The Strongest Badger at Hogwarts

Department of Mysteries.

In front of the main entrance.

Harry and the others were staring intently at the door with the M mark engraved in front of them.

"Harry, is this here?"

Ron deliberately lowered his voice and said carefully.

Harry nodded upon hearing that.

He was quite sure of this, because this door, to be precise, the deformed M mark on this door had clearly appeared in his dream.

However, at this moment, he was a little afraid to go in.

It's a wonderful feeling.

Before coming here, he desperately wanted to come here, even if he paid any price for it.

However, when he actually stood in front of the door, he hesitated.

He began to fear what kind of scene would be inside after the dark door was opened.

Was it Voldemort and his Death Eaters grinning and waving their wands at them?

Or the fallen bodies of Dumbledore and Sirius?

Whenever he thought of this, the courage that Harry had worked up so hard disappeared in an instant, and even his whole body became stiff.

But at this moment, Aberforth's tall and thin figure came out from his side.

He walked to the dark door as quickly as if he was taking a walk, and he stretched out his hand to push it.

"Do not!"

This scene scared Harry to death, and he couldn't help but screamed out.

He's not ready yet!

Unfortunately, it was too late.

The seemingly heavy door was pushed open by Aberforth with ease.

Behind the door, there was a dead silence.

There were no laughing Death Eaters, and no corpses all over the floor. There were only marble-paved floors, walls, and ceilings that were equally pitch-black.

"Huh? What's the matter?"

Aberforth turned his head and looked at Harry with some surprise.

He was obviously taken aback by Harry's screams, too.

"No, nothing."

Harry said softly, he felt his face was a little hot, his previous conjectures were too embarrassing.

Seemingly in order to regain his lost face, Harry followed Aberforth into the Department of Mysteries first.

After entering, Harry suddenly discovered that behind the door was actually a rather huge circular space.

The surrounding walls, floors and ceilings can no longer be simply described with the adjective 'black'.

These places seem to use some kind of light-absorbing material.

The faint blue flames emitted by the branch-shaped candlesticks dotted on the wall did not provide any lighting effect at all.

Those rays of light basically radiate out for about one meter and will be swallowed up.

This eerie darkness made Harry tense again after he had finally relaxed.

He couldn't help leaning closer to Aberforth, which would give him some rare sense of security.

After all, although it is not known what relationship Aberforth has with Headmaster Dumbledore, at least both of them have the surname Dumbledore.

It’s just that Aberforth pushed away Harry who was almost on his body with some disgust when he saw this, and said:

"Boy, he... where are they? I mean, the Department of Mysteries is here, where should we go next?"

Speaking of which, Aberforth pointed to the darkness ahead.

Looking in the direction he pointed, one could see eleven identical pitch-black gates erected there.

Harry counted the number of those gates, and then he was a little dazed.

Because the black door he saw in his dream clearly had twelve doors.

But right now, one is missing.

Harry's puzzlement didn't last long, as soon there was a loud bang behind them.

Everyone hurriedly turned their heads, only to see that the originally open entrance door behind them had been tightly closed at this moment.

Not only that, but with a series of rumbling noises, the candles on the wall began to move side by side, and the entire circular space began to rotate at high speed!

The faint blue flames blurred around everyone,

Like a neon tube.

Harry couldn't care about anything else, and directly reached out and grabbed Aberforth's arm.

Ron and Hermione also made the same choice, one hugged Aberforth's thigh, and the other hugged Aberforth's waist.

On the scene, only George and Fred barely maintained their fighting posture.

They drew their wands and stood back to back ready for battle.

However, just a few seconds later, everything stopped.

The loud bang and bang quietly stopped, and the wall stopped spinning.

Only the still shaking flames on the candlestick showed everyone the traces of the scene just now.

Of course, the traces that were left were not only the trembling flames, but also the black gate erected around everyone.

Harry was surprised to find that the number of them had changed from eleven to twelve!

This is the number after adding the gate they came from.

That is to say...

"Damn it, we're trapped!"

Aberforth cursed and uttered the terrible thoughts in Harry's mind.

Immediately afterwards, he stretched out his hand and pulled the stupid Harry from his arm, saying:

"Hurry up, show us the next direction, the mechanism has been triggered, if there are really people here, then they must know we are coming by now!"

Hearing this, Harry shivered, his mouth opened slightly, his eyes kept scanning back and forth on the twelve doors in front of him, but he couldn't say a word.

Aberforth frowned slightly at the sight of him.

Aberforth bent down, kept Harry at eye level, and said word by word:

"You, don't you know where to find them next?"

"Forehead--"

Harry instinctively avoided Aberforth's hawk-like gaze.

This move left Aberforth completely speechless.

He stood up and slapped himself on the forehead forcefully, and said helplessly:

"So you are actually not prepared for anything, but you are just rushing into the Department of Mysteries recklessly with your passion? Merlin's beard! The most outrageous thing is that I came with you! I really... Go back to life!"

"Don't say that," Ron retorted with some dissatisfaction, "It's already great for Harry to know that Headmaster Dumbledore and the others are trapped in the Department of Mysteries!"

"Yes, that's right!"

"I really don't agree with this point of view!"

George and Fred also spoke out in support of Harry.

It's a pity that their expressions hidden in the darkness are as helpless as Aberforth at this time.

They also realized how outrageous what they and others have done.

It's just that he is stubborn.

"Don't be so discouraged!" Hermione couldn't stand it any longer, "We've all come here, maybe we can search door by door, anyway, we have no way out, right?"

Hearing this, Harry's eyes lit up, and he said hastily:

"Yes, that's it! Although I don't know the exact direction, I still have an impression of the layout of that place!

I promise, as long as you let me take a look, I will definitely recognize it! "

"Oh! That's really good news!" Gu

Aberforth rolled his eyes at Harry and said, but he went straight to the first mountain gate on the left, obviously wanting to try again as Hermione said.

He lightly pressed one hand on the door, while the other hand was holding his wand tightly, ready to deal with any possible attack after the door opened.

The door opened easily.

This is even easier than Aberforth and others imagined.

The door and the door frame here seem to have been specially lubricated, and there is not even the slightest friction sound between the opening and closing.

After the door opened, another huge room appeared in front of everyone.

In the center of this room stands a huge glass water tank.

Above it rests on a soaring ceiling the room's only set of magical lamps.

The white light it emits hits the glass water tank directly, reflecting the dark green liquid inside as beautiful as emeralds.

The only thing that makes people feel regretful is that there are still many pearly white things quietly floating in this box of 'emeralds'.

They feel like swimming fish, but they can't move, but their shape is also very strange - it's an irregular circle.

"What is this?"

Ron asked quietly.

"The brain," Aberforth said lightly, "the brains of people who have been silent throughout the ages. These guys are really crazy. They actually want to use this method to make their consciousness last forever!"

Hearing that Harry, Ron and others were a little dazed, they couldn't understand what Aberforth said.

Hermione took two quick steps forward and leaned on the glass water tank, looking inward.

This confirmed to her that what Aberforth said was true.

Just with her movements, the brains in the water tank that were originally still began to float irregularly.

"Aberforth, how do you know these are the brains of the Silent people?" Hermione frowned warily, "I remember you said you had never been here!"

"Yes, I have never been here, but this does not prevent me from knowing some things here." Aberforth shrugged his shoulders with a half-smile, then pointed to the stone base of the huge water tank and said, " Because it says it all."

Hermione hurriedly leaned over to look at the words.

Sure enough, there were densely packed words engraved on the pitch-black base, all of which were descriptions of this 'brain hall' and the names of the silent people who dedicated their lives to the Ministry of Magic.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry, Aberforth, I shouldn't have..."

Hermione apologized at a loss, while Aberforth sneered and said:

"Forget it, don't talk about it."

After saying that, he went straight forward and carefully looked at the brains in the giant water tank that were swimming as fast as real fish, and murmured:

"Merlin, it's unbelievable. They... They seem to have really succeeded! These brains can still operate independently, as if they really have their own consciousness!"

As soon as Aberforth finished speaking, several brains slammed into the glass wall in front of him with a bang.

This frightened Hermione back several steps, her face full of horror.

And Aberforth frowned deeply and said:

"You heard what I said? Are you... angry?"

Aberforth slowly raised his wand, "This is really disgusting, I want to destroy this thing, its existence is a blasphemy against ethics, the dead should return to silence instead of lingering on This world!"

As soon as this remark came out, the activities of the brains in the water tank became more and more intense.

A large number of brains are all crowded in the corner, as if they are trying their best to keep Aberforth away.

Harry said with some embarrassment:

"Aberforth, don't waste time, we still have to find Dumbledore, let's go!"

As he spoke, Harry boldly grabbed Aberforth's hand holding his wand, and tried to pull it away from the water tank.

Seeing this, the corners of Aberforth's mouth rose slightly, and he didn't resist, just letting Harry lead him away.

It wasn't until they left the water tank for a certain distance that those brain activities gradually slowed down.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

To be honest, he also felt that there was something wrong with the existence of those 'brains in vats'.

This kind of thing beyond his cognition, which usually only appears in horror movies, makes people feel very uneasy.

However, if these brains are really self-aware.

So once the water tank is broken, wouldn't it kill hundreds of lives in an instant?

With a final trepidation, Harry took one last look at the tank.

But it was this glance that made him stunned.

Because at this moment, the brain in the water tank automatically converged into a Roman numeral—Ⅶ!

"My God! Aberforth! Look!"

Harry said, tugging on Aberforth's arm.

Hearing that Aberforth and the others all turned their heads.

Just before they turned their heads back, the brains in the water tank had been dispersed again, returning to the previous disorderly floating appearance.

"What do you want us to see?"

Aberforth frowned dissatisfied.

Harry didn't speak, but rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The scene before him made him wonder if he was hallucinating!

Hermione walked over quickly, reached out and touched Harry's forehead, and said with some concern:

"Harry, your forehead is very hot, are you hallucinating?"

"Or... maybe."

Harry stammered.

He didn't know why he was lying.

It was as if there was a consciousness somewhere begging him to do this, and he instinctively agreed.

It was a strange feeling, Harry couldn't describe it at all.

Aberforth shook his head upon hearing this, and strode forward to continue walking.

Harry also walked out of this 'brain hall' with the help of Hermione and Ron.

As soon as they all exited, the door clicked shut.

Immediately there was another rumbling sound from inside the wall.

"The mark appears!"

Hermione hurriedly gestured in the air with her wand.

With her movement, a fiery red X appeared on the door.

The next moment, the wall began to rotate at high speed again.

But this time, amidst the swaying blue flames, there was still a mass of golden red mixed in.

After everything stopped, everyone was pleasantly surprised to find that the mark Hermione had made before had not disappeared.

George and Fred praised excitedly:

"Hermione, what a brilliant idea you have! Our progress can be made much faster."

"Don't be too happy!" Aberforth shook his head and said, "What is hidden here is not a simple physical mechanism, but space magic!

You must know that even if I have never been here, I know that the Department of Mysteries, as the most mysterious department of the Ministry of Magic, cannot have only twelve rooms.

I bet you push that marked door open again, and the room inside won't be the Hall of the Brains. "

"What are you talking about? It's impossible!"

Ron said angrily, and after he finished speaking, he wanted to reach out and push the marked door. Fortunately, George and Fred pulled him back in a hurry.

At this time, Hermione's originally joyful expression fell silent again.

She knew very well that what Aberforth said was most likely the truth.

But if that was the case, wouldn't that mean they would almost never find the room in Harry's dream?

Even, they may not even be able to leave here!

Thinking so, Hermione instinctively glanced at Harry, only to find that Harry was staring at a black door.

According to the order from left to right, this black door should be the seventh door!