Hogwarts Homecoming

Sand.Sand.Sand.

Click, click, click--

At a glance, the courtyard, which is almost as big as half the Hogwarts campus, is filled with hundreds of densely packed eight-eyed spiders!

Unlike outside the door, the large courtyard of Avalon Prison is completely barren and bare, with no trees at all.

Therefore, hundreds of eight-eyed spiders as small as Hagrid and as big as African elephants appeared directly in front of the little wizard.

In addition, if there were four or five bloody smells in the air, even Harry, who had dealt with them, would tremble from the roots of his hair.

Even if hundreds of eight-eyed spiders appeared in the brutal battle of Diagon Alley, they would probably be a powerful force that could determine the outcome of the decisive battle!

And most of the little wizards couldn't even breathe smoothly when faced with thousands of blinking green compound eyes under the blue sky and white sun!

"Don't usually eat people?"

Qiuchang's friend, Marietta, looked at Professor Blaine blankly, seeking a reasonable explanation for this strange statement.

"Of course the Ministry of Magic will not use prisoners to feed the Eight-Eyed Spider. Just like Azkaban, the Ministry will regularly purchase some ordinary animals and send them here as food for the Eight-Eyed Spider--"

Amosta smiled and said,

"But if the prisoners here try to escape, or if they clash with the correctional officers many times and refuse to listen, then the Eight-Eyed Spider has the right to execute them."

execution means

Hermione pursed her lips and breathed deeply.

Does this seem a little inhumane?

However, thinking about the identities of these people imprisoned in the prison, and thinking about the former Azkaban prison, Hermione could not raise any doubts.

Bang---

After a heavy metal collision, the silver-white door in front of the little wizard opened, and a young man with similar clothing style to those who helped them ashore appeared behind the entrance door of the pentagonal building.

"Hello, Mr. Brain, I am Heidi Barry. The control room arranged for me to be the guide for this study tour of Hogwarts——"

The young wizard with light brown curly hair smiled respectfully at Professor Brain.

The moment the door opened, a cold, fishy wind swept in, causing the little wizards to curl up their shoulders unconsciously.

"Good job, Barry--"

Amosta nodded and smiled at the young druid.

"How's it going here lately?"

"Much better, Mr. Blaine—"

A young man named Barry said,

"The Eight-Eyed Spider and the prisoners have begun to adapt to each other, and we have also taken some measures."

When outside the courtyard wall, Harry thought that the pentagonal prison should be a two-story building, but in fact it was not.

There is only one floor here, but the roof is built very high.

Behind the door is a deep corridor with gray granite stones on the left and right sides, the floor and the ceiling.

I don't know if it's a psychological factor, but after walking in here, Harry can always hear the faint wailing sound.

Professor Braine emphasizes that order is simply superfluous.

With a click, the heavy door closed, and darkness swept in from the corridor. The only illumination was the torches embedded in the wall.

The solemn atmosphere was suppressed in the hearts of every little wizard, and no one could escape from it.

The torches on the stone wall can only ensure that the lower half of the corridor is bright, while the ceiling is hidden in the dim darkness.

Walking in the intricate corridors, the little wizards can always hear the sound of flapping wings from time to time in the darkness that cannot be touched by light.

It's a surveillance camera.

Every move they made since taking the boat was under the watchful eye of the watchers.

Harry originally thought that the eight-eyed spiders were only responsible for protecting the courtyard outside, but when he turned a corner, he suddenly appeared in front of him. In the dimness, two eight-eyed spiders with exceptionally bright blue eyes almost took his breath away.

Click, click, click--

The little wizards were collectively petrified. When confronted at close range with these two prostrate eight-eyed spiders, which were as big as African elephants, the little wizards even stopped breathing!

Harry, who was stiff, suddenly felt someone pinch his wrist, and there was cold sweat on the person's palm.

Looking sideways, a flash of fiery red jumped into his eyes.

Harry pursed his lips and gave Ginny a reassuring smile.

"That's-"

Amosta looked at the two big spiders curiously. Their abdominal cavities were encircled by a round wooden ring.

"That's a precaution, Professor Blaine—"

Barry, who was leading the way, sighed and said,

"We don't want to do this, but we have no choice. The ministry's idea is not to provide enough food to the eight-eyed spiders to keep them properly hungry, so as to act as a deterrent to the prisoners.

Some prisoners who have been in Azkaban for a long time have almost lost their sanity, and they will be more aggressive. We try not to let the prisoners become food for spiders, so we also put wooden circles like this on the prisoners. "

Whatever this currently does, it's unlikely to be a good thing.

Theodore Nott's face was livid and he glared at the 'jailer' with resentment, while the Greengrass sisters were also unusually silent.

Barry condensed green light in his palm and pressed it against the wall behind the spider. Then, with a rumbling sound, the stone wall sank downwards.

It seemed that ordinary magic could not open the stone wall. Hermione realized this. Only the special magic mastered by Professor Rahanson could do it.

Hermione silently counted, and they passed through nine stone doors like this before they finished walking through this intricate corridor.

And, in front of each door, there was an eight-eyed spider guarding.

Finally, the little wizards who walked out of the corridor stood on the inner circle of the pentagonal prison.

The corridor went around in a circle, and inside was a vast space extending downward, about three or four stories high.

Just like the ceiling of the auditorium, it reflected the bright sky outside, providing lighting for this enclosed space.

The little wizards exhaled one after another, and the corridor they just walked through was too depressing.

"Oh, this is--"

The first thing Harry noticed was that on the spacious rock square below, which was also guarded by eight-eyed spiders, there were actually several tall ball frames erected!

"Avalon Prison allows prisoners to carry out appropriate activities to relieve physical and mental stress--"

Amosta explained to the young wizards who were all surprised,

"But only on rest days."

"There are rest days?"

Theodore Nott interrupted in surprise.

"Yes, but there are only three days a month, on the 10th, 20th and 30th--"

Amosta nodded. These management policies were formulated by him, so he knew very well.

After a silence, Theodore Nott nodded to Professor Braine.

"The prisoners are studying now, Mr. Braine, and classmates, please come here--"

Prisoners. Study?

Barry's words immediately confused the young wizards again.

And Nott, who was eager to see his father, didn't care about that. He followed excitedly.

The students moved along the platform on the second floor. Hermione found that in addition to the Quidditch field, Avalon Prison also equipped the prisoners with a library!

However, through the cleaned transparent glass window, Hermione quickly glanced at the books on the bookshelf and found that most of the books collected here were magazines, newspapers and story collections, but there were no serious magic books.

"Dad!"

Although he had prepared for the psychological expectation in advance, when he really saw his father sitting upright in a blue and white striped prison uniform in the classroom behind the huge glass window, Theodore Nott suddenly lost control.

With tears in his eyes, he rushed up in two steps, clenched his fists and hit the glass window that could isolate the sound and the outside world.

"Dad, it's me, can you see me!"

Some people in Slytherin were silent collectively, most of them knew Theodore's father.

In their impression, although old Nott was not good-looking, he was still a gentleman with decent manners.

And now, the person sitting under the podium, who was more serious than them in class, was just a thin old man.

The noise made by Theodore could not be heard in the classroom, but the eight-eyed spider that was "supervising" in the large classroom noticed it.

The spider, which had been crawling on the ground with its legs tucked in, suddenly showed its ferocious appearance, jumped up with a thud, and its two large claws made a clattering sound.

This directly caused a disaster. The prisoners who had been listening to the class honestly under surveillance thought that the eight-eyed spider could not control its desire to eat. They jumped up from their seats in horror, rushed to the classroom door frantically, and pounded on the closed iron door. The craziest one among them--

"Hey Hermione--"

Looking up at the familiar yet unfamiliar face behind the small glass on the iron door, Harry swallowed his saliva with a gulp, and his face was full of disbelief.

"Hmm"

Hermione also saw that face, she responded tremblingly, her eyes wide open,

"Professor Lockhart" (End of this chapter)