Hogwarts' Secret Passages
Hogwarts is a strange place.
At least that's what William thinks.
His opinion was not based on baseless slander, but rather on careful observation, bold hypotheses, and meticulous verification, leading to his final conclusion.
For example, Headmaster Dumbledore, even though he wore fleece-lined wool socks, still complained of being cold in the summer!
This... is quite a serious illness.
Of course, there are countless examples like this.
The stern-faced Transfiguration teacher is a gambler; the Potions Professor, who never washes his hair, is afraid of going bald; and the Key Keeper loves petting dragons!
The strangest thing was that their Ravenclaw House doorknob had been stolen...
That would have been fine, but a dramatic thing happened: a month after it went missing, the door knocker mysteriously reappeared in the trash heap by the door.
This made everyone feel somewhat awkward.
Especially that night, Professor Dumbledore ordered everyone to sleep in the Great Hall, countless teachers checked everywhere, and many Prefect kept watch for days. All the students were filled with anxiety, thinking that the You-Know-Who was about to be resurrected.
Despite all this fuss, the door knocker was returned once again.
The first person to discover this was the Prefect Robert.
He devoted the last few months of his time at Hogwarts to keeping an eye on the students.
Perhaps it moved Heaven and Earth, for one morning he suddenly discovered the door knocker.
He originally intended to pretend he hadn't noticed and secretly take the item away from the crime scene, but he was caught red-handed by a wandering Bobocha and Mrs. Norris.
Mrs. Norris knew, and so did the caretaker Filch.
William felt that all his efforts these past few days had been in vain; it was all the little wizard's prank!
What else?
Did the Death Eaters risk their lives to return the door knocker after discovering it wasn't the Ravenclaw Bronze Ring they were looking for?
Most importantly, William happened to be looking at the Marauder's Map that day.
At that time, there were many people coming and going, and students from all houses came to visit... He even saw the names of many Slytherin students on the map, such as Judy Crouch and Arthur.
It was at this moment that the door knocker suddenly appeared and was discovered by Robert.
In other words, only these students could have put down the door knocker; they secretly wrapped it in newspaper and threw it in a corner while there were many people around!
The reason? Probably because the impact was too bad, and they were afraid of being discovered, so they left the door knocker behind.
So, as time went by, the incident of the Death Eaters entering the school to steal the ring began to be forgotten.
The door knocker with the "Zhiling" voice pack was also reinstalled.
As the weather gradually warms up, Ravenclaw House students begin their intensive review sessions, even though there are still more than ten weeks until the final exams.
It's unusual to start reviewing so early compared to previous years.
The reason is simple: Ravenclaw still firmly holds the top spot on the House leaderboard, and they haven't touched the House Cup in nine years.
Now, it's just one step away.
They have no chance of winning the Quidditch Cup. Even the most confident student in the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team wouldn't believe they have a chance of finishing in the top three.
In other words, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team is definitely going to be last!
In the previous tournament, Ravenclaw ended up with a six-game losing streak, falling more than 300 points behind third-place Slytherin.
Although there is a final round in the Quidditch Cup competition, the champion is determined by the sum of all scores throughout the semester.
The team with the highest score on the leaderboard wins the Quidditch Cup.
According to past practice, other houses would hold a Quidditch "Oscar Night," playing a few rounds to give Ravenclaw a few games to prevent them from being shut out.
But that's not possible now.
The scores of the three houses were so close that not only could they not lose any points, but everyone was also trying to score as many points as possible against Ravenclaw.
This has led to Ravenclaw's current awkward situation.
Ravenclaw students were aware of this, so they studied hard, preparing to increase their efforts and score more points to win the greatest honor— the House Cup.
The whole school seemed to suddenly quiet down; everyone went about their own business, Tywin and Snape did not clash again.
Professor Tywin looked particularly annoyed, unlike before when he always had a smile on his face.
Professor Snape was also gloomy; it seems life in Azkaban wasn't so comfortable after all.
Easter will arrive soon.
Unfortunately, teachers assigned a ton of homework, making the Easter holiday far less fun than Christmas.
Several people were in the library, quickly writing down answers so they could sell them for a good price.
William was quite certain that this year's students would indeed be the worst ever, because much of their homework was copied.
Two weeks after Easter, there will be a match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor.
The two teams are only 20 points apart, but Slytherin has already fallen behind.
This will be the match that decides the ultimate winner of the Quidditch Cup.
The afternoon before the competition, everyone abandoned their studies and instead looked forward to the final the next day.
The weather at Hogwarts has been wonderful lately. The grounds around the castle, the sky, and the lake have all turned a pale blue with a purplish glow, and flowers as big as cabbages are blooming in the greenhouse.
Cedric and the twins are both playing in a final like this for the first time, so they are under a lot of pressure.
To relieve stress, William decided to take the three of them to Hogsmeade to play.
This wasn't the first time William had done something like this.
The night before his final exams in his past life, he took his roommates to DaBao... cough cough, all night. Everyone had a great time, relieving their long-suppressed emotions.
In the end, only William passed the exam.
Students below the third grade are not allowed to go to Hogsmeade, so the four of them carefully slipped down to the mirror on the fifth floor.
Mrs. Norris has already been seduced by Bobocha, so there's no need to worry about Filch showing up.
William took out his wand, tapped the mirror lightly, and said, "Aparecium!"
The mirror then became transparent, revealing a space large enough for a slightly thin person to enter.
Cedric, at the very back, quickly glanced back and forth down the corridor. William tucked the map away, peeked into the secret passage, and then disappeared inside.
The four of them slid for quite a long distance, a path that resembled a sewer pipe, before William hit a cold wall.
He stood up and looked around. It was pitch black all around. He raised his wand and muttered, "Lumos!"
Thus, a low, circular passage appeared.
Fred said, "We've checked several more secret passages recently and found a total of seven leading to Hogsmeade."
George nodded. "That's right, it's a pity Filch knows four of them."
The three passages he didn't know about, besides the secret passage through the mirror on the fifth floor, included another one that led directly to the Honeydukes's cellar, with the entrance at the hunchbacked statue of the One-Eyed Old Woman.
"And one more?" Cedric asked.
William laughed, "You wouldn't want to go; the Whomping Willow is planted right at its entrance."
Cedric's eyes lit up.
The Whomping Willow... that's a great material for making wands, he hasn't tried it yet.
"Next time, let's go there!"
"..."
(Second update delivered, third update a little later. Please vote for me! I have exams today and just want to see what votes look like. This is my lifelong request!)