Hermione remained composed and calmly replied, "Yes, Professor Luo Na, we do indeed want to approach this from a historical perspective, understanding the history of how the North America Wizarding World governed dark creatures."
Seeing that the two looked calm, Professor Luo Na didn't ask any further questions.
After closing the application, it says:
"I didn't mean anything by it, it's just that there are rules for the Restricted Section, requiring a supervisor to accompany you at all times. You can only read what you wrote on your application; you won't be allowed to access other books."
Hermione glanced at Draco, Draco confirmed with the professor, "That's right, we want to read these kinds of books."
Professor Luo Na was somewhat surprised; it was rare to see these two young people genuinely interested in historical documents.
Without giving it much thought, she took the application and gestured for the two to follow. "Okay, come with me."
The two followed Professor Luo Na through the castle's corridors to a special room for reviewing Restricted Section. The room was small and simply furnished, with a long table, a few chairs, and the school crest of Ilvermorny and several ancient magic maps hanging on the walls.
Professor Luo Na asked the two to sit down at the table, "Please wait here for a moment, I will go and call the two reviewing professors over."
"Okay, thank you for your help," Hermione replied.
After Professor Luo Na left, Draco leaned back in his chair and said, "The approval process for this Restricted Section is much stricter than I imagined. They say you can read whatever you want, and you need a librarian to accompany you the whole time—it's like some kind of top-secret area."
"After all, it's Restricted Section, containing a lot of dangerous magical knowledge. If it's not properly managed, the consequences of a leak would be unimaginable. Ilvermorny is doing this to protect the students." Hermione expressed her understanding of the school's strictness.
"That's true..." Draco smiled and said, "The more it's like that, the more curious people become about what's hidden inside."
"Don't get any funny ideas."
"I know." Draco gave Hermione a sly smile.
The two chatted for a while, then heard footsteps outside the door.
Professor Luo Na pushed open the door and entered, followed by a male and a female professor. The female professor was around forty or fifty years old, wearing Ilvermorny's signature dark blue robe with cranberry red accents. Her pockets were bulging, seemingly stuffed with many small items.
The male teacher was probably in his fifties or sixties, with an old scar on his forehead, and wore a dark gray robe with Wampus Cat patterns embroidered along the edges.
Professor Luo Na introduced the two:
"This is Professor Hicks, Professor of Charms. This is Professor Fontana, Head of Ancient Magic."
Draco and Hermione each stood up and politely greeted, " Professor Hicks, Professor Fontana."
The two professors nodded and sat down opposite each other. Professor Hicks's gaze was gentle, while Professor Fontana appeared more serious. The two picked up the application on the table and read it carefully.
After a moment, Professor Fontana put down the application and looked at the two of them. "Please tell me the contents of this application."
Draco repeated what he had said.
The two professors listened while comparing the text to the application. Seeing that the content matched, Professor Hicks nodded in approval.
"Your research topic falls under the category of compliant academic research and has no intention of overstepping boundaries. I hereby approve your application."
Professor Fontana did not immediately respond.
After a moment of silence, he emphasized again. "I must confirm that you are only reading historical texts and will never disseminate taboo secrets."
Hermione answered solemnly:
"We understand the risks. We guarantee that we will only review the records, not study them, copy them, or distribute them outside the restricted area, and that the files will remain within the Restricted Section."
Professor Fontana nodded, picked up a quill pen, and signed his name on the application form. "Alright, I'll sign as well. The permission is valid for one day, and the librarian will accompany you throughout. Any violation will result in immediate revocation of your access."
The two thanked them, nodded, and left. Seeing that the approval process was complete, Professor Luo Na said to them, "I have some things to attend to, so I won't keep you company any longer."
Hermione quickly replied, "Thank you, Professor Luo Na. You've really gone to a lot of trouble today. Please go on with your work."
Professor Luo Na nodded, bid farewell to the two, and left the approval room.
The two arrived at the library with practiced ease. The librarian Franklin, glanced at them, then returned to his work, simply saying, "Register your information."
To everyone's surprise, the two arrived before him, and Hermione explained their purpose:
"Professor, we've obtained dual-professor approval for the school's Restricted Section and wish to enter to examine relevant historical documents and files."
Professor Franklin was slightly surprised, and then stopped what he was doing, looked up, and Hermione handed him the application form.
The professor took it and looked at it. There were no problems with the application form, the approval process was complete, and both professors' signatures were present.
Professor Franklin put down the forms, glanced at the two children, and said, "You two little rascals, you want to enter the Restricted Section on your second visit. Are the regular books no longer enough for you?"
Hermione explained to the professor, "We found a book about dark creatures in the regular section, which contained some information that interested us, but the descriptions were too brief, so we thought of going to the Restricted Section to find the answers."
Professor Franklin glanced again at the research topic on the application form and reviewed the case files, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
Just like the professor who approved the book, he didn't expect that the two young men would enter the Restricted Section to look up historical documents.
However, as a librarian, his only responsibility is to manage the books and ensure that students follow the rules. As for what they want to read, as long as it is within the bounds of the law, it is not his concern.
"Please wait a moment." Professor Franklin stood up, walked to the library door, locked it, then returned to the counter, picked up the permit form, and said to the two, "Please come with me."
As they walked, Professor Franklin reiterated the rules of the Restricted Section to Draco: "Once inside the Restricted Section, you must not touch any documents that have not been classified, you must not copy or reproduce any content, and you must not take any books out of the Restricted Section. I will accompany you the entire time—if you violate these rules, your permit will be immediately revoked."
Both of them replied, "We will definitely abide by it."
The three of them arrived at the far end of the deepest corridor in the library.
This place is completely different from ordinary book storage areas; there are no rows of bookshelves, only a whole wall of thick, dark stone.
The stone wall had no doors or windows, no patterns, only layers upon layers of gnarled and intertwined dark green vines.
These vines don't look like ordinary plants.
Its entire body shimmered with a faint, luminous magical aura. Its thick stems and intertwined roots sealed off the entire wall, while layers of leaves covered it, forming an impenetrable barrier.
Franklin stood in front of the barrier, a faint, milky-white light slowly emanating from his palm and enveloping the area in front of him.
Then, he began to chant a spell in a low voice.
As the incantation flowed, the vines entwining the stone wall began to tremble, and a faint green halo slowly swirled around their surface, creating fluctuations in light and shadow.
The gnarled branches gradually loosened and stretched, the intertwined veins slowly separated, and the layers of green leaves gently gathered and drooped to both sides, like a curtain being drawn open by the evening breeze.
The vine barrier slowly receded towards both sides of the stone wall, and the impenetrable barrier gradually cracked open, revealing a straight and narrow passage.