Midnight Adventures

"Salazar felt that the route was wrong - he had a dispute with Rowena, so their relationship quickly became icy and broke apart. He left the castle and began studying dark magic."

"In the end, he died from the backlash of dark magic." Jon nodded in agreement. He had heard this story before. "But what caused Ravenclaw's death?"

"I don't know. Ever since Salazar left the castle, she locked herself in her room all day. Helena's theft of her crown made her mental state even more unstable... Perhaps you can find some answers on this pair of glasses."

"But these seem like ordinary glasses, nothing special. The magical aura is also very weak, I can't sense anything."

"That's because your magical proficiency is not enough. Rowena's belongings are still too advanced for you at the moment."

Jon: "..."

Well, it seems he's too weak.

"Let's keep this pair of glasses for now. We can investigate further when you go home on vacation." Helga put away her sadness and watched Jon wrap the glasses in parchment paper and put them into a hidden compartment in his ring. "Now, let's see how your spell practice is going."

...

Jon's magical skills had actually improved quite a bit. He had diligently studied at Hogwarts for a whole month, and there were always some gains.

"You're still a bit unfamiliar with the Disillusionment Charm, but your level is good with other spells. Maybe it's because I made some modifications to the Disillusionment Charm, making it more difficult. Do you want me to make some adjustments again?"

Helga's well-intentioned offer didn't sound quite comfortable to Jon. He shook his head. "No, it's okay. I haven't practiced the Disillusionment Charm for long, and maybe I haven't used it enough, so I'm not good at it. But I'll try to become more proficient in it in the future."

"Suit yourself. I shouldn't worry so much about such trivial matters."

After watching Jon perform the spell once, Helga said a few words and retreated back into the painting world. Jon raised his hand and checked his watch, realizing that it was already past midnight.

Where did all this time go?

He hadn't even noticed.

Then he realized that he was already late today, and in the beginning, he actually spent a lot of time opening the drawer.

He had been too focused on performing Transfiguration, not realizing that he had spent so much time.

Luckily, Helga was in the mood to watch him do such a boring thing.

He put everything back into the ring, cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, and then left the study and walked downstairs. His mind was filled with some random thoughts, unrelated to the glasses he had just obtained.

He felt that the legendary figures he had encountered in his life were all women, such as his ancestors in the wizarding world and the esteemed Queen in the Muggle world, who was a kind old lady wandering through the cracks of time...

Could the Queen also be a witch?

Probably not. The royal bloodline has been passed down for many centuries. If they were all wizards, they wouldn't have been so cruel to the wizards in the Middle Ages.

Hmm... But you never know. There is no shortage of infighting in any place.

In the middle of the night, Hogwarts Castle was unusually quiet, with no students wandering the castle at night. Even Filch, the castle's caretaker, had gone to sleep, and the entire castle was engulfed in silence.

Jon liked the quietness, which was related to his personality. The reason he dreamed of becoming a scholar rather than a powerful wizard was that powerful wizards like Dumbledore were always busy with various things, and the only thing they didn't have time to solve was their own matters.

That kind of life might be sweet for Dumbledore... let's assume he finds it sweet and not a way to alleviate guilt towards someone.

But Jon couldn't do that. It's not that he couldn't do it, but he didn't want to.

There are many ways to make life exciting, but none of them involve locking oneself up in certain matters.

"That's not life," Jon said softly as he stood on the staircase. "That's self-imprisonment, and it drives you insane."

But should he return to the dormitory at this time?

Of course not. This was the perfect opportunity to visit places he usually couldn't go to.

He still remembered that when Harry Potter was in the third grade, he couldn't go to Hogsmeade because he couldn't get the guardian's signature, but he sneaked into Hogsmeade with the help of the invisibility cloak and the secret passage.

Now he had a powerful Disillusionment Charm, the Marauder's Map in his hands, and he vaguely remembered the location of that secret passage.

It was behind a statue of a hunchbacked witch, in the corridor on the fourth floor. Behind that statue was a passage leading to Honeydukes.

However, the condition of the fourth floor was not that great, with dozens of stairs going up and down, and some stairs were restlessly moving.

Fortunately, the Marauder's Map was a treasure.

"Hmm? Dumbledore is not in his office again?"

Jon glanced at the location of the Headmaster's office on the Marauder's Map, but he wasn't in the mood to explore. After all, he couldn't enter the Headmaster's office.

After a while, even with the assistance of the Marauder's Map, Jon was still dizzy from going around the stairs, but he finally arrived in front of the hunchbacked witch statue.

He remembered the incantation quite clearly. Jon extended his wand and gently tapped the statue of the hunchbacked witch.

"Separate and reveal."

The hunchback of the statue immediately split apart, revealing a passage wide enough for a slightly slim adult to enter. For a child of Jon's build, entering naturally wasn't a problem.

With a crisp thud as the statue closed, Jon shuddered. One of his feet lost his footing, and his whole body slid forward quickly.

He didn't know how long he slid, but Jon finally encountered the damp and cold ground.

He stood up and looked around.

It was pitch black around him, so Jon raised his wand and chanted, "Lumos."

A silver light blossomed from Jon's wand, illuminating the darkness around him.

It was a narrow and low tunnel.

The air in the tunnel was stuffy, and the darkness combined with the gloominess made Jon feel uncomfortable. After all, Hufflepuff's tunnels were warm and short.

Jon walked in the tunnel for almost an hour. If it weren't for his abundant magical power, it would have been difficult to sustain the Lumos charm along the way. The Disillusionment Charm also had a duration of only one hour, which had long since passed.

He cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself again, crawled through the trapdoor, climbed the stairs, and then arrived inside Honeydukes.