Chapter 91: The Little Note
As the Easter holidays approached, the beeches outside Hogwarts Castle began to sprout tender green buds.
The thin ice on the Black Lake melted, revealing the deep blue water beneath. Occasionally, the tentacles of the Giant Squid poked out from the surface, as if testing the temperature of spring.
But the atmosphere inside the Castle was colder than in winter.
Hardly any younger students could be seen lingering in the corridors between classes. The figures in the paintings spoke in hushed voices, as if afraid of disturbing something hidden within the walls.
Rhys, Draco, Hermione, and Anthony took advantage of an afternoon during the holidays to hold an "emergency meeting" about third-year course selection in the Room of Requirement—at least, that's what Draco called it.
In reality, the four of them were just sitting around the alchemy workstation. Spread out before each of them was a course selection form obtained from Professor McGonagall's office. The parchment was densely printed with over a dozen elective courses ranging from Charms to Muggle Studies, with a small box next to each for them to check.
"Do you guys have any thoughts or suggestions?" Dracoasked, flipping his course selection form over and over.
His brow was furrowed so deeply it could have crushed a fly. The quill in his hand hovered back and forth between "Arithmancy" and "Care of Magical Creatures," never quite landing.
"Can we just take them all?" Hermione's voice came from behind her notebook.
Without even looking up, her quill had already checked "Ancient Runes" and moved on to "Muggle Studies," her movements as swift as if she were grading homework.
"Huh?" Anthony sat up straight in his chair.
He snatched the form from Hermione's hand, glanced at it, and handed it back. In a tone that suggested she might have misunderstood the very concept of "course selection," he said, "The times for many of these classes overlap. How are you going to manage your time if you take everything? You can't be in two classrooms at once, can you?"
"The school didn't say we couldn't take them all, which means it's theoretically possible," Hermione said, pushing up her glasses.
"As for the scheduling conflicts, the school must have a way to resolve them; otherwise, they wouldn't list these classes at the same time on the form."
Her tone was as certain as if she were stating a proven law of physics.
Rhys remained silent throughout.
He stared at the blank form in front of him, his fingers tapping absentmindedly on the table.
Then he picked up his quill, dipped it in ink, and, just like Hermione, checked every single box for the elective courses.
His movements were calm and without hesitation, as if he were carrying out a long-made decision.
Draco and Anthony's eyes widened simultaneously.
"You're taking them all too?" Draco's voice rose half an octave.
Rhys needed something.
He whispered the name in his mind—the Time-Turner.
That small hourglass that allows one to travel back in time. Professor McGonagall would apply for its use for students with outstanding grades and conflicting schedules at the end of their second year. The description for the Rabbit Talisman's power included a line: "Under specific energy irradiation, one can reach the speed of light for space-time travel." However, despite using it for years, that "space-time travel" function had never been triggered.
Perhaps the Time-Turner could serve as that "specific energy."
Helping him unlock the deepest potential of the Rabbit Talisman.
"All of them," Rhys said, folding his form and tucking it into his pocket, giving Hermione a glance.
The two exchanged a look of mutual understanding.
Draco looked at Rhys and Hermione's forms, shook his head, and let out a long sigh.
"You two certainly have a lot of energy. I think I'll stick to courses related to Potions or useful for the development of the Star Core—Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies should be enough."
He checked those courses and then stuffed the form into his textbook.
Anthony muttered, "Same here."
He then followed Draco's lead and checked the same set of boxes. Their choices were identical, right down to the points where they had hesitated.
A few days passed at a leisurely pace.
Rhys, Cho, and Draco attended their respective house Quidditch practices as usual. The Ravenclaw team was training exceptionally hard for their next match; Andrew Spinnet had hit the Bludger into the stands several times, nearly striking students who were soaking up the sun.
The match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff was originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
Rhys had planned to go to the stands with Cho to support Hermione—though Hermione wasn't a player, she had promised Wood she would help record match data.
However, at noon on Saturday, when Rhys entered the Great Hall for lunch, several older students at the Ravenclaw table were whispering the same news: today's Quidditch match had been canceled.
In the stands, Anthony looked at the empty pitch and turned to Draco and Hermione with a look of utter confusion.
"What happened?"
Draco and Hermione both shook their heads, indicating they didn't know.
Sitting next to Rhys, Cho felt his brow furrow slightly and reached out to gently squeeze his fingers.
Rhys squeezed back. He was desperately trying to recall what happened at this point in the original story—Harryand Ron should still be investigating clues about the Chamber of Secrets, Hermione should be Petrified, and Ginny should be controlled by the diary.
But now Hermione was perfectly fine, and Ginny didn't seem to have anything wrong with her. Ron, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly gloomy...
Rhys pulled his thoughts back, gave Cho's fingers a gentle press, and stopped thinking about it.
The specifics of the situation were soon revealed.
All students were ushered back to their respective house common rooms by the prefects. The blue sofas in the Ravenclaw common room were packed, with everyone talking at once as they exchanged information gathered from various sources.
Prefect Penelope Clearwater stood in front of the fireplace, her face pale and her voice tight, though she managed to remain steady.
"There's been another attack—two people."
As she spoke, her gaze drifted involuntarily toward several second-year girls sitting in the corner, huddled together and sobbing quietly.
"One is a fifth-year Ravenclaw girl. The other is—" she paused, "Percy Weasley of Gryffindor."
The common room erupted into chaos.
Rhys and Cho sat on the two-seater sofa by the window, while Anthony pulled up a stool from nearby to sit across from them. The three huddled together, their voices kept very low.
Amber poked her head out from Cho's collar, her small red eyes glinting uneasily in the firelight, her tail tapping quickly and lightly against Cho's collarbone.
"Percy Weasley?" Anthony frowned, rubbing his chin absentmindedly.
"I thought you said Ron Weasley had the diary? Why would he attack his own brother?"
His tone carried a sense of confusion, as if he couldn't quite wrap his head around the logic.
"Maybe it was an accident, or maybe it's just a coincidence," Rhys said softly.
He mentally compared the original timeline with the current situation—in the original story, at this point, a Ravenclaw student and Hermione were the ones attacked.
But Hermione was with them every day, wearing her alchemy glasses constantly. She never took them off after class and even kept them within a meter of her pillow while she slept. The Basilisk never had a chance to target her.
Percy being attacked was something that never happened in the original story.
"Maybe it's jealousy," Cho's voice came from beside him, not loud, but very steady.
Rhys glanced at her, a hint of surprise in his eyes. Cho didn't look back; her fingers gently stroked Amber's back, and the little snake's tail finally stopped tapping.
"Whether it's you or Potter, you're both very popular in school for various reasons—you because of your good grades, strong charms, and good looks."
She spoke without any inflection, as if stating an objective fact.
"Potter is because of his title as 'The Boy Who Lived'; he carries a protagonist's aura wherever he goes."
"Everyone sees the situation with the Weasley family—Fred and George are famous throughout the school for their talent on the Quidditch Pitch and for their pranks. Percy is a prefect and a strong contender for Head Boy, with grades so excellent they leave his peers far behind. Even the youngest, Ginny, as the only girl in the family, is naturally favored by everyone."
Cho took Amber out from her collar and placed her on her lap; the little snake coiled into a ball and buried its head in its body.
"By comparison, what qualities does Ron Weasley have? Average grades, often fumbles in Charms Class, mediocre overall level, and even his looks aren't particularly striking among the sea of redheads in the Weasley family. If he weren't standing next to Potter, he would likely be a name most people would overlook."
Anthony nodded thoughtfully.
"So, being undervalued at home, it's the same at school. Either stay mediocre and go with the flow, or work hard to prove yourself—or, be swallowed by jealousy and do things you can't even control."
Cho's voice grew even softer.
"After all, it's just petrification, not fatal. Attacking his own brother lets him vent his emotions without actually killing him; for him, it's probably 'the best of both worlds'."
Rhys did not respond.
He watched the flames in the fireplace, the orange-red light dancing on the surface of the charcoal. Occasionally, a spark or two would fly out of the hearth, landing on the stone bricks and flickering out after a moment.
Hogwarts' new regulations were issued the same evening the attack occurred.
After six in the evening, all students must stay in their respective house common rooms and dormitories. Lingering in the corridors is not allowed at any time; violators will be docked fifty points and given detention.
Rhys and the others had to temporarily give up their activities in the Room of Requirement, treating it as a few days of vacation for themselves.
Things at Star Core were already on the right track. Aunt Lyra had just mentioned in a letter that the advance payment for the Ministry of Magic's order had arrived, and negotiations for overseas licensing had entered the second round; for now, the five of them didn't need to worry about every little detail.
In the Ravenclaw common room, the fire in the fireplace burned brighter than usual, likely because someone had cast a Warming Charm.
Rhys leaned back on the sofa.
Cho leaned halfway against his shoulder, one hand holding a copy of Introduction to Advanced Runes, the other resting on Rhys's arm, her fingertips idly tracing circles on the fabric of his robes.
Amber curled up on the armrest of the sofa, her head buried in Cho's folded scarf, with only a small tip of her tail showing, rising and falling slightly with her breath.
Anthony sat on the single sofa opposite them, watched them for two seconds, and sighed silently.
Then he opened the "Little Note" notebook that they had tinkered with at the beginning of their second year.
That was one of the earliest communication alchemy items Rhys had made. The principle was actually very simple: people writing in the same notebook could see what each other wrote as long as they held a corner of a page. But the drawback was also obvious: the communication distance could only cover one Castle at most, and once the pages were used up, the magic on them would dissipate, requiring the entire notebook to be remade.
For this reason, the project was temporarily shelved. But Rhys kept the first finished product as a souvenir on the bookshelf in the common room.
Anthony opened the notebook and wrote a line on the first page.
"Why am I the only one taking this critical hit?"
The handwriting was heavy; one could feel the silent scream in his heart even through the paper.
After a while, Draco's reply appeared on the paper, the handwriting featuring the curly flourishes characteristic of the Malfoy Family.
"Hehe, how is it? Had your fill?"
Immediately following, Hermione's reply appeared, the handwriting extremely neat and the punctuation complete.
"If you can't handle it, read more books. Cho mentioned an old Chinese saying—I looked it up, and it's 'Within books, there are beauties like jade.' If you read more, your 'Jade Beauty' will naturally appear."
Anthony looked up at the sofa—Rhys had whispered something into Cho's ear, and she laughed, tapping his shoulder lightly with the spine of her book. The two leaned even closer.
Anthony sighed again and wrote in the notebook: "The two of them aren't dating; they're performing a public execution."
Draco's reply came quickly: "Cousin, someone is jealous of you."
Hermione's reply was even faster: "Anthony, if you can't stand it, go to the library. No one shows off their affection there."
Anthony wrote: "Curfew's in effect, I can't go out."
Across three house common rooms, the four of them chatted idly in the same notebook.
Draco mentioned that the "Little Note" product actually had a lot of potential. It could be sold specifically to Hogwarts students; friends and couples from different houses could chat freely after curfew and pass notes quietly during class. It would be much more convenient than queuing up to use whisper one in the common room.
Hermione immediately replied: "Then I'll move the development schedule for 'Little Note' to a higher priority when I get back, ahead of whisper two."
Anthony looked up at Rhys and Cho again.
Rhys had already taken Introduction to Advanced Runesfrom Cho's hand and replaced it with his own Advanced Alchemy. The two were looking at the same page with their heads together. Amber had slipped down from the armrest at some point and was curled up between their knees, the tip of her tail resting on Rhys's cuff.
Hermione said in the notebook: "By the way, I heard some Gryffindor classmates discussing something—Hogwartsmight be closed."
Anthony's hand paused.
"There are signs, but it won't be implemented," Rhys's voice came from the sofa.
He wasn't looking at the notebook, but he had clearly seen the line. His tone was flat, as if he were stating a certainty.
"Headmaster Dumbledore won't allow such a thing to happen."
"Then the real culprit must be found, otherwise the school will push forward a scapegoat." Cho picked Amber up from between her knees and placed her on her shoulder; the little snake flicked its tail in dissatisfaction.
Rhys suddenly sat up straight.
Amber slid down from Cho's shoulder.
"Anthony, tell Draco to contact home. Have him use the Malfoy Family's connections in the Ministry of Magic to find out if the Ministry's handling of the Chamber of Secrets incident mentions Hagrid."
His voice was a bit faster than usual.
"I'll also call Grandmother. The House of Black's seat on the Board of Governors needs to be useful now—pressure the Ministry of Magic to protect Hagrid. He can't go to Azkaban."
"What do you mean?" Anthony was stunned for a moment.
The quill in his hand hovered over the notebook, a drop of ink falling and spreading into a small black dot on the paper.
Cho quickly took the notebook from Anthony's hand and spoke while rapidly passing the message to Draco and Hermione: "Hagrid was the scapegoat for the Chamber of Secrets incident fifty years ago. The punishment then was breaking his wand and expulsion, but he wasn't locked up. Now that another Chamber attack has happened, Hagrid is still at the school."
She looked up from the notebook.
"If the Ministry of Magic wants to find another scapegoat to calm public panic—it might not be as simple as breaking a wand this time. Azkaban is waiting for him. And a small part of Star Core's product supply chain will be cut off."
Rhys had already walked over to the whisper one in the corner of the common room and dialed the number for Star-Swirl Manor.
Bangbang answered the phone, his voice high-pitched. Hearing it was Rhys, he was so happy he almost dropped the receiver. Rhys had no time for pleasantries and went straight to the point, telling Bangbang to call his grandmother.
When Cassiopeia's voice came through the receiver, Rhys explained the seriousness of the situation in the briefest sentences. The old woman was silent for three seconds, then said "I understand" and hung up.
Rhys walked back to the sofa and sat down.
"It's not 'might,' it's 'will,'" his tone was even heavier than before.
"Cornelius Fudge—he only acts based on which way the wind blows. Right now, public opinion is slamming the Ministry of Magic for inaction, and he needs a target to deflect public anger. Hagrid is a half-giant, was expelled from school, and has raised illegal creatures; in the eyes of the Ministry, he's a perfect scapegoat."
"Dumbledore won't have a falling out with Fudge. Not because he doesn't want to protect Hagrid, but because he needs to save his energy for the critical moment—but when it comes to Hagrid's blade, he likely won't block it."
Cho and Anthony looked at each other and nodded simultaneously.
"No."
Rhys stood up and walked toward the stairs to the dormitories. He stopped after a few steps and turned to look at them.
"We should still go to Hagrid's tomorrow. Otherwise, I won't feel at ease."
Anthony closed the notebook, shrugged at Cho, stood up, and followed Rhys.
Cho coiled Amber back onto her shoulder, stacked the books on the sofa, and finally checked to see if the fire in the fireplace had been banked before walking toward the girls' dormitory.
The last few lights in the common room dimmed one by one behind her.
The fire in the fireplace was still burning.
The orange-red light spread a small, warm circle on the carpet.