In the afternoon at the Umbrella House, Vid briefly talked about Carrel to everyone.
After listening, the others were fine, but Harry and Hermione were quite shaken.
"Luckily it was Hagrid who came to get me," Harry said. "I mean...if I had met that Byrd first, I definitely would have been fooled."
"You wouldn't, the whole Magic World is watching you!"
Hermione said nervously, "But for someone like me who comes from a completely Muggle family, there's no way to tell what's credible."
"I don't know more than you do, Hermione," Harry said to her. "As long as I could leave the Dursley Family, no matter who came to get me, I would have gone with them."
He often dreamed as a child about a relative suddenly appearing to take him away, but the dream never came true. Until he realized the dream was just a dream, the world of magic suddenly opened its doors to him.
Then, Remus and Vid came to get him from the Dursley Family, and he even had a godfather…
Sometimes Harry thought, maybe his past life was so miserable because God or Merlin saved the best for after he turned eleven.
"Oh, Harry." Hermione bit her lip, said guiltily, "I'm so sorry..."
She had just thought about Harry's great fame but forgotten what Harry had lost because of it.
Harry shook his head, saying nothing.
The group discussed the Carrel incident for a while, but no teenage kid could come up with anything useful; they mostly just organized the sparse information they had.
"The professors at school must know which Muggle families' kids didn't come to school."
Padma said finally, "If only we could get that list, we might find something."
Neville shook his head. "But such a list would definitely be with Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall; they wouldn't tell us."
Except for Neville, the Gryffindor boys had a glint of eagerness in their eyes.
"That's not necessarily true…" Fred blinked. "If we want to know the information, we might not need the professors' permission…"
"As long as someone can distract Professor McGonagall, like—"
George pretended to hold a book: "—Professor, I have a question I don't understand…"
Everyone looked at Hermione.
"Uh… I do have some questions I need to ask…"
Hermione halted halfway through her sentence and coughed lightly.
"...I mean, stealing from professors is against school rules! Plus, who knows the new password for Professor McGonagall's office?"
Everyone looked at Vid.
Vid shook his head.
"Sorry, I can't agree to this plan, nor will I help you with your action... Whatever we can think of, the professors are sure to understand. They must have already investigated what needs investigating."
"That's right," Michael nodded and said, "The professors, whether it's their experience or magic, are much stronger than us. They even have Apparition, might even investigate all the Muggle students in a day. Even if we get the list, what can we do with it?"
Harry suddenly understood: "So what we should steal is the investigation result!"
"Exactly!"
The Gryffindors all agreed, praising Ravenclaw for thinking so thoroughly.
Michael was speechless: "...Why does your thinking always revolve around stealing? We were saying that stealing is meaningless, unauthorized investigation is inefficient and a waste of time. The best strategy now is to wait for the results of the professors' and the Ministry of Magic's investigation."
"We know!" Harry said. "But since we know about this matter, can you resist not getting involved?"
"I can!" Michael said decisively.
"He can," Fred said at the same time, "He's a Ravenclaw!"
This statement was merely teasing, without ridicule, so everyone laughed, even Michael couldn't help but smile.
"Alright, do as you please..."
Michael shrugged: "In case the professors catch you, I'll figure out how to help reduce your punishment."
"Vid..."
The Gryffindors looked again at the one who had access to the password.
Vid again shook his head.
"I can't, without permission, just pass on the password the professor told me to others…"
As the little lions lowered their heads in disappointment, Vid looked away, turned to the potted plant in the corner, and said softly:
"But...if someone insists on accompanying me when I go to see Professor McGonagall...I can't just drive them away, can I?"
Everyone's mood immediately lifted, Michael winked at Vid.
Vid smiled shyly.
Adventures and scapegoats could be left to Gryffindor; this seemed to be the consensus between Ravenclaw and Slytherin.
But even if the Gryffindors saw through this, they mostly wouldn't mind and would still enthusiastically rush to the front.
Because they fear none of this; courage and adventure are what they want.
Even Vid didn't really believe Harry and the others could actually investigate anything substantial.
Especially those from wizard families; they might not even know whether Oxford is west or south of London, nor do they know which activities Muggle-born kids often participate in. Could they find out the reasons for student disappearance from library books?
So anything they could investigate, adults must have already investigated. Things they can't think of, adults probably already have in mind.
But Vid also didn't forget, this year in the storyline, Dumbledore had tacitly allowed Harry to go alone to confront and slay the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secret.