Chapter 382: Department of Mysteries and Departure

In front of them was a simple, deep corridor.

This corridor was very different from the previous ones. The walls were bare; there were no doors or windows, except for a black one at the end of the corridor.

Ivan knew this was the Department of Mysteries. In fact, he was anxious to go visit it.

He had heard too many rumors about it, but very few were actually true and credible.

In the marketplace, there was almost no reliable record of this mysterious department.

Luna had shown him an article in The Quaffle which claimed that Fudge was using the Department of Mysteries to develop terrible poisons, which he secretly fed to anyone who disagreed with him.

But this was obviously ridiculous. Ivan knew that there was actually a collection of all the prophetic glass orbs, passed down magical items, and various unknown magical items that needed to be researched and preserved, such as magic related to time, soul, and death.

Here was kept the prototype of the time-turner worn by Hermione. That magical clock-like object could help the wizard control time.

"The Department of Mysteries is the most mysterious department in the Ministry of Magic. No one knows what they do. The identity and duties of the staff of this department are top secret." Sirius said, "Wizards who work in the Department of Mysteries are known as Ineffable."

Ivan nodded and looked carefully at the plain black door.

This door should be years old. Like the materials used in the construction of the Moon Temple of the Centaurs, it was obsidian without a trace of magic.

"One of my ancestors worked here, I read his diary." Seeing that Ivan was very interested, Sirius continued, "According to his records, long ago, the Ministry of Magic had discovered that there were many types of inherent magic. Unlike magic today, their forms of existence are difficult to explain, even more difficult than now, and perhaps impossible to control."

It is not surprising that this magic was inherited from the studies of the ancient sorcerers.

They went further along the path of magic and knew more than today's magicians.

However, with the passage of time, the once brilliant and magical civilization finally disappeared.

There were many theories about the extinction of the ancient sorcerers.

The debate had raged for hundreds of years. The wildest statement Ivan had heard recently was that the evil god told him that the powerful ancient sorcerers collectively fled to a new world because they wanted to avoid the control of the evil gods.

"Behind this black door is a circular room lined with many doors. The Ineffables explore and experience the mysterious forces in various rooms." Sirius said, "If you are interested, you can apply for jobs here after graduation. As long as the best students can't meet the requirements, they may not recruit new students for several years. But with your strength, there should be no problem."

They walked down the hallway and stood outside the black door for a moment.

"Come on, don't let Dumbledore wait too long!" Sirius grabbed Ivan by the arm and dragged him to the left, where there was an opening leading to a staircase.

"Next up is the special Wizengamot court. The Portkey of Azkaban is booked there." Sirius said as he walked, "If you're convicted, you'll be sent straight to Azkaban, you don't have to spend a few days at sea."

They walked for a long time, reached the bottom of the steps and ran down another corridor, which bore a strong resemblance to the one that led to Snape's dungeon at Hogwarts, with rough stone walls and bracketed torches. The doors leading through here were heavy wood with iron bolts and locks.

"It's Room 10, here we are!" Sirius dragged Ivan through and stopped in front of a dingy, dark door with a huge iron lock. He sneered, "I was originally going to be tried here, but after a long wait, they told me my crimes didn't need to be tried, and shoved me straight into Azkaban."

They opened the door and entered. The walls around them were made of dark stone, dimly lit by torches.

Empty benches rose on either side, but up ahead, Dumbledore sat on a bench with his eyes closed and they wondered what he was thinking.

As soon as they entered, Dumbledore sensed them and opened his eyes.

"There you are!" said Dumbledore calmly. "Sorry, we have to start from this place, but believe me, the place we're going to be in is scarier and much more horrible than this."

He waved for Sirius and Ivan to keep up with him.

They walked to the top of the room, around the huge round stone pillars. Behind the black curtain, there was a small hidden door.

Dumbledore tapped it with his wand and the closed door opened automatically.

In the center of the room was a statue of a Dementor.

It was about to rip the hood off its head, revealing the hideous mouth on the horizon, apparently to give someone a kiss and suck their soul.

"Special privileges are required to enter the room." Dumbledore explained, "Outside is the High Criminal Court of Wizengamot, where almost all the prisoners of Azkaban are tried. They do it precisely because of the statue in front of us. It's the only Portkey that gets us to Azkaban quickly."

Dumbledore looked carefully at the Dementor statue for a while, apparently thinking about something, before turning his light blue eyes to Ivan.

"Do you know what a Portkey means?", Dumbledore asked with a smile.

"I know, I read it in the books." Ivan hastened to say.

"Very well, but this statue is different from normal Portkeys!", Dumbledore said. "It won't follow us. In fact, there's the same statue in Azkaban. We just touch them lightly, and we can be sent back and forth."

"What is the principle of this magic?" asked Ivan.

"No one knows, like what you saw in the Department of Mysteries upstairs. There is still a lot of wonderful magic waiting for us to discover and study." Dumbledore said, "What we know now is only a small part of it."

He pulled something out of his arms and handed it to Ivan.

"I went to the centaur colony last night and saw the records relating to that evil god. It is beyond imagination. It is not any creature I know of, nor does it appear in the books of magic." Dumbledore said, "Before you came, I thought about it carefully. Now that you have returned to the millennium and have met the Four Founders of the school, what they left behind is also related to evil spirit gods. Then I think you'd better keep it."

Ivan was stunned and took hold of what Dumbledore had given him.

Surprisingly, it was the red plate left in the subway ruins when the huge eyeball monster disappeared and the image of the terrible nightmare god was painted on it.