The Final Battle with Lupin

Beneath a thick, tough-looking fur body lies a strong, muscular humanoid form. Just by watching it effortlessly cling to the windowsill with one hand and leap onto the adjacent rooftop, one can tell that the power hidden within is absolutely explosive.

Supported by sheer physical strength, the figure leaped high into the air and landed heavily, soaring over the castle's various spires as it hurtled straight toward Skylar.

Getting a little closer, you could even see its face clearly—it was a ferocious and terrifying wolf's head, and it would occasionally let out a howl.

Skylar sighed, and ignoring Black's reaction, ran straight towards the Werewolf. Normally, Werewolf don't attack animals, so its target was clearly itself.

As Skylar ran, his mind raced through various spells and tactics, his eyes never forgetting to observe his surroundings, memorizing every environmental factor—today the moon was full and cloudless, the light was abundant, there wasn't a trace of cold wind in the air, the location was close to the Forbidden Forest, and beneath the grass was black clay, ideal for plant growth...

When the two were less than three feet apart, Werewolf leaped into the air. Its jumping ability was no joke; it covered the three-foot distance in an instant. Skylar calmly raised his wand, aimed it at the Werewolf, and chanted "Aguamenti." A high-pressure jet of water, like a fire hydrant, shot from the tip of the wand, striking the Werewolf and sending it flying through the air!

The Werewolf fell onto the grass a few feet away. When he tried to get up, he found that what had been poured on him was not pure water, but a sticky liquid similar to strong glue—this was the "Sticky Charm" created by Skylar by adjusting the viscosity of the liquid in the Aguamenti!

Skylar didn't stop there and unleashed his next combo. He cast Transfiguration on the ground, where the grass was covered in black clay, perfect for Transfiguration into a swamp!

The Werewolf was trying to free itself from the swamp, but found itself sinking rapidly. The more it struggled, the faster it sank. It let out a long howl, curled up to slow its descent, and tried to grab onto the dry ground around it to climb out of the swamp.

But Skylar wouldn't give him that chance. His wand trembled rapidly, and the black clay, being suitable for plant growth, suddenly sprouted vines from the swamp, each as thick as a human arm. Under Skylar's control, the vines bound the Werewolf round and round until only Werewolf head was exposed.

The poor Werewolf couldn't even move a finger.

Skylar knew from the beginning that Werewolf's skin had extremely strong magic resistance, so he never intended to cast a spell directly on the Werewolf. Instead, he used Transfiguration to physically bind them, and now it seems that this tactic was indeed effective.

Skylar turned to look in Black's direction again, only to find that the black dog had disappeared sometime earlier.

The battle didn't cause much of a commotion, since Skylar hadn't used any high-powered magic. And although the wolf howls were loud, they didn't attract the professors' attention, since it wasn't a secret that there were wolves in the Forbidden Forest.

Skylar first fired a red spark into the sky, then cast the Invisible Phantom Charm and stealthily made his way to Hagrid's Hut. He even brushed past Hagrid along the way, Hagrid probably saw his signal and rushed over to check what was happening.

Outside Hagrid's Hut, Skylar saw Buckbeak tied to a post. Following the methods taught in class, Skylar gained Buckbeak's trust and then lured it into his Suitcase Space.

Skylar also sneaked into the hut, first causing some damage to create the appearance of a burglary, and then stealing Unicorn Tail Hair that Hagrid had been using as bandages on the wall. These were valuable items; a small handful of Unicorn Tail Hair was worth 10 Galleon, and the amount Skylar stole was worth at least 100 Galleon. In any case, leaving them with Hagrid would be a waste.

[Obtain Unicorn Tail Hair!]

(Note: There is a bug in the original book. Slughorn said that Unicorn Tail Hair costs 10 Galleon, but a wand made from Unicorn Tail Hair only sells for 7 Galleon. So the price of Unicorn Tail Hair was changed to 10 Galleon for a small handful, which is about 5 hairs.)

By this time, the professors who saw the red sparks had probably already arrived at the Werewolf's location. Skylar wasn't confident that his invisibility magic could fool Dumbledore —to avoid Dumbledore potentially discovering him, Skylar deliberately took a detour, returning to the castle through another Secret Passage, and then quietly returned to his dormitory without alerting anyone.

[Hawk Buckbeak obtained!]

Professor Lupin was absent from the professor's chair at breakfast the next day, and the young wizards discussed it amongst themselves, but no one knew what had happened.

Instead, another matter piqued the young wizards' interest even more: Buckbeak, the Hippogriff that attacked Blaise, had gone missing. Apparently, Hagrid's Hut had been burgled, and the burglars had stolen Buckbeak as well.

The Ministry of Magic sent officials to investigate, suspecting that Hagrid had secretly released it. However, after searching the castle and the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest to no avail, the officials decided to give up and leave, since no one really cared about the life or death of Hippogriff.

When Hermione heard about this, she knew that it was Skylar who had intervened, so she specially sent Skylar a thank-you card. Although the thank-you card only had the word "thank you" on it, Skylar knew that this was because the cautious Hermione did not want to reveal too much information about this matter in the letter.

Skylar was more concerned about Professor Lupin turning into Werewolf.

He knew that Professor Lupin took the Wolfsbane Potion that Snape prepared for him every month, which was why Dumbledore felt comfortable having him teach at the school without posing a danger to the students. Moreover, Scabbers' early appearance was also very strange.

Connecting the two events, it's not hard to guess that Peter Pettigrew tampered with the Wolfsbane Potion, then deliberately appeared at that location at the right time to lure Black into a battle between Black and Lupin, who had turned into Werewolf.

Generally, Werewolf don't attack Animagus, but Black should be an exception. Given Lupin's hatred for Black, even as Werewolf, he would still attack because of that subconscious hatred. Thinking about it this way, the whole story becomes more reasonable.

Skylar didn't know what caused the deviation from the original plot, but he wasn't too concerned about it, because he had already decided to rely on his own strength to face Voldemort —that guy would definitely return, and whether Peter Pettigrew or not, the outcome would probably be the same.

However, he needs to remind himself not to rely too much on the Fawley of knowing the plot in advance, otherwise trouble will inevitably follow sooner or later.

February is over.

The first Saturday of March was the Quidditch Match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff, already out of contention for the title, seemed to have lost all fighting spirit in this game, and were thoroughly crushed by Slytherin — Draco caught the Golden Snitch while his team was leading by 100 points.

This gave Slytherin a perfect 2-0 record, with a net score of 300 points (50 points against Ravenclaw and 250 points against Hufflepuff), leading Gryffindor by 200 points. In other words, Gryffindor would need a net score of 210 to defeat Slytherin in order to win the championship—a near-impossible task!

Nothing happened in March in the original story. Skylar, who thought he would have an uneventful March, received a letter that surprised him greatly.

The letter contained only a location and time, with no signature, but included a drawing of a Scarabs. Skylar had already guessed the writer's identity.

At midnight, Skylar cast Invisible Phantom Charm on himself and sneaked out of the castle. He met the person who had written to invite him out— Gemma Farley, the Prefect of the seventh year—on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest.

In the dense forest, Gemma stood alone in the shadows under a tree. In the darkness, Skylar couldn't see the expression on her face, but for her to go to such lengths to invite him here in the middle of the night, it was clearly not for some trivial matter, much less for a secret rendezvous. Well, the latter was just Skylar overthinking things.

Gemma was very alert. As Skylar approached, Gemma raised her wand and whispered, "Who goes there?"

"Don't be nervous, it's me," Skylar replied softly. Gemma then put down her wand. "What's going on? Why are you acting so mysterious in the middle of the night?" Skylar's eyes darted around, and on a whim, he teased her, "Gemma, you're not really planning to meet me here secretly, are you?"

Gemma seemed to have lost her sense of humor and didn't respond to Skylar's teasing, instead looking serious. She frowned, as if organizing her thoughts, before saying, "Skylar, have you ever heard of the student organization called 'Ghosts Society'?"

Skylar pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Never heard of it. What's wrong?"

Gemma explained, "And what about the Knights of Walpurgis?"

Skylar, who always wore an air of confidence and nonchalance, couldn't help but frown at this moment. "You're not talking about... the precursor to the Death Eaters, are you?"

Gemma nodded. "It's this organization. Most people believe it was founded by the Mysterious Man during Hogwarts' student days to recruit Death Eaters after graduation. However, the name 'Knights of Walpurgis' actually has a much longer history, dating back to the time of another Dark Lord, Grindelwald... It's an organization with a fanatical belief in 'Pure-blood Supremacy,' bordering on religious. Its members come from various Europe countries, all from the oldest Pure-blood families in their respective regions. When Grindelwald started his rebellion, this organization sent members to join the Acolytes, strengthening their Acolytes..."

Skylar, drawing inferences from this, said, "So, when Grindelwald fell, the Knights of Walpurgis returned to the shadows and lay low until the Mysterious Man's uprising, when they again sent people to join the Death Eaters? Does that mean both Dark Lord were used as pawns?"

Gemma nodded solemnly, and the two remained silent for a moment.

Skylar swallowed hard, moistening his somewhat dry throat, and then asked, "So—what is the connection between this Knights of Walpurgis and the Ghosts Society you mentioned?"

"When the Mysterious Man recruited at Hogwarts, he used the name of the Knights of Walpurgis. Perhaps he felt this name didn't do justice to his terror, so after graduation, he named his organization the Death Eaters. However, the name Knights of Walpurgis persisted at Hogwarts, becoming the code name for a mysterious underground student organization. After being suppressed by two headmasters, Armando Dippet and Albus Dumbledore, the organization was ostensibly wiped out, but it survived in secret, only changing its name to the Ghosts Society, and its style became even more low-key and mysterious."

"So, you can also understand it this way: the Knights of Volpchis are the predecessor of the Ghosts Society. However, the Ghosts Society is much smaller and more secretive. As far as I know, they now only recruit students in their fifth year or above, and only those with top academic records and Pure-blood families receive invitations... Joining the Ghosts Society will grant you personal guidance from the leader and immense power..."

(Note: The Knights of Volpchis are an official designation, mentioned by Rowling in a Newsnight interview on June 19, 2003. However, the author felt that the Knights and Voldemort's student organization were not a good fit, so she renamed them the Ghosts Society.)

Skylar nodded to indicate that he understood. To put it bluntly, it was a student organization that specialized in researching and spreading Dark Arts, using the powerful force of Dark Arts to lure students into corruption and onto the path predetermined by the organization, such as becoming quasi- Acolytes or quasi -Death Eaters.

However, for some reason, a bad premonition suddenly arose in Skylar's heart. Gemma telling him these things meant that it was definitely related to him. Considering his approach of trying to win over Half-blood wizards and Muggle-born wizard over the past two semesters, it was not hard to imagine that the Ghosts Society, which was fanatical about "Pure-blood Supremacy," wanted to deal with him.

Just as he was about to confirm this, he suddenly noticed something amiss, and his Grim premonition grew stronger. "Gemma, since this organization is as mysterious as you say, how did you find out about it? Could it be...?"

A bitter look finally appeared on Gemma's face. She nodded. "You guessed right, I am a member of the Ghosts Society. What you did in Slytherin has violated the interests of the Pure-blood hardliners. Someone asked our leader to send people to deal with you, and that person is me!"