Hogwarts starts with stealing power.

Good things don't go out, bad things pass thousands of miles.

Just one day after the battle at Hogsmeade, the news of "Harry injured" and "Harry missing" quickly spread throughout the wizarding world.

Dumbledore arrived at a special ward at St. Mungo's and waved his wand, emitting a blue flash of magic.

After a while, strings of silk threads floated up around, and under the weaving of these threads, one picture after another floated out.

Both McGonagall and Snape appeared in St. Mungo's, watching Dumbledore cast a spell in front of them.

The other professors of Hogwarts did not come as they had already started their vacation, while some professors stayed in Hogwarts to continue their experiments.

The two professors looked serious as they looked at the paintings floating in front of Dumbledore.

In these scenes, there are doctors, nurses, and some wizards coming and going.

Suddenly, an old wizard appeared in front of everyone, and the wizard in the picture was staring at the door of the ward without blinking.

Dumbledore suddenly waved his wand, letting it stay on this picture. He gently waved it forward, and the picture was enlarged. A phantom that seemed real appeared in front of them.

This phantom reproduced the content of the picture - the position where he stood and the look in his eyes as he looked at the ward, all revealed a fanatical persistence.

The man was also seen drinking a bottle of Polyjuice Potion and disguising himself as a wizard from St. Mungo's, trying to get into where Harry was.

But when he was halfway there, he realized he couldn't see the ward door, so he returned to where he was.

When the man appeared in the picture again, Harry took the initiative to open the door of the ward and looked at him with a happy face.

Professor McGonagall frowned and asked, "Who is this man?"

Snape said coldly: "It's not a member of the Hogwarts faculty. I have never seen him. It's someone Harry knows outside."

McGonagall: "Harry's social circle is not very wide. Could it be someone from the Weasley family?"

Dumbledore said softly, "No, the Weasley family came to visit Harry in the morning and pick up Ron from the hospital.

If he was a relative of the Weasleys, he would have been there too, and he showed up after the Weasleys left."

McGonagall said seriously, "This man had planned ahead of time. He started to act as soon as Ron left. Does Ron know him?"

Dumbledore made a decision quickly: "McGonagall, Snape, go to the Weasleys' house on my behalf and ask Ron if he knows this wizard. I got a clue, and I'm going to search now."

Snape and McGonagall Apparated to the Weasleys' house without watching the rest of the scene.

Dumbledore remained where he was, looking at all the photos, his eyes falling on the hand of Harry and the wizard shaking hands.

His deep blue eyes fell into contemplation. This old wizard reminded him of a memory from long ago.

"The scars on those hands... So they belong to this person? He is not dead."

Dumbledore murmured: "A wizard who died in the evil world war suddenly returned to the wizarding world one day. What kind of news can he bring?"

The next second, Dumbledore disappeared from St. Mungo's.
-
Harry opened his eyes again and came to a forest full of dense vegetation.

He looked around and felt that there were towering trees all around him. These trees were much taller than the war tree men he had seen in school.

The air was filled with a humid, warm fragrance filled with the scent of various trees.

Harry felt as if he had come to a primeval forest. He had never smelled such a fresh fragrance of grass and trees, which was also slightly tinged with the dampness of the earth.

He thought of Cassio's words and looked around, trying to find the legendary miniature plant or tall giant.

But the more Harry looked at the scenery around him, the weirder he felt.

These trees...

Why does it seem to be magnified?
Before Harry understood his situation, he suddenly saw a huge shadow looming over him.

When the shadow came, the earth trembled and Harry's body trembled as well.

Harry didn't see clearly what the shadow was, but he was already a little afraid of it and subconsciously hid under a tall tree.

After a while, he heard a loud sound in his ears, like a whirlwind passing by.

Harry saw a withered yellow leaf in front of him, which trembled at the sound and fell gently.

"Harry, where are you?"

"Harry, I'm sorry, I cast my magic incorrectly and accidentally turned you into a dwarf. Come out quickly and I will change you back."

"Harry, come out quickly, I want to change you back quickly, otherwise you will always be a dwarf!"

Harry wanted to step forward and answer, but a strong sense of panic suddenly arose in his heart.

His body's instinct made him act against his will. Instead of walking out on his own initiative, he hid further inside, curled up in the cracks of the damp moss.

Harry lowered his head and looked at his slightly trembling hands. He was standing under a withered yellow leaf. Only then did he realize -

He has become shorter!

He turned into a miniature man!

His hands, no, his entire body, was not as big as a leaf!

Before, he saw some raised bumps on the underside of the leaves and thought the tree was sick, but now he sees that they are just the common wrinkles on trees.

"Harry... Harry..."

Cassio called out, passing Harry.

Harry felt that even the tall trees seemed to tremble three times because of his passing by. At this moment, Harry suddenly realized that the tree he was leaning against was just a towering tree in his eyes.

Perhaps, in the eyes of normal humans, this is just a sapling that has just grown up.

He quietly pulled apart a crack in the moss and saw Cassio's tall figure.

The extreme shrinkage and enlargement made Harry feel deeply uneasy.

Seeing that Cassio was about to leave this place, Harry's brows were troubled and his mood was complicated.

Reason told him that he should go out and let Cassio cast magic on him again to change his size back to normal.

But for some reason, his body instinctively feared Cassio.

When Harry thought about appearing next to Cassio, he found that he couldn't even take a step!

On the contrary, if he wants to escape, he can run away quickly.

Before Harry could hesitate for too long, he heard a sharp buzzing sound in his ears. Looking up, he saw a beetle with six compound eyes coming towards him at high speed.

The beetle's shell had a metallic luster and looked like a new type of war puppet. However, the mucus hanging from the corners of its mouth and the "water bombs" that dripped onto the ground from time to time made Harry understand.

This beetle can kill him!

The mucus that ordinary people don't care about is often used as a potion material and is only touched by wizards in the laboratory.

Now, the shadow of Cassio has not yet left Harry, and he has to face the life-and-death crisis of the beetle. Harry has to escape from both Cassio and the beetle!

He hurriedly ran out of the wet moss, using his 100-meter sprint speed to ricochet to another tree.

There is a shallow hole under the tree, which should be able to shake off the beetles. Even if it can't, it can at least prevent the beetles from invading.

The reason why Harry ran to the tree hole of another tree was because he felt that the protective ability of the moss was too weak.

He could continue to hide in the moss, but he couldn't stay there forever.

Even though his body has shrunk, his basic physiological needs still exist. He needs to drink water and find something to eat.

If he stayed in the moss, Harry had a feeling the beetle would get closer and also lie motionless, covering the moss, waiting for him to come out and make a move!
High-end hunters are always very patient with predators.

Now that the beetle hadn't gotten too close to him, he could only move away from it.

Otherwise, once caught up by the beetle, in terms of speed, even a wizard of normal size may not be able to catch up with the speed of the flying insect!

"Buzz!"

The sound of the beetle's wings flapping was like some large machine running, which brought Harry a lot of psychological pressure.

As he ran quickly, he felt the beetle flapping its wings and following him quickly. Just behind him, he heard the beetle's acidic mucus falling to the ground, making a sizzling corrosive sound!
"Hurry up, hurry up!"

Harry kept urging himself on in his heart, his face flushed and his heartbeat quickened, but he didn't dare to stop.

Just like an arrow finding its target, Harry ducked down to avoid the beetle's sudden attack and almost rolled into the tree hole he had set his eyes on.

"boom!"

Harry felt his body collide with the tree and almost broke his bones.

But he didn't dare to groan or relax.

The moment his body stopped rolling, he immediately jumped up and pulled off a piece of bark to cover the small hole in the tree.

Not long after the bark was pulled off, a buzzing sound was heard, along with a sharp and piercing scratching sound.

The beetle was scratching the bark with its bare feet, trying to move it away!

Harry hid deep in the tree hole, trying to find a weapon. He glanced at the wand at his waist and felt annoyed.

I almost forgot, he still has a wand, he can still cast magic!
So he drew out his wand, pointed it at the bark, and the light and shadow coming through the cracks flickered.

Once the bark is moved by the beetle, Harry will not hesitate to smash the beetle to pieces!
But fortunately, he doesn't have to see the beetle being ripped open yet.

After about dozens of seconds, the bark outside calmed down, and Harry finally relaxed his tense body and looked around the tree hole.

He wondered if his magical powers had decreased even though his body had shrunk.

Harry thought about it and came up with a simple spell that wouldn't make much noise.

The water is as clear as a spring!

The intense running before also made him feel a little thirsty.

Harry carefully pointed his wand at a piece of bark, took a few deep breaths, tried to calm himself down, waved his wand, and shouted, "Clear water like a spring!"

The next second, a large splash of spring water appeared in front of him.

In the past, the spring of clear water that Harry summoned was a handful of clear water that could be held in the palm of the hand and could be used to drink or wash the face.

And now this handful of spring water, falling on the bark, is like a sudden downpour, and the water seems to be flooding the roots!

Harry was calm and his magic power did not diminish as his body shrank.

He can still use magic!
But he suddenly used "Clear Water Like Spring", which made Cassio, who had been looking for someone, realize something.

Cassio is a senior and experienced wizard. This is a Muggle forest. There are no magical creatures here, so the magic here is not complicated or chaotic.

He could detect whenever someone cast a spell.

Cassio was originally in a very upset mood, thinking that Harry had escaped, but now that he felt the spell, he felt relaxed instead, and a smile appeared on his serious expression.

"Harry, come out quickly. Didn't you say you wanted to go on an adventure with me?"

"Harry, you want to play hide-and-seek with me, but I don't like this game, so you'd better come out quickly!"

Cassio followed the direction of the magical fluctuations and approached the tree where Harry was little by little.

Harry's heart immediately rose.

He subconsciously grasped the wand, as only the wand could give him a sense of security.

Harry hesitated for a moment. He felt that he couldn't continue to be entangled like this.

He was brought to this place by Cassio, and now that his body has shrunk, everything is difficult for him to do.

Cassio met him in Hogsmeade, and they fought against the Death Eaters together.

If Cassio really had ill intentions towards him, he could have framed him when the village was in chaos instead of waiting until now.

Harry made up his mind and was about to walk out when he suddenly heard the cry of a phoenix.

He perked up. Was it Headmaster Dumbledore who arrived?
On the other side, the Weasley family had just returned to the Burrow and had not had time to pack anything up when they welcomed two special guests.

Ron sat in the living room with a depressed look on his face. Every time they came back, his parents would scold him.

Not only his parents scolded him, but his brothers and sisters also scolded him, saying that he was too brave to get involved in such a dangerous thing.

The one who cursed the most was the twin brother, not Percy who had become the student council president!
Looking at George and Fred's angry faces, Ron thought: Are they scolding him so harshly because he didn't tell them and didn't let them go with him?
Only brothers know what their brothers’ personalities are like.

George and Fred were not good students to begin with. When it came to breaking school rules, they broke them more than he did!
Ron thought somewhat indignantly.

It was at this moment that the doorbell of the Burrow rang, and Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall appeared in front of them.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley saw the two of them and looked puzzled.

"Come in quickly, professor, why are you here this time--" Molly asked.

She thought of something and glared at Ron who was sitting in the living room.

"Did Ron get into trouble again? Whether you want to deduct points or record a demerit, we will accept it."

Ron said with a wronged look on his face: "Mom, I didn't!"

Professor McGonagall interrupted their conversation: "No, it's not about this, but we do need Ron's help."

"Help?" Everyone in the Weasley family was stunned.

Even Ron was stunned.

How can a student like him who can only succeed twice out of five times in casting magic help the professor? (End of this chapter)