Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1694: Ancient Magical Knowledge
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- H.P.S.T Chapter 1694: Ancient Magical Knowledge
It seemed that a scroll was sealed inside the sphere of magic, but the white orb vanished in an instant, and Evan did not manage to see it clearly.
Then, another red orb flew towards him. This time, it didn’t contain a scroll, but a piece of papyrus, which seemed to bear some kind of ancient magical script.
Before he could figure out what kind of ancient script it was, the red orb flashed away again.
Evan blinked, and yet another sphere — this one blue — drifted toward him. The blue orb moved slowly. Inside it was something like a mass of luminous mist, as though blue fog had been gathered together, constantly shifting and changing.
These things looked a lot like memories!
Evan had seen similar substances before, in the vials at Dumbledore’s place.
Of course, memories wouldn’t be blue.
They should be close to the color of a soul — faintly milky white, or like liquid mercury.
Yet for reasons he could not quite explain, Evan was certain this was something similar.
“Scrolls, papyrus, luminous mist, how strange…”
In any case, these magical spheres were not merely orbs formed from condensed magic; they clearly contained something tangible.
Seemingly noticing Evan’s confusion, Dalian explained proudly, “Every one of these spheres was left behind by our family’s ancestors. Inside them is the most precious magical knowledge in the world. The color of each sphere reflects the nature of the magic it contains.”
“Magical knowledge?” This was indeed somewhat unexpected for Evan; he had never seen knowledge preserved in this way before.
“Yes,” said Dalian. “There are even ancient spells passed down from ancient times, extremely precious. After the Library of Alexandria was burned down, our family’s library became one of the very few places in the Wizarding world where such magic was still preserved.”
“The Library of Alexandria?” Evan had, of course, heard of that legendary great library.
He was somewhat intrigued. According to Dalian, each of these orbs in the air corresponded to a spellbook or a set of magical knowledge, and all of them contained ancient magic that had been lost to time. That was truly impressive.
If the time and place weren’t so inconvenient, Evan would have loved to see what knowledge was recorded inside these orbs.
He had previously seen the Black family’s library, and it had been of immense help to him.
The oldest magic there could be traced back a thousand years. The Black family was ancient enough, after all — but compared to the Ravenclaw family’s library before him, the Black family’s collection amounted to very little.
The two families differed in strength, status, and historical legacy. The Black family was indeed ancient, but a thousand years ago, they had been merely an ordinary pure-blood Wizarding family. How many valuable magical books could they possibly have possessed?
The Ravenclaw family, on the other hand, was different. From what Evan knew, the Ravenclaw family was an ancient family of guardians.
Their history could be traced all the way back to the Age of Ancient Magic. Because they were charged with guarding the Veil of Death that sealed away an evil god, they had settled in Britain. Comparable in status to the Ravenclaw family was the House of Slytherin — after all, the school itself had once been a Slytherin castle. And one must not forget the sunken temple deep within the Forbidden Forest, where the statue of that evil god lay sealed.
As his investigation into the keys to the secret treasure and the evil gods deepened, Evan gained a deeper understanding of the families of the school’s Four Founders.
Among the Four Founders, Ravenclaw and Slytherin scarcely needed explanation. Both were guardian families, whose original purpose for existence was to watch over things connected to the sealed evil gods. At Slytherin’s end, it was the statue of the evil god; here, in Ravenclaw’s domain, it was the Veil of Death.
Their legendary magical artifacts, the Twin Serpent Staff and the Diadem, were highly effective at countering the power of evil gods.
Among the Four Founders, Gryffindor’s family background was the simplest.
He appeared to have been born into the household of a Muggle noble lord, and was highly skilled in swordsmanship, horsemanship, and other forms of combat practiced by Muggle warriors or knights. Relying on his natural talent and relentless effort, he rose to become a powerful wizard, and enjoyed an exceptionally close relationship with Lady Ravenclaw.
It was well known that Gryffindor loved Ravenclaw.
However, because Lady Ravenclaw was incapable of romantic attachment, the two ultimately failed to end up together.
Of course, there was a small mystery that Evan had yet to unravel: since Gryffindor didn’t marry Ravenclaw, who, then, was Helena Ravenclaw’s father?
Given that Lady Ravenclaw could move freely through time without limitation, almost anyone could have been Helena’s father.
Most likely, it was a wizard of formidable power!
From a purely rational standpoint, that would have been the most advantageous choice for the continuation of the family line.
Yet judging from the present situation, Helena’s performance left much to be desired, and the Ravenclaw family quickly perished after Lady Ravenclaw’s death. Lady Ravenclaw was aware this would happen, which was why she ultimately chose Dalian.
So, did that mean Helena’s birth was an accident?
Although such gossip naturally piques everyone’s curiosity, let’s return our focus to the last of the Four Founders, Hufflepuff. As far as Evan knew, Hufflepuff seemed to be a descendant of a legendary prophet and was herself a powerful Seer.
Naturally, the Seer spoken of here was not a fraud like Professor Trelawney, but a witch who truly possessed the gift of prophecy.
Time is in constant flux. Even with the aid of a Time-Turner, allowing one to glimpse the future, Lady Ravenclaw could never be certain that what she saw truly was the future — but a Seer could.
The omens they saw were crucial points in time, unchanging regardless of how the timeline changed.
There was no doubt that such an ability was immensely important. Hufflepuff could guide other witches and wizards, pointing them in the right direction.
Beyond that, she had a love of cooking, and showed exceptional kindness toward non-human magical creatures — especially house-elves.
Lady Hufflepuff herself was the longest-lived of the Four Founders of Hogwarts, dedicating the latter half of her life to the school’s development. Many significant educational reforms and traditions had been established during her tenure as Headmistress.
It was fair to say that without the Four Founders, there would have been no Hogwarts.
However, without Hufflepuff, Hogwarts wouldn’t have continued to develop. After all, a thousand years ago, Wizarding schools were still a novelty, let alone a school that admitted Muggle-born students.
In terms of magical prowess, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin were all incredibly strong, something Evan had already witnessed firsthand.
But when it came to Hufflepuff’s magical abilities, he realized he knew almost nothing at all.
From what could be inferred so far, aside from being a Seer, Hufflepuff also seemed to possess a deep mastery of demonic magic…
