Hogwarts starts with stealing power.

The snail-sheep beast travels on the ground, and the commotion it caused was noticed by the patrolling personnel, who hurriedly ran towards the source of the sound.

But by the time they arrived, the snail-goat beast had already gone to another location.

At the same time, they heard some strange noises from another place, which sounded like shouting or roaring, but were also mixed with very weak chirping sounds.

"What is that sound? Did you hear it?"

A young wizard suddenly looked at the leader, who was Cedric this time.

Cedric nodded solemnly. "I heard it. It didn't sound like a ghostly sound. Ghostly sounds are much more eerie and sinister."

One of the young wizards said, "But that's not a human sound either; humans can't make that kind of noise."

Another young wizard seemed to have thought of something and said, "Wasn't there a pet dance party tonight? Could some pets be too excited and sneak out, running around in the corridors?"

The other young wizards replied, "If that's the case, then there must be more than one pet; there must be several."

Upon hearing this, they heard an even fainter voice than before.

This sound was clearly different from the previous ones, which allowed one to determine that there were at least two of them.

Cedric breathed a slight sigh of relief, as long as it wasn't some eerie sound.

He said, "It should be the pet making the noise. I will report this issue to the professor and have him communicate with the students tomorrow so that the school can strictly implement the regulations on pets' nighttime outings."

If they don't keep their pets locked up, the school will gather them together in another area and lock them up properly.

They had originally wanted to find out which pet had sneaked out at night.

But they only tracked the sound for a short while before realizing that it was traveling further and further away and was no longer on the floor under their jurisdiction, so they stopped paying attention.

It wasn't just the patrol personnel who noticed the anomaly.

Some of the young wizards who were too excited to sleep after attending the pet dance that night also noticed something amiss.

Moreover, it wasn't limited to wizards who kept rats; wizards who kept other pets also noticed that their pets were acting strangely.

The evolved snail-sheep beast not only has a strong restraining effect on rodents, but also a slight restraining effect on some reptiles.

In the student dormitory.

A lizard heard the snail-sheep beast's cry from afar, and the fear in its blood surfaced.

It couldn't help but curl up and hide in its owner's wardrobe, trembling.

Its owner immediately noticed its unusual behavior and deliberately ran to the wardrobe and opened it a crack. He saw his pet extremely panicked, curled up in fear.

The young wizard dared not open the crack completely, much less take his pet out, for fear that his pet would be too panicked and faint.

"Little Green, what's wrong? Did you have a nightmare? Or did you hear something?"

Its owner quickly reassured it: "Don't be afraid, this is Hogwarts, the safest place in all of Britain."

The dog in the next dormitory heard the snail-sheep beast's call and suddenly started barking.

It was terrified, and it cried out while scratching at the floor with its claws, waking up everyone in the dormitory.

The puppy stared intently at a certain spot. Its owner looked over, but there was only a blank wall and nothing else there.

But his dog seemed to sense something and barked very anxiously toward that spot.

Forcibly pulling it away didn't work; it was still very scared.

Only when the owner pulled the puppy away did they realize that the puppy's body was stiff, as if it were facing something terrifying.

"Cruise, what happened? What did you see? What did you hear? What scared you so much?"

These scenarios also occurred in many other dormitories.

Even in Slytherin's basement dormitories, an unusual cry was detected.

However, the sound had little effect on the snakes. When they heard the noise, they simply straightened up slightly and stared in a certain direction.

After a while, they curled up back into their shells.

It has nothing to do with snakes!

Tonight is destined to be a night of chaos and turmoil.

Lin Xia, who was in the laboratory, was unaware of the commotion outside.

Hogwarts has done a very good job of soundproofing each area.

The noises happening inside the dormitory do not reach the common lounge.

The sounds coming from the common lounge couldn't reach the outside world.

The public lounge receives no sound from the outside world.

However, Lin Xia soon noticed the abnormality of the snail-sheep beast.

That's because the snail-goat beast, in pursuit of that peculiar rat, followed in the rat's footsteps and left Hogwarts Castle.

As soon as she left the castle, the monitoring runes she had placed on them were triggered.

Lin Xia sensed something, thoughtfully raised her head, put down the crystal bottle she was holding, and stared intently ahead with a deep gaze.

"It's working so quickly? I thought they would enter a deep sleep before they started hunting."

Perhaps the snail-sheep beast was a lower-species bloodline awakening, so it quickly completed the awakening process, quickly discovered its own abilities, and thus began its first hunt in a flurry of activity.

Even Lin Xia probably didn't expect that the reason why the snail-sheep beasts didn't enter a deep slumber was because they simply weren't full.

After thinking for a moment, she gave up on using her wand to draw a magic circle in the air to reveal the monitored information, and instead left the laboratory based on the marks she had made.

Now that she had left Hogwarts and arrived at the castle's outskirts, she had to follow them out.

There are many dangers outside the castle, and the interfering magnetic field is very strong.

Using a magic rune array inside the castle may not be able to transmit images of what's happening outside in real time.

She picked up her wand, cast an invisibility spell on herself, and then quickly planned a route to avoid everyone, based on the patrol schedule for the night, before leaving the laboratory.

While the snail-sheep beast was chasing after the rat-spotted creature, Ron, who had long been in a deep sleep in the dormitory, suddenly felt a strong throbbing in his heart, which made him open his eyes instantly.

All that met my eyes was darkness; the candles had long since burned out.

Ron groped around in the dark, but that familiar, warm touch did not come.

He wanted to find that furry, warm feeling.

After searching for a while without finding her, Ron whispered, "Qiaoqiao, where are you, Qiaoqiao?"

After calling out several times without any response, Ron simply lay down and continued groping around.

He didn't touch the snail-like creature, but instead touched the magic wand placed by the bed.

He picked up his wand and used its glow to activate it.

"Qiaoqiao, where are you, Qiaoqiao?"

"Qiaoqiao? Come out quickly, are you hiding?"

"Qiaoqiao? Wait, Caicai, are you there?" After failing to find Qiaoqiao, Ron turned his attention to Caicai.

He went to Harry's bed to take a look, wondering if Qiaoqiao was clinging to Caicai and had deliberately gone to sleep next to Caicai.

Then he shone the fluorescent light inside and out, but he couldn't see either Qiaoqiao or Caicai.

That's strange, where could those two snail-like creatures have gone?

Harry felt the light and frowned, opening his eyes.

He was initially bewildered, but then his gaze gradually focused, and he saw a dark shadow in front of him. A familiar voice came from behind him, and Harry recognized it as Ron's voice.

He quickly lay down, put on his glasses, and asked in confusion, "Ron, what are you doing?"

Ron turned his head and apologized, "Did I wake you up? I'm sorry, I just woke up and found that Qiaoqiao wasn't there, and then I found that your Caicai wasn't there either. I don't know where those two snail-like beasts went."

Harry paused, "Qiaoqiao and Caicai are both gone?"

He threw off the covers and ran out of bed. "I'll look for them too. They're very well-behaved. I used to see them lying next to me when I fell asleep."

With one more person joining them, the two quickly searched the entire dormitory, even checking Mikel and Neville's beds.

However, there was no sign of the snail-sheep beast.

During their search, they made a bit too much noise, but Neville and Mick were fast asleep and were not woken up.

Ron stood in an open spot by the window, a spot from which he could see the entire layout of the dormitory.

The area illuminated by the flashing fluorescent light still yielded nothing.

He asked anxiously, "Where could Qiaoqiao and Caicai have gone? Did they leave the dormitory?"

Harry went to check the dormitory door and shook his head: "No, the dormitory door is not open."

Ron was even more puzzled: "Where could they have gone? Could they have crawled away through the underground pipes?"

A word to wake up the dreamer!

After saying that, Ron belatedly realized, "Oh right, we haven't checked out the restrooms yet!"

Just as they were about to run to the bathroom to find out what was going on, Harry caught a glimpse of two dark figures outside the window out of the corner of his eye, and he stopped in his tracks.

Ron, who was following behind him, didn't stop and rushed up, bumping into his back, causing a sharp pain in his head.

He rubbed his head and mumbled something before Harry interrupted him, "Look at those two shadows outside, aren't they Qiaoqiao and Caicai?"

Ron looked up, his eyes wide.

"Yes, it looks a lot like... wait, it looks like them! How did they get outside?"

Harry wanted to know the answer to this question too, but now was not the time to investigate; they needed to find the two snail-like creatures as soon as possible.

It's important to know that the castle outside is very dangerous at night, and the professor repeatedly warned them not to run out of the castle casually, especially at night.

Harry had also received some information from Lin Xia, who said that at night, one could often encounter strange phenomena and hear the whispers of evil gods, which would increase the risk of infection.

If humans are like this, what about animals?

Harry reacted quickly, saying, "We have to get them back as soon as possible!"

Ron said, bewildered, "But how are we supposed to get out of the school? There are still a lot of people patrolling outside, and the patrols haven't ended yet at this hour."

It looked late outside, but it wasn't actually past midnight yet.

Then he remembered something, suddenly turned around and walked to a cabinet, rummaged through it for a while, and took out the invisibility cloak.

Ron stared at him wide-eyed, almost forgetting that Harry had this thing.

The two men, wearing invisibility cloaks, walked out openly. Ron even asked, "Didn't you lend the invisibility cloaks to George and Fred?"

Harry replied, "They used it at the pet ball, and returned the Invisibility Cloak to me afterward, saying that they could only escape for a while, and that some problems they would have to solve themselves."

Ron snorted a few times, "Let's see how they deal with that pet charm potion they developed. The wizards who bought the potion won't let them off the hook, and the school will also launch an investigation."

They should be thankful that the potion didn't affect wizards; if it had, and made them fall in love with pets too, the complaint letters would have filled the entire Hogwarts gatehouse!

Harry said frankly, "Actually, this potion is quite powerful, but its current effects are too strong. If it could be toned down and simply added a little charm to pets, I believe many pet-owning wizards would buy it."

Although he disliked his twin brother, Ron had to admit that they did have some talent in research.

Lin Xia realized this much earlier than they did.

"Even without weakening the effects, I think this pet charm potion can be used in specific scenarios, such as attracting the attention of some ferocious beasts and making them leave their territory."

While the two were chatting, they encountered a patrol team and immediately stopped and leaned against the wall.

As luck would have it, this patrol was led by Cedric.

He suddenly stopped as he passed Ron and Harry, and Harry and Ron immediately held their breath.

Although the invisibility cloak could fool even the professor, they felt tense and threatened every time someone passed by them.

Fortunately, Cedric didn't discover anything. He scanned the surroundings and led the little wizard to patrol the next area.

Ron and Harry both breathed a sigh of relief.

While they were still at school, Lin Xia had already run out of the castle.

The surrounding trees are very tall, and the roads outside Hogwarts are not lit at night.

Lin Xia turned her head and glanced at the castle behind her. Only the castle itself emitted a faint light.

She looked up at the sky again, her eyes slightly narrowed. "It's another full moon night."

She lowered her head, stretched her body, then gazed ahead. With a gentle movement, her body shot out as lightly as a breeze.

She didn't use any spells because she found that the effects of some spells were not as good as her own abilities.

When she gets fast enough, the effects of magic will completely fail and won't be able to keep up with her speed.

Therefore, it's better to preserve the magic.

After learning many magic runes, Lin Xia found that magic runes were quite useful.

Soon, she arrived behind the snail-sheep beast. From this position, she could clearly see the spotted rat on the opposite side frantically fleeing.

Lin Xia stared at him, her gaze following his movements. "Spotted Mouse, Peter Pettigrew?"

Ahead of Spotted Mouse is a cliff. Spotted Mouse can continue running forward and escape by scrambling down the boulders on the cliff.

These cliffs would restrict the movement of larger snail-sheep, preventing them from jumping off the cliffs.

Lin Xia immediately used her magic wand to cast a spell, and a magical attack was launched, landing in front of the rat and forcing it to stop moving forward.

Beside the cliff stands a very peaceful willow tree.

Lin Xia made a decision immediately.

She planned to lure Banban closer to the "Hit-and-Hit Willow," hoping to force it to reveal its true form! (End of Chapter)