"We're here! This is the hidden room we discovered!" After spending considerable time on the rotating staircase, the stairs beneath them finally connected to a rarely used passage.
Not far away, Justin gently tapped the wall three times. After three crisp sounds, the dimly lit wall revealed a painting.
"We found it by chance..." he said excitedly. "But after answering this painting's question, we suddenly entered that room. We have a lantern, but let me cast Lumos." Justin's wand tip emitted a faint light, then Hermione raised hers. Her wand was much brighter than Justin's.
Just then, Shawn came over holding a wand as bright as a light bulb.
"Oh, Shawn..." Justin exclaimed softly, and the three of them focused their attention on the painting.
The canvas was yellowed and cracked with age. What was painted on it wasn't some dignified wizard, but a snow-white owl wearing a velvet vest and small pince-nez glasses. It was struggling to straighten its glasses with one claw while the other claw grasped a roll of aged parchment.
"What are you looking at! Owls are eagles too!" Hearing its high-pitched voice, Hermione was the first to laugh. Then Justin laughed too, and even Shawn's lips curved upward.
"It's you again! What are you laughing at!" The owl flapped its wings furiously. Shawn could hear the whooshing wind.
"I—I thought of something happy," Hermione explained, her face flushing red.
This time, Shawn couldn't hold back.
"What are you laughing at again!"
"I also thought of something happy," Shawn said quietly. He never expected to see shadows of films from his previous life in an owl.
"You're clearly laughing at me! None of you have stopped!" The owl flapped frantically in exasperation, the parchment under its feet shaking wildly.
"Sorry." "Sorry." "I'm sorry." Before it completely refused to let the three enter, they apologized sincerely while holding back laughter.
"Wretched young wizards! If you want to enter, answer my question!" It unfurled the parchment beneath its feet. Shawn and the others didn't know if it, as an owl, could read, but after selecting for a while, it did ask a question.
"Hogwarts, peaceful Hogwarts... tell me, why was Hogwarts located here?" Its head rotated one hundred eighty degrees, then asked this question haughtily.
Justin and Hermione immediately froze.
"How did its question change? Wasn't it asking about Lady Ravenclaw's true name before?" Justin found it hard to believe.
"Hermione, do you know?" Justin turned his pleading gaze to Hermione. The bushy-haired little witch thought hard for a while, then finally shook her head.
"Young wizards, foolish young wizards!" The owl seemed very pleased. It chattered.
"It's because of Rowena Ravenclaw's dream." At this moment, a quiet voice drifted over. After Shawn spoke softly, the owl stopped flapping and almost fell.
"How do you know—" It exclaimed, then stiffly bowed slightly. With its wings' movement, a crack also opened in the wall, revealing a sky-blue door.
Shawn thoughtfully turned the eagle-shaped door handle. Opening this door revealed a spacious room inside. Some desks were scattered in the center of the room, covered in dust. In one corner, a huge bookshelf leaned crookedly, most books scattered on the ground with brittle yellow pages. Another corner was piled with oddly shaped apparatus: a complex crystal lens device, several glass cabinets with tattered labels. Besides these, there was nothing else.
"Shawn, Ravenclaw's dream—what does that mean?" Before practicing charms, Justin couldn't help but ask this question.
"Legend says Hogwarts' location was chosen by Rowena Ravenclaw... Ravenclaw dreamed of a warty hog that led her to a cliff edge. That's why the school was built here..." Shawn narrated in a storytelling tone, gently recounting the thousand-year-old history.
Justin unconsciously moved closer to Shawn, his face eager with anticipation. Hermione also lowered her wand, her eyes sparkling brightly in the light. The three gathered around Shawn's wand, huddling together in the darkness.
"Hogwarts, warty hog—see the similarity? Legend says this is how Hogwarts got its name."
"Wow—" Justin gasped. Hermione had already covered her mouth.
"What a wonderful story, just like the Tales of... um, what was it called..." Justin frowned.
"It's The Tales of Beedle the Bard," Hermione glared at Justin for ruining the moment and responded irritably.
"Oh, oh." Justin scratched his head and gently lit the magical lantern.
After the wonderful story ended, the three faced another challenge: magic. The Levitation Charm was simple and practical, one of the first spells young wizards learned. Still, even this basic magic was tough for new students.
"Failed again..." The feather Justin carried floated for three seconds before falling. This obviously didn't meet the minimum requirement of ten seconds.
[You practiced the Levitation Charm once at Entry standard, Proficiency +3]
Shawn automatically blocked out surrounding sounds. He was always focused.
"Mmm..." The feather before Justin slowly fell again. This time he lasted one second longer, but it still wasn't enough.
[You practiced the Levitation Charm once at Entry standard, Proficiency +3]
[You practiced the Levitation Charm once at Entry standard, Proficiency +3]
"It fell again..."
[You practiced the Levitation Charm once at Entry standard, Proficiency +3]
[You practiced the Levitation Charm once at Entry standard, Proficiency +3]
[You practiced the Levitation Charm once at Entry standard, Proficiency +3]
Through continuous successful practice, gaining thirty proficiency points, Shawn felt his magic had also completely disappeared. His arm became very sore, and his breathing quickened considerably.
Magic, or at least that's what they called it for now, was a mysterious force. Unlike mana bars in fantasy worlds, it manifested in wizards as fatigue and a lack of energy. It wasn't just some vague mental power, but was closely tied to the body. Still, it could be recovered and even felt—after all, anyone could tell the difference between feeling energetic and feeling drained.
During this time, Shawn noticed the troubled Justin. He was changing various gestures, trying to keep the feather floating. Unfortunately, the feather either suddenly bounced up or floated shakily, then quickly fell.