Chapter 39: Cassandra's Letter

“Cool!” Ron’s eyes lit up. “Can I?”

“Why not?” Harry shrugged.

Children at this age are the easiest to be influenced by those around them.

Under the subtle influence of Harry and Hermione, Ron also shed his rebellious attitude from the start of the term.

Moreover, for a young wizard like Ron, asking him to study Potions or Transfiguration might not spark his interest—but suggesting learning some minor curses? Now that would really motivate him.

Just imagine being able to cast a few nasty curses at Malfoy’s annoying face. How wonderful that would be.

“But it seems we need a suitable place to practice spells,” Hermione said with some concern. “The Gryffindor common room doesn’t allow the use of magic…”

“I’ve got this covered,” Harry said.

To avoid drawing attention, Harry chose to investigate the dungeon the next day.

Ron and Hermione also had perfect excuses to deflect—finding a place suitable for practicing spells.

Taking advantage of the fact that their classmates were all attending the banquet in the Great Hall, Harry skillfully slipped downstairs to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and found the entrance to the dungeon.

The dungeon entrance was something like a cabinet with four clock-like dials on the door. The pointers needed to be aligned in the predetermined directions to pass through this cabinet into the dungeon.

He drew his wand and, following the method Sebastian had taught him, adjusted the pointers.

When all four pointers were pointing in the correct directions, the entrance door burst open with a loud noise.

Harry stepped inside, accompanied by the familiar sensation of dizziness, and was transported into the dungeon.

It seemed that no one had been to the dungeon for many years—at least that’s what Harry thought. The entire room was covered with thick layers of dust.

He had to wrap a scarf around his nose to avoid being choked by the dust stirred up by his walking.

Actually, he could have used a Cleaning Charm, but Harry was worried that during the cleaning process, some clues might also be accidentally wiped away, so he didn’t use the charm.

The dungeon was called so because it was located at the very bottom of the Dark Arts Defense Tower, with only a few dim rays of light escaping through the skylight above.

Harry took out his wand and lit all the braziers and torches.

Then, he slowly walked over to a nearby desk.

A thick layer of dust had accumulated on the desk, and Harry had to use his wand to brush the dust aside.

To his delight, there was a letter placed on the desk, and the handwriting seemed to be Cassandra’s.

He took out the letter, but the passage of time had already made the writing on the paper blurred.

After careful examination, Harry finally read what was written on it.

“I think Grindelwald is truly insane. Time is a forbidden magic, an existence that even Merlin wouldn’t dare to tamper with. When she comes out of that Love Shack with Potter, I hope you can persuade her, that even ancient magic isn’t all-powerful.

--C.C. Malfoy”

Harry’s heart skipped a beat.

Time magic?

Could it be... after he disappeared, Veratia was experimenting with some kind of time magic, trying to find him?

Clutching Cassandra’s letter in his hand, his head felt fuzzy.

If Cassandra was right, then Veratia likely failed—and with very serious consequences.

This explains why in this century there was only the Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald, and there had never been any news about his sister.

According to her character, she wouldn’t neglect her family.

So, it was very likely... she had been trapped somewhere.

Could it be the Chamber of Secrets? Harry noticed that Cassandra’s sarcastic remark, the so-called “Love Shack,” was Cassandra’s nickname for the Chamber of Secrets, because only the inheritors of ancient magic could freely enter that chamber.

Harry put the letter into his pocket, his desire to obtain that thing became even stronger.

Back in the treasury, his intuition had told him that with the help of the items in that cloth bag, he could overcome the age limit to awaken ancient magic.

Given that it was the headmaster’s property, Harry thought, maybe... he could talk to the headmaster?

Now that he had a clear target and clues, Harry temporarily set this matter aside.

He found a few thick books about dueling techniques among the dungeon’s collection, placed them into a small pocket enchanted with a Disillusionment Charm, and then quietly left the dungeon.

He didn’t plan to return to the dungeon for the time being, after all, he wasn’t experimenting with some Dark Magic with Sebastian, which wasn’t anything shameful.

So, for practicing dueling, it would be better to go to the Room of Requirement.

After returning from the dungeon, Harry went back to the Gryffindor common room and placed the books he brought back in front of Hermione, who was checking Ron’s homework.

“Here, you’re wrong here,” Hermione corrected seriously, pointing out the mistakes in Ron’s homework like a little teacher.

“Oh,” Ron obediently acknowledged.

Noticing Harry’s return, Ron immediately changed the subject.

“Harry? You’re back? Did you find it?—Oh right, Hermione finished checking your homework, marked all the mistakes, and left it there.”

Harry looked in the direction Ron was pointing and indeed saw his homework.

This was him and Ron’s request to Hermione, the overachiever, to check their homework in their spare time—but Hermione had sternly refused Ron’s request to copy homework, using the reason “how can you learn anything that way” to make Ron abandon that unrealistic idea.

“Harry, you only have a few gaps in your History of Magic homework, Ronald!” Hermione glared at Ron like a lioness. “And you, Ronald, look at your mistakes! How many times have I said it? It’s ‘Levi Osa,’ not ‘Levi OsaR!’”

“Oh,” Ron pouted, his cheeks puffed up, and reluctantly lowered his head.

“I found it,” Harry helped Ron change the topic. “We’ll go later, this is the book I found there.”

“'Dueling Strategies of the 19th Century,' 'Harmless Little Curses'...” Hermione held up the books, her eyes sparkling. “Good heavens, Harry, I’ve never seen these books in the library...”

“How do you know the library doesn’t have these books?” Harry asked instinctively.

Hermione gave him a very serious look.

Harry understood—don’t ask about the overachievers’ business.

Then he watched Hermione open the book “Harmless Little Curses.”

She only glanced at it and then quickly closed it, as if she’d seen a ghost.

“Good heavens, you call this ‘Harmless Little Curses’?” she growled softly.