Chapter 362 360. Killing the Castle
Hermione thought Jon was joking, and her face was still pale from being overly nervous.
"Blow up Hogwarts? Well, this is indeed something worth discussing, but fortunately I escaped from the castle, and the Dark Lord set up a new anti-apparition magic in that secret room, and Fox deciphered it." It took time and luckily we didn't get caught by him at the last minute."
Hermione felt her whole body was chilly, and her back was soaked in sweat. If Fox hadn't brought her back at the last second, then she would really be caught by that Dark Lord.
She didn't forget the important things, and after the palpitation subsided, she took the shoulder bag off her shoulders.
"I did it, professor, I found the Slytherin's chamber of secrets, but its entrance is not where Mr. Slytherin and you guessed."
Jon and Dumbledore had already sat back in their seats. They both tacitly did not explain to Hermione that what they just said was not a joke, but listened seriously to what happened to her in the castle.
"Oh? Isn't it on the first floor or the principal's office? Where is that?"
"It's the Room of Requirement, Professor!" Hermione's eyes lit up, and she looked at Jon, "When we were at sea, Jon told me that when he played Randy in Hogwarts Castle, The making of Polyjuice Potion was done on the eighth floor of the castle, in the magic room hidden opposite a tapestry—the Room of Requirement. That room is very magical, it can meet almost all the needs of people, so let Fox search for it from the principal's office After getting no results, I thought of this room, and I thought that if it was really so magical, it would definitely help me find the entrance to the secret room."
Jon also guessed what Hermione was going to say at this time.
"It turns out that even the Dark Lord himself is actually using the Room of Requirement to enter the secret room!"
"Yes! Later I found out from the Marauder's Map that he also used this method to come in. Just like what you analyzed before, Professor Dumbledore, the Dark Lord knew that Mr. Slytherin was willing to help us, and he would definitely Move the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets from where it was, because whoever built it must know where it is better than anyone else, and he moved it to the Room of Requirement!"
Dumbledore also thought about it.
"Of course this is a good choice. The Room of Requirement is very hidden. Although there is no guarantee that no one will know about it, it is almost impossible for anyone to associate this room with the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets."
About the Room of Requirement, even Dumbledore himself only knew about it after Jon returned from Hogwarts Castle in his second year. According to Potter's original book, Dumbledore should have known about the Room of Requirement because he went to the bathroom during the Triwizard Tournament).
"I found a lot of runes in the chamber of secrets."
Hermione talked about her harvest, she took the parchment used as a record out of the satchel, and handed it to Dumbledore.
"Time is very urgent, I can only copy these. In addition, there is a dwarf who looks like a ghost tied under the statue of Mr. Slytherin, but it is unconscious. I can't call it anyway. Wake him up. When the Dark Lord came to the Chamber of Secrets for the first time, I hid in the secret passage that Mr. Slytherin told me, and when he left me and came out again, the dwarf had disappeared."
Dumbledore looked at the contents recorded on the parchment, while listening to Hermione's narration, his brows frowned at some point.
After Hermione finished telling what happened in her castle, the headmaster's room fell into silence. It was not until a long time later that Dumbledore's sigh broke the silence.
"We guessed right, Salazar, he is planning to kill that castle, or, in other words, has already implemented it."
Dumbledore's words caused an uproar on the wall full of portraits of previous headmasters!
"How dare he! Doing so is tantamount to erasing the history of magic in Britain for thousands of years!"
"If he did, what else would he get?"
"He tried his best to kill Hogwarts! Then why didn't he just rebuild a new school, why did he keep occupying the headmaster's position like a clown?"
"Maybe he knew he couldn't get it, so he wanted to destroy it directly? Let us completely lose the chance to regain the school?"
"That will only make us completely free of any thoughts and worries! The castle is dead, so what if we will always use carriages as schools in the future!"
The headmasters had a heated condemnation and discussion. They obviously didn't think that Voldemort would actually dare to do this, even if there had been some speculation among them before that.
Jon and Hermione looked at each other.
Jon didn't know from the beginning what Dumbledore was doing to let Hermione sneak into the castle at this time. Hermione herself only knew what she was going to do, but didn't know the meaning of doing so.
Dumbledore clapped his hands lightly, stopping the clamor of the principals.
"Don't get excited, he is indeed doing this now, but this is also good news, isn't it? Now that he still can't stay in the castle for a long time, it means that his plan has not succeeded. The so-called killing of Hogwarts It’s just a futile move.”
However, Salazar, who had just been hung on the wall not long ago, said with a serious face.
"But we don't know whether he wants to establish his own authority over the school while he wants to kill the castle itself."
"He wants to kill Hogwarts and rebuild it!" A bitter old man screamed, and the other headmasters also grimaced.
"Killing and rebuilding is to completely separate this castle from us and make Hogwarts something else!"
Dumbledore tapped his fingers on the table lightly, as if he was thinking about something, feeling hesitant about a certain question.
By this time, Jon could almost hear what the principals were talking about.
He remembered what Firenze had said to him in the Forbidden Forest. After the decisive battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort, Hogwarts Castle was being occupied all the time, but the man's The goal was never achieved, and directly above the Sky Castle, the star that represented Hogwarts was always shining.
"Hagrid asked me to watch over his former gamekeeper friends in the Forbidden Forest before I entered the game, where I encountered several Bowtruckles, a pack of unicorns, and a The flying horses of 'Hoth', it was with their help that I was able to survive in the Forbidden Forest and solve the problems caused by the dragon's madness. Also there I also encountered a Hogwarts castle s student."
Dumbledore repeated Jon's last words softly.
"Students in Hogwarts Castle?"
"Yes, his name is Cedric Diggory, and he is a student of the Half-Blood Academy in the castle."
When Jon said the name, Hermione and Dumbledore glanced at each other, their eyes clearly showing surprise.
Jon also noticed their reaction and asked a little puzzled.
"Have you heard this name before?"
Hermione explained to him.
"When I sneaked into Hogwarts Castle in the middle of the night, I saw on the Marauder's Map that this person climbed into the secret passage on the fourth floor of Hogwarts, left the school, and reported the matter to the Professor Dumbledore, he thinks that this student may have the possibility of winning over to our side."
Jon nodded very seriously.
"It is true that he cannot accept the oppression of the Dark Lord's policy in England, but he has never been able to resist. A year ago, in the Forbidden Forest, he accidentally met the current leader of the Centaur tribe who was still lingering - Firenze , learned of their difficult situation and the danger of being exterminated, so they were willing to risk their lives to help them and wanted to rescue them from the Forbidden Forest, but they never found a suitable opportunity until this time In the Triwizard Tournament, the remaining horsemen were besieged in the valley by three fire dragons, and almost starved to death. It was Cedric who ran out of the castle again at the risk, trying to help them out of their predicament, but in the end found me."
"Hagrid told me that there are his friends among the centaurs, so I agreed to Cedric's request and helped him rescue the centaurs from that valley. Firenze took the remaining ten Several centaurs sent me a plea for help, and he hoped that I could persuade the professor to help them leave the Forbidden Forest and England, and he also told me something about astrology and divination."
Then Jon said everything about the star representing Hogwarts Castle, causing Dumbledore and the others in the portrait to fall into silence for a while.
"The astrological divination of the centaurs really has their unique features." The headmaster named Dai Lisi who used to be a therapist for St. Mungo said, "If they really had seen this more than ten years ago."
Sirius' great-great-grandfather said with a look of disdain.
"At the beginning, they said that they would not get involved in the filth among wizards. Albus had already personally gone to the Forbidden Forest to persuade them that even if they didn't want to help any party, they had better leave there. But how did those centaurs themselves Said 'If wizards really come to invade our homeland, we will look good on them! You can't understand our courage, Dumbledore.' Is it? These are what they said themselves, how can they change their words now? Let us help them, wouldn't that Firenze feel ashamed when he said this?"
Dumbledore waved his hand.
"The centaurs are a group of Phineas, not a community of consciousness, just like we and Riddle are both wizards, but we also have different ideas. Those centaurs who decided to stay in the Forbidden Forest are one Humans, the Firenze who is asking us for help now is different from other centaurs. He has always been friendly to wizards. Before Riddle attacked the castle, he came to find us because of divination that danger was coming. Informed about his divination in advance, so he is our friend."
"Are you going to help them?" Phoenix asked.
Dumbledore nodded.
"Of course we have to help them. In order to implement the rule of blood, Riddle almost abolished the human rights of all half-human creatures. These can also be our friends, and even without these, don't forget that I said we are friends."
He specially emphasized the last sentence, and finally came to a conclusion on this matter.
Jon was not surprised by this. He knew from the beginning that Dumbledore would not give up these centaurs no matter what aspects he considered.
Since Jon brought the topic to the Forbidden Forest, Dumbledore naturally asked about his status in the game.
Jon told all his experiences.
"Thanks to having Hoth here, if Hagrid hadn't asked him to find it in the Forbidden Forest in the first place, maybe something happened to me at the beginning of the turmoil among the dragons."
Dumbledore laughed when he said Hoth's name.
"I know that Graling horse. I gave it to Hagrid back then. At that time, it was just a foal. It was captured by a dark wizard when he was young, and he wanted to study speed magic from it. I rescued it later. The different parts of its body you see are the sequelae left after it was tortured. Hagrid educated it very well, but at that time it was from Hogwarts Castle When we escaped, Hagrid searched all over the Forbidden Forest but couldn't find it, so we couldn't bring it out of the Forbidden Forest in the end. I'm also very glad that he can bring you these help."
Jon also talked about his arrangements for Hoss.
"After I asked him to put the things in the castle, I sent him to the Hogs' Head pub in Hogsmeade to find Percival. Hagrid would be so happy to see it later."
Dumbledore crossed his hands in front of him, and the look in his eyes became a little inexplicable.
"So, we can actually be sure that in this first project, the riot about the fire dragon was done by Riddle and the others?"
Jon became a little hesitant at this time.
"When I was in the Forbidden Forest, I had no other doubts at all. I was sure he did it, but after the game he came over and said that, I was a little uncertain. He looked real. There is no disappointment, as if I don't care whether I live or die, this is very abnormal."
Dumbledore said softly.
"His thoughts are indeed unpredictable, but don't forget the several purposes we listed for him at the beginning. What is the most important among them?"
Jon didn't hesitate, he always remembered.
"His soul state is still unstable, and he needs some special means to fully restore his strength!"
(end of this chapter)