"Put them away! Put them all away!" As the Weasley Twins were about to put on the goggles, Wood hurriedly said, "This is our secret weapon for victory, don't let the Slytherin people see it!"
The Gryffindor people nodded seriously, tucked the goggles into their pockets, looked at the Slytherin Long Table, and revealed confident smiles.
There were two goggles left, so Carrel kept one for himself and gave the other to Michael, happily saying, "Now we can watch the match without worrying about rainwater getting in our eyes!"
Seeing Carrel running back to the Gryffindor Long Table and blending in with the crowd like a member of the team, Michael whispered to Vid:
"I can see why this transfer student is so popular in Gryffindor... He's enthusiastic about other people's affairs as if they were his own, and of course, everyone likes to befriend him."
"Yeah."
Vid nodded, remembering that when they were kids, Carrel had many friends, at least far more than Vid.
A scent wafted over—Padma passed them without looking sideways, then sat at the farthest side of the Long Table.
Michael's smile disappeared from his face, and he poked at the steak on his plate, seemingly oblivious to it.
Vid sighed and tapped Michael's umbrella with his Magic Wand.
"I cast a spell on your umbrella, it can cover two people when opened and won't be affected by the gale."
Vid said, "Take this opportunity to reconcile with Padma... The situation between you two is making others uncomfortable too."
Michael nodded silently.
...
After breakfast, the students gradually walked towards the Quidditch Pitch, the wind and rain still raging, and many umbrellas were swept away by the wind.
But even so, the students preferred to proceed against the wind and get soaked rather than return to the warm, dry common room.
Vid walked alone towards the Room of Requirement.
Although he already had the headset, Vid hadn't stopped improving the Friendship Book, the work was almost coming to an end recently.
By now, the profit from the Friendship Book had become very thin, and the emergence of many knock-offs was squeezing an already scant market.
However, Vid believes that no matter how convenient the headset is, the Friendship Book will surely have a place for its existence.
Even in the future, when the Magic World introduces products similar to mobile phones, Vid hopes its exit will be graceful, not forgotten like an unfinished project in disgrace.
"Bang!"
A sudden heavy object hit the glass nearby, startling Vid, he looked up to see a bedraggled owl lying outside the window, staring at him with round eyes.
Vid waved his hand, and the tightly closed window swung open, the owl stormed in along with the wind and rain!
The icy cold wind instantly puffed up Vid's robe, he waved to shut the window while catching this heavenly messenger.
This owl was very thin and cold, shivering and exhausted to the point of collapse, yet it still tried hard to lift its claw and handed him the small cylinder tied to it.
Vid took the cylinder, whispered a spell, and waved his palm over the owl.
The cold rainwater disappeared, its body regained warmth.
The owl looked around in surprise, then noticed a small pile of owl food in front of it, and immediately lowered its head to eat.
Only then did Vid take out the letter from the cylinder.
Inside was a sheet of paper rolled into a slender strip, he rubbed it with his fingers, the paper had a rough texture similar to parchment but lacked a unique smoothness.
Vid felt a faint realization in his heart.
This must be a knock-off version of the Friendship Book.
Vid brought the owl to an empty classroom and sat down, then tested it several times with his Magic Wand before writing a "?"
He didn't rashly write his name.
After almost half a minute, a messy line of words finally appeared—
[Help! Help me! He]
Vid stared at the abruptly ended "He," unsure if it was an incomplete cry for help or referring to someone.
He wrote down: [Calm down, who are you? What kind of help do you need? Why are you looking for me?]
After a long while, new, shaky words emerged on the paper:
[I am the one you gave the invisibility cloak to—I'm the bespectacled beetle—please help me—aside from you, I don't know who else to turn to—]
…
[Aside from you, I don't know who else to turn to—]
The hasty writing appeared on the parchment.
It was a clean, bright room, with ceilings reaching over ten meters high, surrounded by giant translucent glass walls, a shark slowly swam past the glass wall.
Beside a curved long table, a woman in red interpreted, "The strokes are trembling, discontinuous, varied in size, the layout is chaotic—the one writing is very scared, very panicked, it seems that the woman hasn't escaped."
The man with a ponytail beside her showed a grim smile.
"It's good that she's still on the island! Recheck everything again, make sure you find her out for me!"
"Yes!"
The black-clad guards behind responded in unison, then immediately sprang into action.
"It sounds like she's seeking a wizard friend's help, should we intercept the signal transmission?"
Another short and stout man with glasses asked.
"Intercept? No, don't, let them come!" The ponytail man sneered, "I was just worrying about not having enough experimental materials!"
He walked to the wall, pressed something, and a huge metal door silently slid open, revealing a metal platform behind the wall.
The man walked up, holding the railing, looking down.
Below him was a laboratory resembling a factory assembly line, dozens of researchers in white lab coats were busy, everything in the room was orderly and progressing rapidly, everyone's eyes were equally dead and cold, the conveyor belts on the ceiling and floor moved silently.
Occasionally, a smear of blood appeared on the conveyor belt, but it was quickly washed away by thin streams of water, leaving only the faint smell of disinfectant in the room.
The man had a disdainful smile on his lips.
"—Wizards? Under the influence of technology, they're just a bunch of clowns living in the Middle Ages."
…
"Buzz————"
A strange buzzing noise suddenly blared again, Rita Skeeter curled up painfully, almost unable to help but scream aloud.
She bit into the stinky blanket, her hands clutching herself, shivering on the shabby bed, her whole body felt like countless ants were gnawing at her muscles and bones, feeling so uncomfortable she nearly went crazy.
She endured with all her strength, not knowing how much time had passed, even wondering if she was already dead, uncontrollable tears and mucus streaming.
After what seemed like an eternity, the torment finally ceased.
When Rita Skeeter regained feeling in her body, she discovered a pair of small hands holding her face, someone was gently wiping the stains off her face with a worn-out handkerchief.
She opened her eyes and saw the person who saved her again.
The cramped cell held over ten kids, both boys and girls, the oldest being thirteen, the youngest only four.
They wore loose white robes, with no underwear or shoes, barefoot on the ground, their faces showed the pallor of long absence from sunlight.
The one helping her wipe her face was a thirteen-year-old girl.
Rita trembled and whispered: "Did those people... leave?"
The girl nodded vigorously, seemingly to comfort her, she even gave her a faint smile.
Rita's tears almost fell again.
She sniffled and said, "Hold on a bit longer, someone will come to save us, they definitely will!"
Rita looked down at the crumpled paper she was clutching, only one sentence was written on it—
[Where are you?]