Rita hesitated for a moment, her curiosity prompted her to fly over and land on Mabel's hair.
Mabel shook her head with discontent, but she didn't drive her away.
So Rita saw a few burly and intimidating men walk past in the corridor.
The leader wore a mask, had a string of silver keys hanging from his waist, and held a thick list in his hand, making a jingling sound as he walked.
A few men walked by.
In not just this room, all the children in the cells were leaning against the bars, not speaking or moving, just staring at them.
Rita couldn't understand why they reacted like this and wanted to poke Mabel's face with her antenna to get an explanation, but then suddenly heard the jingling sound growing louder.
The group of men had turned back so quickly.
The difference was, this time there was a teenage boy among them.
The boy was very thin, with eyes that revealed deep despair and helplessness, as if he had lost his consciousness, moving mechanically forward.
The jingling sound drew closer and then suddenly stopped.
He stopped in front of Mabel and the others' cell, looked down at the list in his hand, and then said, "Hayley Kocos."
Hayley's face suddenly turned pale, paralyzed on the spot, not moving an inch.
The surrounding children stared at her in shock.
Mabel instinctively shouted loudly, "No—how could there be Hayley, she's still so young!"
The masked man glanced up at her with a smile, saying, "Oh Mabel... give her a lesson."
As soon as he spoke, the man behind suddenly pulled out a chubby, round gun and aimed it at Mabel.
Mabel's eyes widened abruptly.
Next to her, Luke suddenly lunged forward, "Mabel!"
He tackled the girl, and Rita felt her view turn upside down, instinctively trying to fly up, but Luke pressed her down with one hand.
With a trembling, frightened voice, the boy whispered, "Don't move!"
Rita froze, and then lost her chance to fly away, being directly pinned under the two of them—
Luke's palm pressed her to the floor, then Mabel's body, with Luke's on top.
The two trembled and convulsed, letting out hoarse and painful cries, like two injured beasts.
Rita was stunned.
She vaguely felt a kind of pain as if all her magic power was rebelling, but because she was shielded by the two children, she only felt a slight prick.
Facing a certain attack directly were Mabel and Luke, who normally remained silent when the buzzing sounded, but now kept howling.
Rita tried to peer through Luke's fingers and saw the door to their cell being opened, with Hayley rigidly standing before being lifted away like a chick by a man.
The jingling sound faded away, then came the sound of locking, only then did the children seem to break free from the Immobulu, starting to move.
In the cells where no one was taken, they were very relieved, starting to speak softly and move around. Meanwhile, in this cell, the other children gathered around to help Mabel and Luke onto the bed.
"You were too impulsive, Mabel—and you, Luke." A child said nervously, "I almost thought you were going to be taken too."
"I won't be." Mabel looked at the ceiling, saying ironically, "We're precious experimental subjects."
Luke kept his head down, still trembling, without saying a word.
"Are you okay, Rita?" A child came to check on Rita Skeeter, speaking softly, "I was so afraid you would revert just now."
They all knew that when the buzzing sound started, Rita Skeeter couldn't help but revert to her original form.
Rita reverted, shook her head and said, "I'm fine… they blocked it for me."
She looked at the children's silent and sorrowful faces and asked, "Hayley… what will happen to her?"
"I don't know." Mabel said with vacant eyes, "But no child taken by those people… has ever returned."
No one would believe these demons would kindly return people, so the answer seemed obvious.
Rita Skeeter tightly clutched the parchment in her hand, feeling a deep sense of despair rising within her.
She knew it hadn't been long since she contacted Vid, yet she silently urged in her heart—
Please, hurry… hurry up…
Find this place quickly…
…
At the edge of the forest, Vid suddenly looked up, watching a spider weaving a web between the leaves.
Unlike the regular and symmetrical structures of typical webs, this one was incomplete, seemingly missing a part when being woven.
It seemed even insects were negatively affected in this place.
Vid withdrew his gaze and looked forward—Dumbledore was waving his wand, with silver threads and copper wires interweaving like a spider's web, weaving into a net-like Metal Cloak.
He had always known that magic interferes with electromagnetic signals, so no electronic equipment can work normally at Hogwarts. Even when a powerful wizard experiences intense emotional fluctuations, they involuntarily disrupt nearby electric lights, televisions, and radios.
But Vid hadn't expected that even ordinary people without magic had mastered the way to counter wizards so early—
Magic can interfere with electromagnetic signals, so conversely, sufficiently powerful electromagnetic signals can also interfere with magic.
Magically isolated wizards if attacked like this would naturally be at a loss, even Dumbledore could inadvertently fall into the trap.
But Vid knew how to shield against such interference.
The current level of technology in this world hadn't surpassed his understanding.
As an Alchemist, wherever Vid went, his pen pouch space was filled with various Alchemy Materials.
And as a Transfiguration Master, Dumbledore could easily turn raw materials into any shape they needed.
In no time, two electromagnetic shielding Metal Cloaks were crafted, and Dumbledore even creatively wove the Hogwarts emblem onto them.
—For the Headmaster, perhaps this was the manifestation of a whim.
Vid donned the cloak, the size just right.
"Even the Weaving Spell is so adept—Headmaster, is there anything you can't do?" Vid couldn't help but ask.
"I just happen to be quite interested in knitting sweaters—it's a good pastime activity, you could try it." Dumbledore said.
Dumbledore donned his Metal Cloak as well, strolling ahead of Vid, viewing the cameras along the road indifferently.
If I lived as long as you, perhaps I'd find something interesting to pass the time too." Vid politely declined.
"There are always things to be done." Dumbledore said, "You're pushing yourself too hard, Vid."
"Seeing Skeeter's situation, I feel there's much more for me to improve." Vid said.
Dumbledore thought for a while and nodded in agreement, "You're right—one must first protect oneself to discuss anything else."
The two walked along the cement path through the forest, seemingly aimless, but they were actually following the "magic power" trail.
The cameras on either side were silent as black stones, with no reflection of their silhouettes on the mirrors.
"Will this really be able to shield that… magnetic field?" Dumbledore asked.
"Complete shielding isn't possible, but it should weaken it to a tolerable level." Vid said, "Copper and silver both have high conductivity, so they're better at shielding high-frequency magnetic fields. But to completely shield it, we might need superconducting materials, so it's best to cut off the power supply."
"Superconducting materials?" Dumbledore curiously asked, "What is that? How is it made?"
Vid said speechlessly, "That's beyond my knowledge range, Professor, I'm still just a student now."
Dumbledore laughed, "Vid, I believe your knowledge has surpassed most ordinary people; I know some professors at Muggle Schools who might not know as much as you—ah, we've arrived."
In front of them appeared an extremely tall wall.