Hogwarts: Starting with full Unforgivable Curses

“Muggles are like lowly livestock, extremely weak in their own strength, without any magical talent, and can only barely survive with some rudimentary tools. Wizards, on the other hand, are beings above all things, and the magical creations we make also possess extraordinary power.”

Hearing Voldemort's words, a thought suddenly flashed through Barty's mind. His eyes lit up, and he asked with some uncertainty, "Master, does this mean that Dylan might have discovered some kind of special magical artifact at the bottom of the Black Lake? Otherwise, how could he have done something so incredible?"

Once this idea came to mind, it was like finding a breakthrough. The more Little Barty thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. He excitedly continued, "That must be it! No wonder he stayed at the bottom of the lake for so long before. He must have been looking for this magical artifact. The magical artifact we used to observe the situation at the bottom of the lake wasn't anything special, which is why Hawkwood was able to deceive us and fail to detect Dylan's actions."

He paused, then, recalling what the Boulder had said, quickly added, "Master, you said before that Hawkwood is as cunning as Dumbledore, adept at hiding the truth through various means. This time, he must have used some kind of concealment magic to make us mistakenly believe that he separated the Black Lake with his own power, when in fact it was all thanks to that magical artifact. Moreover, I think that Hawkwood, like Dumbledore, must have discovered some secrets of Hogwarts, but deliberately kept them from others, keeping them to himself—it's truly despicable!"

"To think of this shows you're actually using your brain." Voldemort nodded slowly, a satisfied look on his face. "Barty, I see your efforts, that's good. You should know that even Durmstrang, a school far less ancient than Hogwarts, can hide so many secrets, let alone a magical school like Hogwarts with such a long history. There must be even more things hidden inside that we don't know about."

“Master, I have another important discovery to report to you,” Little Barty said hurriedly, eager to show off further. “I just learned that Durmstrang’s magical ship, which can move, originally belonged to the Department of Mysteries. The Department of Mysteries has existed for so long that it must still hold many more magical artifacts. It’s just a pity that the magical ship lost many of its original magical abilities during the Department of Mysteries’ research. If we could have obtained it while it was still intact, it would definitely have been of greater use.”

At this point, a hint of urgency flashed in Little Barty's eyes. He asked, "Master, since the Department of Mysteries has so many precious magical items, shouldn't we target the Ministry of Magic first, focusing on the Department of Mysteries? That way, we can obtain the magical items inside and prevent those useless officials from damaging these precious things again. What do you think?"

In March, the chill of the Scottish Highlands is slowly receding along the mountain streams.

At dawn, the first rays of sunlight peeked over the eastern mountains, casting a faint golden glow on the remaining snow covering the peaks. The mountain air, moist after the rain, was filled with the fresh scent of earth and grass. Even the usually quiet forest paths began to murmur – a signal that the earth was awakening from its winter slumber.

Walking along the path outside the castle towards the Forbidden Forest, you can clearly see the changes in the trees along the way.

The trees that had been dormant all winter no longer had bare, grayish-brown branches. Many branches had sprouted tiny buds, their tender green tips standing out in the morning light, like countless tiny green dots adorning the branches. The bushes at the edge of the forbidden forest had also sprouted new leaves, and occasionally a few early birds could be seen hopping on the branches, pecking at the newly grown buds.

The students in the castle also felt the change of seasons, and they all changed out of their heavy winter clothes and into lighter school uniforms. Without the constraints of heavy clothing, everyone's movements became much more agile. During breaks, there were many more people running and playing in the corridors than before, and everywhere was full of vitality.

However, amidst this lively scene, two figures stood out as unusually—the brothers Fred and George, who should have been out having fun as usual, had returned to the corridor, wands in hand, and were busy sweeping the floor. Their sweeping method was quite strange; both of them were slightly hunched over, walking very lightly, stopping and waving their wands every meter or two.

As the tip of the wand flashed, the dust and debris on the ground automatically gathered into a small pile. However, instead of using magic to clear away the trash, they took out their wands from their pockets, chanted a spell to summon a soft ball of light that hovered in their palms, and then approached the pile of trash, intently searching for something inside, their brows furrowing slightly, as if they were looking for something extremely important.

Their strange behavior quickly attracted the attention of Luna, Neville, and Hannah, who were chatting on the other side of the corridor. The three of them were talking about the new animals that had appeared in the Forbidden Forest, but their eyes fell on Fred and George and they couldn't take them off.

When Fred and George finished cleaning up their area, Luna spoke first. She tilted her head slightly, her clear eyes full of curiosity, and her voice was soft yet clear: "Fred, George, are you looking for something to help us with?"

Upon hearing Luna's question, Fred stopped what he was doing, first clearing away the pile of trash in front of him with his wand, then straightening up to look at Luna and nodding slightly; George also stopped searching, put away the orb of light, and replied, "That's right, we are indeed looking for something and want it to help us."

After saying that, the two bent down again and continued to search through another pile of garbage that had just been gathered not far away.

This time, Luna, Neville, and Hannah all moved closer and could see much more clearly. Fred and George's fingers carefully rummaged through the trash, picking out any stray hairs. Whenever they saw a single hair, they would use tweezers-like magic to pick it up and examine it closely in their palms.

Seeing their focused expressions, Neville couldn't help but ask, "George, why are you looking for this hair? Is it for some special purpose?"

Upon hearing Neville's question, Hannah suddenly remembered what Professor Sprout had taught in herb class. Her eyes lit up, and she said, "I know! You don't mean to use this hair as fertilizer, do you? Professor Sprout said before that hair, whether mixed with fertilizer or directly added to the soil, can make plants grow more vigorously."

Upon hearing Hannah's guess, Fred looked up, holding a long brown hair in his hand. He compared it to Hannah's hair color and said with some helplessness, "Your guess is wrong. This long hair is obviously yours. It would be such a waste to use it as fertilizer."

George held up a short hair in his hand and waved it at Neville: "This short hair of mine is Neville's, but we've been looking for so long and haven't seen Luna's hair or Dylan's hair. It's really strange."

Hannah's curiosity grew even stronger, and she leaned forward to ask, "So what exactly are you going to do with all this hair? It can't just be for fun, right?" Luna stood to the side, her fingers gently twisting the hem of her clothes. Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, her eyes widened slightly, and she said with certainty, "I think I know. Are you planning to use this hair to transform into our likeness?"

"Huh?" Fred and George were both stunned when they heard this. They looked up at the same time, their faces full of surprise.

Fred put down the hair in his hand, leaned forward slightly, and said incredulously, "How could you have thought of this? We haven't told anyone."

George also dropped his previous casualness, raising his eyebrows high and exclaiming with an exaggerated expression, "Yeah! Did you use some special magic to read our minds? That's amazing!"

Luna gently shook her head and explained calmly, "I didn't use magic. I just saw several gnats surrounding you when you came in. I've noticed before that these little bugs appear whenever you encounter Professor McGonagall, especially after she criticizes you. Now that you're back and immediately looking for everyone's hair, I guessed you probably want to look like us so that Professor McGonagall won't pay special attention to you next time you're at school."

After hearing Luna's explanation, Fred and George exchanged a glance, helplessly stuffed the hair in their hands into their pockets, then simultaneously raised their hands with expressions of defeat on their faces. Fred smiled wryly and said, "Okay, we have nothing more to say. You guessed it, that's exactly what we thought."

Neville, standing to the side, suddenly recalled what he had seen during the break earlier and asked, "I remember during the break just now, you two said you were going to check on Puffy Puffy at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Were you caught by Professor McGonagall on your way there?"

"Sigh!" Upon hearing Neville's words, Fred and George sighed simultaneously, their expressions instantly falling. The two of them plopped down in the armchairs next to them, looking completely listless.

George spread his hands, his tone full of helplessness: "You're right, we were indeed caught by Professor McGonagall. We were almost at the entrance to the Forbidden Forest when we ran into her on patrol."

Fred shrugged, his face full of frustration: "Not only did I get caught, but I also got a severe scolding from Professor McGonagall. Just thinking about the tone of her voice makes my ears burn."

Neville frowned and asked again, "Is it because the school year exams are coming up and Professor McGonagall doesn't want you to be distracted? I see Hermione has already started studying with her books and is spending all her time in the library."

“The academic year exams are only part of the reason, and even that’s secondary,” George shook his head and explained. “The main reason is those fluffy creatures. Professor McGonagall said that we didn’t feed them the prescribed amount, which caused some of them to become unwell, so she criticized us.”

Fred shrugged at the air, his face showing confusion and helplessness, his tone full of bewilderment: "I really don't know where Professor McGonagall heard this from, that she even knows we're secretly raising a bunch of fluffy creatures."

George sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping slightly as if some of his strength had been drained: "She also said that she felt we were putting too much energy into these trivial things and that our minds weren't on our studies at all."

Fred raised his hand to rub his temples, as if he could still feel the serious atmosphere of Professor McGonagall's lecture, and said in her tone, "Professor McGonagall also emphasized that we should focus on our books and study hard so that we can get good results in next year's NEWT exam and not let down all the years of learning we have done."

As soon as he finished speaking, George's expression suddenly changed. His previously casual brows furrowed tightly, and his relaxed demeanor vanished, replaced by seriousness. He reached out and gently patted Fred's shoulder, deliberately lowering his voice to mimic Professor McGonagall's usual stern tone: "You all need to remember this! Next year you'll be taking the NEWT exam, a crucial test that will affect your future. There's no room for carelessness!"

Seeing this, Fred immediately changed his expression, his brows furrowing exactly like George's, even his movements were deliberately synchronized. He reached out and patted George's shoulder, saying in the same serious tone, "You must not disappoint your mother. She has always hoped that you will have a bright future!"

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the two of them were imitating Professor McGonagall's mannerisms and tone of voice. Their furrowed brows, serious expressions, and deliberately slowed speech were all perfectly mimicked, as if Professor McGonagall herself were standing right in front of them.

Seeing the two of them like this, Luna, Neville, and Hannah couldn't help but burst into laughter, filling the corridor with cheerful sounds. However, after the laughter subsided, everyone finally understood that Fred and George had gone to great lengths to collect hair not for any other reason than to use it to magically transform into their likenesses. This way, they could avoid Professor McGonagall's attention and not be easily caught when they moved around the school.

Neville scratched his head, a serious look on his face, and said, "Actually, if you think about it carefully, Professor McGonagall is right. She's so strict because she cares about you and is afraid that other things will interfere with your studies and affect your future."

Fred and George nodded simultaneously, clearly agreeing with Neville's statement. They quickly changed the subject, their faces showing confusion again: "Let's not talk about that. Let's talk about the strange thing that happened earlier! We've been searching for so long, but we still haven't found Dylan's hair. That's so weird." (End of Chapter)