#459 - Stars and Quills

In the forest, only one group makes such sounds—Centaurs.

And Centaurs have always been proud. They look down on wizards and have little affection for vampires and werewolves, those two kinds of dark creatures.

If Lucas and the others were discovered by a group of Centaurs, they would certainly be killed in the name of invading their territory, perhaps only the young wolf, Morris, would be spared.

The werewolf extended his claws, leaped up, and quickly climbed into the treetops to hide.

Vampires have it easier. Thomas transformed directly into a bat, hanging in the tree, blending in with the surrounding dark leaves.

Just as they hid themselves, two Centaurs arrived nearby, using their bows to part the grass and investigate.

The grass on the ground was pressed into human-like traces, and the surrounding area was stained with blood. The smell in the air was very peculiar, like the scent of certain meats decaying, similar to roses or irises.

"Disgusting!" The Centaur twitched his nose, then sneezed, saying disdainfully, "That vampire is gone."

Another Centaur swished his dark brown tail, saying irritably, "He should have woken up before we arrived, the damned bat!"

"In any case, he was here," a white-gold-haired Centaur said calmly, looking down at the bloodstains on the ground. "We have to find him. The Forbidden Forest cannot allow vampires to run around."

They issued a summons, and soon other Centaurs trotted over, and then a lithe Centaur with a silver-gray tail stepped forward.

"Magorian!"

The first Centaurs to arrive lowered their heads, made way, and said respectfully.

Magorian knelt down, leaned over, dipped a fingertip into a bit of blood on the ground, and muttered incantations. His light blue eyes suddenly became somewhat vacant, as if the focus of his vision was concentrated on some unseen distance.

The vampire Thomas's eyes widened immediately. He recognized this as an elder of a Centaur tribe, extremely skilled in divination, and dared not linger any longer, silently sliding down and flying away through the gaps in the leaves.

Lucas hesitated for a moment, not immediately fleeing.

He didn't think that his size and movements through the forest could escape the Centaurs' ears.

Moreover, the Centaurs were looking for an outsider vampire, but Lucas's family was allowed to live in the Forbidden Forest with Dumbledore's permission. As long as he wasn't with the vampire, he still had room to maneuver.

So the werewolf simply stuffed his son into his clothes, signaling him not to make a sound.

Morris nodded vigorously, widening his eyes nervously.

"He's gone," the Centaur elder said after a moment. "He will soon leave the Forbidden Forest; we cannot catch up."

"Damn it!" A black-haired Centaur roared angrily.

"Calm down, Bane," Magorian said peacefully. "At least he didn't cause any damage to us."

"He went to the Acromantula colony," the white-gold-haired Centaur said. "Magorian, perhaps we should warn Hogwarts."

Magorian shook his head and said, "There's no need. The Acromantula were severely damaged yesterday afternoon, with over 90% casualties."

The black-haired Bane said coldly, "I don't want to be seen as a servant of that school."

The white-gold-haired Centaur, who was Firenze, frowned upon hearing this and said, "Our tribe and Hogwarts are adjacent to each other, and we should help each other. Moreover, more and more dark forces are beginning to surface. To protect the tribe, we need to cooperate with Hogwarts even more."

"What do those things have to do with us? What Centaurs need to care about are the prophecies of the stars!" Bane roared loudly. "We have sworn an oath, Firenze, and we must not defy the will of heaven!"

"Perhaps the trajectory of the stars is guiding us?"

Firenze said angrily, "I don't believe you haven't seen it. Two years ago, Jupiter tore apart a comet! The fragments of that comet will soon continuously collide with Jupiter! This is a sign that the world is about to undergo major changes!"

Bane said, "Precisely because of this, we should remain silent, guard our tribe, and not have unnecessary contact with the outside world! Just like our ancestors have for thousands of years!"

He glared angrily, roaring, "Firenze, do you want the Centaur tribe to be involved in the war?"

Firenze said disappointedly, "If waiting is all it takes to reach dawn smoothly, then why did the gods give us Centaurs the ability to interpret the signs of the stars?"

He looked around, then looked at the other, "Bane, we are not observers of the world, but a part of the world! The trajectory of the stars has already pointed out the direction for us. If we do nothing, the changing world will leave us behind! The Centaurs will also become dust of history!"

"I would rather become dust than be used by wizards, be driven by humans!" Bane snorted coldly and turned to walk into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

The surrounding Centaurs quietly watched the two argue, including the red-haired Centaur who seemed to be the leader, and Magorian, who had just done the divination. No one spoke.

Until Bane turned and left, the red-haired Centaur sighed deeply.

He said to Firenze, "Firenze, your worries are not without reason, but…"

He looked up at the stars, looked for a long time, before saying, "We Centaurs also have the pride of Centaurs. Hogwarts… or rather, wizards… they don't know how to respect other races."

His tone was not as激烈 as Bane's, but it gained the approval of most of the Centaurs. Some Centaurs had originally leaned towards Firenze, but after the red-haired Centaur finished speaking, the wavering on their faces disappeared.

Firenze frowned and said, "Ronan, we cannot turn a blind eye to change. You have also seen that the changes that have occurred at Hogwarts in the past two years are more than in the past thousand years!"

Ronan said melancholically, "Yes, sometimes when I see those children coming out of the maze, I feel a sense of fear. The wizarding cubs are transforming into warriors, but the Centaurs are standing still."

Firenze's face lit up, and he said eagerly, "That's right! Then we should…"

Ronan raised his hand to stop his next words, sighing, "You are too impatient, Firenze, and impatience leads to mistakes. We still need to observe more patiently to see where the future will lead."

Ronan also turned and left, followed by Magorian, and the rest of the Centaurs followed one after another.

A gray-brown Centaur passed Firenze and turned to say to him, "I like you, Firenze, but I hate those wizards. They put those damned spiders into the Forbidden Forest, and now they've stuffed a dragon in here too! The Forbidden Forest is our home, but the wizards have made a mess of it! I hate them!"

Firenze also fell silent.

The wizards probably think that the place where the dragon is located is far enough away from the Centaur tribe. But in the eyes of Centaurs who love to run, the entire Forbidden Forest is their home, and they are very disgusted that there are some uncontrolled dangers in the Forbidden Forest.

The Centaurs left one after another, leaving only Firenze alone.

He looked at the sparse stars in the distance for a long time, until the sun obscured the faint light of all the stars, and then he left with a heavy heart.

Lucas climbed down from the tree, frowning as he watched the centaur leave. After a moment of thought, he took out a crumpled piece of parchment and began to write a letter.

Morris saw that the beginning was "Dumbledore" and asked in confusion, "Dad, don't you dislike Dumbledore?"

"A promise is a promise, Morris."

Lucas said with a沉着 face, "Besides, with Dumbledore around, you were brought into that school, treated, and returned safely. If Dumbledore wasn't there..."

He didn't continue, and after a moment of pause, he continued writing.

...

When a fluffy owl swooped into the headmaster's office, Wade was taking an alchemy class with Professor Murray.

After pouring red tea and setting out snacks, the class officially began. Professor Murray waved his wand, and a flat box flew down from the bookshelf, landing on the table with a "thump."

"Open it and take a look," Professor Murray said. "This is the tool we'll be studying this semester... at least for a month or two."

Wade opened the box and said in surprise, "Quills?"

Professor Murray smiled and said, "Wade, you've created many remarkable alchemical works, but you've rarely come into contact with quills. In fact, you can learn many interesting things from these delicate and fragile objects."

He picked up a slender, green quill and said, "This is a self-inking quill. As long as there's ink in the ink bottle, it can write continuously. Can you guess what spells are used on it?"

Wade observed for a moment and said, "The connecting charm... the filling charm... I guess there's also a levitation charm? That would make the ink flow more smoothly when in use."

"Not bad."

Professor Murray flicked his hand lightly, and the quill completely disassembled, turning into a pile of parts.

"The way you combine spells is actually very rare. Usually, when we need to cast different spells on an object, we put the spells on different structural parts of it."

Wade watched carefully.

The nib, the shaft, the connection points at the top and bottom, and a small wooden ball, each part had a different spell cast on it, and the combination was surprisingly harmonious.

Subsequently, using the materials Professor Murray had prepared in advance, he also made an identical quill, taking only two or three minutes.

Professor Murray nodded in satisfaction.

"The shaft and feathers can be disassembled more carefully. If we need to, we can also add some extra spell carriers to it, such as this anti-cheating quill."

He took out a second quill, ordinary in appearance, but in Wade's eyes, it was even more dazzling than the former.

"Look, anti-interference charm, detection charm, recording charm, and restriction charm. These spells are all to prevent students from using unscrupulous means to get good grades during exams."

"Of course, I know you've already come into contact with it, but you still need to take a good look at it from the perspective of an alchemist."

"Yes."

Wade took the anti-cheating quill, examining, observing, and learning.

He had used this kind of quill in the final exams of the previous two years. But in the examination room, Wade couldn't just take apart the quill used for the exam and study it himself.

Seeing that Wade had replicated an almost identical quill in just over ten minutes, Murray's face showed a smile, and the wrinkles around the corners of his mouth deepened.

At the same time, he saw Wade smile inexplicably, but it didn't seem like the satisfaction of a successful creation, but rather a sly feeling.

Murray narrowed his eyes slightly and said with a smile, "Wade, I'm letting you study this, not giving you a chance to cheat in the exam."

"Oh, no, I just suddenly thought..."

Wade put down his replica and smiled, "With the communication peas, the role this kind of quill can play is not as great as before. So this year's examination room may prohibit carrying communication peas and add a detection spell at the entrance."

"That's true," Professor Murray said, stroking his chin. "I will bring this suggestion to Dumbledore."

Wade smiled, somewhat looking forward to the scene where some students actually wore communication peas, thinking they had mastered a new way to cheat, but were discovered by the professor at the moment before entering the examination room.

"Let's talk about the third..."

Professor Murray picked up a third quill. This was a pure black quill, with slight traces of decay on the feathers on both sides, seeming to carry an ominous aura.

"Try it," Professor Murray handed it over.

Wade held the pen and gently swiped it on the paper. The sharp pain in his arm made him frown, and a bright red mark appeared on the paper.

He pulled up his sleeve, and a thin wound appeared on his arm, with droplets of blood slowly oozing out, but then the wound quickly healed, as if nothing had happened.

"It carries a curse," Professor Murray said. "A very ancient magic, using the user's blood as ink when writing and bringing intense pain, a common dark magic tool."

He took the black quill back from Wade's hand, put it in the box, and said at the same time:

"Tools like this that immediately reveal the problem when used are actually the least scary, Wade. The truly dangerous monsters are often wrapped in gorgeous clothes, making people willingly fall into the abyss."

"I once heard of a wish-fulfilling quill that turns written words into reality, but the ink it consumes is the writer's luck—very terrifying and desired by countless people."

"But that's just a legend. What we're going to learn today is this—"

Professor Murray finally held in his hand a sky-blue quill, the longest of the quills, with a somewhat special nib.

"This is a shorthand quill, capable of automatically recording information and modifying it according to the owner's ideas, a favorite of reporters and writers."

He placed the quill in Wade's palm and said, "The automatic writing spell on it isn't particularly special, but the way it connects to the wizard's thoughts is very creative—this is also the focus of our class today."

"This is different from imbuing a magical puppet with thought; that's a one-time thing. But this—it uses its current thoughts to continuously influence the quill."

"Don't underestimate this spell. A few wizards who are proficient in this can make animals understand their thoughts, and can also make others act according to the caster's will, thinking it's their own idea."

Wade's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he asked, "Like the Imperius Curse?"

"No, the Imperius Curse is nothing," Professor Murray said. "It's like in myths and legends, the means by which gods or demons bewitch humans and manipulate them. Legend has it that some magical items can even influence the thoughts of people all over the world."

"...That sounds a bit scary," Wade asked thoughtfully, "How do you avoid this kind of influence?"

"That's just a legend, Wade. If a certain magic could influence billions of people, what price would it require? I can hardly imagine."

Professor Murray smiled and said, "But after learning the spell, you will naturally learn how to resist it. Now, let's start with the quill."