Deep within the Forbidden Forest.
Twisted tree shadows clawed under the moonlight.
It felt as though the entire forest was manipulated by some invisible force.
Perhaps because of the Legendary Wizard's involvement, Snape and Hermione were no longer trapped in a cyclical world. Wizards of this rank can always dispel certain unseen mists.
Dumbledore led Snape and Hermione on a quest, eventually stopping before the towering Bronze Gate, where Ian's previous battle marks had not been "refreshed or erased."
Perhaps there is something special in the power of legend that can hinder these endlessly "resetting" environmental regenerations, much like the footprints Albus Dumbledore left earlier.
Only to see.
The scene was a total mess.
Whirlwinds carried ash across, large swathes of the Forbidden Forest had been completely erased. The once towering trees and lush green grass now all turned to nothingness, the ground was blackened with cracked patterns.
Crisscrossed ridges of varying depths.
Still, no birds flew by, no insects hummed, even the air was frozen in a suffocating dead silence, leaving only this scorched earth silently narrating the battle's brutality.
"There's a strong magic fluctuation left here." Snape's black cloak swept over the scorched earth, perhaps he favored black because it didn't show dirt?
"Maybe Ian came here." Albus Dumbledore's tone was certain; he could discern who previously battled here from the remnants of magical energy.
How to put it.
In fact, powerful wizards can all achieve this ability. If Snape's rank wasn't so far apart from Ian's, perhaps Snape could also sense Ian's unique magical fluctuations.
"Then, where are Ian's people?" Snape furrowed his brow, scanning the surroundings, unable to find any trace of corpses, nor could he judge the trace of the creature that unnerved him.
It seemed traces of large creature activity were everywhere.
"I think..." Albus Dumbledore did not finish his sentence, his gaze was drawn to the distant valley, where the Bronze Gate stood out within the valley split in two. The door soared into the clouds, its surface engraved with ancient runes, chaotic mist flowed through the door seams, exuding an unsettling aura.
"Did he go inside?"
Snape's expression was unpleasant.
"What is that?"
Hermione was shocked by the towering Bronze Gate; she had never seen such a magnificent alchemical creation, the shining runes were completely incomprehensible to her.
Nonetheless.
This did not affect the Little Witch's feeling that her fear of large objects was about to strike — indeed, humans have such instincts in their genes, and facing overly grand and large things always naturally evokes fear.
Very normal.
Humans, in the process of evolution, did not initially stand at the top of the food chain, the "skinny monkeys" referred to the ancient people of the past, so this sensitivity to "massive threats" was preserved as a survival instinct.
Faced with objects beyond the realm of everyday cognition, like gigantic statues or skyscrapers, the brain may mistakenly perceive them as a potential danger, triggering anxiety or a flight response.
The same goes for wizards.
They were once skinny monkeys too.
No one truly knows the origins of wizard's magic power, and the notion that wizards resulted from the cross-breeding of humans and Fantastic Beasts originally came from theoretical discussions among Indian wizards.
"I think this is the reason the Forbidden Forest changed." Albus Dumbledore wasn't entirely sure; though he was learned, he had not reached the point of knowing everything.
The current situation evidently was somewhat beyond this century's greatest White Wizard's comprehensive knowledge; he was merely slightly more informed than Ian.
In terms of Magic Rune.
"The reason we're trapped in the Forbidden Forest? Did Ian enter?" Snape's pupils slightly contracted, his voice lowered: "What exactly is going on here?"
"He's not here, either left or went inside — I lean towards the latter." Dumbledore's gaze lingered momentarily on the Bronze Gate, blue eyes flickering with a contemplative light: "We're obviously caught in the twisted space created by this Alchemy Creation."
"Twisted space?" Hermione frowned, striving to comprehend the meaning of the words, "Do you mean... we're trapped in some sort of magical construct illusion realm?"
"It's not exactly an illusion realm,"
Dumbledore explained softly.
"It's more like reality has been folded, duplicated, and even... modified." He indeed had a better understanding than Ian about what was happening, roughly judging the cause of the Forbidden Forest's current anomaly.
"How could such a thing happen?" Snape's expression grew grimmer, his sensitive nature heightened his vigilance, "Albus, having such an anomaly occur in the Forbidden Forest is definitely not normal."
"Did you not notice anything off? Someone placed this thing in the Forbidden Forest." He gazed at the huge Bronze Gate, struggling to imagine how such a massive object could be transported unnoticed — even using magic for transport, the magic fluctuation created would likely still be felt by him.
"I think it's been here for a long time, before we arrived at Hogwarts — the secrets of the Forbidden Forest nobody fully understands, perhaps even the four founders didn't know all its secrets." Albus Dumbledore was unsure why he made such a judgment that could be seen as slightly disrespectful towards the four founders.