"Trespassing in the Forbidden Forest at night? Lynn, do you have any idea how dangerous it is out there?"
Professor McGonagall's face was stern. She was wearing dark green pajamas and had rushed over so quickly after hearing the news that she hadn't even had time to change.
"Professor Dumbledore emphasized at the start of the term that students are absolutely forbidden from entering the forest. This is for your own safety—it is not a game, and it is certainly not a joke!"
Although Lynn was now standing nearly as tall as Professor McGonagall, he kept his head low, obediently taking the scolding.
"You are clearly a bright and sensible child, so why were you so disobedient today?"
"I was wrong, Professor. Please, calm down; I'd hate for you to stress yourself out or hurt your health."
Lynn walked over to her meekly. With a casual wave of his hand, he transformed a wooden stump—common debris in the forest—into a plush, soft armchair, and helped the professor sit down.
"You've mastered wandless transfiguration?"
Professor McGonagall's eyes lit up slightly. Compared to wandless charms, wandless transfiguration was actually somewhat easier to grasp. Transfiguration itself was a unique form of magic that didn't necessarily rely on incantations; it depended far more on a wizard's sheer mental discipline and control over their magical core. The wand's primary role was to assist in channeling that control.
The reason wizards from Uagadou were so gifted in Transfiguration had a lot to do with their practice of casting with empty hands and hand gestures, along with techniques they used to reinforce their sensitivity to raw magic.
"Yeah, I picked it up a while ago. But without a wand, the precision drops a bit. Otherwise, I could have made that armchair with intricate filigree carvings."
"I realized I can control the magic leaving my body pretty easily. It's related to the techniques Professor Flitwick taught me about casting runic magic without a textbook—visualizing the runes in the air really builds that mental muscle."
"Writing solidified runes in the air does indeed cultivate that ability," McGonagall nodded in understanding. Sometimes, ancient or obsolete methods weren't useless; it was just that with the invention of wands, the tedious practice those methods required could be skipped for convenience.
"Oh, you child..."
Professor McGonagall sighed and patted Lynn on the arm. "No more running off like that in the future, understood? I'm taking five points from Gryffindor. I hope you won't do it again."
Professor McGonagall was fair and just. Even though she was fond of Lynn, and even though he had saved a unicorn that night, a rule broken was a rule broken.
"However, for saving a precious unicorn and taking correct, effective measures to do so... I am awarding you twenty points."
"I want you to remember tonight's lesson, but I also hope you never lose that warm heart of yours. Magical creatures are our friends, and benevolent lives deserve our helping hand."
"But for now, I think you should return to your dormitory and get some proper rest. Is that clear?"
"I understand, Professor. But... can we keep tonight's events under wraps?"
"Naturally." McGonagall offered a faint smile. "I don't want any reckless copycats getting ideas. Don't worry, I will only inform Professor Dumbledore."
---
"I'll head back to the dorms then, Professor. Sorry for disturbing your sleep. Goodnight."
Turning back toward the castle, Lynn had largely predicted this outcome. McGonagall was strict, but she wasn't heartless. Quite the opposite—as a true Gryffindor, she respected the courage to break convention when necessary. If she didn't, the Hat would have put her in Ravenclaw.
However, Lynn didn't mention the figure made of black mist. If he brought that up, it would open a massive can of worms, and extricating himself from the investigation would be a nightmare.
Sneaking into the Forbidden Forest was one thing; sneaking in and bumping into a Dark Wizard was a completely different beast.
Once inside the castle, Lynn slipped into the shadows of the corridor. A moment later, he arrived at the entrance to the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor. A door appeared on the blank wall as soon as he approached—Hallie and the others must have left it accessible for him.
He pushed the door open and walked in. Sure enough, there was Hallie, dressed in a Supergirl-style bodysuit, striking a dramatic pose and shouting out some geeky anime attack name.
"Dragon Slave!"
Hallie gave a sharp cry and fired a dark red beam of light at a target in front of her. Dust flew and a thunderous boom echoed through the room. It looked spectacular, but the actual damage only managed to knock apart the wooden practice dummy—honestly, those rickety wooden frames could probably be taken apart with a solid kick.
"Lynn, you're back!"
Hallie, finished with her posing, bounced over to Lynn. "Was I super-duper cool just now?!"
"Yes, yes, super cool."
"If only I had a few more of these belts, we could form a superhero squad! The important task of maintaining world peace could be ours!"
Hallie, clearly a bit high on adrenaline, clenched her fist, her eyes shining.
"If we get lucky, that might be a decent option."
Internally, however, Lynn knew that the "Must-Kill Move Belt" was actually a game-breaking gadget. Sure, its direct destructive power was capped—it was a children's toy, after all, not military-grade magi-tech.
But if you wrote down moves that weren't about physical damage on the special paper strips—like an "Apology Beam" that forces guilt—this toy could literally perform mind control. If he had enough paper strips, Lynn couldn't even imagine how overpowered he could become.
Maybe he could just write "Mental Trauma Healing Beam," zap Neville's parents, and have them sit up in their hospital beds, fully recovered. Maybe he could even pull a "Raise Dead" move, drag Hallie's mom right out of the grave, and while he was at it, give Old Man Dumbledore a surprise by bringing his sister back.
Unfortunately, he didn't have any spare paper strips, and the gadget didn't support erasing and rewriting.
Sometimes, Lynn really hated dealing with second-hand goods.
"By the way, how is Nimue's mom?"
"Hagrid treated her. She's not in critical condition. We can go visit her in the Forbidden Forest tomorrow; I don't think Hagrid will mind."
"As for Professor McGonagall, she docked five points. No big deal. But remember to keep it a secret—we take this to our graves."
"If word gets out, Quirrell will guess it was us," Neville added from the side. "I'm guessing he'll make his move soon."
"Professor Quirrell? What is he planning to do?"
Cho, who knew the least about the situation, asked curiously. She hadn't run into Neville with Lynn and Hallie earlier, nor had she seen the Mirror of Erised.
"It's like this..."
Neville began to explain, filling Cho in on everything he knew.
"I think I know what Quirrell is looking for," Hallie said slowly after Neville finished. "When I went to Diagon Alley to buy my books, Hagrid and I went to a Gringotts vault to pick up something very mysterious."
Hallie turned her gaze to Lynn. "It was a small, grubby package wrapped in brown paper, right?"
"That huge vault was completely empty except for that one thing. And later, I saw in the Daily Prophet that there was a break-in at Gringotts."
"But the thief didn't steal anything. The report said the vault was empty. I'm betting it was the same vault Hagrid emptied out earlier that day."
"Lynn, what do you think it is? What is Quirrell looking for?"
"Does it matter?" Lynn asked.
"Doesn't it...?" Hallie paused. "I guess not. What matters is that we can't let Quirrell get it, right?"
"Whatever it is, if Quirrell gets it, he's definitely going to use it for something bad. He's already attacked a unicorn; who knows what he'll do next."
Neville's face was tight with seriousness. "The smell of evil on Quirrell is getting stronger."
"Neville, you have a really sensitive nose."
"It's not really a smell, more like a feeling..." Neville frowned, trying to find the words. "Like an intuition, I guess? I can't really explain it. Don't you guys feel it?"
Cho shook her head slightly, but Hallie hesitated.
"If we're talking about feelings... it's not like I feel nothing..."
She brushed the bangs off her forehead, voluntarily revealing the lightning-bolt scar hidden beneath her hair for the first time. Hallie hated people staring at the scar; aside from Lynn, only Cho had seen it up close when they were taking a bath together.
"Hallie, you really are—" Neville gasped.
"Yeah, I am," Hallie nodded. "Sometimes I feel this scar... prickle a bit. It's not severe. I used to think it was just an old injury acting up, but now I've realized... if Neville can sense Quirrell's evil aura, then the pain in my forehead is probably connected to him too."
"Just now in the Forbidden Forest, my scar hurt for a second. Maybe it's like a radar? Can it detect evil or something?"
After briefly discussing their plan against Quirrell, the conversation wound down.
Neville quietly opened the door and headed back to the common room.
As soon as he left, Hallie grabbed Lynn's sleeve, winking at him mischievously. "Lynn, I just discovered a huge secret about this room. You wanna see?"
"What secret?"
"Follow us!"
Hallie took his hand and linked arms with Cho, leading them toward one of the walls of the Room of Requirement.
"I found out that the Room of Requirement doesn't just open doors inside the castle. It can open a door to here..."
Suddenly, an opening shaped like a carriage door appeared before them. Through the shimmering, water-like veil of the doorway, they could vaguely see the outdoors, right by the sea.
"I haven't gone in yet, but I bet it's amazing."
"This is our little secret, okay?"
Hallie took the lead, stepping through the watery threshold, with Cho and Lynn following close behind.
A cool sea breeze hit them immediately, carrying the salty scent of the ocean.
The sound of waves crashing against the sand rolled in from ahead.
"After we visit Nimue's mom tomorrow, let's come here to swim!"
Hallie cheered happily, "This is the first time I've ever seen the actual ocean!"