Chapter 310
"I hope your plan hasn't gone wrong," Xiwen said, looking deeply into Dumbledore's blue eyes. "If there's even the slightest mistake, our situation will deteriorate rapidly and we'll fall into an irrecoverable predicament."
"I know, so we need to seek advice from another person to help us identify and fill in the gaps," Dumbledore said.
France, 3rd arrondissement of Paris, Montmorency Street.
Inside Flamel's safe house.
"I can't find Tom Riddle's location," Flamel said, frowning as he looked at the Crystal on the workbench.
In Flamel's Crystal, the Divination that had always been infallible now only revealed a black fog that obscured all vision, making it impossible to discover anything useful.
"Perhaps Death is also wary of us, and has used its power to conceal Riddle's presence," Dumbledore said, frowning gravely. "Or perhaps, after these years of recovery, Death's power has returned to its peak, and even a small amount borrowed could create a shielding effect stronger than the Unplottable Charm or the Repulsion Charm."
"But how can this plan proceed if we can't even locate Riddle?" Xiwen asked anxiously. "Isn't Grindelwald able to foresee the future? Could he find Riddle's location?"
"I'm afraid I'll have a hard time finding Tom with his precognitive abilities," Dumbledore said slowly, shaking Xiwen head. "Gellert's talent for foreseeing the future, while sometimes quite miraculous, is usually not something he can control."
"Five years ago, I tricked Grindelwald's precognitive abilities using a method similar to the 'Three-Card Monte Game' in the Muggle world, precisely because he couldn't pinpoint the minute details of his macro-level Prophecy. Finding Riddle through Gellert will probably be a matter of luck."
Upon hearing Dumbledore's explanation, Xiwen shook his head.
"We certainly can't entrust our life and death to luck," he said, shaking his head and directly rejecting the option of taking chances.
"Do you have any other methods?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Xiwen.
A silver-haired figure suddenly appeared in his mind, and Xiwen was stunned for a moment.
"I think I know someone else whose Prophecy abilities seem even stronger," he said softly. "I remember her saying that her eyes are Third Eye."
Passing through the golden halo of the Dimensional Gate, Xiwen stood atop Ravenclaw Tower.
On the top floor of Ravenclaw Tower is a heavy wooden door with a Bronze Door Knocker hanging on it.
Xiwen walked slowly to the door, gazing at the Bronze Door Knocker shaped like a hawk, and his memory seemed to drift back five years—
Back then, he stood in front of the Ravenclaw Common Room door just like he is today, thinking that he would sneak in when the other Ravenclaw came out for their morning reading, so that he could bypass the password.
But the eagle-shaped door knocker suddenly spoke, asking him in a deep, mysterious voice, "What would you get if you combined a woodpecker and a pigeon that knows its way around?"
After Xiwen answered with the owl, the doors to the Ravenclaw Common Room opened directly to him, making him a successful Slytherin infiltrated into Ravenclaw.
This was only his second time here, but Xiwen didn't feel unfamiliar with the place, nor did he feel as uncomfortable as he had the first time. He didn't even take off his green collar and tie, and just stood confidently in front of the Ravenclaw Common Room.
As expected, the eagle-shaped door knocker spoke, asking in a deep, mysterious voice, "What is the essence of magic?"
Xiwen was taken aback, quite surprised that the eagle-shaped door knocker had asked such a question. He had prepared a whole host of riddles to answer the question, but he hadn't expected it to discuss such profound magical matters.
Coincidentally, he had just discussed this issue with his teacher Ancient One, not long ago, and they came to a conclusion remarkably similar to the Muggle World definition. "The essence of magic is the magical practice of wizards exploring, adapting, and growing in the unknown world."
This conclusion was endorsed by the former Sorcerer Supreme Ancient One.
But looking at the eagle-shaped door knocker in front of him, Xiwen suddenly didn't want to tell it the answer. He just wanted to try and see what kind of answer was correct.
"The essence of magic is a hymn to love and courage, a dream of protecting oneself and others," he said with a smile.
The eagle-shaped door knocker said, "That makes sense."
Then it raised its Griphook, and the wooden door opened.
As the doors to the Ravenclaw Common Room slowly opened, a pleasant smile appeared on Xiwen's face.
In fact, there is no fixed answer to the nature of magic, or rather, every self-consistent answer is correct and reasonable. The eagle knocker only wants to obtain a line of thought, not to define the nature of magic like Muggle do.
Xiwen walked briskly into the Ravenclaw common room, looking at the spacious, round room that felt both familiar and unfamiliar, and his heart was filled with mixed emotions.
Five years have passed, and he has returned to this lounge. But Miranda, the senior he came here to look for back then, has now graduated for almost three years.
Blue and bronze silk hung softly on the walls, draping gently by the windows. The domed ceiling was painted with a myriad of vivid stars, which seemed to be blinking. Below, the deep blue carpet was also covered with larger star decorations than those on the ceiling. And on the floor were exquisite tables, chairs, and bookshelves.
In the niche directly opposite the entrance to the lounge stands a white marble statue. The statue is lifelike, and her beautiful, dignified, yet stern face bears a striking resemblance to Helena, who is none other than Rowena Ravenclaw, who has been gone for many years.
Her other marble statue still sits in the Room of Requirement, the room reserved for Helena, and can no longer be moved after losing the soul of the Grey Lady. But the stern look in the statue's eyes has completely faded, leaving only deep affection for Helena and the tenderness of a mother.
Seeing her statue, Xiwen couldn't help but think that in the past two years, it wasn't just him who had been busy dealing with the threat of Death; even Helena had joined the battle after learning a lot of Kamar-Taj magic, focusing on rescuing the ghosts controlled by Death.
Flamel also recently developed Ghost Artifact, allowing Helena to use her wand even in her Soul Body form, greatly enhancing her combat power!
Beyond the Ravenclaw statue, several arched windows stood high on the wall, letting in the bright morning sunlight, which was neither too harsh nor too dim, creating a stark contrast to the dark and mysterious atmosphere of the Slytherin Common Room.
At this time, Xiwen had just returned to Hogwarts from Flamel's place. He hadn't been up much later than the six-hundred-year-old man. It was quite early, but many young Ravenclaw wizards had already gotten up and come to the common room, most of them carrying heavy books in their arms, diligently beginning their morning reading.