[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-hogwarts-learning-panel":3,"chapter-hogwarts-learning-panel-hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-341":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Hogwarts Learning Panel",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2250579,4210,"Chapter 341: The Lost Soul","hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-341",341,"\u003Cp>This was a disorienting place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry got up from the ground and found himself lying in a bright mist, but this mist was unlike any he had ever seen before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was not that the surroundings were shrouded in vapor like clouds—it was that the vapor-like mist had not yet formed the surroundings at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He touched his face; his glasses were gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt his body; his clothes were gone too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, he urgently wished he were dressed. The moment this thought formed in his mind, a robe appeared nearby. He picked it up and put it on:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The robe was soft, clean, and warm. How strange—it had simply appeared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had just thought of this…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he saw a black cat staring at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry was utterly stunned:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mr. Black Cat! But how—how did I pass out?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black cat said nothing, but placed its ink-black, furry paw beside its whiskers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry found it Qimiao ; Mr. Black Cat was telling him to be silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He soon understood why.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A sound came to his ears from the formless void around him:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A faint, rhythmic pounding, swaying, and struggling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound evoked pity, yet also a sense of sordidness. He felt deeply uncomfortable, as if eavesdropping on something secret and shameful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry slowly turned in place; the surroundings remained a vast, open space—bright, clean.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was empty, as if only he and Mr. Black Cat were here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly—he recoiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He saw the source of the sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The thing was shaped like a naked child, curled on the ground, its red skin rough, as if peeled, trembling violently beneath a chair, discarded and shoved there, gasping for breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry was afraid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though small, weak, and wounded, he did not want to approach it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he crept closer bit by bit, ready to retreat at any moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon he was close enough to touch it—but he lacked the courage. He felt like a coward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He should comfort it, yet the thing repulsed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You cannot help it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Said the black cat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry spun around; the black cat was walking toward him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its emerald eyes glimmered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry’s connection to Voldemort ran deeper than it imagined; merely separating them had sent Harry into unconsciousness, and Voldemort had nearly died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Qiahao , this was exactly what Xiang Xiang Xien wanted to see.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What is that, Mr. Black Cat?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry glanced at the trembling, wounded life beneath the chair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It is something neither of us can do anything about.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Said the black cat,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He feared coming here most of all. Now, I have brought him here. No matter how powerful his magic once was, Harry, here all are equal.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black cat stared at the lifeform. In that moment, Harry felt Mr. Black Cat was radiant, whole, in a way far deeper than the lifeform.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mr. Black Cat was solid, lively, wise and learned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the lifeform was pitiful and repulsive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is this… Voldemort?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a long while, Harry asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Harry, you are an excellent wizard.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Said the black cat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry quickly lowered his head; he did not know if he could blush here, but if he could, his face would surely be as red as an apple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry always loved this place—he even adored it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mr. Black Cat always appeared when he needed help, though it always spoke words he could not understand, yet never left him confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because when he faced hardship and pondered deeply, Mr. Black Cat’s words were like a faint but steady lamp in the dark night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Language… was an inexhaustible resource in the magical world. It could wound, and it could heal the soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Harry, look.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black cat nudged a clump of mist; the weak lifeform was drawn into it—the clump reflected the image of a terrible wizard who ruled the entire magical world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But once Harry looked away from the clump, he saw only Voldemort’s pitiful, laughable fragile soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In the world of souls, being lost is natural.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Said the black cat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind them, the lifeform twitched, moaned, then vanished entirely into the mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry sat for a long, long time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, like snowflakes gently falling, Harry slowly realized what would happen next:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You destroyed it, Mr. Black Cat?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It chose to die. The soul within you, even in the world of souls, could be heard screaming clearly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had no love, Harry. Therefore, it could not choose to live. And a wizard who cannot choose to live must choose death.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Said the black cat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And what about me…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry murmured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black cat’s lips curled, its whiskers trembling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the first time, Harry saw it look so amusing, so joyful—it no longer felt so distant from him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Harry, you are far less afraid of returning here than he was.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Said the black cat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry felt Mr. Black Cat saw him as stronger than he truly believed himself to be.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the mist fully enveloped the place, Harry silently thought: Mr. Black Cat was surely his favorite magical creature in the magical world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes he really wanted to… touch it…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One of Voldemort’s Horcruxes had been destroyed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black cat’s steps grew lighter; its time in the borderland increased by two seconds, thanks to a thin, faint line of mist growing stronger on Harry’s body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These were the anchors that allowed the black cat to remain in the borderland without becoming lost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And for this reason, the black cat was willing to speak a few more words to Harry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…That was how it saw things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Book of Dream Tales mentioned that seven hours later, the sky here would turn dark, the stars would blaze brilliantly, and the clear, pure night sky would be visible—the best time for divination;\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Book of Dream Tales also mentioned that seven hours later, the sky here would brighten, and at the coming dawn, one would often encounter souls waiting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They waited here, then vanished at dawn, lingering on the edge of an eternal dawn that never broke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, the dream ended. A silence as thick as piled snow settled over the entire castle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry did not feel dull—he felt peaceful. The thought of Voldemort’s soul vanishing from within him filled him with joy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mr. Black Cat was the most wondrous being he had ever encountered at Hogwarts. It woke him from nightmares, whispered comfort in the dark, telling him he was safe, that no problem was truly a trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Christmas Eve messenger, the castle’s cat of good fortune.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The towering castle is its ear, the spiraling stairs its breath…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry murmured reverently.\u003C\u002Fp>",1097,"2026-06-19T10:00:41.888Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","98ec814be3adeb7d8d4a65e9ea9ba91942311a71980049451a8564c1d3f205fb","hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-342","hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-340",526,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fhogwarts-learning-panel-cover.jpg"]