harry potter book of crimes

"Ariana, you..." Aberforth looked back at the two of them, but didn't say anything more. He turned around again, "You know what to do."

The girl in the painting smiled slightly, with a hint of shyness, and looked very calm. But everyone knows, and I believe she also understands the meaning of what she is going to do next.

The girl glanced back, then turned around and walked step by step towards the distant woods in the background of the portrait.

This time, she didn't get smaller as she usually went away. The frame of the picture was like the lens of a Muggle camera, following her behind.

Not long after, everyone watched her walk all the way into the slightly dark forest, and the entrance to a medium-sized tunnel gradually appeared in front of everyone in front of the painting.

"You don't have to go there yourself!" Aberforth couldn't help but say.

The girl turned around and chuckled again at her brother off-screen, and then she stood still on the side of the tunnel entrance as she was told.

And at the moment when she finally stood still, the entire picture frame opened automatically with a creaking sound like a door, revealing a truly deep tunnel.

Aberforth, who was standing at the front, stared steadily into the dark secret passage for a few seconds. Then, like the sister in the portrait just now, he silently stepped aside and stood at the base of the wall on the side of the entrance.

But his gaze was undoubtedly much sharper than that of his sister Ariana. Although he said nothing, when he looked at the people in front of him...especially Hermione and Luna, he seemed to be questioning them silently. In one sentence: Are you sure you want to go?

"We'll be back," Hermione said.

"With news of victory." Luna continued with a smile.

When Hermione heard this, she immediately turned her head and glared at her.

"There is no 'victory'!" Hermione warned seriously, "Our mission this time is just to find a way for us to win! On this basis, we just need to come back alive smoothly, do you understand? ?”

"Oh, yes." Luna nodded repeatedly, shrank her neck and lowered her voice, "Be careful and sneak over to take a look, right?"

As she spoke, she lowered her head and looked at her own shadow in front of her, and then said: "Don't worry, Shabo will help us."

Before she finished speaking, her good friend hiding in her shadow conveyed a will to her and responded affirmatively to her words.

"But 'she' has to stay in the secret passage in the end," Hermione reminded. "You know why, don't you?"

"Oh," Luna sighed with regret, "Yes, I know."

For a living zombie, the risk of close contact with the witch Kern is too great, and its danger is even greater than the ability of the evil wizard Haierbo Silbo who brought them into this world. Hidden away, but as her friend, Luna was not willing to let her take such a big risk and enter the current Hogwarts Castle with her.

Seeing Luna nodding towards herself, Hermione turned her head again and looked around at everyone around her, and amidst everyone's repeated warnings, she and the former turned around and disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel.

A lightless environment would be more suitable for Silly Bo's ability to be used. The two of them did not even use the wand glowing spell, and drifted away from the light of the entrance in the darkness.

Finally, with a "squeak", the frame closed again, blocking the sight of everyone in the room in front of Ariana who once again stood in the center of the canvas.

There was a moment of silence, representing the complexity and heaviness of everyone here, but everyone also understood that some things had to be done by someone. Judging from the current situation, it was actually best for Hermione and Luna to go there.

's decided.

"With Hermione and Luna's current strength, they should be fine. We just need to do our jobs seriously and wait patiently here!" said Sirius, who was leaning against the wall.

After saying this, he stood up straight, patted his clothes and said, "It's time for me to go to Inverness. The newly arrived troops from the Blois family should need someone who is more familiar with the overall situation on the front. I will be their guide."

people."

As he said this, he left directly from the door. The tall figure suddenly leaned down and shrunk as he passed by the window. Not long after, everyone heard a faint bark like a wolf, and it was obvious that they had arrived very far.

Far away.

"Sirius is right... Guys, just do whatever you need to do!" Lupine said loudly with a wave of his hand.

"I'll just stay here and watch."

Aberforth took out his wand and waved it back. A tall stool slid under him from a short distance away, and he sat down next to Ariana's portrait.

Lu Ping nodded slightly at him, and then hurriedly left with the others.

…

"It feels terrible not being able to see anything."

In the long, dark passage, Hermione's voice suddenly sounded, breaking the uneasy silence where only the footsteps echoed faintly.

It's just that at this moment, she obviously hasn't thought that it's not just the path in the secret passage that can't be seen.

"I heard from Aberforth that there seem to be brass hanging lamps on the wall. Just tap them with a wand and they will light up." Luna replied, "Of course, some of them may not light up anymore.

You know, they're very old."

"It's better not to light the lamp, just keep it dark if it's dark!"

"Yeah." Luna nodded in the darkness, "Sometimes you walk from light into darkness just to find another light through darkness... In other words, you have to walk in darkness."

"I've wanted to ask you a long time ago," Hermione said abruptly, "Where did you hear all these strange sentences?"

"My mother read me many books when I was a child, some written by wizards and some Muggles - the sentence just now was written by a Muggle writer."

"Oh, that's right..."

Maybe Hermione didn't really want to know about this, but if she didn't say something, the feeling of walking silently in the dark like this was a little too uneasy. Especially when there was an extremely dangerous person ahead.

The mission is waiting for them to get closer step by step.

After another moment of silence, Hermione put aside the somewhat meaningless question before and spoke again:

"Luna."

"Um?"

Luna's confused murmur came from the darkness.

"Besides asking us to start taking action, did Maka's patron saint say anything else?" Hermione paused and asked, "For example, did he mention... any other 'important items'...

...something like that?”

As she spoke, she subconsciously touched the fringe of the beaded bag, not knowing what she was thinking.