Passing through the stone passage made slippery by devils snare juice, a heavy wooden door appeared before them. Harry pushed the door open, and a cacophony of sounds, like a flock of birds flapping their wings, along with a soft glow, rushed toward them.
Behind the door was a massive room with an extremely high, vaulted ceiling.
And in the middle of the room, hundreds upon hundreds of small, glittering objects were flying in a dense swarm.
They all had a pair of light, fluttering wings, looking like a flock of brilliant hummingbirds.
They were keys.
Thousands of flying keys.
At the other end of the room was an even larger, tightly closed oak door.
On the door was an ancient silver keyhole; clearly, they needed to find the one correct key from the sea of keys in the sky.
"How long is this going to take?" Ron groaned in despair, looking up at the dizzying ocean of keys.
"It must have something special about it," Hermione analyzed with a frown, her gaze quickly scanning the swarm of keys. "That lock looks very old, so the key should be old too."
Harry's gaze fell upon a few things leaning crookedly against the wall in the corner of the room.
They were flying broomsticks.
One of them looked usable enough.
"I'll do it!" The confident light of a Seeker burned in Harry's eyes. "This is my specialty!"
He strode over, grabbed the broomstick, and mounted it without a moment's hesitation. With a kick of his feet, he shot off like an arrow from a bow, plunging into the "cloud" of keys.
Hermione and Ron looked up nervously, trying to find the target for Harry in the air. But the keys flew too fast, their paths were chaotic, and the light reflecting off their flapping wings made their eyes ache.
Hermione set Lia down from her arms.
Lia sat on the floor and tilted her little head up as well.
In human eyes, it was a chaotic and dizzying sight.
But in Lia's cat eyes, the world took on a different appearance.
Those flying points of light were instantly "slowed down" under her dynamic vision, which far surpassed that of humans. Every point's flight path and every wing's flapping frequency were clearly presented on her retina.
Her azure pupils contracted slightly, then suddenly dilated.
This wasn't chaos.
This was a hunting ground.
And those flying keys were the most lively prey.
Her natural hunting instincts were completely triggered. She didn't think like Hermione about "which one is old"; as a top-tier hunter, she knew how to find the most non-conformist, weakest, and best-hidden individual within a herd.
Her head turned slowly with the swarm of keys in the air, her body lowered, and the tip of her tail rhythmically tapped the ground behind her, as if gathering strength for the next pounce.
Harry circled in the air a few times but found nothing. The keys were very cunning; whenever he got close, they would immediately scatter or blend into larger swarms, making it impossible for him to distinguish them.
Time passed minute by minute.
Hermione and Ron's hearts were in their throats.
Just then, Lia's ears suddenly perked up.
She found it.
Among the thousands of keys shimmering with silver or bronze light, she spotted one that was different.
It was a large, ancient silver key. Its luster was much duller than the other keys, and more importantly, one of its wings was clearly damaged, like a bird with a broken wing, flying somewhat unsteadily with an unstable trajectory.
Furthermore, it was very good at self-preservation.
It never flew high, always sticking to the shadows of the ceiling or blending into a large group of brass keys, using the others as cover. Whenever Harry flew nearby, it would change direction in advance and hide deeper into the denser swarms.
That's the one!
Lia's body tensed instantly, and a short, loud cry escaped her throat, filled with unquestionable certainty!
"Meow!" (That's the one!)
At the same time, she raised a front paw, her snowy-white paw pointing precisely at the silver point of light clumsily hiding in the air.
Hermione had been watching Lia's movements and immediately caught the signal!
Without even needing to think, she completely trusted Lia's judgment.
"Harry!" Hermione looked up and shouted with all her might. "Lia found it! It's the one with the injured wing! In the group to your top left, near the ceiling!"
Harry, in the air, heard Hermione's shout and immediately turned his broomstick, rushing toward the position indicated by Hermione and Lia!
The injured key clearly realized it had been exposed; it flapped its wings in a panic, trying to make a difficult sharp turn to hide in the larger swarm of keys below.
But it was facing Gryffindor's Seeker of the century!
"Don't you dare run!"
Harry let out a shout, his body pressing low, almost merging with the broomstick. He performed a perfect Sloth Grip Roll that would only be seen on a Quidditch pitch; the broomstick drew a sharp arc in the air, and his speed surged instantly!
Just a second before the key could disappear into the "ocean"!
Harry reached out and precisely snatched it from the air, gripping it tightly!
The key struggled violently in his hand, its wings flapping frantically and letting out a sharp buzzing sound.
"Caught it!" Harry shouted excitedly, diving down on his broomstick.
He landed steadily, ran to the door, and aimed the still-struggling key at the ancient keyhole.
*Click.*
With a crisp sound, the lock opened.
However, before they could celebrate, a sudden change occurred!
The thousands of keys in the air, as if receiving some sort of command, instantly stopped their aimless flying. They all turned their "heads" in unison, aiming at the four individuals by the door.
The sound of flapping wings changed from noisy to sharp and hostile.
"Not good! Run!" Harry shoved the door open and yelled to the others.
In the next second, that "dark cloud" made of metal, like a rain of arrows, lunged toward them from all directions!
"Quick!"
Ron and Hermione screamed as they rushed through the door; Harry was the last to duck inside, then used all his strength to slam the heavy oak door shut!
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Countless keys slammed hard against the door, creating a series of ear-grating, dense impact sounds.
Inside the room, the four of them (plus a cat) leaned against the door, panting heavily, their hearts still pounding.
"Lia," Hermione bent down and scooped the greatest contributor into her arms, ignoring the dust on her, and gave her furry cheek a big, hard kiss. "You were amazing!"
Hermione's eyes sparkled with the excitement of a narrow escape and immense pride.
"I'll give you ten pieces of Dried Fish when we get back! No, twenty!"
"Meow~"
Lia squinted her eyes happily, rubbing her head against Hermione's chin and letting out a satisfied purr.
"Harry, I feel like my teeth are aching a bit." Ron looked at the person and cat shamelessly "showing affection" and couldn't help but complain to Harry.
Harry agreed wholeheartedly: "Yeah, I'm feeling a bit of that too."
After a brief moment of warmth, they finally had time to look around this new room.
The room was dimly lit, filled with a mixed smell of damp earth and stone.
Directly in front of them was a massive... chessboard that took up almost the entire floor of the room.
A life-sized wizard chess board composed of black and white squares.
On the opposite side of the board, rows of white chess pieces carved from massive rocks stood silently, like a silent army. They had no facial features, yet they emanated a cold and powerful sense of oppression.
The door to the next room was right behind that white army.
The next level had arrived.