[Departmentof Mysteries]
In front of the main entrance, Harry and the others were staring without blinking at the door in front of them, the one carved with an M mark.
"Harry, is it here?"
Ron deliberately lowered his voice and spoke carefully.
Harry nodded when he heard that.
He was very sure about this, because this door, more precisely the distorted M mark on it, had appeared very clearly in his dream.
Only, at this moment, he did not really dare to go in.
It was a very strange feeling.
Before coming here he had desperately wanted to come, willing to pay any price for it.
Yet when he actually stood in front of the door, he hesitated.
He started to fear what kind of scene might be behind that pitch black door once it opened.
Would it be Voldemort and his Death Eaters grinning viciously and waving their wands at them?
Or Dumbledore and Sirius lying on the ground as corpses?
Every time he thought of this, the courage Harry had finally gathered instantly disappeared, and even his whole body stiffened.
Just then, Aberforth's tall and thin figure walked out from his side.
As if taking a casual walk, he strode straight to the black door and reached out to push it.
"No!"
This sight scared Harry out of his wits and he couldn't help shouting.
He was not mentally ready yet.
Unfortunately it was already too late.
That door which looked heavy was pushed open by Aberforth with ease.
Behind the door was dead silence.
No laughing Death Eaters, no corpses on the ground, only a marble paved floor, walls, and ceiling, all equally pitch black.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
Aberforth turned his head and looked at Harry in surprise.
Clearly he had also been startled by Harry's shout.
"N… nothing."
Harry spoke softly. He felt his face getting hot. Those guesses he made earlier were really embarrassing.
As if to win back some dignity, Harry took the lead and followed Aberforth into the Department of Mysteries.
After entering, Harry suddenly realized that behind the door was actually a very large circular space.
The walls, floor, and ceiling could no longer simply be described as "black."
They seemed to be made of some kind of light absorbing material.
The dim blue flames from the branch shaped candle holders on the walls gave almost no illumination.
The light spread about a meter and then was completely swallowed.
This strange darkness made Harry tense again after he had finally relaxed a little.
He unconsciously moved closer to Aberforth, which gave him some rare sense of safety.
After all, although he didn't know what relation Aberforth had with Headmaster Dumbledore, at least they both had the surname Dumbledore.
But seeing this, Aberforth pushed Harry away with some disgust when he almost leaned onto him.
"Kid, where are he… they? I mean, we've arrived at the Department of Mysteries. Where should we go next?"
As he spoke, Aberforth pointed into the darkness ahead.
Following the direction he pointed, they could see eleven identical black doors standing there.
Harry counted the number of doors and then froze.
Because in his dream there were clearly twelve black doors.
But now, one was missing.
Harry's confusion did not last long, because soon there was a loud bang behind them.
Everyone hurriedly turned around and saw that the entrance door they came through had already shut tightly.
Not only that, along with a series of rumbling sounds, the candles on the walls began moving sideways, and the entire circular space started spinning rapidly.
The blue flames blurred around them like neon lights.
Harry could no longer care about anything else and grabbed Aberforth's arm directly.
Ron and Hermione made the same choice. One hugged Aberforth's leg, the other hugged his waist.
Only George and Fred barely maintained a fighting stance.
They drew their wands, standing back to back, ready for battle at any moment.
However, a few seconds later, everything stopped.
The rumbling sound quietly ceased, and the walls stopped spinning.
Only the trembling flames on the candle holders showed traces of what had just happened.
Of course, the traces left behind were not only the shaking flames, but also the black doors standing around them.
Harry was shocked to find that their number had changed from eleven to twelve.
This included the door they had entered from.
Which meant…
"Damn it, we're trapped!"
Aberforth cursed, voicing Harry's terrible thought.
Then he pulled the stunned Harry off his arm and said, "Hurry up, show us the next direction. The mechanism has been triggered. If someone really is inside, they must already know we're here!"
Hearing this, Harry shuddered. His mouth opened slightly, his eyes kept sweeping over the twelve doors in front of him, but he couldn't say a word.
Seeing this, Aberforth frowned.
He bent down to keep eye level with Harry and said slowly, "You… don't tell me you also don't know where to go next to find them?"
"Uh…"
Harry instinctively avoided Aberforth's hawk like sharp gaze.
This action left Aberforth completely speechless.
He stood up, slapped his forehead hard, and said helplessly, "So you actually prepared nothing and just rushed into the Department of Mysteries on impulse? Merlin's beard! The most ridiculous thing is I actually followed you here! I really am… getting worse with age!"
"Don't say that," Ron argued a bit unhappily, "Harry knowing that Headmaster Dumbledore and the others are trapped in the Department of Mysteries is already amazing!"
"Yes, that's right!"
"I strongly disagree with that view!"
George and Fred also spoke up to support Harry.
Unfortunately, the expressions hidden in the darkness were just as helpless as Aberforth's.
They also realized how reckless their actions were.
They were just being stubborn.
"Don't get discouraged," Hermione said, unable to watch anymore. "We've already come here. Maybe we can search door by door. Anyway, we don't have a way back now, right?"
Hearing this, Harry's eyes lit up and he quickly said, "Yes, exactly! Although I don't know the exact direction, I still remember what that place looks like!"
"I guarantee, as long as I see it once, I'll definitely recognize it!"
"Oh! That really is good news!"
Aberforth rolled his eyes at Harry as he spoke, then walked straight to the first door on the left, obviously intending to try Hermione's suggestion.
He gently placed one hand on the door while tightly gripping his wand with the other, ready for any attack once the door opened.
The door opened very easily.
Even easier than they had imagined.
There seemed to be some special lubrication between the door and the frame. There wasn't even the slightest sound of friction when it opened.
And behind the door was another huge room.
In the center stood a massive glass tank.
On the high ceiling above was the only magical lamp in the room.
Its white light shone directly onto the glass tank, making the dark green liquid inside look as beautiful as jade.
The only regrettable thing was that inside that "jade" floated many pearl white objects.
They felt like fish, yet they didn't move. Their shapes were also very strange, irregularly round.
"What is this?" Ron asked quietly.
"Brains," Aberforth said calmly. "Brains of past Unspeakables. Those guys are really crazy, trying to let their consciousness exist forever this way!"
Hearing this, Harry and Ron were stunned. Aberforth's words were hard for them to understand.
Hermione walked forward quickly and leaned against the glass tank to examine it closely.
This confirmed that what Aberforth said was true.
But with her movement, the previously still brains inside began floating irregularly.
"Aberforth, how do you know these are Unspeakables' brains?" Hermione asked cautiously with a frown. "I remember you said you've never been here!"
"Yes, I've never been here, but that doesn't stop me from knowing some things about this place." Aberforth shrugged with a faint smile, then pointed at the stone base of the huge tank.
"Because it's all written there."
Hearing this, Hermione hurriedly bent down to look.
Sure enough, dense words were carved on the black base, all describing this "Brain Room" and the names of Unspeakables who dedicated themselves to the Ministry of Magic.
"Oh my, sorry, Aberforth, I shouldn't have…"
Hermione apologized awkwardly, while Aberforth chuckled lightly and said, "Forget it, no need to say that."
After speaking, he walked forward and carefully observed the brains in the tank, which were now swimming quickly like real fish, murmuring, "Merlin, incredible. They… they actually seem to have succeeded! These brains can move on their own, as if they really have their own consciousness!"
Just as Aberforth finished speaking, several brains slammed heavily against the glass wall in front of him with a bang.
This scared Hermione so much that she stepped back several steps, her face full of shock.
Aberforth frowned deeply and said, "You heard what I said? Are you… angry?"
Aberforth slowly raised his wand. "This is really disgusting. I'm going to destroy this thing. Its existence insults ethics. The dead should quietly return to silence, not cling on to life like this in the world!"
As soon as he said this, the brains inside the tank became more and more active.
A large number of brains crowded into the corner, as if trying hard to stay away from Aberforth.
Harry couldn't bear it and said, "Aberforth, don't waste time. We still need to find Dumbledore. Let's go!"
As he spoke, Harry bravely grabbed the hand holding Aberforth's wand and tried hard to pull him away from the tank.
Seeing this, Aberforth slightly raised the corners of his mouth and didn't resist, letting Harry pull him away.
Only after they moved some distance from the tank did the brains gradually calm down.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
Honestly, he also felt uneasy about the existence of those "brains in the tank."
Things that went beyond his understanding and usually only appeared in horror movies made people very uncomfortable.
However, if those brains really had self awareness, then breaking the tank would instantly kill hundreds of lives.
With lingering unease, Harry glanced back at the tank one last time.
And that glance made him freeze.
Because at that moment, the brains inside the tank had gathered into a Roman numeral, VII.
"Oh my God! Aberforth! Look!"
Harry pulled Aberforth's arm hard and shouted.
Hearing this, Aberforth and the others all turned back.
But just before they fully turned, the brains had already scattered again, returning to their previous random floating state.
"What did you want us to see?"
Aberforth frowned and said unhappily.
Harry didn't speak. He just rubbed his eyes in disbelief. What he saw just now made him wonder if he had hallucinated.
Hermione quickly walked over, touched Harry's forehead, and said worriedly, "Harry, your forehead is very hot. Are you having hallucinations?"
"M… maybe." Harry spoke hesitantly.
He didn't even know why he lied.
It was as if some unseen awareness was asking him to do so, and he instinctively agreed.
This feeling was very strange. Harry couldn't describe it at all.
Aberforth shook his head and continued walking forward.
Harry, supported by Hermione and Ron, left the "Brain Room."
The moment they all stepped out, the door clicked shut.
Then rumbling sounds came again from within the walls.
"Mark appear!"
Hermione quickly waved her wand in the air.
With her movement, a fiery red X appeared on the door.
The next moment, the walls began spinning rapidly again.
But this time, amid the flickering blue firelight, there was also a large patch of golden red.
When everything stopped, everyone happily discovered that the mark Hermione made had not disappeared.
George and Fred praised excitedly, "Hermione, that was really smart! This will make our progress much faster."
"Don't celebrate too early," Aberforth shook his head. "What's hidden here isn't a simple physical mechanism, it's spatial magic!"
"Even though I've never been here, I know the Department of Mysteries, as the most mysterious department of the Ministry of Magic, can't possibly have only twelve rooms."
"I dare say if you push open that marked door again, the room inside won't be the Brain Room anymore."
"What are you talking about? That's impossible!"
Ron said angrily, and even tried to push the marked door, luckily George and Fred quickly pulled him back.
Hermione's previously happy expression sank again.
She clearly knew that what Aberforth said was very likely the truth.
But if that was the case, didn't it mean they might never find the room Harry saw in his dream?
They might not even be able to leave here.
Thinking this, Hermione instinctively glanced toward Harry, only to find him staring fixedly at one black door.
If counted from left to right, that black door should be the seventh one.