A day at Hogwarts

Among Dumbledore's many honours, one was the Order of Merlin, First Class Sorcerer, and the medal with the green ribbon was placed on the shelf in the headmaster's office.

Many people have seen this medal. There is a big "M" in the middle of the medal, which is very similar to the one on the necklace pendant of the lady in the oil painting.

Charles watched the lady curiously from the side, thinking that it is not surprising that there are women among Merlin's successors.

The lady in the oil painting smiled slightly, shook her head and replied: "Although I have studied with Teacher Mei Lin, I am still not good enough to inherit the title of Mei Lin."

Then she held up the necklace hanging in front of her chest, glanced at it, and said reminiscently: "Although I failed to inherit Merlin, Mr. Merlin gave me this necklace, which represents his approval of me."

Finally she asked Dumbledore: "What year is it now? I don't know if this necklace is still there."

Dumbledore replied: "It's 1992 and I saw this necklace at Nicole Flamel's house, it was well preserved."

The oil painting lady was taken aback for a moment, and then happily asked Dumbledore, "Did Nick make the Philosopher's Stone?"

Everyone present felt a little weird. Everyone knew that Nicole Flamel was over 600 years old this year. The lady called him "Little Nick" and didn't realize it for a while.

Dumbledore saw that the other party was also an acquaintance, so he told everything about his acquaintance and cooperation with Nicole Flamel, and also vaguely said that he planned to end his life, but concealed the matter of the Philosopher's Stone.

The oil painting lady understood what Dumbledore meant, and said calmly, "This is all his choice."

She went on to say: "You must really want to know what this place is. It was originally the place where the inheritance of the Merlins of the past dynasties was stored. Many years ago, the knowledge of the Merlins of the past dynasties has fallen behind. The things were taken outside to make Merlin's trial, and we left England together later."

"At the end of my life, I think the guardian objects of Merlins in the past still have some historical value, so I let my portrait wait for explorers."

"Over the years, you are the third to come here."

"The first explorer who came here transformed the place into a very hot place, and told me that since Merlin's inheritance has fallen behind, it might as well transform this place into a place for young people to do their final trials, and then erased it. The vast majority of my memories of this man."

"The second person who came here was a Slytherin student. He seemed to be looking for a way to redeem something. When he came, he had great expectations for Merlin's inheritance, but there was nothing he wanted here. So I went into a rage and almost broke me."

When Charles heard this, he thought to himself that the entrance to the passage should have been collapsed by this irascible old man. Judging from where it collapsed, it may have been many years earlier than Voldemort.

The others thought it was a history of magic class, except that the lady's lecture was not hypnotic.

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. When he was young, he heard people mention Merlin's trial. Many similar relics were found around Hogwarts, but it seemed that they had been used some time ago.

The oil painting lady looked at Charles with a smile and asked, "Young explorer, are you willing to try to challenge the trials left by the predecessors? Anyway, you don't need money."

Professor McGonagall took a step forward and asked: "Hello, respected witch, I am Minerva McGonagall, vice-principal of Hogwarts, head of Gryffindor House. Can you tell me what the trial is about? "

"I don't know what he will encounter." The other party's answer surprised everyone. "There are hundreds of trials behind the portrait. If you are lucky, you will only encounter one of the simplest ones. If you are not lucky, you will encounter them all." .”

Charles was silent. The other party emphasized "young" just now, obviously referring to himself and not others.

Others thought so too, Dumbledore patted Charles on the shoulder, encouraged him with a smile: "Go, you are a brave Gryffindor."

Charles felt like a Pikachu at the moment.

The lady in the oil painting saw that they agreed, pointed to one of them and said, "This young dark-haired wizard, please begin."

Snape originally thought that there was nothing wrong with him, but at this moment he instantly turned into a stone statue, and raised his finger in disbelief to point at himself.

The others also looked at Snape with great interest, besides Charles, he was the youngest here.

Professor Flitwick raised his hand and patted Snape's back and said, "Go ahead, Merlin is also from our Slytherin house. You are the most suitable headmaster."

The oil painting lady frowned, and said happily: "So it's the dean, you can go in when you're ready."

After finishing speaking, the oil painting moved aside, revealing a dark door opening.

Snape looked at the people around him, and found that it was no big deal for them to watch the excitement, and they all looked at him with encouraging and expectant eyes.

He could only take a deep breath, gripped his wand tightly, and walked into the doorway.

At this time, the oil painting lady began to give a live commentary: "The first trial he encountered was the fear of illusion. He refused the live broadcast."

Dumbledore asked a little worriedly: "Is this dangerous?"

The oil painting lady smiled and said, "It's just a dream."

Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that this was some kind of spiritual trial.

Just five minutes later, Snape came out, his face was terribly pale, his eyes were dull, his hands were trembling, and his head was covered in cold sweat.

Dumbledore hurried over, helped him to the nearest stone chair and sat down. Charles had just made tea at the side, and Flitwick poured a cup and sent it over.

Everyone was curious as to what it was that could scare him into such a state.

It's just that Snape took the teacup and drank it in one gulp, then closed his eyes and shook his head, as if he didn't want anyone to ask what happened just now.

Charles felt a little timid seeing him like this, and the trial that even Snape couldn't stand it might be difficult for him.

Years later Charles saw what Snape was dreaming from the Pensieve, and it wouldn't have been much better for him.

Then it was Charles' turn to go in, and with the encouragement of Dumbledore and McGonagall, he walked into the dark doorway.

After walking a few steps, his eyes suddenly opened up, and at the same time a voice sounded in his mind: "Would you like to share your experience with your partners?"

Charles thought for a while and replied, "Yes."

At this time, the professors sitting outside saw a "picture-in-picture" in the oil painting. In the painting, Charles stood in the middle of a prairie with a blank face, surrounded by a large group of snow-white sheep.