Hogwarts: What are the four great masters doing?

Filch's return to school itself is not important. What is important is his identity as the only person who knows about the Bloody Baron incident.

Given his current situation, it was obvious that he could not appear at the questioning meeting with Dumbledore and Ryan.

"I understand."

But at this moment, Ryan just nodded slightly.

Dumbledore didn't say anything else.

Obviously, this might be a fatal situation for anyone else, but neither of them cares much.

After a casual chat about Filch's treatment, the discussion on this matter ended.

And then, Ryan planned to say goodbye.

"Are you sure you don't need my help to look after Fox?" Ryan couldn't help but ask.

"I can feel its vitality..."

“Oh, no need.”

Dumbledore interrupted him gently but firmly: "The preparations for the Phoenix's Rebirth require absolute silence."

"..."

So Ryan looked at him deeply and said, "Okay."

Then he said goodbye and prepared to leave the principal's office.

But before leaving.

"By the way, Minerva is looking for you—I think you should go and see her."

Dumbledore said so.

"Professor McGonagall?"

Ryan was stunned.

But then, he nodded slightly and turned to leave.

So Dumbledore was the only one left in the headmaster's office.

The dusk outside the window gradually deepened, and the magic candlestick on the office desk lit up automatically.

In the flickering light, Dumbledore's shadow on the wall was unnaturally distorted - the outline sometimes expanded and sometimes contracted, as if fighting against some invisible force.

At this time, Ryan had no intention of procrastinating.

Following Dumbledore's reminder, he went straight to the Transfiguration Office.

At this moment, Professor McGonagall was indeed marking papers in the office - Ryan took a glance and it seemed to be a paper from a fourth-year student.

Judging from Professor McGonagall's furrowed brow, Ryan judged that their papers were not well written.

"Ryan—I think you should tell Fred and George that they've been taking it a bit too easy with their studies lately."

“I guess they had to give me a paper with enough words and not too much resemblance to Lee Jordan’s paper—they didn’t even fix the grammatical errors.”

"Otherwise, I think I'll have to forbid them from tinkering with the gadgets in your magic item shop."

Professor McGonagall pushed up her glasses, and her serious voice made Ryan tremble subconsciously.

Here it comes, this familiar feeling of oppression - even if Voldemort comes, I have to do my homework obediently.

"I'll tell them!"

So at this moment, Ryan didn't dare to argue at all, but spoke decisively.

“It’s not just about notifying them, you also need to urge them.”

Professor McGonagall said softly.

"Yes!"

Ryan nodded.

Then Professor McGonagall took off her reading glasses.

Ryan quickly changed the subject, fearing that Professor McGonagall would accuse him of leading the twins astray: "Professor McGonagall, I heard from Headmaster Dumbledore that you were looking for me?"

"Yeah...that's right—remember Animagus?"

Professor McGonagall said softly.

"You said you were going to start practicing after your first event at the Pawatu Club, but you've been putting it off until now... I think it's about time."

She said so.

This surprised Ryan a little.

That's right.

He had almost forgotten that he still had to practice Animagus - mainly because of the attack on Filch that happened after his first lesson at the Pavattu Club, and then the Horcruxes and Regulus Black.

Ryan was almost too busy to do anything, and he hadn't been in school for a long time, so naturally he forgot about it.

It was not until Professor McGonagall mentioned it that Ryan remembered it.

Professor McGonagall now continued, "I heard about Argus... Your and Albus's investigation is important, but studying Animagus is also important."

She said softly, "Animagus is crucial in many situations. I mean... you should probably start trying to master it now."

Her speaking style and accent were obviously different from before.

But after a brief moment of confusion, Ryan realized the situation.

Professor McGonagall had obviously heard about Filch's situation and was worried about the questioning between him and Dumbledore.

Dumbledore and Ryan didn't take it seriously, but Professor McGonagall did.

The reason why she asked Ryan to practice Animagus may be...

"You can't be worried that I'll be thrown into Azkaban, so you want me to use the Animagus to escape like Sirius did, right?"

Ryan muttered in his heart.

But no matter what, he agreed with what Professor McGonagall said.

He had intended to learn Animagus.

so...

"I'm available anytime, Professor."

He nodded and said so.

"Then let's start today—today happens to be a full moon."

So, Professor McGonagall said decisively.

"I'll get you the spells and rituals I've prepared. I know you already know them, but you need to memorize them more firmly."

She instructed this meticulously.

So, starting from the next day.

People who saw Ryan were surprised to find that he suddenly became silent.

After all, he had a single leaf of mandrake in his mouth, so it was difficult for him to speak.

However, after discovering this, the Gemini found it very interesting - they started a prank called "Silent Elias".

The prank, to put it simply, was to find a way to make Ryan speak.

"It would be great if he could swallow the mandrake leaf in his mouth - that would be fun."

The twins who acted so mischievously ended up being casually hung up by Ryan - well... that's right, even if it was inconvenient for them to speak, he could still control the twins with his silent spells.

And apart from Gemini's pranks.

Harry obviously did not hide the matter of Regulus from Ron and Hermione.

He readily admitted that he had been secretly meeting with Sirius recently, and told Hermione and Ron the story of Regulus.

The latter two also expressed disbelief after hearing about Regulus and the Horcrux.

"Incredible! Lion and Dumbledore have been secretly searching for the secret of Voldemort's immortality... and even destroyed one right in front of you!"

Ron exclaimed, "It's... legendary, that's right—it's a legendary story, isn't it?"

He excitedly asked Harry about the details of Ryan's destruction of the Horcrux.

Harry couldn't help but think of his inexplicable 'synaesthesia' with Voldemort at that time.

This made him feel a little uneasy, and he was hesitant when speaking to Ron.

Hermione's focus was obviously more emotional.

"Mister Regulus...oh, he's such a remarkable man."

She sighed, almost crying for Regulus's experience and choices.

"He's even willing to do it for the house-elves... I knew there were people like this among wizards—Lian is like this, and so is Mr. Regulus!"

Immediately, she said excitedly.

That's right.

Hermione is a house-elf rights advocate - in fact, Ryan had told her a long time ago that the food in the castle was made by the house-elves, and they didn't even get paid.

At that time, Hermione firmly stated that she would no longer eat the castle's food.

But then he was persuaded by Ryan.

"This has always been the rule in the wizarding world, Hermione. The house-elves are willing to do so, otherwise they will suffer the torment of the contract."

"It's good to be kind and compassionate, but you shouldn't force compassion on the elves. You should investigate and think about how to make fundamental changes."

"It requires you to be in a high position and to have enough companions - that's always the case with great undertakings."

Ryan convinced Hermione.

But based on Hermione's observations this semester, she believed that the exploitation and inequality of house-elves were almost ingrained in the wizarding world.

This made her very unhappy.

But after hearing about Regulus today, she discovered that there are still people in the magical world who regard house-elves as family members.