"Are you ready?" Seeing Snape pull out a piece of parchment and squint at it for a long time, Pandora couldn't help but ask.
"I'm ready," she patted the small bag on the table and said, "Everything's in here."
"Wait a moment." Snape didn't even lift his head, his eyes still fixed on the Marauder's Map. "Let me check again."
He had been tracking the movement of the small black dot that represented Mulciber, waiting for it to disappear from the map before taking action.
At this time, the setting sun shone through the tall windows of the Room of Requirement, casting dim light into the room.
The two of them had just gnawed on a few slices of bread here earlier, not planning to go to the Great Hall for dinner.
As time ticked by, Snape's eyes suddenly lit up: Mulciber had finally slipped into a secret passage, and the black dot vanished from the map.
"Come here, I'll cast the Disillusionment Charm on you." He hurriedly waved Pandora over.
Raising his wand, he gently and deftly tapped her on the head. "Done."
"Well done, Severus." Before blending into the background, Pandora looked down at her body admiringly.
Her form no longer seemed to belong to her. She wasn't completely invisible, but her color and texture had become identical to the walls and equipment around her, like a humanoid chameleon, cleverly hiding her within her surroundings.
"Let's go." Snape was about to tap himself with his wand when he suddenly saw a half-transparent wand floating in midair and striking him on the head.
A chill flowed from the spot where it touched, seeping into his body.
"Much obliged, Pandora." Snape grabbed the small bag and said, "This bag's rather heavy, I'll carry it."
The door to the room opened silently, then closed quietly again, vanishing seamlessly into the stone wall.
Cautiously, the two of them descended the stairs to the fifth floor.
When the coast was clear, Snape opened the mirror that led into the secret passage.
"Go, get inside," he whispered to the empty air, afraid someone else might hear.
Uncertain whether his companion had entered, he waited a few seconds before drawing his foot back from the entrance.
A faint glow appeared in the darkness, like a firefly flickering in the night sky, drifting around and illuminating the rough stone walls.
"This place is nice," Pandora's voice echoed inside the secret passage. "It'd be great for experiments. Why are you destroying it?"
"Uh..." Snape was momentarily unsure how to answer. "Well, this place could be misused by bad people. You already have a laboratory, so this passage isn't really important anymore, right?"
"True enough. All right then, I'll get started." Pandora didn't dwell on it. "Put the bag on the ground, I can't see it."
"Oh, right." Snape placed the bag down. "Let's lift the Disillusionment Charm."
With the counter-spell, their forms reappeared.
Once visible again, Snape watched Pandora take out jars filled with powders and liquids from the bag.
As she chanted in a sing-song voice, the magical ingredients floated into the air, slowly merging together and layering themselves onto the stone walls and steps of the passage.
With her incantation, glowing runic letters surfaced on the walls, shimmering with mysterious light, as though they were about to leap off the stone.
After a while, they truly tore free from the wall, flickered in the air, and gradually faded away.
"Rare ancient magic," Pandora said with satisfaction in her voice. "I tried many kinds of anti-magical reagents and spells before I could clear them.
"They also gave me new ideas. That rune symbol, I always thought it meant explosion, but it turns out it was being used as a protective charm."
"What?"
"."
"Forget it." After hearing her explanation, Snape even began to wonder whether his own excellent grades in Ancient Runes were fake. "So what do we do next?"
"Let's use Bombarda Maxima." Pandora suggested, her eyes shining with eagerness.
Just as she began the first syllable, Snape hurriedly stopped her: "Wait! Let me do it, you step aside."
He wasn't at ease. If something went wrong, if she got hurt, he would regret it.
At that moment, a foul, metallic stench drifted in from the stairway. A cold shiver crept across Snape's arm.
Before he could even react to what that smell was, a slimy, pale-white hand gripped the stone steps and pulled itself out.
Snape raised his eyes and gasped sharply: a mass of corpses was swarming upward from the depths.
Below, countless pale heads and hands emerged from the darkness. Men, women, children, all with sunken, sightless eyes, pressed toward them.
"Inferi!" Snape shouted, "Bombarda Maxima!"
A surge of power struck the stone wall, cracks splitting across it, but it wasn't nearly enough.
They no longer had time to destroy the passage.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The first Inferius to crawl up stiffened and tumbled back down.
"Impedimenta! Incarcerous!"
Snape retreated step by step, swinging his wand furiously, but more Inferi kept clambering upward.
Their skeletal hands clutched the freezing rock, their misted, vacant eyes fixed blankly on him. Mold-stained, tattered clothes dragged behind them, and their hollow faces bore scornful expressions.
"Pandora, run!" Snape dragged her toward the entrance, his wand trembling as he drew the shape of a small owl in the air. "Avis!"
The Inferi pressed forward without comprehension, stretching their shriveled hands closer with every step.
He prayed the entrance would open quickly, that he and Pandora could get out safely.
"Wait, Severus." Pandora stumbled as he yanked her along. "I have a way."
She struggled to free her hand, but he held on tightly, refusing to let go.
"Forget it, hurry, go find the professors!" Snape shouted in desperation, his voice breaking.
At last, the entrance opened.
But before Snape could pull Pandora out, a flash of light struck him. He felt something grab his ankle, and the next instant he was yanked upside down into the air.
"Got you, Snivellus! Hand it back!"
James's ferocious face hung inches away, glaring at the dangling Snape with eyes full of rage and hatred.