The Mightiest Badger at Hogwarts

Chapter 537 Tips from the Brain Hall

Department of Mysteries.

In front of the main entrance.

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

"Harry, is this here?"

Ron deliberately lowered his voice and spoke carefully.

Harry nodded upon hearing that.

He was sure of this, because this door, or 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, even if he had to pay any price for it.

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

He began to be afraid of what would happen when the dark door was opened.

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

Or the bodies of Dumbledore and Sirius lying on the ground?

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

At this moment, Aberforth's tall and thin figure walked out from the side of him.

He walked to the dark door as quickly as if he were taking a walk, and reached out to push it.

"No!"

This scene frightened Harry so much that he couldn't help but scream.

He is not mentally prepared yet!

Unfortunately, it was too late.

The seemingly heavy door was actually pushed open by Aberforth easily.

Behind the door, there was dead silence.

There were no laughing Death Eaters, and there were no corpses all over the floor. Instead, there were only floors, walls, and ceilings paved with marble that were equally dark.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Aberforth turned his head and looked at Harry in surprise.

It was obvious that he was also startled by Harry's scream.

"No, it's fine."

Harry said softly. He felt his face getting hot. His previous conjectures were really embarrassing.

As if to regain his lost face, Harry took the lead and followed Aberforth into the Department of Mysteries.

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

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

It seems that some kind of light-absorbing material is used in these places.

The faint blue firelight emitted by the branch-shaped candlesticks dotted on the walls did not provide any illumination at all.

Those rays of light would basically spread out for about one meter before being swallowed up completely.

This weird darkness made Harry feel nervous again after finally relaxing.

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

After all, although I don't know what the relationship between Aberforth and Principal Dumbledore is, at least they both have the surname Dumbledore.

But when Aberforth saw this, he felt disgusted and pushed Harry away who was almost pressed against him and said:

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

As he spoke, Aberforth pointed toward the darkness ahead.

Looking in the direction he pointed, you can see eleven identical dark doors standing there.

Harry counted the number of those doors, and then felt a little dazed.

Because there were clearly twelve black doors he saw in his dream.

But right now, one is missing.

Harry's confusion didn't last long, because soon there was a loud noise behind them.

Everyone turned around quickly, only to see that the originally open entrance door behind them had now been tightly closed.

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

The blue flames blurred around everyone, like neon tubes.

Harry could no longer care about anything else and reached out to grab Aberforth's arm.

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

Only George and Fred were still at the scene, barely maintaining their fighting posture.

They drew their wands and stood back to back, ready to fight.

But just seconds later, everything stopped.

The loud rumbling sound quietly stopped, and the walls stopped rotating.

Only the flickering flames on the candlestick showed everyone the remaining traces of the scene just now.

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

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

This is the number after adding the door through which they came.

That is to say...

"Damn it, we're trapped!"

Aberforth cursed and revealed Harry's terrible thoughts.

Then, he reached out and pulled the stunned Harry off his arm and said:

"Hurry up and show us the next direction. The mechanism has been triggered. If there are really people here, they must have known that we are coming by now!"

Harry trembled when he heard this, his mouth opened slightly, and his eyes kept glancing back and forth at the twelve doors in front of him, but he couldn't say a word.

His appearance made Aberforth frown slightly.

Aberforth bent down, keeping eye level with Harry, and said word by word:

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

"Forehead--"

Harry instinctively avoided Aberforth's hawk-like gaze.

This move left Aberforth completely speechless.

He stood up, slapped his forehead hard, and said helplessly:

"So you actually didn't prepare anything, and you just wanted to break into the Department of Mysteries recklessly with enthusiasm? Merlin's beard! The most outrageous thing is that I actually came with you! I am really... over the top Life is back!"

"Don't say that," Ron retorted with some dissatisfaction, "It's already amazing that Harry knows that Principal Dumbledore and the others are trapped in the Department of Mysteries!"

"Yes, that's right!"

"I strongly disagree with this view!"

George and Fred also spoke up to support Harry.

Unfortunately, their expressions hidden in the darkness were as helpless as Aberforth's at this moment.

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

It's just that he's tough-talking.

"Don't be so discouraged!" Hermione couldn't stand it anymore. "We are already here. Maybe we can search door by door. Anyway, we have no way out, right?"

Harry's eyes lit up when he heard this and he said quickly:

"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, if I just take a look at it, I will definitely recognize it! "

"Oh! That's really good news!"

Aberforth rolled his eyes at Harry and said, then walked directly to the first mountain gate on the left, obviously wanting to try again as Hermione said.

He gently pressed one hand on the door, and held the wand tightly with the other hand, ready to deal with any attack that might come after the door opened.

The door opened very easily.

This is 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 sound of friction when opening and closing.

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

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

The towering ceiling above it houses the room's only set of magic lights.

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

The only regret is that in this box of 'emeralds', there are still many pearly white things floating quietly.

They feel like swimming fish, but they don't move, and their shape is also very strange - irregular circles.

"What is this?"

Ron asked quietly.

"Brains," Aberforth said calmly, "the brains of silent people throughout the ages. These guys are really crazy. They actually want to use this method to perpetuate their consciousness!"

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

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

This confirmed to her that what Aberforth said was true.

Just following 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 and warned, "I remember you said you had never been here!"

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

Hermione heard this and hurriedly leaned over to look.

Sure enough, one could see that the dark base was engraved with dense words, 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, God, I'm sorry, Aberforth, I shouldn't have..."

Hermione apologized awkwardly, while Aberforth sneered:

"Forget it, there's no need to say this."

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 incredible. They... they seem to have really succeeded! These brains can actually move on their own, as if they really have their own consciousness!"

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

This frightened Hermione so much that she took several steps back, with a look of horror on her face.

Aberforth frowned deeply and said:

"Did you hear 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 to ethics. The dead should return to silence honestly instead of lingering on. In this world!”

As soon as these words came out, the brains in the water tank became more and more active.

A large number of brains were crowded into the corner, as if they were trying their best to stay away from Aberforth.

Harry said somewhat unbearably:

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

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

Aberforth's lips slightly raised when he saw this, but he didn't resist and just let Harry lead him away.

It wasn't until they were some distance away from the water tank that their brain activity gradually slowed down.

Harry was relieved to see this.

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

This kind of thing that was beyond his cognition and usually only appeared in horror movies made people feel very uneasy.

However, what if these brains were truly self-aware.

So once the water tank is broken, wouldn't hundreds of lives be killed instantly?

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

And it was this look that stunned him.

Because at this moment, the brain in the water tank automatically gathered into a Roman numeral - 7!

"Oh my God! Aberforth! Look!"

Harry said as he tugged hard on Aberforth's arm.

Upon hearing this, Aberforth and others all turned around.

Just a moment before they turned back, the brains in the water tank had dispersed again and returned to their previous appearance of floating in disorder.

"What do you want us to see?"

Aberforth frowned and said dissatisfied.

Harry didn't speak, but rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The scene that just happened in front of him made him wonder if he was hallucinating!

Hermione walked over quickly, reached out and touched Harry's forehead, and said worriedly:

"Harry, your forehead is very hot. Are you hallucinating?"

"Or... maybe."

Harry stammered.

He didn't know why he lied.

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

This feeling was amazing, Harry couldn't describe it at all.

Aberforth shook his head when he heard this, strode forward and continued walking.

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

As soon as they all exited, the door closed with a click.

Then there was another rumble in the wall.

"The mark appears!"

Hermione gestured hurriedly with her wand in the air.

Following 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, there was a large ball of golden red mixed in the swaying blue fire.

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

George and Fred praised excitedly:

"Hermione, you have such a wonderful idea! Our progress will be much faster on these things."

"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 know, 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 only have twelve rooms.

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

"What are you talking about? This is impossible!"

Ron said angrily, and after that he wanted to reach out and push the marked door directly. Fortunately, George and Fred hurriedly pulled him back.

At this time, Hermione's originally happy expression became silent again.

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

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

In fact, they may not even be able to leave here!

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

If you go from left to right, this black door should be the seventh door!