Capítulo 118: Chapter 118: Flowers Need to be Picked
Tom led Hermione through the corridor ahead and entered the real Chamber. By now, the flames previously lit had long been extinguished, but a faint fragrance still lingered in the Chamber. Tom noticed that the snake-shaped reliefs on the pillars had become shiny again; it seemed that the oil was automatically replenished.
"Is this the snake creature?" Looking at the creature's corpse, Hermione didn't feel fear; instead, she was curious. She crouched down, carefully examining the snake creature's shiny green scales and its dagger-like thin and long fangs.
"I never thought there would be such a creature underground at Hogwarts. What does it usually eat?"
"You'll know when you come closer." Tom led Hermione into the tunnel inside the Slytherin statue.
"Hold on tight!" Tom transformed into a phoenix once again, carrying Hermione out of the tunnel.
"Your transformations are quite useful." After landing, Hermione released the phoenix's claw, expressing some envy. If they had walked that distance, it would have taken two to three hours. However, as a phoenix, even with an extra passenger, it took less than ten minutes.
Looking around, she sensed the cool mountain air, realizing something very unpleasant. "Did we leave Hogwarts?" She cautiously made this judgment.
After receiving an affirmative answer, Hermione, like a startled deer, panicked, "How could we leave Hogwarts? My goodness, this is definitely against the rules—counting from when we entered the Chamber, we might have violated hundreds of rules. We need to go back quickly—"
"Don't worry; it's only a violation if you get caught." Watching Hermione getting worked up, Tom played his trump card, "Going back now, especially during Filch's rounds, will only get us caught. Since we're already here, why not take a little rest outside?"
Hermione, although unwilling, realized that going back now was not a good time. Tom was right; even if they wanted to return, they had to wait until the later hours when Filch and the night patrolling professors were resting.
So, she sat down with Tom on a rock.
The mountain breeze relieved Hermione. Upon reflection, it was actually quite good; at least, it was a fantastic adventure, a completely new experience for her.
However, the mountain breeze was a bit chilly in September in the Scottish Highlands. Thinking that they might have to stay there for a few hours, Hermione edged a bit closer to Tom.
"What's that?" She was attracted by a glint nearby. As she approached, she saw that the source of the glint was a tiara entwined with a necklace.
She reached out, but remembering the stories related to cursed objects she read in books, she hesitated.
However, Tom beat her to it, picking up the tiara and handing it to her. As soon as the tiara made contact with both of them, a white light enveloped them. After the light faded, both of them disappeared.
...
When Hermione regained her senses from the dazzling white light, she found herself in a small wooden house. The furniture around her seemed a bit simple, or rather, humble. The environment inside the wooden house was not particularly good.
Hermione's first reaction was: Could the necklace just now be the legendary Portkey?
She had read about common methods of wizard transportation, and one of them was Portkeys, magical items that allowed instantaneous travel between two locations. Considering the current situation, it seemed that they had encountered a Portkey. Hermione thought that the top priority was to find Tom.
"Normally, after a Portkey transports people, all users should end up in roughly the same location." Hermione was a bit puzzled, but she suppressed the anxiety and the strange, uncomfortable feeling deep inside her. Holding her wand in one hand, she cautiously pushed open the door.
Outside was a medieval-style small town, with many houses arranged together, red-tiled roofs, walls made of gray bricks, or a combination of wood and white clay.
Hermione walked down the stairs outside the door, reaching the compacted dirt path.
She noticed something unusual after a few steps: she felt like she had become taller? After gesturing a bit, it seemed like she had also grown?
Hermione quickly confirmed: she had grown. Now, she had a physique more like a seventeen or eighteen-year-old young woman. This made her nervous. Images of the fairy tales she had read in her childhood gradually appeared in her mind.
At this moment, she heard the church bells, so she subconsciously walked towards the direction of the church.
As she approached the church, the number of people gradually increased. Hermione passed through the crowd and quickly determined that the place she was in was definitely not Earth in the 20th century. The attire of the people around had a medieval style, and the items in use showed no modern influence.
She walked slowly, exploring the small market around. There was a small stone prison inside, where two people were locking up a drunkard. On the street, there was a bakery with a baker carrying a tray of freshly baked bread.
Hermione glanced at the bread. Even the worst bakery in the UK made more exquisite bread than these. These loaves, even when fresh, lacked the fragrance of the street bakery — that was certain. The aroma in modern street bakeries came from the large amounts of milk, butter, sugar, and refined flour in the ingredients. How could a bakery in this small town have that kind of aroma?
Common bread in modern society might only be seen on a noble's table in the Middle Ages. Feeding pigeons with such bread in the square a few hundred years ago would undoubtedly be considered extravagant and heartless.
Hermione walked through the dirty streets, and by the roadside, several beautiful and docile horses and donkeys were tied up, creating a terrible smell on the street.
People coming and going were selecting fresh vegetables and newly baked bread at the small stalls. Not far away, there was a shop selling seafood, and flies buzzed around oysters, shrimp, and fish.
"Good morning, Hermione." A voice came from behind Hermione.
Hermione immediately turned around, and in her sight was a black-haired young man of about eighteen. Although he had matured a bit, Hermione was absolutely certain: this young man was Tom.
Tom was dressed in a very simple outfit — a linen shirt and a pair of coarse cloth trousers. The shirt was tied at the waist with a cloth belt, and he wore a straw hat on his head and sandals on his feet.
In comparison, Hermione was dressed much more elegantly: a white dress with seemingly blue stripes, and on top of it was a blue apron-style skirt. There was also a storage bag around her waist, and she wore a pair of shoes that looked more like shoes on her feet. More noticeable than her clothes was the fact that her hair, now finally tamed, was tied behind her head into a soft braid.
"It seems like you're much wealthier than I am." Tom joked.
"Do you have the mind to care about that right now?" Hermione retorted, "What's our situation?"
"If my guess is correct, we may have been brought to a certain historical point by that necklace." Tom explained his speculation about the copy to Hermione. In Tom's understanding, the copy was more like a "trace" left by stories that had actually happened in history. These traces were like photos left by a speeding carriage. Even though Tom had changed the contents of the photo by entering it, it had no effect on the real carriage.
"So, how do we get out of here?" Hermione didn't want to live in this historical trace forever; there was no exquisite food or interesting books here.
"Complete something, or fulfill a wish."
"A wish..." Hermione pondered on this word.
The two decided to take a stroll around the vicinity.
The town market was not large, with only a few old farmers selling vegetables and fruits they picked from their gardens. Apart from that, there was a bakery, a butcher shop, a fish market, and a general store.
At the entrance of the church, a well-dressed person was reading a document, attracting a crowd to watch.
Tom and Hermione listened for a while and left when they realized it was just meaningless chatter about a lord, a viscount who was summoned by some important person to go to war. Tom and Hermione left without listening further — it was all nonsense.
At the edge of the town, a young woman in a black dress intercepted Tom and Hermione.
"Are you going to the Scarborough market?" The girl's brown hair was braided into many small strands, giving her a messy appearance.
"Yes, we are heading there." Tom nodded before Hermione could respond.
"Great! Could you help me buy some parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme and deliver them to Ben, who lives on the beach south of Scarborough?"
"No problem." Tom agreed readily.
Just as they were about to leave, the girl hesitated for a long time and said, "If he has a reply, could you please bring it back? Please!"
Tom naturally agreed.
Tom and Hermione left the small town.
"Did you notice the headdress on her head? That tiara is identical to the one we found." As soon as they walked away, Hermione couldn't wait to share her discovery with Tom.
"I saw it. She is probably the key to us leaving this trace." Tom agreed.
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(End of this chapter)
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