Hagrid's Message

The last heavy rain before winter in the Scottish Highlands descended upon Hogwarts at the beginning of October.

It was the night of Slytherin's practice match.

Wood sat alone in the empty Quidditch Pitch, soaked by the rain, as though he wanted to drown himself.

Everyone knew that Wood saw Slytherin as his greatest rival, the biggest obstacle standing between him and his wish to win the Quidditch Cup before graduation. He had thought Gryffindor was secure with Harry, but after seeing Vaughn's performance, Wood fell into despair once more.

Harry would rather he didn't...

From that day onward, the Quidditch training Wood arranged became even more insane.

If he had not retained a shred of reason, he would have wanted everyone to skip every class and focus entirely on Quidditch practice every day!

The result of that madness was that Harry suffered terribly.

Not only did he have to deal with increasingly heavy schoolwork, but he also had to attend Quidditch practice four nights a week.

One day in mid-October, the haggard and thinner Harry finally ran into Vaughn again—recently, Vaughn seemed to have returned to the busy state he had been in some time ago, disappearing the moment class ended.

Vaughn was startled by Harry's dark circles. "What have you been doing?"

Harry cast him a resentful glance and said listlessly, "Homework, training... Doesn't Slytherin train?"

"Wednesday nights every week. Any more than that wouldn't be appropriate; it would affect everyone's condition."

"That's nice. Flint looks fierce, dumb, and stupid, yet he actually understands that."

Vaughn said nothing. He had made that training plan himself. Flint had naturally objected, so Vaughn had taught him a lesson with one Disarming Charm. Then Vaughn discovered... having an idiot as captain actually had its advantages.

Flint could not beat him, so he obeyed him well and had no particular attachment to the training plan. At critical moments, he could even be used as a shield—for example, whenever someone cursed Slytherin's tactics for being vicious and underhanded.

"Harry, did you need something from me? If not, I'll be going. I've been very busy lately."

Vaughn spoke.

It was not an excuse. Recently, he had been spending all his time in Snape's office, using the Magic Extraction Method to familiarize himself with various materials.

It was no easy task.

Although they had been processed, those materials taken from Magical Plants and animals still retained residual magic power. His magic power could not damage them, so his progress was not particularly fast.

Harry hurriedly grabbed him. "Nicolas Flamel!"

"..." Vaughn was speechless. Looking at Harry's face, which practically had premature aging written all over it, he said, "You're exhausted to this point, and you're still thinking about that?"

Harry gave an embarrassed laugh.

Vaughn pulled out a Chocolate Frog. "Do you remember the Chocolate Frog cards Ron and you were discussing when we first met? It says so right there!"

Harry immediately sprang up. After hurriedly saying goodbye to Vaughn, he dashed madly toward the Gryffindor Common Room.

Vaughn shook his head, ate something casually, then hurried back to Professor Snape's office.

Professor Snape had been in an increasingly good mood lately.

Perhaps it was because he enjoyed seeing Harry suffer. Or perhaps it was because he finally had someone with whom he could discuss Potions?

In any case, at least when he graded assignments lately, he no longer looked as if he wanted to slash through the Parchment, or summon the Young Wizard whose Essay contained mistakes and berate them to tears with venomous words.

After greeting Snape, who was lightly waving his Quill, Vaughn went to his seat and took out a piece of Monkshood.

With one hand, he lightly tapped his Wand and carefully fed magic power into the Monkshood. With the other, he held a Quill, writing and sketching.

He was recording the internal structure of the Monkshood reflected in his mind, along with his guesses about its Traits.

He first categorized them to make later experiments easier.

Time passed quickly in such concentration.

When Vaughn put it down, it was already six in the evening.

It was getting late. Vaughn bowed to Snape. "Goodbye, Professor."

Snape called after him. "Weasley..."

"Call me Vaughn, Professor."

"Vaughn..." Snape shook his hair awkwardly. "The Quidditch season starts next month. Your first match is against Gryffindor. How has your training been going?"

"Not bad." Vaughn thought for a moment, then said, "Flint is planning to assign two people specifically to target Harry. Extremely vicious and cruel."

Cruel was exactly right. Snape's mood brightened. He did not pursue the matter further, instead asking:

"I see that you've been focusing all your energy on Monkshood lately. Are you planning to use it as the main ingredient in your Potions?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Hmph... It's Highly Toxic!" Snape looked irritated, seemingly displeased by Vaughn's overconfidence. "Once you've finished analyzing it, write an Essay and hand it in to me!"

Clearly, he was worried Vaughn would act rashly and wanted to check his work for him.

Vaughn agreed with a smile.

He really wanted to know what expression Snape would have when he eventually discovered Vaughn's research goal.

Vaughn left the Potions Office and arrived at the Great Hall. Today, he once again chose to grace the Ravenclaw table with his presence.

The older girls were gentle and considerate, making them best suited for relaxing.

Unfortunately, after only a few words with Cho Zhang, Harry, Ron, and Hermione came looking for him.

"Vaughn, you..." Harry had barely greeted Vaughn when he noticed Cho beside him. Then, for some reason, he started stammering.

"Y-you, hello, I'm H-H-Harry..."

"Harry Potter. There isn't anyone who doesn't know your name."

Cho smiled gently, then waved to Vaughn. "You get busy. We can talk when you have time."

Harry stared blankly at her retreating figure.

It was not until Ron bumped him that he snapped out of it. "What's wrong with you? Why are you spacing out?"

Only then did Harry come to his senses. He saw Vaughn's faintly amused smile and Hermione's suspicious look.

For the first time, he found Ron so lovable.

His face reddened, and he hurriedly coughed twice. "Vaughn, thanks for the reminder. We know what Dumbledore has hidden in the castle."

He leaned closer and whispered furtively, "It's the Philosopher's Stone..."

Seeing that Vaughn's expression did not change in the slightest, Ron found it unbelievable. "You're not surprised at all? The Philosopher's Stone! The thing from the fairy tales we heard as children!"

"I know what it is." Vaughn waved a hand. "The moment you mentioned Nicolas Flamel, I knew it had to be the Philosopher's Stone. It was his greatest achievement."

"That's it? It can turn stone into gold!"

In Ron's eyes, that was the Philosopher's Stone's most miraculous ability.

Vaughn looked Ron up and down, then said with a smile, "Ronald Weasley, my dear little brother, what do you think is the difference between me selling Potions and turning stone into gold?"

"..."

Ron seemed to turn gray all over. He did not want to speak anymore.

Harry hurriedly pulled Ron aside, lest the blow shatter his mentality completely. "Vaughn, Hagrid wants to see you."

Hermione, beside him, added, "Sorry. Hagrid asked us who else knew about Nicolas Flamel, and we had no choice but to tell him."

Vaughn blinked. "Sure. When are we going?"

He had just realized that after being at Hogwarts for so long, he had not even visited the Forbidden Forest once.

What an oversight!