Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 360 Killing Castle
Hermione thought Jon was joking, her face still pale from excessive nervousness.
"Bombing Hogwarts? Well, that is indeed something worth discussing. Fortunately, I escaped from the castle. The Dark Lord set up a new anti-Apparition spell in the secret room. It will take time for Fawkes to crack it. Fortunately, he managed to escape us at the last minute."
Hermione felt her whole body go cold and her back was soaked with sweat. If Fawkes hadn't brought her back at the last second, she would have really been caught by the dark devil.
She did not forget the important things. After the palpitations subsided, she took the shoulder bag off her shoulder.
"I did it, Professor. I found the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets, but its entrance is not where Mr. Slytherin and you guessed it to be."
Jon and Dumbledore had already sat back in their seats. They tacitly agreed not to explain to Hermione that what they had just said was not a joke, but to listen carefully to her experience in the castle.
"Oh? Not on the first floor or in the principal's office? Where is that?"
"It's the Room of Requirement, Professor!" Hermione's eyes sparkled, and she looked at Jon. "Before when we were at sea, Jon told me that when he was playing Randy in Hogwarts Castle, he initially made Polyjuice Potion on the eighth floor of the castle, in a magic room hidden opposite a tapestry - the Room of Requirement. That room is magical, it can meet almost all of a person's needs, so after asking Fawkes to search the headmaster's office to no avail, I thought of this room. I think if it's really that magical, then it can definitely help me find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."
At this time, Jon also guessed what Hermione wanted to say next.
"It turns out that even the Dark Lord himself actually used the Room of Requirement to enter the Chamber of Secrets!"
"Yes! Later I found out from the Marauder's Map that he also used this method to get in. Just like what you analyzed before, Professor Dumbledore, the Dark Lord knew that Mr. Slytherin was willing to help us, so he must have moved the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets from its original location, because the person who built it must know where it is better than anyone else, and his target of the move is the Room of Requirement!"
Dumbledore also said thoughtfully.
"This is certainly a good choice. The Room of Requirement is very hidden. Although we cannot guarantee that no one knows about it, it is almost impossible for anyone to associate this room with Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets."
Even Dumbledore himself did not know about the Room of Requirement until John returned from Hogwarts Castle in his second year. Even Dumbledore himself did not fully explore the wonders of this castle (according to the original Harry Potter novel, Dumbledore probably learned about the Room of Requirement when he went to the toilet during the Triwizard Tournament).
"I found a lot of runes in the secret room."
Hermione talked about her gains, and she took out the parchment used for recording from her bag and handed it to Dumbledore.
"Time is urgent, I can only copy these down. In addition, there is a dwarf who looks a bit like a ghost tied under Mr. Slytherin's statue, but it has no consciousness, and I can't wake him up no matter what. When the Dark Lord first came to the Chamber of Secrets, I hid in the secret passage that Mr. Slytherin told me. When he left and I came out, the dwarf had disappeared."
Dumbledore looked at the contents written on the parchment and listened to Hermione's story at the same time, his brows furrowed at some point.
After Hermione finished telling her story in the castle, the headmaster's office fell into silence. It was not until a long time later that Dumbledore's sigh broke the silence.
"We guessed correctly, Salazar, he is planning to kill the castle, or rather, he is already doing it."
Dumbledore's words caused an uproar on the wall covered with portraits of past headmasters!
"How dare he! Doing this would be equivalent to erasing thousands of years of British magical history!"
"What else would he gain if he did that?"
"Instead of trying every possible way to destroy Hogwarts! Why doesn't he just build a new school instead of occupying the position of headmaster like a clown?"
"Maybe he knows he can't get it, so he wants to destroy it directly? So that we have no chance of regaining the school?"
"That will only make us completely lose all thoughts and worries! The castle is dead, so what will happen if we always use the carriage as a school in the future!"
The headmasters launched a heated condemnation and discussion. They obviously had not expected that Voldemort would actually dare to do this, even though they had already had some speculations among themselves before.
And Jon and Hermione looked at each other.
Jon didn't know at first what Dumbledore wanted Hermione to do by asking her to sneak into the castle at this time. Hermione herself only knew what she was going to do, but didn't know what the meaning of doing so was.
Dumbledore clapped his hands gently, stopping the headmasters' noise.
"Don't get excited yet. 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 Castle is just a futile act."
However, Salazar, who had just been hung on the wall, said with a serious face.
"But we don't know if he's trying to establish his own authority over the school while trying to kill the castle itself."
"He wants to destroy Hogwarts and rebuild it!" a sharp-tongued old man screamed, and the other headmasters also looked angry.
"Killing them and rebuilding them would completely separate this castle from us, turning Hogwarts into something else!"
Dumbledore tapped his fingers lightly on the table. He seemed to be thinking about something and feeling hesitant about a problem.
By this time, Jon could roughly hear what the principals were talking about.
He remembered what Firenze had said to him in the Forbidden Forest. After the final battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort, Hogwarts Castle had been invaded all the time, but that man's goal had never been achieved. Right above the Sky Castle, the star representing Hogwarts was always shining.
So he told about his experience in the forbidden forest.
"Before I entered the Forbidden Forest to participate in the competition, Hagrid asked me to help look after his friends who used to be gamekeepers. During this time, I met several Bowtruckles, a group of unicorns and a Pegasus named Hoss. It was with their help that I was able to survive the difficulties in the Forbidden Forest and solve the problem caused by the mad dragon. There I also met a student from Hogwarts Castle."
Dumbledore repeated Jon's last words quietly.
"Students in Hogwarts Castle?"
"Yes, his name is Cedric Diggory, and he is a student in the Half-Blood House in the castle."
When they heard Jon say the name, Hermione and Dumbledore looked at each other, with obvious surprise in their eyes.
Jon also noticed their reaction and asked in confusion.
"Have you heard this name before?"
Hermione explained to him.
"When I sneaked into Hogwarts Castle in the middle of the night, I saw this person on the Marauder's Map crawling into the secret passage on the fourth floor of Hogwarts and leaving the school. I reported this to Professor Dumbledore, who thought this student might be able to join our side."
Jon nodded very seriously at this.
"He really couldn't accept the oppression of the Dark Lord's policies in Britain, but he had never been able to resist. A year ago, he accidentally met the current leader of the Centaur tribe, Firenze, who was still lingering on in the Forbidden Forest. He learned about their difficult situation and the danger of being wiped out, so he was willing to risk his life to help them and wanted to rescue them from the Forbidden Forest. But they never found a suitable opportunity until the Triwizard Tournament. The remaining centaurs were trapped in the valley by three fire dragons and almost starved to death. It was Cedric who risked his life to run out of the castle to help them out of their predicament, and finally found me in desperation."
"Hagrid told me that he had friends among the centaurs, so I agreed to Cedric's request and helped him rescue the centaurs from the valley. Firenze brought the remaining dozen centaurs to me for help. He hoped that I could convince you, professor, to help them leave the Forbidden Forest and leave Britain. He also told me something about astrology."
Then Jon told them all about the star representing Hogwarts Castle, causing Dumbledore and the others in the portrait to fall silent.
"The centaurs' astrological divination is indeed unique." The headmaster named Dalis, who used to be a healer at St. Mungo's, said, "If they really had seen this more than ten years ago."
Sirius' great-great-grandfather said with disdain.
"At first, they themselves said that they would not get involved in the dirty dealings between wizards. Albus even went to the Forbidden Forest in person to persuade them that even if they did not want to help any party, they had better leave there. But what did the centaurs themselves say? 'If wizards really come to invade our homeland, we will give them a hard time! You cannot understand our courage, Dumbledore.' Right? These are what they said themselves. Why are they changing their words now? Let us help them. Didn't Firenze feel ashamed when he said this?"
Dumbledore waved his hand.
"The centaurs are a tribe, not a community of consciousness, just like we and Riddle are both wizards, but we also have different ideas. The centaurs who decided to stay in the Forbidden Forest are of the same kind. Firenze, who is asking us for help now, is different from the other centaurs. He has always been friendly to wizards. Before Riddle attacked the castle, he came to us specifically because he predicted danger and told us 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 enforce bloodline rule, Riddle has almost abolished the human rights of all half-human creatures. These can also become our friends. Even without these, don't forget that I said we are friends."
He deliberately emphasized the last sentence and finally came to a conclusion on the matter.
Jon was not surprised by this. He knew from the beginning that Dumbledore would not give up these centaurs no matter what the consideration was.
Since Jon brought up the topic of the Forbidden Forest, Dumbledore naturally asked about his performance in the competition.
Jon told his whole experience.
"Thanks to Foxy, if Hagrid hadn't told me to look for it in the Forbidden Forest from the beginning, I might have been in trouble when the dragon riot started."
Dumbledore laughed when he mentioned Howth's name.
"I know that Graling horse. I was the one who handed it to Hagrid. At that time, it was just a foal. It was captured by a dark wizard when it was young. He wanted to study the secrets of speed magic from it. Later, I rescued it. The different parts of its body that you saw were all sequelae left after it was tortured. Hagrid educated it very well, but when we escaped from Hogwarts Castle, Hagrid searched the entire Forbidden Forest but couldn't find it, so he couldn't get it out of the Forbidden Forest in the end. I am also very happy that he can bring you these help."
Jon also talked about his arrangements for Hoss.
"I told him to put the thing in the castle and then went to the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade to find Percival. Hagrid will be so happy to see it later."
Dumbledore crossed his hands in front of him, and the look in his eyes became somewhat inexplicable.
"So, we can actually confirm that in this first project, the dragon riot was caused by Riddle and his men?"
Jon became a little hesitant at this time.
"When we were in the Forbidden Forest, I had no doubts at all. I was sure that he was the one who did it. But after the game, when he came over and said those words, I became uncertain again. He really didn't look disappointed at all, as if he didn't care whether I lived or died. This was very abnormal."
Dumbledore said quietly.
"His thoughts are indeed hard to understand, but don't forget the several goals we listed for him at the beginning. What is the most critical one among them?"
Jon didn't hesitate, he still remembered it.
"His soul state is still unstable, and he needs some special means to fully restore his strength!"
