Lupin was highly efficient; by noon the next day, he informed Wade that he had purchased the Vanishing Cabinet from Borgin and Burkes.
At the same time, Wade, under the pretense of studying alchemy, borrowed the castle's Vanishing Cabinet from Professor McGonagall for research, assuring her that he understood the dangers involved and wouldn't foolishly climb inside to investigate.
The Vanishing Cabinet was a black and gold cabinet inscribed with numerous ancient runes and intricate patterns. Ancient magic created a peculiar passage between the two Vanishing Cabinets, allowing instant travel even within Hogwarts, where Apparition was forbidden.
In the original story, Death Eaters used this passage to infiltrate Hogwarts, and Dumbledore died that night.
Wade used a Shrinking Charm to bring the cabinet to the Room of Requirement, then found time to experiment. He contacted Lupin via the Book of Friends, placing various items into the cabinet and retrieving them from the other end.
The first few experiments went smoothly—apples, bread, cushions, buckets, and similar items were placed in and retrieved perfectly intact.
Lupin then suggested experimenting with living creatures—mice, rabbits, pygmy puffs... creatures whose size increasingly approached that of humans, and gradually magical creatures were introduced.
The thirteenth experiment went awry.
Wade felt something was off as he pulled open the cabinet door. Upon opening it, he found a lifeless pygmy puff lying inside.
[Wade: It's dead.]
[Lupin: What happened?]
[Wade: No wounds, but its breathing stopped. You can check on your end.]
Wade closed the cabinet door again, then Lupin opened it and saw the pygmy puff's cold corpse. He moved it out and examined it carefully.
[Lupin: The body is very cold, as if it died at least three or four hours ago. There are strange cracks on its skin, and its bones are more brittle than biscuits. It seems that the moment the door closed, it went to a strange place and died there.]
[Lupin: Wade, the Vanishing Cabinet is more dangerous than we thought.]
[Wade: I understand. Experiment paused. I'll see if I can repair this cabinet first.]
As he put down his quill, Wade couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
He thought the Vanishing Cabinet was only broken by Peeves in Harry's second year, but he hadn't expected it wasn't fully intact even before it was damaged.
He focused intently on the Vanishing Cabinet. Slowly, countless golden runic circuits flowed into view, complex magical arrays layered one upon another, and hundreds of ancient runes coiled around the cabinet like chains.
Tiny flaws, incomplete patterns, runes worn by time, magic that seemed corroded...
He gradually pinpointed the missing parts of the Vanishing Cabinet.
The Umbrella Room.
After practical training, everyone was applying bruise balm to each other. Harry asked, "Wade seems very busy lately? He only comes to the Umbrella Room every three or four days."
Each time he came, he would spend about an hour teaching them a new spell, offering guidance on problems they encountered in their studies, and then quickly disappear again.
"Yeah," Michael said helplessly. "That alchemy professor seems to have given Wade a very difficult assignment. Lately, he rarely even returns to the common room, always staying somewhere else researching alchemy."
A cleaning crab scuttled over, collecting all the used cotton balls and then mopping the floor.
Everyone's gaze involuntarily followed it around. Only when the crab returned to its shell nest and lay down quietly did they leave the Umbrella Room. As they walked down one floor, they encountered an unexpected person.
"H-hello there..."
Professor Quirrell seemed startled by the accidental meeting as well. He had an awkward smile on his face and nervously stammered a greeting to his students.
Michael, Hermione, and Ryan instinctively lowered their heads, as if very respectful, and said, "Good evening, Professor."
Harry and Theo, however, spoke freely: "Hello, Professor Quirrell." Neville, a step behind, also hurried to add his greeting.
As they were about to part ways, Harry added an extra line: "Keep it up, Professor! You're really brave!"
Professor Quirrell gave a short, nervous laugh and made a small waving gesture with his hand.
"You..." Hermione stared intently at Harry, her eyes seemingly holding a thousand words.
Theo simply said, "Harry, you think Professor Quirrell... uh... brave?"
—There was no professor in the entire school more timid than Quirrell.
"You don't understand." Harry spoke profoundly, as if he harbored many secrets. "Professor Quirrell is fighting evil. He's truly amazing."
Theo and Neville, though they didn't understand, nodded vaguely. The others, however, wore expressions that were hard to describe, exchanging glances.
"Keep an eye on him. Don't let them get close again," Michael whispered.
Everyone silently nodded, feeling burdened with a heavy responsibility.
Harry was unaware of the others' worries. He returned to his dormitory with his usual joy, shared what he had learned that day with Ron, played a bit of Wizard's Chess, and then went to bed.
But for some reason, the scar on his forehead was throbbing faintly that night. While everyone else was deep in sleep, Harry couldn't fall asleep. He simply put on his jacket and sat by the window, gazing at the starry night sky outside.
Suddenly, a dark shadow streaked across his vision. It took Harry a moment to realize—it was someone flying on a broomstick in the sky!
Who was that?
What were they doing flying around the school in the middle of the night?
Harry, without a second thought, found his Firebolt 2000, climbed through the window onto his broom, and soared down from the eighth floor of the castle!
He rapidly descended, then quickly regained altitude, circling in the sky for a moment. He spotted a figure by the Black Lake. Harry circled from above, and only as he approached did he realize that the person standing there was Wade.
"Hi, Wade." Harry dismounted his broom and walked over, asking, "What are you doing here?"
"Harry?" Wade turned his head, also a little surprised. "It's so late, aren't you asleep yet?"
"Can't sleep." Harry touched the scar on his forehead and said, "I don't know why, but I have a bit of a headache today—maybe Snape is cursing me from under the Black Lake?"
Wade's gaze swept over the lightning-shaped scar. He answered the previous question: "I was just about to go back to sleep tonight when I suddenly saw someone with white hair here... But by the time I flew over, he was gone."
He wasn't sure if the figure he saw tonight was the same as the one he saw over half a year ago, but for some reason, Wade was always very concerned about it.
Perhaps it was because he had never seen that person's name from such a distance.
Harry scratched his hair, not thinking too deeply, and guessed, "Maybe you saw wrong?"
"Perhaps."
Wade didn't argue. He saw Hagrid carrying a lantern and accompanied by his fang-dog, Fang, entering the Forbidden Forest under the cover of night.
"Looks like Hagrid isn't asleep yet either," Wade said.
"He's probably going to feed Norbert, right?" Harry said casually.
"Norbert?" Wade suddenly turned to look at him.
"Yeah! Oh, that baby dragon. Hagrid named her Norbert," Harry explained. "She's getting bigger and bigger, so he couldn't keep her in the cabin anymore. Hagrid moved her to a cave in the Forbidden Forest."
Wade was surprised. "She wasn't sent away?"
Harry sighed helplessly. "Hermione tried to persuade him several times, and Ron also said his brother Charlie was studying dragons in Romania and could take care of Norbert, but Hagrid just couldn't bear to part with her..."
"ROAR—"
Suddenly, a colossal roar echoed from the Forbidden Forest, and a burst of fire shot directly into the sky!