Chapter 36. Hamster Agent 007, Attack!
The nights at Hogwarts were rather chilly.
It was already November, and it wasn't uncommon for the temperature to occasionally drop below ten degrees Celsius.
In Lynn's private room in the Slytherin boys' common room,
a pure white hamster, named Umaru by its owner, furtively and expertly opened its cage with its tiny paws.
With a leap, it jumped from the desk to the carpet. Its first instinct was to look for snacks in Lynn's bag, but seeing Lynn still fast asleep, and remembering his suspicions after discovering its biscuits were missing,
Umaru reluctantly changed its mind.
It ran quickly, soon reaching the Slytherin common room.
Facing a door that required a password to open, it didn't stop, running straight to the door and then expertly slipping out through a small hole beside it.
Leaving the Slytherin common room, it ran off like a child unsupervised, occasionally teasing the sleeping portraits in their frames or leaping into the air for somersaults.
As it reached a corner of a staircase, a emaciated, dark gray creature suddenly jumped in front of it, blocking its path.
It was an ugly cat named Mrs. Norris, the pet of Hogwarts warden Filch.
Mrs. Norris glared angrily at the white hamster with her bulging, bulbous eyes.
They didn't seem to be meeting for the first time; clearly, they had a grudge from before. A
human-like disdain flashed in Umaru's tiny, beady eyes. She leaped up and delivered a flying kick to the cat's head, which was twice her size!
Mrs. Norris, unable to dodge in time, let out a piercing scream, as if kicked in the eye socket, and then disappeared without a trace.
Umaru, like a warrior who had just defeated a dragon, stood with her paws on her hips, humming and purring contentedly, before quickly moving across Hogwarts Castle on all fours.
She seemed intimately familiar with the castle's surroundings, leaping and bounding until she reached a wooden door to the Hogwarts underground storage room.
Under the cover of night, an astonishing scene unfolded in a corner of Hogwarts Castle.
The hamster named Umaru was expanding, her fur fading, some parts turning into a snow-white dress, others into fluffy white hair.
Lynn's pet had transformed into a little girl who looked only seven or eight years old.
Wearing her little black leather shoes, she kicked the wooden door hard and called out playfully,
"Reporting, sir! Hamster Agent 007, Sophia Basak reporting for duty!"
The voice from the other side of the door sounded like a scolding, which annoyed the little girl.
"What? No way someone's here! I already kicked that smelly cat's butt on my way over. That stupid caretaker won't find this place." Someone
said something from the other side of the door.
"Hmm? What have you been doing lately?" Sophia tilted her head back and bit her finger, recalling, "He spends all his time reading or practicing spells. Ugh, it's so boring. But the candy he brought me the other day was really nice! Apparently, it was from those two red-haired twins."
At this point, she frowned again.
"But he mostly feeds me wheat kernels and whole-grain biscuits. I'm almost sick of it, but I don't dare not eat because I'm afraid of giving myself away. Can you give me something extra today? I haven't had meat in ages, and my face has gotten so thin..."
The scolding from the other side of the wooden door seemed to grow louder.
Sophia pouted, squatted down, covered her ears, and shook her head unhappily, shouting,
"Don't call Sophia stupid! Sophia isn't stupid at all!"
The person behind the wooden door, fearing she might run away if she got upset, praised her gently for a while before asking a question.
Sophia's delicate eyebrows furrowed, and she racked her brains for a long time before finally remembering.
"Lynn has finished learning poison spells from that professor, and it seems they're planning to start learning curses next. What should I do? Lynn seems to be getting stronger and stronger. If he finds out, will he turn me into a pile of hamsters and eat me?"
The person behind the door seemed quite satisfied with the news she brought, then gave the girl some instructions before letting her leave.
Sophia puffed up her cheeks in grievance, muttering things like, "No meat to eat, but you make people work. Even if it were 007, he'd still fall for it if he didn't have the strength," and left reluctantly.
She transformed back into a hamster, wandered around Hogwarts a few times, and finally returned to her cage before Lynn woke up.
After winter arrived, the days gradually shortened, and Lynn's wake-up time was pushed back an hour from 4 a.m.
It was five in the morning.
The sky outside was still dark. Lynn changed his robes, added some water and biscuit crumbs to Umaru's cage, and left the warm dormitory.
The sleepy-eyed hamster 007 glanced at the biscuit crumbs in the small bowl with its little eyes, then resentfully drifted back to sleep.
Lynn walked out of the Slytherin common room, breathed warm air on his face, and rubbed his hands together.
The weather was getting colder, and Lynn planned to wear gloves when he went out tomorrow.
As usual, he carried his wand to the Black Lake, where he ran into Cedric at the Hogwarts gates.
"Are you free tonight, Lynn?" Cedric asked enthusiastically, putting his arm around Lynn's shoulder.
Lynn rolled his eyes and slapped Cedric's arm away.
"You're acting really ridiculous right now."
Cedric looked innocent. "Why would you think that?"
"Don't look so pathetic." Lynn looked at him with disdain. "Just say what's on your mind."
Cedric rubbed his hands together. "Well, my headmaster, Professor Sprout, asked me to find someone to help me go to the greenhouse tonight to harvest some white leaves. You know, although I'm pretty popular in Hufflepuff, I'm closest to you, so…"
"That's it?"
Lynn didn't refuse; he didn't have anything planned for the evening.
"No problem, I'm free anytime tonight."
Cedric grinned and grabbed Lynn's arm.
"Come on, I'll be your personal sparring partner tonight. You tell me which spell you want me to practice, and we'll practice whatever spell."
After several months together, Lynn and Cedric were incredibly close, and Lynn's magical talent had also astonished him.
In just two or three months, Lynn's mastery of normal spells was already comparable to that of Cedric, who was already a second-year student.
**Need support**
Read 20+ advanced chapters ahead on Patreon!
patreon.com/Horizons685
(End of Chapter)