"Is Harry really okay like this?" Hermione frowned, looking worriedly at Harry's departing back before turning back to Amanda with some uncertainty.
The quill in Amanda's hand paused for a moment as she looked up at Hermione and shook her head.
"It's fine. His mental and physical condition seem to have no problems whatsoever."
"Alright, but he's been having this same dream for almost a week now, and it's related to Voldemort. I'm worried it might be affecting him."
"Logically, it would," Amanda said, picking up her quill to start drawing again. Under her pen, the corridor Harry had described from his dreams over the past week was quickly sketched out. "As one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, his emotions and thoughts are easily influenced by Voldemort himself or other Horcruxes."
"But since he learned Occlumency ahead of schedule at the end of the last school year, he can block the emotional influence from Voldemort's side. That's why he seems perfectly fine."
Or rather, one couldn't say nothing was wrong. The only issue was that Harry was now essentially dreaming every single night, and they were almost identical dreams.
It was one thing for this to happen for a week, but if it continued for longer—two weeks, three weeks, a month—Harry might end up developing a phobia of sleeping.
However, based on Amanda's analysis of Voldemort's personality, that fellow probably didn't have that much patience.
"Well, as long as Harry is okay." Hermione sighed and leaned her head on Amanda's shoulder, watching her draw the corridor on the parchment. It was the same drawing of the same corridor; Amanda had drawn it no less than a dozen times this week.
Every time Harry had a dream and described it to her, she would draw the corridor at least once, sometimes even two or three times.
"Drawing this corridor over and over, can you really figure out where it is?"
At least, leaning on Amanda's shoulder, Hermione couldn't see any difference between the current drawing and the very first one.
"I can gradually see some things."
Amanda's voice was calm. She reached into her wizard robe pocket, pulled out the dozen or so drawings she had made previously, and spread them out on the Ravenclaw Table.
There weren't many people in the Great Hall on a weekend morning, which was why she could use the long table this way.
"Starting from the first drawing," Amanda reached out and pointed to a spot on a door in the picture, "Harry's grasp of the details of these doors has been increasing bit by bit."
With Harry's permission, Amanda had not only been listening to his accounts of the dreams but had also been using Legilimency to observe the changes in his dreams every day.
As a result, she clearly noticed some changes that even Harry himself hadn't perceived.
Hermione followed Amanda's hand. In the first drawing, the spot Amanda was pointing at seemed to have a small black dot.
Looking at the subsequent drawings, that small black dot seemed to expand bit by bit, gaining some detail.
By the last drawing, it could no longer be called a small black dot, but an extremely blurry pattern.
"So blurry," Hermione whispered, leaning in for a closer look. "I can't tell what this is."
Taking out a fresh piece of parchment and spreading it on the table, Amanda explained while thinking, "In the dreams Harry has had this week, every part is gradually becoming more detailed. Compared to the previous time, each part only shows more detailed changes in its specifics."
"There are basically no other fundamental physical changes or transformations, so I can be certain that his dreams are real."
The shadow of the icon on the door from Harry's latest dream surfaced in her mind, and Amanda's brain began to process it automatically.
Based on the general appearance of that icon, she simulated its possible form. The initial simulation was blurry, with no discernible details.
However, after one simulation, some of the previously blurry parts were filled in by Amanda according to the possible paths of the other lines forming the icon.
Although it was a speculative completion, it was estimated based on the original lines of the icon, so it still had a certain degree of accuracy.
The blurry icon became clearer in Amanda's mind time after time. After nearly fifteen iterations, the icon finally appeared clearly.
The quill in Amanda's hand suddenly moved rapidly, drawing the process of the blurry image in her mind becoming progressively clearer.
Sitting beside her, Hermione felt a surge of surprise. Although that small black dot had become a blurry icon in the latest drawing, it was still a smudge that was hard to identify. Yet Amanda could actually make this icon clearer and clearer from such a state?!
This modeling ability and control over her own thoughts were just too strong. Hermione watched in admiration as the icon became clearer and clearer under Amanda's hand.
Gradually, she suddenly felt that this icon looked very familiar, as if... she had seen it before, and more than once.
Wait, looking at the icon that Amanda had "restored" more than halfway, Hermione's pupils contracted sharply. "Isn't this the Ministry of Magic's symbol..."
She muttered softly, not daring to speak loudly for fear of disturbing Amanda.
Even so, Amanda, sitting right next to Hermione, heard her. Her quill speed increased, and she soon reached the final drawing; a perfectly clear icon jumped off the page.
"Yes, Hermione is right. It is the Ministry of Magic's icon."
"So, Voldemort's giant snake, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, has been wandering around inside the Ministry of Magic every night—and for an entire week straight!"
Hermione couldn't help but raise her voice. She knew Fudge was useless, and she knew the Ministry of Magic led by Fudge was useless.
"But she really didn't know they could be this useless—the enemy was treating their headquarters like a back garden!"
Oh right, in Fudge's eyes, Voldemort hadn't even been resurrected yet, so he wasn't his enemy. Amanda, herself, Harry, and Headmaster Dumbledore—they were the ones Fudge considered enemies.
"There's something Voldemort wants in the Ministry of Magic," Amanda said decisively, looking at the drawings on the parchment.
She reached out and pointed to the corridor in the other drawings. "That thing is behind one of these doors."
"Analyzing Voldemort's personality and character traits to judge the purpose of his actions, he is letting Harry see this corridor repeatedly with a certain intent to guide Harry into figuring out where this is."
"Combining this with the results of the previous analysis, Voldemort might next create an accident in a specific place—namely, the corridor in the drawings—and let Harry see it, thereby making him certain of the dream's reality."
"Finally, he will create an illusion that will make Harry's emotions panicky beyond measure, luring Harry there."
"Therefore, it can be judged that the thing Voldemort wants, hidden in this corridor, is likely something only Harry can obtain, or something that is easier for Harry to obtain if he goes there."
"Something only Harry can obtain, or something easier for Harry to obtain..." Hermione repeated Amanda's words, her beautiful eyes filled with incomprehension and confusion.
"What kind of thing could meet such criteria?"
"Unknown." Amanda shook her head, indicating she was also powerless.
"There are no specific books explaining the internal situation of the Ministry of Magic. I have too little information to perform a corresponding prediction and analysis."
"Being able to analyze it to this point is already very impressive." Hermione's confusion vanished as she smiled and wrapped her arms around Amanda's waist, leaning in to give her a comforting kiss on the corner of her mouth.
"If it weren't for my Amanda, I'm afraid we would still know nothing at all."
Amanda pursed her lips, a faint blush appearing on her face as she felt the sweetness from the corner of her mouth. "No, even without me, you and the others would have eventually discovered where that was, Hermione."
"But we wouldn't necessarily have discovered that it was Voldemort's trap, or even that it was something Voldemort intentionally wanted Harry to see."
"In an emergency, if something really happened, we might have just rushed over, and that could very well have led to something irreversible."
Hermione softly countered Amanda's words. While one arm was around her waist, she used her other hand to hold the hand Amanda was using to grip the quill.
"The help you give us—the help from your brain and your abilities—is far greater than you think. Be more proud of yourself and believe in yourself a little more."
"Mm," Amanda hummed softly. "I am proud of myself, and I do believe in myself."
"Well said." Hermione smiled with satisfaction and kissed Amanda's now-pink cheeks several times.
Knowing that the place in Harry's dream was the Ministry of Magic, Amanda straightforwardly sent a letter to a Ravenclaw senior working at the Ministry, attaching her hand-drawn sketch of the corridor and asking which department in the Ministry looked like that.
The Ravenclaw Eagles always handled Amanda's matters quickly. The letter she sent in the morning received a reply by dinner time.
Detaching the letter from the Owl's leg, Amanda fed the little fellow several pieces of bread and meat, waiting until it had eaten its fill and flown away before opening the reply in her hand.
Quickly scanning the contents of the letter, Hermione swallowed her pumpkin juice and leaned in curiously. "Is there a result? Where in the Ministry of Magic is the corridor from the drawing?"
"The senior said that among all the Ministry departments he knows or has seen, none of them have such a corridor either outside or inside."
"Does that mean we still can't be sure where this corridor is?"
Hermione's fingers lightly toyed with her fork. Did they really have to just passively wait for Voldemort to create the first accident?
"No, quite the opposite," Amanda said, shaking her head with a smile playing on her lips. "With all other places excluded, only one remains—the most mysterious place in the Ministry that the senior mentioned, the place he cannot enter: the Department of Mysteries."
"When all other possibilities are excluded, only this one remains, so it must be the truth."
"The Department of Mysteries..." Hermione repeated the name, suddenly remembering something. "I remember now! Mr. Weasley mentioned that name just before the Quidditch World Cup Final. Two people arrived then, and Mr. Weasley introduced them as employees of the Department of Mysteries, saying their work was strictly confidential."
"Mm." Amanda nodded in affirmation as Cho Chang and Marietta Eckmore, who were sitting next to them, leaned closer.
They had gone on a date to Hogsmeade this morning, so they had missed Amanda's drawing deductions and analysis.
"You already know where the corridor in Harry's dream is?" Marietta Eckmore looked intently at Amanda. "I think I heard the name 'Department of Mysteries' just now?"
"Yes," Amanda turned her head to look at Marietta Eckmore and Cho Chang. "The corridor in Harry's dream is the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic."
"The department that has no information released to the public." Cho Chang frowned. The other departments of the Ministry were fine, but this one had no information leaking out at all. Over the years, many Wizards had even doubted its existence, wondering if it was just a department Fudge made up to request more funding for the Ministry.
Unexpectedly, its existence was now confirmed.
Thinking about what Amanda had told them earlier—with Harry's consent—that Harry's dreams were seen through Voldemort's giant snake.
Marietta Eckmore's mouth couldn't help but twitch. "So, ordinary people in the Wizarding World don't know if the Department of Mysteries exists, ordinary Ministry employees can't enter it, but Voldemort's giant snake can come and go as it pleases..."
"The Ministry of Magic is truly the pillar and hope of the Wizarding World."
A pillar that one could see was crumbling at a glance, and a hope that made everything look bleak.
As a Ministry of Magic, it was normal to have things that couldn't be made public, but at the very least, you shouldn't let your enemies look at those things as if they were toys.
For a whole week! For a whole week, Voldemort's giant snake has been wandering all over the most vital and mysterious part of the Ministry, and not a single person noticed. That's just wonderful!
"Anyway, regardless of the Ministry," Amanda sighed somewhat vividly, though her face remained expressionless, as she took out a piece of parchment to write to Senior Platt, "we can now be certain that there is something Voldemort wants in the Department of Mysteries, and that thing can only be obtained by Harry, or is more convenient for Harry to get."
"Mm, so what are you doing now?" Hermione nodded, watching Amanda's hand as she wrote rapidly.
"Writing to Senior Platt, asking her to arrange for someone to keep an eye on the Department of Mysteries."
"Since we already know an accident will happen there, we can't just leave it alone. Even if this accident is likely just something Voldemort created to make Harry believe in the dreams, it wouldn't be good if it had serious consequences."
"So, arranging for someone to watch it in advance is definitely the right move."
"Mm." Hermione nodded in silent approval, but then she immediately thought of a blind spot.
Wait, isn't the Department of Mysteries forbidden to outsiders? How is Amanda going to arrange for someone to watch that place?
But then again, considering Voldemort's giant snake could come and go freely... it was suddenly understandable. Amanda had so many people at her disposal now, so many Ravenclaw graduates, all of whom were top-tier students.
Finding someone exceptionally good at Charms who could easily sneak into the Ministry of Magic should be quite simple, right?
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