The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

He beckoned Scott to come with him to the corner of the corridor.

Ron was hiding there, looking rather cowardly.

“Hermione’s been acting strangely since the start of this term,” Harry complained softly. “Ron and I have run into her repeatedly in the same amount of time several times.”

Ron said somewhat unhappily, "I suspect she has access to a secret passage that no one knows about, but she hasn't told us!"

“I don’t think so. Hermione always looks tired. She must have some other secret.” Harry was more observant than Ron.

Scott understood that it was simply because Hermione had used the Time-Turner.

He didn't want to listen to the two boys discussing their friends' secrets, so he asked directly, "Is there something you need from me?"

"Oh, right."

Reminded, Harry began to say what he had originally intended to say.

“I’ve already told Hagrid about it. Hagrid will be meeting William at the Three Broomsticks on Saturday, but I haven’t told Hagrid that we’ll be there too.”

"Shall we go too?" Scott looked at him with feigned confusion.

"Isn't that right?" Harry was dumbfounded. "It was clearly you..."

His eyes widened. "You gave me a look when you were talking to Hermione."

Ron looked at Scott in surprise, "I saw it too."

Scott seemed more surprised than Ron.

“Why would you think that?” he asked in surprise. “I was just hinting to Harry to speak up for me because I didn’t want Hermione to emphasize discipline.”

Harry's mouth dropped open. "Oh... I thought... you were implying that you had a way to sneak out."

“Of course I can’t,” Scott said with a smile. “Dumbledore said that Filch would guard the secret passage.”

“Is that so…” Harry looked at Scott hesitantly.

“That’s it,” Scott said with certainty.

Harry and Ron immediately wilted.

The two boys looked disappointed, like two elementary school students who had just heard that their spring outing had been canceled.

“Even if we go there, we can’t help with this. Let Hagrid handle it himself. Don’t worry, William is a professional,” Scott said.

He turned and walked towards the auditorium first.

"Now, it's time for us to have dinner."

Although it made it seem like Scott had tricked Harry, Scott felt no guilt or remorse.

He knew very well that Harry was also one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

Medea is currently searching for Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes, so it's best for Harry to stay out of her sight.

If Medea discovers anything amiss, Scott has no idea what the woman might do.

Chapter 298 Trolop, the King of the Stove

The second weekend of November has arrived.

Scott, as usual, went to the Room of Requirement early Saturday morning to begin a day of intensive study.

Even during his lunch break, he continued to conduct transfiguration experiments.

In Helena's study, he was sitting cross-legged on the carpet, with a listening bat flying in front of him.

Then, he decisively waved his wand and cast a color-changing spell.

"Changing colors and changing appearance!"

The cursed beam struck the bat precisely, but the next second...

Click, click-click.

The sound of wood cracking echoed continuously in the study.

The bat did not change color after being struck by the spell; instead, it froze instantly, regressing into a wooden carving before cracking and shattering into pieces on the ground.

The young girl, Helena, had been sitting in a painting near Scott watching his movements, and at this moment she finally couldn't help but speak up.

"What are you doing?" she said, somewhat displeased. "Who said you wouldn't make a mess of my study?"

"Sorry." Scott, who had been sitting cross-legged on the floor, straightened up.

He waved his wand, and the wood chips scattered all over the carpet vanished.

Then, he took out a wooden bat carving that was already engraved with ancient magical runes from the lizard skin bag and used a transformation spell to turn it into a living bat.

This time, he didn't rashly use the spell, but instead rested his chin on his hand and fell into deep thought.

"What are you doing?" the girl Helena in the painting asked again.

Scott looked up at her. "I'm conducting a transfiguration experiment."

He reached out and let the bat land on his finger.

“This is a listening bat,” he said softly. “I had engraved listening runes on the wooden statue beforehand, so that this bat can transmit the sounds it hears to my ears from a distance.”

The young girl, Helena, exclaimed in surprise, "To cast a transformation spell on an object inscribed with runes? That's unheard of! No wonder Mother took you on as her apprentice."

Scott did not answer, continuing to stare at the bat in his hand.

Once the young girl Helena started talking, she couldn't stop.

"Different spells apply different states to objects. Transfiguration spells can also be considered a state, but different states can influence each other..."

The girl must have understood what what Scott had done meant.

"If it were a spell with a similar effect, that would be fine, but runes and spells operate on a different system."

Helena's voice grew louder and louder.

"Logically speaking, the operation of runes and the maintenance of polymorph should be difficult to reconcile in terms of magical expression in this bat, but you have managed to do it!"

“Yes, I did it. That wasn’t too difficult, including casting spells on simple transfiguration artifacts…” Scott said, “but the difficult part was…”

He squeezed the magic wand in his hand.

"The challenge lies in how to make all three coexist."

"The three?" the girl Helena in the painting asked loudly.

Scott nodded casually.

"Transfiguration spells, curses, and runes—all three coexisting?" the girl asked, almost screaming. "Are you insane?"

No.

The bat in Scott's hand flew up, and he waved his wand once more.

"Changing color and appearance".

Click, click-click.

He watched expressionlessly as the wood chips fell one after another.

"That's it, your idea is doomed to fail."

The girl in the painting, Helena, speaks in a matter-of-fact tone.

"This is forcing an object to maintain three different forms simultaneously under the influence of magic; the consequence of attempting this is, of course, collapse."

Scott used the cleaning spell again to remove the wood chips from the carpet.

"The combination of all three is indeed almost impossible," he said.

The girl in the painting says, "It's absolutely impossible!"

Scott chuckled. "You originally thought that combining the two was impossible, didn't you?"

"This..." The girl was speechless.

But she quickly added, "Maintaining stability in all three states is infinitely more difficult than maintaining stability in only two!"

“That’s right.” Scott nodded matter-of-factly. “So I’m learning, I’m trying, and I believe that one day I will solve this problem.”

The girl Helena in the painting fell silent and remained silent for a long time.

Scott looked up and saw her in the painting staring intently at him, with a thoughtful expression.

"What's wrong?" Scott asked.

“I’m thinking…” the girl said softly, “Our ways of thinking are different, and maybe that’s the difference between us.”

Scott looked at her with some surprise.

The girl continued, "I set an upper limit for my magic using my concepts, but you didn't."

Scott remained surprised.

"What a pity..." the girl sighed, "Now that I understand, I can no longer try it out."

“Yes…yes,” Scott echoed.

He wanted to tell the girl in the painting—although magic is the power of belief, mere belief is useless.

Otherwise, wizards wouldn't have the so-called magical talent.

Of course, the girl in the painting may have known this, but that didn't stop her from fooling herself. In any case, Scott didn't expose her.

When the lunch break ended, Scott went back into the inner room where the Ravenclaw portrait was located.

"tutor……"

Just as Scott was about to say something, he suddenly felt the deformed lizard skin pouch at his waist begin to vibrate violently.

“It’s Medea,” he said to Ravenclaw in the painting, clutching the leather bag in his hand.

The Ravenclaw in the painting smiled. "Is this the Local Floo Network you mentioned?"

She looked curiously at the trembling leather bag in Scott's hand and gestured for him to open it.

Scott released his grip, and the leather bag opened automatically, revealing a small, toy-like fireplace that flew out of it.

Scott quickly reached out and let the small fireplace land in his palm.