The days at Hogwarts

The wizarding streets in the early morning were much quieter than the last time I came here, and some shops, such as the tavern, were not open yet.

Some shop assistants began to clean the shops. From time to time, a whirlwind of air would burst out from the shop entrances, carrying a large amount of sand into the morning wind, and no one knew where it would go...

Chapter 270 Entering the Pyramid

They didn't walk too far as they visited several shops near Gringotts.

There were not many people on the street in the early morning, and the shop assistants seemed to have just woken up. The clerk of this magic supplies store only welcomed the two people when they entered the store, and then lazily hid behind the counter, with no intention of coming out to guide the shopping.

Loren approached the shelf and looked at the various gold bracelets and earrings displayed there. Two of the items caught his attention: "A gold mask that allows people to breathe underwater, and a gold scepter that can regulate the temperature around you?"

Hermione looked at the price tag and said in surprise, "What a bargain, only one Galleon each!"

Loren picked up the golden scepter and looked at it carefully. He was now more or less an alchemist, and he could see some clues about this level of alchemical creation.

"It's not gold, it's brass. The magic circle on it is carved with the body fluids of magical animals. It will lose its magic after three to five years." Loren put down the scepter and looked at the mask again. "This one is similar."

"No wonder it's so cheap." Hermione hesitated and asked, "What body fluids are you talking about?"

"Blood, sweat, saliva, and even urine." Loren exclaimed, "What a groundbreaking idea. Using body fluids to depict alchemical arrays greatly reduces the cost of materials."

Hermione looked at Loren seriously: "You don't have to learn this, at least don't use urine."

Loren was stunned for a moment and then burst out laughing.

In the end, they bought both items and also bought a few crucibles with Egyptian characteristics. They were larger than the British crucibles and were bulging, like pottery jars.

after an hour.

The two returned to the entrance of Gringotts and reunited with Professor Babel.

Professor Babel was still wearing a tight black robe that showed off her exquisite curves. The large hood that came with the robe covered her head, making her look mature and elegant.

"Sorry for the long wait!" Professor Babel came towards them with a smile, followed by a goblin and a wizard, both wearing Gringotts uniforms.

The goblin was wearing a small suit, had a short stature, a pair of long pointed ears, a nose that protruded from his face like a cone, and thick, pointed nails on his fingers.

Loren and Hermione's eyes were unconsciously drawn to the wizard. He had long fiery red hair tied into a long ponytail. He was tall, and wore an earring with a small fan-like thing hanging on it. He also wore a pair of boots made of fire dragon skin.

He wouldn't look out of place at a rock concert, even the coolest hipster in Muggle society would look no different.

Loren's eyes rested on his red hair, and he had some vague guesses in his mind.

Before anyone could say anything, they heard a goblin who was even smaller than a child yelling in a hoarse voice: "Why are there two children, Babel? That is a dangerous pyramid tomb, not a wooden house for little wizards to explore!"

"This is my assistant. Don't forget what we agreed on. If there is any disagreement inside the pyramid, I can leave at any time." Babel said indifferently, then turned to Loren and Hermione and smiled brightly. "Let me introduce you. This is your senior, Bill Weasley. He is now a curse breaker at Gringotts. This is Loren Morgan and Hermione Granger."

Bill stood up and shook hands with them both, smiling: "Hello, it seems you have recognized my hair."

"Yeah, Ron always talks about his brother who got 12 certificates in the OWLs exam." Loren said with a smile.

"Professor Babel said that both of you are top students in your grade. I guess you will achieve this achievement too. You will know when the time comes. People will still mention it many years after graduation, as if this is the only thing worth boasting about in your life." Bill shrugged.

"Is this some kind of blessing?" Hermione was very pleased with the compliment.

Bill was stunned for a moment, then he laughed heartily: "Yes, this is a blessing!"

He laughed for a while before stopping: "You are indeed just as Ron described, Loren and Hermione, I will remember you."

"By the way, Ron he--" Loren was interrupted before he could finish his words.

"Enough!" The goblin let out a sharp and piercing roar as if he had been patient for a long time. "If you want to hold a class reunion here, my suggestion is, not now!"

"Be patient, Mr. Lock." Babel soothed the goblin, although her tone might have made it even more angry. "The pyramid is there. It won't suddenly grow legs and stand up and run away. Besides, so many people have failed to discover the secrets of the pyramid. It's useless for us to go there earlier."

Only then did Loren know the name of this fairy... Lock core, the lock core of the treasure house door?

"I don't need the secrets of the pyramid." The goblin Lock Cylinder was still refuting Babel's words with a hideous face in the first sentence, and then a greedy smile appeared on his face in the next sentence, "I just want you to take me to the top of the pyramid and take the pyramid's pure gold spire back to Gringotts."

Bill explained to the two people who were not familiar with the situation: "This time, the pyramid suddenly appeared from the folded and hidden space. It still maintains the original appearance when it was completed thousands of years ago. The spire is made of pure gold and is estimated to weigh tens of thousands of pounds. Those greedy guys in Gringotts dream about that spire. They are almost crazy."

Professor Babel nodded and said in a mocking tone, "So that Mr. Lock and the other goblins in Gringotts can get a good night's sleep, let's go."

"For the sake of gold!" The fairy lock core snorted a few times and took out a silver key from his arms, "Portkey, you know how to use it."

Several people gathered around the goblin, squatted down and placed their index fingers on the silver key.

The silver key in the early morning brought a cool chill, and Hermione suddenly thought, at such a close distance, wouldn't it be enough to Apparate? Why was it necessary to use the portkey?

Before I could even ask, the door key was activated instantly.

It was completely different from the feeling of being squeezed by a rubber tube during Apparition. It was as if there was a hook behind the belly button that suddenly hooked forward with irresistible momentum, and the whole person was pulled up by the hook, flying forward like the wind. There was a strong suction force that tightly sucked the fingers to prevent them from falling out.

After an unknown amount of time, Loren and Hermione felt their feet hit the ground, and they had to lean on each other to prevent themselves from falling. Babel and Bill seemed to be very experienced and landed steadily on the ground.

The goblin named Lock Core fell to the ground with a thud, letting out an embarrassed cry of pain: "I knew it! This happens every time I use a portkey with tall guys like you!"

Loren raised his head and looked around. The white tarpaulin was supported by a wooden frame. They seemed to be in a simple tent.

Bill lifted the goblin up by the back of his collar and introduced him, "The interior of the pyramid is cast with powerful space magic. Apparition will be disturbed. The portkey can only teleport here. If you use magic related to flying, the pyramid will detect it and even provoke an attack. So we have to walk the rest of the way by ourselves."

"The portkey made by the goblins is the best. It lands closest to the pyramid and is much better than the old wizards at the Alchemy Research Center! They have to walk two more hours!" The goblin patted the sand on his butt and shouted.

"But they were the first to explore the second tomb. If you hadn't spent a lot of money to buy clues, you would still be wandering around in the abandoned tombs underground." Professor Babeling ruthlessly exposed its boasting, walked forward and lifted the curtain of the tent, "Let's go, the rest of the way is not short."

When I walked out of the tent, I saw an endless sea of ​​sand in front of me. Sand dunes of various shapes were connected together like waves. They were obviously different, yet they seemed to be all the same.

The goblins' short limbs made life even more difficult in the desert. Suo Xin had to use all his strength to keep up with them, and he didn't even have the energy to talk.

The sun was already high in the sky, and billowing heat was slowly brewing.

"Ron, are they still in Egypt?" Loren was bored traveling in the desert, so he continued the previous topic.

"They are experiencing Muggle life in Cairo. After finishing today's work, I plan to take a long vacation to have fun with them." Bill wiped the sweat from his forehead, pulled out his wand and waved it vigorously, summoning a flow of air.

The breeze blew away the moisture on the surface of their skin, making them feel a little more comfortable, but the wind in the desert was hot and they still felt uncomfortable.

Babel added some magic to the wind, so that the cool air always enveloped the people.

After walking a distance that was neither too long nor too short, the group came out from a series of sand dunes and the view suddenly opened up.

The snow-white pyramid stands between layers of sand dunes, and the spire made of pure gold sparkles with dazzling golden light under the sun.

Hermione subconsciously recalled the content about the pyramids she had sorted out: "In fact, the outer shells of most pyramids are covered with white limestone, but the wind and sand over the years will reveal the original color of the stone."

"It seems like it was the right choice to have you as my assistant!" Babeling praised with a smile, "This pyramid has been hidden in another dimension until recently, when the magic of the outer shell failed and it was revealed."

After some time, Loren and the others arrived at the foot of the pyramid. When they looked up, they suddenly felt insignificant.

The entire pyramid could not be seen at a glance. A huge four-sided pyramid sat in front of them, about 500 feet high, snow-white all over, with golden light on the top.

"The entrance is over there!" Babel pointed to the cave entrance on the slope, 30 feet above the ground. She solemnly instructed Loren and Hermione, "We can only climb up step by step along the stone stairs. Don't use any flying magic, or it will cause big trouble."

Bill nodded: "The golden light flashing on the top of the tower will shoot down all flying objects."

Occasionally, the wind would blow away the sand on the ground, revealing the shapes of the tiny bones, which were then covered up by the wind and sand again, confirming what the two had said.

After climbing the slope for a while and entering the entrance of the pyramid, the sunlight and heat seemed to be isolated. In front of me was a long, downward slope, most of which was shrouded in dark shadows, and I couldn't see the end at a glance.

The fairy lock core leaned against the wall and gasped for breath. The journey just now almost took half of its life.

"Goblins are not suitable for this kind of job. Can't you just stay in Gringotts and pay other adventurers to come in?" Professor Babel said gloatingly.

The lock core did not refute, but murmured again: "The gold on the top of the tower belongs to the goblins, belongs to the goblins..."

Hermione suddenly asked, "Doesn't Gringotts have enough gold?"

"You can never have too much gold!" Suo Xin took a deep breath, stood up and walked towards the gold neatly.

Bill glanced at its back, then looked at Professor Babeling behind him, shook his head and followed it.

The goblin and Bill walked in the front, Loren and Hermione walked in the middle, and Professor Babel walked in the rear. The group moved forward carefully along the slope.

After a certain distance, all the sunlight disappeared and the tunnel fell into endless darkness.

"Mr. Lock, if you step down, you will slip and fall all the way to the bottom!" Bill said with a smile. He took out his magic wand and whispered, "【Fluorescent Flash】"

A soft silver-white light lit up at the tip of the staff, illuminating the dark tunnel.

"Bill Weasley, I'm your boss!" The voice of the goblin lock echoed in the tunnel. Hearing its own echo, the expression on its face became nervous, and then it glared at Bill fiercely.

"This tunnel leads diagonally downward to an abandoned underground tomb. The people at the Alchemy Research Center discovered an entrance in the middle of the tunnel last time, which leads to the second tomb chamber inside the pyramid." Barbie Ling introduced, "They speculate that there is also a first tomb chamber, which is probably located below the top of the pyramid."

"Besides the tomb, there are other rooms in the pyramid." Bill explored the way with the help of the light and added: "There are some magic mechanisms hidden in the tunnel. If you trigger the magic, you will be randomly teleported to other rooms. Don't worry, except for the tomb, most rooms are safe. As long as you answer the questions of the Sphinx Mummy correctly, it will give you some treasures and teleport you out."

The Egyptian Sphinx is a lion-like creature with a human head. For thousands of years, it has been used by wizards to guard their precious objects and secret places. The Sphinx is a very intelligent animal that loves riddles and puzzles. It usually only becomes dangerous when the thing it is guarding is threatened.

"What if you can't answer it?" Loren asked.

"If you can't answer, you will be turned into a mummy!" the goblin threatened in a shrill voice.

Although she knew it was scary, Hermione subconsciously moved closer to Loren. As she moved, a strange magical power enveloped the two of them.

There was a familiar feeling of a hook in his belly button... Loren looked at Hermione and blinked.

"You feel it?"

Hermione also looked at Loren, and some tacit understanding drove the two of them to quickly grab each other's hands and interlock their fingers.

Babel sensed the magic power of the two people, and before they were teleported away, they shouted loudly: "Don't answer questions you can't answer! Just leave until you find a room where you can answer questions..."

Chapter 271 Something is wrong with Professor Babel

"... just don't answer, find a room where you can answer the questions..."

As their feet stepped on the ground, Loren and Hermione could still hear Professor Babel's shouting.

The two of them stood close together, drew their wands and alertly watched their surroundings. It was pitch black, but the two did not light their wands hastily. They held their breath at the same time and tacitly did not make any sound.

Loren blinked a few times, and in the dark space, two crystal blue lights flashed.

Under the observation of magical vision, there was nothing in front of him except a stone sculpture with a dim light.

"Look at it from a bright side. At least teleporting within the pyramid is much easier than using a portkey." Loren relaxed, swung his wand in circles, and summoned a few blue flames.

The flame floated in the air, lingering around the two of them, emitting a soft, warm blue satin-like light. He did not use the fluorescent spell, which would occupy the tip of his wand. His wand was always ready to respond to emergencies.

Turning around and seeing the little witch standing there somewhat disappointed, Loren smiled and said, "It seems that Professor Babeling broke her promise and failed to protect our safety."

"It's my fault. Bill and Mr. Lock were in the front, and Professor Babel was in the back. That was the safest position..." Hermione's expression was low, and her tone was full of self-blame. "If I hadn't moved, the magic wouldn't have been triggered."

"Indeed!" Loren nodded. "As punishment, you will have to wash my socks for me during the summer vacation."

"Who's going to wash your socks? Is this the time to talk about this?"

Even though they were now in the dark pyramid chamber, Hermione couldn't help but laugh. Loren's ridiculous joke greatly eased her anxiety.

"That's right, go out and help me wash my socks." Loren said as he walked around the four walls.

This is a square enclosed stone chamber with walls made of giant stones on all sides. There is a rectangular gap on one of the walls, which looks like a door, but it is blocked by a whole huge stone.

"Unless necessary, we'd better not touch the stone sculpture, what do you think, Hermione?" Loren walked to the door and looked at it carefully. He touched and knocked, but found no mechanism to open the door.

Hermione was trying to Apparate, but nothing happened. Apparition was forbidden here, just like in Hogwarts Castle.

Loren stepped back and looked at the blocked stone door. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Do you think I can blow open this door with [Open Door]?"

"Why do I feel like you can't wait to blow up the door?" Hermione opened her eyes and put down her wand. "Let's take a look at the stone carving first. I feel like blowing up the door will cause more trouble."

Together they approached the stone sculpture in the center of the room.

The craftsmanship of the stone carvings was obviously not up to standard. A lion statue was carved into a strange shape. Its body was like a giant lion, with huge paws, a long tail curled at its feet, and a raised ball at the tip of the tail, which seemed to be a ball of tail hair. The strangest thing was that the lion was carved with a woman's head.

"This looks like... the mummy of the Sphinx that Bill mentioned?" Hermione looked at it for a long time before she matched the stone sculpture in front of her with the picture in the book.

Loren tapped the stone sculpture lightly with his wand. The wood and stone collided with each other, making a low, muffled sound. "The inside of the stone sculpture is hollow."

He touched the claws of the stone statue, which were cold and rough, just like the feel of a real stone sculpture. But he would not think that this was a stone sculpture. The dim magical glow floating on the Sphinx mummy showed that it was a magical creation.

Suddenly, Loren saw the stone sculpture blinking at him. The strange stone statue's eyes seemed to come alive and spun around. The dull glow on the surface of the stone sculpture suddenly brightened.

Loren turned around and looked at Hermione, then they took a few steps back in tacit understanding.

Click!

Tiny cracks spread along the surface of the stone sculpture, as dense as a spider web. When the cracks spread throughout the entire stone sculpture, the lion's tail slowly lifted up, making a stiff "creaking" sound. After lifting up about three inches, the ball on the tail slammed down on the stone platform below.

The stone shell on the surface of the mummy immediately peeled off piece by piece, revealing its true appearance.

The giant sphinx had a woman's face and its body was wrapped in long white strips of cloth. It stared at the two with its large almond eyes and spoke in a low and hoarse voice:

"Whoever disturbs Pharaoh's sleep will be descended upon by the wings of death."

"Anyone who enters this tomb with impure intentions, I will strangle him like a bird."