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Bang—!
The dormitory door slammed violently against the wall, bounced back slightly, and let out a trembling groan.
William, who was hunched over his desk studying the key points of History of Magic, was startled, his quill dragging a long streak of ink across the paper.
William took a deep breath and slowly turned around.
His eyes fixed coldly on the culprit at the door—Edgar.
The latter was still in the posture of having just kicked the door open, his hair stuck to his forehead with sweat and his face flushed from intense exercise.
He held a 28-brand broom in his arms, with grass clippings still clinging to the tail.
Edgar, caught under William's gaze, leaned the broom against the door with a sheepish grin and scratched his head, his voice dropping several octaves. "Hey, hehe… I'll pay attention next time, definitely next time, William."
"The price of your 'excitement' is my essay—and the potentially shortened lifespan of this door."
Just then, Lynn crawled out of the trunk, looking bedraggled, with some unknown metal scraps clinging to the tips of his hair.
"Finished training?" Lynn stretched his neck and asked casually.
"Yep!" Edgar replied immediately, seizing the chance to change the subject. "Lynn! Guess what our team lost during training today?"
Lynn blinked. "Hmm… it wouldn't happen to be the Golden Snitch, would it?"
"Merlin's beard! How did you know?!"
Lynn fell silent for two seconds, then turned and crawled back into the trunk.
A few minutes later, he poked his head out again, dangling a dark, furry little creature in his hand.
The little creature clutched a glittering gold ball with weakly fluttering wings—it was indeed the Golden Snitch used in Quidditch matches.
Edgar's eyes went wide, his mouth forming a perfect "O" as he pointed at the Niffler and the Snitch, his fingers trembling. "This… this… it…"
"I went fishing by the Black Lake after class today," Lynn said calmly. "Though, as usual, I didn't catch any fish—I 'picked' it up in the grass while packing my things."
Lynn shook the Niffler in his hand. The little thing was shaken dizzy, but its claws holding the Golden Snitch didn't budge an inch—if anything, they tightened.
Its eyes stared warily at Edgar.
"Niff? Niff, niff niff!" (Hm? What are you looking at? This is mine! Shiny!) It even tucked the Snitch further under its belly.
"Alright, alright, be good." Lynn poked the Niffler's bulging belly with his other hand. "Give me this little gold ball, and I'll find you a bigger, shinier one later, how about that? I guarantee it'll be flashier than this one."
The Niffler's small eyes darted around twice, seemingly weighing the pros and cons. Bigger? Shinier?
"Niff niff." (It's a deal. Liars are dogs.) It reluctantly loosened its claws.
Lynn pried its claws open, took out the Golden Snitch, and handed it to the dumbfounded Edgar.
"Here, return it to its owner. But speaking of which… without the Golden Snitch, how did you guys train this afternoon?"
Edgar took the Snitch and let out a long sigh of relief.
"Don't even mention it! I went to the Room of Requirement and muttered at the wall for ages, and I actually found a Snitch that looked a bit old."
As he spoke, he carefully placed the Golden Snitch into the wooden box by his bedside. Then, as if remembering something, he started rummaging through his coat pockets.
"Oh right! While I was rummaging through that pile of junk in the Room of Requirement, I also found this!"
He pulled out an object and held it before Lynn's eyes.
"How is it? Pretty nice, right?" Edgar said proudly. "I saw it lying in a corner gathering dust, which was quite a shame, so I thought I'd bring it back and wipe it down. Maybe it could be a nice decoration."
Lynn looked at the diadem. "It is indeed nice. Didn't you try putting it on?"
Edgar immediately waved his hand in distaste. "Forget it! With that curve and size, it's obviously for girls. It wouldn't fit me anyway. If you're curious, why don't you try it on?"
"Me?" Lynn smiled. "I have no interest in putting antiques of unknown origin directly on my head."
Lynn took the diadem and toyed with it casually, his gaze falling on a line of inscription on the inside:
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."
Ravenclaw's famous quote. This couldn't be… Ravenclaw's Diadem?!
"Edgar, how about lending me this diadem for a few days?"
Edgar waved his hand generously. "Whatever! I was just keeping it for fun anyway."
"Thanks." Lynn nodded, took the diadem, and turned to crawl into the trunk again.
Inside the trunk, a short, fat wizard whose expression was filled with terror was once again "invited" over by Lynn.
Lynn carefully placed the diadem onto the wizard's head.
For the first few seconds, there was no change. The wizard remained standing blankly.
But soon, the look of terror on his face vanished. His facial muscles began to twitch unnaturally, and the corners of his mouth curled up into a grotesque smile.
"Heh… hehe… ehehe… knowledge… beautiful… flowing… all mine… more… I want more…"
Did I see that wrong? Not sure—let's try again.
"Depulso!"
The diadem was knocked off the wizard's head by Lynn.
The wizard's expression snapped back to terror. "Don't kill me! I was wrong! I shouldn't… ehehe… knowledge… it's all mine…"
"Please let me go… ehehe."
Lynn repeated the experiment several times using the short, fat wizard, but the results were without exception.
Lynn gave a preliminary judgment:
"The item is suspected to be Ravenclaw's Diadem, as sinister as Tom's diary—likely a creation from the same source."
Thinking of this, Lynn's train of thought paused for a moment.
Wait… could they really be the same kind of thing? Should I try burning it? Hmm… that would be a bit of a waste. If it really is Ravenclaw's Diadem, it would be a huge loss.
"Levi."
As soon as he spoke, the air on Lynn's shoulder rippled like water. A burst of warm but not blinding gold-red light appeared and quickly faded—Levi had arrived.
"Master?" Levi tilted its head in inquiry.
Lynn lightly stroked Levi's feathers. "Try and see if you can purify or weaken that 'bad' thing inside it. Be careful—stop immediately if it feels wrong. Don't force it."
"Okay, Master."
Levi took flight gracefully from Lynn's shoulder, hovering not far above the diadem.
A moment later, light shone around Levi's body again.
This time, it wasn't the glow of teleportation, but a softer, holier radiance that seemed to carry the rhythm of life.
It spread its wings and let out a beautiful melody. A melodious song emanated from every feather and every ray of light.
The song visibly transformed into countless leaping musical notes. They were not disorganized, but converged into a purifying river of light, like a gurgling stream, pouring steadily toward the diadem below.
The moment the purification power touched the diadem—
Sizzle—!!!
A sound like red-hot metal being plunged into ice water suddenly erupted!
The silver luster on the diadem's surface was instantly covered by a layer of writhing black gas!
Following that, the pouring stream of light seemed to hit an invisible barrier, sending violent ripples across the surface of the diadem.
More black mist surged frantically from deep within it, quickly condensing in the air.
In the blink of an eye, a blurry and hideous outline of a snake's face formed within the mist. It had no physical form, and two clusters of crimson light burned in its hollow eye sockets.
The snake face opened its huge mouth, spewing out an equally pitch-black torrent that crashed into the golden notes scattered by Levi!
Sizzle! Sshh—ssh—!
The golden notes tried to penetrate and dissolve the black mist, while the black mist continuously devoured and corrupted the light.
The air filled with the popping sounds of violent friction.
Levi's song grew increasingly high-pitched and clear, its wings shedding more notes imbued with purification power, attempting to suppress and cleanse the evil.
The snake-faced mist became even more frenzied, resisting madly and even trying to corrode the light in return.
The tug-of-war lasted for about a minute. Both sides had clearly suffered significant depletion.
The golden light around Levi dimmed slightly, while the snake-faced mist shrank, becoming less solid.
Lynn had been observing closely. Seeing Levi beginning to show signs of exhaustion, he immediately gave a decisive order:
"Levi, stop! Come back!"
The song stopped abruptly, and the stream of purifying light dissipated. Levi gave a graceful swirl and landed on Lynn's outstretched arm, though its eyes still stared sharply at the black mist—it was clear it wanted to fight for another three hundred rounds.
Seeing the purification light disappear, the snake-faced mist immediately let out a mocking laugh:
"Just you? A slightly brighter little bird? You think you can destroy me—and Ravenclaw's creation of wisdom? My soul is forever bound to it! You are simply delusional… ignorant! Foolish! Hahaha…"
Its laughter was shrill, filled with naked ridicule.
Lynn opened his mouth, wanting to retort. However, the snake-faced mist didn't seem interested in continuing.
It quickly retracted, shrinking back and merging into the diadem once more.
"Master, it shrank back! Let me try again—I should be able to force it out and purify it completely!" Levi said urgently.
It didn't like such evil things acting arrogantly in front of its master, and even less did it like them hiding.
Lynn raised his hand and gently stroked Levi's slightly ruffled feathers, signaling it to calm down.
The snake face's words—"me and Ravenclaw's creation," "soul is with it"—contained a huge amount of information. This really was Ravenclaw's Diadem. On that point alone, it would be a pity to destroy it.
"No need, Levi. You rest first." Lynn murmured softly. "It likes shrinking away, right? Likes hiding inside a 'creation,' right? Very well."
He lowered his voice.
"Hide well. Cherish the time you still have to hide inside."