HP: The Boy who saw Magic

The corridor on the fifth floor was darker than the floors below, with torches spaced far apart along the walls, casting long, wavering shadows. The four boys stopped in front of a wooden door adorned with strange symbols, which they had overlooked on their previous visit. The handle was rusted, but the door itself looked sturdy and intact.

Just as Kevin was about to push the door open, a shrill voice suddenly echoed from the ceiling.

"Fresh brats! Peeves smells fresh brats!"

A short ghost in brightly colored clothes emerged from the ceiling, brandishing a large bottle of ink. "One, two, three, four! Four little Ravenclaws trying to get into Peeves' secret room!" he shrieked, turning the ink bottle upside down.

"Transform!" Kevin quickly cast a spell, turning a large blanket on the ground into a broad umbrella to shield the group. Ink splashed onto the umbrella and slid down like black raindrops.

"Oh! Magic sausages!" Peeves pouted unhappily and pulled a handful of thumbtacks from his pocket. "Try Peeves's—"

"Stupefy!" Kevin attacked before he could finish, but Peeves nimbly dodged.

"The sausage can't hit Peeves!" The ghost somersaulted triumphantly in the air.

An idea suddenly occurred to Kevin. He pretended to cast the spell again but changed it at the last moment: "Aguamenti!" A stream of water spurted from the tip of his wand, passing directly through Peeves' translucent body.

"Ha! It's no use!" Peeves scoffed, but Kevin was already uttering, "Glacius!"

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

"Excellent!" Fabian applauded. "What a chain of spells!"

"It's just the flexible use of basic spells," Kevin said modestly, though inwardly he was pleased with his impromptu strategy.

The four of them finally entered the abandoned classroom. Sunlight streamed through the dusty windows, forming golden beams that illuminated the motes of dust swirling in the air. Desks and chairs were piled in the corner, and the writing on the blackboard was already blurred.

"It feels okay," Ernesto said, lighting a floating lamp with his wand. "Just needs a thorough cleaning and fixing a few chairs."

"Look at this!" Wesley pointed excitedly at a huge cabinet. "There may be something left in it by our ancestors!"

The door was stuck, and the four boys worked together to pull it open. In the dust, they found some old textbooks, a few dried potion ingredients, and a box of expired dung eggs, which Wesley regretfully threw into the trash.

Kevin's "Eye of Truth" suddenly noticed something unusual about the back wall of the classroom. The flow of magic there was subtly distorted. He pretended to walk over casually, stroked the wall with his fingers, and felt a faint magical fluctuation.

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

"This wall is a bit strange," Kevin chose his words carefully, not wanting to expose his 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 Kevin. "Is there a spell that can detect hidden spaces?"

Kevin thought for a moment. "'Quick Apparition' is a commonly used Apparition spell," he mused, then thought of a more professional incantation, "but 'Revelio' may be more suitable."

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

"Merlin!" Wesley exclaimed. "There really is a Chamber of Secrets!"

The four boys excitedly studied the hidden door, but could not find the mechanism to open it. Kevin used the Eye of Truth again and discovered that the door handle required a specific magical input—a simple logic puzzle that required lighting up several runes in the correct order.

"Let me try." He followed the logic of the door knocker puzzle in the Ravenclaw common room and touched several bricks in turn. With a click, the hidden door slowly slid open, revealing a spiral staircase leading down.

"Do you want to go down?" Wesley's voice trembled a little.

"Of course!" Ernesto had already taken out his wand to light the way.

Fabian hesitated. "If the professor knew about this…"

"We just want to check all areas of the practice room," Kevin said calmly. In fact, he had already checked it with the 'Eye of Truth' and found that there was basically no magical reaction in this secret passage.

This reason convinced everyone—or rather, everyone had an adventurous heart. Kevin led the way, and the four boys carefully descended the stairs, coming to a circular secret room. In the center was a stone workbench, and the surrounding bookshelves were filled with ancient books and notes. In the corner stood a small alchemy device that looked like some kind of distiller.

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

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

"Alchemical Experiments Journal, Nicholas Flamel II, Ravenclaw House, 1946–1949"

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

"A relative or descendant, or perhaps an alchemist who admires Nicolas Flamel," Kevin suggested, pulling out his gloves and carefully flipping through the notebook. The pages recorded various alchemical experiments, some with complex magic circles and equations drawn on them. His heartbeat quickened—as an alchemy enthusiast, this was a treasure trove.

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

"Don't touch it!" Kevin and Ernesto shouted at the same time. Kevin rushed over to check the label. "It should be alchemical materials—some of them may still be effective."

Ernesto was drawn to the diagram on the wall. "Look at this! It looks like the application of some kind of space expansion spell."

The four boys were so immersed in their discovery of the secret room that they completely lost track of time. That was until Kevin noticed the change in the angle of the sunlight. "It's almost lunchtime—we should go back."

"What should we do with these things?" Wesley looked at the room full of treasures, reluctant to leave.

"Leave it as it is," Kevin decided. "This is obviously the private study of our predecessors, and we should respect that." He looked at the notebook. "But perhaps I can borrow this diary as a Ravenclaw tradition?"

Ernesto nodded in agreement, surprisingly. "Knowledge should be passed on, not kept secret."

They carefully left the secret room, making sure the hidden door was closed again. After returning to the main classroom, the four began to plan how to use this space.

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

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

Kevin smiled and nodded. "That's great. Wesley and I can take care of the books, and Fabian is good at potions, so he can check the materials."

They were discussing animatedly until their stomachs growled, reminding them it was past lunchtime.

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