A new week has arrived.
After dinner on Monday, before the Transfiguration Club activities began, Scott took the initiative to come to Professor McGonagall’s office.
When he explained his purpose, Professor McGonagall was not surprised.
“Have you decided to start preparing for the preparatory ceremony for Animagus transformation?”
She nodded to Scott.
“With your mastery of human body transformation, you can indeed start preparing.”
She thought for a moment and said, “Today is April 18th, and it happens that the 25th of this month is a full moon. You can start the ceremony from that day.”
As she said that, she got up from the chair behind the desk, opened the cabinet next to her, and took out a glass bottle from it.
“This is the mandrake leaf I collected.” She handed the sealed glass bottle to Scott, “Remember, you must keep it in your mouth for a whole month. If the leaf leaves leave your mouth or are damaged, the whole process must start again.”
Scott quickly accepted the glass bottle and thanked him solemnly.
“You must be careful.” Professor McGonagall reminded him again, “The ritual must start from the full moon. If you fail this time, you can only wait until next month to start again.”
Scott nodded, and asked with some distress, “Professor, is there any trick? I mean, it’s easy to fail when eating, washing or sleeping.”
Professor McGonagall shook her head, “There is no trick for this step, you can only be careful yourself.”
“I know, professor.” Scott looked at the fresh-looking leaf in the sealed glass bottle with some distress.
Professor McGonagall laughed, and she suggested: “There is still a week to the 25th. This week you can use other leaves for training, and try to get used to living with leaves before the full moon.”
Scott accepted Professor McGonagall’s advice.
From the second day, he tried to keep holding mint leaves in his mouth.
But such training was obviously not smooth.
On the first day of the attempt, Scott consumed a total of more than a dozen mint leaves.
It was okay when talking, and the number of failures was not many.
But when eating, I always accidentally bite or swallow it, the same is true when drinking water, and it is even more troublesome when brushing teeth.
What’s even more outrageous is that he would unconsciously spit out the leaves from his mouth when he sneezed.
By that night, Scott had lost confidence in whether he could hold the leaves in his mouth for a month.
“Unless I can not eat, drink or brush my teeth, there is still a chance of success.”
In the dormitory, Scott said to his roommates.
“You can only not brush your teeth.” Eddie said with a smile, “If you really want to do this, please stay away from us for a month.”
Scott held another mint leaf in his mouth and said vaguely: “Now I want to try whether I will swallow the leaves unconsciously when I sleep.”
Roger also looked at Scott with sympathy, “This is too troublesome! No wonder wizards who can successfully perform Animagus transformation are only a minority of the minority.”
“But Scott always has to try.” Milton said, “Because he has such a talent.”
Eddie laughed again with gloating, “Yeah, come on, Scott, in order not to waste your talent.”
Scott didn’t want to pay attention to him and went to sleep with the mint leaves in his mouth.
However, when he woke up the next morning, he found that the mint leaf he had held in his mouth had stuck to the pillow.
“…”
Scott cast a vanishing spell on the disgusting leaf.
After getting up, he tried to brush his teeth with the leaf in his mouth again, but failed again in the rinsing step.
Eddie and Roger laughed at his rare predicament.
At the long breakfast table, the two guys who wanted to watch the fun were also observing Scott’s meal.
Scott tried to ignore them.
He could only eat carefully, whether chewing or swallowing, he had to be careful, which made him eat very slowly.
Until he spent twice as much time as usual to finish breakfast, feeling that the leaf in his mouth was still intact, Scott couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
“This is too sad.” He muttered.
In order to reduce the loss of accidental sneezing when talking, he put on a mask after breakfast and spent the new day adhering to the principle of not talking if he could.
At the end of the day, he consumed a total of seven mint leaves.
The number dropped below ten, which was considered some progress.
When he went to bed that day, he wore a homemade “artifact” to prevent him from opening his mouth when sleeping –
a piece of elastic cloth was used to hold his chin, and the two ends were hung on his ears with ropes.
This time he succeeded.
When he woke up on Thursday morning, the leaf he had held before going to bed was still in his mouth.
From that day on, Scott lived a life of trying not to open his mouth to talk, eating and brushing his teeth carefully, wearing a mask during the day, and wearing a “artifact” to prevent his mouth from opening when sleeping at night.
On Thursday, he consumed a total of five mint leaves.
On Friday, four.
On Saturday morning, Scott got up before dawn again and waited for Rimbaud to fly in from the owl channel in the empty common room.
Rimbaud did not start talking until he had set up the spell.
“Good morning!” Rimbaud raised a paw, “I brought it back.”
Scott, wearing a mask, just nodded and said nothing.
He reached out to take the gray little gecko, and then took out his [Magic Mirror].
After importing the gecko’s “recording” of the week into the magic mirror, he first accelerated the playback to play the “video” again, and then began to focus on the part when Mr. Bode was alone in the office.
But this did not bring him any gains.
Although Mr. Bode has always been gloomy, decadent, and withdrawn, there is no other evidence to prove that he is the mysterious Mr. B.
“Maybe Mr. Bode is an overly cautious person.” Rambo said nonsense, “Maybe he is not Mr. B at all.”
But Scott did not draw a conclusion easily.
“Do we need to continue to monitor him?” Rambo asked.
Scott shook his head.
“Not for the time being.” He shook the [Magic Mirror] in his hand and said vaguely, “I still need to take time to carefully check these that have been filmed.”
Rambo nodded.
Scott added, “Pay more attention to Azkaban. If Voldemort’s prison break really happens, I want to know it first.”
“Don’t worry.” Rimbaud said with some pride, “I have conquered the crows that originally lived on the island of Azkaban. If there is unrest on that island, they will come to my territory to inform me.”
“Very good.” Scott nodded and let it leave the common room.
On Saturday, Scott consumed a total of two mint leaves.
It was not until Sunday that Scott finally kept the same leaf in his mouth from morning to the next morning.
This new Monday was the 25th, which was also the day of the full moon.
That night, after brushing his teeth and rinsing his mouth carefully, Scott put the mandrake leaf that Professor McGonagall gave him into his mouth under the moonlight of the full moon.
That night, when Scott was writing a paper in the common room wearing a mask, Luna took the initiative to walk up to him again.
“You don’t have to talk, Scott.” Luna said to him, “I already know you are preparing for Animagus.”
Scott nodded.
Luna brought a stool and sat next to him, and also started to do her homework.
Scott looked at her in confusion.
Luna also looked up at him, and then smiled faintly.
“I still don’t understand it, maybe some things are destined to be unintelligible.” She said softly, with a serious look, “But, I said, I will watch you.”
After that, she lowered her head and began to write the paper seriously.
Scott smiled silently, retracted his gaze, and continued to write.
From this day on, Scott and Luna spent more time together.
Although Scott was very busy due to different grades and courses, the time he spent with Luna was not much, but it was still much more than before.
Luna would take the initiative to sit next to him during meals, and they often did homework together. Sometimes at night when Scott returned to Ravenclaw Tower from Professor Flitwick’s office, Luna would wait in the common room and talk to him for a few words before going to bed.
It really implemented the promise of “I will watch you”.
In this regard, Scott just let her do it.
The intimacy between the two of them certainly attracted the attention of others, and a lot of gossip was spread.
“The genius of Ravenclaw fell in love with a crazy girl!”
This seemed to be a hot topic among the students of Hogwarts for a while.
But both Scott and Luna were guys who did their own thing and didn’t care about other people’s opinions.
In the midst of rumors, they still kept their own pace and were not affected at all.
As a result, even Scott’s friends began to misunderstand his relationship with Luna.
Scott only explained “we are friends” when they asked for the first time.
Of course, as a friend who knows him well, after a while, it can be seen that there is no spark of love between the two.
“Why?” As a gossip master, Eddie was most interested in this topic and asked Scott specifically, “I thought you finally started a relationship.”
Scott just smiled and was too lazy to speak.
“Come to think of it, the four of us in the dormitory are all single.” Eddie said, “I didn’t expect that even Roger has changed.”
Scott shrugged his shoulders, then took out his wand and used magic to leave two lines of glittering words in the air–
[Maybe all the girls in Hogwarts who meet his aesthetic standards have already talked to him.]
Seeing these two lines of words, Eddie laughed.
“Let’s talk about you.” After laughing, he was still gossiping, “Is Luna not good? I always thought you admired her.”
Scott: “…”
[I do admire her, but not the kind of admiration you think.]
He was very sure that there was only friendship between him and Luna.
On the one hand, it was because Luna was still young, and in his eyes she was just a smart kid.
On the other hand, since Scott knew the enemies he would face in the future through the prophecy, he had completely lost the idea of love.
As for Luna?
Scott felt that she should not have opened up in this regard.
In short, Scott was fine, but he found that Luna’s situation in the academy seemed to have become worse.
Originally, Luna could be considered an outlier in Ravenclaw, a school full of weirdos, and had always been somewhat excluded.
After Savannah dropped out of school, Luna no longer had any female friends in the same college.
Since she became closer to Scott, she seemed to be even more excluded by the girls.
Fortunately, she had a good relationship with Ginny, and after Scott reminded her once before, she would no longer allow others to steal and hide her things, but learned to refuse, which made Scott not too worried about her situation.
Of course, he still asked Luna when he was doing homework.
“Are you okay? I mean, it seems that no girls in the college want to be friends with you.” Scott’s question was very direct.
Of course, Luna was also used to this directness.
“I’m doing well.” She said.
Her answer was not forced, and she seemed to not understand why Scott cared about this issue. Obviously, she didn’t care about the exclusion of girls of the same age.
“It’s all because you are too popular.” She looked very understanding, “Everyone wants to be friends with you.”
In response, Scott could only shrug his shoulders.
To be honest, he really didn’t feel how popular he was.
After all, from the past to now, the only girl who took the initiative to express his affection to him was Savannah.
Even if we ignore the love part, there are not many people who just want to be friends with him.
As if seeing his doubts, Luna said: “You have always only played with a few specific people, Eddie, Milton, Roger, and Fred and George. Many people think you are difficult to approach.”
I see.
Scott nodded.
He is not a warm person, and he doesn’t need many friends.
But he doesn’t think he dares to approach…
“I think the senior students won’t say that.” He spoke slowly and carefully, “But I rarely interact with junior students.”
Among the second-year Ravenclaws, he only knew Luna, Savannah and Jacob. As for the first-year… Although he and Kayla were responsible for welcoming the new students, he really didn’t remember even a single name.
However, seeing that Luna was not affected and was still living comfortably, he was relieved and didn’t dwell on this issue.
Instead, Luna asked him again, “What’s bothering you?”
“You know again?” Scott was no longer surprised.
At this time, his mood was indeed not good.
He had taken the time to check Mr. Bode’s image in the [Magic Mirror] again, but still found no clues.
Of course, this might also be because he was too busy, and the trouble and psychological pressure caused by his overly cautious life with a leaf in his mouth, which led to him not having the time and patience to carefully check the image.
Under Luna’s insistence, because he couldn’t lie and there was no need to hide it, Scott tried to tell her the matter in a concise manner.
“Then leave it to me.” Luna took the initiative to extend her hand, “I will help you check it carefully.”
Although he didn’t have any hope, Scott didn’t refuse.
After showing her the identity card of the Scholars’ Union and the [Book of Prometheus] that the card had changed, Scott handed her the [Magic Mirror].
Scott agreed to Luna’s help just because he didn’t want to disappoint her kindness, but he didn’t expect Luna to give him a surprise unexpectedly.
In the following week, Luna didn’t take the initiative to mention this matter when she was with him.
But on Tuesday night a week later, when Scott returned to the common room after duel training, he saw Luna sitting on the sofa and waving at him happily, holding his [Magic Mirror] in her hand.
“I found it,” Luna said, “a little clue.”
It was after curfew, and there was no one else in the common room.
Scott walked directly to Luna and sat down, took the [Magic Mirror] from her hand, and looked at the picture on the mirror.
It was a still picture. In the picture, Mr. Bode stood in front of the messy bookshelf in the office, holding a large black book in his hand, and was about to turn around and leave.
Scott raised his head and looked at Luna in confusion.
“I have cut out the problematic part.” Luna reached out and took the [Magic Mirror] and tapped it on the mirror a few times, indicating Scott to look again.
Scott looked again.
This time it was a moving image.
Mr. Bode stood up from behind his desk, walked to the unusually messy bookshelf, reached out and took the black book from the bookshelf, and then turned and left.
The picture was still.
After watching it once, Scott still didn’t find any clues.
But he didn’t choose to ask questions.
Since Luna said she found a problem in this video, it means that he overlooked something.
So he took the [Magic Mirror] again and tapped the mirror, and played this video several times again.
It was not until the fifth time that he finally found the problem.
This flaw is not hidden, but if you don’t concentrate and watch the video carefully, it will be easy to ignore it.
The problem lies in the number of books on the bookshelf.
This bookshelf is very messy, and various documents and books are not neatly stacked together, and those books look similar to the one taken away by Mr. Bode.
But because the video can be paused and enlarged, Scott still counted it clearly. After Mr. Bode took the book, the number of books on the bookshelf did not actually decrease.
In other words, the book in his hand appeared out of thin air.
Because he used his body to cover the book when he took it down, it was not obvious from behind that he did not actually take the book from the bookshelf.
“One more thing.”
Luna stretched out her finger and swiped it on the mirror, and finally stopped the picture when Mr. Bode walked to the front of the bookshelf and raised his hand to pretend to take the book.
Then, she enlarged the picture and asked Scott to look at Mr. Bode’s right hand.
“Here.” She pointed to the cuff of Mr. Bode’s right hand.
Scott took a closer look and found the clue again.
The edge of Mr. Bode’s black cuffs revealed a faint golden luster. If you look closely, it is not difficult to guess that it is a golden card.
Now Scott can confirm that Mr. Bode is also a member of the Scholars Alliance.
Although it is still impossible to confirm whether he is Mr. B, this is also a gain.
“Thank you, Luna.” He said to Luna.
Mr. Bode was so cautious in his actions when he was alone in the office. These two not-so-obvious flaws were not easy to find.
It is conceivable how much patience Luna paid for this.
“No need to thank me, I’m glad I can help.” Luna said happily.
Scott nodded and looked down at the image in the mirror again.
Through the reflection of the mirror at a certain angle, he saw the cold light in his eyes.
“Scott.”
Just then, Luna put her hand on his arm.
Scott heard her ask, “What do you want to do?”
He turned his head and saw the worry in Luna’s eyes.
“Don’t worry.” He said softly, “I just want to figure out if he is the guy who threatened me.”
Luna asked seriously, “If it is him, what are you going to do next?”
“Nothing.” Scott said.
“Really?” Luna blinked.
Scott nodded.
Luna laughed again.
“I believe you, because you can’t lie to me.”
She didn’t even ask Scott why he didn’t do anything, but stood up and waved to Scott.
“Good night, Scott.”
“Good night, Luna.”
Scott looked at Luna and entered the female student dormitory through the stairs, then retracted his gaze and looked at the [Magic Mirror] again.
He looked at Mr. Bode in the picture and smiled silently.
Although he was not sure yet, he guessed that this guy should be Mr. B.
In order to verify this guess, he began to use the power of arithmetic divination.
Although there are few known conditions, if it is just to calculate a vague answer…
After a divination, Scott also verified his guess.
He turned off the picture in the [magic mirror] and got up and walked towards the dormitory.
He did not lie to Luna.
He really could not do anything.
To deal with such a silent person who is used to hiding himself and does not know what means he has, he must be very careful.
If he acts rashly without knowing the other party well enough, it may lead to unpredictable consequences.
He was not in a hurry about this and decided to wait for the other party to make another move.
Of course, he was not in a hurry because the threats from the other party were just verbal threats.
Scott did not care about this kind of insignificant threat.
In his opinion, if Mr. B really had evidence that could pose a real threat to him, he would have taken it out long ago with his eagerness to force him to surrender.
If he was accused of fabricating some false memories for others just like in the last trial, Scott would not worry about any serious consequences.
If the enemy does not move, I will not move.
He did not need them as Mr. B and Grubbly-Planck had guessed before, nor did he value the [Knowledge Bank] as much as they thought, so he was fearless.
Speaking of which, although Grubbly-Planck looked like that, Scott always felt that she was not very smart.
Because of her performance and the threat of Mr. B during the trial, which was just a lot of noise but little action, Scott would not take them too seriously now.
Instead of spending too much time and energy fighting wits and courage with such people, he might as well learn more from the Ravenclaw tutor.
Of course, if Mr. B revealed any flaws one day or let Scott know his details, then Scott would not be too polite to him.
