146 2 rewards
Inside the lion statue.
"What does Gryffindor mean?"
James leaned against an invisible barrier. He kept poking around with the rapier in his hand, but he could not get through the barrier.
Sirius tried it with him before giving up. The two looked at the lifted blank portrait again, and James complained loudly: "We are not allowed to approach the stone door, and we are left with such a picture again." Strange portrait. If I say it, we might as well have a fight with these defectives, just like in the two previous rooms."
Of course he was talking angrily, even if they were just defective products, there were a lot of them.If they really started to move, the two of them would have no choice but to escape.
But after wasting so long, James has gradually lost his patience.This way of playing charades was not the adventure he imagined, especially when he finally decided to continue following.
Sirius was much more patient than James. If it weren't for this, he would have succumbed to his parents long ago, and it would be even less likely that he would be sorted into Gryffindor House.
He looked up and down at the blank portrait, then turned to look at the armor parts and broken statues scattered everywhere.
"They're not Muggles anymore."
Sirius said this inexplicably.
James was stunned for a moment.
"What does this mean?" he asked.
Sirius explained: "In the first two rooms, we encountered intact armor and statues, and we could only use these two relics to destroy them. This is very consistent with the duel between Gryffindor and Muggles. The way."
"But in this room, we encountered unfinished scraps, and there were so many of them all at once."
"Maybe from the beginning, Gryffindor didn't intend to treat them as Muggles, but as something else."
Sirius walked up to an unfinished sculpture. After thinking silently for a while, he met James' doubtful gaze and suddenly said, "They are goblins."
"Here, it most likely refers to the Fairy Kingdom."
"Because they have no power to resist in front of Gryffindor, that's why they remain motionless."
James blinked. He walked near Sirius, looked at the unfinished sculpture as well, and asked doubtfully: "Then why doesn't Gryffindor just make them look like goblins?"
"Because this is also a test, man." Sirius grinned: "There were no special instructions for the two rapiers at the beginning. We only discovered this later."
"It's really yours!" After getting the clue, James finally cheered up.He turned to look at the rows of sculptures and said excitedly: "Then we just need to destroy them all, can we pass?"
"Calm down, James." Sirius said: "If you really do this, it is very likely that all these sculptures will come to life, not even the armor."
"Elves are not the kind of race that can be easily captured. They are completely different from house elves. They will resist."
"Then what should we do?" James asked.
"Well..." Sirius said thoughtfully, "We already have these two rapiers in our hands, don't we? Perhaps, this represents the sword of Gryffindor."
He walked over to the blank portrait being held up.
"And this painting represents Legnac I—the king of the goblins."
"After all, its status is so prominent."
"If that's the case, then what we have to do next is simple."
Then, under James' gaze, Sirius lifted up the relic belonging to Slytherin with force, pointed it at the blank portrait, and whispered a threat to it.
"If you dare to take my sword again, then I will use this sword to kill you and all your subjects!"
The portrait finally changed.
Gradually, lines of writing seeped out.
Compared with the words on the stone door, there is an extra line of text on this portrait.
.
"No wonder it's not written on the slate door in the hall."
Sirius smiled proudly and said: "This is a hint that we will encounter sculptures and armor representing goblins in the third room."
"Although in my opinion, Gryffindor at that time had shown enough chivalry. He at least informed the goblins in advance."
"Perhaps it was because of the threat of taking his life that he did not write this small sentence. Gryffindor's requirements for himself are really strict, and it is so noble that it is incredible..."
When he said this, Sirius's voice gradually became quieter.He looked at James, who was dazed, and asked in confusion: "Man, are you okay?"
"Oh me......"
James came back to his senses little by little. He hesitated for a while, and in the end his tone was unusually disappointed and complicated.
"You solved Gryffindor's mystery," he said.
"You are a true Gryffindor."
At this moment, even Sirius couldn't help but be a little stunned.
"Hey, man, stop kidding."
He walked over and patted James on the shoulder hard: "It was the two of us who made it through this journey together."
"But what I am holding is a relic belonging to Gryffindor after all." James pointed to the lion stripe pattern at the bottom of the sword hilt.
"But I still have to congratulate you, buddy." He said in a sincere tone.
Sirius opened his mouth, looked at the portrait that continued to change, and suddenly said happily: "Stop thinking about it, look!"
"There are two rewards. We are all true Gryffindors!"
——————
Under their gazes, the portrait gradually shrank until it finally became something the size of two paperback books.
Sirius walked over and without looking, he put one of them in the hands of James who looked confused.
"Look at our reward, it's..."
Sirius looked at the things in his hands, and the expression on his face suddenly became a little strange.
"A mirror?"
He raised the mirror in front of his eyes, and James suddenly said in surprise: "Hey, look at this, you're in it!"
The two of them came together and each looked at their own faces in the other's mirror.
"It's a two-way mirror!"
Sirius said excitedly. He couldn't help but hammer James' shoulder hard, causing James to grin immediately in pain.
"Oh, sorry. But look at this, James! Gryffindor must have expected two people to come here, and not to mention, you saved my life on the first pass! "
"We are all true Gryffindors!"
Under Sirius's sincere gaze, James finally smiled.
"You're right!"
He bumped fists with Sirius hard, and then they both let out a cry of pain, each carefully rubbing their joints.
"Okay, it's time to move on."
After the rough and tumble, James felt a lot more relaxed, and he looked at the final stone door with great anticipation.
But this time, they were also stopped.
James squeezed his palm hard against the invisible barrier in front of him.
"Isn't it going to end like this?" He said with a confused look on his face: "We were always allowed to go directly there before."
"It seems like this is it." Sirius spread his hands helplessly, they were helpless in front of this barrier.
"After all, even the rewards have been distributed to us, and with the few lines of writing in the portrait, the test is probably over now."
James blinked, and he suddenly said: "Then we have to go back quickly, so as not to fall behind those two people."
Seeing that James was about to run back to the lobby on the first floor, Sirius quickly stopped him and said, "Don't you want to take out these two rapiers too?"
"What's wrong?" James said: "There are still some cheekweeds left. It's not difficult to swim back with them. I also plan to take them home to show my parents. This is the founder of Hogwarts. Their relics are of high collection value.”
"That's not what I meant." Sirius shook his head: "Of course we can take the double-sided mirror back, but that's because it can be hidden in the witch's robe."
"But we have no place to hide these two rapiers."
"Don't forget, we are very likely to encounter that Sangster again."
When he heard this, James subconsciously touched his gradually swollen cheek, and asked with some uncertainty: "You mean, he will snatch these two swords away?"
Sirius pouted.
"I only know that there are still a lot of rocks on the ground."
There was a brief silence.
"Okay." James reluctantly accepted this fact.
The two then found a location where they were not easily discovered and hid the two rapiers among the piled armor parts. They even sprinkled a lot of dust on them to make the two rapiers stand out from the surroundings. The armor looks no different.
"There is always a chance to come back again." Sirius looked at James who was a little disappointed and comforted him.
"It's not just that."
James regained his composure.
"We may not lose this time!"
The two walked through the bright corridors again, as well as the two rooms they first passed through.By the way, at Sirius's suggestion, the weapon rack in the first room was also destroyed.
"This way, even if they come in here in the future, they won't find anything." Sirius said, "At least they won't be reminded of the existence of those two thin swords."
"Good job, man." James praised.
However, when they finally returned to the hall, someone was already waiting for them.
Snape pointed his cypress wand at them with a vigilant look in his eyes.
Karan stood not far in front of him, looking at the female ghost who was still stopping in the hall.
When the two appeared, he finally turned to look at them.
Before James and Sirius could take out their wands, they floated out automatically, the tips of the wands pointed in front of them.
"I would like to know what you have experienced inside this statue."
Amid the shrill laughter of the female ghost, Karan also took out the ash wand and pointed it at them from a distance.
He asked with a calm expression.
"I think you won't mind answering this question."
"Right?"