The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

“You’re already a genius, Scott.” Milton looked at him disapprovingly. “Even if you traded your talent for drawing, it wouldn’t make your magic much better.”

Scott nodded. “Of course, I wouldn’t make the trade. I mean… if I were you, and if my magic wasn’t exceptional, I probably would have been willing to trade.”

“I’m different from you, Scott.”

Milton tidied his messy hair.

For me, magic is just enough to get by.

He clutched his chest.

"Although I no longer have a talent for music, that love still remains in my heart."

“But a vow that has already been made is hard to reverse.” Scott was not optimistic about him rediscovering his musical talent.

“I am willing to pay the price.”

Milton said.

“My grandfather and father were very pleased with the magic that made me grow up, but my mother has passed away. Just like she said, I don’t have to change myself to meet other people’s expectations.”

"..."

Scott finally said those words—

"Just let me know if you need any help."

This has been going on for quite some time, ever since Milton and Roger started hearing the strange music.

But in the end, I still couldn't escape this troublesome matter!

Scott thought with some sadness.

“No need,” Milton said. “That oath is too strange, and I don’t want to involve you.”

Scott simply nodded.

But in fact, he was already aware that he would one day be involved in this matter.

Afterwards, the two left the beach.

Scott took Milton to visit a small art museum in the town of Hastings, which cheered Milton up considerably.

He left before dinner.

Scott did not try to stop him.

After all, this kid ran away from home, so we need to go back as soon as possible and give him an explanation.

After seeing Milton off on the train, Scott ran into David as he was leaving the station.

"Hey Scott, was that your girl just now?"

David, a carefree and irresponsible young man, was just like Michael in his youth—a wandering hoodlum.

“It’s a boy, David.”

Scott said irritably.

David looked at him in surprise, "I didn't expect you to actually..."

"I should have pushed you off the cliff into the sea, David!"

Scott ignored him and walked away.

Back home, he had to briefly explain Milton's current situation to Michael and Amelia.

Only then did he finally sit down at his desk in the room again and open the notebook that Professor Flitwick had given him.

The gifts from the professors were wonderful, and the acquisition of knowledge lifted Scott's spirits.

On the first day of the new day, Scott sent Shay early to buy the day's Daily Prophet.

Where to go from here? Has the Travers family, one of the Twenty-Eight Holy Clans, completely fallen?

To his surprise, the front-page news that day was quite normal, and the writer was not Rita Skeeter.

But when he turned to the second page of the newspaper, he couldn't help but frown again.

A bitter farewell: Has the boy Travers, infatuated with someone else, fallen in love with someone else?

The accompanying photo shows him seeing Milton off at the train station.

"..."

Scott felt like swearing.

He was careless!

They didn't even sense Rita Skeeter's presence!

I must say... as expected of her?

The fact that that woman hasn't been killed despite writing so many offensive reports shows that she's quite capable.

……

Chapter 105 Michael's Plan

"Honey, what's wrong?"

Seeing Scott's grim expression, Emilia also came over to look at the newspaper in his hand.

"Oh……"

She looked at the photo of Scott and Milton "bitterly parting" in the newspaper and let out a long sigh.

“This photo is great,” she commented. “They made you look very handsome, and Milton is very pretty…if he really were a girl.”

In this photo, Milton only shows half of his face, and with his long, flowing hair, anyone who sees the photo would probably think he is a girl.

But Milton's true gender obviously couldn't be hidden from Rita Skeeter.

Or perhaps the fact that Milton was a boy would excite her even more.

She clearly knew exactly what she was doing, deliberately revealing Milton's true gender only at the very end of the report.

Scott himself has been portrayed in this article as a playboy who flits between men and women...

After reading the report, Emilia said, "Honestly, I'd rather you were as flirtatious as described in this article."

Her tone was tinged with regret.

"You should enjoy your youth like a young person, darling."

"..."

Scott took a deep breath.

“That’s not the point, Millie,” he told his mother. “The point is that she’s exposed our address!”

He even began to suspect that it was that Auror named Williamson who had betrayed his home address.

Emilia laughed and said, "It's alright, the article only mentioned that you said goodbye at Hastings Station..."

“It’s Hastings, not London,” Scott said helplessly. “It’s too easy to find our house in this small town. Don’t forget how Milton found us.”

This report was really bad news for Scott.

He began to regret his carelessness.

Thinking of this, he stood up and paced around his house and yard.

According to the "original work," he knew that Rita Skeeter was an illegal Animagus who could transform into a beetle.

He wanted to confirm whether that guy was still lurking nearby, eavesdropping.

Scott searched with both his naked eye and his magical senses, but found nothing unusual.

In fact, magical perception is of little use to Animagus.

He had consulted Professor McGonagall about this issue.

When a wizard transforms into an animal, magical energy fluctuations only occur during the transformation process. However, when they maintain their animal form, the magical energy is usually imperceptible because it is maintaining the "transformation" itself.

Fortunately, it was winter, so the sudden appearance of insects would be quite noticeable.

Scott searched carefully for several rounds and was pretty sure that Rita Skeeter was not nearby.

"what happened to you?"

Emilia watched Scott bustling around, somewhat puzzled.

"fine."

Scott managed a weak smile.

“You and Mike should move out,” he said.

"Move away?" Emilia shook her head. "No, we won't move. Where can we go?"

"Listen to me..."

Scott was starting to panic.

He recounted Jacob's ordeal to Emilia again.

“You could move to Spain,” he suggested. “After all, you grew up there, and your grandparents are there too.”

Scott only learned in the last few days that his maternal grandparents were still alive; they had simply returned to Spain after Emilia's wedding.

“No, we’re not going anywhere,” Emilia said, sounding very reluctant.

“But those people have no bottom line,” Scott advised. “During the Wizarding Wars more than a decade ago, those Death Eaters often took pleasure in harming Muggles.”

His relationship with the pure-blood Slytherins was already bad, and it was foreseeable that it would get worse, which made him very worried about the safety of Emilia and Michael.

Emilia shook her head again. "We're not your average Muggles, darling! I'll make them eat bullets before they even lift that little stick!"

"..."

Scott felt a headache coming on as he watched his mother refuse to accept his advice.

He decided to go to the antique shop and talk to Michael.

Around noon, he took over the food delivery service for Michael and left home.