The Bard at Hogwarts

It seems that some creatures have their own fear effects, such as basilisks and giant spiders.

Ino squatted and carefully examined the body of the basilisk in front of him.

Fifty feet is not too long. If you count carefully, it is about the same as the ice and snow anaconda, but the basilisk gives people a more terrifying feeling.

This kind of fear does not come from the oppression of the body size, but an inexplicable intuition.

The most obvious example is the Dementor, which is not big in size, but few wizards can face it calmly.

...

"Why do you think it can kill you by looking at it directly?"

After studying it for a long time and not finding a clue, Ino turned his head and looked to the side.

"Instead of asking me, why don't you come and experience it yourself?"

In front of the basilisk, Lina took a slender step and said with some sarcasm.

Hearing Lina say this, Ino no longer hesitated. This is not a big heart. Wearing glasses, facing a dead basilisk, you are timid, it is better to stay in the shelter for the rest of your life.

As he spoke, he stood up and walked towards the basilisk.

When he met the orange-yellow eyes as big as crystal balls, he felt stiff and numb for no reason.

But after a brief trance, the eyes of the basilisk were instantly covered with a thin layer of blue spider silk.

"How does it feel?" Lina asked standing aside.

"It's amazing. Although it is dead, I feel that the effect of magic is still there. It's like a charger, charging, you know..."

Ino murmured, and took off the spider silk eye mask of the basilisk again, and the feeling of numbness and stiffness came immediately.

After being prepared this time, the stiffness was also reduced a lot.

Then, he also thought of a possibility.

Perhaps, the cultivation of basilisks is not as simple as explained in the books. Otherwise, only roosters and toads are needed to cultivate 5x basilisks, and the whole magic world would have been in chaos.

Or, the magic world and even the whole world have long been controlled by Parseltongue. After all, learning magic for seven years is not as good as others cultivating a snake. Who would still learn magic? They all go to taming beasts.

"Lina, the basilisk eyes are alchemical products!"

This time, Ino's tone was very sure.

Before Lina could reply, he turned around and picked up the oil lamp hanging on the red maple tree.

Although it was daytime, under the weak light, the deepest part of the pupil of the snake monster was faintly visible, as if something was imprinted.

"Wait for me here for a while."

After saying that, Ino flashed away from the shelter.

...

Half an hour later.

On a small coffee table in the shelter, which was condensed with frost, there was a two-inch thick tome.

Next to the book was a parchment with strange symbols drawn on it.

Ino sat on the ground, flipping through the book while comparing it with the parchment from time to time.

In the silent shelter, at this moment, there was only the "rustling" sound of the pages turning.

Lina stayed quietly next to Binghua, and as for the original anaconda, it was also driven to the other side at this moment.

Interestingly, even if the anaconda was just a deformed product, it still retained the nature of snake creatures, staying quietly aside, and if it was not necessary, it might not move for a whole day.

…

Time always passes quietly in concentration.

Although the overall area of ​​the shelter has expanded several times, it has become a small square.

But the furnishings inside have not increased despite the size of the place, and there is not even a basic alarm clock.

Sitting in front of the small coffee table, Ino could not even notice how much time had passed.

The only change was that the pages of the Ancient Runic Dictionary in his hand became thinner and thinner as he turned them.

Ancient Runes!

Under the illumination of the oil lamp, the pattern deep in the pupils of the basilisk gave him a feeling of an invisible book.

Therefore, he also speculated that it might be related to the ancient runes.

But as the pages became thinner and thinner, until the last page, no corresponding records were found.

This is very disappointing!

However, when Ino was immersed in the melancholy of loss, Lina spoke again not far away and broke the silence here.

"Why don't you ask for advice? I remember I told you this before! Since you are their nominal apprentice, you should ask for advice if you have any questions!"

"But..." Ino hesitated, and it was selfish after all.

After all, if it is really an ancient rune, it means that this is a new development and a treasure that has not been recorded by anyone.

"Your idea is good, but it is also redundant."

Perhaps seeing his concerns, Lina slowly walked over, and her slender steps crossed the books on the coffee table.

"The world you live in is very strange! Very strange! They are unwilling to study magic, and even unwilling to learn magic! But in such a world, there are countless precious knowledge. I have been thinking about it for a long time and I can't figure it out..."

Lina's voice was a little emotional, but after hearing this, Ino was also puzzled:

"I can't figure it out either. Obviously, no one is a pioneer of knowledge, but there are so many treasures left by pioneers."

Although he was also puzzled, he also heard the implication of Lina's words. It seems that hiding knowledge in this world is really useless.

A thick volume of ancient runes, used as a textbook for an elective course at Hogwarts, can be purchased at Flourish and Blotts for only a few Galleons.

But even so, it is still shelved and no one cares about it. On the contrary, Lockhart's novel is still placed in a prominent place, even though he was imprisoned in Azkaban, the book has not been removed from the shelf.

"I think too much..." Ino sighed.

There is a whole book of ancient runes lying around and no one has learned it. He also hid his new discoveries, which is a bit ridiculous when you think about it.

"It's not that you're overthinking it, it's just that there's something strange here." Lina's voice was somewhat comforting.

Although he heard the comfort, Ino did not answer the question again.

To put it bluntly, like Lina, he is an outsider, and his understanding of the magical world is limited to the storybooks of the past.

But trying to understand a world through a storybook is obviously nonsense.

…

After the topic stopped, Ino inadvertently saw an anaconda crawling quietly beside him.

It seemed that after seeing Lina leave, this guy wanted to run over and circle the ice flower again.

I don't know what's wrong with it. It's obviously just a product of the transfiguration technique, but it always sticks to that flower and crawls over it whenever there's a chance.

"Lina, what do you think if I put this thing on its eyes?"

Ino pointed at the basilisk, and then looked at the frost anaconda entrenched aside.

The anaconda, which is more than sixty feet long, is even larger than a basilisk in terms of size. It is more than enough to have two eyes.

If it wasn't for another use, he would have wanted to peel off the basilisk's skin and stick it directly on the anaconda.

Such a high-quality imitation of a basilisk that is not afraid of the crow of a rooster, if it is used to bluff people, it will definitely be accurate.

I want to think about it, but now he really doesn't have the ability to realize it, at least he has to take elective courses before he can do it.

Although the steps are very simple, changing eyes is not like building a snowman. You can just dig a snow pit and bury it in it. For this kind of out-of-print basilisk, you must be well prepared.

Besides, this basilisk was bred by Salazar Slytherin.

He always had a feeling that this basilisk might be the inheritance of Slytherin, or it might also be part of the inheritance.

This feeling became even more obvious after discovering patterns in the basilisk's pupils that resembled ancient runes.

Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

…

In the Slytherin dormitory.

After Ino checked the information and found nothing, he asked Feide to take him back to the dormitory.

Lying lazily on the bed, I turned my head and glanced at the alarm clock on the shelf. It was three-thirty in the afternoon.

From the time he got up early in the morning to kill the basilisk until now, he had been in the shelter for six or seven hours without knowing it.

And just when he was about to take a late nap, he remembered another thing. He still needed to explain the matter of the basilisk to Dumbledore.

"Feed! Go give the leather on the floor to the old man with the white beard upstairs!"

Ino ordered into the air.

He didn't say the name because this silly Phoenix still couldn't remember the name. Only by describing the location and appearance can we barely deliver the package.

Faced with such a flaw, he had nothing to do.

After all, if you have an accurate entrance, you can look for a basilisk for a week, and you can expect to be very smart.

If it were Fox, once the entrance was clear, it would take less than a quarter of an hour to accurately locate the basilisk.

But as the saying goes, no matter how good someone else’s product is, it is still someone else’s product.

Although Fed is not very smart at the moment, he has also experienced the fun of training pets.

Calculated carefully, there are gains and losses.

After arranging the task for Phoenix, Ino lowered the bed curtain with peace of mind.

Enjoy the leisure time on the weekend afternoon.

…

at the same time.

Compared with the tranquility of the castle, Hogsmeade seems bustling.

Around the weekend of the first week of school every year, Hogsmeade always gets a real bustle.

Especially for the little wizards who have just entered third grade, basically no one will miss the first week of play.

As one of the signature shops on the street, Ms. Rosmerta's Three Broomsticks seemed a little cold at this time.

However, Ms. Rosmerta is already used to this desertion.

After all, compared to places like Zuko's Joke Shop and Honeydukes, a bar where you can only eat food is a bit boring, and it's normal for no one to patronize it.

But since she could open a bar, she had no intention of making money from the students. After giving the red-haired student five cans of butterbeer, she quietly returned to the bar.

In the corner of the bar.

Ron opened a can of cold butterbeer, took a few sips, and let out a long sigh of relief. Next to him sat three other people, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione.

"Harry! It's okay. My father is already contacting Professor Dumbledore. I think he will know soon."

As Ron spoke, his eyes looked at the fireplace nearby from time to time.

"Thank you, Ron." Harry replied absentmindedly.

Although his tone seemed unconcerned, his two hands were firmly grasping the invisibility cloak on his legs.

When Ginny saw this scene, she rarely offered any words of comfort.

She knew very well that it was useless to say anything now, and all she could do was wait quietly with Harry.