Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Chapter 137 Different Levels

Looking at the bottles and cans on the table, Fred said curiously: "What kind of stuff is this, an unexpected harvest in the secret passage?"

George also looked puzzled, not seeing the clue at all.

When they explored the secret passages of Hogwarts before, although they occasionally picked up some things left behind by their predecessors, they had never seen anything like this.

Bottles and cans were neatly placed on the table, without dust or cobwebs attached to them. Even the table still exuded the smell of raw paint...

All of this shows that they were placed here not long ago by others, and it is unlikely that they are ownerless things that accidentally fell into the secret passage.

As soon as they passed the threshold, a fire burned at the entrance behind them - this was no ordinary fire - the color of the flame was a very heavy blue, even so deep that it was almost purple. At the same time, another black flame was lit at the door leading to the front.

They're stuck in the middle!

"You should take a look at this, I can't believe my eyes!" George took out a piece of paper from the side of the wine bottle, just glanced at it and called for Bourne and Fred to come over and take a look.

"The handwriting is obviously Snape's!" Fred also saw the problem at a glance.

After all, Snape had been teaching them for three years. After potions class every week, he would almost always assign a paper, and when the assignments handed in by the little wizards were handed out, there would always be many of his corrections and comments on them.

Most of them are: "The troll may agree with your point of view", "I almost want to take off my eyeballs", "After seeing your homework, I made myself a soothing potion overnight"...

These venomous words were rarely written with a wand-controlled quill, and most of them were written by Snape himself - the professor really marked everyone's homework carefully. Of course, he was also complaining very seriously.

Naturally, it's no surprise that clever little wizards like the Weasley twins would instantly recognize Snape's font style.

This is what was written on the paper:

"There is danger in front of you, but safety behind you; if you find it, two of our bottles can help you; one of the seven bottles will help you move forward, and the other will send you back to where you were. , while two bottles were just ordinary Zunma wine, and three bottles were deadly poisonous wine.

If you don’t want to stay here forever, just choose now!

To help you choose, I can give you four helpful tips.

First, no matter how secretly the poisonous wine is hidden, you can always find it to the left of the nettle wine;
Second, there are always different wines standing on the edge, but if you continue to move inward, there are no good wines;
Third, as you can see, all bottles come in different sizes, and there is no danger in a short or tall bottle;

Fourth, the second one on the left and the second one on the right are actually a pair, although they don't look alike. "

George and Fred looked at each other, and then with lightning speed, they pinched each other's arms.

"You are so despicable!"

"To each other, to each other."

The two brothers laughed and cursed at each other.

"But I do wonder if I was dreaming just now, or my brain was damaged by the smoke in the Forbidden Forest." Fred said, "I can't imagine that Professor Snape would actually play like this. - I mean, how does this scene look so much like a prank?"

In fact, even Bourne couldn't help but feel a little speechless.

Although he felt like a mirror in his mind, this should be a level designed by Professor Snape to protect the Sorcerer's Stone, but it was also a protective measure after all!

Let's not consider whether it is appropriate to design a logic game within the protective measures.

To put it simply, if this level is regarded as a security lock to stop thieves, then leaving the "key" (magic potion) that can be used to "open the lock" next to the security lock - this in itself is very puzzling. things.

Who in the right mind would do this?

Providing convenience to thieves?
If there were more thieves coming, maybe there wouldn't be any need to think about logic. With one bottle of medicine, one person can directly test the results using the exhaustive method.

The only reasonable explanation is that this level (or even all levels) is not actually a measure to truly protect the Philosopher's Stone.

They are just an adventure, or in other words, a test for those who break through the levels.

Speaking of which, who designed the levels, and who are these levels designed for...

Everyone understands these two issues.

The only difference from the original design is probably the variable factor of Bourne and the Weasley brothers. Of course, the main one is Bourne.

After all, Dumbledore had almost made it clear to him just now: This is an adventure, go for it boldly, and if anything goes wrong, I will be there to take care of it.

"Furthermore, it is estimated that Dumbledore is not the only one who has taken the blame this time," Bourne said with a heartbeat: "The alchemy crystal lamp in the wizard's chessboard room is probably the handiwork of Mr. Flamel. The final level behind it may also be There are some arrangements of his.”

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but observe half a second of silence for Voldemort and Quirrell - no more.

Because in this half second, he deduced the answer to the puzzle left by Snape.

"It's the round bottle on the far right."

He pointed to the "correct answer" and said to the Weasley twins.

"According to what is written on the note, as long as we drink this bottle of magic potion, we can walk through the flames in front of us," he said, picking up the round bottle first and taking a sip of the potion inside.

While drinking, he noticed that there were still a few fingerprints on the bottle, and it seemed that some of the potion inside had been drunk.

Of course, to be cautious, before drinking the potion, he underwent partial transformation of Asta Primaris, mainly changing the internal organs of the digestive tract. This superhuman intestines allowed him to adapt to most poisons, and he was poisoned. It won't kill him immediately.

Moreover, when the potion entered his mouth, his sense of taste told him that this bottle of potion seemed to be the same thing as the "Liquified Patronus Charm" that Grandpa Horace gave him before.

The reason why I say "should" is because it tastes really bad. Unlike the mint-lemon flavored potion that Horace prepared for Bourne, the potion brewed by Professor Snape, The only ingredient used for flavoring is ground coriander seeds.

When Bourne handed the potion that confirmed that there was no big problem to the Weasley twins, they held their noses and took a sip of the potion, and their expressions turned into the same "囧".

"I'm sure, this is the potion made by Snape." George muttered, covering his mouth with his palms for fear of spitting it out.

Fred added: "If this is a prank, I think it should have achieved its effect. If I were to give a grade, then I would give Professor Snape an O."

Bourne tilted his head, using his peripheral vision to slightly glance at the blue-purple flames rising from the corridor at the end when he came in, and then interrupted the twins' discussion.

After all, it's always bad to curse someone in person. "Let's move forward quickly. Although the quality of this potion is very good and it can last for a long time after one sip, we still don't know what is waiting for us behind."

He said seriously: "Take out all your wands. Maybe in the next room, we will meet a dark wizard with two heads."

……

"Snape must be a dark wizard—"

Ron concluded angrily.

At the same time, he kept breathing into his palms and rubbing his hands together, trying to warm himself up.

In the level designed by Snape just now, Hermione and Professor Quirrell quickly solved the puzzle left by Snape at the same time, and concluded that the bottle on the far right contained a magic weapon that could allow people to pass through the fire barrier. medicine.

Professor Quirrell was worried that the antidote would not be enough, so he decided to leave the large bottle of antidote to their young wizards to drink, while he relied on his skillful Defense Against the Dark Arts skills and magic spells to overcome the barrier.

(In fact, it's because Voldemort, who is possessed by Quirrell, doesn't trust anyone. Even though the answer to the puzzle on the note has been solved, he is still worried that the so-called "antidote" is actually Snape's. The poison came out. So, he pretended to be high-minded and gave the antidote to the little wizards.)
After drinking the antidote, Harry, Ron and Hermione did pass through the barrier composed of fierce fire.

However, when the unbearably hot fire licked the little wizards' skin, they felt that the liquid really seemed to flow like ice water in their blood.

They passed through the flame barrier safely, but the shortcoming was: they felt that their bodies were almost shivering from the cold, and they were a little uncomfortable; moreover, the nauseating potion continued to work on both sides, It poisons their stomachs and souls.

"——Even if the potion he made is not poison, it will probably make people sick to death if they drink too much."

Hermione and Harry were having a hard time right now too. And it seemed to be worse than Ron's situation. The two of them were cold and sick, and they didn't even have the energy to complain.

"Serious, solemn, silent."

In the end, it was Quirrell who interrupted Ron's beeping. He really didn't have the time or energy to deal with the chatter of these three little wizards.

Because when they entered the last level of the level, no one knew what trap Dumbledore had designed in this level to protect the Sorcerer's Stone.

All he saw now was a metal sculpture.

The main shape of the sculpture is a fire dragon, but half of it is a skeleton. Only its upper body has the body shape of a fire dragon, while its lower body is a keel.

"We are looking for the Philosopher's Stone now, and there is no time to waste. Snape has already returned to Hogwarts, and 'that man' might be back soon."

Quirrell didn't even look at the little wizards. He just looked around with his eyes in this level, trying to find some traces of magic.

When he mentioned "that person", the three little wizards suddenly stiffened. They all thought of the mysterious person who couldn't even mention his name. But in fact, what Quirrell said actually refers to the greatest white wizard Dumbledore.

"Professor Quirrell is right," Harry nodded, "We are indeed pressed for time now."

After hearing this, Ron and Hermione also cheered up and began to look around the room like Quirrell.

……

"Can you see that, Peter?"

Dumbledore stretched out two fingers and waved them in front of Peter Pettigrew's eyes.

"What number is this?"

Having just been awakened from the "baby-like sleep" state, Peter Pettigrew drowsily raised his eyelids slightly.

"This is 2, are you stupid, Deng..."

In the middle of speaking, Peter Pettigrew suddenly closed his mouth and widened his eyes.

"... Principal Dumbledore, please listen to my cunning... No, it's an explanation."

Looking at the man lying on the recliner he had created, Dumbledore's half-moon glasses reflected the light from the magic lamp.

"Of course, I will listen very carefully," Dumbledore thought as he pressed down Peter who was about to sit up from the recliner. "When one gets older, the most important thing is to learn to listen to other people's difficulties."

"That's right, that's right."

Peter Pettigrew nodded hurriedly, but his mouth was as wide as a chrysanthemum. Because, although Madam Pomfrey had just used medical magic to remove the lump on her head, she still had a headache now.

However, he didn't know that some wizards said they wanted to listen to something, but in fact, they could figure it out without the other party's answer, just using Legilimency.

What's more, Dumbledore didn't have much time at this time. He would go to the underground restricted area to meet another former student of his.

The reason why he wanted to wake up Peter Pettigrew was that he hoped that after he opened his eyes and saw himself, he would have violent thoughts. This would make it easier for him to recognize that this person should have been dead for almost twelve years, but he sneaked in today. Recipient of the Order of Merlin at Hogwarts Castle.

"However, I want to remind you," Dumbledore added another strong dose, "you'd better tell me why you disappeared after Voldemort fell and Sirius was imprisoned in Azkaban Prison. Hiding...you know."

"No! No!"

He denied loudly: "I was caught by Charlie, the second son of the Weasley family. He raised me as a pet. Later, he gave me to that Percy as a gift——"

"So you were willing to be treated as a pet and then stayed in the Weasley family for nearly 11 years?" Dumbledore continued.

"No, I was just recovering from my injuries."

"So, what kind of injury is it that requires you to recuperate in someone else's home for 11 years?"

"I, I, I, may be..."

In his haste, it was difficult for Peter Pettigrew to come up with some decent reasons right away.

"I do not know what to do."

"I really have no choice."

Peter Pettigrew could only repeat these two sentences with the same meaning.

(End of this chapter)