A ruined Hogwarts

Although Lockhart's joining caused a lot of trouble for Hogwarts, as Peeves joined the battle, Lockhart was really teased several times and lost face. When he was painted black again by a pot of ink falling from the sky, he ran back to his office screaming without finding the culprit. Only his teeth were still dazzlingly white.

From then on, it was hard to see him in the school corridors. He fell in love with locking himself in the office, talking about his extraordinary achievements to the little witches who came for "psychological consultation", and taking the trouble to sign autographs and reply to his fans.

Without Lockhart's ubiquitous presence, many people began to miss the fun he brought.

On Wednesday of the second week of school, after the day's lessons, Harry and Draco hurriedly took their broomsticks and rushed to the Quidditch pitch nervously but expectantly. They were going to conduct Quidditch player selection there.

"I wish you all the best." Owen curled up in an armchair in the common room and waved his hands lazily. Melete in his arms waved her front paws in the same expression as him and yawned widely.

"It's impossible for both of them to get what they want, because they both want to be seekers. Just watch, I'll bet on Harry." Blaise spread his hands and prepared to take a look. He wasn't keen on becoming a Quidditch player, but loved joining in the fun.

"I think it will be Draco." Pansy flipped up her half-length hair and jumped out of the stone door of the lounge. Of course she was going to cheer for Draco too.

Watching the figures of several people disappear behind the stone wall, Owen and Daphne, who also didn't want to join in the fun, looked at each other and smiled, then squinted at the lively and cheerful firelight in the fireplace.

"Owen, what are you thinking about?" Daphne held her chin in one hand and looked out the window at the bottom of the lake where the water plants were swaying. Fish occasionally passed leisurely in the green lake water. She sat there quietly, her golden hair hanging down on her shoulders, like flowing gold.

"I'm not thinking about anything, I'm in a daze." Irving rarely freed his mind and said in an erratic tone.

"Really? It's good." Daphne turned around and blinked her beautiful blue eyes at him, with a bright smile on her face, "Some time ago...I don't know when it started, I always It feels like you are being chased by something, becoming urgent and busy, completely different from before. It’s better this way.”

"Do you think I've changed?" Owen turned to look at her, with a faint smile on his pale and delicate cheeks. The dark eyes seem to lead to a dark and magnificent abyss, seeming to suck the soul of a person into it.

"Yes, I always stay away from the crowd and become very distant, making it difficult for people to see clearly." Daphne couldn't help but look away, "What I want to say is, if you really encounter something, If so, we will not stand idly by.”

"I know." Owen turned his head and continued to stare at the jumping firelight, an ominous black mist flashed in his clear eyes, "But now I feel good."

He suddenly put his hands on the back of his head and leaned on the back of the chair, and said with a smile: "Speaking of which, you are not always busy? Did your father put too much pressure on you? Do you feel too tired? ?”

Daphne was stunned for a moment, then lowered her eyes and looked at her clasped hands: "I don't know..." There was a hint of undetectable vulnerability in her usually wise and calm eyes, as well as a hint of confusion.

As the eldest daughter and heir of the Greengrass family, she has a stern and powerful father, a gentle to a bit weak mother, and a younger sister who was born with a blood curse and was destined to die young. At a young age, she shouldered the expectations of her family early on, learning to be a reliable older sister in front of her younger sisters, learning how to deal with people, and learning to weigh the pros and cons like an adult.

"Ever since Astoria was diagnosed with a blood curse inherited from the family, my mother was very sad and unwilling to give us another brother or sister. My father was not very happy, but he loved his mother very much, so he just became more Teach me strictly..." Daphne said softly, her blue eyes showing a blue color under the green light.

"Astoria's body is very weak, but she is strong. Everyone is very gentle to her...and guilty." She looked at the lake outside the window again, "I often feel that I owe her, if I can, I really hope that the person with the blood curse is me. But sometimes, I even envy her because she can live the life she wants without any worries..."

"Oh, I'm getting a little sentimental when I say that." Daphne suddenly exhaled and blinked with a smile, "Actually, we have a very good relationship. She should be able to enter school next year. In order to set a good example for her, I Of course we can’t lag too far behind you.”

Seeing the little girl stubbornly raising her immature cheeks, trying hard to look mature and reliable, Owen held his cheek with his hand and suddenly laughed softly. He raised his hand and touched the soft hair on the top of Daphne's head, and said in a gentle tone: "You don't need to put too much pressure on yourself, Daphne, you can try to do what you like."

His empty right hand turned over, and a delicate blue paper flower quietly appeared in his palm, and he inserted it between Daphne's hair.

"You just think too much. Don't rush to shoulder so many responsibilities. There is still a long time to come. I believe that your parents must also want you to be happy, as long as they love you." Owen skillfully played the role of confidant The image of the big brother, "Or do you think they don't love you enough? Or that you are not as important as the family inheritance in their eyes?"

"Of course not!" Daphne blurted out. Then, she was startled for a moment, then looked at him and smiled, his beautiful eyes shining brightly, like the sparkling waves on the lake.

She turned her head away with her cheeks flushed, and carefully touched the paper flowers on her head with her right hand. Her eyes were fixed on the tentacles of the giant squid flashing past the window. After a long time, she said softly: "Thank you, Owen, No one has ever said that to me.”

"Maybe it's because you've never told anyone what's on your mind before." Owen smiled and pinched Melet's two front paws, playing with them like a lucky cat. "Actually, as long as you are willing, Open your heart and you will always find many people willing to listen and help you... just like you said to me, right?”

"Yeah." Daphne responded dully, suddenly looked at him again, winked slyly and said, "Speaking of which, you never told me about your troubles at all, and you almost brushed it off again. ."

"When will you open your heart to me?" She looked at Owen seriously.

"It will take a while." Owen said haha. Melete, who was tired of being fiddled with by him, jumped up and slapped his left cheek with a paw, leaving a pink plum blossom mark on it.

Daphne burst out laughing. She stretched out her hand to tease the little kitten Tanuki, who raised her head high, but was pressed down by a paw. The sharp claw tips popped out of the soft flesh pads and pressed against the back of her hand as a threat.

Even though Melete is only the size of an ordinary house cat, she is a magical creature after all. Even if her claws don't scratch people to pieces, they can still knock them over.

"Ha, okay, I'm going out to practice my spells." Owen picked up Melet and strode out of the lounge. Daphne stared blankly at his retreating figure, her lips slightly pursed.

Owen passed through the stone wall of the lounge, left the cold and damp underground city along the deep and dark corridor, and then walked through several secret passages in a familiar way before arriving at the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor.

He skillfully entered the Ravenclaw's secret room, first said hello to Metis, then picked up the books on the bookshelf as usual, and quickly copied them into the space facing the wall.

The books in this secret room are protected by magic spells and cannot be taken out or destroyed. Every time Owen leaves, the books are restored to their original positions, and all traces of his arrival are erased.

This magic is cleverly connected to the mysterious magic of the Room of Requirement itself. Unless the Room of Requirement is destroyed, this secret room will continue to exist like this forever, forever waiting for the visit of its successors.

The speed of using the wall space to copy these magical books is not fast. Owen is thinking about other issues while using the magic spell skillfully.

This year's connection point collection port has not yet been launched in the wall space. In other words, this year's trouble has not yet appeared. I don’t know what will happen this year, and I don’t know who will be unlucky. Anyway, after experiencing the huge pit of the truth fax machine, Irving has no fear, and even has some expectations.

Well, as long as it's not him who's having fun this year.

The other thing is the issue of magic power. Last year, Owen learned the mental strength training method left by Ravenclaw. After constant tempering, his mental strength grew slowly but surely. But during the Christmas holidays, after his mental strength suddenly increased strangely due to the feedback from the dark magic, he found that the effect of this exercise method had weakened a lot.

Until now, the effectiveness of the mental training method has reached its limit and has completely lost its effect. Owen's magic level is probably at the same level as that of many elite Aurors, and is still far behind the deans of Hogwarts.

It is difficult to define the strength of magic power with specific standards, and Owen can only make a hasty comparison like this. But there is no doubt that whether it is Dumbledore or Voldemort, their magic level must be at a higher level, and they may even have experienced some kind of qualitative change. But Owen could only guess. After all, there were too few relevant descriptions in the books, so he had to figure it out on his own.

"Magic..." Owen sighed with a headache. The future plot has completely entered the unknown, and he must make himself stronger faster to cope with the inevitable chaos in the future. Without a certain level of strength, it would be unsafe to join any party, let alone stand on its own.

To become stronger, he can learn stronger spells and study the advancement of spells. But in the final analysis, magic is the basis of everything. It not only determines whether the wizard can release certain profound spells, but also increases the intensity of the spells.

"But how to improve the magic level? It is difficult to improve willpower, so we can only continue to work on mental strength. Research new mental strength training methods in the wall-facing space? Or black magic transformation?" Owen thought expressionlessly.

He does not object to black magic transformation on himself, nor is he afraid that it will make him completely different, because a wizard with enough knowledge always has countless ways to avoid such side effects. As for why Voldemort became like that, we can only say that he was benevolent, and he must have been very happy to destroy his appearance, which was very similar to his Muggle father.

After silently copying part of the book, Owen suddenly asked: "Métis, have there been any other heirs here recently?"

Metis said in a humming tone: "I will not reveal anything about the successor."

"Okay." Owen curled his lips and left.

He wandered outside the wall of the Room of Requirement three times, thinking silently in his mind: "I want a room to hide things..."

A door appeared in the wall, and Owen pushed it open, crossed the threshold, and entered a huge room like a church. The items hidden here by generations of people have been piled up into high walls, making this place look like a city lined with high walls.

There are rickety piles of broken furniture, thousands of books, mountains of contraband and solidified potions, as well as hats, cloaks, brooms, rusty swords and blood-stained axes. .

Owen walked slowly among the high walls where items were piled up, and from time to time he picked up a worn book and looked through it. Most of the books here were extracurricular readings, but there were also some interesting books that he copied into the space facing the wall.

When he turned into an alley among the treasure piles, a dark figure suddenly appeared on the opposite side. Owen instinctively drew out his wand in an instant, his eyes filled with thick black mist. The person opposite him suddenly stepped back and hit the tall pile of books behind him. A large pile of books slid down from the top of the rickety pile, burying the figure inside.

"Ouch!" The figure yelled muffledly, and finally got his head out. Only then did Owen see what he looked like. He was one of the Weasley twins.

"Are you Fred or George?" Owen asked with a natural smile on his face as he waved the wand in his hand to make the book on top of him float.

"Frey... okay, I'm George." George quickly got up from under the pile of books and rubbed his painful shoulder, "Thanks."

"Why are you alone?" Owen played with the wand in his hand and said in a casual tone with a smile.

"Ha, Fred has an upset stomach. You know, everyone has some old problems." George said calmly.

"So... you are really having a conflict?" Owen raised his eyebrows, "I heard from Ginny that it seems that you are finally going to settle the scores between brothers?"

"Ginny...oh, Merlin's pants!" George frowned with a headache when he mentioned Ginny, "I don't know how much she told you, but listen, don't look for that so-called Ravenclaw. The crown is gone! There’s something wrong with it!”

"What do you mean?" Owen asked with a confused look on his face, as if he didn't understand why the topic jumped to the crown.

"I don't know, everything is messed up anyway!" George paced irritably, "Since we got and sold the crown... Fred has changed, his attitude has become different from before. Although the change is subtle, we have been inseparable since childhood, and I can feel the change in him. I don’t know if he has secretly worn the crown.”

"Ron has also changed, as if he's a different person...Okay, I admit, Fred and I put that damn crown on his head that night!" George rubbed his face, "Percy She also changed, after he bought the diadem with his girlfriend who he may not have pursued yet. Ginny, I don't know if she also changed, but she was sorted into Slytherin..."

"I'm sure it's not a Ravenclaw diadem! It's more likely to be a terrifying dark magic item. I managed to get rid of Fred today just because I thought of this - where we found it, look. See if there are any clues about it here." George suddenly paused and turned to stare at Owen.

He asked excitedly, "You knew it was here! How did you get the news?"

"Uh... you know, that truth fax machine." Owen made a casual excuse.

George sighed in disappointment: "Okay. Whatever you do, if you find that crown, don't wear it!"

Owen nodded thoughtfully and asked, "Why don't you go get help?"

"Who would believe such a thing?" George rolled his eyes, "Without any basis, just relying on my intuition? Even my parents thought everything was just a minor annoyance of adolescence... Damn adolescence."

After finishing speaking, he lost interest in chatting, waved his hand and strode towards the exit of the Room of Requirement.

Owen stared at his back, his eyes twinkling. He raised the wand in his hand slightly, then lowered it.

He walked in the direction where George came from. After wandering around, he returned to the exit door without finding any clues. Just as he was about to reach out and open the door, the door in front of him opened by itself, and a familiar person hurriedly walked in. It seemed that George had left and returned.

"Oh!" The person who walked in exclaimed in fright, then raised his hand to cover his chest.

Owen looked at him and suddenly smiled and said hello: "Good afternoon. Are you Fred or George?"

"George...well, I'm Fred." The guy in front of him closed the door behind him and spread his hands.

"Don't tell me that you came in to resell items again? Or, have you found the crown?" Owen said with a normal expression, "I have prepared gold Galleons..."

"Listen, if you find that crown, stay away from it! It's not a good thing." Fred's playful expression turned serious instantly, "Because of it, everything around me went wrong, everything People have changed... George too, even though everything looks the same as usual, I can tell! He must have secretly worn that crown, and I knew it, just like Ron."

"I finally got rid of George and planned to come here to find clues about the crown." He suddenly looked at Owen and said, "By the way, how did you know it was here?"

"Truth fax machine." Owen smiled.

Fred shrugged ruefully and ducked between the high walls of piled items.

Owen squeezed the wand in his hand, and it took a long time not to cast the Imperius Curse on him. He didn't know which of the two was lying, which one had a problem, or both had a problem, or neither of them had a problem? Judging from their words, there must be something wrong with Ron who has worn the crown, but who knows whether this is true or not?

"Haha, things are getting interesting." He chuckled, took a deep look into the depths of the Room of Requirement, and then left.