"Reducio!"
The wand pointed at the slip of paper lying on the table, and without any sound, it gradually shrank until it was only a quarter of its original size.
But looking at the shrunken branch on the table, Evans sighed.
Beside him, Professor Flitwick stood on a chair with his arms crossed, frowning slightly.
"The principle of the Shrinking Charm is actually pretty close to Transfiguration, and trying to solidify it into a triggered spell is extremely difficult."
After speaking, he looked at Evans with a somewhat strange expression.
"Is it necessary to do it this way? I feel like even if you shrink the students directly on-site, it won't make much difference."
"Then there wouldn't be any surprise!" Evans shook his head decisively.
"Think about the suggestion I mentioned earlier. Don't you think it's fun?"
"If you put it like that... well, yes, it's interesting." Genuine interest showed in Flitwick's expression as he added, "If you refine the Shrinking Charm's mechanics, you might get that effect even faster. You know some related methods, don't you?"
"You mean the lizard transformation technique?" Evans's eyes lit up, and with a flick of his wand, a piece of parchment floated to him, listing out a complex set of magical circuits.
"Just need to pick out the key parts. The core spell is still the Shrinking Charm, but replicate it as a double."
Professor Flitwick, now engaged, copied Evans's parchment and placed it in front of himself.
"We might even publish a paper after researching this spell."
Half an hour passed. Evans, immersed in research, took a deep breath and glanced aside.
Alice was curled up sleeping on the sofa, but Nana, who should've been sleeping nearby, was nowhere to be seen.
Nana had been acting mysterious the past few days, getting up early and coming back late, skipping naps, and Evans had no idea what it was up to.
But it seemed safe enough, so he let it be. Maybe its abilities had improved, and it was off testing its enhanced treasure-finding skills?
Shaking his head, Evans turned back to the parchment.
As long as it didn't go digging for treasure in Hogwarts, he didn't mind; in the Forbidden Forest, it usually wouldn't encounter danger.
But just as Evans thought this, a dirty fluffball rolled in from the door. A moment later, the furball poked out its head and waved at Professor Flitwick.
Seeing the ball roll in, Flitwick stopped writing and waved back.
"Hello, Nana. My goodness, how did you get so fat and round all of a sudden?"
"I'm wondering that myself," Evans said, a trace of danger glinting in his eyes.
Nana had looked normal a couple of days ago. How did it get like this?
Ten pounds fatter in two days? How was that possible?
And its pouch was practically glowing with gold!
Seeing Evans's look, Nana hurriedly clutched its pouch, squeaking while trying to explain.
"The treasure from the Forbidden Forest?"
After hearing everything, Evans stopped heading over to apprehend Nana, a look of suspicion in his eyes.
"There are treasures in the forest nearby that you haven't found before?"
Nana nodded vigorously, explaining with gestures as well as words.
After listening, Evans stroked his chin.
"Underground?"
He'd honestly never thought of that. As Britain's largest magical forest, there could certainly be plenty of ancient secrets buried beneath the Forbidden Forest.
And with Nana's improved abilities, it couldn't previously detect deeply buried treasures. Maybe the upgrades let it find things it missed before?
But underground...
What kind of treasure would be buried that deep underground anyway? Evans's expression gradually became odd.
It was well-known that some treasure chests only refreshed underground, and those contained plenty of valuable items but also usually things like bones, rotted clothing, and such.
After noticing all the uncleaned dirt on Nana, Evans asked,
"You didn't dig up someone's grave, did you?"
Seeing the Niffler's now guilty expression, Evans sighed helplessly.
"Alright, just go less often from now on, and take Alice or Tim with you if you do."
A wizard's grave isn't so easy to dig. Not to mention the protective magic inside, but even the dead wizard might well have turned into some kind of undead creature. It's dangerous.
After warning Nana, Evans turned back to Professor Flitwick to continue researching how to bind the Shrinking Charm to paper slips.
Time passed slowly, and finally, as dusk was falling, Flitwick tapped the slip of paper with his wand:
"Reducio."
A standard Shrinking Spell, yet nothing happened to the paper. It just sat there quietly.
But when Evans reached out and touched the slip, suddenly his body shrank to Nana's size, making the little creature's eyes light up.
Eh? Evans got smaller?
Hee hee...
With a wicked grin, Nana sneaked up behind Evans. But just then, Evans whipped out his wand, pointed it at his shrunken self, and said,
"Finite Incantatem."
He returned to normal instantly, turned to see the frozen Nana, and flashed a mischievous smile.
Half a minute later.
After messing with the Niffler and setting it on the table, Evans let out a satisfied breath and gazed out the window.
For some reason, he'd felt lately that someone was watching him in the castle. The feeling wasn't strong, but it made him deeply uncomfortable.
Like he was being stalked. Like he was the prey.
He thought about it, then turned to Professor Flitwick:
"Professor, have you felt anything odd in the castle lately?"
"Odd?" Flitwick pondered for a moment. "What sort of odd?"
"Like suddenly something strange happening, or some strange person appearing?"
After thinking, Flitwick slowly shook his head.
"If you mean strange people, I think that Lockhart's plenty strange, but apart from him, I haven't noticed anything off in the castle."
After speaking, he gave Evans a worried look.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, it's nothing," Evans hesitated, not voicing his suspicion.
After all, the pixies' danger sense hadn't warned him of any castle dangers, so maybe it was nothing major. But something in the castle was watching him, and that discomfort...
Could it be old Dumbledore spying on me?