Harry Potter: The Bard of Hogwarts

At the beginning of June, the temperature in the Scottish Highlands was soaring.

Similarly, as the final exams approached, Hogwarts visibly became somewhat restless.

This was especially true for the fifth and seventh-year students.

Two crucial exams not only represented their academic achievements but also determined their future paths in life.

...

However, the tense atmosphere before the exams never seemed to affect Slytherin.

More than eighty percent of the young snakes had their paths paved even before they were born.

Whether it was O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s, they were just limitations for ordinary people.

Even Goyle would inherit the family business after graduation. For him, attending school was perhaps more like a vacation, with the bonus of critiquing the food in the Hogwarts kitchen.

The four houses always presented four different scenes.

...

Slytherin Dormitory.

In the quiet environment, only the sound of pages turning and quills scratching could be heard.

"Lina, my suggestion is Middle-earth. I've told you the story, but the choice is always yours."

Ino's gaze swept over a few handwritten books on the table, and just their titles were enough to send chills down one's spine: *Twisting Your Brain*, *Brewing Potions with One Finger*, *Twelve Uses of Eyeballs*, *Techniques of the Killing Curse*.

"Don't worry about me! I've already chosen the place," Lina's cold voice said.

"These books have been carefully selected! This is the last thing I can do to help you."

"Put the books aside, choosing the right place is crucial!" Ino emphasized again.

He knew very well that some choices, once made, were difficult to change. Especially with the time difference between the two worlds, the next meeting could be decades later.

"There's nothing much to choose! It's just about experiencing life. Besides, I'm already quite satisfied. From the moment I entered Narnia, all I've encountered is endless malice and rejection..."

Lina gracefully climbed onto the table with her eight legs.

"Living again was something I never expected! For that, I have to thank you."

"But you are still not free!"

For the first time, Ino pointed out the downside directly.

He had always deliberately avoided this topic. The miraculous nature of the Sanctuary gave him absolute control over Lina.

After pointing out the problem, the dormitory fell silent for a while.

...

Time passed by in silence, second by second.

After a while, Lina was the first to break the silence:

"So, will you force me to do anything?"

"Of course not!" Ino immediately refuted without a second thought.

"If that's the case, then why call it unfreedom, little one?"

Lina chuckled. Despite her form as an Acromantula, at that moment, she exuded the confidence of a legendary witch once more.

The familiar term of endearment also brought Ino back to old memories.

Memories of reindeer sleighs, the dwarf Simon, castles on ice plains, and ice sculptures in the great hall...

"You're right! You are free!"

At this moment, Ino's tone was unusually certain.

After speaking, he felt as if a burden had been lifted, leaving him with a sense of lightness.

As if anticipating this, Lina didn't mind but instead shifted the topic:

"Although I don't know how long it will be, if you have any questions, you should ask them now! This world feels very different to me."

Not just different, Ino had known this for a long time.

The magical world was very advanced and mysterious, much like the fog of the Sanctuary, shrouding secrets that were hard to uncover.

Despite the obscuring mist, he wouldn't be too persistent, nor would he pursue the truth as relentlessly as Lady Ravenclaw did.

Perhaps, as destiny chose at the beginning, he had decided to disguise himself as a bard, subtly changing while in disguise.

Now, Ino wouldn't be too fixated on anything, much like the protagonist in the novel *The Tale of Mr. Almost*, seeking 'almost' in everything.

Extreme pursuits often bring extreme pressure.

However, since Lina had brought it up, he wouldn't miss the opportunity to explore.

"If I must say, perhaps there is only one current doubt."

As Ino spoke thoughtfully, he summoned a Boggart hidden in the shadows, a mass of pitch-black fog slowly materializing.

"A Boggart, a type of magical creature. But now it's different, and some have speculated that it is connected to nightmares..."

...

Hogwarts has no secrets.

Likewise, Hogwarts is full of secrets.

One thing is certain, the safety level of student dormitories is of absolute priority, as is their privacy.

In the Slytherin dormitory, in the castle's underground.

The emerald-green theme paired with the flickering candlelight always gave a sense of mystery and gloom.

But now, in a twenty-square-meter double dormitory.

Black mist curled and filled the room, an Acromantula about a foot in diameter on the table, along with several magical books with misleading titles.

Put together, even Voldemort would sigh in admiration at having successors.

"…that's how it is. The Sanctuary's mechanism made me accidentally control this Boggart, and the second magical outburst made it different."

In the black mist, Ino calmly recounted the changes over the past year.

Facing Lina, he hid nothing, nor was there a need to. They were essentially in the same boat, bound by a rope that could not be cut.

After his detailed explanation, the expected silence did not occur.

Lina didn't even need to think; she immediately responded with her perspective.

"There's nothing strange about it! The cause of all this is simply because you believed that saying, you believed internally that Boggarts and nightmares had changed."

"Of course, this alone isn't enough to cause a fundamental change."

Lina lightly stirred the air with her legs as her cool voice resonated in the dormitory:

"The root lies in the magical outburst, which is why I hold this world in high regard. Children who have never learned magic can accomplish things during magical outbursts that many powerful wizards cannot."

"When they are emotionally charged, they can even achieve their desires. But this power is uncontrollable; it only fulfills what the young wizard truly wants, like getting a piece of cake or making themselves fly..."

As Lina spoke, Ino gradually pieced together the puzzle.

A prime example was 11-year-old Harry using the Vanishing Spell without a wand to make the glass disappear at the zoo, letting the Brazilian snake escape.

With this ironclad evidence, he had accepted Lina's viewpoint.

The second magical outburst was triggered by the Boggart, and he subconsciously believed that Boggarts were connected to nightmares.

In this nearly wish-fulfilling power, a fundamental change occurred naturally.

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