Wits Against the Air

After enjoying a Christmas feast, Harley played a snowball fight on the Quidditch pitch with the other students who had stayed at school.

Although most of the students had gone home, there were still enough people to form a few teams.

Professor Snape seemed quite interested in the snowball fight as well, standing in the spectator stands and watching silently.

However, when Harley shouted loudly, "Professor, come and play with us!"

Professor Snape only smiled and shook his head, declining the invitation.

After a hearty snowball fight, Harley said goodbye to two senior Ravenclaw girls she had just met and prepared to head back to the washroom to wash her hair.

George and Fred had been targeting Harley's striking long hair the whole time, leaving her wine-red locks covered in melted snow.

That evening, after enjoying turkey sandwiches, trifle, and Christmas cake, Harley went back to rest early.

After all, there was an adventure in the middle of the night, an operation she had been looking forward to for a long time.

At midnight, Harley woke up on time. She changed into a very lightweight pink tracksuit and put on a pair of light running shoes.

Her wine-red hair was also changed back to black by Harley, combed back, and tied into a ponytail.

After preparing all the night-travel tools she might need, Harley snapped her fingers lightly, and her entire body vanished into thin air.

The Gryffindor common room was empty; the few students who had stayed behind had all returned to their rooms to sleep after eating and drinking their fill.

Harley quietly pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady.

The Fat Lady was already tipsy and asked in a hoarse voice, "Who is it?"

Harley didn't make a sound and quickly left the spot. She had a clear goal and headed straight for the library.

The library was pitch black, and the main door was tightly locked with a rusty padlock.

However, there wasn't even a counter-curse cast on the iron lock, so Harley easily opened it with "Alohomora."

This made Harley suspicious, leading her to guess that there might be more unknown traps inside the library.

After all, a place where an organization stores its knowledge should logically be one of the most important places for that organization.

How could such an important place not have even a decent protective spell cast on the iron lock at the entrance?

Harley subconsciously wanted to activate Spirit Vision to observe if there were any traps, but she immediately suppressed the urge.

After all, there were demigods in this school, so the level of the traps could not be too low.

If Harley happened to see something she shouldn't, even with her once-high status, she would suffer significant trauma.

Harley drew two wands, one of which she had made herself.

Harley tossed the wand she had made herself near the library entrance, ready to swap positions with it at any moment.

Then, Harley carefully crept toward the Restricted Section, not even daring to light a lamp, relying entirely on her night vision.

The Restricted Section was at the very back of the library, and the school used a rope to separate these books from the rest of the collection.

Harley cautiously used a few simplified rituals to test the area, but she reached the conclusion that it was completely safe.

Of course, Harley didn't dare to believe that the Restricted Section was entirely safe. After a moment of thought, Harley took out a square mirror and sent it over using a levitation spell.

Then, Harley took out another mirror, placed it where she stood, and injected a large amount of spirituality into it.

Accompanied by the injection of spirituality, an invisible passage opened between the two mirrors.

Harley tapped her toes lightly on the ground and leaped toward the mirror. Although the mirror was not large, it miraculously swallowed Harley whole.

Harley's figure then emerged above the other mirror.

However, after stabilizing herself, Harley showed a look of confusion. She felt that she hadn't encountered the slightest obstruction!

After a moment of thought, Harley's hair grew rapidly, crossing over the rope. Only then did Harley realize she had been doing useless work the whole time!

"I was actually playing mind games with the air!" Harley frowned slightly, pinched her delicate nose, and couldn't help but sigh.

The dignified Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a school with demigods, had absolutely no protection for its most important repository of knowledge!

"I can't be blamed for being over-sensitive; who would have thought of this!" Harley complained silently while putting away her equipment and beginning to examine the books classified as restricted.

On the thick, heavy tomes, the peeling, faded gold-leaf letters spelled out obscure and difficult words.

Many books didn't even have titles but were stained with dark red marks that looked like long-dried blood.

Harley closed her eyes and felt the invisible malice emanating from many of the books.

"Some of the books in here are probably equivalent to Sequence 5 Sealed Artifacts, right?" Harley muttered to herself.

She wandered through the shelves without fear, quickly recording the names of the books and their locations.

However, Harley did not force herself to understand the names of some books that made her feel particularly dangerous; after all, knowledge itself could be corrupting.

If one's strength is not sufficient, trying to learn certain knowledge could lead to one's own death.

After recording for half the night, Harley stood in front of a book, her hair growing rapidly to gently touch it.

The name of the book was Powerful Potions.

Harley could usually get books from the Restricted Section; for those that introduced the properties of rare potions, even if they were in the Restricted Section, Professor Snape would sign a slip for her.

But for books like this, which likely contained formulas for dangerous potions, Professor Snape would not agree to let Harley read them anytime soon.

Harley pursed her lips slightly, but in the end, she quickly pulled the book out.

After glancing briefly at the table of contents, a hint of joy appeared on Harley's face.

"There seem to be quite a few very interesting Potions in here!"

Harley's fingertips traced lightly over the book's index, and she finally decided to borrow the book on the sly.

She clutched the thick volume to her chest and left the library quickly, not forgetting to lock the door gently behind her before she departed.

Harley shoved the heavy book into the Mirror World, picked up her homemade wand, and then hurried along the stairs, intending to head straight back to the Gryffindor dormitory.

However, her luck did not seem to be very good.

Rowena Ravenclaw had cast magic upon the staircases of Hogwarts castle, so these stairs were constantly shifting.

Harley was quite unlucky to run into one of these shifts, watching in mid-air as the staircase turned toward a different direction.

But Harley didn't mind; the Christmas holiday was long, and no one would care if she slept in tomorrow.

Harley kept moving forward along the path, striving to reach the Gryffindor dormitory, but she ended up arriving at an unfamiliar place.

Harley tapped her fair fingers against her chin, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face:

"Have these stairs had too much to drink? Are they acting this crazy on Christmas night?"

Thinking of this, Harley decided to wait a while, waiting for these frantic stairs to calm down before returning to her dormitory.

With that, Harley pushed open the door to a classroom and prepared to rest for a moment.