"I'm sorry, Dad."
The young wolf, Kallan, said in a tender voice, "I… Morris and I were just really curious about Hogwarts, so we wanted to get a closer look… I swear we only wanted a peek!"
"But on the way, Morris suddenly pushed me away, and he was snatched by that big lizard… I found him in the cave, and we barely escaped, only to be surrounded by those poisonous spiders…"
"Then, a wizard suddenly appeared… It was… a student, but he had a bird like a Phoenix with him, and all the spiders were scared away. He took Morris away…"
As he spoke, his voice grew softer and softer. His round head and triangular ears drooped, making him look very ashamed and dejected.
The man was silent for a long time, looking towards Hogwarts in the distance, and said, "Did I not tell you not to run outside our hunting grounds?"
"You did, Dad," Kallan whispered, lowering his head.
"Did I not repeatedly warn you…" The man looked at him with angry eyes, growling, "The most dangerous area in the entire Forbidden Forest is near Hogwarts, and you are absolutely forbidden from approaching that castle?"
"I'm sorry," Kallan said, hanging his head. "We… we were just too curious. We thought it would be fine if we just secretly looked from a distance…"
"Fine?" the man roared. "Because of that irresponsible guess, your brother's life is almost gone, and you tell me 'fine'?"
The young wolf was almost completely lying on the ground, his face buried between his front paws, his small body trembling uncontrollably.
Suddenly, a white wolf stepped in front of him, nudging the young wolf closer with one paw, and then glanced sideways at the man, her eyes filled with warning and displeasure.
The man met her gaze, a muscle twitching slightly at the corner of his eye, then turned his sight away.
"Vera, take the children back," he said.
"Woof?" The white wolf let out a low growl from her throat.
"I'll stay here," the man said, his eyes fierce. "If that wizard cub doesn't bring Morris back, I'll find a way to rescue him myself."
The white wolf hesitated for a moment, but then she looked at her cubs beside her, nodded, and several wolves, big and small, turned and left.
After running for a distance, a girl's voice rang out among the pack: "So Kallan, did you see that school?"
"No," Kallan said dejectedly. "Only Morris was taken. I… I hid in the bushes and didn't come out."
"Heh, scaredy-cat."
"Shut up, Ivy. If it were you, I don't believe you wouldn't be scared."
"I'm not scared!"
"Keep your voice down, it'll be bad if the Centaurs hear you!"
"Haha, scaredy-cat Rain!"
"I'm just being cautious! Centaurs, Dragons, Acromantulas, Mermaids, Hippogriffs, Thestrals, and I heard there used to be Basilisks, and a giant octopus that's lived for thousands of years in the lake… Why is this school so dangerous? Aren't those wizards living in the castle afraid?"
"Maybe they have some special method, maybe they can avoid being harmed by dangerous creatures… Wizards have lived there for thousands of years, the Forbidden Forest is like home to them, so of course they're not afraid."
"Do you think… is there any magic school in the world that would accept wolves like us as students? Even though we can't do magic, we're smart and we can talk!"
"Dream on! There's no such good thing even in dreams!"
The children's chattering voices gradually faded away, and the brownish-yellow fur on the man's pointed ears trembled slightly.
Hearing the children's final hopeful words, he lowered his eyes and silently recounted the weapons he carried with him.
Then, he slung on his backpack, pushed aside the leaves and bushes, and walked towards Hogwarts. His only intact pair of trousers was torn in many places by the trees, leaving grey-green strips of fabric on the slender, sharp thorns of the plants.
…
Madam Pomfrey was treating students' injuries in the ward. Wade, familiar with the layout, found an empty room and first treated the young wolf's wounds.
While wizards possessed various magical spells and potions, they couldn't instantly heal all injuries. Otherwise, Moody wouldn't be covered in scars, and Professor Kettleburn wouldn't have only one and a half limbs left.
After Wade finished treating the wounds, he realized Madam Pomfrey had been standing behind him for a while and quickly greeted her.
"Good technique," Madam Pomfrey said approvingly, stepping forward to take over the young wolf's injuries, and casually asked, "I didn't expect you to pick up a wolf… What caused this?"
"Norberta," Wade said.
Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Of course, I should have known… who else could it be?"
She performed some routine checks with her Wand, then paused slightly.
"Step back, Wade! This wolf seems to be a bit unusual."
Madam Pomfrey said, pointing her Wand at the young wolf. The Wand emitted a blue-white light, completely enveloping the young wolf.
After a moment, the light disappeared. The young wolf remained unchanged, but its brow was furrowed even in sleep, as if it was very uncomfortable.
"He's not an Animagus, Madam," Wade said.
Madam Pomfrey frowned. "But the magical energy on it is extraordinary, not like what a normal wolf would have."
"He's a descendant of a Werewolf," Wade explained. "He said his father is a Werewolf—and this child can even speak human language."
"That explains it, is it that family from the Forbidden Forest?" Madam Pomfrey said, understanding.
"You all know?" Wade asked, surprised.
"Of course," Madam Pomfrey said with a smile. "When you've been at the school long enough, you get to know a little bit of every secret."
"What happened?" Wade asked, his ashen eyes filled with curiosity.
An elder like Madam Pomfrey, full of true history, could hardly resist such an eager expression from a junior wanting to hear stories. She continued to treat the wound as she spoke:
"Years ago, two werewolves mated in their wolf forms during a full moon. They had a litter of true wolf pups, incredibly intelligent and beautiful. Though they had the appearance of wolves, they possessed human hearts. With Dumbledore's permission, they were secretly allowed to live in the Forbidden Forest."
"Two werewolves?" Wade asked, confused. "But the child only said his father was a werewolf."
"That was many years ago. This little one is likely the third generation, and his mother found another werewolf," Madam Pomfrey sighed sympathetically. "I must say, that practice is very unwise… Poor child."
"Poor?" Wade repeated.
"That mother wolf should have sought out ordinary wolves to mate with," Madam Pomfrey said. "The stronger the human bloodline in the offspring, the more intelligent they become… Restricted by their bodies, the smarter they are, the more they suffer…"
Wade fell silent.
Madam Pomfrey didn't take long to treat the wounds. She told Wade, "Norberta's claws and teeth are venomous, so this little one needs to stay with me overnight. Tomorrow morning, you can take it back to the Forbidden Forest."
"Understood, Madam," Wade said, glancing at the sleeping wolf pup. "I'll come back tomorrow morning."
…
The Eagle Door Knocker spoke in a pleasant, gentle voice: "I never speak, yet I answer all questions; I never move, yet I can take you anywhere; I never think, yet I give you wisdom. What am I?"
"A book," Wade replied.
"Correct answer." The door opened.
Wade entered the Ravenclaw common room and immediately saw Michael and a few other students who had been to the Forbidden Forest surrounded by others, excitedly listening to and repeatedly asking about their evening's "adventure."
"Is she really sixty feet tall?" a girl asked, curious yet scared.
"More than that, I think possibly even taller," Michael said seriously. "I was looking up from the ground, and you know, estimating height that way isn't very accurate."
"Aren't you scared? Such a huge creature, I'd probably be scared to death if it were me," a younger boy with glasses asked timidly.
"Actually, I was pretty scared at first," Michael admitted honestly. "But when Norberta lowered her head, allowing me to touch her neck, I felt inexplicably moved. Can you imagine that feeling?"
A chorus of envious sighs rose around the fireplace.
"I want to touch a Dragon too… It's a shame I'm not Professor Hagrid's favorite student," someone said regretfully.
"Actually, when we left, Professor Hagrid gave us an essay to write."
Michael put on a look as if he was about to reveal a secret, lowering his voice. "If anyone volunteers to write an essay that shows the professor their love for Dragons, maybe they'll get to go along next time to the Forbidden Forest…"
Wade shook his head, walked past the crowd, and headed upstairs.
He knew Michael wasn't trying to trick others into doing his homework; he simply didn't want to suffer through the work alone.
Before Michael could even finish speaking, many students groaned and dispersed. But some remained, ready to take on the extra essay assignment.
…
Wade returned to his dorm, tidied up quickly, and then spent some time in his Wardrobe Space.
The initial renovation of the space was complete. White functional rooms stretched in a series: bathrooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, alchemy labs, potion rooms, storage rooms… various rooms were scattered in an orderly fashion, capable of meeting almost all of Wade's needs.
Because of this, he rarely went to the Room of Requirement anymore. That room wasn't as convenient as his Wardrobe Space, and it was far away, though it was very close to Dumbledore's office tower and had a portrait that watched him all day.
While Wade currently had no issues with Dumbledore or Barnaby, he preferred the feeling of having a completely private space.
It was late when he emerged from the Wardrobe Space, but the Communication Pea on his desk was glowing faintly.
Wade put the Communication Pea in his ear and gently pressed it.
"Hi, Wade?" His father Ferdinand's voice came through the Communication Pea. "Still awake this late?"
"You too," Wade couldn't help but smile. "Still looking at documents this late?"
"…Only one left, I'll be done soon," Ferdinand said. "Wade, I've found the person you were looking for."
Wade paused. "…Huh?"
"Huh?" Ferdinand repeated his tone in surprise, asking, "You haven't forgotten what you entrusted me with before, have you? Lycanthropy, a scientist, remember?"
Wade was silent for a moment before remembering that long-ago request.
A werewolf named Claire had provided Wade with her blood sample, hoping he could help solve the problem of Lycanthropy. Wade, in turn, anonymously sent the blood sample to a university laboratory, entrusting them with the testing.
Unfortunately, the tests yielded no results, and later, other things happened that made Wade realize that entrusting strangers with testing was actually quite risky. Many Muggles had a deep understanding of the magical world.
So Wade stopped purchasing blood samples from Claire. In his free time, he had also mentioned to Ferdinand that he hoped to find specialized talent and establish a private laboratory to research Lycanthropy.
But at the time, he had just mentioned it casually, without much hope, more like making a wish at Christmas.
Because, regardless of the cost of establishing a private laboratory, the key was that excellent and trustworthy scientists weren't like cabbages in a field; you couldn't just pick them up whenever you wanted.
Wade had been quite envious of a certain shrunken child detective back then—that guy had an all-knowing Doraemon-like grandpa living next door who could fulfill all sorts of whimsical ideas; later, he even gained a brilliant young girl who could even create elixirs of youth.
He hadn't expected that Ferdinand would actually go looking, and after all this time, he had actually found such a person.
His father's gentle voice reached his ears: "Just as you said, that person has deep research in genomics, evolutionary biology, and bioinformatics. I don't know much about academic matters, but I asked around, and everyone I talked to spoke very highly of him, saying he was once a top scientist in the field."
"…Sounds like you've been scammed," Wade frowned. "How could we just 'pick up' talent like that?"
"Because he's sick, Wade."
Ferdinand patiently explained, "He had a stroke, and he's very ill. I went to see him; he's disoriented, quadriplegic, and can't speak. He's living in a nursing home, and no one has visited him for over three months. They say he won't live much longer, and even his children have given up on him."
"So, if we take him in, we'll have to cure him first," Wade sighed, lying on his bed. "But Dad, I don't know if someone so close to death can be cured by magic."
"We can try; if it doesn't work, then it doesn't," Ferdinand said. "Wade, traits like youth, strength, exceptional intelligence, unwavering loyalty, and extensive knowledge usually don't coalesce in one person; even if such a person exists, they wouldn't be easily at your disposal."
"I understand, Dad." Wade smiled. "It must have taken a lot of effort to find him... Thank you."
"As long as it helps you, that's what matters," Ferdinand said with a smile. "We were also lucky."
"Luck, huh..."
Wade instinctively turned his head to look.
On his desk sat a small Cthulhu Fish Tank he had made himself, with tiny, magically created fish swimming ceaselessly inside.
He smiled and said, "...Indeed."
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