Hogwarts: I Am an Exemplary Wizard

Chapter 593: Chapter 591: Department of Mysteries

At five in the morning the next day, when the sky was just barely light, Kael was already woken up by the sound of several owls pecking at the window.

He yawned as he sat up, rubbing his face trying to wake himself up, until a few minutes later, he gradually realized that he was going to face an inquiry today.

Meanwhile, Diana seemed to have something going on as well, which required him to go to the Ministry of Magic a few hours before work.

Thinking of this, Kael quickly jumped out of bed, got dressed neatly, and went downstairs to the living room to prepare breakfast.

At that moment, Chris had just placed a plate of fried ham and some slices of bread on the table.

”I was just about to call you,” Chris said, ”Want something to drink, how about pumpkin juice?”

”Sure,” Kael replied.

He walked over to the other side of Chris and sat down, starting to smear raspberry jam on the bread.

”No need to rush,” Chris said, bringing over a large cup of pumpkin juice, ”We can Disillusionment to London directly in a while, which can save quite a bit of time.”

Kael nodded but didn’t speak.

He thought about it all night yesterday and still couldn’t understand why Diana wanted him to go to the Department of Mysteries, and only fell into a muddled sleep at dawn, so now he’s feeling quite sleepy.

After about half an hour, when the sky started to brighten, the two of them stepped out of the house.

”Are you ready?” Chris extended his arm and said, ”Grab tight, we’re ready to go.”

Kael placed his hand on Chris’s shoulder.

The next second, a familiar feeling of compression spread throughout his body, and when Kael opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in an old record shop.

Faced with the sudden appearance of the two people, the shop owner seemed not very surprised, only slightly lifted his head to glance at them.

”Chris, this early today?”

”Hey, Broderick,” Chris greeted, ”No choice, got a lot of reports to write.”

”Those folks who want to raise Fantastic Beasts again?” Broderick said knowingly, ”Ever since the Triwizard Tournament ended, everyone seems to have taken an interest in raising Fantastic Beasts, I dare say you must have been very busy lately.”

”Yes, just yesterday I saved a guy who wanted to raise a Kelpie,” Chris sighed, ”Really don’t know when they will understand that not every Fantastic Beast is like the Puffskein, that kind of gentle little darling.”

”That might be a bit difficult,” Broderick said, then he looked at Kael, ”You are... Sorry, this is the internal entrance for Ministry staff, the visitor’s hall is on the street out front.”

”This is my son, Kael,” Chris quickly said, ”He’s coming to the Ministry for an inquiry today, nine o’clock, at the Law Enforcement Department.”

”Oh... he’s the Kael who won the Triwizard Tournament?” Broderick, who was originally sleepy-eyed, immediately perked up and curiously looked at Kael.

”I remember he was the youngest champion... truly remarkable.”

Then Broderick seemed to recall something, casually tapped a notebook beside him, which automatically flipped to the newest page, he took a glance at it.

”Yes, that’s right, seven days ago he received a warning letter for using a Charm at the Leaky Cauldron...

”Wait, the Leaky Cauldron?”

Broderick’s voice suddenly rose a bit, looking at the content on the notebook in disbelief.

”Merlin’s beard, it’s my first time encountering such an absurd reason, if you can’t use Charms even in the Leaky Cauldron, why don’t they just take away their wands.”

”Probably because no one would agree,” Chris said.

”Of course no one would agree,” Broderick sneered and shut the notebook, looking at Kael again, ”Alright kid, in my view you didn’t do anything wrong, so there’s no need to be nervous.

”Amelia from the Law Enforcement Department is a fair person, I dare say she definitely won’t punish you for such ridiculous reasons.”

”Thank you,” Kael said with a smile.

It seemed that the wizard in front of him was also a decent person.

”So can we go in now?” Chris asked, ”Sorry, I’m a bit pressed for time.”

”Of course, go ahead.”

Broderick tapped a raised portion on the counter with his wand, and the nearby display window immediately extended to the sides, revealing a passage.

”Thank you,” Chris said.

He led Kael inside.

Behind the passage was a long corridor, lined with fireplaces required by the Floo Network, but at this early hour, these fireplaces were all extinguished.

And in the middle of the corridor, a person was standing there waiting for them.

”Just in time,” Diana walked over and said to Chris, ”Come to the Department of Mysteries floor to pick him up at eight thirty.”

”Alright,” Chris said.

”Now come with me.”

Diana led Kael away from the fireplace corridor and into the elevator.

There was no one here either, only a cold voice occasionally announcing the floor they were on.

”Remember, don’t run around or look around, just follow me.”

In the elevator, Diana instructed, ”And no matter what you see inside, you must not tell anyone outside, including the Weasley brothers and the girl named Conna.”

”Yes, I understand,” Kael nodded.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a cold voice reached his ears.

”Department of Mysteries.”

”Arrived,” Diana stepped out of the elevator first, and Kael hurried to follow.

He had been here once before, but at that time, he turned left to the stairs as soon as he exited the elevator. However, this time, he followed Diana through the empty corridor to the simple door at the end.

”Remember, do not look around, do not run around,” Diana reminded again before pushing the door open and entering.

Behind the door was a large circular room, as if washed with ink, the ceiling and floor included, everything was black, the walls were adorned with branch-shaped candles, but the flames were blue, cold, completely devoid of any warmth.

The doors on the walls were also black, without any markings, all looking identical.

But Diana merely glanced around and walked straight towards one of the doors ahead.

Next, Kael felt as if he had returned to the final event of the Triwizard Tournament, it seemed to be a labyrinth here.

Everywhere was the same color, the same architecture, the same doors, just relaxing a bit would cause him to forget where he entered from.

After walking for about ten minutes, Kael finally saw something different.

It was a giant tank that could fill the whole room, occasionally inside it he saw things like brains.

He had seen this before, during Peter Pettigrew’s interrogation, Diana used it to find out that Peter was the Secret-Keeper.

But at that time, the tank was only table-sized, far smaller than what he saw now.

Further ahead was a room enveloped in golden airflow, walking inside, Kael could continuously hear a ticking sound, like the sound of a clock hand moving, or the drip of sand in an hourglass.

Not sure if it was an illusion, as Kael walked, he suddenly felt like he had grown taller, the outfit that fit perfectly before became smaller, he felt a bit squeezed in the shoulders, and his ankle was exposed.

But within a few seconds, the clothes got bigger again, the pants dragged on the ground, nearly tripping him.

When Diana pushed open the door at the end, as Kael crossed the threshold, everything returned to normal in an instant.

At the same time, Diana stopped walking, not continuing forward.

”Here we are,” she said.

Kael looked up to find that they were in a huge cave-like place.

Surrounding them were step-like stone benches extending downward at a steep angle, much like the Quidditch World Cup stadium, and they were standing at the very top position.

From here down, one could see a high stone terrace with a stone archway standing on it, looking aged, ancient, and worn.

”Come on.”

Diana took Kael, took a step forward.

With just one step, they crossed those rows of steps, appearing on the stone terrace.

Disillusionment?

No, it shouldn’t be, Disillusionment wouldn’t be this quiet.

Then what could it be...

Kael couldn’t help but be curious himself, but seeing Diana’s serious expression, he refrained from asking.

”Come to this side.”

Diana led Kael to the middle of the stone archway.

The stone door shimmered with a ripple like a water’s surface, behind it was a slowly drifting white fog, obscuring view of what lay within.

...