I Was Careless—I Didn't Dodge!

"Don't worry, it's asleep!"

Irina kindly reassured everyone.

But how could they possibly calm down?!

Rather than face that terrifying monster, they would have preferred to be caught by Filch!

Harry fumbled with the doorknob, slammed the door shut with a bang once everyone was out, then took off running.

They raced back to the portrait of the Fat Lady on the eighth floor. Even Irina had been dragged back by Hermione.

"Come on, don't make such a fuss. It's only a Three-headed Dog!"

Irina said helplessly.

"Only a Three-headed Dog?!" Harry's eyes widened in disbelief. "It could swallow all five of us in one bite!"

After giving the password and entering the Gryffindor common room, Harry and the others finally calmed down.

Then Hermione said furiously, "Did none of you see what it was standing on?"

Harry and Ron looked utterly baffled. They had been too busy staring at the Three-headed Dog's heads—how were they supposed to know what it was standing on?!

In the end, Irina was the one who soothed Hermione and said, "I saw it. It was a trapdoor."

Only then did Hermione calm down under Irina's soothing touch. She nodded. "That's right, a trapdoor! It was clearly guarding something!"

Harry fell into thought. He seemed to know where the grimy little package from Vault 713 had ended up.

Meanwhile, after being fiercely reprimanded and having a huge number of House points deducted from Slytherin House, the Malfoy trio slunk back to their dormitory.

Seeing Linley working on alchemy, Malfoy immediately flew into a rage. "I should've just reported them from the start! This is infuriating!"

Linley shot him a sidelong glance. "What, couldn't beat them?!"

Malfoy immediately bristled. "What do you mean, couldn't beat them?! I had that idiot Potter pinned down and was beating him up! Bang, a Fiery Roast! Bang, a Grinning Huala! Potter was scurrying around like a rat! It was just that Granger took advantage of me not paying attention and launched a sneak attack. She had absolutely no sense of fair play!"

"Linley, I'm telling you, Granger even had her Wand pointed at me, but I wasn't scared—I blocked everything! But who knew she'd use a Levitation Charm to control a trophy and smash it into me? I was careless, I didn't dodge, and that's how I got knocked down!"

Malfoy prattled on to Linley as though his loss had absolutely nothing to do with him.

Crabbe and Goyle beside him could barely stand to watch.

"So you still lost, right? If you're not convinced, fight her again next time! What's the point of telling me?!"

Linley was speechless.

Malfoy grinned. "Come on, you're an alchemist, aren't you? You must have some good stuff, right?! Let me borrow something. I promise I'll return it once I beat Potter!"

Linley spread his hands. "Got nothing! Granger didn't use any alchemical tools either. Don't tell me you've lost the confidence to beat a Muggle-born?"

Come on, he wasn't Doraemon. Why was Malfoy asking him?!

Hearing that, Malfoy immediately objected. "What kind of talk is that?! I'm a Malfoy! How could I possibly lose to some Muggle-born little wizard?! Just wait. I'll practice my spells for two days, then go get my revenge!"

After sending Malfoy away, Linley chuckled.

He really was just a child!

With that thought, Linley resumed his alchemy.

It was not until two in the morning that he finished the Alchemy Formation centered on the "Dexterity" attribute.

Linley put away the Mithril Engraving Knife and went to bed.

At breakfast the next day, Linley sat at the Slytherin table. Not far away, Malfoy and the others kept making faces at Harry, like a peacock in heat.

The sight was too much for the older Slytherin students to bear.

Just then, owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual. A long, narrow package carried by six long-eared owls drew everyone's attention.

Linley knew it was the Nimbus 2000 Flying Broomstick Professor McGonagall had sent Harry.

Although Linley had no interest in flying or Quidditch, this Flying Broomstick still caught his attention.

Why was the Nimbus 2000 faster than other Flying Broomsticks? Had it been fitted with some special Alchemy Formation?!

After all, Flying Broomsticks were also a kind of alchemical product, so they naturally contained all sorts of Alchemy Formations.

Linley had previously snuck a broken Flying Broomstick from the Flying lesson equipment, one so wrecked it could not fly at all, and analyzed the Alchemy Formations within it over the summer break. The auxiliary rune for the "Speed" attribute that he had used while engraving the "Dexterity" Alchemy Formation last night had come from that Flying Broomstick.

If I bought a Nimbus 2000 too, wouldn't I be able to analyze its Alchemy Formations and put them to use?!

In truth, ordinary alchemists could not easily analyze the Alchemy Formations contained within other alchemical products. That was because most alchemists used special techniques to conceal their Alchemy Formations during the crafting process, keeping them hidden from outsiders.

Otherwise, if any alchemist who got hold of a Nimbus 2000 could analyze its Alchemy Formations, counterfeit Nimbus 2000s would likely be everywhere, and the price of the Nimbus 2000 would certainly plummet.

The reason Linley could so easily analyze the Alchemy Formations within other alchemical products was that Nicolas Flamel had taught him another special alchemical secret technique before he left.

This secret technique could bring Alchemy Formations hidden inside alchemical products to the surface, allowing Linley to observe them with his naked eye.

In the backward British wizarding world, where there was no such thing as patent law, if Linley were to extensively analyze famous magical products and reveal their Alchemy Formations, the entire British wizarding world would probably be thrown into chaos!

If Nicolas Flamel had not been able to judge, with the insight of his more than six hundred years, that Linley was generally a good child, he would never have taught him such a devastating technique. He would rather have taken it with him into the grave!

At the Gryffindor table, Ron looked enviously at Harry's note from Professor McGonagall and sighed. "A Nimbus 2000! I've never even touched one!"

Not far away, Irina also looked over with some curiosity. Although she was not as talented at flying as Harry, she still had some interest in flying.

Of course, she was only interested in flying itself, not in the fun of Quidditch.

If Irina were asked to join Gryffindor's Quidditch team, she would most likely still refuse.

After learning that the package in his hands contained a Nimbus 2000 Flying Broomstick, Harry and Ron could no longer sit still. After all, a man could be punished for possessing a treasure; only by hiding the Flying Broomstick in the dormitory could Harry feel at ease.