Just a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor

Sherlock and Silk stopped together.

According to the pace of the two of them, they had walked about two kilometers in nearly half an hour.

And it won't be that far across the entire Hogsmeade, which means that their location on the ground is no longer within the Hogsmeade area.

Sherlock frowned and looked at the shining wand in his hand. The previous illumination range was still about five meters, but now it has been shortened to two meters.

The visual range was getting shorter and shorter, and he was sure it wasn't a problem with his spell.

After the lighting spell is used, its lumen will be constant as long as the wizard himself does not interrupt it.

Therefore, there will never be a situation where the lighting spell is weakened inexplicably. It can only be caused by something wrong with the surrounding environment.

Silk canceled the lighting spell on his wand, then placed the wand upright on the ground with the tip pointing upward.

"Show me the way."

She said softly, then let go of her hand holding the wand, and the wand fell straight forward.

"We're heading south."

There is still darkness ahead, as if there will never be an end.

Sherlock was thinking about the map on the ground.

In this area, Hogwarts is to the southeast of Hogsmeade, and the Hog's Head Pub is to the north of Hogsmeade.

They have been walking south now, and this distance must have left the scope of Hogsmeade and entered the territory of Hogwarts.

It was unclear whether the position above their heads was on the Quidditch pitch or directly under the castle.

"We have reached the scope of Hogwarts." Sherlock touched his chin and looked around, "And there is a problem with this secret passage."

Silk picked up his wand again.

"This proves that we are not wrong. Its destination is Hogwarts. The more problems there are here, it proves that it has been here before, or is here now."

Her words made Sherlock subconsciously touch the cloth bag in his robe pocket. It was very thick, which gave him a little peace of mind.

"Okay, we've come this far, can you tell me now, will normal spells work on that thing?"

Hilke didn't spare her words at this moment, she said carefully.

"Normal spells have no effect on it, not even the Death Curse. It can't be killed, never will, but it's afraid of the Patronus Curse."

Sherlock raised his eyebrows.

"Sounds a bit like a souped-up dementor."

"You can totally think so."

Sherlock moved his wrists and adjusted his robes.

"Don't be afraid if you have a weakness. You may not believe it, but the Patronus Charm happens to be my strength." He turned to look at Silk, "But you, who keeps your face all the time, can you use this spell? "

Silk ignored him, but waved his wand, making it light up again, and continued walking forward.

Sherlock shrugged and sighed in his heart. Sure enough, German wizards are so boring. Then he quickly walked to her side and walked forward side by side with her.

They walked on for about twenty minutes.

Not only is the darkness getting darker and darker, the lighting spells on their hands have been eroded to the point where visibility is less than one meter, but the surrounding temperature is getting lower and lower, as low as winter.

Neither of them are delicate people, so the cold can be tolerated, but the surrounding environment gradually becomes weird.

All sounds seemed to have disappeared, except for the sound of their footsteps on the ground and their slight breathing.

Even though it's underground, it's still eerily quiet.

"Let's chat." Sherlock couldn't help but speak first as he walked.

Silk actually did not respond silently or refuse.

"Um."

"I know you may be used to this kind of silence. I feel like you can probably sit there all day long when doing divination."

"No one gets used to it at first."

"When did you first know that you had the talent for divination? I remember that this kind of talent can only be inherited."

Hearing Sherlock's question, Hilke paused, but she still answered.

"7-year old."

"You already know that you have a talent for divination even before you go to magic school? Are there any masters of prophecy in your ancestors?"

"I didn't go to a wizarding school."

Sherlock suddenly looked surprised.

"You haven't gone to school? I thought you graduated from Durmstrang, so where did you learn your magic?"

Silk tightened his black robe: "My mother."

"Family-based magic education? That's really rare. I remember reading a piece of information before, saying that after the establishment of Beauxbatons, the last of the three magic schools, there was no family-based magic education in Europe. , After all, a person in a family cannot know everything.”

When Sherlock talked about this topic, he thought of other things.

"In fact, the magic school has remained the same since its establishment a thousand years ago, and there is no progress at all. The education of wizards focuses too much on magic skills. It mainly relies on family for ideological guidance. Students' concepts in school are basically It's like a vine that has no one to take care of it. It keeps growing along the mainstream ideas of the magic world, and it is inevitable that there will be some cases of distortion. "

"You talk a lot."

Here's Silk's response to his tirade.

Sherlock shrugged.

"In this atmosphere, well, it seems like it's a little bit more than usual."

The temperature seems to have dropped to a certain point, but once you get used to it, it won't feel particularly unbearable.

It's just that the surroundings are getting darker and darker.

The visible light of the illuminating spell has been compressed to less than half a meter. If you straighten your arm, it has reached the point where you can't see your fingers.

The conversation between Sherlock and Silk became lower and lower, until both of them fell silent.

Because they had reached the end and came to a door.

Together they placed their wands in front of the door and saw that it was a plain wooden door.

The door is empty, there is nothing, it can't be simpler.

But Sherlock didn't reach out and push it directly. Instead, he tentatively used an unlocking spell on it.

The wooden door didn't respond at all.

Even if it has no lock, a normal door will open by itself under the influence of the unlocking spell. This door is obviously not as simple as it seems on the surface.

Sherlock turned his attention to Hilke.

"From the information you received, was this door made by goblins?"

"No." The lower half of Hilke's exposed face was inexplicably pale, "They didn't tell me this."

Sherlock frowned, and he stretched out his wand, wanting to tap the tip of the wand on the facade to check its special features.

However, before he could reach out his hand, Silke's voice suddenly rang out.

"Don't touch it!"

Sherlock stopped and looked at Hilke who had stopped him. Her eyes, which were covered under her hood, looked in the direction directly above the door.

Her lips were bloodless, as if she had seen something unacceptable.

Sherlock followed her gaze and saw a withered straw hanging on the stone wall above the wooden door at the very edge where the light could illuminate.

It was obviously hung on purpose.

It was tied up with a rough hemp rope, hanging from the darkness, and hung above the door.

The weird feeling was like someone was using hemp rope as a fishing line, the straw was the hook, and the bait that attracted people to take the bait... was the wooden door in front of me!

Sherlock saw something was wrong with Silk's state, and he asked solemnly.

"What's wrong?"

"It knew someone would find this place." Hilke's voice was still cold, but her tone seemed to be trembling slightly.

"So it deliberately dropped this thing and waited for us to find it here."

Sherlock looked at the straw hanging by the hemp rope. From the outside, it looked the same as the two straws they had picked up on the hill and in the backyard of the Pig's Head Bar. They were ordinary and indistinguishable.

But the straw is definitely not that simple.

"so what?"

"If you want to go in, you have to go through this door." Hilke's tone became obviously confused. "It's easy to open it. All the magic spells have no effect, but you just need to push it with your hands. But when you push the door When that person has to experience what he fears most, if he can bear it, the door can be pushed open."

She didn't say what would happen if she couldn't bear it anymore, and Sherlock didn't ask either.

Because everyone will understand this answer even if you don’t say it.

"Let's leave first. There must be more than one way to open this door. We can find other people to help."

Sherlock said calmly.

Silk shook his head.

"There is only this one. I have watched over it for five years and know its methods. It is not strong, but no one in its domain can change its authority."

"Maybe it's not inside the door at all. This door is just a bait. We can look for other clues and try again."

Sherlock still didn't want to take any chances.

Whether it was him or Silk, he felt there was no need to take risks.

But Silk's ideas were obviously different from his.

"You must hold me down for a while."

When she said this, she calmed down.

Sherlock's brows knitted together.

"I don't think it's worth the risk."

"I didn't keep an eye on it, so I have to catch it again." Silk said softly.

She handed her wand to Sherlock, walked to the door, and took a deep breath.

"If I'm going to do anything self-harm, just hold me down. And, no matter what accident happens, don't speak."

Sherlock held two wands in his hands. Seeing her stubbornness, he was silent for a moment, and then nodded slowly.

"I see."

After hearing his affirmative answer, Silk stretched out his pale and slender hand and placed it on the door.