In this walkthrough of the main story quest “Secrets of the Restricted Section,” we will go over how to complete the quest. In it, you will be tasked by Professor Fig to acquire a book from the Restricted Section of the Library. Only he won’t be able to help you himself, so you’ll need to work with Slytherin Sebastian Sallow to get access.
Quest Type: Main Story
Location: Defence Against the Dark Arts Tower, Astronomy Tower, Hogwarts Castle (map)
Requirements
Level 3
Incendio (Which you get from completing Professor Hecat’s Assignment)
After you’ve spoken to Professor Fig and started the quest, you can meet with Sebastian in the Defense Against the Dark Arts tower. If it is your active quest, your minimap, and charmed compass will take you to him.
Once you find him, speak to him with /. A cutscene will play, at the end of which he’ll agree to meet up with you in the Central Hall at night.
You’ll be taken there immediately, so you can walk up and talk to him again. Now, he will teach you Disillusionment, which makes you much harder to detect by rendering you somewhat harder to see. You’ll want to equip this spell immediately to your magic hotbar, since you’ll be needing it for the rest of this quest.
Sneak Into the Library
You’ll get a brief introduction to the stealth mechanics. Using them, you’ll need to get past the people patrolling the halls and into the library. To start, you’ll need to get past the prefect on the landing to the stairs. To do so, equip Disillusionment with and then cast it. Go past on the left-hand side when he turns (1). You’ll need to do something similar for the three prefects in front of the doors to the library, waiting for them to look away so you can make it inside (2).
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Once inside the library, you’ll need to take an immediate left to avoid the librarian. From here, you’ll talk to Sebastian behind some bookshelves in order to figure out what to do next. He tells you to grab the key from the librarian’s desk while he makes a distraction.
Get the Key From the Librarian’s Desk
While Sebastian makes a distraction, you’ll need to cast Disillusionment sneak up to the librarian’s desk and grab the key to the Restricted Section. To do so, go towards the desk, behind the librarian (the left side works better) Make sure you avoid her line of sight and be patient. Sebastian will create a distraction, and then you can move in and grab the key from the desk with /.
Once you have the key, you’ll need to follow the golden path on your minimap to the Restricted Section’s door, still being careful to avoid the librarian. Once there, you can unlock the door with /.
Find the Book
Before heading downstairs, look to the right behind a bookshelf for a chest, then you can go downstairs (1). You’ll need to distract a ghost to keep her from spotting you by casting your basic spell () onto a suit of armor (2). Once you do, the ghost will move, and you can go behind her (3). Watch out for another in the next room, though. Once you reach another set of stairs going down, you’ll be clear from the ghosts.
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Sebastian will chat with you as you walk to the next objective. While he is, prepare to cast Disillusionment again so you can sneak up on the Disillusionment Chest (the white one with the giant eye).
In the next clutter room, cast Levioso on the statue in front of you for a Guide Page (1). Make sure to grab the chest in the corner of the same room. Then, you’ll approach some collapsed armor, then Peeves the Poltergeist will come out and threaten to turn you in, forcing Sebastian to go back and deal with him. You’ll need to continue alone.
Once Peeves and Sebastian are gone, you need to cast Reparo on the collapsed armor to get it out of your way. There is a chest in the next room, then you keep following the path.
Search for the secret hidden in the Restricted Section
Keep following the markers until you reach the octagonal room. Your character will remark on traces of ancient magic being nearby. Keep following the marker until you find a blue-and-black spiral on the ground, which you can interact with (/) to reveal the room’s secret: a mysterious portal to the Athenaeum. Before going through it, though, make sure to grab the chest to its left.
Enter the Athenaeum
Go through the portal and continue following the path. At the bottom of the stairs, before entering the Athaneaum itself, make sure to grab the chest to the left of the door. Then, go up to it and hold X to enter the Athaneaum.
Discover the Secret of the Antechamber
Immediately once inside, you’ll come across a gap. Before going forward, look to your right, where a chest will be waiting. After grabbing it, use Basic Cast on the rune above the door across the gap to raise the walkway.
Once you enter the next room, you’ll need to fight some Pensieve Sentries that are guarding the door directly in front of you. You’ll be able to take out the first two easily using Ancient Magic, which you can activate with +. These Ancient Magic blasts deal massive damage and can destroy the Sentries instantly.
After defeating the first two Sentries, two more will come from alcoves to your left and right.
These Sentries can be tricky to deal with, so here are some things to keep in mind:
Be careful of their teleporting attacks. When they ready a swing, they will rapidly close the distance to strike you.
You can avoid damage by dodging with / or by casting Protego with /.
Using Ancient Magic to throw nearby objects at them using for huge damage.
Using Levioso and Accio can keep them off the feet, allowing you to attack them without retaliation.
Continue through the next door, where you will fight 2 Pensieve Sentinels, which are more powerful versions of the Sentries you just faced. Thankfully, they are near cliffs, so can be pushed off for easy kills. To do so, simply lift them in the air with Levioso, then use Basic Cast to launch them off.
After defeating them, look to your left, where you’ve see a chest in a seemingly inaccessible location. In order to get there, you’ll need to go to the rectangular overhang facing its direction. When you approach the edge, a platform will rise up, and you can follow that to the chest.
Once you grab it and return, you can use Basic Cast on the rune above the door across the gap. Just be ready to run across this time, because the platform will not stay long!
Keep following the marker into another such room. Start by using Basic Cast on the rune across from you (1). But, before you worry about crossing the gap in front of you, look to your right, where there will be a free-floating platform (2). Jump to it, and another rising platform will extend, revealing the path to a side room and chest. About halfway there, the path with stop, and you’ll need to use Basic Cast on the rune again (3). After that, you can grab the chest and return to the entrance.
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Now, to get across the gap to progress, you’ll need to use Basic Cast on the rune above the door (1). This will cause half the platform — the half on your side — to raise, but the half on the other side to lower. Using Basic Cast on the Rune again (2) will raise the other platform, allowing you to jump to it during the transition. Once you’re across, grab the chests on your left and right, then continue.
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You’ll come to another room filled with Pensieve Sentries and Sentinels. While they can be pushed off ledges, there are enough here that you’ll probably need to fight a few directly. Don’t forget to be wary of their teleporting melee strikes, use Ancient Magic for massive damage, and to use Levioso and Accio to keep them off the ground.
After defeating the enemies, you can go into the next room, where a book will be waiting for you. A cutscene will play, revealing more about the mysterious Keepers. After watching that, you’ll catch back up with Sebastian and the librarian.
When you regain control, you’ll have completed Secrets of the Restricted Section. Now just to unravel the mysteries surrounding what you saw there…
Graves is an avid writer, web designer, and gamer, with more ideas than he could hope to achieve in a lifetime. But, armed with a mug of coffee and an overactive imagination, he’ll try. When he isn’t working on a creative project, he is painting miniatures, reading cheesy sci-fi novels, or making music.