The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

Although he met with many people, very few of them were suspects.

Especially those with such coincidental names, there's only one of them.

He had just considered whether to directly mention Mr. Bode's name to trick Grapland, but decided against it.

Doing so could alert the enemy.

At that moment, he saw that Glapland had breathed a sigh of relief.

She had probably concluded that Scott would never find the real Mr. B.

Scott smiled again and held up a second finger.

"There's a second thing I need to thank you for, Miss Grapland."

Glapland frowned again upon hearing this.

Scott said, "Secondly, it seems you haven't told me about all the procedures after joining the Scholars Alliance."

"As my guarantor, Mr. B's access to the Book of Prometheus and his authority in the Knowledge Bank are higher than mine. He can even restrict my communication with other members of the alliance, is that right?"

This time, Grapland did not show any embarrassment.

"That's right." She admitted directly, "I thought you had already discovered it but didn't say anything, but I didn't expect you didn't even notice this. This kid hasn't even tried to contact anyone else!"

Scott shrugged.

He did not attempt to contact anyone, or rather, he did not intend to develop a deep connection with the Scholars' Union, this somewhat peculiar association.

At this point, Grapland clearly didn't want to say anything more to Scott.

“If you want more access to the Scholars’ Union, take the initiative to contact Mr. B,” she said. “If he’s satisfied with you, you can gain more access to your [Book of Prometheus].

After saying that, she casually waved her hand and left with the whimpering Ya Ya.

Scott also returned to the Ravenclaw common room to write his paper.

He saw Luna again in the college library, but the girl was engrossed in reading a huge book and didn't seem to want to talk to him for the time being.

After finishing his paper as quickly as possible, Scott went to the common room.

He discovered that a large group of people, including Eddie and Roger, were gathered in the common room, still discussing the bombshell news published in the Evening Prophet.

The Ravenclaw students have now divided into several factions regarding this matter.

Some insist that the incident was revenge by the Roll family, some believe the killer was another dark wizard who liked to kill and create panic, others think the killer was another prisoner in Azkaban, and some even say it was the work of Dementors.

Scott sat down and listened for a while.

"Scott."

Not long after, Eddie, who was arguing heatedly with someone, came to him again.

"What do you say?"

He winked at Scott, trying to get Scott to agree with him.

Scott shook his head. "Let's wait for the results of the Aurors' investigation at the Ministry of Magic."

No one agreed with him.

It seems everyone has lost faith in the Aurors' investigative abilities.

"What use are those Aurors?"

"There have been many cases where the truth has not been uncovered!"

"I've given up hope on them."

"Originally, I planned to become an Auror after graduation, but now I've changed my mind."

Listening to the discussion, Scott suddenly realized that he was responsible for several unsolved cases that had remained unsolved for the past two years.

So he apologized to the Aurors in his heart.

That night, Eddie and Roger continued to discuss the topic until bedtime.

Scott and Milton, who had just returned from practicing in the music room after a long day of intense study, were both exhausted and simply listened silently to their heated discussion.

Perhaps because he felt that Scott and Milton were not involved, Eddie quickly changed the subject.

He said in a somewhat deliberate tone, "Elijah Caro's two henchmen aren't doing so well now. They're the two guys who ambushed Scott with him on the viaduct."

Scott became slightly interested when he heard him mention the two Slytherin students whose names he didn't know.

After all, they had all been defeated by him, and thinking about it now, they still feel a bit nostalgic.

So he chimed in, "What happened to them?"

“They were too close to Carol, oh, just like Malfoy’s two big buddies,” Eddie said enthusiastically. “When news of Carol killing Roll reached Slytherin, everyone in Slytherin distanced themselves from them.”

Milton asked in surprise, "What does this have to do with them?"

Eddie said, "I don't think it matters either, but the Slytherins don't think so."

Before Scott and the others could ask, he explained, "Although Caitlin Roll was once a Ravenclaw, she is also a pureblood. She is not only Carroll's cousin but also engaged to him."

“I know that Carlo is a heinous criminal for harming his family and fiancée,” Roger said nonchalantly, “but that has nothing to do with his two former henchmen.”

Eddie said irritably, "Anyway, those Slytherins isolated those two guys because of this!"

Chapter 396 The Surprise Luna Brings

A new week has begun.

After dinner on Monday, before the Transfiguration Club event began, Scott went to Professor McGonagall's office.

Professor McGonagall was not surprised when he explained his purpose.

"You've decided to begin preparing the pre-transformation rituals for the Animagus?"

She nodded to Scott.

"Given your level of mastery of human transformation techniques, you can certainly begin preparations."

She thought for a moment and then said, "Today is April 18th, which is perfect. The full moon is on the 25th of this month, so you can start the ceremony from that day."

As she spoke, she got up from the chair behind her desk, opened the cabinet next to her, and took out a glass bottle.

“These are mandrake leaves from my collection.” She handed Scott the sealed glass jar. “Remember, you must keep them in your mouth for a whole month. If the leaves come out of your mouth or are damaged, the whole process must be started again.”

Scott quickly accepted the glass bottle and thanked him sincerely.

“You must be careful,” Professor McGonagall cautioned him again. “The ceremony must begin with the full moon. If it fails this time, you’ll have to wait until next month to start again.”

Scott nodded, then asked with some distress, "Professor, is there any trick? I mean, it's easy to fail when eating, washing up, or sleeping."

Professor McGonagall shook her head. "There's no trick to this step; you just have to be careful."

“I understand, Professor.” Scott looked at the seemingly fresh-looking leaf in the sealed glass jar with some distress.

Professor McGonagall laughed and suggested, "There's still a week until the 25th. You can use other leaves to train this week and try to get used to having a leaf in your mouth before the full moon."

Scott accepted Professor McGonagall's advice.

Starting the next day, he tried to keep a mint leaf in his mouth all the time.

But this training was clearly not going well.

On the first day of his attempt, Scott consumed a total of more than a dozen mint leaves.

Speaking was actually quite alright; I didn't fail many times.

But when eating, I always accidentally bite or swallow the food, and the same goes for drinking water. Brushing my teeth is even more troublesome.

Even more outrageous is that when they sneeze, they unconsciously spit the leaves out of their mouths.

By that evening, Scott had lost much confidence that he could keep the leaf in his mouth for a month.

"Unless I can go without eating, drinking, or brushing my teeth, there's even a slight chance of success."

In the dorm room, Scott said to his roommates.

“The only thing you can do is not brush your teeth,” Eddie said with a laugh. “If you really intend to do that, then please stay away from us for the next month.”

Scott put another mint leaf in his mouth and said somewhat indistinctly, "Now I want to try and see if I unconsciously swallow the leaf while I'm sleeping."

Roger looked at Scott with sympathy. "This is too troublesome! No wonder there have always been very few wizards who can successfully perform Animagus transformations."

“But Scott will always try,” Milton said, “because he has that talent.”

Eddie laughed gleefully again. "Yeah, keep it up, Scott, so as not to waste your talent."

Scott ignored him and went to sleep with a mint leaf in his mouth.

However, when he woke up the next morning, he found that the mint leaf he had been holding in his mouth was stuck to his pillow.

"..."

Scott cast a vanishing spell on the leaf that looked somewhat disgusting.

After getting up, he tried brushing his teeth with the leaf in his mouth again, but failed again at the rinsing step.

Eddie and Roger couldn't stop laughing at his rare moment of embarrassment.

At the long breakfast table, the two guys who wanted to watch the show kept observing Scott's meal.

Scott tried to ignore them.

He could only eat very carefully, both chewing and swallowing, which made him eat very slowly.

After spending twice as long as usual finishing breakfast, Scott couldn't help but breathe a huge sigh of relief when he realized the leaf in his mouth was still intact.

“This is so sad,” he muttered.

To minimize the risk of accidentally sneezing while speaking, he put on a mask after breakfast and spent the day adhering to the principle of not speaking if possible.

At the end of the day, he had used a total of seven mint leaves.

The number has dropped to below ten, which can be considered some progress.

That night, when he went to sleep, he wore a homemade "magic device" to prevent his mouth from opening while sleeping.

Use elastic fabric to support the chin and hang it on the ears with ropes at both ends.

This time he succeeded.