The Hidden Library

Overview

The Hidden Library is a vast underground chamber hidden outside of Seylon's Tower, accessible only via the Portkey (unicorn horn) in the Trophy Gallery. It was Seylon's secret personal archive — a repository for knowledge too dangerous, too personal, or too valuable to keep in the tower itself. The library also contains the key to the locked chest in Seylon's Suite.

When the party arrives, they are not alone. Primrose Calloway and Silas Carrow are already here.

Arrival

The Portkey deposits the party at the entrance — a stone archway carved with Seylon's motto: "What is lost may yet be found; what is found must be understood."

Beyond the archway, a short corridor opens into the main chamber.

The Main Chamber

A cavernous circular room, easily a hundred feet across, with a vaulted ceiling lost in shadow. Thousands of books orbit the room in slow, sweeping arcs — some spiraling lazily near the ceiling, others darting between invisible shelves like startled birds. The air smells of parchment, dust, and something faintly electric. Loose pages drift like autumn leaves.

At the center of the maelstrom, a stone reading platform rises from the floor. Two figures huddle over an open book on the platform — one small and familiar, one lean and sharp-edged. Between them sits a battered leather suitcase, its lid propped open. As you watch, the taller figure tears a page from a book, folds it with practiced precision, and drops it into the suitcase. It vanishes before hitting the bottom.

The books fly in concentric rings at different speeds and heights. The outermost ring drifts slowly; the inner rings move faster and more erratically. Reaching the center platform requires navigating through the rings.

The Flying Books

The books are enchanted with a powerful Sorting Charm — each one contains knowledge that Seylon deemed worth preserving, drawn from every corner of the magical world. The enchantment makes the books unreadable to anyone whose deepest questions the book doesn't answer. Open a random book and the text appears as shifting, indecipherable symbols.

The exception: For each person in the library, exactly one book will be readable — the one that contains information most relevant to what they desperately want to know. The book glows faintly when its intended reader is nearby (within 10 feet), though the glow is easy to miss among the swirling chaos.

Finding your book: DC 15 Perception while moving through the flying books. On a success, the character spots a book that seems to pulse with a faint warm light as it passes. They can grab it with a DC 10 Dexterity check (the books move unpredictably). On a failure, they can try again next round.

Optional — helping each other: A character who has already found their book can use the Help action to grant advantage on another character's Perception check, having learned what the glow looks like.

The Personal Books

Navigating the Rings

Moving through the flying books requires care. On each turn a character moves through a ring:

• Outer ring (slow): No check required
• Middle rings (moderate): DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d4 bludgeoning damage from heavy tomes
• Inner ring (fast): DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 2d4 bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone

Shield or similar protective spells grant advantage on these saves.

The Encounter: Primrose and Silas

What's Happening

Primrose received instructions in her fake Harry Potter letters to find the Hidden Library and copy a specific book: Seylon's Ring Codex — a master ledger documenting where he hid each of his seven rings across the globe. She doesn't fully understand what she's copying or why "Harry" wants it — she just trusts him.

Silas Carrow was sent by his mother to escort Primrose and ensure the mission succeeds. He's been posing as a helpful older student who "also got a letter from Harry." The suitcase is a Vanishing Cabinet — everything dropped inside appears in a matching case held by Bellatrix's Children.

When the party arrives, Silas and Primrose have been here for some time. They've already copied several pages.

What They're Copying: The Ring Locations

The Ring Codex contains Seylon's own notes on where he and Theo Turner hid each ring. The pages Silas and Primrose are copying reveal the hiding locations:

How much did Bellatrix's Children get? This depends on how quickly the party intervenes:

• If the party arrives early in the encounter: Silas has copied 2–3 locations (DM's choice which ones)
• If the encounter drags out: He may have copied most or all of them
• Pages still on the platform: Any uncopied pages remain on the reading platform. The party can read them and learn the remaining locations themselves
• The codex itself: The original book returns to the flying orbit once released — it cannot be removed from the library

How It Plays Out

Phase 1 — Discovery

The party spots them from the outer rings. Primrose doesn't notice at first — she's absorbed in copying. Silas notices immediately (high passive Perception) but doesn't react until the party gets closer or calls out.

If the party calls out to Primrose:

• She looks up, startled but relieved to see friendly faces
• She starts to explain excitedly: "Harry Potter sent me here! He said—"
• Silas cuts her off: "We don't have time for this."

If the party approaches quietly:

• DC 13 Stealth (group check) to reach the middle rings unnoticed
• On failure, Silas spots them and moves to Phase 2 immediately

Phase 2 — Confrontation

Silas steps between Primrose and the party. His tone is cold and controlled.

"Walk away. This doesn't concern you."

He will not explain who he is or what they're doing. If pressed, he says only: "We're doing important work for someone who matters." Primrose looks confused — she clearly doesn't understand the tension.

If the party tries to reason with Primrose:

• She's conflicted. She genuinely believes she's helping Harry Potter.
• DC 12 Persuasion: She hesitates and looks at Silas uncertainly
• DC 15 Persuasion (or showing evidence the letters are fake): She starts to doubt, but Silas intervenes

Phase 3 — Combat

Silas attacks when any of the following happen:

• The party tries to take the suitcase
• The party convinces Primrose to stop
• The party physically blocks their work
• He decides they've seen too much

Silas Carrow (see stat block below)

Battlefield: The flying books create difficult terrain across the platform. The inner ring of books provides three-quarters cover from ranged attacks made from outside it. The Vanishing Cabinet suitcase sits open on the platform.

Tactics:

• Opens with Stupefy on the biggest threat
• Uses the flying books as cover, ducking behind dense clusters
• Targets anyone going for the suitcase
• Fights with precision — he doesn't waste spells

Retreat Trigger: When reduced to half HP or below, Silas disengages and moves toward the suitcase.

Phase 4 — The Escape

When Silas decides to flee:

Option A — He takes Primrose: He grabs Primrose by the arm, says "We're leaving," and drags her toward the suitcase. If no one intervenes within one round, he pulls her in with him and they both vanish. Primrose screams.

Option B — He turns on Primrose: If Primrose resists or sides with the party, Silas hits her with Stupefy, throws the copied pages into the suitcase, then climbs in himself. Primrose crumples unconscious on the platform.

Option C — The party stops him: If the party closes the suitcase lid, blocks his path, or restrains him, Silas fights desperately. He will use Crucio as a last resort if cornered (he knows it but has never used it on a person — his hand shakes).

After Silas escapes (if he does): The suitcase snaps shut and becomes inert — the magical link is broken from the other side. It's now just an empty suitcase.

Silas Carrow — Stat Block

Silas Carrow (14-year-old dark wizard, CR 3)

• AC 13 (no armor, high Dexterity)
• HP 38
• Speed 30 ft.
• STR 10 | DEX 16 | CON 12 | INT 16 | WIS 14 | CHA 11

Spells (treat as 4th-level caster, spell save DC 13, +5 to hit):

• Stupefy (Stunner): Ranged spell attack, +5, 60 ft. Target must make DC 13 CON save or be stunned until end of their next turn. On a hit, 2d6 force damage regardless of save.
• Protego (Shield): Reaction, +3 AC until start of next turn
• Expelliarmus: Ranged spell attack, +5, 60 ft. On hit, target must make DC 13 STR save or drop held item. 1d8 force damage.
• Depulso (Banishing Charm): 15 ft. cone, DC 13 STR save or pushed 15 ft. and knocked prone. 1d6 force damage.
• Crucio (last resort only): 30 ft., DC 13 CON save. On failure: 3d6 psychic damage and incapacitated with pain until end of next turn. On success: half damage, not incapacitated.

Occlumency: Advantage on saving throws against mind-reading, charm, and compulsion effects.

Multiattack: Silas can cast one spell and take the Disengage action on the same turn (trained in combat movement).

The Key

Regardless of how the encounter plays out, the key to the chest in Seylon's Suite is here. It hangs from a chain wrapped around a stone lectern on the north side of the platform — easy to miss during combat but obvious once the dust settles.

The key is iron, old, and warm to the touch. Engraved on its bow: "For what I could not bear to lose."

Aftermath

If Primrose Is Rescued

• She's shaken and confused. She slowly realizes "Harry" was never writing to her.
• She can describe the letters, the instructions, and how Silas found her.
• She doesn't know Silas's real name — he told her his name was "Evan."
• Emotional gut-punch: she was being used because of her Parseltongue (which she still doesn't know about).

If Primrose Is Taken

• The party has failed to save her — she's now in Bellatrix's Children's hands.
• This escalates the stakes dramatically. Rescuing Primrose becomes a priority.
• The copied pages give the Death Eaters the hiding locations of Seylon's rings — the campaign becomes a race to reach the remaining rings before Bellatrix's Children do.

The Ring Location Race

However the encounter resolves, both sides now have information about the ring locations. The key question is how much each side knows:

• What the party learns: They can read any pages still on the platform, plus whatever locations Primrose remembers if she's rescued.
• What Bellatrix's Children learn: Whatever Silas successfully copied and dropped into the suitcase before fleeing.
• The overlap: Both sides likely know some of the same locations, creating a race to reach them first.
• Plot hooks: Each location ties to a PC's backstory — Egypt (Otto), New York (Finlay), Russia (Caoimhe) — giving personal stakes to the global hunt.

The Books

• Each character keeps their personal book. The information is theirs to process.
• The books don't work outside the library — the text fades within an hour of leaving, but the memory of what they read remains perfectly clear.

Lore

The Hidden Library was Seylon's attempt to build a repository that would outlast him — a place where the right person would always find the right knowledge at the right time. The Sorting Charm on the books was his masterwork of enchantment: not a catalogue, but an empathy engine. The library reads you and offers what you need most.

The name "Shattered" doesn't refer to destruction. It refers to the way Seylon shattered the traditional organization of a library — no shelves, no index, no order. Just need, answered.