When the three of them walked to a dense bush together, the magic wand that Rolf held in his palm, pointing the way for them, suddenly shook violently.
"Is there something wrong with your wand, Rolf?" Ginny asked worriedly.
"It's okay, there's nothing wrong with the wand, and the locating spell is fine too. In fact, this performance of the wand is a good thing!" Instead of being worried, Rolf laughed happily, "This means we've arrived!"
He grasped his wand and removed the locating spell from it.
"Are we there yet?" Harry turned his head and looked around a few times. He saw trees and haystacks that were so dense that he could hardly stand. Under the light of the wand's illumination spell, they cast countless shadows, making the place look inexplicably eerie.
There was no trace of any buildings around. In comparison, he thought that the area nearby was simply a primitive jungle with nothing in it.
"We have indeed arrived at the place." Rolf nodded and said, "There is only one possibility for the locating spell to have problems - that is, it is affected by other magic."
"Our magic is not like a Muggle compass, which will be disturbed by magnetic fields and the like. That would be too strange... Only things on the same magical side can affect this spell!"
"Rolf, what you mean is..." Ginny stood on tiptoe and looked around, then asked, "Is there some other magic nearby that obscures the appearance of the ruins? Are these trees actually illusions created by magic?"
She touched a tree trunk nearby, "But this is indeed a real tree."
"Just because this tree is real doesn't mean all the trees ahead are real." Luo Fu raised his head and smiled confidently, "Just watch me do it!"
He picked up his wand again and cast another tracking spell.
This time, however, he did not spray the golden powder produced by the tracking spell into a large circular area around him. Instead, he concentrated the powder in one direction and blew it far away.
The golden powders danced skillfully in the air, quietly passing over one thick tree trunk after another, and landed on the flat or rugged ground.
The golden footprints of Luna wearing only one shoe appeared before their eyes again, but when Harry and Ginny saw these footprints, they both showed strange looks.
"Luna's footprints changed direction here, and the trend became... well, isn't it a bit weird?" Harry asked dryly as he looked at the scene in front of him.
Ginny also nodded, agreeing with Harry's judgment, "What is Luna doing here? She's not dancing in the Forbidden Forest, is she?"
They saw that within the area covered by the golden powder, pairs of footprints were imprinted between the trees, and from time to time there was a long gap between the two pairs of footprints, as if they had suddenly jumped forward a few steps.
"I don't know what she's doing." Rolf shrugged, "But I only know that we don't have enough power to remove the protective magic and illusion magic around here, so it's always right to follow Luna's footsteps."
After saying that, he was the first to step on Luna's golden footprints, moving forward precisely in the direction of Luna's movement, jumping up and down from time to time with long intervals.
Harry and Ginny looked at each other helplessly, and had no choice but to follow Rolf's actions and step on Luna's footprints.
"You are quite knowledgeable, can you recognize what kind of protective magic this is, Rolf?" Harry asked Rolf curiously while jumping and staggering.
His steps were far less agile and skillful than Rolf's, and he was even so slow that Ginny almost bumped into his back.
"It should be a hidden maze magic circle." Luo Fu said, "Only by walking out of a specific path can we reach the destination protected by the maze."
"And the spell used to deceive our vision should be a variation of the Disillusionment Charm. After all, the Disillusionment Charm I know of cannot last for such a long time, nor can it disguise an area as another scene without leaving any trace."
"I'm a little curious, how did Luna know the specific route to enter the maze?" Ginny once again stopped behind the stiffly moving Harry, with her hands on her hips, and asked in a bored tone.
"I want to know this, too," Rolf's voice came from a distance. He had already walked a long distance along the footprints. "Luna is a very magical little witch. I don't think she can be judged by common sense..."
Slowly, Rove's figure became farther and farther away until he disappeared completely.
Harry was still stepping on Luna's footprints one by one with stiff movements, and walking forward unsteadily.
If there hadn't been only one row of footprints, and if Ginny hadn't been afraid of triggering other functions of the maze magic, she would have passed Harry and reached the ruins where Luna was first.
The sky was completely dark, not a single starlight shone through the treetops of the dense jungle. Only a row of golden footprints and the faint light of the illumination spells on the tips of two wands added a tiny bit of light to the dark forbidden forest.
After an unknown amount of time, Harry and Ginny finally arrived at the end of Luna's golden footprints.
"Is this the end?" Harry looked at the huge tree trunk in front of him, which was so huge that even two people couldn't hug it together, and a puzzled look appeared in his eyes. "Why can't I see any ruins at all?"
"And... where's Rolf?"
His voice echoed in the silent forbidden forest, making it seem as if a gloomy atmosphere was flowing through the forbidden forest.
The many haystacks and bushes around seemed to have dark eyes. Monsters might pop out from the dense jungle at any time and drag the two little wizards into the bottomless abyss.
Ginny was still just a little girl after all, and fear was clearly shown on her face, and she began to tremble all over.
"Don't be afraid, we'll be fine, Ginny." Harry turned around and patted Ginny on the back, speaking softly.
In fact, he was also a little scared of this unknown darkness.
But when there are girls around, boys always feel an inexplicable courage out of nowhere, and this courage is enough to make a very timid person suddenly become brave and move forward.
What's more, Harry has lived in a dark cupboard since he was a child, accompanied by spiders and insects, and he has a high tolerance for darkness.
He took a deep breath, raised his wand high -
"Lumos Maxima!"
Harry shouted.
The lighting spell at the tip of the wand shone brightly, completely illuminating the dark and gloomy environment around them, and also dispelling some of the fear in the two people's hearts.
Just then, as if Harry could hear the sound of chanting a spell, another voice sounded from behind the thick tree trunk.
"Harry, you're finally here!" Harry and Ginny recognized Rolf's voice and breathed a sigh of relief. "Come in and help me, there's a big snake here, and my snake fork can't handle it!"
"But how do we get in?" asked Harry.
He carefully checked the trunk of the big tree in front of him again, and did not find anything like a tree hole or a gap in it, leaving no space for people to cross.
"Just jump over here, hurry up, the snake has found me again!" Luo Fu's voice was a little urgent.
"Jump over? Jump over this tree?" Harry looked up and saw the tall treetops that stretched as far as the eye could see. "Are you serious, Rolf? Or can I just ignore Luna's footprints and go around it?"
"No, you don't think there's a real tree at the exit of the maze, do you?" Luo Fu's tone was somewhat helpless. "Didn't we discuss this just now? Some trees here are real, and some are fake."
"This is the biggest fake tree. Don't worry about it. Just run into it!"
Harry nodded in understanding.
But to be on the safe side, he reached out and touched the edge of the tree, stroking its rough bark.
The rough texture was transmitted to Harry's mind through the skin on his fingers, and he also felt a lot of grains on the bumpy bark. The touch was exactly the same as that of a real tree, with no difference at all.
"Rolf, this isn't right?" Harry asked. "I touched it, and it's indeed a real tree. Could it be that you're at a different exit from the maze than the one we took to get here?"
"We are all following Luna's footsteps, how can they be different?" Rolf said impatiently, "Do you know King's Cross Station? It's the same principle. You must reach a certain speed and strength to break through the confinement of the station wall and enter Platform 9 3/4."
"Otherwise, with so many Muggle passengers, there will always be people leaning against the wall, and the chances of being discovered by the wizarding world will be too high... Stop talking so much, I'll go hide to the side first, and be careful when you come in!"
Rolf's voice was getting farther and farther away. He must be hiding from the snake that was chasing him.
Then, a rustling sound of snake scales rubbing against the ground came from behind the tree trunk, probably from the big snake chasing Rolf.
Harry's expression tightened when he realized Rolf's critical condition.
He closed his eyes, recalled every time he had crashed into the wall between Platforms 9 and 10 at King's Cross Station, and suddenly jumped forward.
The next moment, he felt himself landing on a hard ground.
Harry opened his eyes and saw a magnificent complex of buildings. He couldn't help but open his mouth wide -
It was a huge palace, standing high on seven tall stone steps.
Basically the entire building complex is constructed of marble, without any superfluous flashy stone, but with red tiles and white walls to create a simple texture that is in harmony with nature.
The paint on the building's exterior walls has been painted layer by layer, and the color has settled deeply on the wall. After a long time, it is still extremely white, which is meaningful.
The dome-shaped roof of the palace is supported by several thick round stone pillars, all of which are covered with reliefs of snakes entwined on the stone pillars, stretching from the base of the pillars to the bottom of the dome, with triangular snake heads sticking out. The snakes reveal a cold and vicious look that is not like that of a statue.
There are many buildings behind the palace, most of which are in the form of courtyards. These are where the former owners of the palace used to raise various magical creatures and conduct black magic experiments.
Snakes are indispensable in decorating every courtyard.
However, no matter how shocking it was to the eyes, the long passage of time had ultimately taken a significant toll on this complex of buildings protected by magic.
No matter how new and magnificent this building was in the past, it has now become a little damaged and dilapidated.
Looking around the courtyard, I saw that it was in a dilapidated state, with collapsed walls, wild vines winding up the broken doors and stone pillars, and the ground was overgrown with weeds and covered with rubble.
At this time, Ginny also jumped out from the tree trunk behind, standing on the ground which was more solid than the land in the Forbidden Forest, and looked at the building with wide eyes.
Harry turned around and saw that there was indeed a huge tree here, towering on the solid ground. However, the tree was also made of marble and was grayish white in color. It was different from the completely realistic giant trees in the Forbidden Forest.
Behind the trees is a vast forest, but it looks a little blurry, as if there is a piece of frosted glass blocking the buildings and the forest, forming a clear boundary.
"Wow, this is incredible... There is actually a relic like this in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts!" Ginny exclaimed.
Harry also nodded with emotion, still not fully recovered from the shock of entering this place.
"You two, stop sighing and come and help me!"
At this moment, Rove's obviously exasperated voice came over.
Harry and Ginny turned their heads and saw Rolf running around the ruined courtyards with the long snake fork in his hand, a giant python that was almost ten feet long was following behind him, grinning and drooling, as if it wanted to swallow it up in one bite.
This giant python is not the common green color, but a very ordinary grayish white, just like a piece of stone.
From time to time, Luo Fu turned his head and poked the snake's vital point with the snake fork pliers in his hand.
However, due to the snake's overly thick body and overly tough skin, his attack had no effect at all and even slowed down his escape.
"Come on, Harry, it's up to you!" Rolf shouted.
Harry took a deep breath, nodded slightly to Ginny, and stepped forward.
"Let me make it clear first, Rolf, I'm not sure if I can control it." He walked to a courtyard in front of Rolf's route, and took the opportunity to explain before the snake came over, "Except for the accidental incident at the Duel Club, this is the first time I used the snake's voice to fight."
"It's okay, let's... try it first." Rolf ran to Harry breathlessly and said, "Try to see if you can get rid of this snake first, otherwise we have to find other ways."
Harry nodded and looked at the giant gray-white python.
"Stop." He stared into the python's eyes and said loudly.
However, the giant python ignored him and kept crawling towards the edge of the courtyard where the two were, with a fierce look in its eyes.
"I really can't seem to control it," Harry said, looking at Rolf apologetically.
"Nonsense, of course you can't control it!" Rove jumped up and down and shouted, "What you just said was clearly English, it's strange that this python can understand it!"
"Uh..." Harry scratched his head awkwardly, then looked into the python's eyes again, "It's my fault, wait a minute..."
"Stop!" This time a version of what came out of his mouth was so audible that no one could understand it.
He turned to look at Rove.
"It is indeed a language I cannot understand." Luo Fu looked at this scene and nodded slightly.
Looking at the gray-white python again, it really stopped in the same place, with its huge mouth opened wide, almost close to Harry's face.
The whole snake didn't move at all, even its breathing stopped, as if it was a huge rock that had not changed in ten thousand years.
"Why isn't this snake moving?" Harry asked in a low voice, leaning closer to Rolf.
"Are you still asking this question... Didn't you just tell it to 'stop'?" Rove rolled his eyes helplessly.
He really didn't understand the snake-like accent, but Rolf did hear Harry's first sentence, "Stop", so he also knew the meaning of the second sentence in the snake-like accent.
"Snake Tune can be considered a kind of magic specifically targeting snakes, which can make almost all snakes obey you." Luo Fu explained, and then said excitedly, "Now that we can confirm that you can really use Snake Tune, then the next step will be easy!"
He took Harry to the seven tall stone steps of the largest palace.
"Don't go up all seven steps at once. Be prepared and go one step at a time." Luo Fu warned, "I tried it this morning. Every time you go up a step, a larger group of snakes will come to attack you. I don't want to see you get bitten to death by snakes before you can use your snake skills."
Harry nodded carefully, and under the gaze of Rolf and Ginny, he stepped onto the first stone step.
“Boom—”
As Harry stepped onto the first stone step, a heavy friction sound suddenly occurred.
On the gorgeous railings surrounding the stone steps, a large stone snake was wrapped around each railing support.
Now, these stone snakes crawled down from the guardrails and meandered towards Harry's position.
With the experience of the first time, Harry acted very quickly this time. As soon as he stepped onto the first stone step, he was ready to recite the old snake's voice -
"Go back to where you belong!" he said in a snake-like voice.
After hearing the command, each of the stone snakes that were originally so aggressive that they covered the ground immediately turned around and returned to their respective guardrail supports as if they had heard the order of their master.
Harry turned back to look at Rolf and Ginny and gave them a thumbs-up.
"That's so cool, Harry!" Rolf waved his fist excitedly.
…
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