The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

"What?" All three of them looked at him again.

“A panoramic telescope,” Scott said. “The kind you’d typically use to watch big Quidditch matches, with replay and slow-motion replay capabilities.”

"Oh, we completely forgot about that!" Fred said, annoyed.

George nodded. "We really wanted Mom to buy us one, but she refused."

“A panoramic telescope?” Eddie said. “Then let’s order a few from the Quidditch shop by mail.”

Scott agreed, “I can use Transfiguration to create animals to send the panoramic telescope there. My Transfiguration creations can still move on their own for a period of time after they are no longer under my control.”

"Great!"

Fred and George high-fived each other and cheered.

“Very well, then… now comes our biggest challenge,” Scott said, feigning seriousness.

"What?" The other three stared at him.

“That is…” Scott slowed his speech, “…where is the Gaunt family’s old house?”

The twins and Eddie both shook their heads.

"You didn't know?" Scott asked in surprise.

The three shook their heads again.

"Then what's there to say? Give up!" Scott said decisively.

"and many more!"

"We will find it!"

The twins quickly assured them.

Eddie smiled confidently. "Who do you think I am? Believe me, this is no problem for me!"

“Okay,” Scott laughed. “I’ll be waiting for your good news.”

After the "shareholders' meeting" concluded, the Weasley twins and Eddie began investigating the Gaunt family's old mansion, while Scott returned to his studies.

At the same time, he bought several panoramic telescopes by mail order.

Finally, on Wednesday of the new week, four days before the Sunday when Medea agreed to "purify" the Horcruxes, the "Shareholders' Meeting" was held again.

“Gaunt’s old house is in Little Hangleton,” Eddie reported his findings.

"Then let's get started."

Scott smiled and took several bronze binoculars from the deformed lizard skin pouch at his waist, placing them on the table.

"I've already bought the panoramic telescope; it just arrived today."

After receiving the goods, he tried them out and found that they could indeed be used as a camera, allowing him to review a short period of footage.

"Wow! Cool!"

The twins and Eddie exclaimed in surprise and quickly picked up the binoculars on the table to start fiddling with them.

Scott then began to carefully consider the deployment and retrieval of the panoramic telescope.

Chapter 344 The Warriors Head to Gaunt's Old House

This is the "Joke Props Workshop," hidden in a secret passage within Hogwarts.

A whooshing sound came from the vents in the ceiling, and a dozen candles burned brightly on several old desks pushed together.

"How come I didn't know there were such fun things? This is a combination of a telescope and a camera, magic is truly amazing!"

“We knew that all along, but we couldn’t afford it before.”

"I forgot about it again when I could afford it later."

Eddie and the Weasley twins were having so much fun playing with the panoramic telescope Scott had bought that they almost forgot what they were supposed to do.

Fred held the panoramic telescope up to his eyes and said excitedly, "I really want to watch a ball game with this."

"To be honest, I had the same thought, after all, it's something we once dreamed of," George said with some regret. "Unfortunately, we Gryffindor have to play this Saturday."

“I can watch your game with this telescope!” Eddie shouted. “Of course, if you play well, I’ll save some highlights.”

"Oh, of course! Who do you think we are?"

The twins immediately started shouting.

"We are the greatest hitters in Gryffindor's history!"

Scott was also testing and studying a panoramic telescope.

This thing is very easy to operate, similar to the panoramic telescopes used by Muggles, except that it has two rotating circular dials, which are responsible for returning to the center and adjusting the playback speed, respectively.

Of course, it's not as easy to use as a Muggle camera.

Scott was eager to take apart the panoramic telescope in his hand and figure out how this function was achieved.

If he could decipher the engraved magic circuits inside, he might be able to evolve the listening bat into a surveillance bat that combines both surveillance and listening functions.

This has some significance for him.

The significance of this still-in-the-concept monitoring bat is not only to help him monitor secrets, but it can also be used in combat.

With proper training, he can become highly observant and attentive in battle, combining this with his magical perception to gain an advantage in combat.

Such an idea is certainly good, but unfortunately it is very difficult to implement.

As is customary among merchants in the magical world, alchemical products are usually subject to corresponding confidentiality measures, making them difficult to disassemble, study, or replicate.

Whether it's a flying broom or a joke prop, it basically leaves no room for people to crack it.

If Scott were to forcibly disassemble the panoramic telescope in his hand, the magical runes inscribed inside might self-destruct.

Fortunately, Scott had a mentor with exceptional alchemical skills who had even created a magical secret chamber like the Room of Requirement; otherwise, he wouldn't have had much confidence in cracking the secret of the panoramic telescope.

He felt he still had a chance of success if he were under the guidance of a Ravenclaw mentor.

"Scott."

Eddie, having had his fill of fun, called out to Scott.

He asked, "What should we do next?"

Upon hearing his question, Fred and George stopped playing and turned to look at Scott.

“Next,” Scott smiled, “is to find out the location and layout of the Gaunt mansion, of course.”

Eddie immediately looked troubled. "I'm sorry, this is very difficult and beyond my capabilities."

"Did you hear that?" Fred said to George, feigning exaggeration.

George nodded with a heavy heart. "I heard you."

"What do you two mean by this?" Eddie stared at the twins with suspicion and wariness.

“We’re just feeling sorry.” Fred reached up and wiped away non-existent tears from the corner of his eye.

George moved in sync with his brother, while feigning sadness and exclaiming, "Even our gossip king, Mr. Eddie Cammitchell, has run into news he can't get his hands on."

"This is so heartbreaking!" the two said in unison, their voices choked with emotion.

“You’re making things difficult for me!” Eddie said defiantly. “If this were the Muggle world, I could easily get a detailed map of Little Hangleton without leaving home!”

“This is Hogwarts.” George shrugged.

Fred straightened his expression and said, "Well, we can't do that either."

“I’ll handle this,” Scott said.

The other three looked at him curiously upon hearing this.

“What do you want to do?” Eddie asked.

Scott waved the panoramic telescope in his hand. "Let's have one of the telescopes explore carefully first."

The three men looked at him and all understood.

"Then it's up to you," the three said at the same time.

"..." Scott was speechless for a moment before agreeing, "Okay."

He suddenly wondered why he had gotten involved in such troublesome matters.

However, since he had already gotten halfway involved, and was also curious about what was about to happen there, he wasn't going to back down.

“There’s one thing we all know: we’re not the only ones eyeing the Gaunt mansion,” he told his three companions. “We don’t know how many groups of people will be there to set things up beforehand, so the most important thing is to make sure we don’t get discovered.”

“The resurrected witch, the evil demon king, the righteous Auror,” Eddie muttered, “and maybe even the great headmaster.”

"Isn't it too difficult to avoid being discovered?" George frowned.

Fred chuckled and asked Scott, "What are you planning to do? Do you already have an idea?"

Scott was somewhat helpless. If it weren't for Medea's presence, sending Rimbaud and the crows to Little Hangleton would have been the best solution.

Unfortunately, Medea already knew about his ability to "control" crows.

But he could only think of one method for scouting the terrain...

“We can only break through from the air,” he told his companions. “In order to avoid being noticed, we must fly higher.”

Eddie frowned. "They also have air guards, don't they? Don't forget the Thestrals that Hogwarts lost."

“Yes,” Scart certainly understood this, “we’ll just have to try it out first.”

He decided to use shapeshifting to "create" an eagle that could fly very high, and take it with a panoramic telescope to do some reconnaissance.

Because the task is quite complex, the eagle must be "smart" and possess a certain level of intelligence to complete it.

Having ruled out Rimbaud and the crows, he could only enhance his Transfiguration abilities through simpler "personas".

Scott quickly came up with a "persona" in his mind and repeatedly memorized it until he tried to "deceive" himself into believing that the "persona" was real.

Of course, compared to Rimbaud, this character design is far too simple—Scott only needs this eagle to possess the memory and intelligence to complete reconnaissance missions.

Once everything was ready, Scott took out the ebony wood that best suited his magic from the shapeshifting lizard skin bag and slowly waved the ebony wand in his hand.

He chanted the Transfiguration spell while firmly thinking about his "persona".