The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

When I woke up on Thursday morning, the leaf I had been holding in my mouth before going to sleep was still there, perfectly fine.

From that day on, Scott began a life where he tried to avoid speaking, ate and brushed his teeth carefully, wore a mask during the day, and slept with a mouth-protecting "magic device."

On Thursday, he consumed a total of five mint leaves.

On Friday, four pieces.

On Saturday morning, Scott once again got up before dawn and waited in the empty common room for Rimbaud to fly in through the owl passage.

Rimbaud only began to speak after he had finished setting up the spell.

"Good morning!" Rimbaud raised a paw. "I brought it back."

Scott, wearing a mask, simply nodded without saying a word.

He reached out and took the dusty little gecko, then took out his [magic mirror].

After importing the gecko's "recorded" footage from the week into the Magic Mirror, he first sped up the playback to go through the "video" once, and then began to focus on examining the parts where Mr. Bode was alone in the office.

But this did not bring him any gains.

Although Mr. Bode had always appeared gloomy, decadent, and withdrawn, there was no other evidence to prove that he was the mysterious Mr. B.

“Perhaps Mr. Bode is an overly cautious man,” Rimbaud said, spouting nonsense. “Perhaps he is not Mr. B at all.”

But Scott did not jump to conclusions.

“Should we continue to monitor him?” Rimbaud asked.

Scott shook his head.

“Not for now.” He shook the [Magic Mirror] in his hand, his voice slightly muffled. “I need to take some time to carefully examine the ones I’ve already photographed.”

Rimbaud nodded.

Scott added, "Keep a close eye on Azkaban. If Voldemort really does break out of the prison, I want to know as soon as possible."

“Don’t worry,” Rimbaud said with a hint of pride. “I’ve already subdued the crows that originally lived on that island of Azkaban. If there’s any unrest on that island, they’ll come to my territory to let me know.”

“Very good.” Scott nodded and let it leave the common lounge.

On Saturday, Scott consumed a total of two mint leaves.

It wasn't until Sunday that Scott finally managed to keep the same leaf in his mouth from morning until the next morning.

This new Monday is the 25th, which is also the day of the full moon.

That evening, after brushing his teeth and rinsing his mouth properly, Scott put the mandrake leaf that Professor McGonagall had given him into his mouth under the full moonlight.

That same evening, while Scott was writing his paper in the common room wearing a mask, Luna once again approached him.

“You don’t need to say anything, Scott,” Luna told him. “I already know you’re preparing for the Animagus.”

Scott nodded.

Luna moved a stool over and sat down next to him, and began doing her homework as well.

Scott gave her a puzzled look.

Luna looked up at him and smiled faintly.

“I still don’t understand. Maybe some things are just destined to remain a mystery,” she said softly, her expression serious. “But, as I said, I will be watching over you.”

After saying that, she lowered her head again and began to write her paper seriously.

Scott smiled silently, looked away, and continued writing.

From that day on, Scott and Luna spent more time together.

Although Scott was extremely busy due to their different grades and courses, and didn't actually spend much time with Luna, it was still much more than before.

During meals, Luna would sit next to him, and they often did their homework together. Sometimes, when Scott returned to the Ravenclaw Tower from Professor Flitwick's office at night, Luna would wait for him in the common room, say a few words to him, and then go to sleep.

He really kept his promise of "I'll be watching you."

Scott simply let her have her way.

The growing intimacy between the two naturally attracted the attention of others, leading to numerous gossip stories.

"Ravenclaw's genius fell in love with a crazy girl!"

This seemed to become a hot topic among Hogwarts students for a period of time.

But both Scott and Luna are mavericks who don't care what others think.

Despite the rumors and gossip, they maintained their own pace and remained completely unaffected.

As a result, even Scott's friends began to misunderstand his relationship with Luna.

Scott only explained when they first asked him, "They're friends."

Of course, as a friend who knows him well, it became clear after a while that no romantic spark had developed between the two.

"Why?" Eddie, a gossip enthusiast, was most interested in this topic and even asked Scott, "I thought you had finally started dating."

Scott just smiled and didn't bother to say anything.

“Speaking of which, all four of us in our dorm are single,” Eddie said. “I didn’t expect even Roger to change.”

Scott shrugged, then pulled out his wand and used magic to leave two lines of shimmering words in the air—

[Perhaps he's already dated all the girls at Hogwarts who fit his aesthetic.]

Upon seeing these two lines, Eddie burst into laughter.

"Let's talk about you." After laughing, he was still incredibly gossipy. "Isn't Luna good? I always thought you admired her."

Scott: "..."

[I do admire her, but not in the way you're thinking of.]

He was quite certain that his relationship with Luna was purely platonic.

On the one hand, it's because Luna is still young; in his eyes, she's just a smart child.

On the other hand, it's because ever since Scott learned through prophecy about the enemies he would face in the future, he has completely lost interest in romance.

As for Luna?

Scott felt that she probably hadn't figured it out yet.

In short, Scott was doing well, but he found that Luna's situation at the academy seemed to be getting worse.

Originally, Luna was considered an oddball in Ravenclaw, a place teeming with eccentric characters, and had always been somewhat ostracized.

After Savannah dropped out of school, Luna also lost all her female friends from the same college.

Her ostracism among the girls seems to have intensified since she became noticeably closer to Scott.

Fortunately, she and Ginny had a good relationship, and after Scott reminded her once before, she stopped letting others steal her things and learned to refuse, which made Scott less worried about her situation.

Of course, he did ask Luna about it once while doing his homework.

"Are you alright? I mean, it seems like no girls in the academy are friends with you." Scott's question was direct.

Of course, Luna is also used to this directness.

“I’m doing very well,” she said.

Her answer was not forced, and she seemed not to understand why Scott cared about this issue. Clearly, she did not care about the exclusion by the girls her age.

“It’s all because you’re so popular,” she said, sounding very understanding. “Everyone wants to be your friend.”

Scott could only shrug at this.

Honestly, he didn't really feel like he was that popular.

After all, from the past to the present, only one girl, Savannah, has ever expressed her affection for him.

Even setting aside the romantic aspect, there aren't many people who just want to be friends with him.

Seemingly sensing his confusion, Luna said, "You've always only hung out with a few specific people: Eddie, Milton, Roger, Fred, and George. A lot of people think you're unapproachable."

It turned out to be the case.

Scott nodded.

He is not a warm person and doesn't need many friends.

But he didn't think he was afraid to approach them...

“I don’t think older students would say that,” he began, speaking slowly and carefully. “But I do rarely interact with younger students.”

In his second year of Ravenclaw, he only knew Luna, Savannah, and Jacob. As for the first year... even though he and Kayla were in charge of welcoming the new students, he didn't remember a single name.

However, seeing that Luna was not affected and was still living a carefree life, he was relieved and didn't dwell on the issue.

Instead, Luna asked him, "What's troubling you?"

"You found out again?" Scott was already used to it.

At that moment, he was certainly not in a good mood.

He had taken the time to check Mr. Bode's image in the Magic Mirror again, but still couldn't find any clues.

Of course, this could also be because he was too busy, coupled with the trouble and psychological pressure caused by living too cautiously with a leaf in his mouth, which made him neither have the time nor the patience to carefully examine the images.

Under Luna's persistent questioning, and since he couldn't lie and there was no need to hide anything, Scott told her the story as concisely as possible.

“Then leave it to me.” Luna offered her hand. “I’ll check it carefully for you.”

Although he had little hope, Scott did not give up.

After showing her the Scholars' Union identity card and the Book of Prometheus, which showed how the cards changed, Scott handed her the Magic Mirror.

Scott agreed to Luna's help simply because he didn't want to let her down, but he didn't expect Luna to give him an unexpected surprise.

For the next week, Luna did not bring up the matter during her time with him.

But on Tuesday night a week later, when Scott returned to the common room after his dueling training, he saw Luna sitting on the sofa waving happily at him, holding his [Magic Mirror] in her hand.

“I’ve found it,” Luna said. “A clue.”

It was already past curfew, and there was no one else in the common room.

Scott walked directly to Luna and sat down next to her, took the [Magic Mirror] from her hand, and looked at the image reflected on the mirror.

This is a still image. In the image, Mr. Bode stands in front of the messy bookshelves in his office, holding a large black book in his hands, about to turn and leave.