The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

His eyes were red and tears streamed down his face.

Chapter 393 Target One, Kill Three

After hearing Scott's account, Milton was in a daze all afternoon, and even made frequent mistakes in Potions class, which Snape took the opportunity to deduct 5 points from his score.

Scott didn't know how to comfort or console her.

When it was time for dinner, Roger noticed that he was still not in the mood, so he said to him, "Maybe you should have a good talk with your father."

But Milton simply shook his head.

“My father told me personally that he hoped I would try not to go back,” he said softly. “Maybe there are reasons I don’t know about, but since it’s what he wants, I will do as he says.”

Scott looked at his expression and realized that he wasn't just saying things out of anger.

Milton smiled slightly, as if he had finally come to his senses.

He said, "If he really still cares about me, then listening to him might be a better choice for me."

“You’re right,” Scott agreed.

Milton's family was a so-called emerging wizarding family, and his personality was originally somewhat out of place with his relatives.

Now, with the addition of the even more complex Lady Zabini, and Medea, who is lurking behind the scenes and directing things, things have become even more complicated.

It might actually be a good thing that he can break free from such family constraints.

Perhaps, Mr. Grevis's advice to Milton not to return home stemmed from this same idea.

After dinner, Scott said goodbye to his roommates and went to Professor Flitwick's office to continue his dueling training.

Professor Flitwick already knew the details of the trial that morning, and he first kindly comforted Scott.

He told Scott, "I hope you won't be affected by other people's slander and malice. In my heart, you have always been an excellent student. Of course, I also hope you won't be disappointed in the future of the wizarding world. We should believe that most wizards are righteous."

Faced with Professor Flitwick's kind words of comfort, Scott could only express his gratitude, suppressing his feelings of guilt deep inside.

This made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Despite this, he would never reveal to anyone that he was truly a hidden poison sorcerer.

After the dueling training began, Scott was finally able to fully unleash the Patronus Charm, giving Professor Flitwick a pleasant surprise.

Professor Flitwick was pleased to hear this and said, "You can now ask Albus for more advanced instructions on how to use the Patronus Charm; after all, he promised you."

Scott nodded repeatedly, remembering Dumbledore's Patronus Charm, which could speak and even block the Cruciatus Curse.

Then, Professor Flitwick told him a lot about the Patronus Charm.

"The most common Guardian Charm has only one effect: to drive away Dementors."

"But the Patronus Charm is one of the oldest and most famous defensive spells in the magical world, and its function is certainly not limited to that."

"Although the guardian spirit summoned by the Guardian Spell has no physical form and cannot defend against attacks of physical nature, it has the power to protect your mind and even your soul."

"However, only Albus can use a Patronus Charm to defend against the Cruciatus Curse. Generally speaking, the Unforgivable Curse is unavoidable."

"Of course, this is also because Carlo's mastery of the Cruciatus Curse is not deep enough, and its power is too weak."

Scott asked curiously, "Is it possible for Professor Dumbledore to successfully defend against the Killing Curse?"

Professor Flitwick shook his head immediately. "That's impossible. There's never been such a thing, unless the wizard who used the Killing Curse had extremely weak magic."

Scott said he understood.

Professor Flitwick added, "Also, I think you can start preparing for the Animagus transformation. This will take some time and luck, and of course, it's best to do it under Professor McGonagall's guidance."

Scott nodded in agreement.

Learning the Animagus transformation requires some complex and tedious prerequisites, and also some luck in encountering suitable weather; it is not an easy task.

The very first step is quite troublesome—

For a full month, from one full moon to the next, one must keep a single mandrake leaf in one's mouth continuously.

Never swallow the leaf or remove it from your mouth. If the leaf leaves your mouth, the entire process must be restarted.

Putting aside the impact of holding a leaf in one's mouth on daily activities such as speaking, eating, and washing, Scott could hardly imagine what a leaf would look like after being held in the mouth for a month.

After finishing his dueling training that evening, Scott went back to his dormitory and went to bed early.

He got up at 5 a.m. the next morning, washed up and dressed, and then used the door key to enter the crow territory from the empty bathroom.

He rode his flying broomstick to the oak cabin, and Rimbaud flew out of his nest nearby.

Scott went into the cabin, took out a picture frame, and used his morphing ability to manipulate the paint, "printing" three portraits at top speed.

“Remember these three people.” He pointed to the ones he introduced to Rimbaud: “Amicus Caro and Alecto Caro, twins from the Caro family, both Death Eaters, and Broderick Bode, an employee of the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic.”

Rimbaud looked at the three portraits, tilted his head, and asked, "What do you want to do?"

Scott hesitated for a moment, then said, "Never mind the Carol siblings for now; they'll be Voldemort's accomplices during the prison break. I want to know if Mr. Bode is the Mr. B who threatened me in the Book of Prometheus."

“Mr. Bode? Should I keep an eye on him?” Rimbaud asked again.

"Hold on."

Scott walked to the small desk and sat down.

He took a piece of ebony from the lizard skin bag and placed it on the table.

He then composed himself, and after several seconds, waved his wand, turning the wooden block into a grayish-brown gecko.

Rimbaud flew to the table, looked at the gecko, and asked Scott curiously, "Why didn't you take out that bone before you used the magic?"

Scott held the small gecko in his hand and replied, "Because Oak Hut has been completely hidden by the Fidelity Charm, it is an absolutely safe house for me. Even the Ministry of Magic's Thread of the Covenant cannot determine whether there are any minors using magic here in violation of the rules."

Rimbaud nodded as if he understood, then asked, "What's the use of this little thing?"

"it?"

Scott smiled and took out his [Magic Mirror], using his wand to pull a silver thread from the gecko's body and put it into the [Magic Mirror].

He pointed his finger at the [magic mirror], and an image quickly appeared in the mirror, along with a sound.

Scott and Rimbaud appeared in the scene, showing the view and sounds seen and heard from the gecko's perspective.

“This is a gecko that can ‘record’ images and sounds,” Scott said. “Unfortunately, I can’t connect it to my ‘magic mirror’ in real time yet. Only when I successfully retrieve it in the future can I extract what it saw and heard.”

Although this gecko is inconspicuous, it represents Scott's great progress in the field of shapeshifting.

In the past, it would have been impossible for Scott to successfully create such a tool animal using shapeshifting techniques in one step.

Just like when he created the listening bats before, he needed to first inscribe the rune circuits on the bat wood carvings, and then use the Polymorph spell again after activating the rune circuits.

Scott, who can now achieve things in one go, has undoubtedly improved his abilities in all aspects.

This represents the result of his learning and progress under the immense pressure brought by the prophecy, squeezing out time and energy.

Unfortunately, Rimbaud did not understand the difficulty Scott had in achieving this.

It simply nodded to indicate that it understood. "Should I put it near Mr. Bode?"

“The ninth underground level, the Department of Mysteries,” Scott said. “Besides the various halls used for research, there’s also an office there.”

Scott took out a piece of parchment and recalled the route he remembered when he passed through the ninth underground level yesterday, and drew it out on the parchment with a pen.

He said seriously, "That means we'd have to risk going inside the Ministry of Magic and then put the gecko in that office."

“It’s alright,” Rimbaud said confidently. “This isn’t my first time in the Ministry of Magic. It’s very chaotic there, and I can fly very fast.”

“But you’ve never been to the ninth basement level.” Scott hesitated. “People can only go down to that level by elevator, and there’s only the Department of Mysteries on that level, with very few staff.”

He thought for a moment and then said, "To be on the safe side, let's send a smarter crow. I can cast a Disillusionment Charm on it beforehand. Given the crow's size, my Disillusionment Charm can last for at least three hours."

Rimbaud shook his head. "Even the smartest crow isn't that smart. I won't encounter any danger if I go."

Scott thought about it and agreed.

Rimbaud possessed the ability to fly silently and rapidly; at extreme speeds, he was like a shadow, making him the most suitable person for this task.

He added, "Be careful. If Mr. Bode is the Mr. B who threatened me, he might be a dangerous person."

“I understand.” Rimbaud flew up and grabbed the gecko from Scott’s hand with his claws.

"Remember to come find me at Hogwarts after you've finished this," Scott added, casting a Disillusionment Charm on it.

Then, Rimbaud, who had become one with his surroundings, immediately said, "That won't do."

“That won’t work.” Scott looked at the gecko that seemed to be writhing in the air. “But I can’t cast a spell on it, or it will explode.”

Scott can only do 1+1, not 1+1+1. This gecko has already integrated two kinds of magic, Polymorph and Rune Circuit. Applying another spell will completely destroy its stability.

"I have a way."

Rimbaud threw the gecko onto the table, and then the gecko disappeared piece by piece.

“I’ll spit it out then,” Rimbaud said.

Although Scott had some doubts about whether the vomit would still be usable, he still smiled encouragingly.

After Rimbaud left Oak Hut, he also rode his flying broomstick back to Hogwarts Castle, just in time for breakfast.

At noon, Scott made a point of leaving the Room of Requirement for lunch, and Rimbaud happened to return from London and flew smoothly to him.

Seeing that Rimbaud was safe and sound, Scott couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

It whispered to Scott, "Everything went well. It's the weekend, so there are very few people on duty at the Ministry of Magic, and Mr. Bode, whom you're supposed to be watching, isn't here either. The gecko successfully crawled through the crack in the door."

“Well done,” Scott said quietly. “There’s one more mission next.”

He deliberately walked to the window at the end of a corridor.

“You must go to Azkaban,” he ordered. “Kill Elijah Carlo, the old man of the Yaxley family, and his son.”

"Should we use the same method again?" Rimbaud asked.

Scott shook his head. "For safety's sake, we can't use poison anymore."

He worried that if he used the same methods too often, he would inadvertently leave some clues that he himself was unaware of.

Moreover, Mr. B's threats are still fresh in our minds.

Scott took a tiny birdcage out of his pocket and placed it in his palm.

The black birdcage was only the size of a thumb, and what was even more peculiar was that there was a flock of black crows inside, each the size of a midge.