Everyday Life of a Top Student at Hogwarts

Chapter 18 The Secret Room Hidden in the Abandoned Classroom

The fifth-floor corridor was even darker than the lower floors, with torches spaced far apart on the walls, casting long shadows. They stopped in front of a wooden door carved with strange symbols. They hadn't looked closely on their last visit; the doorknob was rusty, but the overall structure seemed intact.

Just as I was about to push the door open, a piercing sound suddenly came from the ceiling.

"Fresh little sausages! Mischievous Ghost can smell the fresh little sausages!"

A small ghost dressed in brightly colored clothes crawled out of the ceiling, clutching a large bottle of ink. "One, two, three, four! Four little Ravenclaws want to get into Peeves' secret room!" he sneered, turning the ink bottle upside down.

"Transform!" Karen quickly cast a spell, turning the large blanket on the ground into a large umbrella that shielded the four of them. Ink splattered on the umbrella, sliding down like black raindrops.

"Oh! A magical little sausage!" Mischievous Ghost pouted unhappily, then pulled a handful of thumbtacks from his pocket. "Try Mischievous Ghost's—"

"Fainted!" Karen attacked before he could finish speaking, but Pipi Ghost nimbly dodged.

"Little Sausage can't beat Mischievous Ghost!" Ghost smugly somersaulted in the air.

Karen suddenly had an idea. He pretended to cast the spell again, but at the last moment he changed the incantation: "Water as a Spring!" A stream of water gushed from the tip of the wand and passed directly through Peeves' translucent body.

"Ha! Useless!" Mischievous Ghost sneered, but Karen immediately followed with, "Frozen Ground!"

Water droplets condensed into ice crystals inside Peeves' body, and the ghost let out a piercing scream: "Cold! Cold! Peeves hates the cold!" He shivered and disappeared into the wall.

"Brilliant!" Fabian clapped. "A combination of spells!"

"It's just a flexible application of basic spells," Karen said modestly, but inwardly she was satisfied with the strategy she had come up with on the spot.

The four finally entered the abandoned classroom. Sunlight streamed through the dusty windows, forming beams of light. Desks and chairs were piled up in the corner, and the writing on the blackboard was blurred and illegible.

"It seems alright," Ernesto said, lighting up a levitating lamp with his wand. "It just needs a thorough cleaning and some chair repairs."

"Look at this!" Wesley exclaimed excitedly, pointing to a huge cabinet. "There might be something left behind by our ancestors inside!"

The cabinet door was stuck, and it took all four boys working together to pull it open. Amidst the flying dust, they found some old textbooks, several bottles of dried potion ingredients, and a box of expired dung balls, which Wesley regretfully tossed into the trash can.

Karen's "Eye of Truth" suddenly noticed something unusual about the back wall of the classroom; the flow of magic there was subtly distorted. He casually walked over, lightly touching the wall with his fingers, and sensed a faint magical fluctuation.

"What's wrong?" Fabian noticed his actions.

"This wall is a bit strange." Karen carefully chose her words, not wanting to reveal her abilities. "I read in 'Hogwarts: A History' that some classrooms have hidden storage rooms."

Ernesto walked over and tapped the wall with his wand. "It sounds hollow." He turned to Cullen. "Is there any spell that can detect hidden spaces?"

Karen thought for a moment: "'Show Your True Form' is a commonly used revealing spell," he recalled a more professional spell, "but 'Show Your True Form' might be more suitable."

He waved his wand and chanted a spell. A blue light swept across the wall, and several bricks suddenly glowed, forming the outline of a door.

"Merlin!" Wesley exclaimed, "There really is a secret room!"

The four boys excitedly examined the hidden door but couldn't find the mechanism to open it. Karen used the "Eye of Truth" again and discovered that the doorknob required a specific magical input—a simple logic puzzle requiring the activation of several runes in the correct order.

"Let me try." Following the logic of the Ravenclaw common room door knocker puzzle, he touched several blocks in turn. With a click, the hidden door slowly slid open, revealing a downward spiral staircase.

"Shall we go down?" Wesley's voice trembled slightly.

"Of course!" Ernesto had already pulled out his wand to illuminate the area.

Fabian hesitated for a moment: "What if the professor finds out?"

"We're just checking all areas of the practice room," Karen said calmly. In fact, he had already checked with the 'Eye of Truth,' and the secret passage showed almost no magical reaction.

This reason convinced everyone, or rather, each of them possessed an adventurous spirit. Led by Karen, the four boys cautiously descended the stairs to a circular, enclosed chamber. In the center of the room was a stone workbench, surrounded by bookshelves filled with ancient books and notes. In a corner was a small alchemical device, which looked like some kind of distiller.

"Is this some student's or professor's secret laboratory?" Fabian looked around in surprise.

Karen walked to the worktable and found a notebook lying open on it. The pages were yellowed, but the handwriting was still clear:

"Alchemy Experiments Diary, Nicolas Flamel II, Ravenclaw College, 1946-1949"

"Flame?" Ernesto gasped. "It can't be that Nicolas Flamel..."

"A relative or descendant, or perhaps an alchemist who admires Nicolas Flamel." Karen took out gloves and put them on, carefully flipping through the notebook, which contained various alchemical experiments, some pages marked with complex magic circles and equations. His heart raced; as an alchemy enthusiast, this was a treasure trove.

Wesley spotted a row of small bottles on the bookshelf, filled with powders of various colors: "What are these?"

"Don't touch it!" Karen and Ernesto shouted simultaneously. Karen quickly went over to check the labels: "These should be alchemical materials; some might still be effective."

Ernesto, however, was drawn to the diagrams on the wall: "Look at this! It looks like some kind of spatial expansion spell."

The four boys were so engrossed in their discovery of the secret room that they completely forgot about the time. It wasn't until Karen noticed the changing angle of the sunlight that they said, "It's almost lunchtime; we should go back."

"What should we do with all this stuff?" Wesley looked longingly at the room full of treasures.

“Keep it as it is,” Karen decided. “This is clearly someone’s private study room, and we should respect that.” He glanced at the notebook. “However, perhaps we could borrow this journal, as part of a Ravenclaw tradition?”

Ernesto surprisingly nodded in agreement: "Knowledge should be passed down, not buried."

They carefully left the secret room, making sure the hidden door was closed again. Back in the main classroom, the four began planning how to use the space.

"It needs a thorough cleaning," Fabian said. "And the tables and chairs need some repairs."

"I can bring some protective gear from home," Ernesto offered. "My father has a collection of protective charms."

Karen smiled and nodded. "That's great. Wesley and I can take care of organizing the books, and Fabian, who is skilled in potions, can check the materials."

They were having a lively discussion when their stomachs started growling and they realized it was past lunchtime.