Staring at where those words had disappeared, Evans was slightly stunned.
The first half of the ssage wasn't too difficult to understand. With the signature at the end, it seed like a little surprise Hufflepuff had left for future young wizards.
But the last two sentences really caught Evans's attention.
What did "the one he chose to break the seal" an? Who was "he", and what exactly was this "unsealing person"?
And who was "she" in "be careful, she may return at any ti"?
Evans's mind raced as he tried to piece together a theory.
If he had to think of the most impressive seal he knew, it would definitely be the one completely covering the centre of the Forbidden Forest.
That seal covered at least a fifth of the forest's area, and its property of being invisible without magically enhanced eyes gave it an air of mystery.
Could Hufflepuff have been referring to that seal?
And this so-called "unsealing person" – did that an himself?
A flash of surprise crossed Evans's eyes.
That seal seed to have existed since Hogwarts was founded. He'd always assud it was created by Hufflepuff or Slytherin, since both the Runespoor blood research and the Lethifold blood research seed like sothing only they could pull off.
But apparently, that wasn't the case.
Hufflepuff had explicitly said "he" chose the unsealing person, and this "he" probably didn't refer to Slytherin.
If it was a seal created by Slytherin, Hufflepuff probably wouldn't have specifically ntioned it in this kind of surprise gift for young wizards. After all, they were equals, and their relationship in later years apparently wasn't very good.
But aside from Slytherin, who could Hufflepuff refer to as "he"?
And if this ssage was specifically ant to remind him, then who was "she"?
No good. Too little information to deduce anything useful.
Riddlers really deserve to die!
Shaking his head vigorously, Evans committed those sentences to mory, planning to find an opportunity to ask people who might know sothing.
Professor Binns would be a good choice, for instance.
Not dwelling on those lines anymore, Evans focused on the seal beneath him.
This was an extrely complex magical seal. Breaking it properly would require a series of complicated procedures. It couldn't be undone in less than a day.
However, due to its extre age and the fact it wasn't specifically designed to prevent wizards from entering, forcing it open wouldn't take too long.
One fully charged Thunderstomp would make any seal step aside.
But doing so would probably cause considerable damage to McGonagall's conjured castle, and he wasn't sure if it would harm Hermione inside the seal.
After all, he didn't know how much space was below. If it was just a small room, even his utmost care might hurt his howork-grading little witch.
After pondering for a mont, Evans shook his head.
If this were a seal left by Slytherin, he'd definitely find a way to break it and rescue Nana and Hermione.
But a seal left by Hufflepuff shouldn't be problematic.
Compared to Slytherin, Hufflepuff's reputation was just too good. He felt completely at ease.
Wait, wasn't he a Slytherin student?
Wasn't it a bit inappropriate to bad-mouth his own house's founder behind his back?
…
Click!
The sound of the hatch closing ca from behind her. The dim cave lost all light, startling Hermione. Feeling the surrounding darkness, she quickly drew her wand and held it before her.
"Lumos."
Bright light blood from her wand tip, and everything around ca back into view.
But when she turned around with her wand raised, she found the door and staircase had vanished, replaced by a cold wall.
"Is this really Professor Kahn's puzzle?" An ominous feeling stirred in Hermione's heart.
This was a cave that seed extrely spacious to her, surrounded by cave walls. Walking forward along the stone walls, so light appeared at the edge of her vision.
Through the sowhat dim cave, a huge waterfall appeared before Hermione. Water cascaded down, but after hitting the ground, it all disappeared.
This waterfall... wasn't made of ordinary water?
Sowhat puzzled, she walked forward and reached toward the falling water. The mont Hermione's hand touched the waterfall, she felt everything around her instantly shrink. The originally spacious cave beca just wide enough for her alone to pass through.
"This..."
Looking at her hands in shock, Hermione recalled everything she'd experienced, thought about that huge hatch, and suddenly had an epiphany.
Maybe it wasn't that those things had gotten bigger, but that she had gotten smaller?
She rembered the feeling of her body compressing toward the centre when she and Nana had grasped Professor Kahn's letter together.
She'd initially thought that was discomfort from portkey transport, but now it seed like... a Shrinking Charm?
If it was a Shrinking Charm, that would explain where Professor Kahn had gotten a castle identical to Hogwarts. But why had the professor lifted the Shrinking Charm's restrictions here?
Was this place really still part of Professor Kahn's puzzles?
Hermione once again doubted her current location. After all, everything she was experiencing seed quite different from Professor Kahn's original intent.
And wasn't Nana a bit too excited?
Looking at the Niffler ahead that had passed through the waterfall, grown larger, and charged straight forward, doubt appeared in Hermione's eyes again.
But since she was already here, she couldn't turn back.
Finding a rock nearby, she pointed her wand tip at it. Soon, the rock beca a stone slab that could barely cover her.
Carrying the slab, Hermione rushed through the waterfall, then tossed the slab aside.
Nana had already run out of sight. Observing her surroundings, this seed to be a sowhat dim corridor. The corridor's style... looked sowhat similar to Hogwarts' architectural style.
Following the corridor forward, she soon turned a corner ahead, and a bright room appeared before Hermione.
In the centre of the room sat a rather impressive-looking Venomous Tentacula, with a rocking chair beside it. A sowhat ethereal old woman lay in the chair, while in the corner, Nana was constantly clawing at a wall, apparently trying to claw a hole through it.
Seeing Hermione enter, the old woman smiled at her and waved, then looked at the Niffler still scratching the wall.
A gentle voice ca from her mouth:
"Don't waste your energy! You can't get through until your friend completes this little surprise."
Having said this, she petted the Niffler's head with her sowhat ethereal palm, then turned her gaze back to Hermione, who had just entered.
"Hello, lovely little witch. May I know your na?"
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