#116 - Night Tour

While Travers and Wilkes' group didn't directly clash with Anduin, they still sent people to secretly monitor his every move. However, after only a little over a month, those responsible for tracking and surveillance were frequently ambushed. Some were found hanging in the corridors, while others were stripped naked and left in the nearby women's restroom. But when asked what happened, these guys collectively lost their memories, completely unable to recall anything.

After several incidents, the pure-blood wizards were too afraid to continue tracking Anduin, much to the irritation of Wilkes, Travers, and the others.

But Anduin didn't care about that.

The school life at Hogwarts gradually returned to peace. Since the disappearance of the Dark Lord, the number of prank incidents at Hogwarts had skyrocketed, causing the mischievous ghost Peeves to become increasingly active. In previous years, Peeves rarely came out.

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Anduin even consulted Professor Flitwick about this strange phenomenon. Professor Flitwick told him that Peeves was born with the entire Hogwarts castle, belonging to the oldest and most special type of ghost, closely connected to the entire school. He's affected by the pranks and emotions within the school. In previous years, the wizarding world was shrouded in darkness, and there wasn't enough laughter and mischief on campus, so Peeves became listless and sometimes didn't even come out. But now it's different.

But this infuriated Filch, causing him to patrol the campus day and night, catching several mischievous little wizards almost every day. Now, the toilet-cleaning duty is booked out until next year.

That night, Filch, as usual, patrolled the library, and a slight noise from the restricted section caught his attention.

Filch quickly strode towards the direction of the sound, holding his kerosene lamp and looking around, but there was no one in sight except for the air. Not even a rat could be seen.

Muttering curses, Filch repeatedly checked again before reluctantly leaving.

And in a corner where Filch had just searched, a figure suddenly appeared out of thin air.

It was Anduin.

"That was close. I didn't expect some of the forbidden books to have magical alarms. I almost got caught," Anduin thought with lingering fear.

And why was he able to appear here? It was because he had finally mastered the Disillusionment Charm. In the second half of this year, Anduin's physical condition finally met the requirements for using advanced spells, so he spent a lot of time practicing the Shield Charm and Disillusionment Charm, and now he has basically raised these two spells to the mastery level.

Having mastered the Shield Charm, he could begin researching and replicating Lily's protection charm. And with the Disillusionment Charm, wouldn't it be a waste not to use it for night excursions? So, during this time, Anduin would cast the spell on himself every night and run to the restricted section of the library to check forbidden books.

But this place is worthy of being called the restricted section. Many of the books here have been cursed or have magical alarms. Flipping through them casually can easily trigger the alarm. Anduin was almost discovered just now due to carelessness.

Seeing Filch walk away, Anduin cast another Disillusionment Charm on himself and continued searching for the books he wanted. However, he was much more careful now, checking the books with 'Finite Incantatem' and 'Detect Curse' before flipping through them.

"Found it." After spending two hours, Anduin finally found the information he wanted.

"Runes that can drive the flow of magic and energy storage runes. I've collected almost enough these days. It's a pity that these should be three-dimensional runes. The rune images recorded in the book are two-dimensional. It's not easy to restore these runes based on these planar images and the descriptions in the book alone," Anduin pondered.

He had recently begun researching the temperature control spells from the Magic Club. In the club, Anduin learned that to affect temperature, one needs to master the control and flow of heat, which requires the help of runes that drive the flow of magic.

He also had another idea for magic-driven runes. He envisioned, while researching runes that drive the flow of magic, trying to develop a rune that could autonomously absorb external magic.

At the same time, he was also looking for runes that could achieve magic storage. Magical equipment like his monocle and phase boots are driven by directly absorbing his own magic when activated. Alchemical items that can be autonomously driven require runes with magic storage functions, just like batteries, to continuously drive the magical items.

Anduin learned from Professor Bones that there are currently various types of magic storage runes, but the effects are generally average. More often, the energy storage function of the alchemical materials themselves is used. Most alchemical items on the market are of this type.

So, combining magic-absorbing runes and energy storage runes can indirectly extend the driving time of magical items, which is like adding a solar panel to a battery, charging while providing power.

After comparing several energy storage runes he learned from Professor Bones, he felt unsatisfied, so he thought of coming to the restricted section to look for relevant information on energy storage runes, while also collecting more research data on the direction of magic flow.

The harvest this time was good, but unfortunately, they were all paper materials, and a large number of experiments and tests were needed to restore the corresponding rune combinations.

"If I have to choose between the driving and storage directions, I should start with the research on magic-driving runes first. On the one hand, I can accumulate data on magic absorption, and on the other hand, I can conduct research on temperature control runes," Anduin decided.

For the rest of the semester, Anduin continued to maintain a highly disciplined life and study routine, basically not communicating with the surrounding classmates. The wizarding world launched a vigorous campaign to arrest Death Eaters, and the entire Department of Magical Law Enforcement was mobilized by Minister Millicent Bagnold. Many pure-blood families also received investigations.

Anduin and Professor Bones also discussed this. Bones believed that these measures were not enough to defeat those pure-blood families who supported the Dark Lord. Many Death Eaters from pure-blood families defended themselves by claiming they were controlled by the Imperius Curse or that the perpetrator had taken Polyjuice Potion and was framed.

So, unless caught on the spot, it was difficult to arrest a Death Eater.

"Is it useless to check memories and use Veritaserum?" Anduin once asked the professor.

But this is a magical world, so all kinds of things can be faked, including memories.