"Um—-"
After a few moans of agony interspersed with sighs, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dobby (who was lying beside them) all gradually regained consciousness. The sudden change in space caused them all great pain in their bodies and minds, leaving the three young wizards and the two house-trained magical creatures dazed and confused. However, the room they found themselves in forced them to awaken their senses as quickly as possible.
"Where are we."
Harry opened his mouth, staring at everything before him in shock, and murmured in a voiceless whisper.
"Where?"
They were currently in a room as large as a classroom, with draperies, wallpaper, floors, and curtains that were yellow and black. It looked like an office combined with a living room.
"Don't know..."
Ron was shocked to blink his eyes. Facing the direction of the window, soft sunlight was shining through the window onto the floor of the room. This made the three young wizards, who had been frozen in the cold corridor for half a day, feel warmth and comfort.
"--Look at the weather outside, Harry, Oh my God, I can't imagine how long we've been out!”
Ron exclaimed in surprise.
"Maybe it was discovered by a professor after we fainted, who brought us out of there and temporarily placed us in his office."
Hermione hesitated, but even she did not trust her own deductions.
If it were really as she said, then the professor who saved them should have taken them to Professor Pomfrey instead, not brought them back to his own office, especially... Hermione glanced at the floor where they had all gotten up from. It was obviously unreasonable — even Professor Snape wouldn't have left them lying on the floor after saving them.
However, Harry clearly didn't realize that Hermione's deduction was flawed. He scanned the room around him, and everything within his line of sight was completely ordinary, but it gave him an odd sensation.
"Perhaps it was Professor Sprout..."
Harry spun around in place, continuing to survey his surroundings.
"We broke into the kitchen near Hufflepuff Common Room. Maybe Professor Sprout found us and brought us to her office, Hermione, have you been to her office?"
Judging from the direction of the sun outside the window, they must have fainted for at least twelve hours. Such a major event would certainly be known to Professor Dumbledore, Professor Brumbell, and Professor McGonagall. There's no reason why the professors would leave them in Professor Sprout's office. This conjecture is fundamentally unfounded.
"No--"
Hermione's voice betrayed her nervousness as she noticed another new phenomenon: the office was quiet beyond all imagination, as if the castle and outside grounds' noise didn't seep in at all.
"Not, Harry Potter..."
Dobby's eyes and voice were both filled with confusion as it looked around,
"Dobby used to clean Professor Sprout's office, Mr., this is not Professor Sprout's office that Dobby has seen. This room is not any professor's office in the castle..."
Dobby's words left Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looking astonished. The office before them looked very clean and tidy, obviously in use. As a house-elf serving the castle, Dobby had never seen this room before. So, who was using it?
A chill ran through the hearts of the three of them.
"We'd better leave this place, whoever it belongs to."
Ron said in a disarrayed voice.
Ron said in a panic, "If nothing unexpected happens, we've missed at least two classes. Oh, if we're lucky, Professor McGonagall might be willing to let us out of the dungeon before Christmas."
Ron's words made Harry and Hermione both aware of the serious consequences of their reckless actions. The three of them rushed to the door, Harry was the first to grab the handle, he seized the slightly cold copper handle, and twisted it with all his might, and then his heart sank at once.
"It's locked!" Harry looked at Hermione, his emerald eyes filled with a trace of fear, "The door is locked!"
"Move aside!"
Hermione pulled Harry away from the door, took out her wand, and pointed it at the handle, decisively saying.
"Expelliarmus!"
Zap——The spell hit the copper handle, creating a thin electrical discharge. However, when Hermione tried to turn the door handle, she realized that her spell had no effect.
"This door probably has a powerful anti-intrusion spell—"
Hermione bit her pale lips, her voice laced with frustration and regret. Their current situation was mainly caused by her, and if they were to be confined to the dormitory by Professor McGonagall, it was all on her shoulders.
"Don't worry, Miss Granger, Dobby can help!"
Dobby seemed pleased to be able to contribute, and said happily, while Wintermote at this moment pushed Dobby aside, also with a flattering gaze towards Hermione.
"Wintermote can also help Miss Granger to leave here!"
"Oh, I almost forgot!"
Hermione quickly realized, "House-elves are immune to the spells that are banned in the castle!"
"Why wait any longer!" Ron called out, "Take us away quickly! We might still be able to catch Professor Flitwick's Charms class. This at least gives us a week off from detention!"
Then, under the reminder of Dobby and Wintermote, Harry, Ron, and Hermione three people crouched down together, intertwining their hands. Hermione grabbed Wintermote's arm, while Harry held onto Dobby's hand. Both small elves cast spells at the same time, and their figures disappeared instantly. But--
Thud, thud, thud!
Sequence of heavy thud sounds, after the three people collided with the wall several times, stumbled back a few steps, each one holding their head in agony.
"Damn!" Ron rubbed his reddening forehead angrily, exclaimed, "What the hell is going on?"
Harry was comforting the apologetic Dobby for the failure of his spell, while Hermione quickly grabbed Wintermote, who was about to hit the column as punishment. When she looked up, she found herself in front of the room owner's bookshelf. Almost instinctively, she began to study the books on the shelf. After a glance, Hermione's brow furrowed immediately.
Out of politeness and caution, Hermione did not move the books on the bookshelf. Instead, she recognized what they were by the gold lettering on their spines. She had thought all the books on the shelf would be related to magic, but that was not the case.
"What's wrong, Hermione?"
Harry, from Hermione's profile and the long silence, sensed her confusion. So, he quickly walked over and focused his attention on the bookshelf as well.
"It's... " Harry gaped, completely confused by the words on the spines of the books, "recipes?"
"Not all of them are-- " Hermione nodded seriously and pointed to a book on the middle shelf near the edge, "Here is one called 'A Brief History of Hogwarts'."
Ron came up behind them and saw the book that Hermione pointed to, then he understood the reason for her unusual tone.
Because of Hermione's, Harry and Ron have some impression of the book "A Brief History of Hogwarts", which is the thickest book they have ever seen in their daily life. However, the book on this shelf was very thin, completely different from what they remembered.
"Let me see--"
Ron was a bit fed up with all the strange things in this office. Before Hermione could stop him, he reached out his hand to touch the school history on the shelf. Then, as soon as his fingertips touched the spine of the book, Ron's body trembled violently and he retracted his hand like he had been electrocuted.
In the confused gazes of Harry and Hermione, Ron blankly said,
"It's not right; I can't touch this book."
Seeing that Harry and Hermione couldn't understand him, Ron simply pointed to the bookshelf and said,
"You can try it yourself!"
"That's impolite, Ron—" Hermione hesitated at the suggestion, "We shouldn't... oh!"
Ron didn't pay attention to Hermione's complaints. He directly grabbed Hermione's wrist to touch the book on the shelf. And Harry also completed the attempt at this time. Then, the three little wizards looked at each other in silence.
The "A Brief History of Hogwarts" and other books on the bookshelf, which seemed to be placed there, but when they went to touch them, their fingertips felt like touching a series of posters taped to the wall. They couldn't take the books off the shelf at all!
The three people turned their heads again to observe the ordinary room, and everyone's heart felt a chill. At this time, Dobby, who was also wandering around the room and had come to the desk in front of the window, leaped onto the table. It looked at the piece of paper spread out like a newspaper at the corner of the desk, its huge eyes revealing confusion.
"Society for the Study of Muggle Artifacts and Artefacts, Mr."
Dobby looked up, towards Harry.
"Do you know what this is?"
(The end of this chapter)
