Bathsheda's Secret

"Now that you've all come out unharmed, let's get down to business!" the fairy Lockhart shouted in a shrill voice.

Professor Babbling acted as if she hadn't heard the fairy's commotion. She gently ruffled their hair and said, "If you want to leave, I can send you out right now."

Loren's heart skipped a beat. Judging from Professor Babbling's strange behavior just now, he thought that the professor had some ulterior motives towards them, but now it seemed that this was not the case.

"Babbling!" Lockhart pointed angrily at her, "This isn't what we agreed on!"

"It's just escorting them away from the Pyramid, it won't take much time. I'll do my best to help you explore the ruins afterwards," Professor Babbling said impatiently, pursing her lips.

Loren and Hermione hesitated, looking into each other's eyes, and reached an agreement in a fleeting glance.

"No need, Professor." Loren shook his head. "The previous teleportation was just an accident. Let's leave together after we finish this exploration."

Babbling touched their hair again, her eyes filled with apology.

The fairy Lockhart hummed twice, quite pleased with their sensibility.

Just then, Bill's voice suddenly came from the corner of the tomb. "Come quick, I've found something!"

When the crowd heard his voice, they gathered around to check on him.

In the corner lay countless ancient, identical earthenware jars, slightly bulging in the middle and gradually decreasing in diameter downwards, resembling the shape of ordinary vases. Due to their age, the surface was a slightly dull, earthy yellow, and the firing process was simple and crude. The lids of the jars were carved in four different styles: a baboon's head, a jackal's head, a human head, and a falcon's head.

Hermione smelled a musty, earthy odor emanating from the pottery jars, along with a faint scent of spices and herbs, exactly like the Sphinx Mummy.

The eagerness in Fairy Lockhart's eyes was undisguised. "That's it. The people at the Alchemy Research Center were stopped by these pottery jars. According to the information those old wizards found by flipping through ancient books, these jars contain the mummy's lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines. If you find these four organs and put them back in the sarcophagus, you can open the passage to the First Burial Chamber."

Professor Babbling curled her lip. "That's why they let you Gringotts in first to explore, oh no, to scout ahead."

Hermione asked, puzzled, "What's so difficult about that? Just open the lid and see."

"These jars are under a strict curse." Bill held up his wand, examining the jars carefully in the light of the Lumos, and explained, "Touching the wrong jar will cause a person's true name to appear on it and then weather away to dust along with the jar."

As a Gringotts Curse-Breaker, he has encountered this pottery curse more than once.

Loren examined the earthenware jars. All of them were covered with a layer of eerie light, a mixture of gold and black, but no Magic Power clues could be found on their surface. "Is there any way to avoid the curse? Can we just break the jars, or use Levitation Charm to select them?"

"No, the terracotta pots are very sensitive. Any spell can destroy them directly. If we break the terracotta pot containing the mummy's organs, it might trigger other curses." Bill looked at Professor Babbling beside him. "Professor, do you have any ideas?"

Professor Babbling pondered for a moment, then used her wand to draw a Runes in the air that served as a detection tool. The rune transformed into a glowing ribbon that circled the pile of pottery jars before returning to her and turning into tiny sparks of light at her fingertips.

Professor Babbling shook her head. "No, we can't find out."

"Hurry up and think of a way! I didn't invite you here to fail!" Fairy Lockhart was so anxious that she scratched her head. A mountain of gold was right behind the door, but the door was blocked by these cursed pottery jars.

Hermione looked around and said weakly, "I... I have an idea."

All eyes turned to her, and Loren noticed that Professor Babbling didn't seem surprised.

"What idea? Tell me quickly!" the fairy urged excitedly.

Hermione pointed to a jar that she thought looked different, "You can tell by the smell. I smelled spices and herbs in some of these jars, just like the mummies."

The fairy paused for a moment, then excitedly leaned forward, sniffing incessantly, its nose emitting loud inhalations. Fairies possess noses much larger than humans, and as a race gifted in craftsmanship, their sensitivity to smell is far greater than that of humans.

After sniffing for a while, the Lockhart stopped and looked at Hermione with a questioning gaze. "No, there is only the smell of earth. I don't smell the spices and herbs you mentioned."

Professor Babbling was not surprised, and simply said, "Let Hermione give it a try."

The fairy Lockhart seemed unconvinced. "Our fairy sense of smell is dozens of times more sensitive than yours humans!"

Professor Babbling ignored him and gave Hermione an encouraging look, signaling her to go ahead and do it.

Loren moved forward silently, ready to throw Counter-charms at Hermione at any moment.

Hermione took a few steps forward, gently wrinkling her delicate little nose, and followed the scent to a ceramic jar with a baboon head lid, the one she had pointed to earlier. "This one smells."

The fairy Lockhart didn't believe it and leaned in to smell it again. Then she turned her head and her face was full of surprise and doubt. "I still only smell the earthy smell."

Professor Babbling, unsuspecting, walked straight up and took out the jar Hermione was pointing to.

The pottery jar was intact, and no one's name was displayed on it.

Fairy Lockhart touched its nose, and for the first time began to doubt its own racial talent.

Could it be that the elders of the tribe were wrong? Or is it that humans actually have a stronger sense of smell than fairies?

Bill and Loren leaned forward one after the other to sniff, then shook their heads. "We can only smell the earthy smell."

"Ignore them," Professor Babbling said, looking at the little Witch. "Hermione, keep looking."

"Okay, Professor."

Next, Hermione pointed out three terracotta pots, and they were all taken out. The goblin, Loren, and Bill each took one, and each had a jackal head cover, a human head cover, and a falcon head cover, respectively.

Having weathered the terracotta curse unscathed, the group present harbored their own thoughts. The goblins questioned their own race's sense of smell, Bill longed to leave work early, Hermione wondered why only she could detect the scent, and Loren kept a close eye on Professor Babbling ...

Professor Babbling looked somewhat dazed.

"Next, we'll put these jars into the coffin. Don't worry, I checked it as soon as I came in; the stone coffin is fine," Bill said with a smile. He held the earthenware jar in his hands, lifted his Dragon Hide, and kicked the lid of the stone coffin.

With a rough scraping sound as the stone lid was moved, the stone coffin was opened.

Fortunately, the mummy in the coffin was not scary. Its whole body was carefully wrapped and sewn together with grayish-yellow shroud strips, not a single bit was exposed, and even its head was wrapped up tightly.

As Bill had instructed, they opened the sarcophagus lid and placed the four jars into the coffin in the order of lungs, stomach, liver, and intestines.

Just after the last jar was placed in, the stone coffin began to shake, and the group quickly stepped back.

Under some mysterious force, the lid of the sarcophagus returned to its original position on its own, trembling along with the sarcophagus. In this violent vibration, the two seemed to merge into one, slowly turning into a hollow stone.

Then, the outer layer of stone began to peel off piece by piece, and the stone became smaller and smaller...

Gradually, Loren and the others realized something was wrong. Based on the volume, the stone skin should have already reached the central cavity by now, revealing the mummy and the four pottery jars. However, the stone skin was still falling off at a steady rate, as if it were originally a complete, solid stone block, rather than a hollow stone coffin.

In the end, the sarcophagus was transformed into a small earthenware jar, not a long, rectangular one for containing internal organs, but rather a short, stout one. And to Loren, it looked more like a crucible than an earthenware jar.

"What happened? Where is the door to the First Burial Chamber? Where is my gold mine?" Fairy Lockhart couldn't accept this outcome. She rushed forward to check the small pottery jar, but was afraid that there might be a curse on it, so she dared not touch it.

Professor Babbling stared intently at the pottery jar, her face bearing an indescribable expression. "Mr. Lockhart, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. This is not the door to the First Burial Chamber, but the door to the salvation of our family."

Lockhart looked at her with an incredulous gaze. "Bathsheda Babbling, what do you mean by this?"

The three Hogwarts students also turned their attention to the professor.

"Let me tell you a story," Professor Babbling said softly. "Long, long ago, there lived a group of escaped slaves here. They were always being plundered by neighboring countries, lacking food and clothing, and living in constant fear. They desperately needed a wise ruler to lead them in establishing their own kingdom."

A reclusive wizard in the vicinity took pity on their plight and secretly selected a brave young man. With the wizard's help, the young man quickly united the slaves, defended against enemies, and organized farming...

He became a wise king. When he entered middle age and no longer possessed a strong and vigorous body, and was worrying about defending against foreign enemies, a strong Champion stepped forward. He became the country's general and fought in foreign wars in place of the king.

One day, the king met Bathsheba, the wife of Champion ...

Upon hearing the name, Loren's heart stirred.

Bathsheba?

Professor Babbling's name is Bathsheda. Is there any connection between the two?

On the other side, Professor Babbling continued, "The king was instantly captivated by Bathsheba's beauty, losing his appetite and even climbing onto the roof to peep at her bathing... In the end, the king had an affair with his general's wife and had a son. To cover up this scandal, he used despicable means to kill the general and made Bathsheba his Queen Chess Piece."

The sorcerer who had always helped the country was deeply disgusted by the king's actions. He used the cauldron to unleash calamity and punish the king. He also left a curse on the king's bloodline: the eldest son of all his offspring would die young, and the rest of his offspring would die in war.

To combat the curse in their bloodline, the king's descendants attempted to marry other wizards and have children, but no matter how powerful the wizard, they could not stop the curse from continuing. All of this stemmed from this Magic Power cauldron.

"This cauldron also appears in many other famous stories. When the Moses the Wizard led the Egypt slaves out of Egypt, it released blood that polluted the Nile River, released all kinds of pests and diseases... and even a curse on the firstborn sons of all the people. Overnight, all the firstborn sons died, and even the livestock were not spared."

Hermione exclaimed, "The Ten Plagues of Moses! I've read about them in the book."

Professor Babbling stared at the stone crucible in a daze, and said in an ethereal voice, "Yes, that was a crucial event that directly led to the Egypt sorcerers becoming more discreet. Some call it the Ten Plagues of Egypt, or the Ten Plagues of Moses, but I prefer to call it the Cauldron Plagues."

"So... Professor, what is your relationship with Bathsheba?" Loren couldn't help but ask the question.

"That's right, I am a descendant of Bathsheba." Professor Babbling shook her head. "However, I am not of Bathsheba's bloodline with the king. In the king's later years, Bathsheba had children with other men, but these children also inherited the curse of the cauldron."

To serve as a warning to future generations, all women in our lineage are named Bathsheda. Up to our generation, my eldest brother died at birth from Dragon Pox, my second brother died from the Death Eater's wand, and only I have survived to this day.

"Professor, how did you find this crucible here?" Bill asked at this moment.

Professor Babbling replied softly, "To fight the curse, I studied everything about Ancient Magic and became proficient in Ancient Rune, eventually becoming the Ancient Rune Professor at Hogwarts."

"So, Professor, you found this place in some ancient book?" Hermione asked.

"No," Professor Babbling smiled. "After Professor Trelawney got drunk during Divination Class, I brought her back to my office from the North Tower to rest. After she fell asleep, she made a Prophecy in front of me, Prophecy that pointed to this time, this place, and the student I was destined to meet here."

"I thought this student referred to Bill Weasley until I saw you at Gringotts."

Hermione pointed at herself with a strange expression. "So the student in the Prophecy refers to me?"

Professor Babbling looked at her gratefully. "I'm sorry to have dragged you into this. I know you chose the Ancient Rune course. As compensation, I will definitely teach you seriously next semester."

For some inexplicable reason, Hermione had a bad feeling.

Fairy Lockhart asked in surprise and doubt, "Babbling, so what are you going to do next?"

"The curse it brought has been lifted. Bathsheba's transgressions have already been punished, and we should not bear the burden for generations to come." Babbling turned to look at the stone cauldron. With firm steps, she stepped forward, knelt down, and lifted the lid of the cauldron.

A foul-smelling, blood-red mist gushed out, carrying a sticky, stench, instantly filling the tomb chamber.

The fairy Lockhart yelled, "What's going on! Babbling, are you trying to kill us?!"

Babbling calmly cast Bubble-Head Charm on the group. "You won't die. Back then, Moses put sand from this land and water from the Nile River into the cauldron to cast the curse, and later added the Ten Plagues. Now we just need to release the cauldron again. This is the first plague, the Blood Plague, which is the blood of a hundred kinds of livestock and humans. It has no direct harm to humans."

"And what about the curse on you, Professor?" Loren asked.

"It's that mummy. We'll just wait for it to turn to ash and spray out."

As if to confirm Professor Babbling's words, the blood mist quickly dissipated, and swarms of frogs, lice, flies, and locusts spewed out of the crucible.

"Ah!" Hermione screamed, quickly casting Fire Charm to create a protective circle around herself.

Actually, these things don't need an isolation ring; they'll just turn into dust in the air on their own.

Professor Babbling explained, "These are the Frog Plague, Lice Plague, Fly Plague, and Locust Plague, which are the ten plagues."

Then came two plumes of foul-smelling fog, which Professor Babbling said represented Livestock Disease and blister sores.

The strangest thing was a black mist that seemed to penetrate the Bubble-Head Charm, causing Loren and Bill to cough a few times. That represented the Plague of Darkness and the Plague of the Firstborn of the Ten Plagues.

Finally, a gust of sand and dust erupted, carrying with it a strange blend of medicinal herbs and spices, along with an unmistakable stench of corpses. Professor Babbling voluntarily removed the Bubble-Head Charm and opened her arms to welcome the sand and dust.

As the dust settled, a thick layer of ash covered the floor of the tomb, and the pottery jars piled up in the corner also turned to ash.

With the curse lifted, Professor Babbling looked relieved. "Alright, Hermione, this cauldron is yours."

"Ah! Ah?" Hermione's little face was full of surprise.

The fairy Lockhart couldn't sit still any longer and shouted in a shrill voice, "What is hers? This belongs to Gringotts, it belongs to the fairies!"

"You can try to take it with you," Professor Babbling said to Hermione after mocking the goblin. "Only you can smell the jars, which means you are the only one recognized by the Pyramid, and only you can take this crucible."

Hermione fell into deep thought. After hesitating for a moment, she shook her head. "I don't want it. From your description, Professor, I only see the calamity and curse that this cauldron brings. I don't think I need it."

"Of course, you are its owner, so it's up to you whether you want it or not." Professor Babbling had a strange smile on her face. "It will always appear when you need it."

Loren's eyes sharpened; he sensed that Professor Babbling's words had a hidden meaning.

"Let's go, we should go back." Professor Babbling and Bill were the first to leave the tomb and head back the way they came.

Loren and Hermione quickly followed.

"Hey! My gold! Where's my gold?!" Fairy Lockhart cried out anxiously.

Bill waved behind him. "Mr. Lockhart, I'm off work now. Go find it yourself!"

The fairy Lockhart was unwilling to give up. He looked at the black stone crucible on the ground, gritted his teeth, and tried to move it with great force, but he missed and staggered forward a few steps.

Lockhart was taken aback. He looked up and saw that the stone crucible had grown a pair of brass legs, which were jumping around in place and were even taller than him. In the end, the crucible jumped into the dust pile by the wall and disappeared.

The Lockhart rubbed its eyes and looked again, but there was only emptiness before it; the crucible was nowhere to be seen.

Reluctantly, he had no choice but to give up, stumbling after Loren and the others, calling out, "Wait for me, wait for me..."

In the passageway, Hermione suddenly seemed to sense something. She turned to look at the stone chamber where she and Loren were trapped, and the Sphinx Mummy's stammering words suddenly became clear in her mind.

"Remember, don't let power corrupt you. Even hundreds of herbs and spices can't mask the stench of a rotting corpse..."

Why did the Sphinx say that?

And it was Loren who revealed the answer first: why did it choose me?

Hermione had many questions in her mind, but none of them were answered. She could only shake her head to clear her mind of the jumbled thoughts and quickly catch up with Loren ahead.

After descending one passageway and ascending another, we emerged from the Pyramid to find the setting sun casting a golden glow across the sky.

Holding Hermione's hand, Loren helped her jump down the last stone step. Hermione stood on the soft desert ground and smiled at each other.

On the way back, Professor Babbling suddenly asked, "Bill, can you keep this a secret for us?"

Hermione looked up at Professor Babbling, not understanding why he asked that. Loren squeezed Hermione's hand, signaling her to be quiet.

Bill raised an eyebrow and replied with a smile, "Of course."

Seeing Babbling's gaze fall upon her, a hint of panic flashed in Fairy Lockhart's eyes. "I, I can do it too! Babbling, don't do anything rash, I'm the manager of Gringotts!"

"[Obliviate] "

——

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The Wizard and His Jumping Cauldron

Once upon a time, there lived a kind old wizard who always generously and wisely used his magic to help his neighbors. He never told anyone where his power came from, but instead lied, claiming that his Potions, spells, and antidotes all jumped out of a small cauldron. He called this cauldron his Lucky Pot. People from many miles around would come to him when they were in trouble, and the old wizard would always gladly stir his cauldron, making the problem disappear.

The beloved wizard died at a very old age, leaving all his wealth to his only son. This son was completely different from his gentle father. In the son's eyes, those who couldn't use magic were useless, and he often complained about his father's habit of using magic to help the neighbors.

After his father's death, the son found a small package hidden in the old cauldron, with his father's name written on it. He opened the package, expecting to find gold and silver treasures, but found only a thick, soft shoe, too small to wear and not even a matching pair. Inside the shoe was a small piece of parchment with the words: "My son, I truly hope you will never need it."

The son complained that his father was confused, threw the shoe back into the crucible, and decided to use the crucible as a trash can from then on.

That very night, an old peasant woman knocked on his door.

"My granddaughter has a tumor, sir," the old peasant woman told him. "Your father used to make a special ointment in that old crucible—"

"Get out of my way!" the son yelled. "What does your child having a tumor have to do with me?"

He slammed the door shut in front of the old peasant woman.

A loud clanging sound immediately came from his Kitchen. The wizard lit his wand and was astonished to see his father's old cauldron: a brass leg had sprouted from it, and it was hopping around in the middle of the Kitchen, making a terrible sound on the stone floor. The wizard walked forward in surprise and saw that the surface of the cauldron was covered with fleshy growths, so he quickly retreated.

"Disgusting thing!" he yelled. He first tried to make the cauldron disappear with a spell, then tried to clean it up, and finally tried to drive it out of the house. But none of his magic worked. The cauldron followed him out of the Kitchen, jumped up the stairs to sleep, and made a noisy clattering sound on the wooden stairs: clang, clang, clang, and he couldn't do anything about it.

The wizard didn't sleep a wink all night because the old cauldron, covered in growths, kept making a ruckus beside his bed. The next morning, the cauldron stubbornly followed him to the breakfast table. Clang, clang, clang, the brass leg kept hopping around, and before the wizard could even start eating his porridge, there was another knock at the door.

An old man stood at the door.

"My old donkey, sir," the old man said, "Is lost, probably stolen. Without the donkey, I can't carry my goods to the market, and my whole family will go hungry tonight."

"I'm still hungry!" the wizard roared, slamming the door shut in front of the old man. Clang, clang, clang, the cauldron's one leg hopped on the floor, but now its noise was mixed with the braying of donkeys and the groans of hungry people, sounds coming from deep within the cauldron.

"Quiet! Quiet!" the wizard screamed, but no matter what magic he used, he couldn't quiet the cauldron covered in fleshy growths. The cauldron followed him around all day, bouncing and thrashing about, making braying, groaning, and clattering noises, no matter where he went or what he was doing.

That night, there was a third knock on the door, and a young woman stood on the threshold, crying her heart out.

"My baby is very sick," he said. "Could you please help us? Your father told me to come whenever I have any trouble—"

But the wizard slammed the door shut right in front of her.

Now, the tormenting cauldron was filled with salt water. It thrashed about, braying and groaning, sprouting more lumps, and splattering tears on the ground. For the rest of the week, no more villagers came to the shaman for help, but the cauldron continued to tell him about their ailments. In just a few days, it not only brayed and groaned, thrashed about and shed tears, and sprouted lumps, but it also coughed and retched, cried like a baby, howled like a dog, and vomited spoiled cheese and sour milk, as well as countless hungry slugs.

The cauldron stayed by the wizard's side all day, keeping him from eating or sleeping. But the cauldron just wouldn't leave, and the wizard couldn't calm it down or force it to stay still.

Finally, the wizard could no longer bear it.

"Give me all your troubles, all your worries, all your sorrows!" he shouted, running into the night and down the road into the village, the crucible hopping along behind him. "Come! Let me heal you, help you, and comfort you! I have my father's crucible; I will make you all better!"

He ran through the streets, shooting spells in all directions, the disgusting cauldron still bouncing and leaping behind him.

In one house, the tumor on the sleeping little girl disappeared; the lost donkey was magically summoned back from the distant heather thicket and quietly entered the barn; the sick baby, sprinkled with Dittany liquid, woke up healthy and rosy-cheeked. In every household suffering from illness and trouble, the wizard did his utmost to help them, and slowly, the cauldron beside him stopped groaning and gagging, becoming quiet, clean, and gleaming.

"Is that enough, cauldron?" the trembling wizard asked, as the sun had already risen.

The cauldron burped, spat out the shoe the wizard had thrown in, and allowed the wizard to put it on the brass foot. The wizard and the cauldron returned home together, and the cauldron's footsteps finally fell silent. From then on, the wizard helped the villagers as his father had always done, fearing that the cauldron would take off its shoe again and start jumping around once more.