"Ogg and the unicorns..."
It was another new week.
During some free time one day,
Cypher voiced his concerns to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore pondered for a moment before answering, "There is nothing wrong with Ogg. Like Newt, he is a man with a pure love for Magical Creatures, and one of the rare adult men to earn a unicorn's approval."
Cypher froze. So unicorn herds really existed?
"Yes. There is more than one unicorn herd in the Forbidden Forest. It is called the Forbidden Forest because we know far too little about it. It is simply too vast."
Cypher was unconvinced. Not to mention that ancient wizards had all been recluses, even now that wizards were beginning to leave their homes and interact with the outside world, war had broken out again.
There simply were not enough people to explore the Forbidden Forest thoroughly.
After confirming that Ogg had not deliberately lured Luna there, Cypher asked a few questions about magic before ending the conversation.
When the weekend arrived, the young wizards happily darted through the castle.
Laughter and cheers... drifted in from the broad lawn outside the castle from time to time.
By then, Luna and Iris had already headed to the Forbidden Forest together.
Cypher had intended to read for a while, practice magic, and then make a delicious meal in the kitchen to welcome the two girls back.
However, Fawkes's sudden appearance disrupted his plans.
The professor needed to see me urgently? Cypher was startled. He hurriedly put on his coat and reached out to grab Fawkes's tail feathers.
In a burst of firelight, Cypher arrived at the Transfiguration Class office on the second floor.
Let us turn the clock back a little.
Ever since Cypher had told him that there might be an insider in the castle,
Dumbledore had occasionally set aside some free time to patrol the castle.
And sure enough, those patrols had uncovered quite a few troubling things.
Including, but not limited to, traps designed by Peeves that could harm young wizards.
Poisonous herbs discarded by upper-year students.
There were even scrapped Dark Arts necklaces hidden in the secret passages.
Of course, none of that amounted to much.
As long as it was not fatal, the professors and school nurse had plenty of ways to get those mischievous little ones lively and kicking again.
Yet his recent inspections had given him a strange feeling.
He always felt that something was watching him, silently observing him, perhaps even monitoring him.
However, whenever he patrolled with Fawkes, that feeling vanished.
That alone would have been one thing, but he had seen several young wizards suddenly become dazed and foolish whenever they entered secluded, deserted corners, as though they were spacing out.
One or two cases every now and then proved nothing. But when dozens of young wizards began showing such symptoms, he could no longer remain calm.
He had a suspicion, but he dared not be certain.
How could anyone in Hogwarts silently bypass its ancient, powerful protective magic and curse the young wizards?
So he hurriedly wrote down his findings in a letter and sent it to Nicolas Flamel, the centuries-old alchemist far away in Lebanon.
Today, Nicolas's reply had finally arrived.
He impatiently opened it. After reading it, he thought for a moment and decided to summon Cypher, because he did not want the House-elves to know about this.
Time returned to Cypher's arrival.
"Professor, what did you need me for?"
The moment Cypher landed, he looked around. Seeing Dumbledore standing by the windowsill and gazing outside, he hurriedly asked.
"I have discovered some anomalies. The letters are on the desk. Read them yourself."
Dumbledore answered without turning around.
"So serious... Who is he watching?!" Cypher muttered inwardly as he stepped forward and picked up the two letters resting atop the little wooden box.
The first letter was Dumbledore's account of the situation to Nicolas. After reading it, Cypher understood what Dumbledore had discovered recently.
The second was naturally Nicolas's reply.
With his back to Dumbledore, Cypher's shocked expression went unseen.
After briefly greeting Dumbledore, Nicolas Flamel had written down the information he had found and his conclusions.
Dumbledore could sense someone watching him, and whatever it was feared phoenixes.
That was probably not something a spell could accomplish, but an unknown kind of existence.
Phoenixes were immortal. Whenever they suffered fatal injuries, they transformed into flames and were reborn from the ashes. Thus, they were also known as immortal birds.
Since Fawkes could make that unknown thing retreat in fear, it was likely related to life, death, or souls.
Nicolas boldly guessed that it was something akin to a ghost.
One had to know that ordinary ghosts in the Magical World were translucent, incorporeal beings capable of communication.
But what if someone had invented a spell that could make ghosts invisible as well?
After consulting a vast amount of material,
Nicolas Flamel had found an antique that even he could not reproduce to this day.
Back when I was young and strong, at least not as shriveled as I am now,
a wizard named Marco Polo had chanced upon ruins from a mysterious ancient Eastern nation.
Once, he had needed something from me but could not afford the price. With no other choice, he had mortgaged part of his findings to me. Yet he never came back to redeem them before he died.
What shocked Cypher was what Nicolas had said.
Inside this unopened little wooden box were a compass and its instruction manual.
"Professor, may I open it?" Steadying himself, Cypher quickly asked.
"Of course." Dumbledore still did not turn around.
If Cypher had looked back, he would have seen Dumbledore's gaze fixed on the far edges of the lawn, worry unconsciously appearing on his face.
Magic items were delicate, especially unknown ones. It was best not to touch them carelessly.
But Nicolas Flamel would not send him a Dark Arts artifact without protective measures.
Besides, Cypher was not reckless. He never touched or tampered with unknown things at random.
Cypher carefully opened the little wooden box.
Sure enough, what greeted his eyes was a circular disk etched with complex yet familiar lines, with a round wooden stick lying beside it.
What wooden stick? This was a scroll! Cypher wanted to slap himself.
After checking that his hands were clean, Cypher carefully took out the scroll and spread it open.
Hah, traditional Chinese characters! Cypher barely managed to understand the general idea.
The gist was this.
The compass needle pointed toward the target. Infuse magical power from beneath the compass. If it floated above the base in one's hand without moving and continued to point north, the positioning had succeeded.
That was it? Where was the incantation? Was he really supposed to inject magic power so crudely?
"Professor?"
Nicolas Flamel had said he could not reproduce it. This might be the only compass of its kind in the world.
Because no second Marco Polo had found the ruins of a second ancient nation.
"Give it a try. I have tried already. Ordinary magic will not work. It should require House-elf magic."
Yes, Dumbledore had tested it before Cypher arrived.
Hearing that, Cypher carefully picked up the compass.
The compass seemed to be made of some kind of metal. It had a metallic texture, yet it was as light as cork.
Its reverse side was covered in countless tiny dots.
Cypher turned it over and saw a passage written in tiny ancient script.
Even squinting, he could barely make it out. Cypher grabbed the quill beside him and used magic to turn it into a magnifying glass.
Frowning, he struggled to translate it.
"When a person dies, they become a ghost. When a ghost dies, it becomes Nihil. When Nihil dies, it becomes Xi. When Xi dies, it becomes Yi."
"What is seen but cannot be seen is called Yi; what is heard but cannot be heard is called Xi."
After reading it, Cypher set down the compass and rubbed his sore eyes.
"Professor, are you saying that the thing secretly watching you is a ghost?"
"Yes, that is what I suspect. I called you here to try this."
Cypher thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up. "Professor, how do ordinary ghosts sustain themselves?"
"The ghosts in the castle are protected by the castle, which provides them with a source of magic. Other ghosts should have something similar replenishing them."
Dumbledore finally stopped looking outside. He turned around in surprise, then quickly composed himself.
Cypher could actually understand those words? One had to know, even I had only managed to...
"If someone destroyed a ghost's source of magic, replaced it with another method, and controlled them while keeping them in a state between dispersing and not dispersing... could that create this faint yet persistent feeling of being watched?"
"Cypher, your guess may be the truth. But we still need to verify it!"
After hearing that, Dumbledore showed his first smile in quite some time.
His intuition told him that this compass could easily help him find the mastermind behind it all.
Before you continue