After testing Sterling's spell level, Professor McGonagall readily handed him a key.
"According to Professor McGonagall, it should be behind a portrait of a shield-bearing knight who never speaks..."
Sterling led the six little ones behind him, searching for their headquarters on the eighth floor.
"Hey Harry, look at that tapestry. It's so funny!"
Ron elbowed Harry, pointing to a large tapestry nearby showing an ugly troll in a tutu beating a poor wizard with a club.
"Indeed... Oh! Professor Vitam!"
Harry rubbed his eyes. He felt his prescription might have worsened. Otherwise, how could he possibly see Professor Vitam walking out of a wall?
"Harry? How did you get to the eighth floor with so many people..." Though Vitam spoke to Harry, her eyes were on Sterling.
Hermione stepped forward to explain their decision to form a study group. Vitam nodded.
Well, it seemed the hobby of organising groups was encoded in their bloodline.
"Looking for the shield-bearing knight's portrait? You won't find it this way. Speaking of which, do you know who the shield-bearing knight is?"
Vitam enthusiastically led the way, and Sterling recalled the "Merlin Legends" he'd read recently. A vague name surfaced in his mind.
"Galahad? The Grail Knight?"
"Good knowledge. Two points to Ravenclaw... Of course, thinking of shield-bearing would bring up Galahad, who presided over the Round Table seats. The saint who found the Grail and ultimately ascended to heaven."
"Is that portrait a magical portrait of the actual person?" Terry asked.
"Who knows?" Vitam spread her hands mysteriously. "But whether portrait magic even existed in Merlin's era is uncertain. Best not to have too many expectations."
"Wait!" Sterling had a question burning since earlier.
"Isn't Galahad usually considered a Christian figure? Why would he leave a portrait in a wizard's castle? I mean, the mediaeval witch hunts weren't..."
"Your History of Magic hasn't reached this part yet."
Vitam wasn't surprised. Mediaeval history was usually taught in the second or third year.
"Simply put, witch hunts didn't really harm us true wizards. Many wizards of that era even used the number of times they'd been burnt as bragging rights."
"As for Christ... I can only say recent archaeological discoveries suggest that almighty Father might have created heaven and earth in seven days through magical power..."
"Of course, I'm saying this is just speculation now, and even if proven, Muggle churches would never acknowledge it!" She warned, looking at everyone.
"The day this theory emerged, some fool went shouting in a church and nearly got crucified and burnt alive by angry priests!"
"Un...understood," Neville shrank his head.
Vitam led them through turns to reach a dark corner with a painting of flat grassland.
"Here it is. The portrait claiming to be Galahad."
Hermione asked puzzledly, "But where is Galahad?"
"Hermione, you should broaden your non-academic knowledge more. Portraits can move between different frames. Galahad might be visiting."
Sterling remembered Prefect Robert once dreamed of being a magical portrait artist, unfortunately ruined by him and Hermione. What a sin...
"Well, I'll guide you this far. I still need to teach Slytherin and Hufflepuff classes... Hope they won't all fail to notice my intentions, or they'll all get hit with Leg-Locker Curses first."
Watching the professor leave, the seven silently prayed for the other houses.
Though Leg-Locker Curses weren't very painful, being caught off-guard still had some impact... they'd probably all fall on their bottoms.
"Quick, quick, let's see our future headquarters!"
Terry urged Sterling, who was searching for where exactly the keyhole was hidden in the frame's patterns...
"Not here."
A clear young voice sounded by Sterling's ear. He looked up into a pair of grey eyes.
In the portrait, a white-haired knight crouched, meeting his gaze.
"Not here," he repeated.
"What you seek is not here. The Grail is not here."
"Far from enough, not yet complete, a lost child who doesn't even understand himself... I will not grant you permission to proceed."
After saying this incomprehensible speech, Galahad flickered like a TV with poor reception before disappearing, along with the entire canvas.
Only an ancient wooden door remained in the frame, its bright keyhole facing Sterling.
"Huh? Sterling, what switch did you touch? The grassland turned directly into a door!"
Harry squeezed beside Sterling to see what kind of mechanism his hand was pressing on the frame.
Sterling silently raised his hand. A golden gem button suddenly appeared under his previously empty fingertip.
They hadn't seen Galahad.
Combined with Galahad's identity, also a vassal of King Arthur, he was probably connected to Merlin and Avalon.
Damn, Avalon was still chasing him!
Because finding Gerda in the ice fields was so difficult, he hadn't visited Avalon for many days, which had improved his recent mental state considerably.
But now Avalon was coming to the present world to find him instead of waiting for him to seek it out.
Galahad with his riddling gibberish. Better not let Sterling find him in Avalon...
If he found him, he'd definitely give him a thorough beating to make him speak only simple, understandable words in the future. If he couldn't beat him, he'd call for backup. Sterling had never heard of shield-bearing knights among great wizards anyway.
Sterling vented internally while, under everyone's expectation, he inserted the key into the lock. With a creak, the long-sealed door opened.
What greeted them was a luxurious lounge befitting their "secret magical society"?
If you flipped the concept of luxury, that would be accurate.
Hermione looked unhappily at the nearly empty room containing nothing but seven desks and chairs.
These seven sets were probably arranged by Professor McGonagall.
"Well, it looks like we'll have to furnish this room ourselves... Fortunately, I have plenty of pocket money this year to buy lots of things."
Terry touched the rough-surfaced desk and shook his head. He definitely needed to replace it with a good one. Perhaps oak would be nice?
Hermione and Padma thought about it. Magical world items were only expensive when knowledge-related; furniture without magical effects was actually quite cheap.
So they huddled with Terry to write a shopping list together.
Harry and Ron were running around the room with Neville. Though it was unclear what was fun about an almost empty room, they were obviously happy to have their own "secret base".
Perhaps children of this age all had such imagination.
"Alright everyone, let's do the most important thing first. Come here, everyone!"
Sterling called everyone together. Seven people solemnly pushed their desks together, preparing to hold their first organisational meeting.
Terry served as secretary and spoke first.
"First agenda item: What should our organisation be called?"
"Sterling's Army!" Neville raised his hand, nearly making Sterling break into a sweat. He quickly pressed Neville's hand down while Terry tactfully ignored his statement.
Padma thought for a moment. "Since the first magic taught will be hair growth... how about we call ourselves Ravenclaw Hair Salon?"
"Objection! There are Gryffindors too!" Ron slapped the table.
"What?" Sterling felt this focus was problematic. "We're a magical society, not a barbershop, right?"
"I think we could call it a Reading Club." Hermione's idea was the most reasonable but was still rejected by Harry and Terry for being somewhat old-fashioned.
She huffily hugged her textbooks and stopped speaking. She'd spent a whole day thinking up that name.
Terry got inspiration from the supposedly Galahad portrait at the door. "How about we call ourselves the Knights of the Round Table? We're right behind Galahad?"
"Very good... but it still feels a bit... how to say? Not very wizardly?"
"Then let's call it Utopia," Sterling finally offered his opinion. "Round Table-related, and a very wizardly name would be Avalon. I remember it has the nickname "Utopia" too?"
"But why not call it Avalon directly?" Ron asked. Sterling frowned. He didn't really want to give this name to a place he might frequently inhabit.
Dreaming took him to Avalon, and awake he'd still be in Avalon. So was he in Avalon or the magical world?
Terry saw Sterling didn't want to discuss this, so he tapped the blackboard. "Then let's vote. Those in favour of the name Utopia, please raise your hands."
Everyone raised their hands. Everyone knew Sterling was the real core of this organisation, so naturally no one would oppose his suggestion.
"Then..." Terry somehow produced a small party popper.
"Our Utopia is established!"