"Sirius Black."
Marcel sat by the window, flipping through a late copy of the Daily Prophet, and nodded thoughtfully.
What he was concerned about was not the events that would happen next term—that was not important to him. He was just reminded of a magic that had always given him a headache by Sirius Black.
"...Animagus."
To be honest, Marcel had been studying the principles of the Animagus transformation for a long time. But even though he had already thoroughly studied it, he had to put the matter aside because his Transfiguration skills had not yet met the requirements.
According to the materials on hand, the practice of the Animagus transformation could not be precisely controlled, so not only was it impossible to predict the result, but it was also easy to go mad due to insufficient Transfiguration ability.
This was undoubtedly extremely dangerous.
Many wizards would compare the practice of the Animagus transformation with Apparition, entirely because of the danger involved.
But Marcel, who had in-depth research on both of these magics, did not think so.
Putting aside whether the coordinates of Apparition were confirmed correctly, at least a sufficiently firm will could avoid the occurrence of Splinching.
But the practice of the Animagus transformation was completely different. Its danger lay in the uncontrollability of the practice process.
And for Marcel, who had always prioritized caution, if a sufficiently dangerous magic was uncontrollable, it meant failure—this was something he absolutely could not tolerate.
Whether in the past or now, he had never changed on this point.
After a long period of hard study, Marcel's Transfiguration level had actually reached the standard, but it was still far from the standard he had in his heart.
In his opinion, the probability of failure still existed.
"No wonder all the materials on Animagi emphasize the importance of 'courage'..." he said, shaking his head. "It's all because the required standard is too high. If you want to start practicing early, you can only rely on luck."
He casually threw the newspaper in his hand on the table, then took a small sip of his black tea.
"It's a little cold."
As Marcel was muttering, he heard a few knocks on the door. Needless to say, it must be Vylie again, coming to ask him to look at the Raffaela Dragon's Kiss seedlings.
In the nearly one month since, Vylie, as if she had nothing to do all day, would come to him from time to time. After a while, he gradually got used to it.
When he and Vylie, as usual, walked to the top of the tower as if on a stroll, leisurely looking at the seedlings, looking at the scenery, and thinking about things, he realized that the summer vacation was actually coming to an end.
"The growth cycle of the Raffaela Dragon's Kiss is very long. We won't be able to wait for it to bud," Marcel said, looking at the seedling that had just emerged from the soil, about 5 inches tall.
But Vylie immediately shook her head.
"I can see it."
"...Summer vacation is almost over," Marcel reminded her.
Hearing this, Vylie shook her head again.
"Taking a year off," Vylie said faintly.
Marcel was taken aback. He looked at Vylie and asked, "Taking a year off? Why?"
However, Vylie did not speak again, just looked at the seedling in the huge flowerpot on the ground, lost in thought.
Since she didn't want to say, Marcel was not the kind of person to pursue the matter. He soon put it out of his mind.
To be frank, if it weren't for Hogwarts' vast collection of books and Rowena's secret chamber, Marcel himself would have wanted to take a year off.
Hogwarts was not a good place. Especially in the next few years, it would become more and more chaotic each year, which was not at all conducive to the study and research of various magics.
"But it can be used as a good place for practical combat training..." Marcel leaned on the railing, looking into the distance, and muttered to himself.
Soon, as the start of the school year approached day by day, Marcel finally decided to leave.
Before he left, he gave Vylie the updated Herbology notebook as a farewell gift. It was clear that although Vylie still had no expression, the way she took the notebook showed her fondness for this gift.
When Mr. Blois, Vylie's father, who was standing behind her, saw his daughter's reaction, his gaze also softened a lot. Perhaps for him, seeing Vylie happy was the scene he wanted to see most, even if it was just a very subtle expression.
…
When Marcel arrived in London, England, there were only a few days left before the start of school.
He first went to Knockturn Alley and ordered a lot of potion ingredients.
And when he was carrying his suitcase, preparing to go to Flourish and Blotts to buy the new textbooks for the third year, he ran into Harry at the entrance of Quality Quidditch Supplies.
Marcel reached out and patted Harry on the shoulder.
"Oh—Marcel!" Harry was startled. He turned around, the surprised look on his face not yet faded. "What are you doing here?"
"School's about to start, and this is Diagon Alley—why do you think I'm here?" Marcel said calmly.
"Oh! Right, you're here to buy books," Harry said, realizing.
"And you?" Marcel asked.
"I was just about to go! In fact, I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron right now—"
Harry briefly talked about what he had encountered during the summer vacation, including how he had for the first time looked forward to his birthday so much, and also how he had accidentally blown up his mean-spirited aunt.
"By the way, thanks for the birthday present, Marcel," said Harry. "We're all very sorry about last term, we shouldn't have suspected you... Professor Dumbledore also told me I should trust you..."
Marcel shook his head lightly. "It's fine. It's normal for you to have suspicions... Of course, don't ask me what happened to me. It's not that easy to explain."
"Oh—alright," Harry shrugged. "Marcel, when is your birthday?"
This time it was Marcel's turn to shrug—he didn't even know himself, so how could he tell others?
"Probably in the winter?" he answered.
The two chatted casually as they walked towards Flourish and Blotts together.
When they arrived at the bookstore entrance, Harry looked at the bookstore's window and was immediately startled.
In the past, the bookstore's window usually displayed spellbooks as large as paving stones, with gold embossing. But now, these books were gone, replaced by a large iron cage containing about a hundred copies of The Monster Book of Monsters.
These books were locked up together, furiously engaged in a wrestling match, ferociously biting and fighting, with torn pages flying everywhere.
"Thank goodness, Hagrid gave it to me as a birthday present this year..." Harry couldn't help but feel relieved.
He now finally understood why Hagrid had said in his letter that he might find this book useful.
"This kind of book is not very suitable as a textbook. If you're not careful, you'll lose a few pages," Marcel said faintly, looking at the books tearing at each other in the cage.
The two walked into the bookstore, and the manager hurried over to greet them.
"Hogwarts?" he asked with a gloomy face. "Here to buy new books?"
"Yes," said Harry. "I need—"
"Get out of the way, please," the manager said impatiently, pushing Harry aside. He put on a pair of very thick gloves, picked up a very thick, knotty staff, and walked towards the iron cage containing The Monster Book of Monsters.
"No need, I can do it myself—"
Marcel said, directly opened the cage door, and decisively reached his hand in.
"Oh! Be careful!" the manager shouted.
But Marcel's action immediately made him shut his mouth.
Marcel's wrist was abnormally flexible. He dodged a book that was trying to bite him, then turned his wrist again and accurately grabbed the book firmly in his hand.
He gently stroked the spine of the book with his index finger, and the originally fierce book immediately trembled and quieted down.
"Just stroke the spine, and they'll quiet down for a while. I suggest you can tie them up with a belt," Marcel said to the bookstore manager.
"That's a great idea," the gloom on the manager's face was swept away. He said gratefully, "Thank you so much. I've already been bitten five times this morning!"
Just then, there was a loud tearing sound from the cage—two Monster Books of Monsters had grabbed a third one and were tearing it apart together.
"Oh—stop it! Stop it!" the manager shouted, sticking his staff between the iron bars and separating the books.
"I think I'd better get them sorted out as soon as possible! They've been making a real racket these past two days! We once had two hundred copies of The Invisible Book of Invisibility, and I thought nothing could be worse than them—those books were so expensive, and we never... well, sir, do you want one too?"
"I've already got this book," Harry said quickly.
"Thank goodness for that—" said the manager. "Do you need any other books?"
Ten minutes later, the two walked out of the bookstore. Behind them, the manager's helpless shouts could be faintly heard. He had probably already started dealing with those disobedient monster books.
"Harry, I've got to go now. I have another place to go," Marcel said suddenly. "See you at school."
"Oh—alright! See you at school," Harry said, nodding.
Before school started, Marcel planned to visit the Lovegood's house and maybe get a few meals there. It would also be a good choice to go to school with Luna when the term started.
At least, the time spent with Luna was always very relaxing.
The Lovegood's house was still the same, and Luna had hardly changed at all.
No, she seemed to have grown a little taller.
Marcel himself had also grown a lot taller, and his clothes had all been replaced with new ones. It was because of this that he had noticed the change in Luna.
To be honest, he had spent a lot of time with Luna last term. Perhaps it was because she had always been in front of his eyes. If he didn't look carefully, it really wasn't easy to notice.
"How was your summer vacation?"
Marcel stood in front of the fireplace, looking at Luna who had turned around, and asked.
"Perhaps..." Luna blinked, and a slight smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
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