Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 424 Grave Sweeping
Around 10 p.m., close to curfew, when Harry and Hermione came out of Umbridge's office and returned to the Gryffindor common room, they both instinctively covered their right hands.

Hermione's eyes were slightly red, but her eyes revealed unparalleled determination and anger, and Harry had a similar expression.

Clearly, neither of them intended to yield. In the past few hours, they did not want to show the slightest weakness, even if it meant sitting there all night, cutting their hands deeply with the quill pen, rather than letting Umbridge laugh at them.

"Alright." Umbridge seemed to have finally been unable to bear the chilling feeling that had been lingering over her, and she stopped Hermione and Harry's confinement.

“Hands,” Umbridge said.

Harry silently reached out his hand, but Hermione seemed not to hear him and silently picked up her schoolbag.

Umbridge roughly grabbed Harry's hand, and Harry struggled to suppress a shiver as she touched his hand with her thick, short fingers adorned with a bunch of ugly old-fashioned rings.

"Tsk tsk, it seems I haven't left a deep impression on you yet." She said with a smile, "It's okay, we'll try again tomorrow night, right? Alright, you can go now."

Harry and Hermione left her office without saying a word.

“Now I finally know why Tyrell had you prepare the White Potion,” Harry said to Hermione in the empty corridor.

“Hmm.” Hermione rubbed her eyes and then looked up. “I know what the kitten spy means now… I know what the second half of Tyella’s prophecy means now.”

"What?" Harry asked in surprise, "What do you mean?"

“Didn’t you see all those decorative plates hanging on the wall in Umbridge?” Hermione asked, tugging at her tousled hair.

“You mean…” Harry said.

“Hmm.” Hermione nodded. “Most students don’t know… or perhaps they haven’t noticed, that all the murals within the Hogwarts area are interconnected.”

“You mean…” Harry finally realized, “You mean she can get what’s on her plate—”

Hermione nodded silently, tugged at Harry's sleeve, and glanced up at the murals in the corridor.

Harry understood and said no more.

"What's wrong with you two?" Ron asked anxiously as Harry and Hermione returned to the Gryffindor common room.

“No, no, it’s nothing…” Harry and Hermione said almost simultaneously.

Then the two of them hurriedly went upstairs to sleep.

The second time I was put in solitary confinement was just as painful and unbearable as the first time.

Harry and Hermione's skin on the backs of their hands became more sensitive and quickly turned red, feeling like it was on fire.

However, they still desperately tried not to let out a painful gasp, and this continued from the moment he entered the office until Umbridge let him leave—

It was past midnight again, and they only exchanged two sentences: "Good evening" and "Good night."

After that, their third solitary confinement was no different from the previous two, except that after two hours, the "I can't lie" wounds on the back of their hands stopped healing, leaving red scratches behind.

Tiny beads of blood appeared. Professor Umbridge, unable to hear the scratching sound of the quill pen tip, looked up.

“Ah,” she said gently, walking around her desk to examine Harry’s hands. “Very good. This should serve as a constant reminder, shouldn’t it? You can leave tonight.”

"Are we coming back tomorrow?" Harry asked, picking up his backpack with his left hand as his right hand ached terribly.

“Oh, yes,” said Professor Umbridge, his smile as saccharine as ever. “Yes, I think with another night of effort, we can engrave that sentence even more deeply.”

Harry and Hermione always applied a clear, white potion every night after they got home, which usually provided some relief from the pain in their hands. But today—

"It's not working? Why isn't it working?" Hermione was so anxious that she poured the entire bottle of potion into her hand.

Fresh White Elixir is a powerful physical restoration potion. Not to mention the marks on the hands, even if a finger is broken, as long as the severed finger is found, a drop of Fresh White Elixir can restore it to its original state.

However, it had no effect on the wounds on Harry and Hermione's hands.

"How could this be? How could this be? How could this be..." Hermione repeatedly applied the white medicine to the wound on her right hand, but—

"It's no use, it's no use, it's no use..." Hermione was so anxious that she was about to cry. Even in Umbridge's office, even under such intense pain, Hermione had not cried. But when she learned that the scars on her hands might never be gone, she burst into tears.

Harry didn't know how to comfort Hermione, so he simply reached out and gently patted her back.

Suddenly, a voice appeared in Harry's mind—

"...If anyone else encounters difficulties, they are also welcome to visit my grave..."

“Hey, Hermione!” Harry stood up. “Since the White Potion didn’t work on Umbridge’s wounds, why did Tyella leave that instruction in his prophecy?”

"What do you mean?" Hermione didn't understand for a moment.

"Do you remember his fifth prophecy?" Harry countered. "Although he started by talking about Hagrid, he ended by saying... if anyone else is in trouble, they are welcome to visit his grave... do you think he might have hidden something there?"

"It's possible!" Hermione's eyes seemed to light up instantly. "Absolutely possible!"

"Let's go! Harry, let's go!" Hermione hurriedly stood up, grabbed Harry, and headed out of the Gryffindor common room.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked. "You're not going to Tierra's grave right now, are you?"

“Well, it’s only a little past seven,” Hermione said. “We still have time. We can go see Tyella.”

Indeed, Hermione and Harry returned earlier than usual today because of the marks on their hands.

"Hey, wait a minute... Hermione... just wait a bit." Harry said, running from the common room back to his bedroom, and then running back again.

When he ran back, Harry was holding a bunch of white calla lilies.

“Hmm… let’s go see Tyella, we can’t just leave empty-handed…” Harry said. “Let’s go see Tyella…”

(End of this chapter)