Saturday evening, Hermione, feeling somewhat better after the Christmas Ball incident, brought Harry and Ron to the library to research materials, trying to solve the mystery of the golden egg.
Ron was building an exploding snap card castle on the side, while Aiden sat across from him with a thick book.
Suddenly, Ron's cards collapsed and flames erupted. Aiden waved lightly and suppressed the flames on the cards with casual ease.
"Snap!" A finger snap echoed, and Aiden enclosed Ron, Hermione, and Harry together in a protective Silencing Charm.
The magical circle formed by the spell cut off the sound connection between the three and the outside world.
"Ron, what are you doing? Do you want Madam Pince to come kill us?" Aiden asked, rolling his eyes.
"Hmm, who told you to always hang around here? If we figure out the golden egg's secret, wouldn't you hear it too?" Ron argued with righteous indignation.
"Oh really? Then let me ask you: what kind of animal language is the sound inside the golden egg?" Aiden asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I..." Ron was momentarily speechless.
"Wait, you know it's some creature's language?" Hermione asked, catching the meaning in Aiden's words.
"Heh, you know," Aiden said, stretching lazily, canceling the spell, and leaving with obvious satisfaction.
"What does he mean? He seems strange somehow," Ron asked in confusion.
Harry reached out to stop him, but it was too late.
Madam Pince appeared behind the three like wind, and then all three were kicked out of the library.
"Hermione, did you understand what Aiden meant?" Harry asked with obvious confusion.
"He came to remind us about the golden egg clue. Harsh language? I need to go back and look it up."
Hermione lowered her head, recalling the knowledge in her mind, then left the two boys and departed with determination.
Aiden walked out of the library, preparing to head to the Room of Requirement.
"Just like that, telling Harry the information? Aren't you opponents?" came an elderly voice from behind.
"Are you done playing with stones?" Aiden teased.
"The living shouldn't envy the dead, and I still have things left unfinished," Dumbledore said, his eyes flashing with determination.
"It seems the sadness on the stone didn't infect you," Aiden nodded with approval.
"Let's not talk about me. You haven't answered my question yet," Dumbledore said, bringing the topic back to Aiden.
"Because there are external enemies, Professor," Aiden said, narrowing his eyes.
"Oh, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang?" Dumbledore said with understanding.
"Yes, although Harry and I are competitors, from a higher perspective, we're both Hogwarts champions with common opponents. If Fleur or Krum falls into trouble, I can watch coldly. But for Harry, just extending a little help can increase Hogwarts' chances of winning. Why not?"
Aiden tucked his hair behind his ear, his exquisite face showing a slight smile.
"I didn't expect you'd be willing to sacrifice so much for Hogwarts. It's truly moving," Dumbledore said, gently applauding.
"So, is there any reward?" Aiden asked, rubbing his fingers together.
Dumbledore stared in disbelief. "..."
"I heard your old friend has magic that combines the Unbreakable Vow with Fiendfyre..." The dragon's heterochromatic eyes seemed to flash with obvious greed.
"I'll help you mail it, but you'll have to convince him yourself."
The old bee spread his hands, indicating there was nothing he could do.
"That's enough."
On the other side, Hermione rushed back to her room and began searching through her comprehensive "A Thousand Magical Languages."
"...gentle singing in water, harsh screaming on land... This is it!" Hermione successfully found the answer in the book.
She ran charging into the boys' dormitory, kicking open Harry and Ron's door.
"Bloody hell, this is the boys' dormitory!" Ron said, half-undressed and immediately wrapping himself in the clothes on the floor.
Harry, wearing only shorts, wrapped himself tightly in his blanket.
Hermione couldn't care about that. She went straight to Harry's bedside with excitement.
"I found it! The golden egg is playing mermaid language. We need to put it in water to hear the normal sound."
Hermione reached to pull Harry's blanket, and Harry wrapped himself even tighter.
"Uh, Hermione, you should go out first. At least let them finish getting dressed," Neville helped from the side.
After much commotion, everyone was properly dressed.
Seamus brought a bucket of water. Harry soaked the golden egg in it and pressed the button.
The others immediately covered their ears the moment the golden egg opened.
But this time, no harsh screaming came out. Instead, there was gentle, haunting singing.
Hermione cast Sonorus on the bucket, and the song echoed throughout the dormitory.
Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour - the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.
"Too cool," Seamus said with obvious excitement.
"Only one hour, and underwater too. How can I survive underwater for an hour?" Harry asked with a worried frown.
"Maybe you could use the Summoning Charm to directly summon diving equipment from Muggle towns!" Ron suggested enthusiastically.
"No, that's too obvious. Flying diving equipment would be discovered by Muggles, and we'd be exposed," Hermione firmly rejected.
"Then what do you suggest?" Ron asked, his proposal rejected, so he threw the question to Hermione.
"Uh, turn Harry into a submarine... drain the Black Lake... Oh right, you could ask Sirius to learn Animagus and become a frog."
Hermione slapped her forehead with frustration. Her ideas were even more outrageous than Aiden's.
"That would take a month. You might as well suggest Harry stick his head in the water and convince the merpeople to bring the treasure up," Ron said, rolling his eyes.
"No, we need to go check the library," Hermione said, unable to think of a solution.
"But it's almost curfew!" Neville reminded them urgently.
"But Harry doesn't have much time left, just three days," Seamus chimed in from the side, looking eager to try.
"Ron, Hermione, come with me."
Harry took his invisibility cloak, the Marauder's Map, and the golden egg, bringing his two best friends to the library.
In the library, Ron, Hermione, and Harry worked hard for a long time but couldn't find the corresponding information.
Finally, too tired to continue, the three could only return to Gryffindor's common room.
On the way, because the three were too crowded under the invisibility cloak, Harry's leg got stuck in the vanishing step.
The golden egg and map fell to the ground, making harsh sounds.
"Turn it off quickly!"
Harry shouted urgently. Ron quickly grabbed the golden egg and closed the lid.
But it was too late. Filch and Snape, hearing the commotion, both came from either end of the corridor with their wands lit.
"Oh, Professor Snape," Filch said, bowing to Snape.
"It seems there are students here," Snape said, his powerful perception detecting something.
"Shall we search the corridor together?" Filch suggested.
"Good."
Filch raised his lantern, searching everywhere.
Snape raised his wand. Just as he was about to cast a spell, Moody arrived.