The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

She was holding an extremely worn book in her hands, flipping through it, while a white quill pen was writing rapidly and automatically on the table.

The office was quiet, with only the sound of Professor Babling turning pages and the quill pen gliding across parchment.

Although a large black clock with constantly turning hands hangs on the wall behind Professor Babling, the movement of the hands is silent.

Professor Babling is a witch whose age is hard to guess.

Her hair was completely gray, but her face only had a few wrinkles, and her dark golden eyes were always exceptionally bright.

Her attire was even more meticulous than Professor McGonagall's, and her hair was always styled into an exceptionally neat bun.

Aside from class time, her tone of voice was very stiff at other times.

It is said that no one has ever seen her smile.

Of course, Scott didn't either.

Scott tiptoed to her desk and sat on a high stool.

"You should have already read the book list I gave you last week, so you should have understood the questions you raised last week."

Professor Babling remained focused on her own affairs and didn't even glance at him.

But Scott was used to it.

Professor Babling always did this during her weekly question time on Sundays: she would talk to him while doing her own thing.

"I understand."

Scott then explained his understanding.

After he finished speaking, Professor Babling simply nodded.

Then, Scott took out the parchment that Mike had given him for Christmas, the one with the "recipe" written on it.

"Professor," he said, handing the parchment to Professor Barbling, "can you decipher this parchment?"

"Ok?"

Professor Babling glanced at the parchment in Scott's hand, then finally looked up.

"This is……"

She reached out and took the parchment, examining it carefully several times.

"Where did it come from?" she asked.

“My father got it by chance,” Scott said. “He was an antique dealer.”

"Muggle?" Professor Barbling asked again.

Scott nodded. "Yes."

“This is an alchemist’s manuscript,” Professor Barbling handed the parchment back. “It’s going to be a bit tricky to decipher.”

This also means that she is not interested in the paper.

"Thank you."

Scott reluctantly took the parchment back.

"Don't take this kind of thing too seriously."

Professor Babling added.

"The skill level of alchemists has always varied greatly. Moreover, alchemy itself is constantly evolving, so even if you spend a great deal of effort to decipher this manuscript, you may not get anything of value."

She reached under the table and pulled out a large book, placing it in front of Scott.

"If you want to decipher it, you can borrow this book."

Scott looked at the book.

It was an old book, entirely black and looking somewhat dirty.

The gold lettering on the book cover has been severely worn, but Scott can still vaguely make out the words: "Medieval Alchemy Terminology".

"Thank you."

Scott picked up the book.

He then asked a few more questions about ancient magical script, and after receiving a list of books, he ended the question-and-answer session for the day.

He returned to the common room at Ravenclaw College, sat on the sofa by the window, and opened the old book.

After quickly flipping through the book, Scott understood its general content.

In addition to introducing the metaphors of the profound and difficult symbols and words in alchemy, such as [the sun] referring to [gold] or [Sunday], this book also introduces the methods that alchemists usually used to encrypt manuscripts.

Once Scott understood these things, he could gain a basic understanding of how the "recipe" was encrypted.

Of course, this wouldn't help him directly decipher the manuscript; at most, it would only give him some ideas.

Scott felt that this was not a high priority for him, so he decided to treat deciphering the manuscript as a long-term task and take it slowly.

Just then, an owl flew down from the starry dome of the common room and dropped a letter in front of Scott.

Scott caught the snow-white envelope and found that there was no writing on it.

He looked at the muscular owl.

The owl stared at him for a couple of seconds, cooed twice, then spread its wings and flew out through the owl-only passageway in the dome.

Scott curiously opened the letter and began to read it.

How are you, boy?

I don't know if you've picked up the gift I left for you. I think you must be very happy with it, right?

Of course, if you haven't picked it up yet, please do so as soon as possible.

If you don't collect your gift within three days, it will automatically be destroyed.

Go, boy.

I can see your ambition, and I hope you can grow up quickly.

I'm really looking forward to your future.

M·S]

Medea?

Scott was extremely surprised; he never expected Medea to write him such a letter.

Is she urging him to take a risk?

Scott began to doubt Medea's motives; what exactly was she trying to do?

He even doubted whether there were really any gifts there.

If it's just a trap, wouldn't he be in deep trouble?

But Scott wouldn't be willing to give up like this either.

After thinking about it for a long time, Scott decided to go anyway.

However, just to be on the safe side, he decided to borrow the Marauder's Map from the Weasley twins first, and then make some other preparations.

At dinner time, Scott blocked the Weasley twins at the entrance of the auditorium.

“Hey, Fred, George.”

He beckoned the two of them aside.

"What's wrong, Scott?" Fred asked curiously. "What happened to you this time?"

“You must take us with you this time!” George emphasized.

"……No."

Scott denied it briefly, then held out his hand.

"I'd like to borrow your map."

Fred and George's expressions changed immediately.

“You’re definitely up to something, you cunning Scott.”

"You want to go on an adventure all by yourself?"

The two brothers stared at Scott with suspicious eyes.

Chapter 156 Exploration, Medea's Gift

Faced with Fred and George's suspicions, Scott smiled without saying a word, only his hand remained outstretched forward.

What he was about to do was somewhat dangerous, so he didn't intend to involve the two brothers.

Fred and George pleaded and begged Scott for a long time, but he wouldn't budge, so they had to give up.

"Okay, here you go!"

Fred pulled the Marauder's Map from his pocket and slammed it into Scott's hand.

"Thank you."

Scott chuckled as he put the map into his shapeshifting lizard skin bag.

"Humph!"

Fred and George feigned anger and snorted, then raised their chins, walked past Scott, and strode into the auditorium with an air of indifference.

Scott smiled and was about to follow him inside.

At that moment, Harry, his two friends, and his companion walked in from outside, their expressions somewhat complicated.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Scott asked curiously. "You've been attending a funeral for so long?"

"Well……"

"vomit……"

Upon hearing his words, the trio immediately covered their mouths and hurriedly ran away.

"..."