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"Cousin, cousin!"

Hermione's voice brought Zicomo back to his senses.

"Sorry, I was a little distracted just now," Zicomo apologized.

"Hmph, what were you thinking about just now? I called you so many times and you didn't hear me," Little 667 Witch asked, somewhat annoyed.

Zicomo reached out and stroked her fur, saying, "I was thinking, could we use the 'Zen Garden' to help your Animagus transformation succeed sooner?"

Hermione's eyes lit up upon hearing this. She had only heard Professor McGonagall give a general overview of how complex Animagus transformations were.

If the time could be shortened, it would definitely be a good thing for her.

For example, dew that requires seven days without sunlight or human contact can be reduced to within two hours if placed in the "Zen Garden".

"Cousin, what are we waiting for? Let's try it out!" Hermione said impatiently.

“No rush, we have to wait until the night of the full moon to begin,” Zicomo reminded him.

"When is the next full moon?" Hermione asked.

Zicomo isn't very good at calculating dates, but he has some tools to help him.

Zicomo pulled a calendar from his system space; he had bought it in Chinatown.

Zicomo glanced at the calendar and said, "The next full moon happens to be on the last day of this month. We can prepare the materials in advance."

Hermione nodded obediently, somewhat looking forward to that day.

However, before Hermione could get her own Animagus, she got an illegal Animagus instead.

This person was Rita Liya, a special correspondent for the Daily Prophet.

Back during the summer vacation, this guy indicated in the comments section of Hermione's "Animal Communication Charm" post that he would be conducting an exclusive interview with Hermione after the start of the school year.

School has been in session for several days now, and Zicomo thought she had forgotten about it.

I never expected her to visit me today.

Zicomo decides to go with Hermione to meet this gossipy and sensationalist female reporter.

PS: The image shows the approximate appearance of the main character, Animagus.

Chapter 132 Rita Gives in. Hermione Sniffs a Cat.

Zicomo and Hermione arrived at the Hogwarts drawing room, where Rita...

She was wearing a green leather jacket with dark brown fur trim on the cuffs and collar. Upon seeing her, Zicomo instinctively thought of a scarab beetle.

Animagus will manifest some of the wizard's characteristics in their animal form, and Zicomo knows without a doubt what her Animagus characteristics are—they must be a glossy green.

"Oh! I remember I only invited Miss Granger, how come there's an extra handsome young man? Could it be that our little genius is a bit shy and needs her boyfriend to accompany her?"

Although Rita refers to Zicomo as her boyfriend, Hermione is not happy about it.

The moment she saw Rita, she felt that the woman in front of her was the type she disliked.

"Please don't talk nonsense. He's my cousin. He only came with me because he was worried about me."

After hearing Hermione's words, Rita's quill pen began to scribble rapidly on the paper beside her, as if the interview had already begun.

Rita looked at the contents of the paper and nodded in satisfaction.

She thought that Zicomo and Hermione couldn't see what she wrote from their positions, but in reality, both of them could project their mental energy outwards and easily see what was on the paper.

The note read: "The genius wizard Hermione and her cousin have a close relationship, and they are suspected of being in a romantic relationship."

Zicomo and Hermione exchanged a glance, then Zicomo telepathically communicated, "Now you know why I made you appoint the editor-in-chief to write your story, right?"

"I understand, cousin! If she were to write it, then in other people's eyes I might have already had eight relationships." Hermione nodded emphatically.

However, when Rita saw Zicomo and Hermione looking at each other, she crossed out the word "suspected" with her quill pen.

Seeing this, Hermione couldn't help but ask, "Madam reporter, is your professional ethics to make up stories about the people you interview?"

"Huh? Sorry, what are you talking about? I don't quite understand. Our interview doesn't seem to have officially started yet," Rita said, feigning ignorance.

Then the quill pen wrote two more lines on the paper: "Hermione...

"Can you explain what that quill is doing?" Hermione asked, pointing at Rita's quill.

“Oh, it’s just recording what we say,” Rita replied calmly.

Hermione was furious; she had never seen such a shameless woman.

“Oh? Is that so?” Zicomo spoke for the first time since entering the room. “I think it’s a bit old. How about I get you a new one?”

With a wave of his hand, Zicomo burned the quill and paper to ashes.

Rita hadn't expected Zicomo to suddenly attack her. Gone was her previous composure; she angrily yelled at Zicomo, "You! You actually ruined my favorite quill pen!"

That was her most precious pen, a pen with its own thoughts, adept at altering and embellishing the words of others. It was a special alchemical tool, a treasure Rita had used for over a decade.

However, it was now burned down by Zicomo.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson."

With that, Rita pulled out her wand and was about to cast a spell on Zicomo.

Zicomo waved his hand again, this time lighting Rita's wand.

Rita saw the wand in her hand catch fire and quickly let go of it, throwing it away.

As her anger subsided, she realized that Zicomo hadn't used his wand or even chanted any spells during either of his spellcasting attempts.

Realizing this, Rita suddenly felt a little flustered. In her mind, only powerful wizards could do this, and she couldn't believe that this young student could do it too.

But then I thought, maybe he did it through special means?

Over the years, she has interviewed many people and, with her extensive knowledge, she has come to understand that some special props can also achieve a similar effect to casting spells without a staff or sound.

With that thought, Rita calmed down and put on that confident and fearless demeanor again.

"Have you calmed down?" Zicomo asked.

"Hmph, don't think you can pretend to cast spells without a staff and without sound by using props. Let me tell you, your little tricks won't fool me," Rita sneered.

Zicomo had no idea what she was imagining, nor was he interested in knowing.

He cut to the chase: "If you want to conduct an interview, take proper notes. If I find out you're making things up again, I won't hesitate to tell everyone you're an illegal Animagus. Understand, Ms. Beetle?"

Hearing Zicomo's words, Rita panicked this time.

"You, how did you know?"

"Never mind how I know, just answer me, do you understand?"

"Okay, okay, I understand. But I need you to promise not to tell anyone about this!"

Zicomo raised an eyebrow; he hadn't expected Rita to give in so easily.

It seems she has taken advantage of her Animagus status to do many bad things, otherwise she wouldn't be so afraid of her Animagus identity being exposed.

Zicomo agreed to Rita's request, as exposing her identity would not benefit him. Holding this secret would allow him to use her as a second mouthpiece to speak to the wizarding world if necessary.

Finally, Rita went through the standard interview process, carefully recording her conversation with Hermione without making any changes. She was terrified that if she accidentally altered even a single word or two, Zicomo would report her for illegally possessing Animagus material.

After the interview, Zicomo and Hermione left the meeting room.

The little witch blinked her big eyes and looked at Zicomo with adoration.

"Cousin, how did you know that reporter was Animagus?"

Zicomo chuckled, “Actually, you can do that if you observe carefully with your mental power. Wizards who can use Animagus usually exude both wizarding and animalistic auras at the same time.”

Following Zicomo's instructions, Hermione focused her mental energy, concentrated her attention, and tried to sense the presence of people.

Since Zicomo was the only one by her side, Hermes naturally knew about Zicomo.

She focused her mental energy on Zicomo and was surprised to find that her cousin possessed two different auras.

“Cousin, you…” Hermione stared wide-eyed at Zicomo.

Zicomo knew he was in trouble the moment he noticed Hermione focusing her mental energy on him.

He doesn't usually plan to do bad things, so he doesn't always keep his aura hidden. In addition, he doesn't put up any defenses against the people around him, so his aura was easily detected by Hermes.

Zicomo never imagined that one day he would shoot himself in the foot.

He had just taught Hermione to distinguish Animagus, and then he himself was exposed.

“Cousin, you’re already an Animagus?” Hermione asked, somewhat surprised.

Zicomo nodded helplessly.

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"Ahem, it's mainly because my Animagus appearance isn't very good," Zicomo explained somewhat awkwardly.

The little witch's eyes lit up when she heard this.

"What kind of animal is it? Can I see it?"

“Alright, let’s go to the ‘Zen Garden’.” Zicomo sighed and nodded in agreement.

Now that Hermione has already found out, there's no need to hide it any longer.