On a winding path, a dance unfolds,

Where secrets slumber, stories untold.

Seek the eye where the face shines bright,

And wait for the radiance to reach its height.

n the distance, where silence reigns supreme,

Proclaim the word of power, burning like a dream.

"Aperi," whisper, let the truth unfurl.

Having read the poem again, Edward sighed. Lying on his bed, he stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.

"On a winding path, a dance unfolds. This most likely refers to the moving staircases. It's easy to deduce because I found this clue after reading about the stairs. The mention of a dance also hints that the stairs move," Edward murmured.

"In the second line, Seek the eye where the face shines bright, And wait for the radiance to reach its height - what does the face refer to? I'm perplexed by these words about a face."

Pondering the question, his eyes unconsciously wandered around the room. Finally, as he stopped thinking about it and sighed, his eyes fell upon a soft, dark orange ray of sunlight gently illuminating the wall.

"Shines! The sun can shine!"

He bolted up from his reclined position, staring at the glow cast by the sunbeams.

"But how to see the sun's brilliance on the stairs.....a window!"

Lost in thought, he suddenly remembered the windows lining the staircases, flooding the passages with daylight. Realizing this, he immediately left his room with excitement, soon exiting the Ravenclaw common room as he hurried towards the moving stairs.

In the meantime, students walked back and forth through the corridors in pairs as usual. However, there was a clear excitement surrounding the upcoming Triwizard Tournament. Everywhere, one could hear discussions about it, as well as guesses about who would represent Hogwarts.

But knowing the events to come, Edward did not pay much attention to what was happening. He was more interested in solving the mystery left by one of Hogwarts' founders.

Finally reaching the moving stairs, the dizzying sight appeared just as it had before. Edward's eyes scanned the walls, noting each window. He had to gradually descend while checking the windows one by one.

Before his eyes appeared another window with a slight difference from the others. Looking closely at the frame, unlike the other windows, one could see a circular space.

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"The other windows don't have this...so this could be the place...if we assume the brilliance refers to sunlight, then...the sun should rise into this circle?"

Gazing intently at the window before him, he tried to maneuver so the sun's position would end up inside the circle. However, no matter how he tried, he could not make it happen. The sun was clearly already sinking towards the west.

“It seems I’ll have to check this tomorrow.”

Some time later, he calmed down and started heading back to his room, but continued pondering the riddle.

By his deductions so far, the first two lines of the poem related to the stairs. The second most likely referred to the sun. The last two lines were instructions that he needed to utter the word "Aperi." He still needed to understand what the 5th line referred to.

It clearly mentioned silence, but what silence was it talking about? As Edward’s eyes roamed around, they focused on the portraits.

"Come to think of it...there are portraits everywhere, and during the day all the portraits are clearly conscious. It would be impossible for there to be silence...do I need to create this silence?"

When he returned to the Ravenclaw common room, there was no one visible at the entrance. So he first had to solve the riddle posed by the gargoyle.

As he contemplated the riddle, he missed another riddle from the gargoyle.

"I am a wanderer, yet I never roam.

I am a light, yet I never shine.

I am a mirror, yet I never reflect.

I am a companion, yet I am always alone."

He had to forget about the poem and focus on the new riddle to get into his room.

"I didn't catch that, can you repeat it?"

As he waited for the gargoyle to repeat the riddle, after thinking for some time, the answer suddenly dawned on him, leaving him standing stunned.

"...the moon...Seek the eye where the face shines bright, And wait for the radiance to reach its height - this clearly refers to the moon....No! More precisely, it's the full moon. Additionally, it fits with the silence!"

Suddenly his eyes lit up as understanding flooded his mind. He grasped the meaning of the riddle and what he needed to do.

On the night of the full moon, he had to stand right in front of that window on the stairs and then utter the word.

Entering the common room, he walked over to the balcony and gazed at the horizon where the sun was slowly setting.

"The next full moon...that's two days from now...September 29th, otherwise known as the Harvest Moon!....the question of silence still remains...I need to do this very covertly, using a spell or...the Invisibility Cloak!"

For the first time in two years, he felt like he was worth something. He watched as the sun slowly faded towards the horizon. Such beauty was a common occurrence for him, but unlike previous times, at this moment he clearly felt mysterious emotions.

He didn’t know why, but these feelings had gripped him completely. Until now, his plan had simply been to survive the war and then live peacefully.

However, it seemed that just because he had suddenly become interested in the mysteries of the stairs, this on its own had triggered something else. Until now, he had felt a certain safety because he knew the future.

But as he watched the darkening surroundings, he kept recalling Rowena Ravenclaw’s words over and over.

"What else lies hidden in this world...and why must I act at my own peril and risk."

From just these lines and from having solved the riddle, he understood one thing. If he continued down this path, he would likely discover things he should not know.

"Considering that powers like Divination and Time Turners exist in this world..."

As he thought continuously, the feeling that had gripped him also began to grow, along with the darkening environment around him. He was no longer so sure about his decisions, and now besides the choice to survive the war and live an ordinary life...

...a new, unknown path lay before him. Perhaps it was simple knowledge about this world, but nothing guaranteed that on the contrary, this knowledge could harm him.

"What should I do...?"