Theodore and Dumbledore returned to the castle before dawn.
Neither of them spoke much on the way back.
The Black Lake was calm behind them, its surface smooth under the moonlight. No one looking at it from a window would have guessed there were chains beneath it large enough to bind a forgotten age.
That was Hogwarts.
Bright windows above.
Old secrets below.
Dumbledore stopped at the entrance hall and looked up at the ceiling. The enchanted sky was still dark, scattered with faint stars.
"Before Hogwarts," he said again.
Theodore glanced at him.
"You are still thinking about that?"
"I am trying not to imagine what else the founders chose not to mention."
"That list may be long."
Dumbledore sighed.
"An unhelpful but likely accurate answer."
From a side corridor came the sound of hurried footsteps.
Filch appeared with Mrs. Norris, yellow robe slightly crooked, peachwood sword tucked under one arm. He looked Theodore up and down, then Dumbledore, then toward the lake through the open doors.
"You went down there."
"Yes," Theodore said.
Filch's face tightened. "Dirty?"
"Very."
Filch nodded grimly, as if this confirmed a personal theory.
"I knew it."
Dumbledore looked at him. "Argus, why are you awake?"
Filch looked offended.
"Headmaster, half the castle tried to become a death trap today. I am not trusting it unsupervised."
Mrs. Norris meowed in agreement.
Theodore smiled. "Reasonable."
Filch's mood improved.
Dumbledore seemed less sure but did not argue.
At that moment, one of the yellow talismans on Filch's sleeve flickered green.
Filch immediately straightened.
"That's new."
Theodore turned toward it.
The talisman burned slowly, forming a thin line pointing toward the grounds.
Not the lake.
The willow.
Willow Immortal was calling.
Theodore walked out again.
Dumbledore followed.
Filch hesitated only one second before coming after them with Mrs. Norris.
The sky was beginning to pale when they reached the old willow grounds.
Willow Immortal stood quietly in the pre-dawn mist. Its trunk was taller than before, bark marked with faint gold-green patterns. The phoenix-like warmth in its leaves had not faded after the tournament. If anything, it had deepened.
Its roots had spread through Hogwarts, the pitch, and now toward the lake's outer seal.
That should have been good.
It was good.
Mostly.
Theodore placed one hand on the bark.
Willow Immortal's consciousness immediately rushed over.
Not words.
Pictures.
Roots beneath the pitch.
Nine nails glowing inside the Wuzhuang foundation.
A thin outer layer around the lake chains.
Black residue burning away.
Then—
A vibration.
From below.
Very deep.
Not attacking.
Answering.
Theodore opened his eyes.
Dumbledore noticed. "What is it?"
"The new layer touched something."
Filch gripped his sword. "The dirty thing below the lock?"
"Probably."
Filch muttered something about needing larger talismans.
Willow Immortal rustled.
A small root emerged from the ground and placed something in front of Theodore.
A shard.
It looked like black glass, but it was not glass. Its surface reflected no light. Around its edges crawled tiny red marks, similar to the symbols from the Ten Absolute Arrays, but older and more broken.
Dumbledore crouched slightly.
"This came from the lake?"
"From the residue on the chains."
Theodore picked it up.
The shard was cold.
Not physically.
It made the thoughts around it slow, as if the mind wanted to sink into sleep.
System warnings did not appear.
That was more concerning than if they had.
Theodore turned the shard between his fingers.
"It is not from the Ten Absolute Arrays."
Dumbledore's gaze sharpened. "From below?"
"Yes."
Filch took one step back.
Mrs. Norris hissed.
The shard suddenly showed an image.
For only a blink.
A sky with no sun.
A city built under water.
A tower shaped like a spine.
Countless figures kneeling with their eyes closed.
Then the image vanished.
Dumbledore's face became still.
Filch swallowed.
Theodore looked at the shard.
"A dream that learned hunger."
Gatekeeper's words made more sense now.
Whatever slept below the prison was not merely a monster.
It had once been worshipped.
Or dreamed.
Or both.
Dumbledore stood.
"Can it influence students?"
"Not through the layer I made."
"That sounded carefully phrased."
"It was."
Dumbledore waited.
Theodore continued, "It cannot reach them directly. But if someone dreams too close to its frequency, it may answer."
Filch's expression became terrible.
"You mean nightmares."
"Possibly."
Filch looked toward the castle.
"Students sleep in there."
"Yes."
Filch immediately turned to leave.
Dumbledore called after him. "Argus?"
"I'm checking the corridors."
"It is almost dawn."
"Then I'm checking them faster."
Mrs. Norris followed him.
Dumbledore watched him go.
"He has changed a great deal."
"He found a path that suited him."
"Most people do not find theirs through talismans and corridor discipline."
"The path is flexible."
Dumbledore chuckled softly.
Then his smile faded as he looked at the shard again.
"What do we do about this?"
Theodore closed his hand around the black glass.
Yimu Divine Light flowed over it.
The shard did not react.
Wutu Divine Light pressed down.
Still nothing.
Then Theodore gave a soft hum.
Fuxi Divine Heaven Resonance brushed the shard.
The black surface trembled.
The image appeared again.
This time clearer.
A battlefield under a broken sky.
Ancient wizards stood in circles, wands raised.
Opposite them were figures wearing robes that did not belong to this world. Daoist robes. Armor. Feathered crowns. Broken banners.
Between them, something vast slept beneath chains.
Not Gatekeeper.
Something below.
The image shattered.
The shard cracked in Theodore's hand.
Dumbledore's eyes were grave.
"That was war."
"Yes."
"Between wizards and your side?"
"Not exactly."
Theodore looked toward the castle.
"More likely between those who wanted to keep the dream asleep and those who wanted to use it."
Dumbledore understood the shape of the answer, if not the details.
Power.
Always power.
Every age found a new name for it.
Blood purity.
Immortality.
Divinity.
Salvation.
The result was usually the same.
Someone opened a door that should have remained closed, and later generations built schools on top of the lock.
Dumbledore closed his eyes briefly.
"I am growing less fond of the founders' real estate choices."
Theodore smiled.
"They chose well."
Dumbledore looked at him.
Theodore continued, "A school is noisy. Alive. Full of changing thoughts. The thing below is a dream that feeds on hunger. A living school may be the best cover and pressure at the same time."
Dumbledore went silent.
That idea was uncomfortable.
But not foolish.
Hogwarts had always felt alive. Not only enchanted. Alive.
Perhaps that had never been accidental.
Theodore looked at Willow Immortal.
The tree rustled again.
It had tasted the edge of the ancient prison.
It wanted to grow deeper.
Theodore tapped the trunk lightly.
"Not yet."
The branches drooped a little.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled faintly. "It appears disappointed."
"It is ambitious."
"That also sounds familiar."
Theodore ignored that.
The broken shard in his hand finally dissolved under Fuxi's rhythm, turning into a faint black smoke. The smoke tried to sink toward the ground.
Theodore caught it with Yimu light and fed it into the outer layer around the lake seal.
Not as food.
As warning.
If more residue appeared, the foundation would recognize it.
That was enough for now.
The first students began waking as dawn touched the castle windows.
By breakfast, Hogwarts had returned to its favorite activity.
Rumors.
The tournament was already becoming legend.
According to one version, Theodore had beaten a demon hand in an arm-wrestling contest.
According to another, Lee Jordan's commentary had saved the school.
According to Fred and George, Ron's Chomping Cabbages had been officially recognized as substitute Beaters.
Ron objected to this version until he realized people were offering to buy cabbage badges.
Then his objection weakened.
Hermione noticed.
"Ron."
"What? I didn't sell anything."
"Yet."
Ron looked hurt. "You make that sound inevitable."
Harry smiled, though he looked tired.
Theodore sat down across from them.
Hermione immediately looked at his hand.
The wound was gone.
She still frowned.
"What happened last night?"
Ron groaned. "You said he would tell us what was useful."
"I know."
"And you're still asking."
"Yes."
Theodore poured tea.
"There is something under the lake prison."
Harry's smile faded.
Ron stopped reaching for toast.
Hermione's face became serious.
"Worse than Gatekeeper?"
"Different."
"That is not reassuring."
"It is accurate."
Ron leaned back. "Can danger ever be inaccurate for once?"
Theodore ignored him.
"It may affect dreams. Not directly yet, but enough that I want all of you to keep the leaf talismans on you while sleeping."
Hermione nodded at once.
Harry touched his pocket.
Ron looked down at his cabbage box.
"Do cabbages dream?"
Theodore paused.
The Chomping Cabbage nearest Ron opened one eye.
Everyone looked at it.
Ron slowly closed the box.
"Forget I asked."
At the staff table, Dumbledore watched the hall.
Students laughed.
Plates moved.
Owls dropped mail.
Sunlight filled the Great Hall.
Everything looked normal.
For once, Dumbledore did not distrust that normality.
He valued it.
Because beneath the normal noise, Hogwarts pulsed differently now.
The Wuzhuang foundation was still young, but it had taken root. The old castle magic had accepted it. Willow Immortal had become part of the school's breath.
And somewhere under the lake, Gatekeeper slept a little easier.
For now.
In the Headmaster's office, Quirrell remained bound.
Voldemort had not spoken since before dawn.
That silence no longer felt like planning.
It felt like humiliation.
Theodore had not only ruined his formation.
He had exposed the truth Voldemort hated most.
He had not been the only one using others.
He had been used.
Inside the darkness behind the turban, Voldemort's anger slowly hardened into something colder.
If the formation could be stolen, he would abandon the formation.
If Quirrell's body could be bound, he would need another path.
If Theodore Snow could not be trapped by Hogwarts, then Voldemort would look beyond Hogwarts.
A wounded snake did not always strike immediately.
Sometimes it left the hole.
And far below Hogwarts, beneath Gatekeeper's chains, the thing that had heard Theodore's name dreamed again.
This time, in the dream, it smiled.
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