Hogwarts’ Holy Grail War - 297/298 (Patreon)

Chapter 297: So That’s How They Got In

The two entered the tent.

Its interior had clearly been expanded with Magic similar to the Undetectable Extension Charm.

From the outside, the tent occupied only a few square meters.

Inside, however, it had enough space for three rooms and a sitting area.

“An Undetectable Extension Charm...”

Ethan frowned.

“Isn’t private use of this Spell strictly prohibited by the Ministry? Where did the goblins get a tent like this?”

“That isn’t particularly strange. Goblins and House-elves possess powerful forms of Magic different from those used by human wizards. Something like this is quite easy for them.”

The question clearly triggered Professor Fig’s instincts as a teacher.

He immediately began explaining in detail.

“And that Magic can become even more powerful when channeled through a wand. That is why, in 1631, the Ministry enacted a regulation forbidding all magical beings other than wizards from carrying wands.”

“Some goblins regarded that restriction as discrimination and prejudice from wizardkind and sought to reclaim the right to wield wands. To one extent or another, that issue contributed to both major Goblin Rebellions in history.”

Professor Fig then looked curiously at Ethan.

“Isn’t this material covered in the fourth-year History of Magic examination? How can you not know any of it?”

“Don’t ask, Professor.”

Ethan covered his face with one hand.

“Historical material like this goes straight out of my head as soon as the exam ends.”

“Professor, take a look at this.”

Ethan found a piece of parchment buried beneath a stack of documents on a table and called Professor Fig over.

“What is it? Did you find something?”

Professor Fig, who had searched most of the room without finding anything useful, came closer.

“An order. It’s been here for a while. Looks like Ranrok wrote it himself.”

Ethan handed him the parchment.

It read:

...

My brothers,

Maintain strict surveillance over the castle and the surrounding area. Do not allow any humans to approach, including those traitors at Gringotts. I will arrive soon.

Your tireless dedication will help goblinkind reclaim the rights that should have always been ours. Soon, we will attain the place in this world that we deserve.

Restoring the glory of goblinkind is both our duty and our highest honor.

Ranrok

...

“Looks like you were right again, Professor.”

Ethan tried to sound casual, but there wasn’t the slightest trace of humor in his expression.

“It specifically mentions ‘the rights that should have always been ours.’ Looks like the goblins really did start this rebellion over the issue of wand ownership.”

“...Perhaps they want far more than simply the right to carry wands.”

Professor Fig sighed.

“I still haven’t found anything useful on my side. It doesn’t look as though there’s much else to discover here. Let’s go inside the castle and look for Professor Rookwood’s portrait.”

“Right. Let’s go.”

As Ethan stepped out from behind the table, his foot struck something underneath it.

The object rolled across the floor and came to a stop beside Professor Fig’s foot.

Professor Fig bent down and picked it up.

It was a crystal ball.

“A crystal ball? Do goblins use these?”

Ethan looked curiously at the tennis-ball-sized sphere in Professor Fig’s hand.

“I don’t know. There’s no historical record of them doing so.”

Professor Fig shook his head.

“It appears to be a recording crystal. Shall we see what’s stored inside?”

“Professor, where did your sense of caution go?”

Ethan immediately complained.

“Is it really wise to activate something the enemy left behind without hesitation? What if it’s a trap specifically meant to catch whoever finds it?”

“What sort of person do you take me for?”

Professor Fig glared at him.

“Of course I already checked it. There’s no trap. Do you honestly think I’d suggest activating it otherwise?”

“My mistake.”

Ethan surrendered instantly and rubbed his hands together eagerly.

“Well, what are you waiting for, Professor? Let’s hear it.”

Professor Fig activated the crystal ball.

A deep but furious male voice emerged from it.

It belonged to Agnus.

“...Can’t you keep the noise down? The Muggles living beyond the mountains are beginning to notice!”

Ranrok’s voice followed immediately.

“That’s easy for you to say. Have you forgotten whose mistake put us in this situation to begin with? What other choice do we have?”

A heavy blow struck what sounded like a table.

Then Agnus growled:

“For Merlin’s sake, be satisfied with what you already have. I’m letting you dig tunnels underneath my ancestral home. That alone is more than enough consideration!”

“‘Consideration’?”

Ranrok snarled back furiously.

“Don’t forget that we’re the ones doing all the work. You humans are simply waiting to reap the rewards!”

“Unless you want to experience my power right now, I advise you to stop interfering. If you do, then perhaps once we succeed, you’ll still be allowed a share.”

A series of metallic clanks followed as Ranrok walked away.

Only Agnus remained, muttering viciously under his breath.

“Filthy inferior creature... You won’t be so smug for much longer. We’ll see who is really using whom...”

The recording ended there.

Ethan and Professor Fig stared at each other for several seconds.

Then both sighed.

“So Agnus really is Professor Rookwood’s descendant.”

Ethan looked deeply pained.

The two surviving descendants were both Dark Wizards.

One was rotting in Azkaban and could end up having his soul sucked out by a Dementor at any moment.

The other was conspiring with rebellious goblins and might someday end up getting cut down by Ethan himself.

The Rookwood family really had it rough.

Professor Fig frowned deeply as he analyzed the few clues provided by the recording.

“Hmm... On the surface, Agnus seems to be in the weaker position, and the two sides appear to be cooperating peacefully. But it’s obvious he has plans of his own.”

“Perhaps Ranrok is right. Agnus may simply be waiting for the goblins to do the work so he can reap the rewards afterward.”

Ethan smiled dismissively.

“It’s just two dogs fighting over the same bone. If you ask me, the best outcome would be for them to turn on each other and leave both sides half-dead.”

“Then I can walk in afterward and finish off whoever’s still standing. Much easier.”

“Don’t be too optimistic.”

Professor Fig gave Ethan a serious warning.

“For now, they still share a common objective. Until Ranrok actually finds that so-called ‘source of Magic,’ they will continue presenting a united front against everyone else.”

“And there is another problem.”

Professor Fig glanced at the crystal ball.

“Why did Agnus deliberately use a crystal ball to preserve this conversation? And why did he leave such an important object here?”

“We still don’t understand the most important whydunit. The motive.”

“Wow, Professor.”

Ethan stared at the kindly old man as though he had just discovered an entirely new species.

“I didn’t know you were this fashionable. You even know technical terms from detective fiction.”

“A wizard shouldn’t let being a wizard limit his perspective.”

Professor Fig gave him a sly smile.

“You should learn from the strengths of others. Besides, some Muggle things are rather entertaining.”

He waved Ethan onward.

“All right. It really does seem there’s nothing else here. Let’s search the castle.”

The two left the tent and approached the main tower.

The fiery dragon Ethan had summoned earlier had smashed through part of the stone wall, and fallen rubble now buried much of the tower’s wooden entrance.

“Reparo.”

With a simple Mending Charm from Professor Fig, the broken stones slowly rose from the ground.

They spun through the air, reassembled themselves into their original blocks, and returned to their places in the castle wall.

While the spell was working, Ethan suddenly remembered something.

He turned and waved his wand.

The tents, wooden shelters, and everything else the goblins had left in the courtyard were swallowed by white flames.

Not even ashes remained.

Consider it free cleaning for the Rookwood family.

“All right. Remember, our first priority is finding Professor Rookwood’s portrait.”

Professor Fig wiped the faint sweat from his forehead and pushed open the door.

“Professor, did you find anything?”

Ethan leaned over the railing beside the spiral staircase on the top floor and shouted downward.

He had been responsible for searching everything above the second floor, along with several smaller towers surrounding the main structure.

“Nothing on my side either!”

Professor Fig called back from the first floor, panting slightly.

“That’s strange.”

Ethan vaulted over the railing and landed beside Professor Fig.

“So that means...”

Both turned toward a pair of metal doors directly opposite the main tower entrance.

An Ancient Magic symbol was carved across their surface.

It was the only place they hadn’t searched.

“But there are no signs that this door has ever been opened or forced.”

Ethan frowned.

“If Professor Rookwood was right and the goblins removed something from inside the castle, along with his portrait, then how did they get in?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

Professor Fig sighed.

“We go inside. You know how to open it, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

Ethan looked at the metal emblem above the doors and raised his wand.

A thin beam of light shot from the tip and struck the emblem.

Its patterns immediately lit with brilliant white light as the emblem began slowly rotating.

Ethan repeated the process.

Before the first emblem stopped moving, he activated two more located on the upper level of the tower and along the exterior wall.

All three began rotating along identical paths.

The Ancient Magic pattern engraved on the metal doors glowed with the same white light, and the doors began to tremble faintly.

Click.

The doors slowly opened.

Behind them lay a staircase descending deep underground.

A faint red glow flickered at the far end of the darkness.

“Lumos Locomotor.”

Ethan summoned several floating points of light that responded directly to his thoughts.

He sent them ahead to scout the path while he and Professor Fig followed cautiously, wands raised.

Before long, they found the source of the red glow.

A spherical metal object lay broken across the floor.

Its hollow, multilayered construction resembled an intricately carved puzzle sphere.

Several of its outer layers had shattered, leaving only the innermost shell intact.

“Reparo.”

Ethan tried the Mending Charm.

The shattered layers rose from the ground and fitted themselves back into their original positions.

With part of its function restored, the strange sphere floated into the air and began rotating slowly.

It appeared to be some kind of container.

Whatever it had once held was now gone.

Only the shell remained, still radiating an eerie red light.

“This must be the container Professor Rookwood mentioned.”

Professor Fig stared up at the floating object and sighed.

“So the goblins really did get in here and remove whatever it held. But how?”

“Professor, look at the ground.”

Ethan pointed downward.

Under the light from the floating Lumos, several narrow tracks were barely visible on the floor.

They looked like wheel ruts.

“Come on. Let’s follow them.”

The two moved through the darkness along the tracks.

A faint patch of light gradually appeared in the distance.

As they approached, the glow became brighter and brighter.

Finally...

“Now I understand how the goblins got in.”

Ethan stared at the enormous opening leading outside and gave a bitter smile.

The goblins had started digging from the opposite side of the mountain.

They had tunneled through almost half the mountain range itself and reached the basement of Rookwood Castle from below.

“If they were able to tunnel all the way into the basement here, doesn’t that mean they could use the same method to reach the Map Chamber from underneath and seize the Ancient Magic treasure guarded by the Keepers?”

Professor Fig suddenly realized the implication.

His face went pale.

“This is bad. We need to return immediately and warn the Keepers.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

A muffled voice came from somewhere in the darkness.

“Professor Rookwood?”

Ethan recognized the voice.

He followed it into a corner of the tunnel and found Charles Rookwood’s portrait wedged against the wall among a pile of bottles and jars.

He picked it up.

“Professor, what do you mean it isn’t necessary?”

“Just as Hogwarts itself is protected by a barrier, we placed an even stronger barrier beneath the castle.”

Charles spread his hands calmly.

“No matter how much the goblins drill or dig, they will never reach the Map Chamber that way.”

“Then why didn’t you put a similar barrier underneath Rookwood Castle?”

Ethan couldn’t resist complaining.

“The goblins already broke open some strange container. Whatever was inside has clearly been taken.”

“That was my oversight.”

Charles sighed.

“When I prepared all this, I never imagined that one of my descendants would become a Dark Wizard and cooperate with goblins.”

“Otherwise, the goblins would never have known these things existed beneath the castle in the first place.”

“So you already know about Agnus?”

Ethan raised an eyebrow.

Charles visibly deflated.

“Yes. He was there when it happened.”

Ethan carried Charles’s portrait while he and Professor Fig followed the tracks back the way they had come.

The scene looked disturbingly like a funeral procession with Ethan carrying Charles’s memorial portrait.

“Look, Professor. This is it.”

Ethan held the portrait up toward the floating spherical container.

Charles could only sigh.

“Let’s keep going. There’s no time to mourn what has already been lost. The most important thing now is to begin your trial as soon as possible.”

They continued following the tracks until they reached the machine that had created them.

It was an extraordinarily advanced tunneling machine.

A massive drill protruded from its front, snapped through the middle, with the broken section embedded deep inside the solid rock.

The goblins had presumably used this machine to bore the tunnel into the basement.

And judging by the fact that they had simply abandoned the damaged machine instead of recovering it, they were probably capable of building another without much difficulty.

“Hmm... Magical power source. The drill itself appears to be made from... Goblin Metal.”

Professor Fig needed only a brief inspection to understand the machine’s basic construction.

“This is undoubtedly goblin workmanship.”

“So this must be the thing Ranrok said he needed.”

Ethan placed Charles’s portrait on top of the machine.

Then he pushed the tunneling machine aside with his bare hands, pulled the broken drill section out of the rock, and examined it.

“The scrape marks are still fresh. It was used recently.”

He nodded slowly.

“That fits the timeline.”

“This machine must have been built secretly by the rebellious goblins at the Scottish Forge without the wizards finding out. It was only completed recently.”

“Then Ranrok came here, used it to reach the underground chamber, took the magical power from that container, and left yesterday.”

“I’m beginning to worry about the Secret Vault.”

Charles’s expression grew grave.

“Ethan, you should begin the trial immediately. Take the staircase on your right. Quickly.”

“All right.”

Ethan picked up Charles’s portrait again and followed Professor Fig down another flight of stairs into a deeper part of the basement.

They arrived in a secluded study.

“There’s a nail on that wall. Hang me there.”

Charles pointed toward the only bare wall in the hexagonal room.

The other walls were covered with paintings, calligraphy, or bookshelves.

Ethan used the Levitation Charm to hang the portrait from the nail.

From his new position above them, Charles looked down solemnly.

“You have now seen for yourselves that blind power brings only danger.”

“In the wrong hands, it becomes what we are seeing now with Ranrok.”

“Now that he has obtained that power, Ranrok possesses enough strength to threaten the stability of the entire world.”

“We must find a way to defeat him.”

Charles’s expression darkened.

“And my disgraceful descendant.”

Then he looked directly at Ethan.

“And you, my young friend.”

“This trial will be no easier than Percival’s. You must prepare yourself fully.”

“As for the meaning behind it all... once you complete the trial, you will receive the answers you seek.”

“Are you ready?”

“Always.”

“Good.”

Charles nodded.

“I will open the path to the Secret Vault. You may begin your trial whenever you wish.”

“Good luck, my friend.”

As Charles finished speaking, a white vortex slowly appeared on the floor.

He bowed slightly toward the two of them, then turned and walked out of the portrait.

“I’ll return to the Map Chamber first. Percival needs to know what happened here.”

Professor Fig turned toward Ethan.

“You’ve already completed one trial, and considering how much stronger you’ve become over the past six months, I believe you can complete this one as well.”

“But be careful.”

“If you encounter something inside the trial that you truly cannot overcome, withdraw immediately.”

“To us, keeping you alive is far more important than whether you pass some trial.”

“Of course, Professor.”

Ethan shrugged lightly.

“I value my life far too much to gamble it away.”

“I’ll come back from this trial perfectly intact.”

He smiled.

“I’ll see you in the Map Chamber afterward.”

Under Professor Fig’s worried gaze, Ethan stepped onto the vortex and swept his wand upward.

The swirling vortex became a stream of white light that flowed into the tip of his wand.

The wall covered with paintings and calligraphy rippled.

A pale blue curtain of light appeared across its surface.

Through the translucent barrier, a staircase could be seen descending into an even deeper underground passage.

Ethan looked back one last time and gave Professor Fig a thumbs-up.

Then, without another glance behind him, he stepped through the curtain of light.

...

Chapter 298: GOD HAND IMPACT!

At the bottom of the staircase stood a metal door almost identical to the ones Ethan had seen before.

He slowly pushed it open and found a vast natural cavern beyond. With his eyesight, he could clearly make out another identical door on the opposite side.

The problem was that there was absolutely no path leading to it.

Even the floating bridge from the previous trial was nowhere to be seen.

Ethan’s sharp eyes quickly spotted a metal emblem the size of a tire embedded in a nearby rock wall. He tried activating it, and several metal cubes immediately rose from the seemingly bottomless darkness below, assembling themselves into a floating bridge.

Unfortunately, the bridge was nowhere near long enough to cross the cavern.

More precisely, it didn’t even cover a tenth of the distance.

Ethan carefully walked to the end of the floating bridge and spotted another identical emblem on a stalactite hanging nearby.

He activated that one as well.

More cubes rose from the impenetrable darkness below and attached themselves to the end of the bridge.

At the same time, the section beneath Ethan’s feet began trembling, as though it might lose its support and plunge back into the abyss at any moment.

Ethan quickened his pace and stepped onto the newly formed section.

The instant he did, the section behind him sank into the darkness. His left foot had barely left it, and the sudden drop nearly threw him off balance and sent him tumbling headfirst into the abyss.

By now, Ethan understood roughly how the mechanism worked.

He was supposed to activate each new section of the bridge within a limited amount of time, move onto it before the previous one disappeared, and repeat the process until he reached the other side.

It felt exactly like one of those crude action-puzzle games from the early 2000s.

Ethan looked over the stalactites scattered along either side of the route.

Presumably, there were more emblems hidden on the backs of those stone pillars.

But why did he have to solve the puzzle the way its creator intended?

Ethan pointed his wand at the nearest stalactite.

“Accio!”

Naturally, the Summoning Charm couldn’t pull loose a massive stone pillar fused with the cavern itself.

Instead, the reaction force pulled Ethan off his feet and sent him flying toward the stalactite.

While still airborne, he aimed his wand at another stalactite farther ahead.

“Accio!”

Like Spider-Man swinging on invisible webs, Ethan rapidly flew between the stone pillars.

After only a few swings, he was already suspended in the air directly in front of the door on the opposite side.

Unfortunately, there was no platform beneath the door for him to land on.

He needed to do something before gravity caught up with him.

“Depulso!”

Ethan aimed his wand at the door.

The metal double doors flew inward with a loud bang.

“Depulso!”

Twisting around in midair, Ethan cast the Banishing Charm at a stalactite behind him.

The recoil gave him another burst of forward momentum, carrying him cleanly through the doorway.

He landed securely inside.

Bang!

Before Ethan could even straighten up, the doors slammed shut behind him.

Beyond them was a perfectly octagonal hall.

Its walls were made of smooth metal, faintly reflecting Ethan’s silhouette.

“...This place is way too empty.”

Ethan walked around the hall once, frowning to himself.

There were no armored statues standing motionless as potential enemies.

No other doors.

No sign of a vortex.

There weren’t even any mechanisms that revealed themselves when he approached, like the ones in Percival’s trial.

Was this trial seriously expecting him to demolish the entire room?

Or had he somehow broken the trial because he hadn’t solved the bridge puzzle the intended way?

Just as Ethan was about to reopen the door, cross the cavern again, and try everything properly this time, he suddenly felt a faint breeze stir his hair.

His body reacted before his mind did.

Ethan darted sideways.

A violent gust sliced past him and plunged straight downward.

Something invisible seemed to brush past his body before smashing into the floor.

A circular crater appeared out of nowhere exactly where Ethan had been standing, and the shockwave lifted the hem of his coat.

Something invisible was attacking him!

“Aparecium!”

Ethan immediately cast a Revealing Charm at the spot where the crater had appeared, hoping to expose whatever enemy was hiding there.

The Charm had no effect.

Either the enemy had already moved away, or it was simply immune to this kind of Revealing Charm.

Whoosh!

Another powerful gust came down toward Ethan.

This time, he didn’t dodge.

Silver light flashed around his hands as he raised them and caught the incoming object between his palms in a textbook bare-handed blade catch.

The object felt like a mace.

That was enough for Ethan to become almost certain that the invisible enemy was another armored statue.

Wait.

If it was a statue...

There probably wasn’t just one.

Light!

Ethan didn’t hesitate.

Still gripping the mace, he yanked it sideways and stepped away.

A deafening crash followed.

The mace suddenly lost the force pulling against him and became visible.

At the other end of its handle, a shattered armored statue also appeared before dissolving into motes of light.

Looks like another friendly-fire incident.

With that thought, Ethan simply transformed into a streak of light and shot toward one corner of the hall.

Then he pulled out a strip of black cloth and tied it over his eyes.

If he couldn’t see the enemies no matter what he did, then vision wasn’t doing him much good anyway.

He might as well eliminate the distraction.

With his eyes covered, his other senses might sharpen enough to help him perceive the enemies more clearly.

Once darkness completely filled his vision, Ethan’s hearing and sense of touch really did improve, even if only slightly.

He could now hear the faint clattering of armored feet against the floor.

Even the subtle disturbances in the air caused by their movement registered against his skin.

“Reducto!”

Without the slightest hesitation, Ethan pointed his wand in a particular direction despite being completely blind.

The sound of metal parts shattering rang out.

An invisible armored statue appeared, already broken apart, then dissolved into points of light.

Bang! Boom! Crash!

Several more heavy impacts sounded around the hall.

Apparently, even more armored statues had arrived.

Even if Ethan could sense them now, there was no guarantee he could deal with so many one at a time.

So...

“SLAY! ALL!”

In less than a second, silver-white streaks covered the entire hall.

Several afterimages converged from every direction toward the center.

Ethan slowly straightened among them and lightly flicked his wand.

Crack!

The surrounding space shattered like glass.

The sound of armor breaking apart filled the hall without pause.

As the shattered statues became visible and dissolved, countless points of light gathered on the metal doors Ethan had entered through.

The doors transformed into a transparent curtain of light.

Ethan didn’t hesitate.

He walked straight through.

On the other side was a stone platform suspended in the middle of another vast cavern.

“This feeling of déjà vu... Don’t tell me...”

The corner of Ethan’s mouth twitched.

The metal frame holding the light curtain melted into liquid and sank into the floor.

From the rippling surface, an enormous statue slowly rose.

Without wasting a single word, it immediately unleashed a brilliant stream of energy straight at Ethan.

But Ethan was no longer the same person he had been six months ago.

He had been tested by life-and-death situations, and over the past half year, consciously or otherwise, he had continued refining his control over Magic.

Facing the same kind of enemy now was far easier than before.

Ethan lightly traced a cross through the air with his wand.

A curtain of light expanded along the path he drew and swallowed the statue’s entire energy beam.

The next instant, an identical curtain appeared above the statue’s head.

The energy it had just fired poured back out and blasted its head clean off.

Apparently, losing its head wasn’t enough to stop the giant statue.

The headless colossus continued attacking Ethan.

One energy sphere after another shot continuously from its chest, at a firing rate more than an order of magnitude higher than the giant statue Ethan had encountered during Percival’s trial.

Ethan darted from side to side across the platform, evading the incoming projectiles.

Meanwhile, a spear of light began forming in his palm.

It was larger than any he had created before.

“Go!”

Ethan hurled it at the colossus.

The spiraling spear spread apart in midair like the tentacles of an octopus, splitting into several slender bands of light that wrapped tightly around the enormous statue from top to bottom.

Ethan’s other hand was already covered by the spiked gauntlet formed from his artifact.

A second layer of silver-white energy wrapped around it.

“GOD!”

He sprinted forward two steps and launched himself upward from beneath the colossus.

His fist drew back.

“HAND!”

The seemingly ordinary punch slammed into the statue’s chest.

Cracks instantly spread from the point of impact across its entire body.

“IMPACT!!”

BOOM!

The colossus collapsed.

Countless fragments dissolved into motes of light.

At the spot where the previous doorway had melted away, another empty pointed metal frame rose from the ground, its interior shimmering with the same pale blue curtain of light.

Beyond it was another circular chamber.

A Pensieve stood at its center.

Floating above it was an amorphous metallic substance, another piece of the artifact.

Behind the Pensieve stood an enormous stone bust covering its face with both hands.

The hidden face presumably belonged to Charles.

Ethan approached the Pensieve and, already familiar with the process, slowly extended his hand toward the liquid.

The metallic substance responded to him on its own.

It wound itself around Ethan’s arm and fused seamlessly with the artifact already there.

A deep sound reverberated through the chamber.

The enormous stone bust of Charles leaned over the Pensieve.

From between its fingers, a drop of liquid light trickled down and fell into the basin.

Ethan lowered his head into the Pensieve once again.

After a brief sensation of weightlessness, he found himself standing in a small village he recognized immediately.

He had seen it before in the Pensieve memory beneath the library.

That time, however, he had stood on high ground with Percival and the others, looking down at the village.

This time, he was standing inside it.

The sound of lively conversation came from behind him.

Ethan turned around.

Percival and the other three Keepers were slowly approaching.

“To be honest, I’m rather interested in seeing what Isidora accomplished during this journey.”

Charles, walking at the front, turned toward the other three.

There was no hiding the pride in his voice.

“All right, Charles. We all know Isidora is your favorite student,” Percival said with a faint smile as he stroked his beard. “We’re looking forward to seeing what surprise she has for us as well.”

The four passed straight through Ethan’s body and stopped in front of a modest house.

Charles reached out to knock.

Before his hand could even touch the door, however, it opened inward.

Isidora’s excited face appeared behind it.

“I’ve been waiting for you. Please, come in.”

Charles gave an almost imperceptible wry smile before entering Isidora’s home.

Ethan followed the professors inside and sat on a tall stool beside the dining table.

Although he couldn’t touch the people inside the memory, he could interact with the surrounding objects.

He simply couldn’t move them from their original positions.

“Please, sit wherever you like.”

Isidora enthusiastically welcomed the professors.

She picked up a transparent bottle-like vessel from the dining table while drawing her wand from her robes with her other hand.

“Isidora, we’ve all been wondering exactly what you...”

Percival began to ask, but Isidora interrupted him.

“One moment, Professor. I know what you want to ask, but there are some things you can only understand after seeing them for yourselves.”

Then she called softly toward another door.

“We’re ready.”

An elderly man opened the door and walked out.

His eyes were vacant.

His face showed no emotion at all.

Ethan recognized him.

He had appeared in Percival’s previous memory as well.

“Father, these are my colleagues from Hogwarts.”

Isidora gestured toward the professors.

The old man didn’t greet them.

He didn’t even look at them.

He simply walked over to a chair and sat down.

“Ever since my brother died, my father hasn’t spoken a single word.”

Isidora gave the professors an apologetic smile, then quickly brightened again.

“During my recent travels, I managed to prove something I’ve suspected for a long time.”

“We really do possess the ability to take away pain.”

She sat opposite her father and placed the tip of her wand against his chest.

White light shone from the wand.

A black substance filled with multicolored points of light was slowly drawn from the man’s chest and gathered around the tip of Isidora’s wand.

Percival pushed himself upright against the table.

“Isidora, what have you done?”

“I erased my father’s pain.”

Isidora’s face was filled with excitement.

She completely failed to notice the strange expressions on the four professors’ faces.

She transferred the mass of “pain” into the transparent container in her hand, then sealed it tightly with a cork.

“This is unprecedented Magic, Isidora.”

Charles stared at the mass of “pain” inside the vessel, his expression complicated.

“But we still understand far too little about this power. Who knows what effects it might have?”

Percival pointed toward the energy, his voice growing increasingly anxious.

“This Magic is unlike anything we’ve ever encountered before. We have no way of knowing what consequences it might have on the human body...”

Before Percival could finish, Isidora’s father murmured:

“Thank you.”

All four professors froze.

Their eyes turned toward the old man.

“Thank you.”

The man held Isidora’s hand and repeated the words over and over.

The memory ended there.

Ethan was expelled from the Pensieve.