Chapter 643 The Announcement Of The Raven's Death
Under the light refracted through the water and some fluorescent plants at the bottom of the lake, the entire village of the fish-men was surrounded by a faint green glow.
"Lumos," Evan waved his wand and emitted a brighter light.
The fish-men looked at him with curiosity, as well as at the shining wand, but they did not come to the surface. They continued singing and dancing.
As Evan approached, he discovered the space between the caudal fin and the waist of the fish-man statue.
It was covered in thick moss and algae, standing out in the wand's light.
Evan carefully examined the opening, which had formed after a scale of the statue had disappeared.
He inserted his wand into it and stuck his head inside. Within the space, there was a narrow stone corridor, narrow enough for only one person to crawl through.
Following the terrain's trend, this corridor extended directly beneath the fish-man statue, traversing a naturally formed crevice. There was no trace of human intervention inside it, and the rocks on both sides appeared very rough and jagged.
There seemed to be something inside, but due to the angle, he couldn't clearly see it from the outside.
Evan exhaled some bubbles, with the wand crossed over his chest, moving towards the opening, swimming downstream.
In the wand's light, he carefully observed the gray rocks on both sides. The texture was not as hard as he expected. These rocks were easily damaged by external forces, and the natural cracks inside them were very narrow.
This meant that without using the proper magic to open them, it was almost impossible to force entry.
With too weak a destructive force, the stone door on the outside of the statue would not open. However, an excess of force would cause the cracks in the ground to collapse entirely and destroy the narrow corridor.
It was difficult to gauge the amount of force needed. The original designer must have made very careful calculations before building the fish-man statue on top of it.
In the opening, Evan swam ten feet down and landed on the ground.
The corridor formed by the opening vanished, and the space in front of him became clear and spacious.
The cold lake water and pressure quickly faded, and the air became dry again.
Evan turned and extended his left hand to touch. In front of him, there was an invisible magic barrier, isolating all the lake water.
The fish-men outside could not use magic. How had this magical barrier appeared here?!
The magical barrier that had appeared here was very potent. Surely it had been left by a powerful wizard. Could it be Rowena Ravenclaw?!
In a place like this, it seemed that it could be no one else but her.
No wonder the fish-men did not want to enter. They must have known they would come out of the water at that point.
Evan quickly evaporated the water from his body and continued advancing, feeling increasingly intrigued within.
He only stopped after two steps. The fish-men's song from above did not fade away, but instead became clearer...
It was ethereal and beautiful, like a natural sound. The song reverberated in the corridor, making everything in front of him seem unreal, like a dream.
"Something seems to be wrong with this sound." Evan was frozen for a moment, and his thoughts gradually drifted into the fish-men's song.
The song echoing in his ears had the charm of magic. He could not help but immerse himself in it and did not want to do anything else.
Listening to the wonderful music, Evan grew increasingly tired, more unable to lift his spirit. He just wanted to lie down and sleep.
Muffliato! He had just cast this spell on himself, and his ears filled with an unidentifiable buzzing. It was as if the whole school was talking together in the Great Hall, or whispering in class.
The fish-men's song returned to normal, and the power of the enchantment that had suddenly emerged disappeared.
Evan moved on and felt more and more intrigued by the magic left there.
This magic relied on the fish-men without any power to cast it, merging and influencing each other. The design was very ingenious.
At the current level of Evan, let alone participation, there were many things he did not fully comprehend.
Throughout the passage, he found himself in front of a stone door. There was no handle or lock on the door. It only had a light brown plaque with a bronze knocker shaped like an eagle and a dark blue raven at the top.
The raven's eyes were of a disquieting red, fixed on Evan. He aimed his wand at the raven and blinked as he realized its eyes were two rubies.
Glistening in the wand light, it looked unsettling.
Evan didn't know what material it was made of. It seemed very lifelike.
Facing the door, Evan had the sensation of being watched, but in an unusual way, there was no magic around him.
He lowered his gaze and looked away from the raven, moving towards the main body of the door.
As he observed the familiar eagle-shaped knocker, Evan recalled the door of Ravenclaw House Common Room.
It was said that the current Ravenclaw Tower was once Rowena Ravenclaw's laboratory. That's why she left such a peculiar door there to test the wisdom of visitors and determine if they were qualified to enter.
Unlike the other three Houses that required passwords, only the wizard who gave the correct answer could enter Ravenclaw.
Even Ravenclaw students had to stay outside if they couldn't find the answer.
If students from the other Houses were transferred to Ravenclaw, there would probably be many people sleeping in the hallway outside every night!
Nevertheless, Ravenclaw House students were delighted and considered the test very apt.
Given that there was a door here, there was no doubt that Ravenclaw left it.
Perhaps the key to her secret treasure was inside. Evan did not expect it to be so straightforward.
Next, all he had to do was answer the question posed by the door to unlock it. Besides the alluring power of the Sirens' song, he found no other obstacle along the way.
Evan did not let his guard down. If Gryffindor left a test, there was no reason for Ravenclaw to do nothing.
Approaching the door with his wand in one hand, he lightly tapped the door with the other. In the silence, Evan felt the sound reverberate like a seashell.
The eagle's beak immediately opened. It did not sing like a bird but spoke in a cold, indifferent voice, "Strange visitor... you will be judged here, and death shall be your only fate."
Barely had it finished speaking when a strange and powerful spell instantly enveloped him in an ethereal space.
Immediately he cast a Patronus Charm, but it didn't work.
The sudden force of the surrounding space was too strong, and Evan found himself under the Petrificus Totalus spell, losing control of his body.
At that moment, the raven above the door flew as if in a dream.
It was above Evan's head, its blood-red eyes fixed on him.
This time, Evan could clearly feel death emanating from this raven!
