Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 245 Scabbers and Peter Pettigrew, Harry's Discovery
Siren suddenly noticed that Harry had been acting strangely these past few days. Not only was he constantly looking at the Marauder's Map, but he also kept running outside the castle.

Whenever he's not in class, he goes out at least three times a day. When people ask him about it, he says he's come up with a tactic and needs to go to the Quidditch pitch.

Harry wasn't lying; he did go to the stadium, a fact that many people can attest to.

Wood was overjoyed and, with a wave of his hand, decided to increase the weekly training time from three days to five days, much to the dismay of Fred and George.

They barely have time to research Fat Tongue Toffee anymore...

"The match is in a week!" Wood stared intently at them. "This is the final. If Hufflepuff overtakes us, it means we've lost the Quidditch Cup!"

The Weasley brothers immediately fell silent.

Despite their belief that Harry, with his Firebolt, was invincible, and that Cedric had no chance of ever encountering the Golden Snitch.

But under Wood's fervent gaze, the two were speechless.

Furthermore, Wood is already in seventh grade, and he will be heading to professional Quidditch after graduation, so winning this match is crucial for him.

The Hogwarts Quidditch Cup... This honor is quite prestigious among professional Quidditch players, roughly equivalent to the five NEWT certificates required to join the Auror.

This explains why Oliver Wood was so invested in the final match.

As May arrives, the weather gets hotter and hotter, and more and more people are taking off their thick winter robes and putting on summer robes.

Nothing much had changed at Hogwarts; people went to class and arrived late as usual, but the tension between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff was growing stronger.

The two colleges, which used to be on good terms, have recently reached their lowest point in terms of relationship. They no longer even sit together when they attend classes together, and they are at odds with each other.

Siren thought that if Hufflepuff had been replaced by Slytherin, they probably would have already started fighting.

Oh, and there's another change: Ron has recently started going out like Harry, supposedly to watch him train.

Intuition and past experience told Celen that they were definitely planning something, but the two were unusually tight-lipped this time, and Celen couldn't get any useful information out of them.

However, it wasn't long before Xilun stopped paying attention to them.

Because Tom is back.

This cat spent several months in the Forbidden Forest, but instead of losing weight, it actually grew bigger.

Crookshanks are considered quite large for a pet cat, but Tom can completely block them out.

The petite Mrs. Lorice looked like a mouse in front of it; Tom could easily kick her far away with a flick of his front paw.

However, upon seeing Siron, Tom still expertly rubbed his head against his calf.

“You’ve finally decided to come back.” Cyril stroked its chin, immediately forgetting about Harry and Ron.

Whatever they want to do, they are unlikely to succeed without Hermione's help.

Hermione was too busy preparing for her upcoming exams to pay any attention to them.

If their plans fail or come to a standstill, they will naturally seek help.

The first thing Celen did was to give Tom a good bath using the slime from the bubble pods, as he smelled really bad.

This smell might be a form of protection in the Forbidden Forest, but it won't work in the dormitory... People who don't know better might think he's hiding blue cheese from the kitchen.

……

With the Quidditch match drawing ever closer, Harry could no longer run outside.

The only chance Slytherin could win the Quidditch Cup was for Hufflepuff to beat Gryffindor by the score.

So Harry became their target.

When he went to class, Slytherin students would always stick out their legs to trip him. Crabbe and Goyle also started to appear around him frequently, until they saw Harry surrounded by people and then walked away in disappointment.

In this situation, Harry naturally could no longer move around as freely as before.

However, he didn't come away empty-handed.

The day before the match, Celen, on his way back to the dorm, accidentally stumbled upon him and Ron arguing in the hallway. "That's Scabbers!" It was Ron's voice. "Even though it's a bit far, I'm sure I'm not mistaken, that mouse is definitely Scabbers."

“You must be mistaken,” Harry said, his expression somewhat complicated.

He saw the mouse too, but he didn't think it was Spotty, otherwise why would it run away as soon as it saw Ron?

Moreover, Harry recalled a sentence that Professor Lupin had deliberately emphasized in the last Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

"Remember, some wizards can transform into animals, a phenomenon known as Animagus transformation, which you probably already know from Professor McGonagall."

"But what I'm saying is that even if a wizard turns into an animal, he can still be found by the Stalking Charm."

Animagus... Tracking Charm...

These words reminded Harry that, in addition to the group of them, Ron's pet mouse Scabbers was also in the dormitory that day.

However, its name does not appear on the Marauder's Map.

Harry glanced down at the Marauder's Map and found Mrs. Lorris's name on the left-hand corridor on the third floor.

Since Filch's pet name appeared on the list, Scabbers should have been able to as well, but that didn't happen.

What's even more coincidental is that after Scabbers disappeared, Peter Pettigrew's name also disappeared from the dormitory.

Considering that Scabbers was much older than other pets, Harry gradually began to have a terrible idea.

However, this idea was too far-fetched, and he wanted to figure it out completely before making a decision.

The two quickly left the corridor and headed towards the common room.

As soon as they turned around, the two saw a black cat crouching on the fence.

"Go away, you scared me!" Ron patted his chest, rudely shooed the black cat away, and muttered, "How come I never noticed there were so many cats in the school before? That's why my scabbard left the castle..."

Harry looked down and then tugged at Ron's sleeve.

"Keep your voice down, Xilun is here."

“Silon?” Ron looked around. “Where…”

Before he finished speaking, Xilun appeared at the corner ahead and waved to them naturally.

"Good luck in tomorrow's game, Harry," Siron said.

“Of course, we will definitely win the championship,” Harry said in a deep voice.

The three of them then walked together toward the entrance to the common room, but for some reason, Ron felt that Siren was looking at him strangely.

He couldn't help but look down at himself, wondering, "Did I wear the wrong clothes?"

“No,” Xilun said casually.

"Then why are you staring at me?"

“I was just thinking about Fred,” Celan said. “He gave me some Honeydukes sweets today, and I haven’t thanked him yet.”

“What? Honeydukes candy?” Ron’s eyes lit up. “Why didn’t I know I was their little brother?”

“They probably forgot,” Xiren said. “You should go now; they should still have some.”

“I’ll go right now… Oh, Harry, I’ll share with you.” Ron said, and then jogged away.

Harry frowned in confusion.

Fred has been training all day; I haven't heard him handing out candy.

This morning, however, there was a new Weasley's Trick Room ad in the common room, looking for people to test some kind of truancy candy.

……

(End of this chapter)