The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

"Yes, Thestrals are gone."

Faced with the overwhelming sense of oppression emanating from Hagrid, Scott quietly took two steps back.

He had no doubt that if Hagrid got excited and unconsciously pinched him, he would crush his bones.

“That’s how it is,” Scott explained. “Just now, Luna Lovegood and I went to the Forbidden Forest to check on the newborn Thestral, but we found that all the other Thestrals were gone, and only the baby Thestral remained.”

"Merlin!" Hagrid sighed unconsciously upon hearing Scott's words.

Scott continued, "Luna said this isn't normal, so she sent me to ask you to see if you know what happened."

"Oh Merlin! This is definitely not normal!"

Hagrid yelled and smashed the door frame in his hand.

“Something must have happened, otherwise those guys wouldn’t have left so suddenly. I know them, nobody knows them better than me.”

He muttered to himself as he turned and went inside to put on his fur coat.

"Thestrals are loyal and magical creatures; once tamed, they will never leave their masters!"

He rushed out of the house within seconds, not even bothering with Scott, and strode into the Forbidden Forest.

"Sorry, I have to go check right away!" he exclaimed.

"Wang Wang Wang..."

His hunting dog, Tooth, followed him into the forbidden forest.

Scott turned and followed them.

The Thestrals seem to have truly disappeared.

Hagrid searched the vicinity of the Thestrals' habitat but found nothing.

He was heartbroken and burst into tears, clutching the little Thestral.

It was almost time for class, so Scott and Luna had to leave.

“Sorry, Professor Hagrid,” Scott said, “we have to go to class.”

“You all go on, go to class.” Hagrid stood up, sobbing, “I need to keep looking. The Forbidden Forest is so vast, they might have gone somewhere else…”

Luna asked worriedly, "Is it possible that they'll run off somewhere else? Under what circumstances would they abandon their little ones?"

“Oh, there’s only one possibility,” Hagrid said, choking back tears, “They’re attracted to the smell of blood; the smell of fresh blood excites them too much.”

Scott raised an eyebrow. "So, it's possible that someone has their eye on the Thestrals at Hogwarts and lured them away with fresh blood?"

“I told you, Thestrals are loyal. They’re only temporarily attracted; they won’t really leave,” Hagrid said angrily. “Some bad guys must have taken them away!”

He pulled a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth from his pocket and blew his nose loudly.

"..."

Scott couldn't help but lean back tactically.

Hagrid stuffed the dirty handkerchief into his arms and then knelt down to hug the little Thestral.

He looked at the little one in his arms with affection, tears streaming down his face, and said, "Oh, poor little one, I swear, I will definitely help you find your mom and dad."

“Let’s go,” Scott said to Luna.

Luna nodded. "Let's go. We can't be of much help here."

The two said goodbye to Hagrid again and turned to leave.

On the way back, Scott said to Luna, "Maybe what you saw last night was the scene of them leaving."

He sighed; it seemed the curse of something bad inevitably happening on Halloween Eve had not been broken after all.

But it is indeed a strange thing that the Thestrals belonging to Hogwarts were stolen.

After that day, the news of the disappearance of the Thestrals did not spread.

Not many students at Hogwarts knew about the existence of Thestrals, and many students believed that the carriages that took them from Hogsmeade Village to Hogwarts Castle at the start of each school year were self-driving.

Scott did not get involved in the matter again, but Luna kept track of its developments.

According to Luna, Hagrid and several professors searched the vast Forbidden Forest over the next few days.

They even called on the centaur tribe in the Forbidden Forest for help, but they still couldn't find any clues.

Afterwards, although Hagrid continued to teach his students, he visibly became much more haggard.

Fortunately, Hagrid has an assistant coach, the "magical Grapple," who can step in when Hagrid is out of form.

Thanks to Glapland's efforts, the teaching progress of the course on protecting magical creatures was not significantly affected.

As November arrives, temperatures in the Scottish Highlands plummet, marking the start of winter.

Contrary to the cold weather, the atmosphere on Hogwarts campus was incredibly lively as a new round of Quidditch matches approached.

Quidditch teams belonging to the four houses began intensive training, and Quidditch fans outside the teams started to argue, fight, and even brawl because they supported their respective houses.

The Ravenclaw team is also undergoing grueling training.

After the previous captain, Benjamin Bruce, graduated, Scott's roommate, Roger Davis, officially took over the captaincy.

Roger had complained more than once in the dorm about the heavy training schedule Bruce had assigned him during the previous academic year, but now that he was the captain, his performance was even more outrageous than Bruce's.

Early mornings and late nights, rain or shine, are not enough to describe his training schedule.

On Thursday, he once again led the team in an all-night training session, only returning to his dormitory exhausted just before curfew.

"Last school year we won the College Cup, but we missed out on the Quidditch Trophy."

Roger said to his roommates.

Bruce had hoped to win a trophy before graduating, but unfortunately, he didn't get to.

He still harbors resentment about Ravenclaw not winning the Quidditch Trophy last school year.

“I think it was not a fault of our team,” Eddie said somewhat indignantly. “The entire Slytherin team has Nimbus 2001. Our team is far behind them in terms of equipment.”

Roger dried his wet hair with a towel. "The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams are about as well-equipped as us. Everyone is working hard, and no one will hand over the championship to the Slytherins just because of equipment issues."

“You and Cedric are the only new captains this school year,” Eddie said. “Gryffindor’s captain Wood and Slytherin’s captain Flint won’t graduate until next year, so they don’t need much time to get used to each other.”

“Yes, the Hufflepuff team trains really hard,” Roger said with a smile. “Cedric and I are both new captains, and we both want to achieve good results in our first year in office.”

"Is that why you've been single ever since you broke up with Kacchini?" Scott teased him.

Upon hearing this, Eddie immediately burst into exaggerated laughter. "I think so. Roger has been single for more than five months since breaking up with Cachini, which is a record that hasn't been set since 1989!"

After delivering this string of words, which sounded like an award speech, he even clapped in a mock manner.

"Hey! I'm fighting for Ravenclaw's honor!" Roger angrily threw a sweaty, damp towel at Eddie's head.

"You bastard! I've already taken a shower!" Eddie grabbed the wet towel and threw it back.

Seeing this, Scott couldn't help but lean back tactically once again.

Although he was a bit far from Roger and Eddie, the smell was really strong.

He waited until Roger and Eddie stopped fighting before asking, "I remember the opening match this week was supposed to be Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff?"

“That’s right! Our match is on the third Saturday of November, so there’s still time!” Roger said with a relieved expression.

“By the way,” he said, “if you have any good suggestions for the team, be sure to let me know.”

“Suggestions?” Scott shook his head. “I don’t have any good suggestions.”

One of his strengths is that he never expresses his opinion on things he is not good at.

"What about new players this year?" Eddie asked. "Have any particularly talented new players joined the team this year?"

“Unfortunately, no.” Roger shook his head. “To be honest, our team’s roster this year is a bit weak. The new players have only barely filled the gaps left by the two graduating players.”

Scott immediately realized that this was why he had started asking his roommates, who were not good at Quidditch at all, for advice.

Scott and Eddie obviously couldn't offer any good advice, so Roger turned to his other roommate, who hadn't spoken until now, and asked, "Milton, what about you? Do you have any good suggestions?"

Eddie walked over to Scott and whispered, "See? Now look what's happened. He's starting to grab at anything in desperation."

"What? What's wrong?" Milton, who had been reading, looked up at Roger, his face blank.

"It's nothing," Roger forced a smile.

He scratched his head in frustration. "I must be going crazy."

Scott laughed and said, "Hey Roger, if you really need some advice, you should broaden your horizons."

Roger quickly asked, "What do you mean?"

“There are always smart kids among the Ravenclaw students who are willing to contribute to the team and can actually offer some useful help.”

Scott offered his advice.

"Perhaps you could assemble them into a coaching staff, or a tactical advisory group?"

Scott's suggestion was a last resort.

Perhaps someone in Ravenclaw has coaching talent but not Quidditch talent?

Eddie immediately agreed, saying, "Oh, I think that's a great idea! Just like the coaches of those Muggle football clubs, the coaches don't necessarily have to be good at playing football, they just need to know about the game."

Scott added, "Of course, as the team captain, you can selectively listen to only the right advice, which requires you to have the corresponding judgment."

“Maybe this is indeed a good idea.” Roger clapped his hands. “I’ll go ask around tomorrow and see who’s willing to contribute to the team.”

Thanks to Roger's efforts, Ravenclaw School soon officially established the Quidditch Tactics Advisory Group on Friday.

Eddie joined in as well.

Of course, he was just an intelligence agent, responsible for gathering intelligence on each opponent in each match.

This can be considered as making the best use of people.

Chapter 293 Scott's Saturday

Despite the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff on Saturday, Scott still brought a whole day's worth of food into the Room of Requirement early in the morning.

Good morning, Helena.

Scott entered Helena's study, closed the door, and greeted the girl Helena in the painting.