A broken Hogwarts

Curfew time was getting closer and closer. The two of them walked quickly along the corridor, and the stone wall of the Slytherin common room was already in sight.

"I thought you wouldn't go back to the dormitory to sleep tonight." Owen said slowly.

"I talked to Sirius about this today. In fact, the professors have tightened the security measures at the entrance to the common room while we were in class during the day, and also cast a spell on our dormitory. As long as we close the dormitory tightly when sleeping Even a mouse can't break through the door."

Harry shrugged and raised his hand to push the glasses on the bridge of his nose: "You know, I can't hide forever. Once someone really breaks into the dormitory, if they don't find me, they might get angry. I'll take action against you..."

He breathed out and found that he was becoming more and more calm about being threatened. Well, I'm used to it.

"Speaking of which, have the professors arranged something here?" Standing in front of the slippery stone wall, Harry looked around.

Owen lazily raised his eyelids and waved the wand in his hand. Following a unique induction, he slowly came to the armor in the corner of the passage, raised his head and stared at the armor's face, which was covered by a silver helmet, and there was a faint reflection there.

He stood on tiptoes and pushed up the helmet, revealing a smooth mirror inside. The mirror was facing the stone wall, and the image of the person reflected on it was deformed like a mirror, giving people a funny and weird feeling.

"A mirror?" Harry leaned forward curiously so that he could see his face reflected in the mirror clearly.

"The revealing mirror can reflect suspicious people, and it should have an alarm device." Owen said casually, pulling the helmet back to its original position. He raised his fingers and knocked on the flaming stone pillar next to the armor. After tapping on the side for a while, he fumbled and pressed a hidden switch.

A well-hidden small secret door next to the stone pillar slid open, revealing a small round object that shone brightly in the darkness.

Owen looked at it with interest and said with a smile: "Dark magic detector. However, this kind of thing can be easily deceived. Basically only half-baked dark wizards will be able to see through it."

Harry glanced at him sideways and whispered, "Why do I think you're still a little proud?"

Owen didn't even look at him, but just restored the pillar to its original state, and said in a brisk tone: "There are probably many similar arrangements around here, and some of them may be difficult for even me to find. The professors are indeed Careful."

He walked to the stone wall, said this week's password "desire", and followed the door that slid open quietly and entered the warm and dry common room.

Seeing Owen Shiran go back to the dormitory to sleep, Harry could only sigh in envy and resignedly started to write today's overwhelming Potions homework.

As the night got darker, the students quickly climbed into their beds and fell into a deep sleep. The soft lights in the bedroom gradually went out, and the lake outside the window glowed with a light dark green color and rippled slightly, making it look like a sunken ship buried deep at the bottom of the lake.

In the dead of night, only the sound of snoring echoed in my ears. Owen lay on his back on the four-poster bed and fell asleep quietly, sleeping peacefully and well-behaved. Melete curled herself up into a ball and lay on his pillow, with the velvet ball under her pillow. Nyx stood motionless on a high perch, eyes tightly closed, like a gorgeous bird sculpture.

Suddenly, Melete opened her round eyes, and her golden cat pupils shimmered in the night. The hair all over her body exploded, and she rushed to the side of Owen's neck, stretched out her paws to quickly fiddle with his neck, and bit his earlobe with her sharp teeth.

But there was no need for Melete to wake him up. Owen had already woken up from his sleep when the cat nives pounced on him. He had felt terrible danger in the sudden nightmare just now. After struggling to wake up, he found that this feeling of danger still had not dissipated.

He quickly opened his eyes and jumped up from the bed, looking around with sharp and cold eyes. A familiar feeling of being watched invaded him, as if being stared at by a cruel and bloodthirsty cold-blooded animal, making the hairs all over his body stand up.

"Is that dark shadow here again?" Owen thought.

Because the surroundings were too dark, he did not hesitate to transform into black flames to avoid being attacked by things in the dark.

He burst out of the curtains of the four-poster bed like a gust of wind and flew directly over the sleeping Nyx, almost knocking the phoenix off its perch. The little wizards on the other beds were still sleeping soundly, and Melete had already jumped to Nyx's side with a dumpling in her mouth.

Nyx slowly opened his sleepy red eyes, looked around angrily for a while, as if he wanted to burn the guy who woke him up to ashes, and finally glared at Melete with dissatisfaction.

"Follow me." Owen just conveyed this thought, and then slipped out through the narrow gap in the bedroom door. He couldn't do anything here, and it could easily affect others. He woke up Nyx just in case.

It has to be said that the Phoenix's ability to teleport without being restricted by the anti-Apparition curse is really a must-have for traveling at home.

The black flames formed by the Europeans flew quickly along the long corridor and soon broke into the empty common room. The lights in the lounge are always on. The green lights make the place look like a magnificent ruin under the lake. It looks a bit cold and weird in the silent atmosphere. Only the flame in the fireplace shines with warm light. .

Owen flew around the circular chandelier on the ceiling, feeling the feeling of being watched coming with him. He looked around, and then he saw a familiar black shadow of a big dog imprinted on the stone slabs on the ground, hovering and pacing below his position.

"It's really haunting." Owen flew to the most empty corner of the lounge and returned to his original state. The huge black shadow turned to look at him, approaching him menacingly.

Owen looked at the black figure that looked like a big dog with clear and cold eyes, watching it get into the shadow of a sculpture, and then its huge head poked out from the shadow of a nearby armchair. He opened his ferocious mouth and pointed at Owen's diagonally reflected shadow on the ground.

"Able to move in the shadow, but cannot move directly into the shadow of the target? Or cannot move into the shadow of the creature?" Owen quickly changed his position and quickly summarized the phenomenon he observed, staring intently. Looking at the black shadow of the big dog running towards him.

He took out his wand and planned to test out the various coping methods he had come up with these days.

Owen carefully changed his position, always paying attention to his shadow to avoid being attacked by the shadow. Nyx had flown to the lounge and landed on the top of the fireplace, tilting his head and watching him curiously.

The shadow of the big dog appears and disappears among the shadows of debris, and it takes a lot of effort to deal with it. While Owen was running around in the open space, occasionally forming a ball of black flames and flying out of the blind spot, he would seize the opportunity to recite the magic spell at the black shadow.

"A salvo of ten thousand bullets!"

Owen waved his wand in a wide motion, and the surrounding ornaments, small sculptures and candlesticks were levitated, and flew out with a "swish".

They did not fly directly to the location of the black shadow, but flew in another direction, but their shadows reflected on the ground hit the big dog's black shadow directly.

Owen stared down at the shadow on the ground. He wanted to test his conjecture. If the black shadow could attack his shadow, would it also be attacked by the shadows of other things?

The shadow of the big dog faced the incoming missiles, raised its huge paws high, and slapped them down. The small objects still flying in the air suddenly stopped and shattered to pieces in an instant.

Seeing this scene, Owen's eyes lit up: "It really works!"

He "whooshed" and dissipated into a ball of black flames, narrowly avoiding the claws protruding from the shadow of the armchair beside him.

"Then, let's fire all the arrows!"

Owen swung his wand, and sharp black arrows condensed in front of him. The sharp arrow tips shone with a cold light. He had earlier made dark magic improvements to this spell, strengthened its power, and attached a dark magic curse to the arrow.

He controlled these sharp arrows to turn in mid-air, causing their shadows on the floor to hit the black shadow of the big dog one after another. But the big dog still calmly raised its front paws and smashed the arrow shadow into pieces easily.

Watching the arrow disintegrate in mid-air, Owen frowned and quickly analyzed what he saw.

"It was cracked so easily? There seems to be no sign of the curse on the black shadow..." He waved his wand and swept away the armchairs and tables around him, leaving him room to move around and preventing the black shadow from getting in these places. The shadows of debris walked freely, "Can't the black shadow be cursed?"

"No, maybe it's because the curse is attached to the arrows, not their shadows!" Owen squinted at the big dog running towards him, "To the shadows, those arrows are just ordinary objects. …”

"So, many spells won't work."

"Bound by thorns." Owen waved his wand again, and countless black vines with sharp spikes emerged from all sides, and their shadows were tied towards the big dog's black shadow like dancing snakes.

The big dog tore with its giant claws and gnawed with its fangs, and the tough thorns were easily torn apart like fragile paper. Although it was quickly bound by more thorn bushes, it darted into the shadows nearby and re-emerged from the shadows under a distant desk.

"It can't be trapped! It can come and go freely among the shadows, but my magic spell can't do this, and it's hard to stop its movements." Owen bit his lower lip lightly with his teeth. The more you know about this kind of thing, the more you can feel how tricky it is.

He can use many powerful spells, but their shadows do not contain much magic power. They are similar to ordinary objects and pose no threat to the big dog black shadow. For example, the Black Devil Guard can exert extremely strong combat effectiveness in reality, but its shadow is no different from a piece of parchment to the big dog Black Shadow.

"Must we use a magic spell targeting shadows? But the wizards' research in this area is completely blank, and there is no experience or principle to draw from." Owen thought quickly, using his wand to lift armchairs toward each other. He hit the black shadow hard, blocking the big dog's pursuit.

"After all, who would have thought before that there could be enemies in the world that only exist in shadows?"

If this big dog shadow is really the so-called "ominous", Owen can understand why people regard it as a sign of death. Once targeted by such a thing, even wizards with high magic power will feel helpless. They may be able to avoid an attack, but in the face of the endless harassment of black shadows, they may be killed if they relax even a little.

Not to mention that Big Dog Sombra also has curse abilities. Once people are caught, the silent curse may not be fatal instantly, but it will definitely make them lose their ability to resist and let the big dogs tear their shadows apart.

Owen suddenly pointed his wand at a giant snake statue next to the lounge. The stone snake came to life, and its green eyes shone like searchlights. It slid down the stone base smoothly, and the stone scales on its body clicked.

Owen's wand was like a baton in the hand of a conductor, manipulating the snake's movements gracefully and precisely. The giant snake rudely knocked over the tables and chairs along the way, and the huge shadow reflected on the ground opened its mouth toward the big dog, its sharp fangs like straight spears.

The dark green ground illuminated by the lights in the lounge presented a strange and crazy scene.

The shadow of the big snake swung its powerful tail at the big dog. The big dog also opened its huge mouth, raised its huge paws with claws and faced it, and was knocked over by the huge force.

Two giant beasts of the same size rolled and rolled over each other. The giant snake wrapped around the giant dog's body ferociously, and its powerful body squirmed and tightened. However, the giant dog quickly emerged from another position. After getting rid of the siege of the giant snake, it pounced on and tore off a piece of the giant snake's body. Big shadow. The two were tangled up again, but the big dog clearly had the upper hand. Its movements are more flexible and powerful, and it can move freely in the shadows, as leisurely as playing with prey.

In the common room, the big snake sculpture rolled its body wantonly under Owen's control, causing a mess around it. Its hard stone body already had a lot of claw marks and bite marks on it, and its tail was almost broken.

It is very difficult to control the giant snake to make various movements in the air so that its shadow can accurately attack the black shadow of the big dog.

Amidst the rumbling sounds, the giant snake sculpture was smashed to pieces and fell heavily to the floor, completely losing its ability to move.

Owen breathed out and continued to try various methods.

When he began to pant, the black shadow of the big dog remained calm and composed. This was a very patient hunter.

Owen calmed down his rapid breathing, tilted his head towards the black shadow on the ground, and said with a slight smile in his hoarse voice: "I don't like the way you look. I remember when we first met, You are not in this shape yet.”

He raised his lips slightly, turning a blind eye to the oppressive approach of the big dog: "It was after I thought of that 'ominous' black dog that you became like this. So..."

Owen stuck out the tip of his tongue and licked his lips, and said in an erratic tone as if he was hypnotizing himself: "I don't think 'ominous' should have a tangible form. It should be amorphous and able to change freely, like death itself. fathom."

"So, let me transform into a cat." Owen said with a smile, "Maybe if I am happy, I will be killed by you voluntarily."

He kept giving himself psychological hints, and under his scorching gaze, the black shadow of the big dog actually began to change. The originally clear outline slowly became blurred, and was once again shrouded in hazy smoke.

As Owen became more and more convinced of his judgment, the black shadows became solid again in his eyes. Its size has become much smaller, its head is round, its two triangular ears are raised high, its body is short and round, its tail is long and flexible, and its four short legs are flapping on the ground...

"Wow, it's exactly what I thought! Why do you have to be a big, annoying dog when you can be a cute short-legged cat?" Owen laughed.

The shadow of the short-footed cat paused for a moment, then continued to approach Owen without slowing down at all. It's just that cute figure that makes it look unintimidating.

Of course, Owen would not think that it would become harmless to humans and animals because of this, and the sense of crisis brought by the black shadow has not weakened at all. He turned into a black flame and moved to a slightly farther position, with a light and beautiful smile on his face: "Then, the next test..."

As he spoke, he used his wand not far from him to clear away all the debris around him, leaving only a high-backed chair.

He circled around the high-back chair, and there was only a thin line between the shadow reflected on the floor and the shadow of the high-back chair. It seemed that as long as the black shadow moved into the shadow of the high-back chair, he could touch Owen's hand with his wave. shadow.

The black shadow of the short-legged cat couldn't resist the temptation. It quickly ran under the table next to it, and the next moment it poked its head out from the shadow of the high-backed chair.

"Shattered to pieces!" Owen swung his wand at lightning speed and chanted the curse that was ready to go on the high-backed chair. Then he instantly transformed into black flames and flew into the air. From a unique perspective, he watched the high-backed chair explode in an instant and shatter into countless tiny wood chips and powder.

Owen stared hard at the claw belonging to the black shadow, and saw it dissipate into wisps of smoke, like thick ink dispersed in clear water, disappearing without a trace in an instant.

Feeling that the omnipresent gaze suddenly disappeared, Owen hovered on the top of the ceiling for a while without letting down his vigilance. After a long time, he returned to his human form.

"Really disappeared?" Owen raised his eyebrows.

This test is simple. Think of the shadow as a creature living in the shadow. It can exist in places without shadows, and can also come and go freely in the shadows of debris, but Owen found that it will only choose to move between those shadows that are large enough. . It never poked its paws out from the shadows between the floors, otherwise Owen would have nowhere to stand.

So, if the shadows of those debris are regarded as a space where black shadows can live, if that space is shattered in an instant, will the black shadows in it be torn apart together?

Now it turns out that this seems to be possible.

"It's so easy to solve?" Owen held his chin and pondered for a while, "But it moves very fast between the shadows. If you are prepared, you can easily escape from it. What's more, it doesn't have to enter next time. In the shadow of other things, even though I lose some mobility, I can't do anything with it..."

Owen had no doubt that there would be another attack. After all, he had successfully dispersed the shadows last time.

"Tsk, it's difficult." He breathed out angrily, his cheeks bulging slightly.

The key is that the black shadow attacks regardless of the occasion. If it continues to harass him from time to time in the future, it will have a great impact on Owen's life.

"Sure enough, we still have to kill the danger from the source as soon as possible." Owen smiled and gritted his teeth, waving his wand to repair the things in the common room and put them back to their original positions.

After making the lounge tidy and clean again, he yawned and returned to the dormitory and continued to sleep.

Nyx sighed softly. After watching a funny one-man show, it flew back to its perch and closed its eyes with satisfaction.

It rained heavily in the next few days, and life in the school was still lively. Several more body-swapping incidents occurred, causing a lot of jokes and chaos, but the gray tone in the sky made Owen look lively and a little listless.

He hates the weather in this country very much. The humid and rainy climate is simply his nightmare. Melete fully agreed with this.

Harry was very glad that he had not turned into someone else in the blink of an eye. He never tired of imparting experience to his friends: "As long as you empty your mind or focus on studying, you won't always think about others!"

"Come on, I heard you complain more than once that you took too many classes last semester and could hardly finish your homework." Blaise sneered at this. Although he accidentally fell in love with a little witch who had a crush on him not long ago and slept in the school hospital for most of the day.

Harry's face dropped as he thought about his pile of homework. He had not been having a good time these past few days, because Professor Snape had become very irritable since that day, and would make mean and sarcastic remarks to him from time to time. Even if he perfectly cooked the potion in Potions class, the dean would still find the bones in the egg.

Although he decided to continue to trust Professor Snape, it was obvious that the other party did not think so and was very angry at him.

Owen, on the other hand, was still wandering between the library, the Room of Requirement, and the common room. He searched for a lot of "ominous" information in the library, entered Ravenclaw's secret room to read some related books, and even asked Metis some questions.

Metis is an eagle-headed sculpture in the Ravenclaw Chamber of Secrets. She is the administrator of the chamber and also possesses great wisdom. She memorized the contents of every book in the Ravenclaw Chamber of Secrets, and also stored a lot of knowledge and information that was not available in the Chamber of Secrets. She also knew many ancient secrets.

Many times, she can always provide Owen with some ideas.

"That big black dog that represents ominousness?" Hearing Owen's question, Metis said in a singing voice, "That is a legend that has been circulating for a long time, and it was like this in the era of Ravenclaw. "

"It is said that there is a mysterious and terrifying creature in the world. They are a huge black dog with fur darker than the night and eyes like red-hot coals. Sometimes they look like real dogs, sometimes they look like real dogs. They are like a wisp of smoke." Metis said, "They are elusive and invisible. They like to haunt gloomy cemeteries and are a symbol of bad luck and death."

"Some say they are the guard dogs of the underworld, some say they are the messengers of death, some say they are the minions of the devil... Anyone who has seen them will always encounter misfortune soon after." Metis said in a chant, "This legend has been passed down to this day, and its original origin cannot be studied."

"I know." Owen nodded. "Various legends about ominous black dogs have existed for a long time, but they have been passed down as stories to scare children for a long time. Until the sixteenth century, more and more People claimed to have seen the big black dog and encountered misfortunes one after another, and people began to believe that there was indeed a black dog that represented 'ominous'..."

"The earliest record is that in the mid-16th century, a wizard named Anthony Smith saw it in the yard and spread it everywhere. The next afternoon, he was found dead suddenly at home." Owen sorted out his thoughts, "After that, the 'ominous' black dogs began to wreak havoc all over the world, with examples of them being found everywhere..."

"However, people's descriptions of the black dog are very vague. Many witnesses claimed that they saw a huge canine shadow, and even the eye position of the black shadow would light up with a terrifying red light, but it would disappear in the blink of an eye. Gone.”

Owen recalled the scene when the shadow of the big dog tried to curse him.

"There are very few people who have actually seen the black dog itself, and there is even no specific description of its breed." He leaned against the bookshelf and hugged his shoulders, saying in a soothing and pleasant voice, "Although some people claim to have seen it. They look like that, but the rumors are all over the place.”

"Some said it was a steady and solemn Castro Labrero dog, some said it had long lobed ears, some said it looked like a huge bear, some said it was incorporeal like a ghost..."

"Métis, do you think the so-called 'ominous' could be a mysterious creature living in the shadows, or a curse?" Owen looked at the solemn and solemn Ravenclaw statue.

"Creatures living in the shadows? I have never heard of such creatures existing," Metis said. "If they really existed, how wonderful and beautiful this world would be."

"There are always endless unknowns and miracles, waiting for our endless exploration." She sang softly.

"Then it's boring for you to be stuck here all the time?" Owen tilted his head.

"This is my mission," Metis said. "If you are willing to find some new knowledge for me, I will be grateful."

"What do you do when you have nothing to do?" Owen took a book from the bookshelf and chatted casually.

"Thinking." Metis said in a light tone, "There was a child who brought me some mathematical knowledge. When I had nothing to do, I would also calculate pi."

Owen blinked: "How many decimal places have you calculated?"

"I've lost count," Metis said evenly.

"Amazing." Owen hissed.

He finally knew where the pi value of the Mantra fax machine came from. (End of chapter)