Everyday Life of a Top Student at Hogwarts

Chapter 272 Discoveries by the Black Lake and Observation Points on the Edge of the Forbidden Forest

Chapter 272 Discoveries by the Black Lake and Observation Points on the Edge of the Forbidden Forest

On Saturday afternoon, sunlight pierced through the thin clouds, casting shimmering light on the surface of Black Lake. Karen went alone to the rocky area on the northeast shore of Black Lake, as described in her diary. It was a secluded place, with jagged, black rocks where the lake water lapped against them, making a rushing sound.

He checked the Marauder's Map again; there were no ink dots representing anyone else nearby. Then he took out a small alchemical compass to detect faint magical fluctuations. Although Cullen's talent allowed her to observe magical fluctuations, this time she was looking for Slytherin's remnants. No one knew how much magic remained in what he had left behind after so many years. Combining the two might reveal something that was not easily detected.

Karen's gaze swept carefully over the half-submerged rocks, searching for the "special serpentine stone" Riddle had described. His Eye of Truth quietly activated, sensing the vast yet peaceful magic contained within the lake, the life energy emanating from the Forbidden Forest, and the ancient and complex magical energy field emanating from the castle itself.

He quickly located a huge, flat reef half-submerged in water. Its surface did indeed have some naturally formed features...

The winding, dark lines, at first glance, do indeed resemble a coiled snake. Under normal circumstances, they are quite inconspicuous.

But in the Eye of Truth, Karen could perceive extremely faint magical remnants attached to these patterns, almost blending into the natural environment. They were woven in a very ancient way, forming an extremely hidden guiding structure.

"This is it," Karen thought to himself. He first cast waterproof, moisture-proof, and heat-retaining spells on himself, then put on his protective gear, and stepped into the cool lake water to approach the reef.

He recalled the few simple Parseltongue pronunciations he had imitated from Harry, especially those with the intention of "opening" or "manifesting." He took a deep breath, focused his mind, and combined that unique magical frequency with his will.

A slightly stiff but strangely vibrating hissing sound came from Karen's mouth, almost inaudible amidst the sound of the lake water lapping against the shore.

At first, the reef didn't react. Karen wasn't discouraged; he adjusted the strength and frequency of his vocalizations and tried again.

After several attempts, when he uttered a syllable with a clear intention to "activate" accurately struck the faint magical guiding structure—

Suddenly, the serpentine patterns on the surface of the reef glowed with an extremely dim, firefly-like light. Immediately afterward, a slight "crunching" sound of stones rubbing together rang out, and the huge, flat reef slowly and silently slid to one side, revealing a deep, downward-pointing opening that could only accommodate one person at a time, emanating damp, cold air and a musty smell.

"It's a success." Karen felt a chill run down her spine. Riddle hadn't lied entirely; there really was an entrance here that needed to be activated by the Parseltongue.

He didn't enter immediately, but instead stood at the entrance, carefully scanning the interior again with his Eye of Truth. The entrance extended downwards for several meters, seemingly connecting to a small space. The magical environment inside was relatively stable; no obvious dark magic traps or signs of life were detected, only a very faint trace of an ancient, dormant protective magic.

Karen drew his wand, tapped it lightly, and a steady white light shone from the tip. He carefully bent down and crawled into the hole.

There is a short stone staircase leading down to a small, secret room about ten square meters in size.

The air was cold and damp, and the walls were rough stone covered with slippery moss. In the center of the chamber stood a waist-high, gray-black stone sculpture.

The stone carving was of a coiled, head-raised, hissing serpent, its ancient and lifelike style revealing the clearly defined patterns of its scales. A pair of blank stone eyes stared towards the entrance, creating an inexplicable sense of oppression. Aside from this, the secret chamber was empty, containing only years of accumulated dust and a few pebbles in the corners. Faint traces of what appeared to be chests or cabinets on the floor could be seen, but they had long since been removed, leaving only faint outlines.

"It was just bait, just as I thought," Karen thought. Riddle had told him about this place simply to make him discover this empty secret room, thereby stimulating his curiosity about the "Slytherin legacy" and making him realize the importance of the "Parsley" key, thus making him more reliant on the "guidance" of the diary. The things here were probably taken away by Riddle himself or even earlier discoverers decades ago.

He held his wand and carefully examined the entire chamber. Aside from dampness and moss, the walls and floor were unremarkable. His gaze finally settled on the serpentine statue. It appeared to be an ordinary decorative sculpture, seemingly unremarkable except for its antiquity.

Just as he was about to end his investigation and return disappointed, the Eye of Truth inadvertently swept across the part of the statue's base that met the ground. In that instant, he caught a glimpse of an extremely unusual flow of magic that he had previously completely overlooked!

The wisp of magic was as fine as a hair, and it did not come from the statue itself, but from the point of contact between the statue's base and the rocky ground. It did not radiate upwards, but downwards, flowing slowly but continuously towards the depths of the black lake!

This flow of magic was very peculiar. It seemed to be shrouded in a highly sophisticated confusion or shielding spell, making it almost perfectly blend into the surrounding magical background noise. If Karen's Eye of Truth hadn't had an extraordinary sensitivity to magical flow and hadn't just happened to scan it from a particular angle, she might have simply overlooked it. It was so conspicuous, visible as soon as she entered, yet she subconsciously forgot about it during her inspection.

Karen immediately crouched down, approaching the base of the statue with intense concentration. He extended his wand and removed the thick moss and grime from the base. Sure enough, on the rough stone surface, he discovered extremely fine, seemingly naturally formed cracks. But under his magical vision, these "cracks" presented a meticulously designed artificial pattern! They formed part of an extremely complex array of magical runes he had never seen before, and their primary functions, as it appeared, seemed to be "guiding," "concealing," and "converting."

It is this ancient array that continuously and silently draws upon some extremely faint power, perhaps the ley lines magic of Hogwarts Castle, or perhaps the energy of the Black Lake itself, and transforms it, then transports it along that hidden magical flow to the depths of the Black Lake.

"Interesting!" Karen was filled with surprise and curiosity. The grime and moss on the base were clearly quite old; even Tom Riddle back then might not have known that such a secret was hidden beneath this chamber. Was it because he wasn't careful enough? Or was the formation so well concealed that even he was fooled? Or perhaps he was only focused on the obvious treasure within the chamber and overlooked the statue itself?

Karen immediately took out parchment and an automatic drawing quill from her seamless stretch bag and carefully traced the patterns on the statue's base.

He recorded the direction of the magical flow and his initial observations. He even tried to touch the magical flow with several detection spells, but they all sank without a trace, proving that the concealment array was extremely sophisticated.

He stood up, his gaze sweeping sharply across the cold lake. What lay at the bottom? Where did this ancient guiding array end? What was its purpose? Countless questions flooded his mind.

However, he quickly regained his composure. The depths of the Black Lake were uncharted territory, inhabited by equestrian monsters, giant squid, and other potentially more dangerous and wondrous creatures. To rashly pursue this magical current deep into the lakebed without adequate preparation would be extremely unwise.

"It seems our initial exploration of the Black Lake will have to end here." Karen suppressed her urge to explore and made a rational decision. This unexpected discovery was of immense value, far exceeding Karen's expectations. She had originally thought this would only uncover more Slytherin remnants to enrich her map, but she hadn't anticipated this additional gain. This also meant that the traces left by Slytherin might be deeper and more hidden than she had imagined.

He took one last look at the silent serpentine statue and the secret hidden in its base, then turned and left the lakeside chamber via the stone steps. As he stepped out of the cave, he once again used his Parsleyan voice to command the rocks to slowly slide back into place and close the entrance. The afternoon sun shone on him, bringing a touch of warmth.

He stood by the lake, gazing at the deep water, knowing that a new secret was hidden there, a secret that even the Dark Lord might not know, and that this secret awaited him to uncover in the future.

The next morning, the weather was still clear. Karen set off alone again, this time heading towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest, near the Willow Tree, to find the "ancient ash tree".

The willow tree stretched out its claws in the distance, and Karen carefully maintained a safe distance, searching along the outer edge of the forbidden forest. Soon, he found his target—an extremely thick old ash tree, probably requiring three or four people to encircle it. Its bark was deeply cracked, like the veins on an old man's hand, and parts of its trunk were hollow, revealing the vicissitudes of time. It was rooted in a slightly raised slope, its root system like giant dragon claws, gripping deeply into the earth.

Karen circled it, carefully searching for the "strange depression at the roots" Riddle had described. Finally, on the side closer to the Forbidden Forest, he found a depression almost entirely covered by damp soil, decaying leaves, and dense moss. He crouched down and carefully cleared away the debris with his wand.

Gradually, a circular groove about one foot in diameter appeared. It was not naturally formed; its inner walls were relatively smooth, clearly carved by hand. At the center of the bottom of the groove, a somewhat blurred pattern was carved—a snake coiled in a circle, its head pointing to a point inside the groove. The shape of the entire groove also vaguely resembled the outline of a coiled snake.

"The second point," Karen whispered. He focused again, uttering serpentine syllables into the groove with the intention of "opening" or "revealing."

Unlike the direct physical movement of the rocks on the Black Lake shore, this time, the ancient carvings inside the grooves glowed with a faint, almost invisible silver halo, lasting for about two or three seconds before quickly fading away, leaving no further movement. No secret passage opened, no images appeared, nothing at all.

Karen immediately activated her Eye of Truth and observed carefully.

Under his magical vision, he saw more details. The serpentine pattern was indeed a miniature magical interface, which he had just briefly activated with the correct "key." However, it didn't seem to connect to any specific warehouse or secret chamber. Instead, he saw several extremely thin, almost broken magical threads extending upwards from the recessed node. One or two of them were very weakly connected to a vast magical network in the castle's foundation, but the signal was so faint as to be negligible. Most of them extended into the depths of the Forbidden Forest, but the vast majority became indistinct or even broke off after extending a certain distance. These magical threads gave him the feeling that they were old and dilapidated, on the verge of being abandoned.

At the same time, he also noticed that the groove node itself was still slowly and passively absorbing the trace amounts of magic that spilled out from the surrounding environment, such as the energy from sunlight, moonlight, and wind and rain. It seems that Slytherin had also studied this aspect, but the absorption efficiency was extremely low. He wondered if it was because the time had been too long and the efficiency had decreased. However, the little energy absorbed so far seemed to be only enough to maintain the most basic "presence" of the node itself, so as not to completely annihilate it.

Karen seemed to be deep in thought. He took out the Marauder's Map, compared it with his current location, and recalled the underground waterway route he had taken when tracking the Basilisk last semester, as well as the approximate distribution of the secret passages inside the castle that he had initially explored.

"This doesn't seem like a switch for an entrance or a secret chamber; it's different from the one at the Black Lake," he muttered to himself, as he meticulously recorded the node's detailed status and magical flow on parchment. "It's more like a—receiving point? Or an observation point? Or even a relay station for an ancient surveillance network?"

He speculated that this node, along with the one by the Black Lake and similar nodes that Slytherin might have set up elsewhere in the castle, might have formed a system accessible only to Slytherin himself and his descendants. This system might have once been used to monitor specific areas inside and outside the castle, or to transmit some kind of information. But after thousands of years, most of the nodes had been damaged, disabled, or forgotten, and the magical connection had been severed. Only a few, like the one before him, remained, retaining a final trace. Of course, these were only his initial speculations; further exploration and research were needed to determine the specifics. He believed there were definitely more than just these two nodes in the castle, and that similar things should exist in other places as well.

Riddle knew of the point's existence, but like him, he probably found it no longer offered any valuable information or access, so he simply regarded it as an abandoned "relic" used to lure the curious.

Karen meticulously recorded every detail of the node, including the direction of the magic, especially the lines that pointed deeper into the Forbidden Forest—though interrupted, they might still indicate the general direction—as well as its ability to absorb environmental magic. Then, he carefully restored the moss and fallen leaves to their original state, concealing the ancient groove and ensuring it blended seamlessly with its surroundings.

Having done all this, he stood up and brushed the dirt off his robe. The preliminary exploration of both locations was complete. Although neither yielded immediately usable results, the amount of information was considerable. The unexpected discovery by the Black Lake, in particular, was worthy of further investigation.