A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts

Chapter 147: Practical Lesson 3

Chapter 147: Practical Lesson 3

Laughter filled the air as all the students of Ravenclaw gathered together.

Without hesitation, one of the girls spoke, "The wisdom that surpasses others is humanity's greatest treasure."

Swiftly, they arranged themselves in the correct sequence. Amidst a radiant glow, the magical inscription on the wall vanished, replaced by a dazzling and elegant line of English words that shimmered, "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."

"Yes! That's it! This wall clearly represents Ravenclaw. And the other three walls..." Percy exclaimed with excitement.

"Represent the other three houses!"

Everyone had already reached this conclusion.

Guided by this line of thought, they proceeded to decipher the magical inscriptions on the other three walls one by one:

"Courage and daring are my best friends." These were the words of Godric Gryffindor.

"Hard work, honesty, fairness, loyalty." This was how people described Hufflepuff.

"Surrounded by honor, and companions of strength." These were the words of a famous Slytherin wizard from history.

On all four walls, the four lines of text gleamed brightly, causing everyone to unconsciously hold their breath. And as expected, the writing on the walls disappeared.

In the darkness, the light emitted by their wands served as their only source of illumination. These subdued lights illuminated their excited faces.

An ordinary-looking door appeared as if it had always been there, and the students entered.

Inside, there was only a table with a manuscript on it, titled: "An Important Manuscript."

Jeffery opened the first page, where it read, "Collect four keys to exit this place." Other than that, the page was blank.

He scoffed, "Do we really need keys? Can't we just open the door and leave..." He abruptly stopped, seemingly choked by his own words. A layer of cold sweat quickly formed on his face. "C-can we still find the door to the classroom?"

In a state of mutual bewilderment, Percy addressed the air, "Professor Harp... are you there, Professor Harp?"

No response came.

"It seems we must indeed collect the keys," Wood scratched his head, "but where are they?"

"Of course, they are in the four cardinal directions: east, south, west, and north. Do you remember the magical inscriptions we saw in the graveyard?" Percy explained to Penelope.

"You mean... that story!"

"Exactly." Percy said loudly, a hint of excitement making his nose slightly red. "The inscriptions on the gravestones held information about this place, but there was also something else, namely one of the keys."

So, the students of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw took out the parchment they had previously recorded and rearranged them as needed.

"I have 3-1 here, who has 3-2?"

"I'm right ahead of you. I have 1-7."

They stuck the parchments to the wall in order and examined them carefully. "It's clear that there are ten in each set, and there are four sets in total."

"The first set introduces the background of the operation in 1842, much like what Professor Harp mentioned..."

"That's not important," Jeffery interjected.

Rolling his eyes, Percy continued, "The second set describes the topography of this place—basic directions, north, south, east, west—plus the central safehouse."

"The third and fourth sets talk about the troubles the Ministry employees faced at the time. Oh, even though the Concealment Charms failed, other protective measures were still active. Look here, one of the defenses involved a horde of dark creatures, the same little skeletons we encountered..."

"That's truly wicked! Why didn't the Ministry capture him?"

"Well, I suppose it might be because they hadn't yet established the Ministry at that point..."

...

"What are the other defensive measures?"

"Boggarts, magical stone statues, and Devil's Snare," Percy pointed at the text above.

"Very well~ It seems we'll be dealing with similar creatures," Wood said, "The boggarts correspond to the little skeletons. It appears that there are substitutes elsewhere as well. But my question is, what's a Boggart?"

"A rather rare magical creature. It resembles a black cloak, gliding close to the ground, hunting during the night. Some say they're distant relatives of Dementors. Besides their visual similarities, both are susceptible to Patronus spells," Percy explained.

"Is there anyone here who can cast a Patronus?"

No one raised their hand.

Percy revealed a partial truth, "That's not part of the exam, Wood. Nobody would go to such lengths, spending a lot of time learning a powerful spell that's not often used."

Penelope recalled, "Headmaster Flitwick mentioned that spell in class. I tried a few times, only got a bit of mist. With some guidance..."

"But Boggarts are quite dangerous creatures. The professors wouldn't have us deal with them. I guess we'll end up at the nest of crows?" Percy speculated, fairly certain.

"Enough chatter, where do we start?" Jeffery said.

"The graveyard. We're most familiar with that place, which will save us time."

"Sounds good."

They exited the safehouse, Percy held his wand level in his palm and softly whispered to it, "Show me the way."

The wand spun around, indicating his right side, which was north.

"So, we need to go in the opposite direction, which will take us back to the graveyard," Percy informed everyone.

They returned to the graveyard once again, Slytherin and Hufflepuff students pointing and discussing the dark stone gravestones, marveling at them.

"Look, the skeletal bones have turned into stones," Wood reminded.

Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students discovered that the scattered little skeletons had all transformed into piles of broken stones.

"Quite clever Transfiguration. We never realized it then," a wizard picked up a stone, examining it closely.

A Ravenclaw girl said wistfully, "I used to hold this, thinking it was cute."

Percy gave her a strange look, whispering to Penelope, "Is she always like this?"

"She's a fanatic for magical artifacts," Penelope explained.

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

After seven or eight minutes, a Hufflepuff student found a golden key inside a piece of stone.

"Where did you find it?"

Groves pointed to a shattered piece of stone nearby. Wood's eyes widened, "That's the little skeleton that attacked me. I kept it intentionally! Who would've thought the key was hidden in its skull."

"Excellent, we've completed a quarter of the task. Let's keep up the momentum..." Percy was about to encourage them when Slytherin Prefect Jeffery approached holding a box.

"What's this?"

"A treasure map," Jeffery said.

"How did this come about?" Percy's mind was a bit scrambled. The students gathered around, examining the map inside the box.

The markings on it were simple. In the southeast direction from the safehouse was a drawing of a bottle, with magical inscriptions symbolizing wealth nearby.

Just then, a thunderous voice echoed from the sky —

"It seems you're having a jolly time... but I regret to inform you that this unexpected journey is temporarily concluding. Gather your belongings and follow the guide to leave this place."

An arrow appeared at their feet.

After a dozen minutes, they found themselves back in the Ancient Runes classroom, wearing expressions of confusion and daze.

"Is it ending like this? We haven't collected all the keys yet."

At the front of the classroom, Felix Harp smiled at them, "Class will be over in a few minutes. To ensure you're not late, I must interrupt this adventure. But don't worry—"

"For the rest of this school year, you'll be engaged there. In addition to the task of collecting the four keys, you'll encounter plenty of quirky and delightfully simple tasks..."

"Like that treasure map?"

"Exactly, Jeffery," Felix said, "The assignment for this class is to decipher the runes you've encountered and complete a paper no less than a foot in length."

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