Chapter 650: Unveiling the Unknown Once More
Chapter 650: Unveiling the Unknown Once More
"So there really is a secret chamber."
Hermione examined the hidden room and turned to Albert, "Can you understand the words on the wall?"
Albert tried his best to ignore the latest panel task and studied the words on the wall, replying with uncertainty, "It's likely Ancient English."
"Ancient English?"
Everyone looked at Albert with confusion, then back at the unfamiliar words on the wall, utterly clueless.
"Does it make a difference?" Harry asked.
"Ancient English is practically a lost language. Very few people can understand it nowadays," Albert explained as he reached out to touch the carvings on the wall, "Perhaps there are a handful of Muggle scholars who can decipher a small portion of it."
"Is Ancient English different from modern English?" Ron was thoroughly perplexed. In his opinion, wasn't it all just English?
"It's basically a different thing. Otherwise, how could it have been lost instead of evolving into the English we use today?" In truth, Albert could understand some of the words on the wall. They weren't Ancient English but Latin, though it was a variant he wasn't entirely familiar with.
"Well, I thought there would be something good hidden in Slytherin's secret chamber, but it's just a bunch of incomprehensible junk," Fred walked over to the pile of weathered scrolls and flipped through them, expressing his disappointment.
"It's been over a thousand years," George picked up a scroll, only to have it crumble in his hand. He shrugged helplessly and stood up, noticing Albert examining their surroundings.
"What are you looking for? Is there another secret chamber here?"
"Perhaps, maybe... yes!"
Albert walked to a particular section of the wall and stared at the serpentine symbol for a long time. Suddenly, he turned to the others and said, "It should be here."
"A chamber within a chamber within a chamber?"
Everyone gathered around as Harry used Parseltongue to open the entrance, revealing a set of ascending stone steps.
"Follow me!"
The staircase was narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time. Albert led the way, taking the steps with purpose.
After climbing for a few minutes, Albert spotted a faint blue glow on the stairs ahead. He quickened his pace and reached the top, his eyes falling on a silver-trimmed torch mounted on the wall, its flame burning with an ethereal blue light.
"A torch?" Everyone found this surprising.
"What is this?"
"Eternal Flame: Ancient Flamel's Fire," Albert picked up the torch, "It's probably a magical artifact crafted by Slytherin, dating back thousands of years."
"Is it valuable?" Ron couldn't help but ask.
"It's valuable, but you need to know the right people to make the most of it. Otherwise, you'll just end up getting swindled," Albert glanced at Ron, feeling that his line of questioning was a bit off. He somehow seemed like a penniless pauper.
Well, he was quite poor.
No wonder he kept asking about the value of things.
"Harry, come here!"
After Harry opened the entrance, they discovered that the staircase led to a room.
"This is..." Everyone immediately guessed where they were.
Slytherin's room?
No, it should be said that it was Snape's room.
Albert had been here before. On a dark and stormy night, he had sneaked in and knocked out Snape, taking some potion ingredients with him.
"Let's turn back," Albert urged in a low voice, "Don't touch anything here. This is Snape's bedroom."
"Snape's bedroom?"
The group became even more curious and started scrutinizing the room's furnishings. They had never been to Snape's room before and wanted to see what the loathsome man's quarters looked like.
"Don't be foolish. Do you want Snape to know that someone has intruded into his room?" Albert glared at the curious bunch and began to walk back while reminding them, "There aren't many students staying at school during the Easter holidays. If Snape wants to investigate, he'll be able to track you down quickly. He's an expert at Legilimency, and you won't be able to lie to him."
The group jumped in fright and quickly followed Albert back to the chamber, taking care to erase any traces of their presence.
"Does Snape know about the secret passage?"
"He's not a Parselmouth, so he definitely doesn't know. Even if he does, he won't be able to open it," Albert replied.
After closing the hidden door, they retraced their steps back to the original chamber.
Albert took out his camera, intending to take some pictures and try to translate the literature on the walls.
"Can Snape tell when someone's lying?" Harry suddenly asked.
"Yes, he can. Snape is an expert at Legilimency, so he can easily tell if someone is being deceitful," Albert explained as he paused from taking photos to address Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "However, you can avoid being seen through easily by simply not looking directly into Snape's eyes."
Harry's face fell as he realized that some of his past actions had been rather foolish. His defiant stare had only made it easier for Snape to see through him.
"Is there a way..." Harry began, but Albert cut him off.
"Yes, if you learn Occlumency, people won't be able to read you so easily," Albert said.
"Can you teach us?" Hermione asked eagerly, her eyes shining with anticipation.
"If Legilimency and Occlumency were that easy to learn, we would have mastered them already. Fred and George wouldn't need to bother memorizing key passages from textbooks," George scoffed.
"Shut up," Fred and George glared at Lee Jordan in unison. "As if your grades are anything to boast about."
"Are there any other ways?" Harry persisted.
"If you don't want Snape to see through your lies, then simply tell the truth," Albert continued taking photos as he spoke. "Since it's the truth, Snape won't think you're lying."
The group fell silent, feeling somewhat defeated by this revelation.
"Can Dumbledore do Legilimency as well?" Harry asked, curious about the extent of the Headmaster's abilities.
"Yes, he can, and he's very skilled at it," Albert confirmed. "Though, I must say, Professor Dumbledore is not the most powerful Legilimens out there."
"Who is, then? Snape?" Harry asked, his curiosity growing.
"No, it's someone you know," Albert replied as he began inspecting the photos he had taken, organizing them sequentially before putting his camera away. "Well, I think we've seen all there is to see here. Let's head back."
Had his speculation been wrong? Albert had initially thought that Voldemort had learned his dark magic from this very chamber, but it seemed the reality was different from what he had imagined.
"Are we just going to leave this here?" Ron asked, gesturing at the Goblet of Fire in his hand.
"If you want to take it back to decorate your dormitory, go right ahead. Just don't say you found it in the chamber," Albert said nonchalantly.
"No way, with that thing around, I won't be able to sleep at night," Harry interjected, not wanting Ron to bring the eerie artifact back to their shared room.
The group took a few more photos with the basilisk, marking the end of their thrilling journey into the chamber. They then made their way out through the pipes with a bit of magic.
As soon as they returned to the common room, Albert changed out of his dirty clothes. Taking advantage of the downtime as the others chatted, he checked the task panel for any updates.
'Slytherin's Chamber' The panel indicated that the task was complete, but the reward was unknown. Yet another task with an unknown reward.
Albert suspected that the real reward was probably the literature and carvings in the chamber, but most of them had deteriorated beyond recognition.
Almost forgetting about them, he also realized that the basilisk's corpse and shed skin could be part of the task reward. He made a mental note to ask the house-elves to come and package them up when they had the chance.
And of course, there was also the Goblet of Fire.
Speaking of which, all that remained was to find Hufflepuff's chamber to complete the set of the Four Founders' chambers.
Who knew, there might even be a reward-filled task waiting to be triggered once they had discovered them all.
(End of Chapter)
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