I talked to Hannah for a long time.

But she always avoided continuing to talk to Owen about her family.

They talked a lot about things together.

From the new changes in the classroom since this semester, to the expectations and opinions of the Final Four Tournament.

It's like a bunch of friends making small talk.

It's just that both sides can feel that a pathetic thick barrier separates them.

Friday.

Owen and Harry go to a magical beast protection class together.

This is an elective course, not a college-by-college unit, and you can see students from the four major colleges in class.

This is the last lesson of the week.

A low, deep bell rang over the damp grounds, from the castle, and the class was over, and the students dispersed.

There were also a few young wizards, who walked down the slowly downhill lawn to Hagrid's hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Hagrid stood outside the door of the hut, one hand leading the collar of his great hound's teeth.

on the ground at his feet. There were several open wooden chests, and their teeth were whining and wrestling at their collars, as if they wanted to investigate their contents carefully.

As they approached, a strange clicking sound reached their ears, with the occasional faint explosion.

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

He said, "This is my new research, and it took a summer vacation to fry the tail snails!" ”

"What's that?" Ron said.

"Fried tail snails!" Hagrid repeated, "A new breed I've bred!" ”

“.”

"I suddenly had a bad feeling." Ron looked down at Harry and whispered, "I bet it's not going to be a good thing." ”

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

He knew Hagrid, the half-blood giant's aesthetic in terms of magical beasts was not very different from theirs, but it could also be said that the bull's head was not the same as the ponytail.

"You're going to love it!" Hagrid didn't seem to see the worry in the corners of the young wizard's eyes.

He just said excitedly.

Look at the little wizards who are gradually gathering together.

Naturally, he ignored Owen and continued to the other young wizards, "This is a new breed that has never been seen before, and one that you will never see in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. ”

"Heh-" After a whole year of devastation, the young wizards who were still here understood what Hagrid's surprise would be, and no one expected it, they would rather know some of the common creatures from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

For example, unicorns.

In the process of brushing it, you can also pick up some hairs for free and sell them for money!

Hagrid bent over happily, then opened the box at his feet.

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

The girl hadn't dared to provoke Hermione since she had been silenced by Hermione's Oblivion Charm - Professor McGonagall had lifted the Oblivion Spell for her, and had deducted Hermione fifty points for it.

But Harry, along with many Gryffindors, supported Hermione's approach.

Because Lavender was so annoyed during that time.

Of course, now she doesn't indulge in her buddy's beauty, most likely because, after being bitten by a vampire, she becomes—well—how to say it—more beautiful—her skin is whiter, firmer, and she has lost a lot of weight, her face is more prominent, and the baby fat on her cheeks has disappeared.

The stature has become tall and very developed. Rapid.

What's more important is that she suddenly has a unique temperament that she has never had before.

A bloody mystery full of seductive temperament, which has fascinated many male witches.

Miss Brown has become a Gryffindor's housekeeper.

And she herself is happy to be in the pursuit of boys.

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

This thing looks like a big lobster with its shell removed, white and gray and slimy, and it looks very scary. Many feet stick out horizontally, and they can't see where their heads are.

There were about a hundred of them in each box, each about six inches long, crawling on top of each other, dazedly crashing against the walls of the boxes.

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

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

How to say it!

This thing is a failed remnant like those legendary mad scientists.

Nothing but disgusting people.

Not to mention those girls, Owen also frowned.

It can only be said that Hagrid does have some talent in cultivating hybrid magical beasts, after all, normal people can't make up such a thing.

But his aesthetic is clearly a little too outrageous.

Especially the idea - a human-headed sphink and a fire crab hybrid

Owen wanted to ask how he had come up with such evil thoughts.

"Bang!"

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

Sparks burst into his hands, and Ron cursed in pain.

"How did you get these snails?" Harry poked his head out, looked at the group of fried tail snails in the box, and asked with a rather ugly face. "There's no such thing in books."

"It's a new breed, the offspring of a cross between a human-headed sphinx and a fire crab, and I still give them the name fried tail snails. These little ones are cute, aren't they?! Hagrid waved his hand, as if glad that Harry would ask, "You know, it's not easy, the sphinage barely lets any creatures get close, and it's even more difficult to get them to work together to produce offspring, and I probably used more than sixty fire crabs this summer to succeed." ”

"This 'use' word is wonderful!" Owen said with the corners of his mouth twitching.

"I feel so sorry for the fire crabs, little ones—to suffer such a great sin."

How to align it! Bastard!

One embodiment is at least a few tens of inches high. A normal-sized human-headed sphinage resembles a small house.

Another.

Damn!

It's so wicked.

Thinking about his past experience, whether it is a fire dragon, a three-headed giant dog, or an eight-eyed giant spider, none of them are much safer than the fried tail snail.

In Hagrid's eyes, they're all cute little mean!

In addition, the Department of Magical Beasts Protection of the Ministry of Magic has a law prohibiting the cultivation of such new magical creatures. (For the first time, Owen chose to side with the Ministry of Magic.) ）

Moreover, the Sphinx Manticores are not native to the United Kingdom.

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

The upper and lower jaws have three rows of sharp teeth, and the tail end has deadly stingers like scorpions, which can shoot out in any direction.

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

Its skin repels almost all known conventional Dark Arts Defense Charms, and with the exception of Dark Magic, wizards are normally powerless to control this creature at all.

There have been cases where a wizard has tried to capture this creature, causing it to fight back.

That accident eventually led to the unexpected arrival of the Sphinx in Muggle towns.

A total of 30,000 people were brutally killed by a human-headed sphin-tailed manticore.

Grumpy, cruel, bloody.

But the sphinage is a sapient creature with a high ability to speak

So it's certain that against the poor human-headed sphin-tailed manticore, Hagrid was strong

Secondly, the wizarding state prohibits the sale of such dangerous creatures, and the Prohibition of the Sale of Dangerous Magical Creatures Act has also been trampled upon by Hagrid.

"It seems that the rule of law propaganda and construction in the wizarding world has a long way to go!" Owen tilted his head and said in a nonchalant tone towards Hermione.

Miss Granger rolled her eyes.

Then, with a cold face, he brought a lot of strange food from Hagrid and began to feed the disgusting creature.

The next few days.

After a few rounds of lessons, the little wizard gradually returned to his previous state.

Slowly, everyone is back to the state of last semester.

September rushed by.

The cool breeze from the Scottish Highlands begins to blow away the heat around the castle.

The seasonal plants in the greenhouse are dyed with a faint yellow.

It was one night.

The lights on Hufflepuff have gone out.

The only light in the common room was the stars outside the window, and the only thing left was a few magical plants that could fluoresce brought by Professor Sprout and still flickering in the darkness.

It gives a little light in the darkness and is not frightening.

Owen tiptoed out of the common room.

The dark castle isn't out of reach, in fact, it's lit up by strange fluorescent lights and braziers.

Only at the spiral staircase does the light disappear completely.

Because the portraits also sleep.

Casting the illusion spell, Owen easily went from the basement to the second floor of the castle.

Probably for the convenience of students who frequently travel to and from the library and classrooms, there is a shortcut in the neighborhood that leads to the library on the fifth floor.

The entrances and exits are covered with tapestries.

The library at Hogwarts is the second largest in Europe (the first being Beauxbatons), and the sheer size of its collection alone is astonishing, with thousands of books, thousands of shelves, and hundreds of narrow passages.

No wizard dared to say that he knew exactly what books were in the school library.

Yes, you don't need to read every book, and the title alone is unlikely to be remembered by any wizard.

Even if it's Dumbledore.

Generally, the library closes at 8 p.m.

As a librarian, Irma Pins is almost as strict as Professor McGonagall.

She would never compromise with any little wizard.

If you want to sneak into the library at night, you'll have to think of something unconventional.

Ravenclaws are quite experienced in this area.

Of course, Owen's purpose is not to be a book.

He stopped only after using a lockpicking charm to break open the library door, then sneaking inside, all the way to the forbidden book section.

"Is it really here?"

In front of Owen's eyes was a clearly visible silver strip of silk that meandered like a river.

It was a vestige of ancient magic.

Obviously, its source is in the forbidden book area.

"It's really hard to find!"

Maybe it was because no one had opened the secret room about ancient magic hidden in the castle for too long, and he couldn't see any trace of ancient magic in the castle at all.

Also, if he could see it, he should have found it last semester.

However, Owen was not discouraged, and in the first month of school, he continued to unleash ancient magic.

Magic is like a river, it will follow the river that has dried up in the past to find the source he wants to see.

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

Is there a forbidden section in the Hogwarts library?

Owen looked ahead.

The no-go area is an area located at the back of the library and separated by a rope.

The books stored here generally contain content that is not suitable for young students, such as the very powerful black arts.

Students will only be able to borrow books here with permission from the teacher's signature. After obtaining the approval slip, the librarian will pick up the corresponding books for the students.

Of course, Hogwarts, you know, getting in and out of the forbidden area is not much more difficult for young wizards these days than it is to enter the toilet.

The difference is only whether they want to enter or not.

Easily cross the rope that has been cast with powerful vigilance magic.

"Uh-is anyone in there?"

Owen tried to cast a confusion spell on the rope, but upon closer inspection, it looked as if someone had cast a spell on the rope before him.

Sure enough—after he entered the forbidden book area, he didn't have to take a few steps to spot the anomaly.

In the corner of the bookshelf.

An oil lamp sits on a dusty table.

The oil lamp emitted a faint light, and there was a large pile of books right next to it.

It's just that these books are only half — half in the physical sense, and they look like they've been cut down with a knife.

Moreover, there was a faint smell of herbs in the air, which Owen was familiar with, because the greenhouse was full of it.

The taste of pus from the tubers of the babos.

In addition to this, there was a rustling of writing in my ears.

"Tsk!"

Thinking with his toes, he also knew who the guy in the invisibility cloak in the distance was!

Let's rule out Granger first, because only Harry would come to the forbidden section alone in the middle of the night wrapped in an invisibility cloak, holding a lot of - well- alchemy-related magic books inside the volume: excerpts.

Hehe, o(* ̄) ̄*)

It's okay, ignore her.

Owen, wearing the illusion spell, walked straight past her.

But just a moment when she passed by her, she blew cold air and put out the light.

Hey.

"Yikes!"

Then the loss of brightness caused the mysterious man, who was out of sight, to let out a short, high-pitched scream.

"Bang!"

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

And then came a cry of pain, "Oops! ”

Uh-huh—I guess the book fell and hit her foot.

"Hey-hee-" Owen jokingly walked past her.

He couldn't see Hermione's panicked expression under the cloak, but that didn't stop him from continuing to light the lamp — well—a different color.

"Whew~"

It seemed to be a whisper from the abyss, accompanied by the sound of something being ignited, and the oil lamp was re-lit, only this time, the light was no longer orange-yellow.

This time it's – a faint green.

Well—what kind of frightened voices came from behind him.

None of that was Irving's concern.

He just followed in the footsteps of ancient magic.

The library is very large.

After continuing to follow the river for more than ten minutes, Owen finally saw a waterhole.

In fact, it was the magic that poured into the ground there, creating a fountain on the ground.

Squatting, he gently tapped the ground, and a hollow echo was heard.

"There are so many secrets at Hogwarts!"

Fifteen-hundred-year-old castles, no one can say that they know all the secrets of the castle, and the little wizards can only keep groping and summarizing, just like the living maps made by Harry's father, Sirius, and Lupin.

"Secret revealed!"

A faint golden glow flashed through Owen's wand.

Like radar, invading the ground.

"I see!"

Owen reached out his palm and touched the ground.

Then it was as if he was stuck in a quagmire, and the whole person began to seep into the ground.

A little magic.

The simple infiltration magic that the Aurors mastered.

It can directly penetrate walls without magic protection and the like, which is much more hidden than the lockpicking spell that comes from going through the main door.

Only the Gryffindor fools represented by Harry Potter will honestly walk the front door.

Normal people will choose to take the stairs.

"Bang!" Like a first-year wizard walking through the Devil's Vine, Owen landed safely in the underground chamber in the forbidden section of the library.

"Fluorescent flicker!"

The white light illuminates the surroundings brightly.

Beyond Owen's expectations, he thought it might just be a narrow corridor down there.

But by sight, it's quite big here.

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

It's just the dust that falls that buries them in their glory.

It is conceivable that in the past, the Hogwarts library must have been even larger than it is now, and even divided into several levels.

It's just that what happened in this lower level made the headmaster at that time hide it.

From the old books on the shelves around today, it can be inferred that 'this matter' is very urgent, and there are many books that have not yet had time to be moved.

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

Both sides are cluttered with bookshelves and bookcases, and sometimes an alchemical globe.

There are also some portraits and the like.

However, there is obviously no reflection in the painting, probably because the magic has been lost due to the lack of care for many years.

Portraits also need to be taken care of by wizards.

Unless you use precious materials and have a powerful protective charm attached to them, the average portrait of a person can be preserved for hundreds of years.

Not all paintings are unreflected, like landscapes.

Although it has lost its magic, the canvas still retains its former paint.

For example, Owen has a painting of the death of a vice werewolf next to him. ‘

A hideous-looking werewolf lay in a pool of blood, surrounded by a wooded field, and the moon in the sky was round like a lamp.

Moving on, there is more and more clutter around you.

Discarded armor, broken lampposts, glassless frames, and more.

Owen had to step very little between them.

"Here it is!"

(End of chapter)