The air inside Hagrid's hut was warm and dry. The crackling of the oak in the fireplace was the room's only background sound.
On the wooden table, three large mugs steamed with hot tea, beside a plate of rock-hard baked cakes, colored and textured so closely to actual stone that they could almost pass as real.
"Alan, today you've really impressed me!"
Hagrid's thick fingers gripped his mug, his booming voice vibrating like a ringing bell.
"I've spent my whole life dealing with magical creatures, but I never imagined—dealing with a mad Knarl, my fists would be more effective than a wand!"
Alan was using all his strength, trying to bite off a small piece of the rock-hard cake. The scraping of his teeth against the surface sent a sharp, teeth-aching sound through the hut.
"Sometimes, the simplest method is the most effective."
Finally, he managed to break off a small piece, chewing it with effort, while subtly steering the "727" topic toward the true purpose of this trip. He lifted his gaze, looking past the mugs on the table, directly at Hagrid.
"Hagrid, I have a question I want to ask you."
His tone became calm, carrying a seriousness and intensity that didn't belong to a first-year student.
"In this world… does there exist a substance that can completely block magic?"
Hagrid's booming voice stopped mid-sentence.
His massive body sank into the equally enormous armchair, brows furrowed. The firelight danced across his thick beard, casting shifting shadows. He scratched his wild hair, eyes lifting to the ceiling, as if searching the farthest corners of his memory.
A long silence spread through the hut.
"Completely block magic…"
Hagrid muttered, his voice unusually low.
"Oh, that's difficult. Almost impossible. Magic… it's everywhere. It can pass through walls, through steel armor, even bend space. Wizards have spent thousands of years researching how to defend against spells, but that's always using one magic to counter another—not true 'insulation.'"
He lifted his mug and took a large gulp of tea, the heat seeming to stir long-dormant memories.
"But…"
His gaze suddenly became distant, as if he had drifted into the far past.
"I remember something. Many years ago, when I was young, I went with an expedition to the Egyptian desert. We were searching for a lost tomb of an ancient Pharaoh.
"That place wasn't for humans—the days were hot enough to roast lizards, and the nights were bitterly cold. But eventually, we found the entrance, buried beneath thousands of grains of sand."
Hagrid's voice carried a trace of awe.
"The tomb… was filled with deadly curses and traps. But the thing that impressed me most was in the main chamber. There was a very peculiar sarcophagus—not gold, not jade, just a heavy, black stone of an unnamable kind.
"Its surface, from head to toe, was covered with dense runes. These runes weren't like any ancient magic symbols I'd ever seen—they were older, more complex, almost dazzling to the eyes."
He paused, savoring the memory of the shock.
"At that time, our team had a Curse-Breaker from Gringotts who considered himself a master at detecting magic. He wanted to cast an advanced detection spell on the sarcophagus to see what treasures it contained."
Hagrid leaned slightly forward, lowering his voice.
"And guess what happened?"
"The spell—a bright blue light—touched the sarcophagus surface and… just disappeared!"
"Not deflected, not countered, it simply vanished. Like a drop of water in a scorching desert, not even a wisp of steam—just gone."
"We were terrified. Then we tried other spells. Attack spells, transfiguration, even blasting curses—none, not a single one, had any effect on it. The sarcophagus sat there silently, like a tombstone in the magical world, declaring the death of all magic."
Hagrid's words acted like a key, instantly unlocking a sealed door in Alan's mind.
The light in his pupils flared. All the threads of thought suddenly connected.
This is it!
That night, the Gryffindor common room had long since settled into quiet. Most students were asleep, and only the last embers in the fireplace emitted a faint glow.
Alan, the Weasley twins, and Lee Jordan sat in the most secluded corner of the common room, their shadows stretched long by the firelight.
Alan took the story Hagrid had told him that afternoon and, using his own logic, reorganized it, presenting it clearly to his friends.
"The kind of sarcophagus Hagrid saw in Egypt—its principle probably relies on some ancient runic technique we don't yet understand."
Alan's voice was low, carrying an undeniable authority.
"Those runes together create a field, a kind of 'magical insulation' capable of devouring—or digesting—all external magical energy. This may have been the ultimate method ancient, powerful wizards used to protect their peace of mind—or their most important possessions."
He glanced around. The shocked expressions on his friends' faces told him they were following his reasoning.
He paused briefly, letting the weight of his thought settle. Then, he dropped a real bombshell.
"From this, I deduce that what Dumbledore used to protect Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone was not some complex magical barrier—but likely a container that uses a similar principle."
The twins and Lee Jordan all froze for a moment, holding their breath.
"That's why Professor Quirrell had to go through so much trouble to get past the three-headed dog and the Devil's Snare, rather than just using a simple Summoning Charm somewhere in the castle to take the Stone directly."
Alan's chain of logic was precise and cold, each link perfectly aligned.
"Because any spell attempting to directly affect the Stone itself would be immediately swallowed by that 'magical insulation' container, rendering it completely ineffective."
"And to bypass—or, rather, to circumvent—this runic defense," Alan's gaze finally settled on the heavy copy of The Fortress of Thought he had borrowed from the Restricted Section and placed at the center of the table, "the key lies here."
His finger lightly tapped the missing page of the book.
"Find that page, torn out by a predecessor, which details the construction and breaking of the core mechanism."
This bold, clear, even audacious deduction made the twins and Lee Jordan all take a sharp, startled breath.
The air seemed to thicken in that instant.
They felt that Alan was no longer simply a mischievous first-year exploring hidden corners of the castle. Under his guidance, they were peeling back the seemingly peaceful exterior of the magical world, glimpsing the most core, most dangerous secrets woven from ancient runes, powerful magic, and deadly schemes.
At this moment, Alan's next exploration target became perfectly clear.
~~----------------------
Patreon Advance Chapters:
[email protected] / Dreamer20