Chapter 138

"A room to hide things—very powerful," Neville mumbled. "By the way, Professor, what time is it?"

"Seven forty," Donald said, glancing at his watch. "I don't recommend lingering here, but if you really want to explore, I won't stop you."

He dropped those words casually, then picked up Luna and left.

Neville followed him, peeked out the door, then sat in a relatively hidden corner of the room, idly watching the entrance.

Harry understood his plan—in fact, the children's ongoing analysis had pinpointed one key mystery: the eighth floor had no place for the attacker to hide. Now that they'd confirmed a secret room existed here, the attacker likely used it to conceal himself.

Colin was attacked between eight ten and eight forty. Eight ten was the last time a Gryffindor student saw him leave, and eight forty was when Professor McGonagall found him lying on the floor.

Neville waited a long time inside the room without seeing anyone enter or leave. After a moment's hesitation, he cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself and stepped out the door.

Harry and the Doctor followed, maintaining their invisibility. If the attacker was also invisible, this narrow corridor now held four invisible people—anyone might bump into another at any moment.

When the Doctor's watch reached eight twenty, the portrait of the Fat Lady opened. Colin stepped out, carrying a bunch of grapes. Harry held his breath, fixing his gaze on every movement.

The young Colin didn't suspect the corridor was empty. The hidden room didn't open again. He walked unimpeded to the staircase and began descending step by step.

As he stepped onto the third stair, Harry clearly saw a ring of light spread upward from his feet. Instantly, Colin was petrified and collapsed to the floor, completely unaware.

After he was petrified, the camera in Colin's hand flashed white, then a smell of burning plastic began to spread.

Soon after, Professor McGonagall discovered Colin. She hurried to knock on the Headmaster's office door, and Dumbledore appeared. They lifted Colin and carried him toward the hospital wing.

Neville, now visible, gently touched the spot where Colin had stepped. He rubbed his fingers thoughtfully, as if he'd made a discovery.

After Neville returned, Harry and the Doctor also examined the floor. The experienced Doctor immediately recognized it: a trap, laid with ancient runes.

"This is clearly runes—I mean, ancient runes—but their shapes and structure violate all known rules of ancient runic patterns. So we can only broadly call them runes," he said. "I suspect this is a targeted trigger trap, but that's bizarre—I can't imagine how it works at all."

"But even so, we still don't know who orchestrated this attack," Harry said, rubbing his temples.

"That's easy. We have the TARDIS. If we catch who set this trap, that's enough." The Doctor spoke confidently.

"But we can't keep watching the staircase forever… oh! I've got the Marauder's Map!" Harry exclaimed.

After resolving his misunderstanding with Sirius, Professor Lupin had returned the Marauder's Map to Harry, who treasured it as a meaningful keepsake. Now, unexpectedly, it had a use.

Using the TARDIS, they returned to the end of the term—the moment they began time travel. Harry retrieved his Marauder's Map, then came back to the day of the Quidditch match.

After Colin collapsed, his camera inexplicably burst into flames. This meant the attacker's motive was almost certainly that Colin had accidentally captured something during the match.

So Harry only needed to monitor the time between the match's end and Colin's attack, watching who came to this spot.

Afternoon brought no unusual figures—only Gryffindor students coming and going from their dorms. Dumbledore came down once, ate dinner, then returned to his office.

Shortly after dinner, around six, Donald arrived at the crime scene.

He wandered the corridor for a while, then his name vanished from the Marauder's Map.

"It seems the map's creators never found the storage room," the Doctor remarked. "Honestly, I didn't find it either when I was in school."

"He headed straight for that room," Harry recalled Donald's path. "Maybe he didn't set the trap."

Later, at six forty, Luna arrived.

Before she even reached the stairs, she kept stepping forward and back, acting strangely. Harry couldn't help stepping out from hiding, cloaked in invisibility, to watch her.

Luna wore odd glasses, hopping and skipping down the corridor as if doing something inexplicable. Harry once thought she might be dancing.

Suddenly, she stopped, then strode quickly to the top of the eighth-floor staircase and said to the slowly shifting stairs below: "Thank you!"

"Then," she drew her wand from her sleeve and swiftly traced the shape of an eagle in the air, "Superior wisdom is humanity's greatest treasure!"

The incantation ended. Nothing changed in the world around her—but Harry noticed Luna's body jolted sharply. Then she ran joyfully down the eighth-floor corridor.

"The Room of Requirement!" she exclaimed. "Even Lady Ravenclaw left her own secret room."

After pacing three times, Luna entered the room and began looking around curiously.

Harry already knew the rest of the story—Luna later believed it was a dream and mentioned it at a Torchwood gathering.

She entered the hidden room, wandered around, and found Ravenclaw's Diadem. But Donald knew it was a dangerous artifact, unsuitable for children, and stopped her in time. To prevent her from returning, he cast a Memory Charm to erase the memory.

"A marvelous spell—she may have gained knowledge through it," the Doctor commented. "Your year's students are impressive—each one inventing spells one after another."

"Actually, Luna didn't fully invent it. The wand movements were derived from the staircase's own patterns," Harry said.

"Oh, so this is a spell left by Lady Ravenclaw," the Doctor said, drawing his wand. "Theoretically, I could try it too."

He mimicked Luna's gestures, tracing an eagle in the air, then spoke the Ravenclaw motto.

"So that's how it works—I understand now," the Doctor said. "This spell greatly enhances inspiration. Its effect may be similar to the Diadem."

"Actually, I just realized—it's not just a storage room," the Doctor explained. "It's the Room of Requirement, as Luna said. It changes form according to the mind's need—but when someone's inside, it can't change."

"Your thinking is a bit too erratic…" Harry scratched his head.

"Yes, inspiration strikes unpredictably," the Doctor shrugged. "But Donald happened to want to enter that hidden room first, so we assumed it was just a storage room."

"I really suggest you try this spell—it's amazing. Everything suddenly clicks," the Doctor said cheerfully. "I just thought of a plan. Maybe we don't need the Chronos Matrix… uh, I'll discuss that later with other Doctors."

"Then I'll try it too," Harry said, glancing at the Marauder's Map—no one was coming right now.

"Superior wisdom is humanity's greatest treasure," Harry waved his wand and spoke the incantation.

In that instant, an undeniable feeling arose within him: this spell could be used only once per month, for inspiration isn't infinite—it arises from accumulated details of daily life, linking seemingly unrelated things in the subconscious to produce sudden, brilliant insights.

Harry suddenly thought: if Donald always seemed so strange, could there be two Donalds in the school?

That is, Donald's brother Dack never died—he and Donald deceived everyone together. This explains Donald's split behavior in second year: one twin doted on students, lavished care on Hermione and Ron, even insisted on daily tutoring; the other wandered freely, sometimes investigating the girls' bathroom with Neville, sometimes helping Luna search for the Diadem.

Thus, Donald had double the time—he could attend dinner while launching an attack, oversee Avalon while manipulating the Chamber, serve as professor while carrying out Dumbledore's secret missions.

It was a fascinating conclusion, drawn from Fontroy's story and Harry's instinctive suspicion of Donald.

But for now, Donald was unlikely to be Colin's attacker. Harry shook his head and decided to set this conclusion aside for future verification.

When he refocused on the parchment, Harry couldn't help drawing a sharp breath, his eyes widening in disbelief.

An unexpected name was ascending the eighth-floor staircase—toward the top. It was Paxi.