A Reliable Search Girl

Stephanie's eyes were wide and bright with seriousness, and her lips were slightly pursed. Ignoring her age, which did not match her appearance at all (she was already an adult), the girl at this moment looked like a child who wanted to prove herself to the adults.

Sean scratched his head. He did need someone who could provide him with more ideas. From the first time he met Stephanie, she was reading. And in the years that followed, whenever he met her, the girl would always be carrying several thick ancient books.

Moreover, Sean now has access to the Room of Requirement, a magical room that has existed since Hogwarts and contains all sorts of strange and wonderful books. Stephanie had access to it long before him and has probably read many of them.

As if worried that Sean wouldn't believe her, Stephanie even took off her glasses.

The dark, starry night's eyes transformed into a dreamy pale blue before Sean's eyes.

As far as Sean knew, Stephanie's allure was weaker when her pupils were light blue, and her ability to attract women was significantly reduced. However, when her pupils were black, her allure increased dramatically, appealing to both men and women—but the allure of her black pupils seemed to be suppressed by her magical gold-rimmed glasses.

Of course, this made no difference to Sean. He couldn't withstand the gaze of those pale blue eyes at first, but now even if Stephanie went all out, it wouldn't affect him at all—[Pride] naturally looked down on everything, and no magic related to eyes would work on him.

So her sudden change in eye color must mean something.

Sure enough, Stephanie took off her glasses, looked at Sean and said, "My charm comes from my mother, she was a Veela, but my mother was not a pure Veela."

Sean nodded thoughtfully.

"I don't know who my mother's parents, that is, my maternal grandparents, are, but my maternal grandmother is most likely a pure Veela, and my maternal grandfather is likely an undiscovered Magus."

Magus? That's interesting.

Magus is a term used to describe wizards with special talents. For example, Tonks is a Metamorphmagus, and Newt's innate ability to communicate with Magical Creatures is also a type of Magus.

Stephanie pulled a book out of nowhere and handed it to Sean.

"This is Sonnets at the Edge of the Mist Sea ' that I just borrowed from the library today, and I haven't read it yet."

Sean casually flipped through it; it was a collection of medieval love poems, the words so refined they were even somewhat obscure.

"Hmm?" He looked at the other person.

Stephanie took the book again and quickly flipped through it in front of Sean.

In less than five minutes, the girl had turned to the last page and handed the book to Sean.

"You can ask me anything on any page."

This... Quantum Reading?

Sean took the book in surprise and then asked a few questions casually.

Stephanie recited everything Sean had mentioned in a cold, emotionless tone, without a single mistake.

"Is your memory something you were born with?" Sean looked at the other person in surprise.

Stephanie gently shook her head. "It should be the bloodline I inherited from my maternal grandfather. It should also be a kind of Magus, but I have not found any relevant records. When my eyes are black, it is the charm ability inherited from my mother, which is even enhanced by [Lust]; when my eyes are light blue, I can choose to activate this kind of Magus."

"If I want to, with some magic and mental effort, I can have a photographic memory without needing to understand the meaning of the sentences themselves—although this method of reading is not very meaningful, it provides me with great convenience in terms of memory."

Hermione must be so envious of that ability... Sean thought to himself.

Across from me, the girl continued speaking, "I'm saying all this to prove to you that I really do have the ability to help you. Of course, I can't have read and understood all the books in the Hogwarts Library and the Room of Requirement, but I've read quite a few..."

"It's more than just a lot. Judging from how often you read, your reading volume is probably dozens of times that of others..." Sean exclaimed in amazement.

Stephanie shook her head. "A hundred times more would have been fine, but I think reading without understanding is a waste of time—of course, some record-like messages don't need to be understood."

Sean nodded. "No wonder you said it so seriously, you've read a lot of books."

"Well, the professors didn't tell me much, so I thought I'd come directly to you. If you need any help, just let me know—I haven't read all the books in the Hogwarts Library and the Room of Requirement, but I have read the catalog of all the books."

Looking at the girl in front of him, whose face was calm and even exuded a gentle aura, an idea suddenly popped into Sean's mind.

This is just a computer...

Search Girl?!

Of course, it's definitely a good thing that Stephanie said so. Hogwarts has so many books that Sean believes there are likely clues to be found. But even with Hermione, Daisy, Harry, and the rest of the group, he doesn't know when he'll find the key information.

Thinking of this, he didn't stand on ceremony and said directly, "Then I won't waste any more time with you. I do need some information right now."

Stephanie's eyes flashed with a hint of excitement, which she then concealed well.

"Mm." The girl nodded.

Sean took out the Obsession Entity that he had just placed and showed it to Stephanie.

"I got some information from Lockhart's memories. This thing is called Obsession Entity. It should be a very important thing, and it may have existed hundreds or even thousands of years ago, or rather, there may have been similar items. Do you remember this thing?"

Stephanie moved closer, her pale blue eyes scrutinizing the Black Rhombus Crystal with the precision of a radar scan.

Then she closed her eyes, and her brain started working at lightning speed.

Sean wisely refrained from disturbing her and quietly waited for her to open her eyes.

A moment later, Stephanie frowned slightly, then opened her beautiful eyes.

"I don't remember the name ' Obsession Entity '..."

Sean was somewhat disappointed. It seemed that even with Hogwarts' vast collection of books, there might not be records of all sorts of magical items.

The girl continued, "But I remembered the contents of several books, all of which mentioned Black Rhombus Crystal. However, I haven't read these books in detail, so I'm not sure if they are what you're looking for."

Sean immediately perked up. "That's alright, at least it's a clue. Do you remember which books it was?"

Stephanie nodded firmly. "I remember, they were all in the Restricted Section. I remember where each book was on the shelf—if Madam Pince didn't rearrange them."

"Let's go take a look," Sean decided immediately.

After putting the Obsession Entity away again, Sean and Stephanie used their access to the Room of Requirement to open a door in the library.

Night had fallen, and even the most diligent students had already borrowed their books and returned to the Common Room. All the lights in the library had been turned off, with only a faint glow remaining on the ceiling.

The library was quiet late at night, but Sean knew it like the back of his hand—he had sneaked into the library several times before he was even a teaching assistant.

Stephanie next to her was the same; with her reading speed, simply getting borrowing certificates from professors wasn't enough, so she had obviously done quite a few sneaky things in.

"Here—" Stephanie looked around naturally, as if she were back in her own home, and then pointed in one direction.

She led Sean toward the target bookshelf, saying as they walked, "There are seven books with similar content. They're not hard to find. The fifteenth book from the left on the third row of that bookshelf is called ' Overview of Medieval Magical Items.' I think it's the most likely one."

"You remember it so clearly..." Sean looked at the other person in surprise.

Stephanie told a corny joke for the first time, "Thank goodness my grandfather fell in love with a Veela, and their Veela daughter fell in love with a wizard."

Sean followed without responding. Stephanie spoke of her parents without any emotional fluctuation, as if she were talking about two strangers. Meanwhile, Mr. Ollivander, far away in Diagon Alley, never revealed any information about his son and daughter-in-law.

It seems that Stephanie's parents may simply have kept one child.

Sean decided not to get involved in the other person's family affairs.

Stephanie didn't say much. She led Sean to the bookshelf and pulled out a book after counting from the left to the fifteenth.

The thick black sheepskin cover showed signs of wear, indicating that it was a very old book.

Stephanie quickly flipped through the book, saying as she did so, "If I remember correctly, this book was already in the Restricted Section when I enrolled. Hogwarts doesn't replenish its books very often, but it's persistent... Ah, I found it, this one?"

Sean took the book the other person had opened and read it carefully, then shook his head after a moment.

"They do look somewhat similar, but the book mentions a Dark Wizard's magical creation whose main function is to spread plague, which is different from the effect shown by the Obsession Entity."

Stephanie nodded. "Then let's find one."

So, in the deserted library late at night, the two "uninvited guests" began browsing the Restricted Section without any restraint, and Stephanie's descriptions of the books could be heard from time to time.

During this time, Filch also brought Mrs. Norris to inspect the library once, but Sean managed to fool them with a Confundus Charm —though he couldn't fool Mrs. Norris.

But this skinny cat had a great fondness for Sean, and even took advantage of the moment when its owner Filch was stunned by the Confundus Charm to jump into Sean's arms and let him pet it for a while...

After the person and the cat had walked away, Sean brushed the cat hair off his body and looked at Stephanie curiously.

The girl instinctively stepped back when Mrs. Norris jumped into Sean's arms.

Are you allergic to cat hair?

Stephanie shook her head. "No, I just don't like cats."

"Hmm? Can I ask why?" After getting to know each other better, Sean spoke to the other person much more casually.

The girl frowned slightly in confusion. "I don't know. I've never been hurt by cats or felines since I was a child, but I don't have any physical aversion to them. I just really dislike them. I never go near the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley."

Sean shrugged. "It's probably innate—I also have things I've never liked growing up, like rainy days. When I was one year old, I would sit in my stroller and point to the heavy rain outside the window and say I hated it."

Stephanie's lips curled up almost imperceptibly before quickly returning to their original shape.

"Let's continue, there are still two books left."

"Okay, let's go."

That's what they say, but Sean has already lost all hope.

I've already flipped through the five books whose titles and tables of contents seem most related, but none of them have anything to do with Obsession Entity.

"This is the 21st book from the right in the fifth row... Hmm?" Stephanie, who was looking for a book, suddenly made a questioning sound.

"What's wrong?" Sean went over and took a look. The book called "The Collection of Greedy Poet's Stories" had been replaced by another book.

"Madam Pince seems to have rearranged the bookshelves recently; the positions of the books on this shelf have all changed," Stephanie said as she quickly scanned the shelves.

"Then... let's look for it?" Sean said. Although the hope was slim, he still didn't want to let go of any possible clues.

Although this book, "The Collection of Greedy Poet's Stories," sounds like a collection of strange and wonderful stories, the fact that it was placed in the Restricted Section means that it still has some reference value—and doesn't "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" contain information about the Deathly Hallows?

The two searched the nearby bookshelves, and soon Stephanie called out to Sean that she had found it.

Madam Pince moved "The Collection of Greedy Poet's Stories" to the outermost shelf, which, according to the rules, should be the least dangerous batch of books in the Restricted Section.

The Silver-haired Girl quickly flipped through the pages, then handed it to Sean: "This one looks very similar to mine."

"Um?"

Sean quickly took the book.

"The Collection of Greedy Poet's Stories of short stories. When Stephanie was looking for it, she told Sean that the reason this book was placed in the Restricted Section was because the short stories were not fables or fairy tales, but rather dark fairy tales. In fact, if you read a story repeatedly, you will experience a strong feeling of dizziness.

"The Great Poet and the Greedy Wisdom Snake" - A dark treasure formed from obsession was taken by a valiant Bard, and the Wisdom Snake paid the price for its Greed.

Upon seeing the title of the short story, Sean subconsciously frowned. Such seemingly normal titles were usually not good things in dark fairy tales...

He glanced at it quickly, then his pupils contracted slightly.

In the illustration, a Bard with a strange smile is holding up a black, rhomboid crystal.

It's almost identical to the Obsession Entity!