Sherlock's expression was a bit dazed as he listened to her read out these three pieces of information.
"What does this mean?"
Hilke tidied up the playing cards on the table, leaving only the Eight of Diamonds behind.
"It's a location in the castle, just like we discussed yesterday. Its intention is for us to find it. It has no interest in these students at Hogwarts, nor does it have any other agenda; it simply wants to find you."
"But if it's just for revenge, it shouldn't be this eager," she said softly, her voice clearly tinged with confusion.
Sherlock had no desire to probe into the intentions and motives of the straw man; the most urgent matter now was to resolve the problem before things escalated and the news spread.
This year was not like the year the Chamber of Secrets was opened; if it ultimately escalated to the point of closing the school, the consequences would undoubtedly be much more severe.
"The number eight..." Sherlock picked up the playing card Hilke had left behind, stroking his chin as he studied it. "What could this possibly refer to? Time? The eighth day or eight o'clock? Or a location? The eighth classroom? The eighth floor? Or the eighth tower?"
When it came to solving puzzles, Hilke had much more experience than Sherlock.
"The possibility of it being time is very small. If it were predicting the eighth day or eight o'clock, it wouldn't connect with the subsequent clues. White and a hidden room suggest a much higher possibility of it being a location."
With Hilke pointing out the general direction, they now had a target for their investigation.
Sherlock originally had two sixth-year classes in the morning. To free up time, he had to ask Moody to cover for him. As for Hilke, because the Arithmancy Class taught by the Professor was an elective only available from the third year onwards, her workload was much lighter than Sherlock's, and even if she had classes today, they could be temporarily rescheduled.
They arrived at the first floor of the castle and began their search starting from the eighth classroom, following the rule of finding the eighth classroom encountered while walking straight along the corridor after entering the castle, which led them to a small, empty classroom.
But this room was very ordinary, lacking even chairs or stools, and it looked like a Potions Class classroom that was only occasionally used. Sherlock and Hilke checked every corner of the room but found nothing.
"The eighth classroom isn't right. Could it be the eighth floor? But that area is a bit too large, isn't it? There are quite a few classrooms and offices on that entire floor. I remember Filch even found two rooms there to use as storerooms."
Sherlock said, feeling a headache coming on, as he and Hilke walked up the stairs towards the eighth floor.
Hilke, however, did not show the same conflicted expression as he did; accustomed to interpreting prophecies, she was not overly worried about such a puzzle.
"The possibility of it representing the eighth floor is very high because there are three hints. The number eight is just the first hint; the broader the range it represents, the more likely it is to be the answer, because the subsequent two hints are what serve to narrow it down. No result derived from a prophecy is ever useless; ignoring any single detail often leads to vastly different final results."
"There are still students in class. Do we have to search room by room?"
Hilke turned her head and looked at Sherlock with her eyes covered by a black ribbon.
"Are you not good at solving puzzles?"
Sherlock rubbed his forehead.
"Fine, I admit I lack some patience because I cannot predict what will happen if the students continue to have these nightmares; after all, it has killed without hesitation in the past."
"We don't need to search room by room. We need to pay attention to the next two pieces of information: white and a hidden room."
Hilke could see that Sherlock was acting irrationally out of concern. He had already been teaching in this castle for three years and had long since developed an attachment to Hogwarts.
That was why she needed to be even calmer.
She looked at the decorations around the castle. As a castle built in the tenth century, even after numerous renovations and repairs, the walls in Hogwarts remained unpainted or devoid of pigment, always retaining the original colour of the stone.
They were grey and dusty; even when sunlight shone in, it gave people that unique sense of oppression that came from staying inside the castle.
The decorative paintings hanging on the walls were mostly oil paintings and portraits, rich in colour, featuring short knights riding horses and shouting incessantly, noblewomen smiling while holding cats, and monks compassionately clutching crosses.
Whether it was the walls or those decorative paintings, it was very difficult to find any information related to the colour white.
Therefore, the second hint, "white", must be the most important one.
According to Hilke's past experience in interpreting prophecies, the number eight determined a large range, while white was clearly meant to pinpoint a specific location within that range, and the final hint would directly indicate the answer itself.
"You have stayed at Hogwarts longer than I have. Do you know of any hanging paintings or walls on the eighth floor that are primarily white?"
With such a clear hint, Sherlock only pondered for a moment before remembering a painting.
"There is a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being beaten by a Troll! That Barnabas is wearing a white tutu, and the main colour tone of the tapestry is predominantly white."
"Let's go there!"
Soon, they arrived in front of that tapestry.
It was a very humorous tapestry; Barnabas, wearing a tutu, seemed to be trying to teach the Troll to dance, but the Troll had raised the wooden club in its hand high, preparing to strike his head.
Barnabas in the painting looked very dishevelled. When Sherlock and Hilke arrived, the Troll holding the club turned its gaze towards them, widening its eyes and flaring its nostrils.
Sherlock certainly had no mood to pay attention to the Troll in the painting. He scanned the area around the tapestry; perhaps one wouldn't notice anything unusual normally, but now that they were specifically here, they could spot something amiss.
Opposite the tapestry, there was a wall that looked somewhat abrupt. This wall was very ordinary and no different from other walls in the castle, but its location felt slightly off.
It was neither at the end of a corridor nor at a corner of a staircase; leaving such a space here seemed quite redundant.
Although there were quite a few such redundant spaces in Hogwarts Castle, those walls would usually be simply decorated with a few moving paintings, or a statue would be placed there directly.
Yet this wall was completely blank, with nothing on it, as if this space had been deliberately left empty.
Sherlock frowned as he looked at the wall opposite the tapestry, muttering the last hint to himself.
"A hidden room... A hidden room..."