Chapter 379 Should We Go Out for a Walk?
After coming out of the library, Amanta found an opportunity to leave first.
Hogwarts at night is as quiet as a sleeping beast.
She strolled along the corridor leading to the cellar, the carpet under her feet was thick and soft, and the wall lamps on the wall cast large patches of jumping light. The whole castle seemed to still have the warmth of the ball, but her mind had already left that noisy night.
She wanted to go back to the dormitory, but she stopped when she passed a window facing the lake.
Outside the window, a stream of water... is flowing upstream.
The clear water as clear as a mirror meandered along the stone slabs from the direction of the Black Lake. The water flow was very thin, like a soft thread, sliding silently across the floor tiles to her feet, as if guiding her intentionally.
She squatted down and touched the thin line of water with her fingertips.
Cold, with a strange pulsating feeling.
Amanta pursed her lips, stood up, and walked towards the lake step by step along the water trail.
The lake was chilly, and a thin mist covered the entire surface of the water, making it impossible to see the edge from afar. The moonlight fell on the lake, like a layer of silver flakes scattered on a black cloth.
She stood on the shore, saying nothing.
A few seconds later, ripples suddenly appeared on the surface of the lake, and a light green bubble broke through the water and hovered in front of her eyes.
The bubble was crystal clear, and a line of words slowly emerged from inside:
"If the Blue Eye does not return, I will pay with my own death."
Amanta shuddered slightly and her breath caught.
Just as she was about to speak, the words in the bubble suddenly dispersed and gathered into another line:
"The Blue Eye awakens the lake's spiritual veins, and the curse is finally broken.
If you do not return it, the crown will turn into a dry husk and never be opened again."
Amanta clenched the Sage's Ring on her wrist, with a cold light flashing in her eyes.
"You said you wouldn't force me." She whispered, her voice broken by the lake breeze. "I have fulfilled part of my promise. The soul fragments in the crown have been cleared."
This time, there was no immediate reply in the bubble. Instead, a string of short sentences slowly emerged:
"This is the last call."
Then, the bubbles burst and turned into millions of tiny water droplets, which sprinkled on the lake in front of her.
She stood there for a long time, the moonlight shining on her face, making her look a little pale.
When she returned to the Slytherin dormitory, she was filled with a cool and refreshing air.
She sat at the desk, looking out the window at the endless dark lake.
The threat from the mermaid, the curse of the crown, the unknown of the second game... everything seemed to be forcing her to make a choice.
What she feared most was never the pain itself, but the fact that every choice she made seemed to cut off the possibility of a future.
*
In Hogwarts in early January, the frost and snow had not yet disappeared and the cold was still strong.
The snow outside the window is no longer dazzlingly white, but has some signs of melting, and it makes a "crunching" sound when you step on it. The window seat on the first floor of the library is still the warmest corner in winter. The golden sunlight shines through the window lattice, coating the papers on the long table with a layer of light warmth.
Amanta was looking down at the white magic record. The silvery-white words were winding like vines, floating slowly on the parchment.
"Look at the structure of this spell. It looks like a multi-layered magic array." Hermione pushed her notebook seriously beside her. "It's not directly fighting the curse, but following the logic of the spell and dismantling it layer by layer... This is too advanced."
Amanta didn't respond, her eyes fell on the destroyed symbol structure at the end of the spell, her brows furrowed.
It wasn't that she didn't understand what Hermione meant - on the contrary, she understood it too quickly, which made her feel even more uncomfortable.
"It does work." Amanta finally spoke, but her tone was not relaxed at all. "If I spend enough time, I may be able to forcibly break some of the evil curse on the crown."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Haven't you always wanted to remove the restrictions on the crown?"
Amanta did not answer, but just gently pressed the line of spell that was about to fall off with her index finger and remained silent for a long time.
At this moment, a burst of chaotic footsteps interrupted their thoughts.
"—you're still working on that weird parchment?" Harry dove in front of them with an "I've got a brilliant idea" expression on his face.
"We just found an important clue." Hermione pressed the scroll on the table vigilantly.
"I'm not here to interrupt you," Harry spread his hands, "I'm here to talk about something important - about the golden eggs. Wait, you haven't forgotten it, have you?"
Behind him, Luna and Neville followed. Luna was holding the latest issue of "Naughty Mouse" and whispered as she walked: "... Christmas ball scene - why did Merlin's descendants choose the son of black magic as their dance partner? Does the Hoffman family intend to get their hands on the treasure of Hogwarts..."
"Stop reading it." Amanta frowned.
Luna raised her head with an innocent look on her face: "It also said that Draco actually has two other dance partners secretly..."
"I said stop reading." Her tone was not harsh, but a little cold.
Luna blinked and shut up. Instead, Harry sat down and looked at Amanta seriously: "Are you... a little unhappy recently?"
Amanta turned her head: "No."
"Are you lying now?" Harry raised an eyebrow, "I know the look on your face when you lie."
"Harry..." Hermione reminded him not to talk nonsense.
But Harry had let go of his reserve: "Okay, I'm not here to argue. I want to say... Actually, that day, Draco didn't want to explain, he just didn't know how to start. He received a letter, I saw it, it was written by his father, he had no choice -"
"Are you here to speak for him?" Amanta said lightly.
Harry paused: "I'm here to remind you that it's not that he doesn't care about you."
The air was silent for a while.
Neville looked back and forth between the few people and quickly tried to smooth things over: "Uh, well, actually I was going to say... while there is still some time left during the holiday, should we go out for a walk?"
"Where to?" Hermione wondered.
"I was thinking of saying that before... Godric's Hollow." Neville scratched his head. "Hasn't Harry ever been back? That's where he was born... We can write an application. People who stay at school during Christmas are allowed to go out occasionally."
Harry's eyes suddenly lit up: "Really?! You are not kidding?!"
"I asked the dean in advance." Neville said proudly.
Harry immediately turned around and looked at Amanta: "Come on, too! Let's go together! And by the way, leave your lifeless face at Hogwarts!"
Amanta: “…”
She wanted to agree, but the last warning left to her by the mermaids by the lake and the crown that had not yet been freed from the curse appeared in her mind.
My head almost exploded.
So she turned to Hermione: "You go with him."
But Hermione grabbed her wrist and said softly, "Come too, Amanta. You really need to relax."
She paused, her eyes serious: "Don't always carry all this by yourself."
Amanta was stunned for a moment and said nothing.
Harry struck while the iron was hot: "Yes! You should learn from me, think while eating, think while walking - then inspiration will come."
Luna said slowly, "I plan to bring the first edition of "Chatting about Fantastic Beasts". We can read it on the way while looking for wild...invisible flying carpets."
Amanta smiled helplessly and finally nodded.
"…Okay. Who's going to write the application?"
Neville patted his chest and said, "I have already written it, and asked for my grandmother's signature. If you don't have a signature, you can hide it under Harry's invisibility cloak. Don't worry, it won't be found out."
"If we're caught, we'll lose points." Hermione glared at him.
"I don't think Dean Sprout is that unreasonable." Neville shrugged.