Under the refraction of water light and the illumination of a certain fluorescent plant at the bottom of the lake, the entire mermaid village was filled with a greenish glow.
"Lumos Maxima!" Evan waved his wand, sending out a stronger light.
The mermaids looked curiously at him and the glowing wand but did not gather around. They were still singing and dancing.
Evan stepped closer and saw the crack in the center of the mermaid statue's tail fin and waist.
It was covered with thick water plants and moss, which appeared under the wand's light.
Evan examined the gap carefully and realized it was formed when a piece of the statue's upper scale disappeared.
He pushed his wand deeper into it, and his head followed.
Inside the gap was a narrow stone tunnel, the size of which could only allow one person to crawl through.
This tunnel followed the direction of the terrain, continuing right below the mermaid statue, and was a naturally formed crevice.
No artificial traces were inside, and the rock walls on both sides looked rough and rugged.
There seemed to be something inside, but because of the angle, it could not be seen clearly from the outside.
Ivan exhaled a few bubbles, put his wand across his chest, and entered the crevice, tilting downward.
With the light of his wand, he looked closely at the gray rocks on both sides, and the texture was not as hard as he thought.
External forces easily damaged these rocks, and the naturally formed cracks inside were very narrow.
This meant that if the correct magic was not used to open it, relying on brute force to get in from the outside was almost impossible.
If the destructive force is a little small, you can't open the outermost stone door of the statue.
A little more destructive force would cause the cracks in the ground to collapse completely, obliterating the narrow tunnel.
It is difficult to grasp the scale. The original designers must have carefully calculated before building the mermaid statue.
In the gap, Evan swam diagonally downward for more than ten feet and then landed on the ground with a crash.
The tunnel formed by the gap disappeared, and the space in front of him opened up, and the space became spacious.
Around the cold lake, water pressure quickly disappeared, and the air became dry again.
Evan turned around and stretched out his left palm and sensed that there was an invisible magic barrier in front of him, isolating all the lake water.
Those mermaids outside don't use magic, so how could this magic barrier appear here?
Don't look at it as an ordinary isolation of the lake water, but the sudden appearance of the magic barrier was very powerful.
It must have been left by a powerful wizard. Could it be Rowena Ravenclaw?
In a place like this, there seems to be no one else but her!
No wonder those mermaids refused to come in. They must have known that they wouldn't be able to swim far before coming out of the water.
Evans' body suddenly become dry, and continue to move forward, his heart feeling more curious.
He just took two steps and stopped; the mermaid singing from above did not dissipate but became clearer and clearer.
Sounds very ethereal and beautiful, like the voice of heaven.
The song echoed in the tunnel, making everything in front so unreal, like a dream.
"This sound seems wrong." Evan froze momentarily, his thoughts gradually lost in the mermaid's song.
The song is ringing in the ears with the magic of charm so that people cannot help but be immersed in it and do not want to do anything.
In the beautiful music, Evan became increasingly tired, unable to lift his spirits, and only wanted to lie down and sleep!
"Muffliato!" He used this spell on himself, and his ears were instantly filled with an indistinguishable buzzing sound.
The whole school was talking noisily in the auditorium or whispering in the classroom.
The mermaid's song resumed, and the seductive power that had suddenly emerged from it disappeared.
Evan continued to move forward, more and more curious about the magic that remained here.
This magic relied on the mobilization of mermaids without any power, fusing and influencing each other; the design was very ingenious.
With Evan's current level, not to mention involved, there were many places that he could not quite understand.
Along the passage, he rotated down to a stone door; there was no handle on the door, there was no keyhole, there was only a piece of light on the age of the brown board, there was an eagle-shaped bronze door ring, the top was a dark blue raven.
The raven's eyes were an eerie red color, staring at Evan.
Evan pointed his wand at the raven above him, blinked, and realized that there were two rubies at the position of the raven's eyes.
Under the wand's light, they flashed brightly and looked very uncomfortable.
This guy also does not know what material it is made from. It is very realistic.
In front of the door, Evan felt spied on, but there was no magical reaction.
He lowered his head and moved his gaze away from the Raven and onto the main body of the gate.
Looking at the eagle-shaped door ring, Evan thought of the door to the Ravenclaw school common room.
It was said that the current Ravenclaw Tower was once the laboratory of Rowena Ravenclaw.
Therefore, she would have left such a different door there, testing the wisdom of visitors to determine whether they were qualified to enter it.
Unlike the other three colleges that require passwords, only wizards who give the correct answer can enter Ravenclaw.
Even for Ravenclaw students, if they cannot solve the answer, they can only stay outside.
If this were any other academy, many people would probably sleep in the corridors outside every day!
But the students of Ravenclaw Academy were happy to do so and thought that this kind of test was very good.
Since there was such a door here, there was no doubt that it must have been left behind by Ravenclaw.
Perhaps the key to her secret treasure was inside; Evan didn't think it would be that easy.
Next, as long as to solve the problem posed by this door can be.
Except for the mermaid's song with seductive power, he didn't encounter any obstacles.
Evan didn't let his guard down; since Gryffindor would leave a test, there was no reason for the Ravenclaw to do nothing.
He walked up to the door with his wand in one hand and knocked gently with the other.
In the silence, Avon thought it sounded like a cannonball going off.
Immediately, the eagle's beak opened, but instead of making a bird call, it said in a cold, eerie voice, "Strange visitor, you will be judged here, and death will be your only destination."
As soon as its words fell, powerful, strange magic power instantly filled the space around Evan.
He instantly fired a prepared protection spell, but it had no effect.
The sudden force in the surrounding space was too powerful, and Evan realized that he seemed to have been hit by a petrification spell or something like that, and lost control of his body.
At that moment, the raven above the gate flew up fiercely.
It chose on top of Evan's head, and its blood-red eyes stared at him with death.
This time, Evan can feel the death from this raven clearly and unmistakably!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Like the black cat, wizards generally believe that the raven has strong magical powers and is a very special animal.
The wizarding world emphasizes this animal and its symbolism far more than many magical creatures.
As for the connection between the raven and Ravenclaw, it can be traced all the way back in history!
It is well known that in the Celtic culture of the native Britons, the raven often appeared alongside Morrigan, the goddess of war.
The raven was seen as a symbol of impurity and death and believed to be Morrigan's embodiment.
The Ravenclaws are believed to be the direct descendants of the raven beside Morrigan, the goddess of war, and long before Hogwarts was founded, this long-established family of pure-blooded wizards, known for their intelligence and cunning, was well known in the wizarding world.
It was one of the top wizarding families at the time, ruling and leading the world.
The name "Ravenclaw" has the hidden meaning of "greedy plunderer," which describes its thirst for knowledge.
It is clear from the Hat that Rowena Ravenclaw's teaching philosophy, also the heritage of the House of Ravenclaw, is that the students I teach must be of superior intellect.
At Ravenclaw, intelligence is the most important trait.
Although the totem of Ravenclaw has changed from a raven to an eagle.
However, the perception of a student's intelligence has not changed.
There has been a long debate about whether the Raven or the Eagle is the totem of Ravenclaw House.
Although the House of Ravenclaw emblem is a raven with spread wings, many wizards believe that the raven represents a less-than-favorable omen.
What's more, rumors persisted that Lady Rowena Ravenclaw's own Animagus form was an eagle, that Ravenclaw's most famous door knocker was in the shape of an eagle's head, and that the house's emblem at Hogwarts featured the image of a winged eagle.
Over time, the totem of Ravenclaw House became the eagle.
But history is not as simple as it seems, and many hidden secrets exist.
Evan recently found out through checking the ancient history books that when the totem of Ravenclaw Academy was changed hundreds of years ago, many conservative wizards believed that the raven should be the real symbol of Ravenclaw Academy and held a different view on the so-called change.
Most were evil dark wizards who set up heretical sects to promote their ideas.
Evan was most impressed by an evil force called the Raven's Claw, which had been founded more than 600 years ago, claiming to be the rightful heirs of Ravenclaw and trying to gather what remained of the War Goddess Morrigan's time.
"The Raven's Claw has developed followers worldwide, propagating fanatical theories of heresy such as the Doomsday Judgment.
Surprisingly, they have found some ancient energy and hope to use it to rule the entire magic world.
Evan was most impressed by this part of the description and couldn't forget it for long. Because of the so-called war goddess Morrigan's miracle they found, no matter how to look at it, it seems like the power of some evil god, such as whispering in the ear, worshiping the power of darkness and chaos, and so on.
These horrible people want this ancient evil god to come down to the mortal world and help it return to its past dominance.
Because of their different beliefs and philosophies and their secretive, bloody and cruel behavior, the "Raven's Claw" was suppressed by all the major forces in the magical world from the very beginning of its existence.
Eventually, some of them went crazy and started a war against Hogwarts.
It is said that the first clue came from Hogwarts Castle, thought to be a gift from Mrs. Rowena Ravenclaw.
They attempted to take over Hogwarts, destroying the ancient wizarding academy in search of more clues.
Needless to say, this was madness, madder than Voldemort!
But Evan suspected that Rowena Ravenclaw might have left a message from the evil god.
After all, from the situation of Gryffindor and Slytherin, the Big Four had a hidden connection with the ancient evil gods.
The specific situation is unknown, anyway. After that war, "Raven's Claw," this heretical organization on its complete demise, fades out of people's vision; whether they still exist or not, Evan is not clear and does not care.
He only hoped that the so-called goddess of war, "Morrigan," was likely to be a certain evil god of the terrible guy summoned out.
Seeing the raven hovering above, Evan remembered the matter of "Raven's Claw."
The voice on the gate continued with a strange tone.
"You will be allowed to choose, after death, because of the only achievement remembered by the world; what will you choose?"
This question tested what the respondent valued most in his heart and seemed to have no boundaries, making it difficult to answer.
It could be imagined that if the answer was wrong, what awaited Evan would be true death.
Although it was difficult, considering that the person asking the question was Ravenclaw, there was obviously only one answer.
"Wisdom, I want my wisdom to be remembered by the world!" Avon said softly.
"The answer is correct!" The voice said, "The one with the wisest mind deserves to be rewarded!"
The strange power that held Evan in its grip instantly disappeared as if it had never existed.
The stone door slowly opened in the rumbling sound, and the Raven hovering above his head flew in first.
Evan also followed into a large round room that looked very ethereal.
The decoration and layout are similar to the Ravenclaw common room; the walls are hung with blue and bronze silk.
But because of time, the decorations have become a mass of rotten rags, and only vaguely recognizable.
From moldy carpet on the floor, which was now left with countless thick dust.
The ceiling above was domed, with stars painted on it.
Underneath each star, there were bookshelves filled with all kinds of magical tomes.
On the summer vacation, a purple light flickered, and a magic barrier completely isolated and protected these books.
While ensuring that the books inside were not affected by time, bacteria, and bugs, they could not be taken out for viewing.
Evan carefully observed for a while and did not touch the books inside the bookshelf, although he was very moved.
But he was unsure if this protective magic he had never seen had any offensive properties.
Moreover, even if it could be studied, it would take a long time.
Evan can't stay here for too long. No one can guarantee when the mermaid's song outside will stop!