Lupin was incredibly efficient. By noon the next day, he informed Wade that he had already purchased the Vanishing Cabinet from Borgin and Burkes.
At the same time, Wade, under the pretext of researching alchemy, managed to borrow the castle's Vanishing Cabinet from Professor McGonagall, promising that he was aware of the risks and would not recklessly attempt to experiment by entering it himself.
The Vanishing Cabinet was a mix of black and gold, adorned with ancient runes and intricate, mysterious patterns. An ancient enchantment connected the two Vanishing Cabinets, creating a strange passage between them.
Even in a place like Hogwarts, where Apparition was forbidden, people could use the two cabinets to transport themselves instantly.
In the storyline, the Death Eaters used this passage to invade Hogwarts, and it was on that fateful night that Dumbledore met his end.
Wade used a Shrinking Charm to transport the cabinet to the Room of Requirement, where he set aside time to conduct experiments.
He stayed in contact with Lupin through the Book of Friends, putting various objects into the cabinet and retrieving them from the other side.
The first few experiments went smoothly—apples, bread, cushions, and buckets were placed into the cabinet, and they all came out perfectly intact.
Lupin then suggested experimenting with live creatures—rats, rabbits, and eventually, a knarl—gradually working up to animals closer in size to humans, and even those with magical properties.
It was during the thirteenth experiment that something went wrong.
Wade felt uneasy as soon as he opened the cabinet. When he fully opened the door, he found a knarl lying inside, no longer breathing.
[Wade: It's dead.]
[Lupin: What happened?]
[Wade: There are no visible wounds, but it stopped breathing. You can check it on your end.]
Wade closed the cabinet door again, and when Lupin opened it on his side, he saw the cold, lifeless body of the knarl. He carefully removed it and conducted a thorough examination.
[Lupin: The body is extremely cold, as if it's been dead for at least three or four hours. The skin has strange cracks, and the bones are as brittle as biscuits. It's as if, in the instant the door was closed, it traveled to some strange place and died there.]
[Lupin: Wade, the Vanishing Cabinets are far more dangerous than we initially thought.]
[Wade: I understand. We'll halt the experiments for now. I'll see if I can repair this cabinet.]
When Wade put down his quill, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
He had thought that the Vanishing Cabinet had only been damaged by Peeves during Harry's second year. However, it turned out that it wasn't in perfect condition even before that incident.
Focusing intently on the Vanishing Cabinet, Wade slowly began to see countless golden magical circuits appear, flowing like water. Complex magical formations layered upon each other, and hundreds of ancient runes wound around the cabinet like chains.
Small flaws, incomplete patterns, runes worn down by time, and magic that seemed rusted...
Bit by bit, Wade identified the damaged sections of the Vanishing Cabinet.
...
Umbrella Room.
After their combat training session, everyone applied bruise-healing ointment to each other. Harry asked, "Wade seems really busy lately, doesn't he? He only comes to the Umbrella Room once every three or four days."
Each time he came, he would spend about an hour teaching them a new spell, offering some guidance on their learning challenges, and then quickly disappearing again.
"Yeah," Michael said helplessly. "That alchemy professor seems to have given Wade a really tough assignment. He barely even returns to the common room lately, always off somewhere researching alchemy."
The cleaning crabs clattered across the floor, gathering up the cotton swabs and mopping the floor.
Everyone's gaze followed the crab around the room until it crawled back into its shell nest and settled down quietly. Only then did they leave the Umbrella Room. As they descended a flight of stairs, they ran into someone unexpected.
"Y-You all... hello..."
Professor Quirrell seemed startled by the encounter, a nervous smile appeared on his face as he timidly extended his hand to greet his students.
Michael, Hermione, and Ryan reflexively lowered their heads, as if showing him great respect, and said, "Good evening, Professor."
Harry and Theo, on the other hand, greeted him confidently, "Hello, Professor Quirrell."
Neville, who was a step behind, also quickly followed with his own greeting.
As they were about to part ways, Harry added, "Good luck, Professor! You're really brave!"
Professor Quirrell gave a short, nervous laugh and raised his hand in a small wave.
"You..." Hermione stared intently at Harry, her eyes were filled with unspoken thoughts.
Theo, on the other hand, asked directly, "Harry, do you really think Professor Quirrell is... uh... brave?"
— After all, there was no professor in the entire school more timid than Quirrell.
"You guys don't understand," Harry said mysteriously, as if he were carrying many secrets. "Professor Quirrell is battling evil. He's truly remarkable."
Theo and Neville didn't quite understand, but they nodded vaguely. The others, however, exchanged perplexed looks, their expressions were hard to describe.
"Keep an eye on him. Don't let them get close again," Michael whispered in a low voice.
Everyone nodded silently, feeling the weight of a great responsibility settle upon them.
...
Harry was unaware of the concerns of the others. He returned to the dormitory with the same joy as always, shared what he had learned that day with Ron, played a round of wizard chess, and then went to bed.
But for some reason, his scar throbbed faintly tonight. While everyone else fell into deep sleep, Harry found himself unable to doze off. He eventually threw on a coat and sat by the window, gazing out at the starry night sky.
Suddenly, a shadow passed through his line of sight, and it took Harry a moment to realize what he'd seen—a person flying across the sky on a broomstick!
Who could that be?
What are they doing flying around the school in the middle of the night?
Without thinking, Harry grabbed his Nimbus 2000, climbed out the window, and leapt off the eighth floor of the castle on his broom!
He descended rapidly before pulling up, circling the sky for a moment, and then spotted a figure near the Black Lake. Approaching cautiously from above, he was surprised to discover that the person standing there was Wade.
"Hey, Wade," Harry called as he landed his broom and walked over. "What are you doing out here?"
"Harry?" Wade turned, equally surprised. "It's so late. Why aren't you asleep?"
"Couldn't sleep," Harry said, rubbing his scar. "For some reason, I've had a headache all night—maybe Snape's down at the bottom of the Black Lake cursing me."
Wade glanced at Harry's lightning-shaped scar before answering the previous question: "I was just about to head back to sleep when I saw what looked like a white-haired person over here... but by the time I flew over, they were gone."
He wasn't sure if the figure he saw tonight was the same one he had spotted more than six months ago, but for some reason, Wade couldn't shake the feeling that this incident was important.
Maybe it was because the distance was too great, but he had never managed to catch the person's name.
Harry scratched his head, not giving it much thought, and guessed, "Maybe you just saw it wrong?"
"Maybe."
Wade didn't argue. He noticed Hagrid, carrying a lantern and accompanied by his dog, Fang, heading into the Forbidden Forest under the cover of darkness.
"Looks like Hagrid's still awake," Wade said.
"Probably off to feed Norbert?" Harry said casually.
"Norbert?" Wade turned to him suddenly.
"Yeah! Oh, that's the baby dragon. Hagrid named him Norbert," Harry explained. "He's been growing bigger and bigger, and it got too difficult to keep him in the hut. So Hagrid moved him to a cave in the Forbidden Forest."
Wade was surprised. "He didn't send him away?"
Harry sighed helplessly: "Hermione tried to convince him several times, and Ron even said his brother Charlie works with dragons in Romania and could take care of Norbert. But Hagrid just can't bear to part with him..."
"Roooaaaarrr—"
Suddenly, a huge roar echoed from the Forbidden Forest, followed by a burst of fire shooting up into the sky!
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