm, whispering to it, "Show me the way."

The wand spun around and pointed to his right, which was north.

“So if we go in the opposite direction, we’ll get back to the tombstone area,” Percy told everyone.

They returned to the group of tombstones, and the Slytherin and Hufflepuff students pointed at the black stone tombstones, marveling at them.

“Look, the skull bones have all turned into stone,” Wood pointed out.

The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students discovered that the small skeletons that had been scattered all over the ground had turned into a pile of broken stones.

“A very clever transformation spell; we didn’t see it at all at the time.” One of the wizards picked up a stone and examined it closely.

A Ravenclaw girl said sadly, "I even held it; it looked so cute."

Percy looked at her strangely, then pulled Penelope aside and whispered, "Has she always been like this?"

“She’s a huge fan of magical puppets,” Penelope explained.

"Alright, everyone split up and search. It shouldn't be too difficult..."

Seven or eight minutes later, a Hufflepuff student found a golden key inside a rock.

Where did you find it?

Grover pointed to the broken stones not far away, and Wood's eyes widened. "That's the little skeleton that attacked me. I kept it on purpose! I never imagined the key was hidden in its head."

“Very good, we’ve completed a quarter of the task. Keep up the good work…” Percy was about to say a few words of encouragement when Slytherin Prefect Jeffrey walked over carrying a box.

"what is this?"

“A treasure map,” Jeffrey said.

"How could this thing exist?" Percy's mind was in a mess. The students gathered around, looking at the blueprints in the box.

The markings were simple: a bottle design was drawn in the southeast corner of the safe house, next to a magic rune symbol representing wealth.

Just then, a sound like muffled thunder came from the sky.

"It seems you're having a great time... but I regret to inform you that this unexpected journey has come to an end for now. Take your belongings and follow the signs out of here."

An arrow appeared beneath their feet.

A dozen minutes later, they returned to the ancient magic script classroom, their faces still showing confusion and bewilderment.

"It's over just like that? We haven't collected all the keys yet?"

From the podium, Felix smiled at them: "get out of class will be over in a few minutes, and to avoid you being late, I have to end this adventure. But don't worry."

"You'll be there for the rest of the school year. Besides the task of collecting four keys, you'll encounter many strange, simple, and fun little tasks..."

"Like that treasure map?"

“That’s right, Jeffrey,” Felix said. “The assignment for this class is to analyze the runes you encounter and write a paper that is at least a foot long.”

Chapter 146 A Few Things

As the students walked out of the classroom in twos and threes, they were still enthusiastically discussing their novel and interesting experience.

For example, a pair of Ravenclaw girls—

"To be honest, at first I really wanted to leave there—it was too gloomy, but now I'm starting to miss it."

"Me too, that little skeleton is so cute!"

When is the next runes class?

"Let me see, it's Friday."

"Is it really that long?!"

"I think we're pretty lucky. Think about it, only sixth graders have practical classes..."

"Haha, we have plenty of time and knowledge, I'm going to tell the students in other grades!"

Their voices gradually faded into the distance.

Percy and Penelope avoided the crowd, their expressions a mixture of joy and worry, their previously hidden relationship now exposed. Percy, in particular, kept his brow furrowed.

“So what if we found it?” Penelope said, looking at him.

“Penello, if you have three younger brothers and a younger sister at school, all the gossip will reach your parents’ ears,” Percy said. “Especially Fred and George, they’ll be happy to help.”

Percy seemed quite troubled. Although he often wrote letters to complain, they always had legitimate reasons. For example, the most recent one was, "Mom, Fred and George were deducted fifty points and given three weeks of detention for fanning the ghost parade at school..."

He could almost picture the twin brothers talking to him with their cheeky grins—

"Oh, Percy~ Our model student has finally figured it out~"

"I must tell Mom this good news!"

"And Bill and Charlie, you've gone before them."

"And how could we forget Ronnie and Ginny?"

Penelope looked terrified and stammered, "You... your parents will find out?"

“Don’t worry,” Percy muttered, “they’ll just give you a gift during the holidays and invite you over…”

Penelope's eyes widened.

During lunch in the auditorium, Felix chatted with Professor Kettleburn, who was known for his big mouth, and Nick, who was "almost headless." He explained that he was friends with both ghosts and helped clear up some misunderstandings, which was considered a way of endorsing the "ghost redemption practice" in the public eye.

Before long, these words will spread throughout Hogwarts, and eventually, as the hype dies down, fewer and fewer people will pay attention, and everything will fade away like the tide.

The truth of the matter will also be submerged in time, with only a similar flower occasionally resurfacing.

Time flew by, and Hogwarts moved forward like a well-organized machine. Professors and students were all parts of this behemoth, pushed forward without any unexpected disruptions.

Until the Easter holidays, only a few things left an impression on Felix—

He hinted to Dumbledore about Dobby's predicament, and the old man understood his subtext. He did not rush to exonerate Hagrid, and the diary that still retained a strong dark aura was locked in the headmaster's office.

“Felix, you are doing the right thing,” the old man said—unfortunately, he did not know that Felix was about to cast a confusion spell on Lucius.

His assistant completed the first set of magic runes, but was still struggling to repair the beaded pouch.

The basilisk's skin was being tanned with magic over and over again, a process that was extremely slow. Felix was not willing to settle for less and decided to use the basilisk skin and the fire dragon skin to make a magic cloak, plus an inner armor.

Peeves has finally returned to normal, as someone told him, because Felix hasn't been able to touch Peeves lately.

In a casual conversation, Belby told him that he and Professor Snape had completed the first round of improvements to the wolfsbane potion, reducing the cost to one-third of the original. Of course, the taste had also deteriorated by more than three times.

“That sounds good. Perhaps you two will share a Medal of Merlin.”

“I don’t think so. Look at the newspapers lately! It’s all about ‘the gospel of werewolves’ and ‘amending the werewolf registration law.’ Only registered and regulated werewolves have the right to buy werewolf poison. The Ministry of Magic is using my potions to subdue the scattered werewolves…”

"It's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as they have the list..."

"Ha! This isn't the first time the secret has been leaked. Many werewolves would rather live in anonymity than use potions, especially since they can't afford them."

Belby was very dissatisfied with the Ministry of Magic's actions.

……

In the latest dueling class, the young wizards learned a new spell—'Petrify All', which causes the opponent's arms and legs to close tightly, their body to stiffen, and they to fall to the ground like a plank.

Felix explained, "The Full Body Binding Curse is included in the book 'Curses and Anti-Curses,' and Wendick Wenredian gives it a wonderful description."

"This spell is very simple; even lower grades can learn it..."

At this point, Harry and Ron looked at Hermione, who had used this spell to petrify Neville when they were in their first year.

"Of course, personally speaking, its effect is not as direct as the Stunning Charm, and its power is not as strong. For example, with your level, if you held a wand at me and recited this spell, I might only stiffen slightly. But... it's enough to deal with trouble at school, more than enough."