Hogwarts starts with stealing power.

Spots!

The mouse, Spotted Mouse, once went back into the drawer!
Ron wanted to touch the dark blood, but quickly remembered something and withdrew his hand.

What if we destroy the magic rune array left behind by Lin Xia?
Although he felt that the messy scene was most likely due to being vandalized.

"Ron, Ron?"

Neville had already finished tidying up. Seeing Ron staring blankly at the drawer, he couldn't help but ask curiously, wanting to take a look at his drawer as well.

Ron quickly realized what was happening and slammed the drawer shut with a loud bang, which sounded out of place in the quiet dormitory.

"You're done? Let's go down for dinner then," Ron replied somewhat flusteredly.

Neville: "But didn't you say before that we should start by running, to get some exercise?"

Ron: "Oh right, let's go for a run first. Sorry, I forgot. Let's go for a run first, and then go to the cafeteria. I need to find Lin Xia; I have something to talk to her about."

Neville's eyes lit up as if he had just thought of something.

"Ron, do you want to form a study group with Lin Xia? I'm sorry, but it's fine if you and Harry lead me in the pre-study. I'm afraid it will cause trouble for Lin Xia."

Ron choked on his words. He hadn't sought out Lin Xia for this matter, but now it had become a convenient excuse.

He nodded haphazardly: "Yes, it's related to studying. Don't worry, Lin Xia isn't the type to look down on underachieving students."

Harry and I used to have terrible grades, but Lin Xia never got angry with us. She even took us into the lab and made us participate in all sorts of experiments.

Ron didn't say one thing.

Although neither he nor Harry understood how the experiments were conducted, and they could only do simple, basic assistant work in the lab, they spent most of their time frantically memorizing various experimental data and trying to understand the techniques and principles behind the experiments.

Once they had memorized it all, the group's experiments had also yielded results, and they began preparing to write their preliminary papers.

So they were reassigned to assisting with the writing of academic papers.

Once the paper is approved and the experimental results can be sold, Lin Xia and others will hold a paper release conference.

He and Harry would be the main speakers, standing on the stage and giving a brief presentation.

This part mainly involves explaining the research and development principles of the paper to professional scholars. In order to answer the questions from those scholars, Ron and Harry, even if they did not participate in the important experimental steps, had to thoroughly understand the experimental principles.

Nobody wants to make a mistake that causes Lin Xia's paper to fail the final review; that would make them a sinner!
Ron sometimes wondered if Lin Xia had assigned these writing tasks to the two of them because she wanted to slack off.

But he only dared to think this in his heart and didn't dare to say it aloud.

Because everyone who knows they are helping out in the lab envies them, saying they are able to learn a lot.

If Ron said he hadn't learned anything and was just a handyman, no one would believe him.

But Ron couldn't be sure that he hadn't learned anything at all.

After all, the materials and experimental principles he encountered in the laboratory were too advanced. He always felt that even if he went up to the higher grades at Hogwarts, he would not learn this kind of knowledge.

Furthermore, they memorized many runes related to the experiments, which enabled him and Harry to keep up in Runes Elective.

From this perspective, they have already set themselves apart from other ordinary students.

The two arrived at the common lounge and walked up to the framed picture of the fat lady, just in time to hear it muttering to itself.

"Two more little wizards have arrived."

The plump lady suddenly stopped her muttering and glanced at them.

Ron and Neville noticed that the fat lady had some dark circles under her eyes.

Did the plump lady stay up all night?

Can you get dark circles under your eyes if you stay up all night?

Oh, it seems that the fat lady was frightened earlier; she can even cry.

If their medium is not a picture frame, they look just like real people.

The plump lady glanced at them, recognized them, then casually looked away and turned to look at the right side of the picture frame, as if the picture frame had come into the plump lady's house and was chatting with her.

"I'm a little curious, do you guys not need to sleep? You usually sleep until almost time for class, so why are you all so eager to get up today?"

Although the fat lady wasn't looking at them, she was speaking to Ron and Neville.

"Oh, right, there were two little devils who coaxed me into going out to do experiments late at night. No matter what I said, they wouldn't show their faces, but I recorded their voiceprints. Those two little rascals got me scolded by Minerva yesterday!"

The plump lady looked somewhat aggrieved, and her tone was somewhat angry.

It wore an exquisite and gorgeous dress, a strapless style that accentuated its full and rounded breasts. Coupled with its angry expression, it seemed as if the tightly bound dress might burst at any moment.

Ron and Neville exchanged a glance.

They could already sense the fat lady's anger.

"Damn it! From now on, I won't let any little wizards out after midnight! Otherwise, if Minerva catches me, she'll accuse me of dereliction of duty again."

She's the vice principal; she could transfer me elsewhere anytime. I don't want to lose this easy gatekeeper job. I'm a picture frame with a job, much better than those picture frames that just drift around aimlessly!

McGonagall, whom the fat lady was talking about.

She arrived at a special observation room.

There are always people outside this small room, ensuring that at least one professor remains there in case of any unexpected situations.

When McGonagall arrived, the professor, who was observing from outside, greeted her.

McGonagall nodded to him and asked, "How's the observation going? Is there any sign of any unusual changes happening to Mikel?"

The professor was holding a vintage pocket watch, entirely silver-white, with many intricate patterns.

Upon closer inspection, the patterns appear to be flowing, constantly changing—

A small snake kept slithering around, devouring the blooming flowers.

The professor gently pushed open the silver-white casing, revealing the pointer inside.

Unlike ordinary pocket watches, this one does not record time, but rather pollution concentration and coefficient.

At that moment, the professor showed Mag the scene inside the pocket watch; the hands, like a straight line, pointed to 0.

The unfamiliar professor spoke, his tone tinged with excitement: "No, he is the most consistently outstanding student I have ever seen, bar none!"

"I've never seen an outstanding student emerge from the forbidden book space completely free of any trace of the evil god's whispers. This student must possess the relevant talent to isolate himself from the influence of the evil god's whispers." McGonagall raised an eyebrow as she saw the detector pointing to zero.

During the outstanding student assessment in winter break, Mikel managed to escape from the control of advanced pollutants, even though two Aurors couldn't outlast him. She guessed that he had some kind of ability to isolate the aura of the evil god's whispers.

Otherwise, even if one hides in that environment and doesn't directly confront the advanced pollutants, one will still be affected by the continuous incantations of evil gods.

In the past, when Aurors were investigating advanced contaminants, they suffered very few physical injuries and fatalities, but the mental damage caused by the influence of the evil god's ramblings was the greatest.

McGonagall had observed Lin Xia, and she had also observed Draco.

Both of these outstanding students possessed exceptional talent in resisting the whispers of the evil god, achieving complete resistance.

However, they cannot reduce the residual evil god's whispers on their bodies to 0; they can only reduce them to below 10, which is already a very low value and within the safest range.

McGonagall asked, "Do you have data from the past few days? Has the amount of the evil god's ramblings on him remained at zero ever since he came in?"

The unfamiliar professor replied, "Yes, I'll give it to you. I was also surprised when I detected this value, so I looked through his observation records from the previous few days."

Zero! All of them are zero!

From the very first day he arrived, he had shed the slightest aura of an evil god. That's true talent! If someone like him were placed in the world of evil gods, he could accomplish things that many outstanding Aurors couldn't.

McGonagall said calmly, "He can probe for longer than other Aurors, but he is also more easily exposed than other Aurors."

Being completely untouched by the aura of the evil god would make his life force shine as brightly as the moon, making him even easier for the native evil god to detect.

Another professor choked on his words, "This..."

McGonagall said, "Such a talent staying in the wizarding world can get involved in more classified work, decipher important documents for us, and access more forbidden books. At least he is less likely to be influenced by the ravings of evil gods."

Another professor thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "That's fine too."

"Today is the third day of observation. If he weren't still writing a report, he would have been able to leave based on the zero score alone."

McGonagall thought for a moment: "Once he finishes writing the report, give it to me for review immediately. If there are no problems, release him. Since the value of the evil god's ramblings is zero, we won't be able to figure out anything by keeping him locked up any longer."

She silently added in her mind: Such students are either special beings with a high resistance to the aura of evil gods.

Either he was being manipulated and disguised by an evil god, or, for an evil god, it only takes a little more effort to hide his evil aura.

If Mikel hadn't been locked up before the school discovered the presence of the evil god in the early morning, and hadn't been constantly watched by professors, she would definitely have suspected that Mikel was hiding an evil god.

He had only recently emerged from the forbidden book space, which contained many strange and unusual things, and was also filled with the aura of an evil god. Mikel was very likely to be replaced by the evil god.
-
Sunlight pierced through the clouds and through large panes of transparent glass, gently illuminating the tables in front of the auditorium.

Breakfast was plentiful again, and the little wizards chattered away, still sharing their winter break experiences with their friends.

It's been a day since school started, but no one's enthusiasm has been dampened by the busy schedule.

"Is Egypt really that fun? I want to go there next time!"

"I didn't have time to do my homework during winter break this year. Many people came to visit my house, and my parents took me out every day. If it weren't for the quill pen the Weasley twins gave me for doing homework, I really don't know how I would have gotten through it!"

"Hehe, we all handed in our assignments yesterday, and the professor was amazed by our diligence and praised us!"

"Ron, weren't you looking for Lin Xia? Lin Xia is coming in."

Neville is eating a bowl of soy sauce fried noodles, which he loves.

It's said that adding chili peppers makes it taste even better, but he can't stand the spiciness. Every time he eats fried noodles, his cheeks get stained black with the sauce.

He looked up at Hufflepuff's dining table, a look of envy in his eyes.

Hufflepuff's tables are always so beautiful, like they're having an outdoor meal. They transform the tables into all sorts of shapes, but the professor never cares.

Unlike Gryffindor, where a Transformation would draw a crowd if he tried to use it on a chair, and would be met with ridicule if he failed.

Even if they succeed, those people won't say anything.

Hufflepuff's food is the best among the four Houses; they can order food from house-elves individually and have their meals prepared by themselves.

Other colleges don't offer this kind of treatment.

He saw Lin Xia and nudged Ron, who was eating an egg tart and suddenly seemed lost in thought.

Ron snapped out of his daze, put down the egg tart, and quickly went outside.

Neville shouted, "Ron, you haven't wiped the tart crust off your mouth!"

"Lin Xia!"

Ron rushed to Hufflepuff's table and pulled Lin Xia away, saying, "I have something very important to tell you!"

Draco pointed to the corner of his mouth and handed Ron a tissue: "Ron, don't rush, wipe that suspicious stain from the corner of your mouth first."

Lin Xia also said, "Have you finished eating? We can go to the lab and talk."

Ron wiped it casually: "Let's go!"

Upon arriving at the lab, they initially intended to talk directly in the public area, only to discover that George and Fred had already arrived and were using the public lab.

Because this is a public laboratory, it was not designed to be secretive and is open to everyone for use.

The walls are all made of glass, so people outside can see how people inside operate the equipment, offering no privacy whatsoever.

Ron only glanced at them briefly before pulling Lin Xia to her private laboratory.

Draco followed curiously.

As soon as the lab door closed, Ron quickly said, "Spotty, I found Spotty's traces in the drawer. I saw its shed fur, and that fur is definitely Spotty's. I can't be wrong!"

Lin Xia paused for a moment, then quickly asked, "I remember I asked you to place magic runes in the places Banban likes to stay. Is there a tracking magic rune in that drawer?"

Ron nodded without hesitation: "Yes, I'll release it."

"But that magic rune array must have failed!"

"Bloodstains. I see a large pool of dark bloodstains. The bloodstains have tainted all the magic runes on the magic rune array, so the magic rune array should have lost its effect."

Lin Xia raised an eyebrow. After all, he was Peter Pettigrew, who was able to oppose Voldemort in that era (on the surface). His keenness was undeniable.

Not to mention that he seemingly tricked Sirius Black, yet managed to hide unscathed for decades, making him impossible for anyone to find, and even causing the Weasleys to go to great lengths to raise him.

It's normal that we can't find Peter Pettigrew by just tracking the magic runes.

He was too capable, and too cautious! (End of Chapter)