Chapter 9: Symbiotic Awakening of the Forbidden Forest Fountain of Wisdom
The morning mist of the Forbidden Forest was like crushed emeralds, and Leonard Norton followed the glowing fireflies through tangled vines.
The grass god rune on his amulet had faded to a pale purple, replaced by a faint golden-green glow at his fingertips—a sign of the Dendro Archon's Touch of Life's initial awakening.
Hermione's "Natural Frequency Scanner" was operating at full capacity, its copper needle trembling wildly in the "Plant Symbiosis" scale zone.
"According to 'Herbology: Neural Conduction Theory,'" Hermione's voice came from behind her dew-covered spectacles, her robe pockets filled with samples of Thundergrass collected from the Whomping Willow, "the water quality of the Spring of wisdom contains 97% starsilver solution, which can activate the elemental nerves within plants.
Leonard, your amulet's frequency dropped to 160Hz when it approached, which is the critical value for the Dendro Archon's'Symbiotic Will.'"
Ron Weasley suddenly tripped, and the glass jar in his hand fell to the ground, causing the fluorescent Mushrooms inside to instantly swell into giant Mushrooms: "Merlin's beard! These things grow even faster than my family's magic peas—" He fumbled for the "Plant Shrinking Spray" George had given him, but mistakenly sprayed "Fertilizer," and the Mushrooms immediately burst through the treetops, moonlight spilling through the gaps in their caps onto the spring.
The eye of the Spring of wisdom was a two-meter-diameter stone well, with glowing water lilies floating on the surface; each lily pad displayed the same septagram outline as the amulet.
Harry Potter squatted by the well, the lightning scar on his forehead slightly warm: "I hear the spring water whispering, like a variation of Parseltongue, but softer... like plants singing."
The moment Leonard touched the water, his amulet burst into a dazzling golden-green light.
The silt at the bottom of the spring automatically arranged itself into teyvat script, which Hermione quickly translated: "The Eye of the Dendro Archon, hidden in the roots of all living things; the contract of life, begins with the first sprout of a seed."
Deeper down, the tip of a Unicorn skeleton's horn was resonating with the amulet, and the starsilver fragment embedded in the horn's core was identical to the Electro element core he had found in the Whomping Willow.
"The growth frequency of a Unicorn horn!" Hermione suddenly remembered something, opening 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Supplemental Volume,' "The vibration frequency of an adult Unicorn horn is 165Hz, which is exactly the same as your amulet's current frequency—Leonard, you are resonating with the authority of both the Electro Archon and the Dendro Archon simultaneously!"
The water lilies in the spring suddenly went wild, their vines wrapping around everyone like living creatures.
Ron's spray can failed again, instead causing the vines to grow deadly thorns; Harry's Parseltongue was ineffective against plants, so he could only use his wand to cast Diffindo to temporarily block them.
Leonard instinctively mobilized the Electro element, but then saw purple lightning suddenly mix into the golden-green light of his amulet, and the vines struck by it began to carbonize.
"Stop!" Hermione shrieked, lunging at him, "The clash of Electro and Dendro will cause plant neural disorders! Use your 'Touch of Life,' feel their desire to grow, just as you soothed the Whomping Willow—" She grabbed his hand and pressed it onto a vine, "Imagine you are the soil, the dew, not the lightning."
Leonard closed his eyes, and the golden-green light of his amulet flowed through his fingertips into the vines.
He "saw" the elemental nerves within the plants: the agitation of the Electro element was destroying the cell walls, while the Dendro Archon's power was trying to repair these cracks.
When the two elements formed a spiral band of light on the surface of the amulet, the thorns on the vines transformed into harmless fluff, and even bloomed into small, pale purple flowers.
"Symbiotic resonance successful!" Hermione's scanner showed the frequency stabilized at 162Hz, "The Electro element is being converted into energy for plant growth, just as lightning provides nitrogen fertilizer to the soil—Leonard, you have just created the first 'Electro-Dendro Symbiosis Spell'!"
Harry seized the opportunity to approach the Unicorn skeleton, his Parseltongue and the Dendro Archon's whispers producing a strange resonance: "It's saying... this skeleton is the guardian of the Dendro Archon's contract, killed by an Abyss invasion five hundred years ago.
The starsilver fragments in the skeleton are the key to opening the 'Elemental Sanctuary' deep within the Forbidden Forest."
Ron suddenly pointed to the center of the spring: "Look! The water lilies are spelling—it's 'Granger' and 'NORTON'!"
Golden petals arranged themselves into the two surnames, each letter entwined with a light band of interwoven Electro and Dendro, forming a triangular resonance with the star-shaped freckles behind Hermione's ear and the Geo lines on Leonard's wrist.
"This is the Dendro Archon's recognition of her contractors," Leonard said softly, feeling the pulse of life emanating from his amulet, "just as the Electro Archon responds to Hermione's family, the Dendro Archon is responding to our shared exploration." He turned to look at Hermione, finding her recording the water lilies' arrangement pattern, "You knew the Spring of wisdom would react this way, didn't you? Ever since you discovered the 'Natural Symbiosis Spell' in the Granger family tree."
Hermione pushed up her sliding spectacles, her ear tips reddening: "The family tree mentioned that my ancestor, Elizabeth Granger, once made a contract with a Unicorn in the Forbidden Forest, and her wand core was a Unicorn tail hair.
Leonard, our families may jointly guard fragments of the Dendro Archon's authority."
A pillar of light suddenly rose from the spring, and a septagram pattern rotated on the water's surface, revealing a secret passage at the bottom of the spring.
Ron pulled out a glow stick and threw it in, but it was bounced back by some soft force: "It's like a passage wrapped in plant nerves; George said this kind of structure needs a 'growth password' to open."
Leonard gazed at his amulet, and a silhouette of Nahida from Teyvat appeared in the golden-green light.
He stretched out his hand, and the "Touch of Life" in his palm resonated with the starsilver at the bottom of the spring, causing the vines in the secret passage to automatically weave into stairs: "The password is'symbiosis,' just like the dance of Electro and Dendro, just like the resonance of the four of us."
The moment the four stepped into the secret passage, the spring water returned to calm, with only the water lily spelling out the surnames still gently swaying.
Meanwhile, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Draco Malfoy was observing all of this through a black gemstone, the Abyss patterns deep within the gemstone perfectly matching the cracks on the Unicorn skeleton at the bottom of the spring.
In the stone chamber at the end of the secret passage, seven stone statues corresponded to the Seven Archons, respectively, and the missing starsilver fragment from the chest of the central Dendro Archon statue perfectly fit the recess on the back of Leonard's amulet.
Hermione's scanner suddenly buzzed, showing that the Dendro Archon rune on the amulet was repairing the cracks caused by the Electro Archon rune—it turned out that elemental symbiosis was the amulet's most powerful repair force.
"Next stop," Harry looked at the contract scroll in the statue's hand, "every elemental node in Hogwarts is a test left by the Seven Archons for future generations.
And we," he looked at Leonard and Hermione, then glanced at Ron, who was studying the Gargoyle statue, "are the only ones who can simultaneously understand the roar of the wind, the whisper of the rock, the thunder of the lightning, and the song of the grass."
On Hermione's notebook, a new page read: "Electro-Dendro Symbiosis Formula: f_symbiosis = √ (f_electro × f_dendro) ± Δ C (Δ C is the contractor's genetic resonance coefficient).
Experimental conclusion: When Ron's chaotic magic is added, frequency stability increases by 23%—team resonance is the strongest elemental harmonizer."
As they left the Forbidden Forest, Leonard noticed that the Geo, Electro, and Dendro patterns on his wrist were merging into a new design, like a giant tree growing amidst thunder.
Although the septagram on his amulet still had gaps, it was brighter than ever—because he knew that each gap meant a new resonance, a new companion, a new contract.
And at the top of Hogwarts' clock tower, Professor McGonagall looked at the golden-green light in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, and the cat-shaped ornament in her hand suddenly glowed.
It was a keepsake left by the founder of Gryffindor, inscribed with the same teyvat script as the Spring of wisdom: "When the septagram lights up in the bloodlines of the Four Houses, the leylines of Hogwarts will reconnect with the stars of Teyvat."