The Real Reason the Lounge Was Built at the Bottom of the Lake

Chapter 26 The Real Reason the Lounge Was Built at the Bottom of the Lake

Behind the snake gate was a long, narrow, and low dungeon. The walls and ceiling were made of rough stone, and a round, green-glowing lamp was chained and hung from the ceiling.

The common room is furnished with dozens of ornately carved chairs, along with numerous sofas and coffee tables for students to relax, decorated with skulls of various unknown creatures. The dungeon descends, extending to the bottom of Black Lake. As the common room located within the dungeon, Slytherin's windows overlook the Black Lake. Reflected in the water, the room takes on a green hue.

Despite a roaring fire burning beneath an exquisitely carved fireplace, the common room remained dark and chilly.

The layout of the lounge hasn't changed much from a thousand years ago, except that the lighting is a bit dimmer now, because it's nighttime.

To be honest, every time Rice comes here, she feels it's a bit too damp. It's okay for a young person like her to come in now, but for an older person, coming to a damp place like this is really a torment.

But there's nothing I can do; it's just that I was unlucky in the lottery.

……

"This tower is nice, with a wide view and good lighting. The Gryffindor common room should be here."

"My students have a need to observe the stars, and the Ravenclaw lounge should also be located in the tower."

"They've all gone to the tower, so what about the front and underground of the school?!" Slytherin glared at Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, his beard bristling with anger.

Rowena and Godric shifted their gaze elsewhere; one became keenly interested in the floor pattern, while the other suddenly focused on the splicing of the ceiling.

Before them stood a miniature version of Hogwarts Castle. The castle was exquisitely crafted, with even the number of panes of glass in the tower windows perfectly replicated. Looking through the windows, one could see desks, chairs, fireplaces, chandeliers, and other furniture all present.

Such an exquisite model was not built by the four founders by hand, but was replicated in scale using magic. Not only is the layout of the various furniture pieces identical, but even the pattern of the floor tiles is exactly the same.

The model was about the size of a sheep, standing on the table and slowly rotating on its own.

The founders are arguing fiercely over the location of their respective college lounges.

Everyone wants to live in a bright, spacious, and well-lit tower with their students, but for the sake of the castle's security, a sufficient number of people must be housed at the base of the castle. If all four houses' common rooms were built in the towers, Hogwarts would be in a very passive position should an enemy invade.

The best solution is for some people to live in the tower, so they can see far and spot any anomalies in the distance immediately, while others live near the ground floor to guard the castle gates and react quickly to any intruders.

So the question is, who will guard the gate? It's fine for the founder to suffer a little, but this decision will obviously require his students to make huge sacrifices; they can't be generous with other people's money.

After much discussion, the group decided to draw lots.

The result of the draw was that Slytherin and his students would be responsible for suppressing the dungeons, Hufflepuff would guard the main hall of the castle, and Gryffindor and Ravenclaw would move into the tower as they wished.

"Actually, living in the dungeon isn't so bad. My students can see the beautiful underwater scenery of the Black Lake, which is a unique sight in all of Britain," said Slytherin, who had drawn the worst lot.

As a wizard, Salazar Slytherin was clearly not a qualified architect. The idea for the lounge in the lake was indeed good, but unfortunately, the students only discovered after moving in that it was excessively damp, to the point that magic was needed to dehumidify it.

What else could they do? The results of the draw were already decided, and Slytherin was too embarrassed to argue with his old friends anymore. He could only try to save face by saying that the lake view room was super cool and that he would use magic to change the air in the common room every day to keep the overall humidity within an acceptable range.

……

Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Rice noticed that the ventilation system he designed a thousand years ago was still functioning normally, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of joy—a magical system that could run for a thousand years without decaying, could the other three founders do that?

I admit you had good luck in the draw, but my spellcasting skills are clearly superior!

After all the new students entered the lounge, the door closed automatically, returning to its original stone wall appearance. While Rice was lost in thought, Prefect Gemma began her address to the new students, and by the time Rice came to his senses, the address was almost over.

"...There are a few more things you might need to know. Blood Man Barrow is a ghost of our academy. He's a good man, or rather, a good ghost, but please remember not to ask him about the origin of the bloodstains on him (Rice: I definitely will ask)."

"The password to the common room changes every two weeks, so please keep an eye on the notice board. Bringing anyone from any other house into the common room is strictly prohibited! It hasn't been trespassed here for over seven centuries!"

Upon hearing this, Rice was extremely shocked. He remembered very clearly that Hogwarts was not like this when it was first founded. It was very common for students from the four houses to visit each other's common rooms, and some young men and women of a certain age would even find a dormitory room to do things that were appropriate for their age.

Godric even used magic to prevent boys from entering the girls' dormitory.

But judging from the feedback his students gave him, the Gryffindor spell didn't seem to be very useful—would any boys really go to the girls' dormitory to date their girlfriends? In most cases, it just meant that a few more enthusiastic little wizards "volunteered" to patrol the castle at night.

I never imagined that a thousand years later, the gap between the various colleges would be so large, and that the fact that no one had visited the common room for seven hundred years was something to brag about!

Isn't this just being isolated?

What Rice didn't know was that Slytherin's situation wasn't an isolated case; the Hufflepuffs next door were even more outrageous. They claimed that no outsider had ever visited their common room in a thousand years—it's hard to know what kind of creature Rowena Ravenclaw, who was invited by Helga to have tea, was categorized by them.

"Alright, that's all I wanted to say. I'm sure you'll enjoy our lounge. Goodnight everyone, and have a good night's sleep." Without the rumored "freshman duel to determine the shadow prefect," Gemma finished her speech calmly and began leading the freshmen to their dormitories.

Gemma first led the girls to their dorm rooms, and then led the boys to the other side of the lounge. After circling around the not-so-spacious corridor a few times, they finally arrived.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Sorry, I overslept after getting home! Update here!

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(End of this chapter)