85: Chapter 85 Bloodline Knocking at the Door

"Don't touch the box."

Allen Potter's words had barely fallen when Void already had its tail pressed against the ebony box lid.

Peter Pettigrew huddled in the corner of the cage, even tucking his fingers into his sleeves.

When the cracked pocket watch lit up just now, half of his face near the space boundary had been illuminated by the blue light, and he still looked panicked.

The stone walls of the Dungeon made a slight noise.

The family crest of the old house emerged from the wall, and spots of light fell onto the training table.

"The core of the old house is undamaged, but the Potter Family bloodline contract has been triggered. The direction is north-northwest."

The voice of the door knocker came down through several floors.

"North-northwest? Hogwarts?"

Allen Potter did not answer; the blackthorn wand spun half a turn in his palm, its tip pointing at the ebony box.

The lid did not open.

Yet the cracked pocket watch inside was vibrating.

The blue light pulsed along the cracks, like an invisible hand knocking on the door inside the watch face.

The boundary of the Portable Space swayed along with it; the originally stable 150 square meters began to contract and expand, and the mist at the edges was torn into strips.

Allen Potter felt a tightness in his chest.

The door knocker swore upstairs.

"Are you practicing recklessly again?"

"I'm not practicing."

Allen Potter pressed his wand downward, forcibly shrinking the entrance of the Portable Space to the width of his palm.

Void let out a short hiss, its silver eyes fixed on the space boundary.

The family crest became anxious.

"The space is expanding."

"I can see that."

"There are new patterns on the boundary."

Allen Potter entered the Portable Space.

The stone tiles under his feet were much wider than before.

The chest storing the Galleons had been pushed to the east side by the spatial fluctuations, while the books, medicinal herbs, and old parchment were all fixed in place by the anchor points he had set earlier, preventing them from flying around.

The ebony box remained in the center, Void was coiled beside the box, and Peter Pettigrew's cage had been pushed further away.

The outermost layer of mist was receding.

151, 158, 163.

Allen Potter raised his wand and tapped seven anchor points in succession along the space boundary.

Every time the wand fell, his wrist felt like it was being dragged down by a heavy weight.

The blue light of the cracked pocket watch grew brighter, and pale golden patterns emerged in the mist at the edge.

Those patterns did not form words; they only extended along the boundary, finally stopping in the north.

The direction of Hogwarts.

Peter Pettigrew frantically pounded on the cage.

Allen Potter did not give him permission to speak.

The voice of the door knocker came in from the outside.

"Your complexion doesn't look right, come out first!"

"Shut up."

The door knocker was choked off.

The family crest suppressed its anxiety.

"The bloodline contract is responding to some ancient barrier, Allen, stop. You are only a student right now, your body cannot withstand it."

Allen Potter pressed the tip of his wand against the ebony box.

"It came to find me on its own; I didn't go to touch it."

The blue light of the cracked pocket watch suddenly rushed out of the cracks in the box, turning into several thin threads that wrapped around the blackthorn wand.

The Thestral tail hair core emitted a low vibration, and dark spots of light emerged within the grain of the blackthorn wand.

Allen Potter's knuckles tightened.

The next moment, the Portable Space expanded violently outward.

170 square meters.

183 square meters.

192 square meters.

The golden patterns at the edge of the space appeared one section after another, like illuminated chains.

The taste of blood rose in Allen Potter's throat, and he forced back the blood he was about to cough up.

Void raised its head, its tail tip lashing toward the ebony box.

Snap.

The box lid was pressed back into place by the snake tail.

The blue light of the cracked pocket watch was cut off halfway.

The expansion speed of the space slowed down immediately, finally stopping at just over 200 square meters, but the boundary remained unstable, with mist rolling inward in layers.

The family crest's voice was low.

"You were almost dragged over just now."

Allen Potter leaned against the stone tile, catching his breath for a few moments.

"Dragged where?"

"Deep inside Hogwarts Castle."

The door knocker was knocking against itself in anxiety outside.

"You're still asking? Of course, don't go!"

Allen Potter looked toward the northern boundary.

The golden patterns there were denser than elsewhere, like a door that had not yet formed.

Intermittent echoes came from behind the door.

It was not a sound, but more like space itself transmitting coordinates.

He had heard it once on the night he enrolled.

On the Black Lake, the Castle had responded to him for the first time.

This time it was clearer.

It was not a simple call.

It was also mixed with a warning.

Allen Potter stood up straight, took out a blank piece of parchment, and recorded the coordinate fluctuations.

"The Potter Family bloodline is related to the Castle's barrier."

The family crest did not answer immediately.

The door knocker shouted first.

"Don't look like you've found a treasure! Ancient barriers bite!"

Allen Potter put the parchment into the space archive shelf and wiped his fingertips across his lips.

There was blood.

He took a look and casually wiped it away.

"To bite, it must first open the door."

The family crest dimmed a little.

"In the records of the old house, the Potter Family participated in some of the protective engineering of Hogwarts in the early years, but the detailed content was deleted. James Potter's branch did not inherit the relevant permissions."

"What about my father?"

"The information is incomplete. Only one sentence remains: The cadet branch retains the key position."

The door knocker shrieked.

"Key position? Sounds troublesome."

Allen Potter repeated it once.

"The cadet branch retains the key position."

The blackthorn wand was still wrapped in blue thin threads; the lines wound around the wand body for a circle, then slowly retracted back into the ebony box.

The cracked pocket watch finally went quiet.

The space stabilized at 203 square meters.

Much more than before.

Allen Potter showed no sign of joy.

The expansion of the space should have increased his time of clarity, but this time it was different; the expansion came from external traction, and his body felt as if it had been half emptied.

He walked out of the Portable Space, and as soon as he stepped back onto the Dungeon floor, his knees went weak.

The door knocker shouted louder upstairs.

"I told you not to mess around!"

Allen Potter steadied himself against the training table.

"Noisy."

The family crest floated on the wall.

"You need to rest."

"Check the old house's defenses first."

"The defenses are normal."

"Owl passage, fireplace, entrance portrait, Dungeon contract, scan them all again."

The family crest did as told.

The Dungeon quieted down, with only the wall lamps making faint sounds.

After a while, the family crest provided the results.

"There are no external traces. The source of the traction comes from Hogwarts, which, through the response of the bloodline contract, touched your spatial talent directly."

Allen Potter sat in the chair and picked up the quill to continue writing.

Hogwarts, spatial echo, Potter cadet branch key position, deep underground, golden patterns.

The door knocker couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"Are you still going back to school?"

"Of course."

"It was pulling you from half of Britain away just now, and you still say 'of course'?"

"If it can pull me, it means it needs me."

The family crest reminded him.

"It could also be a trap."

Allen Potter closed the record.

"A trap wouldn't wait a year to move."

The door knocker immediately followed up.

"It could also be a chronic trap."

"That's why we need to send someone else to step on it first."

The family crest was silent.

The door knocker realized.

"Harry Potter?"

Allen Potter did not deny it; he simply took "Hogwarts: A History" from the study shelf and flipped to the chapter about the Chamber of Secrets.

The public version was written vaguely; several paragraphs of text went in circles, only mentioning that Salazar Slytherin was at odds with the other founders, and that there were rumors of a secret chamber in the Castle, but no one had confirmed it.

He tapped lightly under the words "Chamber of Secrets".

"The trouble in the second year is inside the Castle. The spatial echo is also inside the Castle. It is impossible for the two things to collide by coincidence."

The door knocker was mute for a moment.

"You're going to let someone else run in front again?"

"There are many curious people."

"For example?"

"Hermione Granger."

The door knocker laughed low.

"Smart people love to ask questions."

Allen Potter closed the book.

"So she is suitable for finding the door."

The family crest suddenly spoke.

"An owl is approaching."

Allen Potter put away the book and raised his hand to wipe the blood on the table clean.

"Whose?"

"A Black-feathered owl from the Nott family."

The door knocker clicked its tongue.

"Writing letters even during summer vacation, the Slytherin kids are really not idle."

Allen Potter walked up the stairs.

Outside the front hall window, a Black-feathered owl perched on the rain gutter, holding a roll of parchment sealed with grey wax in its claws.

There was no surname on the wax seal, only a tiny bone pattern pressed into it.

Nott.

Allen Potter opened the window and took the parchment.

The owl did not enter the house and turned to fly away.

The door knocker urged.

"What does it say?"

Allen Potter broke the encryption layer; there were only three lines of text inside.

Lucius Malfoy has been frequently visiting the Ministry of Magic recently.

News has come out of Azkaban that Black may be about to escape from prison.

Someone heard whispering near the girls' bathroom at Hogwarts during the summer vacation.

Allen Potter stared at the last line, his fingertips pausing.

The family crest's voice lowered.

"After the Castle's call, the rumors of the Chamber of Secrets also came."

The door knocker clicked shut.

"The school year hasn't even started yet."

Allen Potter flipped the parchment to the back.

There was another line of hidden text on the back, which only appeared after the Spatial Displacement swept over it.

Some upperclassmen said the whispering sounded like a snake crawling in the wall.