great-warnovel Chapter 45 Walking into a Trap
Chapter 45 Walking into a Trap
Although nothing is surprising in the world of magic, it's still baffling that a perfectly fine person and a perfectly fine cave suddenly disappeared yesterday.
Hermione followed the three downhill. To their relief, Harry was the first to master the glow-in-the-dark technique for the team's lighting, which meant they didn't have to carry lanterns around at night when Hermione wasn't around.
"I swear, we didn't have mushroom soup for dinner, and the house-elves wouldn't give us poisonous mushrooms. It really did turn into a huge pit, and we even jumped in to test it!" Ron swore loudly, afraid that Hermione wouldn't believe them.
"Even their teeth are gone! Something really serious must have happened!"
The cave where Hagrid rested wasn't small; it was about half the size of a Charms classroom. A dozen or so children could throw spells around inside without feeling crowded. However, because of Hagrid's burly physique and the messy pile of objects, it felt slightly cramped. But that wasn't all there was to the cave. In fact, behind the stone pillar Hagrid often leaned against, there was an abandoned passage that used to lead to Hogsmeade Village. But now the end of that path had been blocked, so they hadn't continued exploring it.
According to Harry and his friends, the center of the small cave has now sunken in, as if a large section of the ground has been dug out, leaving only the stone pillar that Hagrid was leaning against, hanging down forlornly like a stalactite.
Hermione had countless questions in her mind, such as "Why didn't Hagrid go to the Medical Wing to recover from his injuries, but instead hid in a dark underground cave?" "Why did Hagrid disappear on the night that a powerful sapphire energy fluctuation occurred at the school?" "Is the spiders' liking for sapphire energy related to this?" and so on.
The cave wasn't far away. If you looked at the ground level, they were simply walking from the front to the back of the castle. Hogwarts, this enormous mobile castle, actually had an underground section that was larger than its surface section. If it were all converted into an underground structure and combined with wizards' magic, it might be able to accommodate the people of a city.
Lost in thought, they soon arrived at their destination. Unlike before, when they could see lights in the distance, it was now pitch black.
"If Neville hadn't grabbed me, I might have fallen down..." Ron was saying when he suddenly stopped.
The other three people were also stunned, because at the end of the road, two figures stood in the darkness, as if waiting for their arrival.
Harry's glow hadn't gone out yet when the true faces of two figures were revealed—Professor McGonagall and Professor Potter.
They watched silently as the four people descended the steps, like deer waiting to run into a trap.
"Oh..." Harry's groan was stuck in his throat and couldn't come out. Even if they hadn't put on the invisibility cloak on the way here, Ron's huge voice would have been enough to wake up the gargoyles on the 8th floor.
"Have we seen a ghost? Everything was fine when we came here. Where did these professors come from?" Ron forced out the question through gritted teeth.
Hermione remained calm, knowing that the professors weren't there simply to capture them.
Neville was the only one who looked ashen-faced. He had only been enrolled for a short time and hadn't gotten to know the professors well yet. He was terrified that Professor McGonagall might expel him in a fit of anger.
"Professor," Hermione broke the silence.
She looked around and saw that, just as Harry and the others had said, the place had indeed become a pit, so deep that even if she jumped in, it would be difficult for her to climb out on her own. It was as if a powerful spell had dug away a large chunk of land, or perhaps a clever transmutation had made the stones grow legs and run away.
"We're very worried about Hagrid, so..."
"Alright, Hermione, Dumbledore wants to see you." Professor McGonagall's expression wasn't angry at all. She nodded to Hermione, gesturing for her to come to her side.
"As for you guys," Professor Potter loosened his arms, waved his wand, and an invisible spell lifted the ears of the three of them.
"Come with me, 15 points deducted from each of you! Plus a week of potion-making confinement!"
Witnessing the three being dragged away screaming, Hermione obediently looked at McGonagall: "Professor, which way do we get?"
With a wave of her wand, McGonagall created a path made of earth and stone that rose from the pit and connected to the stone pillar at the center.
"Like me, place your hands on the stone pillar."
Hermione followed suit, and the next second, it was as if a hook had snagged her belly button. Then, her feet left the ground, and she spun around and flew up. Thanks to her superb balance, she didn't feel nauseous, but the mixed oil paint-like colors in front of her were really not comfortable.
Fortunately, the process was very short. In just a moment, they were firmly on the floor, and the surrounding scenery had changed.
"That's a door key, and you'll learn how to make it later," McGonagall explained.
Hermione looked around. It was a spacious hall, but there wasn't a single window. The walls were made of stone, and below them was a circle of earthen flowerbeds planted with many plants. Hermione could only identify a few of them, all of which were dangerous plants that Professor Sprout had mentioned in his class.
She even saw the mutated devil web she had given the professor for Christmas, which was now fluttering around happily, having multiplied into a vast, dense death trap.
In front of these deadly plants stood many stone statues, some knights, some bishops, and others kings and chariots, seemingly a giant wizard's chess set, arranged on both sides, silently guarding something.
Only then did she notice that in the center of the hall stood a stone pillar exactly like the one in the cave, but upside down, thicker at the bottom and thinner at the top, like a display stand. On top of the pillar, a stone radiating intense brilliance magic floated silently in mid-air. Dumbledore's phoenix landed on a bird perch to the side, staring blankly at the stone.
"This must be behind that door on the fourth floor. Maybe there's a giant eight-eyed spider guarding the hall," Hermione thought.
"Ah~ Please forgive an old man's willfulness for inviting you, who should be sleeping and growing, here." Phoenix turned around and said apologetically.
"We're just not sure if this method will stabilize it." He looked at the stone in front of him. "Besides, you're curious about it, aren't you?"
Hermione glanced at Professor McGonagall beside her and received an encouraging look from her.
She stepped forward, examined the stone that could destroy the entire Hogwarts, and asked softly, "Can you tell me what this is, Professor?"
The theory of splendid stone magic had only been published for less than a month. If Hogwarts' magical level was already sufficient to create such powerful splendid stone crystals, then this world might not have survived the apocalypse and would have been reduced to dust by the wizarding war long ago.
"This is the driving force behind Hogwarts, and the reason why Hogwarts embarked on the path of migration," Professor McGonagall stepped forward and said softly.
She gazed at the azure stone: "During that war between wizards and Muggles, Hogwarts, as the largest magic school in Europe, did not escape the Muggle attacks."
"With the help of the fairies, they pinpointed the exact location of Hogwarts and dropped the most powerful nuclear bomb."
"At that time, I was seriously injured after the battle with Grindelwald and had no choice but to rely on the Philosopher's Stone left by Nick Flamel to prolong my life," Dumbledore said with a wry smile.