11:00 PM, Hogwarts, Hufflepuff Common Room.
The young wizards were already asleep.
, the Fat Friar, had already passed through the wall to some secret room.
Ghosts were not a common sight in Hogwarts late at night, as they had their own social circles to keep.
Raven naturally knew this, so he walked with an easy, natural stride, as if it were broad daylight.
Leaving the common room entrance,
A brazier burned in the corridor just outside, illuminating the stone walls.
Portraits hung packed side by side on the walls to its left and right.
Some showed objects, others figures—and some, of course, showed only empty scenery, their subjects off visiting other paintings.
Raven walked up to the portraits.
The ones whose subjects hadn’t left looked down at the young wizard with curiosity.
They were fascinated by how quickly this boy had discovered the secret here.
Ignoring their gazes, Raven walked straight to the largest fruit portrait, its frame filled with bowl upon bowl of fresh fruit.
With practiced ease, Raven tickled the green pear in the painting.
The pear sprouted facial features and burst into a giggle.
Giggling until it fainted, the pear turned into a large green door handle.
Upon turning it, the Hogwarts kitchens opened up inside.
The first thing to catch the eye upon entering the kitchen was an immense cauldron—so massive that spiral wooden stairs had been constructed around it just so the cooks could pitch ingredients inside.
Even though it was late at night, the fire beneath the cauldron had not been doused.
Flames licked the bottom, slow-cooking breakfast for the students.
A night-shift house-elf was tidying up the kitchen’s cups and plates.
He hadn’t expected any student visitors at this hour; the feast tonight had been exceptionally grand, so the students should have been stuffed.
*Could he be a young wizard with giant or troll heritage?* thought Sada the house-elf.
“H-hello, young wizard. Is there anything Sada can do for you?” the house-elf asked timidly, clutching a rag.
Raven nodded, giving a friendly smile.
“Don’t be nervous, little Sada. I’d like to know who your head elf is, and how old he is.”
Sada was bewildered.
Still, as a Hogwarts-employed elf, he would never turn down a student’s request, so he answered truthfully.
“Our current head is Old Gugg. He is 140 years old this year.”
House-elves had lifespans similar to goblins, both living to around two hundred, so Old Gugg was indeed an elder among elves.
“Today’s Doxie pie was made by Gugg, wasn’t it? He’s always been wonderful at making those—it was delicious. I actually came to ask if you’d pass a message to Gugg for me.”
Gugg was one of the house-elves Raven had trained back in the day, an elf blessed with a true talent for cooking.
“Please tell me, sir. I will certainly pass it on,” Sada answered.
Raven nodded.
“Tomorrow morning at 5:00 AM, please prepare a Cantonese dim sum spread and deliver it to the Hufflepuff table.”
Sada stared at Raven in confusion, completely unfamiliar with the term “Cantonese dim sum.”
“A century ago, a Professor of Care of Magical Creatures named Chloe Wing was very fond of such breakfasts. Gugg will know how to teach you to make it. As for the tea, use this pouch of Phoenix Dancong.” Raven explained.
Though still bewildered, Sada accepted the pouch of tea leaves from Raven and promised to convey Raven’s words to Old Gugg.
With that, Raven looked around the kitchen once more.
It was an underground space roughly as large as the Great Hall above.
In fact, it sat directly beneath the Great Hall.
In the center stood four long tables identical to those in the Great Hall, positioned in exact correspondence to the tables above.
During mealtimes, the house-elves would lay out the food on the kitchen tables, and upon receiving the Headmaster’s command, cast magic together to transport the food upstairs.
The remaining space in the kitchen was filled with giant pumpkins, washing sinks, stoves, cupboards, and sideboards.
Soon, Raven’s eyes locked onto several tables lined up side by side.
Even in the dead of night, a lavish spread of food rested atop them.
A thought striking him, under Sada’s hesitant gaze, Raven packed up all the cakes, desserts, and sweets.
“Ignatia Wildsmith—was that woman taken down by someone because she was too chatty? The Floo powder network nowadays is so inconvenient.”
Raven grumbled as he climbed the Astronomy Tower, missing the ease of travel from the past.
Ignatia Wildsmith, inventor of Floo powder.
While alive, the travel-loving witch had had her portrait carved onto stone plaques, with a palm-sized brazier beneath each image.
Tossing Floo powder into the brazier allowed for instant long-distance travel.
These small statues used to be everywhere. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Hogwarts alone had over a dozen scattered in various locations.
Students needed only 2 Sickles and a spoonful of Floo powder to teleport around the castle—though they also had to endure the inventor’s endless babble, as the witch had been a relentless chatterbox.
And now?
Floo powder could only travel between fireplaces.
Forcing Raven to climb all the way to the eighth floor in the middle of the night.
Of course, it was also partly Raven’s own fault.
Although Phineas the phoenix could have brought him to the door of the Room of Requirement with a *pop*, doing so would inevitably leave the scent of a phoenix on him, which Old Deek would smell.
He wanted to give Old Deek a surprise, after all.
Raven walked up to the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls, pulled out the portable version of the Field Guide, and restored it to its full size.
Infusing magic into it, the parchment cover radiated a faint blue glow—the signature mark of Ancient Magic.
The glow gathered and traced the patterns on the cover, forming the Hogwarts school crest.
Holding the book, Raven walked back and forth three times in front of the tapestry.
The Room of Requirement did not appear.
Instead, a silvery ripple spread across the floor.
Once the ripples settled, the floor looked like a mirror resting on the ground.
Raven stepped onto it and entered the Ancient Magic space behind the mirror.
Once upon a time, this base had indeed been part of the Room of Requirement.
However, while studying Hogwarts’s Ancient Magic base back then, Raven had split it off, opening an Ancient Magic dimension parallel to the Room of Requirement.
Unlike the Room of Requirement, which relied on Hogwarts for power, this base derived its energy through the Field Guide in his hands.
This was equivalent to opening a channel between the Field Guide and the base.
The holder could enter the base through the Field Guide—a feature he had developed after taking inspiration from Newt’s portable suitcase zoo.
Except…
while the channel existed, there was still a lock on the base side, and as luck would have it, that lock did not rely on soul authentication.
Which was the main purpose of Raven’s midnight walk: to obtain authentication for this new body through official channels.
What counted as official channels?
Passing his own trial and inheriting his own base all over again.