The Black Bloodline of Hogwarts

Peeves floated to a seemingly ordinary stone wall and tapped a peculiar rhythm on its surface with his fingernails. The stones slowly moved, revealing a narrow spiral staircase leading underground.

"This is the back door left by the Guardians," Peeves said, unusually serious, "but only those with Black blood can enter through the final small door. Hurry up, little Black—Quirok has already gone in."

The three filed in. The staircase was dark and damp, filled with the musty smell of years past and a certain inexplicable sense of oppression. Julien walked in front, the tip of his wand glowing faintly silver, illuminating the path beneath his feet.

Unbeknownst to them, a small figure was tiptoeing behind them not far away.

Susan Burns.

Hufflepuff's first-year student is holding a small, glowing toy toad, a gift from Uncle Cassian.

My uncle said that if I see anything "interesting," I should write it down with this toad, and I can exchange it for more toys.

She just wanted to see where her sister Liria was going that night. The Forbidden Forest situation worried her, and Uncle Cassian had also said to "be careful to protect the students' safety."

This doesn't violate school rules, right? She was just... concerned about her classmate.

Unbeknownst to her, another classmate, Neville, who was concerned about his classmate, had already been rendered unconscious by the petrification curse.

---

The journey was not easy, with bumps and stumbles everywhere, and most of the passages were blocked, probably because no one had been able to pass through for many years.

Fortunately, there were three of them, constantly clearing away the rubble and mud. "If there were only one person, they would have been exhausted," Julien thought to himself.

Especially the tree roots that appeared out of nowhere; if it weren't for Lyria's natural magic that could retract them, Julien alone would have been at a loss for time.

At the end of the spiral passage was a blue light curtain. An invisible force prevented Liria and Rocher from entering, but it seemed to have no effect on Julien.

"Then be careful." The two women looked at Julien with some concern, but did not stop him.

"Don't worry, I'll just keep an eye on things from the doorway." Julien smiled and cautiously turned to go inside.

This is an underground chamber, roughly the size of the central hall of a funeral home. The ceiling is very high, and magic lamps hang on the walls, casting a dim, yellowish light into the hall.

In the very center of the room, the Mirror of Erised stood silently. Since Julien was behind the mirror, nothing could be seen.

Just then, a hoarse voice rang out, "Quirok, use that boy."

"You! Come here!" It was Quirrell's voice, but it no longer had his usual timidity and stutter.

Julien remained motionless in the shadows behind the mirror, not daring to utter a sound.

Footsteps sounded; it must have been Harry Potter who came to the mirror.

Julien then sensed the fluctuations of the Mirror of Erised, which probably meant that Harry Potter had obtained the Philosopher's Stone.

This is Dumbledore's mechanism: only those who truly want to find the Philosopher's Stone but do not intend to use it can retrieve it from the mirror.

"What did you see? Tell me!"

"I saw that I got the House Cup." Sure enough, Harry Potter couldn't even lie; even Voldemort knew that what he wanted most was to see his parents.

The hoarse voice rang out again, "He's lying! Let me talk to him."

Wow, the plot has reached its climax.

In front of the mirror, Quirrell slowly turned around and gently removed the purple, garlic-scented headscarf from his head.

A putrid stench wafted over, and Julien struggled to suppress the urge to vomit, but dared not peek to see if Voldemort still had a nose.

"Harry Potter, t- ...

"You want the Philosopher's Stone," Harry's voice trembled, but he tried to remain calm. "I won't let you have it."

"You?" Voldemort laughed. "Yes, you are brave, just like your parents. But they can never be here again, can they?"

Voldemort's voice paused for a moment, then became incredibly tempting, "Only I can bring them back. And I only need a paltry reward, which is in your pocket."

Harry, whose crotch was exposed by Voldemort, turned and tried to run away.

"Grab him! Quirrell!"

Harry Potter hadn't run two steps before Quirrell, who had leaped into the air, tackled him to the ground—it must be said, Quirrell was quite formidable when he showed his true strength—and the Philosopher's Stone rolled out of Harry's pocket.

With a "snap".

The Philosopher's Stone seems to have shattered!

"Gurgle, gurgle!" One of the large pieces rolled right next to the Mirror of Eris.

Just then, Voldemort, who was behind Quirrell, saw a small hand and furtively picked up the shard from behind the mirror.

"There..."

Before Voldemort could finish speaking, Harry Potter, just like in the movies, crushed Quirrell to pieces with his "love hand".

As for why this happened, Julien didn't know either. Dumbledore later explained that love is the most powerful magic. But this magic only manifested in Harry Potter.

If something can't be explained, then it must be love.

"No!" Voldemort, who was attached to Quirrell, could only let out a final roar after losing his attachment point, and turned into a wisp of black smoke.

But even though it was just a wisp of black smoke, it passed through Harry's body and knocked him unconscious.

Thinking the matter was settled, Julien strolled out from behind the magic mirror, a stone also hidden in his pocket.

However, Voldemort's ghost, that is, the black smoke, had not yet left and rushed towards Julien again, as fast as if it were filled with resentment.

Julien reacted extremely quickly, and his silver linden wand popped out of his sleeve in an instant.

"Exanimus!"

The tip of the staff instantly released a dazzling silver-white light, burning towards the black smoke like flames.

"Hiss!" The soul, having lost its body, could not withstand the burning flames and immediately let out a kind of infrasonic scream (anyway, normal humans cannot hear it), dissipating into a dozen wisps of smoke that slipped away through various gaps.

Julien originally learned this spell from the library, intending to use it against Peeves. Now, thinking back, he felt a little scared and couldn't help but secretly rejoice for Peeves.

Outside the blue light screen, Rocher stamped her foot anxiously, "Why isn't Julien out yet? I hope something's happened to him."

Just then, Julien's disheveled figure tumbled out of the light screen. He dared not hold back with his last spell, exhausting all his power.

Liria quickly helped him up, "Are you alright?" Both girls' voices were filled with concern.

"It's alright for now," Julien said, struggling to his feet. "Voldemort has been driven away, though he'll be back. But at least for tonight..."

Before he could finish speaking, a slight noise suddenly came from the passageway. The three of them turned abruptly, their wands pointing forward, and shouted, "Who's there!"

A small figure emerged from the shadows, hands raised high, a mixture of embarrassment and fear on its face: "Don't, don't attack! It's me!"

Liria and Rozier attacked simultaneously; neither of them were pushovers, and they knew the importance of taking the initiative.

A vine shot up from the ground and wrapped around the opponent's ankle; at the same time, Rozier had already finished chanting "Fainted" halfway through—

"Wait!" Julien stopped them. "This is your Susan from Hufflepuff, Susan Bornes."

"Oh, it's her, but why are you here?" Liria frowned at Susan, but the vines didn't loosen.

"I...I was just worried about Sister Liria," Susan's voice trembled with tears, "...I wanted to check if you were alright. And Uncle Cassian told me...to keep an eye on things and gather intelligence..."

"Cassian Thorne?" Julien and Liria exchanged a glance, thinking of the man in the carriage during the Christmas holidays.

His gaze sharpened. "The Department of Mysteries?"

Susan nodded and pulled the glowing toy toad from her pocket: "Uncle said that if I see anything related to dark magic, I should write it down. I can exchange it for...more toys."

After she finished speaking, she lowered her head and her voice became softer: "...I just wanted to help..."

"Alright," Julien gestured for Liria to loosen the vines, then said to Susan, "I hope you won't tell anyone about this, after all... coming out in the middle of the night... that's against school rules."

Liria and Rozier also turned their attention to Susan.

"Okay, okay, okay." Susan nodded hurriedly, clutching the toy toad tightly in her hand, her expression a mixture of fear and... a strange excitement.

"From now on... can... can you take me with you?"

……

Although Susan knew that the information she had gathered today could probably be exchanged for a lot of toys, she also knew that some things were far more important than toys.