Immediately following an ear-piercing grinding sound, a heavy, unfamiliar door slowly manifested before the three of them.
"By Merlin's beard..."
Ron almost dropped the wand in his hand in fright at the sight. "What... what is this?"
Harry stared at the door, his chaotic thoughts momentarily diverted by this unexpected turn of events.
The three of them exchanged glances, each seeing shock and tension in the others' eyes.
"Come on, let's go inside and take a look!"
Harry took a deep breath and was the first to push open the heavy door.
The scene behind the door left them completely stunned.
It was a room so massive it felt like a cathedral.
Inside, it was piled high with thousands of assorted items: mountains of broken furniture, rusted suits of armor, cluttered books, winged slingshots, and what looked like magical experimental waste from centuries ago... It was as if Hogwarts had stuffed everything it had wanted to hide for the past millennium into this single room.
"What is this place?" Hermione's mouth hung open in surprise. "I can't believe Hogwarts has a place like this!"
Harry didn't pay attention to the spectacular mountains of junk around him. His gaze pierced through the layers of old items, drawn straight to the center of a pile of clutter as if by some sort of guidance.
There sat a vintage leather suitcase, emitting a faint silver glow that pulsed like breath.
"Look!" Harry walked over curiously. "What's this? It's glowing!"
"Harry! Don't touch it! That could be a Dark Arts object!" Hermione tried to stop him, but it was too late.
Harry had already rushed up to the suitcase.
Up close, it was just a very ordinary old leather case covered in scratches, but that silver light seemed alive as it coiled around the latch.
"That's brilliant!" Ron leaned in, his eyes shining. "This has to be some kind of powerful mystical item! Maybe it's a relic from a former Headmaster?"
"Ron! Don't talk nonsense!" Hermione gripped her wand nervously. "I think we should tell a Professor about this first!"
She wanted to argue further, but Harry had already snapped open the latch and flipped the lid.
There was no clutter at the bottom of the case, only a pool of white mist that looked like a deep pond.
The moment Harry touched the white mist, an intermittent, static-filled voice exploded in his mind.
"...zz... Help... Help me!!"
The voice sounded incredibly urgent, as if the speaker were in extreme danger.
Someone was calling for help!
Harry's pupils constricted suddenly. He didn't know who was on the other side of the case, or if this was a trap or some kind of magical communication, but he couldn't ignore that cry for help.
"How can I help you?!" Harry shouted at the case, his voice full of urgency. "Are you okay? Who are you?!"
The silver light in the case flickered violently, and the voice came through again, even weaker than before, like a radio broadcast about to cut out:
"...Find... d... zz... Hurry!... zz..."
Find what? Hurry for what?
Harry was sweating with anxiety. The person sounded like they were at their limit!
"I can't hear you! What do you need? A potion? Food? Or..."
Harry didn't even have time to think, and he didn't know exactly what was happening on the other side. He only knew that the situation there must be extremely critical!
He frantically grabbed his school bag and dumped its contents into the case all at once.
Textbooks, quills, and several bottles of potions he had previously gotten from Madam Pomfrey... The moment he threw in the last item, the silver light in the case suddenly erupted into a blinding flash, and then—
Bam!
The leather suitcase slammed shut on its own with a sharp snap.
The light atop it vanished instantly, and the strange sense of connection was severed completely.
"Harry!!" Hermione rushed over to support him, her face full of terror. "What happened to you just now?!"
"You were shouting at an empty box and threw all your books into it!"
Ron also looked at him with concern. "Are you all right? What on earth just happened?"
...Meanwhile, in another world.
Inside the second-floor guest room of Hershel's farm.
Phew—!
Louis snapped his eyes open and sat up from the floor, gasping for fresh air like a drowning man finally surfacing.
Cold sweat soaked his back.
Was that... a hallucination?
No, that feeling of his soul being pulled and his mind being connected was too real.
He had connected to Hogwarts! He had even heard Harry Potter's voice!
Although the connection was extremely unstable and filled with static, like talking through an old walkie-talkie in a thunderstorm, he was certain he had heard Harry's shouts.
"Damn... the signal was too poor to communicate at all."
Louis rubbed his throbbing temples, feeling as weak as if he had just taken the National College Entrance Exam a hundred times in a row; it felt like countless needles were pricking his brain.
He looked at the suitcase on the floor.
The case had returned to its calm state, and the glowing handwriting had disappeared.
"Did it fail?" Louis was somewhat disappointed.
He had originally hoped to use this case to call Dumbledore for help, or at least send word back to tell them there was a lost freshman here.
It seemed now that this inter-world 'long-distance call' not only had a terrible signal but was also extremely draining.
The further it went, the blurrier the images and sounds he perceived became, and he had no idea if Harry had heard what he was saying.
He didn't know if the other party had understood the information he had shouted out with all his might at the end.
However, just as Louis was about to rest and then think about the suitcase's function, he suddenly noticed that something seemed to have appeared in the open case!
That's right!
In his blurred vision earlier, he had vaguely seen Harry throwing things into the case!
Louis's heart began to pound uncontrollably.
Could it be that this case doesn't just allow communication, but can also transport things from the HP world!?
Thinking of this, he immediately lunged to the side of the case to check.
Inside the case, which had been empty except for his own textbooks, there was indeed one extra thing.
It was a thick hardcover book.
The cover was brightly colored, featuring a blonde wizard in flamboyant robes with an exaggerated smile.
The title was in large, gold-embossed letters—'Year with the Yeti'.
In the bottom right corner, a large, flowery name was signed with a flourish:
Gilderoy Lockhart.
Louis: "..."
Refusing to give up, Louis reached into the case and felt around several more times, even turning the book upside down and shaking it hard, as if he could shake a bottle of potion out of it.
But other than that, there was nothing.
Only Gilderoy Lockhart's big white teeth flashed with a mocking light in the sunshine.