A day at Hogwarts.

Chapter 682 There's Something Strange in the Rocks

"Charles and Myrtle are on a date?"

On the way from the Divination classroom to the dining hall, Harry looked at Hermione incredulously, and even subconsciously took out his wand and gently tapped her forehead.

"Temperature instantly detected!"

This was a little spell he found in a book in the library, used to detect the temperature of objects. He had been wanting to try it out for a while, and now he used it on Hermione to see if she was delirious from a fever.

"It's more believable that he wants to date you."

Harry noticed that Hermione's temperature was normal.

Hermione slapped his wand away impatiently and said, "It's true! If you don't believe me, go with him during lunch break today. He arranged to meet Myrtle in her bathroom. I heard him say it with my own ears."

Harry stroked his chin and said, "Hmm...that does sound strange. It seems necessary to follow them and find out the truth."

Ron stared at Hermione with a puzzled look the whole way until they reached the first-floor lobby, where there were fewer people around. Then he lowered his voice and asked, "Did Charles offend you again?"

He guessed that this might be some kind of revenge by Hermione.

Hermione simply snorted and didn't say anything.

As usual, the cafeteria was bustling when lunch began.

Harry looked around but found that Charles was not there.

"Is he afraid of being discovered?" Harry felt he might have touched on the edge of a secret, otherwise, given Charles's life routine of eating being the most important thing, there was no reason for him to miss mealtimes.

He quickly finished two sandwiches, downed a glass of pumpkin juice, and hurriedly got up and left.

When Harry tiptoed to the door of Myrtle's bathroom, he heard Charles and Myrtle's voices coming from inside.

He immediately slipped into the shadows by the doorframe and gestured for Hermione and Ron, who arrived later looking reluctant and bewildered, to be quiet.

The bathroom was still the same as before, with the broken faucet dripping water, making a regular, hollow sound.

Charles asked Myrtle, who was floating under the ceiling, "What do you need me for?"

Today, Myrtle was quite different from her usual tearful and complaining self. She was unusually downcast, and her blurry face, adorned with thick glasses, wore an almost serious expression as she whispered, "Hogwarts is haunted!"

Upon hearing this, Charles subconsciously raised his hand, took off his glasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose, a look of utter helplessness flashing across his face.

In that instant, he suddenly understood what Zheng Tu felt when he heard Lu Da tell him to carefully chop ten catties of tender cartilage into minced meat.

Before he could figure out how to say "but they didn't come here just to tease me" in English, Myrtle continued, "I'm not talking about us, I'm talking about ghosts I've never seen before!"

Charles frowned and asked, "Are there new ghosts coming to Hogwarts?"

There are many ghosts in England. Perhaps someone wants to join Hogwarts, but for some reason hasn't officially shown up, such as not having reached an agreement with the big boss among the ghosts. They wander around and are spotted by Moaning Myrtle.

“No! That’s not it!” Myrtle shook her blurry head vigorously, her voice rising slightly, echoing softly in the empty washroom. “No ghost likes to stay inside hard rock!”

Even Duncan, who dislikes showing his face the most and is the most reclusive, would only find an empty room or an abandoned cabinet to stay in; he would never hide himself in a rock!

“That area is all hard rock, and I would hide there when Peeves bullied me.”

"But there's been some movement in the rocks lately; only ghosts go there!"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron exchanged glances outside the door, all seeing the confusion and a hint of intrigue on each other's faces. A ghost in the rock? Never heard of that.

Inside the bathroom, Charles remained silent for a moment, seemingly processing this strange information.

He considered a possibility, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

Although Myrtle is emotional, she is extremely unlikely to lie about such matters, and her description is very detailed.

Charles asked, "What are the details? What did it do?"

"Have you mentioned this to the fat monk and Nick, who was almost headless?"

Charles wanted to confirm whether the other ghosts knew about it, just in case it was some old ghost that Myrtle didn't know.
Myrtle immediately pouted, saying with aggrieved and indignant tone, "I did tell them! But they all thought I was talking nonsense again, saying I was hallucinating because I was mentally unstable. Nobody believed me at all!"

Charles pondered for a moment: was it a strange ghost hidden in the rock, unknown to other ghosts, or was there another secret hidden in the rock? Both were possible.

Hogwarts has countless secrets, but this one carries an unusual and eerie aura.

Wrong location!

Whether it's Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets or the magical underground caverns like the one the old man mentioned, they are all connected by passageways.

If the location provided by Myrtle is inside the stone with no external passage, it doesn't make sense.

Another possibility is that there is a passage there, but it is not open.

“Well,” Charles said, looking at Myrtle, “I think you have a very good point.”

"Take me to see it."

"Where is that place where you noticed something unusual?"

Myrtle's face instantly lit up with an expression that was a mixture of excitement and nervousness. Finally, someone believed what she had said.

“Behind the castle!” she exclaimed impatiently, her figure bobbing excitedly. “Right under that covered bridge, on the outer side of the cliff!”

"You have to go down from the bridge to the bottom of the cliff and fly a short distance towards Hogsmeade to see it!"

"There's a very strong magical barrier there, I can't get through it at all, it's like when I was alive I bumped into a wall, but there was movement behind me!"

Charles didn't know if she always missed the point when she spoke, or if she was deliberately waiting for him to trust her before revealing everything. She hadn't even mentioned the magic barrier earlier.

“Going on an adventure there won’t be easy,” Charles said thoughtfully. “I need to be prepared for battle, and I need to have potions and helpers ready.”

"Could you wait a few days for me to prepare?"

Myrtle immediately said, "Alright, alright, it's fine if you go after you finish your exams!"

Footsteps sounded coming out of the bathroom, and Harry, Harry, and his friends immediately turned and slipped away.

Harry found it to be such a fun thing, and the idea of ​​going along to broaden his horizons arose in his mind.

However, Charles is not easy to talk to when it comes to dangerous matters, so we need to work on his mood as soon as possible to achieve the best results with the least effort.

(End of this chapter)