Wade spread out the map, searching carefully.
At this time, most students were in the Great Hall eating, so not many remained in the dormitories.Wadefound the Gryffindor common room, then meticulously distinguished among the few black dots.
Alicia Spinnet... Geoffrey Hooper... Cormac McLaggen... Dean Thomas... Peter Pettigrew...
Found him.
Wade looked at the tiny black dot. Perhaps he was sleeping; the small black dot representing Peter Pettigrew was motionless. Dean Thomas, next to him, was pacing around and soon left the dormitory.
Then Peter's black dot began to move. It ran purposefully to a spot, then became motionless again.Wadeguessed perhaps he was secretly snacking on student treats, as Ron couldn't possibly give a rat too much food; perhaps he was reading a newspaper, checking if the Death Eaters still had any hope of rising again.
Wade left the map on the desk and turned to look at the shelves by the wall. This once empty wooden shelf was now filled with potions, glass bottles of all sizes neatly arranged, with rectangular labels affixed to them. Multicolored potions shimmered in the glass bottles; some emitted a faint mist, others a sinister black glow.
Wade's gaze swept over the labels one by one.
Polyjuice Potion, Shrinking Solution, Pimple-Cure Potion, Swelling Solution, Draught of Living Death, Dittany, Blood-Replenishing Potion, Confusing Concoction, Ageing Potion...
In addition, there was also Venomous Tentacula, Aconite, Fluxweed, powdered Horned Serpent horn, Diricawl feathers, lead powder, arsenic ore...
Most of the poisonous substances were raw materials. After all, their textbooks wouldn't teach students how to brew poisons. Even when using aconite or Mandrake, it was for their medicinal value. However, most poisons didn't require much processing; just a small amount of powder could be lethal.
Wade examined them for a moment, then pondered.
There was no Veritaserum. It wasn't that he didn't want it, but as a forbidden potion, it couldn't be bought through legitimate channels, andWadecouldn't possibly ask Ferdinand to go to a place like Knockturn Alley to buy potions for him. In the library, perhaps only the Restricted Section would have the Veritaserum recipe.
"Most Potente Potions?" Madam Pince scrutinized the note and Lockhart's flamboyant signature on it, asking, "Mr. Gray, this is a very dangerous book."
"Yes, I know,"Wadesaid. "I will carefully learn the beneficial parts within it."
"Alright," Madam Pince grumbled. "Professor Lockhart is far too arbitrary, approving anything for students..."
She strode into the Restricted Section and soon emerged with a thick, seemingly moldy book, which she handed to Wade.Wadetook the book but didn't leave immediately, instead asking, "Has Professor Lockhart approved any other restricted books for other students?"
"A low-year Slytherin student actually borrowed Most Deadly Spells!" Madam Pince said disapprovingly. "He truly has no sense of propriety!"
"That student... wouldn't happen to be Draco Malfoy, would it?"Wadeguessed.
The fleeting expression on Madam Pince's face indicated he was correct. However, the librarian sternly said, "Don't pry, Mr. Gray. I will not divulge student secrets."
"Don't provoke the Slytherins lately, especially Draco Malfoy."
During the Umbrella Room activity,Wadewarned everyone, specifically glancing at Michael.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked.
"He borrowed a book called Most Deadly Spells from the library,"Wadesaid. "I suspect he might be trying to learn some dangerous dark magic to use on someone."
"Speaking of which..." Hermione looked at Harry and Neville. "Malfoy hasn't bothered you two recently, has he?"
"Yeah," Harry said puzzlingly. "He joined the Slytherin Quidditch team. I thought he'd be lording it over us for a while!"
Ryan said, "Malfoy hasn't been having an easy time lately. I once saw him arguing with some Slytherins near the dungeons and he almost got pushed over by Crabbe."
The Serpent and Badger common rooms were quite close, so they often ran into Slytherin students.
"That's strange," Harry said, perplexed. "Hasn't Crabbe always been Malfoy's sidekick?"
Padma hinted, "Perhaps he doesn't want to be a sidekick anymore?"
Michael proudly raised an eyebrow, about to say something. ButWadeshook his head at him.
"Forget about the Slytherins,"Wadesaid, tapping his palm with his wand, asking everyone, "Have you all mastered the Stunning Spell?"
"Of course," everyone nodded in unison.
Hermione said excitedly, "Are we going to learn new spells?"
Wade shook his head. "You don't need many spells for real combat, but the ones you use must be the most familiar. Ideally, you should be able to cast them without thinking, without incantations, or even without a wand!"
"Silent and wandless?" Theo muttered. "That's very difficult..."
"So that's a future goal,"Wadesaid. "For now, what we need to do is simple—draw your wand in the shortest time, successfully cast spells even while dodging, and ensure you hit your target."
"How do we train?" Michael asked eagerly. "Still like before, with dueling practice?"
Wade shook his head. "What we did before wasn't real combat practice; it was just stationary spell-throwing."
"To truly learn how to use spells, let's play a game." He smiled, seemingly with a hint of mischief.
"What game?" Neville swallowed nervously, asking.
Wade beamed.
"Battle Royale!"
"Hey, Wade, you're here!" The Weasley twins clapped the nearby fence, raising a hand in greeting. Hagrid, who was trimming the over-head-high bushes nearby, also waved cheerfully when he saw them.
Next to Hagrid was the pumpkin patch, where many pumpkins had grown taller than a person.
"Oh my goodness, they're so big!" Neville couldn't help but exclaim. Harry hadn't visited Hagrid for days either and was surprised by the massive changes in his garden. He asked, "Hagrid, how did you make them grow so tall?"
"Is it the Engorgement Charm?" Hermione turned toWadeand asked, "Are we training here?"
"Yes, this environment is excellent. Launching a surprise attack from behind the pumpkins is very difficult to guard against, isn't it?" Fred said, leaning on a smaller pumpkin, laughing.
"Actually, the ideal environment would be the Forbidden Forest, but Hagrid won't let us in, not even the edges!" George said regretfully.
For Wade, the even more ideal place would have been the Room of Requirement, as it could simulate various environments. However, with Peter Pettigrew still at school, he didn't want to reveal that secret to Harry and the others.