Hogwarts's First Snow

Hearing Flamel's praise, Xiwen grinned somewhat shyly and gave an awkward smile.

In retrospect, the Transformation Dumbledore used on Xiwen may not have been merely a test of his Transformation abilities, but rather a prelude to Xiwen's first Animagus Transformation, allowing him to better adapt to the wildness of the animal.

Xiwen sighed, deeply feeling that he was surrounded by powerful figures, and no matter what he was learning, his elders would provide meticulous help.

This feels so good.

Flamel seemed utterly speechless at Xiwen's actions and was unwilling to discuss the Animagus Transformation any further.

So Newt began to tell them about his discoveries in the Albania Forest.

"Xiwen might remember that Kama's Sneakoscope was destroyed by an external force," Newt said. "That external force was unlikely to have come from Nagini herself. If she wanted to destroy the Sneakoscope, she would have done so ten years ago. She shouldn't have left it for several years before suddenly deciding to destroy it."

"That doesn't make much sense," Xiwen nodded slightly and said. "But could it be that she left the Sneakoscope behind after transforming into a snake, and it was accidentally destroyed by some Fantastic Beasts or something?"

"That's not right either," Newt shook his head. "Since we found Nagini's trail in the Albania Forest where the Sneakoscope was destroyed, it proves that Nagini had kept the Sneakoscope with her for the past few years. So she must have had a way to store her personal belongings when she Transformation."

Therefore, the possibility of it being lost accidentally is not very high.

"Therefore, Dumbledore deduced that Nagini must have encountered some danger inside or near the Albania Forest. He was likely struck by a powerful curse, which was the culprit behind the destruction of the Sneakoscope and Nagini's complete transformation into a viper!"

Listening to Newt's logic, Xiwen felt a little confused.

He quickly interrupted Newt, asking, "So, how did Dumbledore determine that the Sneakoscope was damaged by a spell rather than being smashed by an object?"

"The Kama Family's secret Sneakoscope is naturally covered in protective magic, so how could it be shattered?" Newt was also a little confused by Xiwen's seemingly simple question and asked in return.

"Forget about that, then it's all right..." Xiwen rubbed his forehead, then nodded in agreement, signaling Newt to continue.

"The forests of Albania are vast; the area we passed through last time was just a tiny corner of it," Newt continued. "After several days of exploration, I discovered signs of camping and fires in the forest, and there are also remnants of protective spells around the camps, which should be signs of other wizarding activity."

"There are quite a few signs of this kind of wizarding activity. I suspect there's a group of wizards in the forest, but I don't know if they're related to Nagini's attack."

Hearing this, Flamel asked with some concern, "Newt, if they really are related to Nagini's attack, wouldn't it be very dangerous for you to explore that forest alone?"

"Don't worry, there are no Anti-Apparition Jinx spells in the forest. I can leave anytime I sense anything amiss," Newt said. As he spoke, he pulled a tie decorated with gold patterns from his pocket. "I also have a Portkey here; it leads to Hogwarts."

"Dumbledore originally gave this Portkey to Theseus when dealing with Grindelwald, but we didn't need it because of Strange's portal. I kept it, just in case!"

"Actually, there's one more thing you forgot to mention," Xiwen said to Newt with a smile. "You can ask me to open a portal for you anytime, so you can escape even if you encounter Anti-Disapparition Jinx."

"Then I'll leave it to you." Newt smiled knowingly.

Flamel then manipulated the Phoenix Relief Book for a moment, and said, "Alright, I've set up a connection between your two mirrors. From now on, you won't need to go through me for any issues."

"Is it that advanced?" Xiwen took out his mirror and indeed found a Runes node other than Flamel's relief book. After connecting to it, Newt's face appeared in the mirror.

"Amazing!" Newt exclaimed. "This will make it even easier to get Xiwen to open the portal for me in the future."

"Then when I sense another heartbeat, it will be easier to contact Newt and borrow his suitcase," Xiwen chuckled.

However, before Xiwen and Newt could even test the mirror's new functions, Flamel had already begun chasing them away.

"It's getting late, little Xiwen should go to bed early!" Flamel urged. "He still needs to get up at sunrise tomorrow morning for his routine incantation!"

"Besides, even if you don't want to sleep, Perenelle and I can't stay awake any longer!"

Seeing Madam Flamel's sleepy face, Xiwen smiled awkwardly and quickly thanked the two elderly people for their help.

He then opened a Dimensional Gate to Albania and sent Newt back to his tent.

After seeing Newt off, he bid farewell to the Flamel and opened a door next to his bed, then collapsed heavily into the covers...

The next day was Wednesday, Xiwen got up early as usual to prepare for his morning exercise.

It's deep winter now, and the Scotland sun lazily stays below the horizon, reluctant to rise.

Thinking about this, Xiwen couldn't help but feel somewhat glad that he hadn't chosen to learn Animagus Transformation in the summer.

Because of the high latitude of the Hogwarts area, the difference in day and night length is extremely pronounced—in Scotland, the sun rises around 4 a. m. in the summer, which means that the routine incantation in the third step of the preparation needs to be performed at 4 a. m.

Getting up at 4 a. m. is just too much!

Conversely, in winter, the sun rises around eight in the morning in Scotland, so Xiwen could even take the opportunity to sleep in...

However, according to Xiwen's habit, he should go to the meadow northwest of the castle for his morning exercise first. It's still early before sunrise, so it's not too late to do his morning and evening chanting preparations at eight o'clock.

However, it wasn't until he reached the outside of the castle that Xiwen discovered the ground was covered with a thick layer of snow, and the entire complex was blanketed in silver. The clouds in the sky had not yet dispersed, and snowflakes occasionally drifted down from the sky, like white butterflies.

He exhaled softly, as if a wisp of white mist were being exhaled from his mouth, causing the snowflakes in front of him to tremble slightly.

Xiwen then remembered that it had snowed heavily at Hogwarts the night before, but he had subconsciously overlooked this fact because he had been in sunny Paris the whole time.

Snow covered everything around the castle, so it seemed his morning exercise was out of the question. Xiwen simply used Conjuration to conjure a transparent umbrella at the tip of his wand, and then walked towards Professor Kettleburn's shed.

I wonder how the professor's drama rehearsals are going?

The play was called "The Fountain of Fortune," right?

I have no idea what the story is about...