22 22. Hogwarts!

The three looked at the rings curiously and Andromeda realized what they were.

"Are those family rings?" She asked. She had also recognized they were a bit different from what she remembered.

"Yup, and they were also completely redesigned by yours truly! I removed all unwanted curses from them and added more features for better protection of the wearer. Go on, try them!" He said and shoved those to them.

Ted and Dora looked at Andromeda, who kept looking at Ryan who was smiling with excitement. She then picked the middle one and wore it. She felt the ring hum to her magic and felt a wave of magic brush over her as if protecting her, which disappeared as fast as it appeared.

Ted and Dora followed after getting a nod from her, while Andromeda was stunned silent as she kept analyzing the ring's functions and realized she couldn't realize half of those things.

"H-how?" She stuttered and asked.

"It took a combination of the right knowledge and materials," Ryan said and shrugged, making her even more dumbfounded. Dora was looking at her new shiny ring with stars in her eyes while Ted too had started to explore slowly about the ring, but he didn't have a reference like Andromeda did so didn't know how absurd they truly were.

Seeing the silent Andromeda, Ryan continued, "Don't think too much about it. Your safety takes priority." Ryan cursed himself inwardly again for playing with words but promised himself to explain everything to them in the future.

Ryan explained the important features of the ring and then joined them for a movie night, which he was dragged into by Andromeda, and then taken out for shopping. He and Ted bonded over their fate as porters for the ladies, and Ryan was also dragged to be a model for new clothes, which ended up with a dinner outside. It was quite late till he finally returned home.

He had to admit the day was the most mentally exhausting, yet fun he had in a while. He gave Kreacher some dessert he had bought and rested on his bed, erasing all thoughts from his head and taking a quick nap. After resting for a few minutes, he got up again and changed into his grim outfit, and left the palace through the main door, then flew above the city, slowly picking up speed and boosting towards Scotland.

It took Ryan a while till he spotted an area marked unplottable in which he found train tracks, which he followed until he spotted a castle by a huge lake and at some distance from a town. Ryan stopped and took in the view, which he could only describe as mystical. He stayed in the air and kept looking at the lit-up castle shining above the lake, standing out as a bright torch against the darkness.

Ryan turned towards the town, which he guessed was Hogsmeade. The movies did Hogsmeade injustice, making it look like a street rather than a complete town. It too had its charm. Ryan was assaulted on his magical senses by the sheer amount of magic in the air, due to Hogwarts being made on the intersection of three lay lines.

No other magical institution boasted of this. Even Uagadou and Castelobruxo were made over a single fault emanating from the Earth. Ryan closed his eyes and enjoyed the magic-rich surroundings for a minute, then opened them again to get to work. He would enjoy a nice sleep in this place when he would be admitted here, but he right now needed to do things fast.

There was another reason Ryan had rushed over today. Tomorrow was a gathering at ICW, the International Confederation of Wizards, and Dumbledore was already said to have been spotted there, thus meaning he was away from Hogwarts. Ryan entered stealth and activated his mystic eyes to look at the security system of Hogwarts.

And what he found was... disappointing. Ryan was expecting to be surprised by the castle and its magical nature, and its protection which was said to have protected it from numerous dark wizards, yet he really didn't expect to be disappointed.

The protection grid, while vast, seemed basic. There were too many holes and weak points. There were even structural defects making there be areas without any form of protection. Ryan didn't understand how this was possible, as he was sure the founders could have very easily added a preparing charm to the ward stones, no matter how many may be required.

Ryan was going to enter but felt Salazzar's locket react, so he brought it around his neck... What? The curse on the necklace? Like it could do anything to him.

Ryan decided to go towards the pull and saw it indicating to go towards the black lake... so he dove in. Ryan could hold his breath for over half an hour, and he didn't activate water breathing because most places are quite polluted, and who knows if this was connected to the sewers? He dived around the castle and entered a crevice that led him to a set of water-filled pipelines, and he praised himself for not breathing in the sewers.

Ryan moved forward till he reached a room where the water was collected with an opening above, through which he slowly exited. Ryan looked around and saw he was in a basement made of grey stones with some moss growing around, and there were numerous towers with snake patterns around them. And in the middle stood a statue of the face of an old man, whose mouth looked movable. Ryan finally realized where he was, the fabled Chamber of Secrets!

Ryan felt his locket chime towards one of the walls and moved towards it. He observed and saw that the biggest snake on the wall had bright green eyes, which seemed as if looking at him. Ryan pressed the locket on it, and some words appeared in his mind, which he repeated in a strange hissing sound "SSssSS "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus SSssSS"

The entire wall rumbled and split, showing what looked like an elevator. Ryan blinked and entered the room, and saw various locations of Hogwarts written over buttons in parseltongue. But what attracted him most were rooms labeled with the four founders' names, them being Helga's Apothecary, Rowena's Ritual Chamber, Gordic's Playground, Salazzar's bedroom, and Heart of Hogwarts.

Ryan activated his mystic eyes to trace the routes led by them and discovered the one marked with Helga's name led to a room in the basement floor of Hogwarts filled with house elves, which Aria named Hogwarts Kitchen, the one with Rowena's name led to a room on the 7th floor which looked... almost non-existent in Ryan's mystic eyes, which Aria labeled Room of Requirements, Gordic's playground led to the forbidden forest, and even Ryan could recognize that. And finally, Salazzar's room led into an area quite below the castle, connected to the black lake, which Aria labeled was near Slytherin dorms. 'Huh, that makes sense.' Ryan thought to himself.

He looked at the locket, which was illuminating the button named Heart of Hogwarts, and like an idiotic Griffindor, Ryan pressed it, looking forward to what he might find.

The lift closed and accelerated through twists and turns, but Ryan didn't feel any jerk at all, and he looked and memorized all rune patterns to research them further. Ryan noticed he was going way under Hogwarts, and the concentration of energy almost blinded him, but he kept his mystic eyes open, forcing them to adapt to the intensity even through the burning sensation. This helped Hadiran's eye filter out the level of light and notice various things hidden due to the light, which included runic arrays... a LOT of runic arrays.

Ryan was astonished by the sheer number of wards and runes, and also by the fact he couldn't recognize almost all of them. He also admired the way it was interconnected together, almost like an amazing piece of art. No, it IS art. The best of its kind.

Ryan deactivated his eyes as the lift stopped and the gates opened. He stepped out into a dome-shaped room in which he felt as if he was an ant in a football stadium. The entire room was lit by a huge prismatic crystal situated in the middle, which filtered the chaotic energy of the lay line and powered the magical circuits through the pillar above it.

Ryan walked towards it, feeling no warnings from his instinct, and a pedestal appeared from the ground in front of the crystal, showing an indent for both palms. Ryan looked at the pedestal, then the crystal, and the room around him, wondering what would happen if he placed his hands on it. He activated his mystic eyes multiple times but found that he couldn't understand most of it anyway, so he trusted his gut and placed both his plans on the pedestal and connected to it through his magic.