"Phoenix!"
Hagrid drew in a disbelieving breath when he heard Vinson's introduction. "Good heavens! Where did it come from?"
"Mr. Crouch gave it to me."
As direct as ever, Vinson casually shifted the blame. "It's been with me ever since I was four. I originally wanted Mr. Crouch to look after it..."
As he spoke, Vinson patted the Ice Bird's sharp beak and sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't know what happened. Maybe it noticed that I wasn't home tonight and flew to the school to find me..."
"How clever..."
Hagrid was still generous with his praise.
Vinson Wright nodded noncommittally and continued calmly, "Luckily, I was punished today and had to come to the Forbidden Forest to patrol with you..."
"That's wonderful!"
Hagrid quickly cut him off, then felt that something was wrong and hurriedly explained, "I mean, it just so happened that we ran into it..."
As he spoke, Hagrid kept glancing at the Ice Crystal Phoenix beside him. "To be honest, I've never seen such a beautiful phoenix..."
"..."
That was definitely one of Hagrid's compliments.
The Wizarding World had countless Fantastic Beasts, including more than a few creatures of breathtaking beauty. The Ice Crystal Phoenix brought more shock than beauty.
Of course.
It was also possible that Hagrid's aesthetic sense was questionable. For a half-blood Giant, perhaps an animal being large enough was a unique kind of beauty.
"I want to find somewhere to temporarily settle it."
Vinson Wright glanced at the still-infatuated Hagrid and began introducing his pet. "Anivia is very clever and won't cause any trouble. As long as it restrains its magic, even when it falls asleep, it won't affect the surrounding environment..."
"Falls asleep?"
"Something like hibernation."
Vinson Wright stroked the ice crystals on Anivia's head and murmured softly, "Winter is the season most suited to Anivia. During the other seasons, it can stay somewhere it likes and sleep until winter comes and wakes it..."
"How interesting!"
Hagrid stroked his beard and quickly offered a suggestion. "You can put it beside my hut. I can build it a bird's nest right now. Even if it wakes up later, I won't mind if the weather turns cold..."
"..."
Hagrid really did love animals!
Vinson patted Anivia's head and looked at his pet. "Actually, there's no need to go to so much trouble. Anivia can do it itself, right?"
"Chirp~"
The Ice Crystal Phoenix affectionately rubbed against Vinson's arm.
The next second, under Hagrid's gaze, the Ice Crystal Phoenix suddenly spread its wings wide. Snowflakes once again drifted through the freezing wind!
Walls of ice suddenly began rising from the ground!
Vinson slowly stepped back a few paces and watched his Ice Crystal Phoenix begin building its nest. With the enhancement of its powerful ice magic, a massive enclosed ice house rose from the ground!
Anivia stood inside the ice house and slowly folded its wings. Its head gradually sank beneath them, and its entire body slowly curled up.
The Ice Crystal Phoenix...
fell into slumber as if it had been frozen in ice.
Vinson Wright slowly walked to the side of the ice house. He silently caressed its wall and gazed at the Ice Bird inside, which looked like a statue.
Of course.
If anyone thought it was truly asleep and tried to tease it or steal it, they could only pray that the thief had enough lives to waste...
As the Ice Crystal Phoenix fell asleep,
the snow and wind throughout Hogwarts also came to a halt.
Standing beside the ice house, Hagrid could not help praising the Ice Bird inside. "Amazing. Nature always creates some magnificent forms of life..."
"Perhaps..."
Vinson nodded noncommittally, then suddenly changed the subject. "Hagrid, are we going to patrol now? I'm a little tired..."
"Then hurry back and rest."
Without turning his head, Hagrid said, "The Forbidden Forest has been very quiet lately. Go back and rest, Vinson..."
"..."
Vinson fell silent for a while.
However, the gray-haired boy glanced at his pet again.
When Hagrid noticed that nothing was happening beside him, he turned to look at the reluctant Vinson and could not help laughing. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of it. If you have time, you can come find me at my hut..."
"Thank you."
Vinson Wright nodded solemnly in gratitude.
Hagrid really was a warmhearted good man.
Vinson Wright did not hurry. He simply walked slowly along the snow into the gates of Hogwarts Castle, leaving a long line of footprints behind him.
Standing at the gate, Vinson stared at the footprints in the snow and slowly took out the Polyjuice Potion he had made. Calmly, he drank a mouthful.
This mouthful of Polyjuice Potion...
was enough to sustain his transformation for an hour.
The potion began taking effect almost the instant it entered his mouth. Accompanied by its utterly foul taste, Vinson Wright's body rapidly changed!
His handsome gray hair turned brownish-yellow...
His slightly loose wizard's uniform was stretched tight in an instant by his transformed, plump body. The clothes cinched tightly around him, making his figure look even fatter!
Vinson Wright slowly felt his transformed face. He could sense just how awful it looked, because its owner truly had not been much to look at...
Peter Pettigrew.
That was the name of the face's owner.
This was the true identity of Scabbers, the rat kept by Percy Weasley.
Peter Pettigrew was an unregistered, illegal Animagus. Just like his animal form—a rat—he had a sharp-toothed, pointy-mouthed appearance...
Peter Pettigrew was not a good man.
During his time at Hogwarts, he had several close friends and was deeply trusted by them.
Peter Pettigrew should originally have joined his friends on the side of justice. However, he was captured by Voldemort, surrendered to him, and became a spy, directly leaking secrets to Voldemort and leading to Harry Potter's parents being murdered by him...
Of course.
This also led to Voldemort and his Death Eater army being destroyed.
When Voldemort tried to use magic to kill the infant Harry Potter, the ancient curse protecting Harry rebounded the attack, causing Voldemort to lose most of his life outright...
From then on...
Voldemort vanished from sight, clinging to life as he waited for a chance to resurrect.
Whether on the side of justice or evil, everyone suffered devastating losses because of Peter Pettigrew's leak, through a series of strange twists and coincidences.
A spy like that...
was truly impossible to describe in a single sentence.
Of course.
Peter Pettigrew was not completely useless.
At the very least, he had hidden himself extremely well. Apart from Sirius Black, who alone knew the truth, no one else had ever suspected Peter Pettigrew.
However, this also led Sirius Black to hunt his old friend Peter Pettigrew everywhere.
In the end, Peter had no choice but to create a massive explosion and fake his own death to escape. To prevent Black from continuing to hunt him, Peter simply transformed into his Animagus form—a rat—and hid in the Weasley family's home.
That hiding...
had lasted almost seven or eight years.
Vinson Wright let out a low sigh and turned his school uniform inside out before draping it over himself.
Then, wearing Peter Pettigrew's face, Vinson stepped back into the snow and sprinted across it, leaving row after row of deep footprints until he reached the school gates and finally stopped...
To prevent anyone from noticing anything wrong...
Vinson had created Peter Pettigrew's escape trail beforehand. That way, there could be no mistakes.
Everything was linked together. Even this sudden heavy snow had been part of Vinson's plan.
As for what came next, naturally, it was time for Peter Pettigrew to cause a commotion at Hogwarts and become the enemy of the entire Wizarding World!
"Apparate!"
Vinson Wright vanished from the school gates.
Hogwarts School prohibited anyone from using the Teleportation Charm unless they had the headmaster's permission. However, Vinson Wright's control over the spell was powerful enough to let him use it freely anywhere!
No matter what happened tonight...
he absolutely had to obtain the Marauder's Map!
Because the map was in the office of Filch, Hogwarts' caretaker and gatekeeper!
Who knew whether the Weasley twins might violate school rules and be dragged into Filch's office tomorrow? Once the Marauder's Map fell into their hands, getting it back would not be easy!
If the opportunity arose...
Vinson did not actually mind completing a few more missions.
This was not his real appearance, anyway. Someone else was already taking the blame for him.
Although that scapegoat knew nothing about it, what did that matter?
Forget it. I'll release the next part early.
Before you continue