Hogwarts, the Headmaster's Office.
"Albus, are you certain you want him to face the Fivefold Interrogation alone?" Professor Flitwick rubbed his hands nervously.
"This is the final trial left by Rowena Ravenclaw for the true inheritor.
In a thousand years, no one has ever passed it. And those who fail remain trapped in the tower."
"Filius, have faith in your student."
"What we see are only echoes of the past. He, however, may be someone who can see the future."
.....
Lucian had not yet fully recovered from the dizziness of crossing space when a thunderous roar filled his ears, loud enough to shatter his senses.
He found himself standing on an endless spiral corridor.
Above, below, and all around him stretched a vast darkness without boundaries.
Only countless books—billions of them—whirled through the infinite space like frightened flocks of birds.
Every book was screaming.
Some recited incorrect dark magic incantations. Others argued contradictory historical dates. Still others shrieked false truths in piercing voices.
Glowing runes filled the air like a blizzard, rushing toward Lucian's eyes and ears.
"Truth is often drowned by noise."
Rowena Ravenclaw's voice echoed through the hall, but it was immediately torn apart by the roaring sea of books.
"Within infinite information, find the single blank."
Lucian did not cover his ears. That would have been pointless.
An ordinary wizard might already have started grabbing the flying books, desperately searching for clues hidden among the chaos, exhausting their mind in endless contradictions.
Lucian simply lowered his eyes slightly.
In an instant, the noisy world lost its color.
The screaming books and swirling runes became nothing more than gray static. Background noise that had to be filtered away.
He was searching for a point.
The eye of a storm was always calm.
No matter how violent the magical turbulence inside this library was, it had to revolve around a perfectly still center.
Within the gray chaos of his perception, a void appeared.
There was nothing there. No light. No books. Only a silent emptiness wrapped in turbulent currents.
Lucian stepped forward.
A gilded book titled The Secrets After Merlin's Death brushed past his face, shouting seductive lies.
Another volume titled The Formula for Eternal Life struck against his shoulder, trying to draw his attention.
He ignored them completely and walked straight through the priceless illusions toward the empty corner.
Then he reached into the air.
When his fingers closed, he felt something.
Leather.
A book that could not be seen was pulled out of the empty air.
Lucian opened it.
The pages were blank.
The moment the book spread open, the flying volumes in the sky fell silent as if someone had crushed their throats. The swirling storm of books returned neatly to their shelves like birds returning to their nests.
The world became quiet again.
Only the blank book remained in Lucian's hands.
It was the single absence within infinite information.
The ground trembled. The spiral corridor collapsed, carrying him down toward the next trial.
.....
When his feet touched the ground again, he found himself inside a massive domed chamber.
In the center of the room floated a magnificent brass orrery.
Dozens of metal spheres representing stars and planets moved along complicated tracks, yet the machine was clearly malfunctioning.
"Repair it."
The voice returned.
"Make the stars move again."
Lucian approached the orrery.
Every component was perfect. Every part matched the blueprint.
Yet together they refused to function.
Why?
Lucian traced the magical flow backward until his gaze stopped on the thick central axis.
That axis represented the Earth. Every orbit in the mechanism had been designed to revolve around it.
"Geocentrism."
Lucian laughed softly.
It had once been truth a thousand years ago.
Now it was an error.
As long as that axis remained—the symbol of unquestionable authority—the machine would always fail. Its fundamental assumption was wrong.
This was a test of courage.
Did the challenger dare overthrow the pedestal of the past?
Lucian raised his wand and aimed it directly at the central axis.
°Reducto°
There was no hesitation.
A flash of blue light exploded outward. The brass axis shattered into fragments with a violent crack. Without support, the planetary spheres immediately began to fall.
°Wingardium Leviosa°
Lucian flicked his wand gently.
His immense mental control seized the falling spheres.
Within his perception, the magical lines no longer tangled. Following the principle of gravity, he moved the golden sphere representing the sun to the center, then guided the other planets into new orbits.
The first planet aligned.
Then the second.
Then the third.
No further adjustments were needed. Once the correct order was restored, motion became natural.
The orrery began humming pleasantly as the planets moved smoothly along their new paths. Above them, a brilliant star map appeared across the dome.
"Wisdom is not merely repair. It is reconstruction."
The final door slowly opened. A faint projection of Rowena Ravenclaw stood beyond it and nodded slightly.
"You were not bound by the limits of my era."
....
The final layer.
There were no traps, no monsters.
Only pure white.
The chamber was a simple circular hall. At the center stood a stone pedestal about half a meter tall.
Upon it rested a crown.
The Ravenclaw Diadem.
Or rather, the perfect manifestation of it within this realm of rules.
When Lucian approached, the diadem did not glow. Instead, a voice spoke directly within his mind.
It was gentle and wise, like a mother whispering softly.
It began answering questions.
Before Lucian even formed them, the voice explained everything hidden in his thoughts.
The lost secrets of ancient magic, eighteen methods for dismantling Horcruxes, even the ultimate evolution of the gray vortex inside his body.
Knowledge poured into his mind like sweet rain.
The sensation of approaching omniscience was intoxicating. If he wore the diadem, there would be no mysteries left in the world.
Lucian slowly reached out toward it.
One touch.
And he would ascend beyond human limits.
But at the last moment, he stopped.
The gray vortex in his eyes reversed violently. His inner sight tore open the illusion.
If he obtained omniscience now, the rest of his life would be nothing but spoilers.
And this omniscience might come at the cost of merging with the world itself.
Had Rowena Ravenclaw already become part of that cosmic order?
"Do you not wish to know everything?" Rowena's projection appeared on the other side of the pedestal, her gaze filled with quiet pity.
Lucian withdrew his hand.
"Humans have limits."
He looked at the tempting diadem the way one might look at a spoiled cake.
"Total knowledge is equivalent to nothing. If I already know how the story ends, then turning the pages becomes meaningless."
He turned away from the crown and walked toward the exit.
"I only need what I know, and what I can deduce. Everything else is the joy of exploration."
Behind him, the diadem emitted a faint, unwilling hum before dissolving into countless particles of light.
This was the quality Rowena Ravenclaw had wished most for her daughter Helena to learn.
The one lesson she had never succeeded in teaching.
Restraint.
__________
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