Hogwarts starts with stealing power.

Ron muttered, "They've never been this strict before. Why are they so strict this time? They don't even give the same treatment to some of the top students."

The tracking magic rune array in the dormitory was made by him, but it was destroyed by Banban in no time.

He lacks confidence now that he's learning a completely new form of magic.

Lin Xia shrugged. She really wanted to help, but Professor McGonagall's serious attitude made her realize that she wasn't joking.

Entering the Gryffindor common room without permission is prohibited.

She's probably in big trouble.

Lin Xia: "Without further ado, you should begin learning the new magic rune array now."

She turned to Harry, "As for you, you can learn rune arrays with Ron too."

Harry was a little confused: "I don't think I need to. I'm not Scabbers' owner, and the tracking runes I set up might not be effective."

Ron has had extensive contact with Scabbers, so the tracking rune array he set up will be more effective against Scabbers.

But the reason why the tracking rune array is called the tracking rune array is that it can tightly connect two completely unrelated people.

With a good grasp of tracking runes, even unrelated wizards can easily use runes to track the presence of creatures that once lingered within them.

Furthermore, it can also be locked and determined through the magic rune array.

A wizard skilled in tracking is popular wherever he goes.

They might be able to determine the physical condition, strength, location, and past whereabouts of the person they are tracking based on just a single detail...

A skilled tracker is a highly sought-after talent by the Ministries of Magic of various countries.

Such talented individuals are unlikely to die, no matter how extreme the environment; they can quickly find opportunities to survive.

Therefore, Lin Xia decided that not only Ron and Harry, but all members of the laboratory should be proficient in tracking runes.

In case of future danger, they can use the tracking magic rune array to counter-track, and can also leave some key information within the magic rune array to remind their own people.

It is not too late.

On the second day of school, Ron and Harry began their arduous academic journey.

Because of their previous experience during the winter break, they accepted it quickly.

Ron, who is usually restless, only complained a few times this time before calming down and immersing himself in his studies.

the other side.

Mikel and Neville hadn't officially joined the lab, so they returned to their Gryffindor dormitories first.

There were no classes in the afternoon, and Neville didn't know what to do, so he asked Mikel.

"What do you have planned for the afternoon?"

Mikel shook his head: "No."

He thought for a moment and said, "I plan to rest and organize the knowledge I've learned."

Neville originally wanted to invite Mikel to go to the library to study together.

Hearing him say that, she immediately stopped thinking about it and stammered nervously, "Then you should rest well. I'll go to the library to read for a while."

Mikel noticed Navee's nervousness.

This time, the system did not display any corresponding prompts for him.

He didn't know if Neville's favorability towards him had decreased, but he figured it probably hadn't; if it had, the system would definitely have popped up a notification.

However, Neville's favorability towards him did not increase at the same time. Upon closer inspection, it had been a long time since his favorability had improved.

If you reach a certain level of affinity with Neville, you can extract one of Neville's talents.

That's why Mikel stays with Neville all the time, trying to win him over.

But for some reason, the more time they spent together, the less they improved.

Last semester, he tried many methods to improve Neville's favorability, but all to no avail, and even made Neville become quite distant towards him. This semester…

Mikel said cautiously, "Navi, I have already finished studying the material for the next semester and the fourth grade ahead of time. If you have any questions about the books, feel free to ask me."

But since I've already learned this knowledge in advance, I won't be able to preview or do homework with you anymore. However, we can still go to class together if you want someone to accompany you—”

Before he could finish speaking, Neville immediately interrupted him: "No, no, no!"

Neville said "no" three times in a row, shaking his head and hands violently.

“You don’t have to compromise yourself for me. I can study on my own. I don’t need you to stay with me all the time. Mikel, I… I actually wanted to tell you this a long time ago. You can do what you want to do. Don’t let me delay your research.”

“Me too, I want to try and see if I can do it on my own, Mikel. I want to rely on myself, not on you.”

Neville spoke the last sentence with a trembling body.

His expression was clearly one of fear, yet his eyes remained resolute.

He had wanted to tell Mikel these things for a long time.

But every time he tried to speak, Mikel would interrupt him, and because he was afraid of losing this friend, he never dared to say it.

But starting this semester, Neville felt it was time for him to become independent.

Both Ron and Harry became better and better through their own efforts.

He can't always rely on Mikel; he has to learn to solve problems on his own.

Mikel frowned slightly, as if he wanted to say something.

Suddenly, a system notification popped up in my mind—

Neville's affection for you has increased slightly.

Mick was taken aback.

Does this work too?
He looked at Neville with some doubt and said tentatively, "Then I won't take care of you anymore. You can go to class, finish class, and eat by yourself. We'll be together when we have time, and if we don't, you can go find other classmates."

Neville nodded: "Yes! I can do it!"

Neville's affection for you has increased slightly.

Mikel: ...

That actually works!

Mikel added, "Then I'll really leave you to your own devices completely, but if you have any questions, come to me, I'll be happy to answer them."

Neville's affection for you has increased slightly.

The system notification popped up in his mind again, and Neville nodded resolutely.

"Well, don't worry about me."

Mikel: "I'm really not going to care about you anymore!"

Neville: "You don't need to worry about me."

Mikel: "I really, really don't care about you anymore!"

Neville glared at him and yelled, "I don't need your permission!"

Mikel opened his mouth, but when he saw Neville's red eyes, he closed it again.

Forget it, since we can't get any more benefits from him, let's not say anything more to avoid provoking him too much. Mikel stayed in the dorm to rest, while Neville hurriedly ran to the library.

He wanted to try to preview the material on his own, and if he still didn't understand, he would go to Ron for advice.

There were no other students in the dormitory besides Mikel. He locked the door from the inside, lay down on his bed, and fell into deep thought.

The contents of the manuals for using ultimate magic and dark magic flashed through my mind.

He muttered to himself, "Ultimate magic is too difficult. I can't even use the most basic spells in it. So if I want to improve my combat power, I have to use dark magic."

"But the atmosphere at school lately seems a bit off..."

Although he had just come out and hadn't found out anything, he could tell from the expressions of each student that not everyone looked happy and joyful.

Many people had a serious expression on their faces.

It's only the beginning of the semester, everything is brand new, and professors won't be assigning a lot of heavy homework, but the students still have this expression...

This reminded him of the expressions on the students' faces whenever Hogwarts faced a major event and needed to be placed under martial law.

Looking back at the major events that Hogwarts encountered over the past three years, they were all more or less related to Voldemort.

Voldemort's three most distinctive characteristics are the power of a god of evil, the aura of a god of evil, and dark magic.

Thinking of this, Mikel said cautiously, "Don't show any dark magic at school recently, so as not to let the professors notice anything."

"I have to find a way to get out. Staying at school all the time will make me easy to be discovered. What kind of opportunity should I look for..."

As he was pondering, he suddenly heard a faint sound.

Mikel immediately shut his mouth, held his breath, twitched his ears slightly, and silently used the Extrasensory Charm.

He wasn't familiar with the Extrasensory Charm; he could use it with his wand, but he wasn't very skilled at it.

However, after being infused with the forbidden book, he gained a certain level of self-taught knowledge of other magic besides its contents.

This was the first time he had cast the Extrasensory Spell silently and without a staff.

Although the movements were a bit clumsy, it was still successfully released.

The moment the extrasensory spell was released, the rustling sound in his ears grew louder and louder, as if something was actually crawling past his ears.

Mikel suddenly turned his head and looked at one of the drawers, his gaze slightly narrowed.

The soft, rustling sounds were coming from Ron's drawer.

Several thoughts flashed through my mind in an instant—

What is that? Ron's pet? Or some animal that roams around the school?
No, that's not right. Ron said his pet mouse, Scabbers, had gone missing, and if it were an animal running around the school, it couldn't possibly have breached Gryffindor's defenses...

Mikel's heart skipped a beat, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

This isn't fear or apprehension, it's excitement that makes me sweat!
It must be Ron's pet that's back!
He wasn't sure if Ron and the others knew Scabbers' true identity, but he did.

If he could catch Banban… Mikel’s eyes flashed with excitement, wondering how many experience points the system would give him!
Several more messages from the system flashed before his eyes, but Mikel had no time to pay attention to them.

He listened carefully to the sounds coming from the drawer, which sounded a bit like someone searching for food.

Mikel held his breath again and quietly drew his wand from his side.

It appeared to move slowly, but in reality, it pointed very quickly toward the drawer.

In a sudden instant, the frozen scene shattered and came to life, and Mikel roared, "Petrify them all!"

The next instant, Ron's drawer was petrified into stone.

Mikel took a deep breath and instead of immediately searching the drawers, he checked the information that had just flashed through the system.

[Because of your keen observation, you spotted the mouse, Spotted. Experience points +100]

You were trying to catch the mouse Spotted, but your sudden disappearance of breathing and murmurs caught his attention.

Unfortunately, it has passed away.

You successfully petrified everyone, but you didn't catch the rat, Spotted.

After reading these records, a hint of regret flashed in Mikel's eyes; he knew that Spotty the Rat wouldn't be caught so easily.

Peter Pettigrew has an exceptionally strong sense of danger; otherwise, he could not have lived so safely for over a decade.

Mikel looked at the table where Ron had been petrified and felt a headache coming on.

How should he explain this situation to Ron?
Is it too late to order a new one to compensate him?
-
Time flew by, and it was evening.

All the top students of Hogwarts went on their first patrol.

There were people who participated in patrols last semester, and this time they can start patrolling directly.

The standards are the same as last semester, except that the schedule has changed, with the time period from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. being removed.

During this time period, the wizard himself will patrol.

In addition, last semester we could form teams freely. This semester, although we can still form teams freely, it is limited to teams between different colleges and mixed teams are not allowed.

Therefore, Ron, Harry, and Hermione, who are Gryffindors, and Lin Xia and Draco, who are Hufflepuffs, were assigned to different areas.

If a new member decides to join the patrol this semester, they will need to undergo a week of training and will not be assigned to their post immediately.

The moment the news broke that the patrol was recruiting, Ron immediately signed up Neville.

He had originally wanted to help Mikel report, as he remembered Mikel was very interested in patrolling.

But then he remembered that Mikel had become an outstanding student and patrolling was an inherent duty, so he didn't help him register, but instead helped Neville register.

Harry was somewhat worried when he saw Ron acting on his own.

"Shouldn't we ask Neville's opinion first? Maybe he doesn't want to patrol?"

Ron disagreed, saying, "If Neville wants to study with us, he'll have to do everything we do, or he'll fall behind."

Besides, Neville is timid, and participating in patrols more often will build his courage, so he won't be easily frightened by anything I say in the future.

Harry's eyelids twitched. Well, it seemed Ron had decided to start helping Neville correct his own problems.

But Harry still felt something was wrong and said in a low voice, "I don't think this is right, Ron. Tell Neville when you get back."

Ron nodded nonchalantly, saying with absolute confidence, "Don't worry, he'll definitely join!"

For the first patrol, all third-grade students were assigned to the 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. time slot.

Each area was overseen by a professor, while students, armed with glowing candles, meticulously searched every corner of the school.

I had assumed that, after the professor's inspection, Hogwarts would appear to be free of any filth or corruption.

But who knew that after turning professors into students, many strange and bizarre phenomena would emerge in various places.

The professor was too powerful; when they searched, these strange phenomena dared not peek out and cautiously hid themselves.

But when it came to the weaker students, these strange creatures thought they could have a feast and started dancing wildly.

"A discovery was made in Area B. A green ghost I've never seen before was seen dancing and making a giggling sound that gives me a headache!"

"We've made a discovery in Area A. I found a hanged ghost; it appeared there suddenly."

"A discovery has been made in Sector D. A chilling, eerie musical sound is playing, and the piano is playing automatically, but there is no one in the chair."

...(End of chapter)