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The moment Chilo stepped into the corridor, Dumbledore squinted his eyes. He turned to Professor McGonagall and said, "Minerva, I recall you have a class this morning, don't you?"
McGonagall realized and replied, "Indeed, but it's not urgent. I can be a little late—"
"No, that won't do!" Fudge immediately put on a pained expression. "We can't inconvenience the children. Transfiguration is a crucial course. Minerva, you go to your class now, and I'll discuss the unicorn poaching incident with Professor Dumbledore."
"Child, you go to your class as well. Study hard and strive to work at the Ministry in the future—your grades are excellent. Joining the Ministry might even lead you to become a Minister one day!" Fudge added, offering Tom some words of encouragement.
After speaking with Tom, Fudge swiftly departed with his subordinates, leaving Dumbledore behind. They needed to make a visit to the Ministry.
A butterfly flew in through the window and landed on McGonagall's hand, transforming into a note. The message read: "Take Tom to that place, quickly!" McGonagall raised an eyebrow and immediately followed Tom, who was on his way to the Ravenclaw Common Room, where he was chatting with Hermione.
"Tom, come with me immediately." Without any explanation, McGonagall grabbed Tom and led him away.
Hermione attempted to follow, but McGonagall gave her a stern look, freezing her in place. Hermione, fearing McGonagall the most, decided not to move.
Tom pleaded with McGonagall, "Professor, just a minute, let me go back to my dormitory..." He had a vague idea of what he was about to do, but his Uzi gun was still in his dormitory. This left him unprepared without a powerful offensive tool. Yet, who would bring an Uzi gun to breakfast?
However, he reassured himself by patting the teapot in his pocket. "No, it's too late," McGonagall rejected his request without looking back, speeding up her pace.
Tom suddenly realized something and cautiously asked, "Professor, is this..."
"Albus asked me to take you to retrieve something important. He mentioned that you are familiar with the obstacles," McGonagall explained as they reached the fourth-floor corridor.
With a gentle push, McGonagall opened the door that she remembered locking before leaving. She walked to the trapdoor where Tom had jumped in earlier.
"Jump down!" she ordered Tom.
Thinking Tom would hesitate, McGonagall was surprised when he immediately leaped down. The air beneath the trapdoor was damp and cold. Tom fell for quite a while before landing on something soft. The trapdoor above him was now just a small stamp-sized point.
Trying to gauge the distance between him and the ground, Tom realized it was unnecessary. He was more focused on the task at hand. McGonagall jumped down as well, immediately drawing her wand. "Incendio!"
Flames quickly dispersed the vegetation beneath them.
"Devil's Snare, likes dark and damp environments but fears fire," she explained to Tom, giving him a look. "Professor Sprout should have taught you about it in Herbology, but you've been daydreaming here without taking any precautions."
"Professor, if I had taken precautions, you probably wouldn't be able to talk to me right now," Tom retorted. "You haven't jumped down yet!"
McGonagall hesitated in her tone and then cast a Lumos spell to illuminate their surroundings. The room below was filled with Devil's Snare—plants with considerable lethality. Without proper knowledge from Herbology class, even adult wizards could fall victim to them.
The exit of the room led to a long passageway, covered in moss. This passage, without any downward slope, seemed to be one of the tunnels preserved from the construction of Hogwarts—an entrance to the "Underground Chamber" of Hogwarts.
Contrary to expectations, the professors hadn't placed any traps in the passage. Chilo had rushed through, not bothering to set up any obstacles. If it were Tom, he could have designed countless malicious traps. For instance, the passage's sides could gradually narrow until the intruder was compressed into pulp; triggering a specific mechanism could result in a sudden flash of light, possibly blinding the intruder; or perhaps a quicksand trap...
However, none of these traps were present, and Tom and McGonagall safely reached the end of the passage. At the end was a room with a large iron cage. In the cage were hundreds of small, brilliantly colored birds, fluttering and chirping. On closer inspection, these birds were actually keys transformed into a dazzling spectacle.
Across from the room was a wooden door, securely locked.
Tom was shocked as he entered. How had Chilo breezed through this challenge?
He had designed this puzzle to assist Dumbledore. The solution was straightforward: arrange the square stones in order, ensuring that the number of illuminated petals on each stone was the same. This would open the lock on the cage, allowing the key to fly out. Then, using a flying broom, the corresponding key needed to be caught.
In theory, Chilo should have been stuck here for a while. However, when Tom and McGonagall arrived, Chilo had already successfully cleared the puzzle. Tom looked at the birds in the cage and had a sudden realization: did Chilo just reach in and grab the corresponding key?
Observing the gaps between the bars and the density of the keys, Tom thought it might indeed be possible.
Tom found himself speechless. Chilo truly knew how to exploit a loophole.
Nevertheless, he intended to solve the puzzle through traditional means, as he knew the correct answer. McGonagall, from her bewildered expression, seemed not to know how to solve it.
The five stones were arranged in a row, with the number of illuminated petals on each stone as follows: 1, 2, 3, 2, 1. Tom's goal was to make the number of illuminated petals on each stone the same—whether it was one, two, or three petals did not matter.
As he approached, Tom prepared to unravel this puzzle.
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(End of this chapter)