The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

“Filch didn’t even stop him!” Fred said indignantly. “That damned old Filch wouldn’t have made an exception for the two of us like that.”

"Oh, right."

George put his hand on Scott's shoulder and led him aside.

Scott turned around and, sure enough, saw Fred pretending to put his hand on Roger's shoulder, preventing him from coming closer.

"Scott, will the professor ruin our setup?" George asked with some concern.

“Don’t worry,” Scott said in a low voice. “Since no professors came over just now, it means they won’t get involved in this matter.”

George didn't understand. "You mean?"

Scott said jokingly, "Perhaps Principal Dumbledore also wants to see if our bait can catch any fish?"

"Are you kidding me?" George looked incredulous.

Scott lowered his voice. "Remember? A student was murdered fifty years ago. Dumbledore was the Transfiguration professor at the school then, and I think he would take this matter related to the Chamber of Secrets rumors seriously."

“But if it were Dumbledore, he should be able to find out who’s behind this very quickly,” George said, somewhat conflicted.

Perhaps due to family influence, George and Fred both firmly believed that Dumbledore was omnipotent.

Scott laughed. "Perhaps... if our method works, it would be interesting for the headmaster as well?"

George immediately became proud.

“If our method succeeds,” he said wistfully, “then we’ll have done Dumbledore a favor? Oh! Then Mom won’t be able to criticize Fred and me so easily anymore!”

Scott smiled without saying a word.

He truly hadn't expected to be able to keep this from the professors, especially Dumbledore.

It was writing on the wall, and it was sensationalist writing that caused such a huge uproar.

But he was also betting that Dumbledore wouldn't stop them from doing so, and might even secretly "cooperate."

It seems he made the right bet.

The fact that no professors appeared in the third-floor corridor just now is proof of that.

As for Scott's earlier suggestion that Eddie find ways to delay the professors' arrival of the news when spreading it, that was merely a necessary step to conceal himself.

After all, he didn't want Dumbledore to know that he knew a little too much and was gambling on his reaction.

……

Chapter 060 Fire Lizard, the "Savior" Blocking the Way

The topic of this lesson on protecting magical creatures is the salamander.

On the teaching ground next to the forbidden forest, piles of firewood and leaves formed bonfires that were burning, and small, bright red lizards crawled around in the fire.

Professor Kettleburn had each group sit around a campfire and gave them several small glass bottles.

"Salamanders are small lizards that live in flames and typically feed on them. As long as the flames remain, they will continue to live."

Professor Ketterburn introduces the amazing animal, the salamander.

"However, if you feed the salamanders that have left the flames with chili peppers regularly, they can live for up to six hours."

Scott and his men crouched around the fire.

"Is it sick?" Fred gently poked a fire lizard lying motionless in the fire with a stick.

At this moment, Professor Kettleburn clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention.

"Salamander blood has powerful healing and restorative properties, and it can also be used to make various potions, the most famous of which is the Enhancer," he said loudly.

He picked up a glass bottle. "Today's lesson is about how to extract blood from these little guys. This will be an ingredient you'll need in your Potions class!"

"Why do we have to do things for the old bat in our Magical Creatures class?" George complained to Scott and the others, clearly unhappy.

“Everyone come here.” Professor Kettleburn squatted down beside a campfire. “Watch my demonstration carefully! I must make sure it doesn’t cause serious damage.”

Although Professor Kettleburn only had one arm left, it didn't seem to affect his movements. He drew blood with obvious skill.

After watching the professor's demonstration, Scott and his team also got to work, imitating his movements to extract blood from the salamanders and put it into glass bottles.

Scott noticed that George and Fred exchanged a few glances, and then he pretended to sigh.

"Oh, these little guys are so pitiful."

"We must save them."

When class ended, they secretly slipped a salamander into their pockets when Professor Kettleburn wasn't looking.

On the way back to the castle, Scott asked the twins, "Where are you two planning to keep this poor fire lizard? It can only live for six hours at most after leaving the fire."

Fred patted his pocket lightly and said proudly, "Of course we'll take good care of this little guy!"

George continued, "We'll keep it in the fireplace in the common room and feed it with the finest hand-pulled cigarettes!"

"Fireworks?" Roger said with a laugh. "I hope you don't burn the Gryffindor common room to the ground."

“Of course! We’re experienced troublemakers!” Fred proudly raised his head.

George raised his head in unison, "We won't stop making mistakes, but we'll never make a big mistake!"

After lunch, Scott went alone to the empty classroom on the third floor.

He sat at the old desk by the window, propping his head up with his hand and looking out the window.

Not long after, the sound of flapping wings rang out, and a jet-black raven flew in through the window.

It flew to the old school desk and put down the roll of film it was holding in its claws.

After a morning, he had a lot of negatives to look at.

Scott checked the film and took out a few more rolls to have Raven deliver.

Then he closed the curtains, picked up the film, went to the side, and began developing the film using the tools he had prepared.

To make it easier for him to do it himself, he prepared only the most convenient black and white film for developing.

As the image slowly emerged from the film soaking in the developing solution, Scott began to examine it closely.

An hour later, he walked out of the empty classroom.

The film he shot in the morning didn't produce the images he wanted, but he did manage to capture some interesting scenes.

Dumbledore briefly lingered in that corridor.

Only one film accurately captured his back as he stood in the corridor looking at the "shocking headline".

There is only one.

After seeing the film, Scott suddenly felt that the three-minute interval seemed a bit too long.

If Ginny, who was being manipulated by Tom Riddle, could quickly destroy the message, then the camera might miss the shot.

With that thought in mind, he went back to that corridor.

He had already seen it from the footage on the film: Filch had spent almost the entire morning sitting in a chair, staring suspiciously at the students who passed by.

He doesn't seem to have given up on finding the killer.

Scott walked past him without stopping, glancing at the intact message, ignoring Filch's staring gaze.

He didn't linger there, but went straight up the stairs to the fourth floor.

He quickly arrived at the same window on the fourth floor, swiftly peered out with his wand, and remotely altered the commands of the two puppets, changing the shutter release frequency to once per minute.

Although this resulted in a significant consumption of film, he had prepared enough to be absolutely certain.

He felt he could estimate the time and send the ravens to replenish the supplies on time.

On his way back to Ravenclaw Tower, Scott was stopped by the “savior” who approached him as he passed through the central courtyard.

"Hello, Trolop."

This "boy who survived a great ordeal" still showed the shyness one would show when facing a stranger in front of Scott.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked.

“Yes, Potter.”

Scott nodded.

"This way."

The boy led Scott to the flower bed at the corner of the yard, where his two friends were waiting.

Scott took the initiative to greet them, "Hello, Weasley and Granger."

"Hello, Trolop."

Granger began speaking before Weasley could even open his mouth.

“Do you remember last time? You said the voice Harry heard was an eight-eyed spider, but according to the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the eight-eyed spider cannot petrify Filch’s cat.”

Just as Scott was about to speak, the girl continued speaking at an extremely fast pace.

"Did you see it last night? The cat looked like it was dead. Dumbledore examined the cat and said it was the result of extremely advanced dark magic."

Scott waited until the girl had finished speaking before slowly replying, "I'm sorry, Miss Granger, the eight-eyed spider was just my guess. There aren't many magical creatures that can speak English. It seems I was wrong?"

He turned to look at Potter.

"Potter, so the reason you got there first yesterday was because you heard that strange sound again?"

“Yes.” Potter looked quite helpless. “I came out of the basement where Nick, who was almost headless, was having a dinner party, and I ran all the way up to the third floor following that sound.”

“But Hermione and I didn’t hear anything!” Weasley said with an exaggerated expression.

Scott nodded, then asked, "So, did you tell Dumbledore about this?"

Potter shook his head, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "I didn't tell him."

He glanced at Weasley again and explained, "Ron told me that hearing things that others can't hear in the wizarding world is usually not a good thing."

Scott smiled; he hadn't expected these three little wizards to come looking for him.

Was it because he witnessed Potter hearing strange noises that he didn't care?

……