Chapter 389 Labyrinth
·
Yun Yin Shen
Chapter 389 Labyrinth
"This is where?"
McGuffin shook his head, recovering from his dizziness.
After half a day, he realized that he and Hermione had sneaked into the [Secret Library] of Ravencallaw in the middle of the night.
(The rest of the people complained all the way when they saw the Marauder's Map that McGuffin took out, especially Ron, who finally knew the secret purchase channel of the twins and such a 'successful' secret.)
"McGuffin, Hermione! Give me a hand!"
Ron's terrified voice came from above.
McGuffin looked up, startled.
He saw Ron hanging upside down in a black and white staircase corridor, with one leg stuck in it, and half of his body stuck there awkwardly, unable to move.
The guy was 'looking down' at the MacGuffin with his head raised.
The black and white stairs are like piano keys, one black and one white are arranged at intervals, which is completely reversed compared with ordinary stairs. I don’t know where they come from and where they go.
McGuffin looked down at his feet. He was standing on the same black and white steps.
And as soon as it went up and down the ladder where Ron was, the two crossed obliquely.
"McGuffin?"
Hermione's voice came from the side, also full of shock.
Turning his head, McGuffin saw Hermione's head and body only a few feet away from him.
She is also standing in a black and white staircase.
It's just that the ladder Hermione was on crossed in front of the McGuffin. She just stood horizontally (from the perspective of the MacGuffin) on the steps, raised her head and looked at the McGuffin face to face in an awkward posture.
McGuffin turned his head and looked around, and found that several people had entered an extremely magical space.
There are many buildings that cannot exist in reality.
More magical than the Ministry of Magic, Hogsmeade, or even the Room of Requirement.
The entire space here is composed of all kinds of black and white staircases criss-crossing and endless, no matter whether it is up or down, left or right, or in all directions, no edge can be seen.
Some are just endless black and white stairs of different sizes like pianos.
Some steps are as big as the stones piled up in the pyramid, some are as thin as an ordinary plank, and some go straight into the 'sky', turning 360 degrees like a roller coaster, forming a strange arc, ups and downs.
These stairs cross and twist each other, twisting and turning,
Totally a maze.
There is a square platform at the end of each section of the stairs, and there is a vertical podium in the center of the platform, on which is placed...
Some old leather books,...some bronzes, parchment scrolls, bamboo slips, old yellowed paper books, stone murals,...some even have strange animal bones, or human bones,...vessels, porcelain, gold, silver...all kinds of methods of recording words are available here.
The most incredible thing is that from the performance of Hermione, Ron and the stairs where the three of them are,
——Each of these stairs is an independent space plane.
By the way, Harry!
The guy came with Ron too.
What about him?
"Where's Harry?"
"Which one of you saw?" McGuffin asked quickly.
Hermione and Ron turned their heads and looked around, dazed and panicked.
Then the three of them shouted Harry's name in this empty and endless space.
—Harry!
—Harry Potter!
There were echoes, but no response.
Oops,
Several people immediately realized the dire situation.
McGuffin quickly took out the [Marauder's Map] from his pocket,
——Sure enough, there was no response.
Now, let's save Ron first.
Looking at Ron struggling in vain above his head.
That was the only way to try, McGuffin thought.
He waved his wand, and tried to jump up.
Sure enough, as he expected, although McGuffin suspended himself, as soon as he entered the range of Ron's staircase, the gravity of the space immediately reversed.
His magic broke in a flash, and he fell hard next to Ron.
"What's going on?" Ron asked in surprise.
"Every corridor here is a different space, with different gravity effects...be careful, if you get lost...or fall, you probably won't be able to come back," McGuffin said.
It took a long time for McGuffin to pull Ron out of the trap step.
And at this moment Hermione also found a way to get in front of them.
"Where are we going to find Harry?" Hermione said anxiously.
They looked at this boundless space that almost seemed larger than the entire Hogwarts Castle, and they didn't know what to do.
"It's so impossible! No one or anything can bear the existence of such a large [Untrace Stretch Curse]..."
After swallowing, McGuffin said firmly to the two of them.
"Of course this is definitely not in Hogwarts Castle, maybe... this thing is not as big as we thought!"
"Let's take a walk first! Since the Dark Lord, Quirrell, and Professor Dumbledore were able to come out without incident, this proves that this place is not too dangerous... By the way, didn't they say that this is a [Secret Library]? Maybe Harry will be fine."
"That's right, that's it." Ron nodded in panic, agreeing with McGuffin.
Hermione had no other better way, but could only follow them and slowly crawl along the stairs.
Soon, they came to the first square white platform.
The top is about two square meters, and there is a black vertical podium in the middle. The material is exactly the same as the stone steps under their feet. It is impossible to tell what kind of stone it is made of.
In the center of the podium is a crystal tablet in the shape of a regular triangle, each side measuring a little over twenty inches.
Suspended in the air and slowly turning.
Before McGuffin could stop it, Ron touched it cheaply.
——hum!hum!
The pyramid-like inscription trembled and began to ring.
The four planes that were originally transparent and empty began to appear lines and pictures.
And continue to extend.
This is--
McGuffin looked at the transparent triangular crystal, some black and white steps of different sizes began to appear, extending continuously until they spread to the entire object.
"Looks like a map from here."
said Hermione suspiciously.
Before the voice landed, there was a trembling sound like a brass pipe ringing from inside the 'pyramid'.
"Verify your identity—take out your wand, please!"
"Get out your wand, please!"
The three MacGuffins drew out their wands and pointed at this thing, wary.
But nothing happened.
Instead, the triangle turned out a blue light, shining on their wands——
"Thestral tail feather wand, twelve inches, yew wood - user Gryffindor third year, MacGuffin Albert!"
"...willow, unicorn hair - user Gryffindor third year, Ron Weasley!"
"Fujiki, the dragon's heart tendons...——User Gryffindor third-year, Hermione Granger!"
"Verification complete!"
After a pause of two or three seconds, the thing made a sound again,
"Please answer—how many times have Goblin Rebellions happened in England!"
After saying the question, the triangular body suspended in the air and did not move, but trembled and emitted blue light, as if waiting for them to answer the question.
"From the 17th century to the 18th century, goblin rebellions, large and small, continued to occur throughout the European magic world. The most recent one was in England in the [-]th century. After the war between the Ministry of Magic and the largest goblin tribe at that time was fruitless, and almost went bankrupt——under mutual compromise, Gringotts, a wizard magic bank composed of goblins and various powerful wizard families, became a world-wide magic bank for the first time..."
Hermione analyzed, "But, there are too many... How can we know how many wars between wizards and goblins have happened in England in history? Even Professor Binns probably doesn't know about it..."
"Why don't you try the two most famous and bloodiest rebellions," McGuffin suggested.
"It shouldn't be so imprecise. After all, this is the [Secret Library] founded by Ravenclaw!" Hermione questioned.
Ron's eyes were wide-eyed, his head was muddled, and the knowledge in this guy's head was returned to Professor Binns before the exam.
After discussing for a long time, I still can't figure it out.
They also knew that this was not going to work, so they had no choice but to stand up and answer McGuffin's proposal just now.
But unexpectedly it was correct.
As the 'pyramid' began to float slowly in front of McGuffin and the others, not only did the map here appear on it, but a miniature human figure could also be seen staying in front of a stone platform.
"Harry! It's Harry!" Ron yelled.
"We're here—" Hermione clicked on the middle of the 'Pyramid'.
"—and Harry?"
The three-dimensional 'map' shows that Harry is at the top of the pyramid.
The three of them carefully leaned sideways and poked their heads out of the corridor, looking up—
——Black and white, with different sizes of corridor steps, densely arranged, making people dizzy and dizzy, and the top cannot be seen at a glance.
The bottom is similarly bottomless.
"We'll never find Harry!" Ron lamented dejectedly.
At this time, the 'pyramid' floating in front of them started broadcasting distance measurement automatically like a navigation.
"Find the passage to Harry Potter!"
"--Please wait!"
"Please wait……"
"Please go to Staircase No. 30292..."
"What?" Ron asked subconsciously.
"Please go down two flights of stairs—"
Several people looked at each other.
"Try it, there's nothing we can do anyway, we'd better come here again before Professor Dumbledore, and get out of here—"
After seeing this magical space, Hermione calmed down instead, not wanting to delay any longer, the fear of violating school rules once again occupied the top of her heart.
They passed the stairway Ron was stuck on again, and then descended another flight of stairs.
Come to the location that the 'magic navigation' said.
Here is a black square platform that is much larger than before.
It is about the size of a basketball court, with black and white stairs of various sizes coming from all directions on the four sides, and dozens of stone paths connecting from top to bottom, left and right on each side.
And near the middle of the platform, there are many vertical podiums scattered here and there,
It is made of white material,
——There are some sheepskin scrolls on it.
The content recorded on the scroll is engraved under the vertical podium,
Either it is a lost historical myth, or it is an ancient magic spell, or it is a guessed structure for an unknown magic...or maybe it is a formula for some kind of potion...
All kinds of things make McGuffin and Hermione ready to move.
Ron, who was still not interested in this, stayed awake, and he said loudly to the 'Navigation', "What are you doing next, which way to choose—?"
Only then did the two people who were in a daze wake up.
"Uh!"
Before McGuffin finished speaking, the navigation in front of them continued to work.
"Please turn left, follow the third staircase, and pass three staircases—"
Fuck!
No matter which country, when was the navigation made so nasty?
McGuffin cursed in his heart, but he could only keep up with Hermione and the others, and keep moving forward as the navigator said.
After that, they stopped on a black and white grid-like platform, rectangular and not big, only the size of three ordinary tables juxtaposed together.
But this stone platform hovers in the air,
——At the end, there is no way.
"Please go straight on the road ahead—"
The sound came from the 'pyramid' floating nearby.
Gan!
Impressed!
It's really the same.
McGuffin tried to shoot a stream of water with his wand,
——There is no invisible ladder, you will fall down if you walk over it.
Too pit!
After the three of them tried for a long time, Ron directly hit the 'pyramid' with his wand angrily.
"What kind of idiot is this? We still..."
"Look--"
Hermione suddenly noticed something, and she pointed to the feet of several people.
The black and white stones are intertwined to form a layered triangular pattern, and there is a black triangle in the middle, which happens to be the same size as the regular triangle.
Several people hurriedly put it on.
In the entire space, all the black and white stairs began to vibrate violently.
A black and white stone staircase was regenerated in front of them, crossing and extending towards each corridor at an angle.
"Please keep going, go straight, until the end—"
The pyramid continued to speak.
McGuffin looked at the two of them, and had no choice but to try to step on it as the thing said.
It didn't collapse.
In this way, they have been following the guidance of the pyramid's 'navigation', going straight and turning for a long time, and finally came across a large black and white wall that looked like a border, then turned it over, and then moved forward obliquely upwards in the direction of another pyramid.
The route is [zigzag].
Anyway, they were approaching the top of the pyramid-shaped maze, where Harry was.
During the journey, McGuffin discovered that if it is called a [Secret Library], it is more like a magical spectacle of a [Magic Labyrinth].
Even in terms of the wizarding world, it is quite unrealistic.
It needs too much magic and magical support.
This place is like a game world,
But it is certain that this maze was created by the Big Four Ravenclaw,
It's full of Ravenclaw house-style puzzles.
Even the trap is kind of mischievous.
Every moment is a test of your knowledge, intelligence, and... endurance.
Fortunately, Hermione was by their side, so they wouldn't be stumped by those weird, out-of-the-ordinary questions and answers.
At the beginning, Ron stepped into the air, and being stuck there was a kind of warning sound for a warning.
Some stairs are like a piano, and different music sounds with each step you take.
They have to pick up their wands, point the steps in the air, and let them make sounds with different pleasant melodies to pass.
Otherwise, the stone ladder will swing wildly like a rubber band until it falls down.
At that time, they were stuck on that level for a long time. When Hermione was bored, she went to solve the puzzles on the vertical podium and got the hints and answers to know what was going on.
As for the never-ending flowing waterfall, the riddle of the three-faced portrait, the singing of the golden skull, the digital logic puzzle of tortoise shell divination...the stairs that are overturned, the rock climbing at a right angle of 90 degrees, not to mention the fact that they have to avoid a question that the three of them can't answer, they even went around to a staircase similar to the shape of a Ferris wheel.
The space and gravity here are completely different at every step. The only thing that is the same is the black and white steps under your feet, and you can see strange puzzles and various ancient lost knowledge every time you walk a certain distance.
After a long time, they finally came to the top of the pyramid and saw Harry.
(End of this chapter)
"This is where?"
McGuffin shook his head, recovering from his dizziness.
After half a day, he realized that he and Hermione had sneaked into the [Secret Library] of Ravencallaw in the middle of the night.
(The rest of the people complained all the way when they saw the Marauder's Map that McGuffin took out, especially Ron, who finally knew the secret purchase channel of the twins and such a 'successful' secret.)
"McGuffin, Hermione! Give me a hand!"
Ron's terrified voice came from above.
McGuffin looked up, startled.
He saw Ron hanging upside down in a black and white staircase corridor, with one leg stuck in it, and half of his body stuck there awkwardly, unable to move.
The guy was 'looking down' at the MacGuffin with his head raised.
The black and white stairs are like piano keys, one black and one white are arranged at intervals, which is completely reversed compared with ordinary stairs. I don’t know where they come from and where they go.
McGuffin looked down at his feet. He was standing on the same black and white steps.
And as soon as it went up and down the ladder where Ron was, the two crossed obliquely.
"McGuffin?"
Hermione's voice came from the side, also full of shock.
Turning his head, McGuffin saw Hermione's head and body only a few feet away from him.
She is also standing in a black and white staircase.
It's just that the ladder Hermione was on crossed in front of the McGuffin. She just stood horizontally (from the perspective of the MacGuffin) on the steps, raised her head and looked at the McGuffin face to face in an awkward posture.
McGuffin turned his head and looked around, and found that several people had entered an extremely magical space.
There are many buildings that cannot exist in reality.
More magical than the Ministry of Magic, Hogsmeade, or even the Room of Requirement.
The entire space here is composed of all kinds of black and white staircases criss-crossing and endless, no matter whether it is up or down, left or right, or in all directions, no edge can be seen.
Some are just endless black and white stairs of different sizes like pianos.
Some steps are as big as the stones piled up in the pyramid, some are as thin as an ordinary plank, and some go straight into the 'sky', turning 360 degrees like a roller coaster, forming a strange arc, ups and downs.
These stairs cross and twist each other, twisting and turning,
Totally a maze.
There is a square platform at the end of each section of the stairs, and there is a vertical podium in the center of the platform, on which is placed...
Some old leather books,...some bronzes, parchment scrolls, bamboo slips, old yellowed paper books, stone murals,...some even have strange animal bones, or human bones,...vessels, porcelain, gold, silver...all kinds of methods of recording words are available here.
The most incredible thing is that from the performance of Hermione, Ron and the stairs where the three of them are,
——Each of these stairs is an independent space plane.
By the way, Harry!
The guy came with Ron too.
What about him?
"Where's Harry?"
"Which one of you saw?" McGuffin asked quickly.
Hermione and Ron turned their heads and looked around, dazed and panicked.
Then the three of them shouted Harry's name in this empty and endless space.
—Harry!
—Harry Potter!
There were echoes, but no response.
Oops,
Several people immediately realized the dire situation.
McGuffin quickly took out the [Marauder's Map] from his pocket,
——Sure enough, there was no response.
Now, let's save Ron first.
Looking at Ron struggling in vain above his head.
That was the only way to try, McGuffin thought.
He waved his wand, and tried to jump up.
Sure enough, as he expected, although McGuffin suspended himself, as soon as he entered the range of Ron's staircase, the gravity of the space immediately reversed.
His magic broke in a flash, and he fell hard next to Ron.
"What's going on?" Ron asked in surprise.
"Every corridor here is a different space, with different gravity effects...be careful, if you get lost...or fall, you probably won't be able to come back," McGuffin said.
It took a long time for McGuffin to pull Ron out of the trap step.
And at this moment Hermione also found a way to get in front of them.
"Where are we going to find Harry?" Hermione said anxiously.
They looked at this boundless space that almost seemed larger than the entire Hogwarts Castle, and they didn't know what to do.
"It's so impossible! No one or anything can bear the existence of such a large [Untrace Stretch Curse]..."
After swallowing, McGuffin said firmly to the two of them.
"Of course this is definitely not in Hogwarts Castle, maybe... this thing is not as big as we thought!"
"Let's take a walk first! Since the Dark Lord, Quirrell, and Professor Dumbledore were able to come out without incident, this proves that this place is not too dangerous... By the way, didn't they say that this is a [Secret Library]? Maybe Harry will be fine."
"That's right, that's it." Ron nodded in panic, agreeing with McGuffin.
Hermione had no other better way, but could only follow them and slowly crawl along the stairs.
Soon, they came to the first square white platform.
The top is about two square meters, and there is a black vertical podium in the middle. The material is exactly the same as the stone steps under their feet. It is impossible to tell what kind of stone it is made of.
In the center of the podium is a crystal tablet in the shape of a regular triangle, each side measuring a little over twenty inches.
Suspended in the air and slowly turning.
Before McGuffin could stop it, Ron touched it cheaply.
——hum!hum!
The pyramid-like inscription trembled and began to ring.
The four planes that were originally transparent and empty began to appear lines and pictures.
And continue to extend.
This is--
McGuffin looked at the transparent triangular crystal, some black and white steps of different sizes began to appear, extending continuously until they spread to the entire object.
"Looks like a map from here."
said Hermione suspiciously.
Before the voice landed, there was a trembling sound like a brass pipe ringing from inside the 'pyramid'.
"Verify your identity—take out your wand, please!"
"Get out your wand, please!"
The three MacGuffins drew out their wands and pointed at this thing, wary.
But nothing happened.
Instead, the triangle turned out a blue light, shining on their wands——
"Thestral tail feather wand, twelve inches, yew wood - user Gryffindor third year, MacGuffin Albert!"
"...willow, unicorn hair - user Gryffindor third year, Ron Weasley!"
"Fujiki, the dragon's heart tendons...——User Gryffindor third-year, Hermione Granger!"
"Verification complete!"
After a pause of two or three seconds, the thing made a sound again,
"Please answer—how many times have Goblin Rebellions happened in England!"
After saying the question, the triangular body suspended in the air and did not move, but trembled and emitted blue light, as if waiting for them to answer the question.
"From the 17th century to the 18th century, goblin rebellions, large and small, continued to occur throughout the European magic world. The most recent one was in England in the [-]th century. After the war between the Ministry of Magic and the largest goblin tribe at that time was fruitless, and almost went bankrupt——under mutual compromise, Gringotts, a wizard magic bank composed of goblins and various powerful wizard families, became a world-wide magic bank for the first time..."
Hermione analyzed, "But, there are too many... How can we know how many wars between wizards and goblins have happened in England in history? Even Professor Binns probably doesn't know about it..."
"Why don't you try the two most famous and bloodiest rebellions," McGuffin suggested.
"It shouldn't be so imprecise. After all, this is the [Secret Library] founded by Ravenclaw!" Hermione questioned.
Ron's eyes were wide-eyed, his head was muddled, and the knowledge in this guy's head was returned to Professor Binns before the exam.
After discussing for a long time, I still can't figure it out.
They also knew that this was not going to work, so they had no choice but to stand up and answer McGuffin's proposal just now.
But unexpectedly it was correct.
As the 'pyramid' began to float slowly in front of McGuffin and the others, not only did the map here appear on it, but a miniature human figure could also be seen staying in front of a stone platform.
"Harry! It's Harry!" Ron yelled.
"We're here—" Hermione clicked on the middle of the 'Pyramid'.
"—and Harry?"
The three-dimensional 'map' shows that Harry is at the top of the pyramid.
The three of them carefully leaned sideways and poked their heads out of the corridor, looking up—
——Black and white, with different sizes of corridor steps, densely arranged, making people dizzy and dizzy, and the top cannot be seen at a glance.
The bottom is similarly bottomless.
"We'll never find Harry!" Ron lamented dejectedly.
At this time, the 'pyramid' floating in front of them started broadcasting distance measurement automatically like a navigation.
"Find the passage to Harry Potter!"
"--Please wait!"
"Please wait……"
"Please go to Staircase No. 30292..."
"What?" Ron asked subconsciously.
"Please go down two flights of stairs—"
Several people looked at each other.
"Try it, there's nothing we can do anyway, we'd better come here again before Professor Dumbledore, and get out of here—"
After seeing this magical space, Hermione calmed down instead, not wanting to delay any longer, the fear of violating school rules once again occupied the top of her heart.
They passed the stairway Ron was stuck on again, and then descended another flight of stairs.
Come to the location that the 'magic navigation' said.
Here is a black square platform that is much larger than before.
It is about the size of a basketball court, with black and white stairs of various sizes coming from all directions on the four sides, and dozens of stone paths connecting from top to bottom, left and right on each side.
And near the middle of the platform, there are many vertical podiums scattered here and there,
It is made of white material,
——There are some sheepskin scrolls on it.
The content recorded on the scroll is engraved under the vertical podium,
Either it is a lost historical myth, or it is an ancient magic spell, or it is a guessed structure for an unknown magic...or maybe it is a formula for some kind of potion...
All kinds of things make McGuffin and Hermione ready to move.
Ron, who was still not interested in this, stayed awake, and he said loudly to the 'Navigation', "What are you doing next, which way to choose—?"
Only then did the two people who were in a daze wake up.
"Uh!"
Before McGuffin finished speaking, the navigation in front of them continued to work.
"Please turn left, follow the third staircase, and pass three staircases—"
Fuck!
No matter which country, when was the navigation made so nasty?
McGuffin cursed in his heart, but he could only keep up with Hermione and the others, and keep moving forward as the navigator said.
After that, they stopped on a black and white grid-like platform, rectangular and not big, only the size of three ordinary tables juxtaposed together.
But this stone platform hovers in the air,
——At the end, there is no way.
"Please go straight on the road ahead—"
The sound came from the 'pyramid' floating nearby.
Gan!
Impressed!
It's really the same.
McGuffin tried to shoot a stream of water with his wand,
——There is no invisible ladder, you will fall down if you walk over it.
Too pit!
After the three of them tried for a long time, Ron directly hit the 'pyramid' with his wand angrily.
"What kind of idiot is this? We still..."
"Look--"
Hermione suddenly noticed something, and she pointed to the feet of several people.
The black and white stones are intertwined to form a layered triangular pattern, and there is a black triangle in the middle, which happens to be the same size as the regular triangle.
Several people hurriedly put it on.
In the entire space, all the black and white stairs began to vibrate violently.
A black and white stone staircase was regenerated in front of them, crossing and extending towards each corridor at an angle.
"Please keep going, go straight, until the end—"
The pyramid continued to speak.
McGuffin looked at the two of them, and had no choice but to try to step on it as the thing said.
It didn't collapse.
In this way, they have been following the guidance of the pyramid's 'navigation', going straight and turning for a long time, and finally came across a large black and white wall that looked like a border, then turned it over, and then moved forward obliquely upwards in the direction of another pyramid.
The route is [zigzag].
Anyway, they were approaching the top of the pyramid-shaped maze, where Harry was.
During the journey, McGuffin discovered that if it is called a [Secret Library], it is more like a magical spectacle of a [Magic Labyrinth].
Even in terms of the wizarding world, it is quite unrealistic.
It needs too much magic and magical support.
This place is like a game world,
But it is certain that this maze was created by the Big Four Ravenclaw,
It's full of Ravenclaw house-style puzzles.
Even the trap is kind of mischievous.
Every moment is a test of your knowledge, intelligence, and... endurance.
Fortunately, Hermione was by their side, so they wouldn't be stumped by those weird, out-of-the-ordinary questions and answers.
At the beginning, Ron stepped into the air, and being stuck there was a kind of warning sound for a warning.
Some stairs are like a piano, and different music sounds with each step you take.
They have to pick up their wands, point the steps in the air, and let them make sounds with different pleasant melodies to pass.
Otherwise, the stone ladder will swing wildly like a rubber band until it falls down.
At that time, they were stuck on that level for a long time. When Hermione was bored, she went to solve the puzzles on the vertical podium and got the hints and answers to know what was going on.
As for the never-ending flowing waterfall, the riddle of the three-faced portrait, the singing of the golden skull, the digital logic puzzle of tortoise shell divination...the stairs that are overturned, the rock climbing at a right angle of 90 degrees, not to mention the fact that they have to avoid a question that the three of them can't answer, they even went around to a staircase similar to the shape of a Ferris wheel.
The space and gravity here are completely different at every step. The only thing that is the same is the black and white steps under your feet, and you can see strange puzzles and various ancient lost knowledge every time you walk a certain distance.
After a long time, they finally came to the top of the pyramid and saw Harry.
(End of this chapter)
