In 1875, the Ministry of Magic issued the "Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery," prohibiting underage wizards from using magic outside school.
Many young wizards found this hard to accept, especially the Trace. It was simply infuriating.
But from another perspective, the Trace made it easy to track where underage wizards were. In any case, Pomona and Severus Apparated into the Forbidden Forest rather than the Cambridge market.
"Why am I not surprised at all?" Pomona said, drawing her wand.
Severus headed straight for the ruins in the forest.
As they approached the ruins, wave after wave of powerful magical pulses, like heartbeats, washed over them. She felt terribly uncomfortable.
"What is it?" Severus stopped and asked.
"Nothing," she said softly, barely suppressing the discomfort.
It reminded her of Lupin during his school days, whenever the full moon came around. Yet today was not a full moon.
"You'd better tell me directly. This is no joke," Severus said.
"A pulse. Looks like Paul told them another secret," Pomona said.
"No, I didn't," Paul's voice suddenly rang out.
Pomona looked around.
"I'm here~"
Pomona looked at Severus's pocket.
Impatiently, he used Wingardium Leviosa to float the court puppet out of his pocket.
"Why are you here?" Pomona asked.
"You all went out to have fun without me. I was so bored," Paul said.
"So who told them about this place?" Pomona asked.
"These little Trolls are hiding something from us," Severus said through gritted teeth.
"They seem to have found something interesting," Paul said excitedly. "Go take a look."
"I'm more inclined to think they got themselves into 'trouble,'" Pomona said, waving her wand and making the forest trees move aside.
Without the plants concealing it, the ruins became clearer. But when they entered, they found water everywhere on