If there was one subject among all of Hogwarts' courses that young witches and wizards looked forward to the most, it was undoubtedly Flying class.
Flying class taught young witches and wizards how to use a broomstick and was closely related to the wizarding sport of Quidditch, and the students were visibly excited during the lesson.
Draco scurried over to Harry's side again, chattering incessantly, while Ron couldn't stand the sight of him.
Fortunately, before the two could start arguing, Madam Hooch appeared promptly, speaking rapidly as she quickly directed the young witches and wizards to their respective positions before instructing the students to pick up their brooms.
Harry looked at the tattered broomstick by his feet, particularly noting the gnarled twigs sticking out from it, and couldn't help but frown.
While all the young witches and wizards were trying to follow instructions, Harry was looking at the Forbidden Forest.
When Madam Hooch instructed the students to lift off the ground and hover, Harry was still looking at the Forbidden Forest.
The next second, a startled cry came from beside him, and Harry felt his vision darken as a shadow swept across him.
He instinctively leaned back, trying to dodge the sudden assault by bending backwards.
He underestimated the destructive power of a young wizard.
A young wizard out of control, combined with a broomstick out of control, posed a danger that was difficult to predict.
Harry, having not taken much precaution, was struck by the violently swaying broom and tumbled to the side, twisting his ankle into a horrifying angle.
He heard a crack, a crisp sound, and Harry's expression froze instantly.
Damn it, he had sprained his ankle.
That wasn't all; Harry ultimately failed to dodge completely and got smacked in the face by Neville's broom tail, landing hard on his rear.
Neville, lying on his broom in terror, spun around twice with it before wobblingly continuing to ascend, then began being carried recklessly through the air by the broom.
Harry lay flat on the ground, expressionless, then sat up with a pained grimace.
Wasn't Hogwarts supposed to be the safest place in Britain?
Harry's features twisted in pain.
It turned out that a place full of young children could hardly be called safe at all.
Madam Hooch, startled by the sudden incident, repeatedly called for the students to land before rushing hastily towards Neville.
Neville fell off his broom and broke his arm, and Madam Hooch hurriedly took him to the hospital wing; then Ron, noticing Harry's situation, raised his hand and loudly said, "Professor! Harry seems to need the hospital wing too!"
Madam Hooch paused in her steps, turning her head to look at the Boy Who Lived sprawled on the ground; she hesitated for a moment, then said, "Oh... Mr. Potter, what's wrong with you?"
Harry put on a weak smile and said, "Professor, I've sprained my ankle."
Madam Hooch was speechless.
"Alright, child, you come along too."
She waved her wand, levitating Harry behind her, and took him along with Neville to the hospital wing.
Harry had been lying in the hospital wing for less than ten minutes when Draco and Ron, both with broken legs, were carried in together.
Apparently, they had been fighting over Neville's Remembrall, ignoring Madam Hooch's warning and flying into the air on their brooms, only to crash into each other because they had charged too fiercely and fell from the sky.
If Professor McGonagall hadn't noticed them from her office window in time and extended her aid, they would have broken their necks rather than their legs.
The two were sternly reprimanded by Professor McGonagall and had fifty points deducted each, leaving them both dejected.
But their dejection lasted only a short while; after not much time lying in their hospital beds, they were already arguing across Harry's bed again.
Magic was remarkable; even for injuries like broken legs, after downing various bottles of potions, they healed quite quickly.
Harry was not interested in Flying class or Quidditch and was even considering using his poor health as an excuse to ask Madam Hooch for a long-term leave of absence.
He was now more interested in Defence Against the Dark Arts class.
Specifically, he was interested in the teacher of that class.
Harry was very curious about what Quirrell had experienced to transform from a normal person into the nervous, stuttering wreck he was now.
More importantly, the man reeked of garlic, and Harry had seen plenty of corpses in his time; he could keenly detect a rotting stench beneath that garlic smell.
Without a doubt, Quirrell was using garlic spray to cover up some abnormality about himself.
But what was he covering up?
Harry thought half-jokingly: Surely it couldn't be that he had already turned into a rotting living corpse?
After class, Harry deliberately lingered behind, while Ron and Draco waited outside the door, covering their noses and trading barbs.
Quirrell was still tidying his desk, and Harry politely bid him farewell before leaving the classroom.
As he passed the classroom doorway, Harry moved his fingertips slightly, letting a microphone the size of a grain of rice fall from between his fingers to the ground, waiting for Quirrell to step on it when he left.
The three left together.
And as Harry had predicted, wizards, unfamiliar with Muggle technology, paid little to no attention to a tiny speck of dust on the ground.
Even though Silver Sun, having clashed frequently with the Order of the Phoenix in recent years, had shown the backward wizarding world the power of technology.
The listening devices and surveillance within Hogwarts gathered information, which was transmitted back to Esposito Manor and Agatha's safe house, where it was compiled into sufficiently concise and accurate documents and sent to Harry.
When Harry received Conti's message, he was sitting on his bed.
Ron's bed was right next to his, and Harry could clearly see a fat rat squirming around on Ron's bed.
He frowned in disgust.
His gaze swept over the fat rat.
Harry didn't understand why wizards kept pets; keeping a rat was understandable, as people had different preferences.
But this rat was both ugly and unclean; what was Ron thinking, letting this dead rat run wild on his bed?
What if it relieved itself on his bed?
However, there was magical energy within this rat; if it was a magical rat, it would indeed be valuable, which might explain why Ron treasured it so much.
No, no, no.
Harry shook his head firmly; he wasn't accepting it.
Deciding that out of sight was out of mind, Harry grimly pulled the curtains shut, blocking the sight of the disgusting fat rat.
After setting up a Confundus Charm around his area, he opened his phone and laptop to start reading the documents sent by Conti and Agatha.
The document from Conti was relatively short, recording the intelligence gathered from the surveillance Harry had deployed during this period.
Most of it involved young wizards wandering at night or professors on patrol catching some misbehaving child.
The only thing that caught Harry's attention were the names Snape and Quirrell.
Conti's submitted document clearly noted that Quirrell appeared on secluded corridors several times at night, seemingly intending to go to the fourth floor.
Simultaneously, Snape occasionally appeared behind this purple-turbaned man, seemingly watching him.
Harry marked this item as a key point and then opened Agatha's report.
Since Harry had previously made key annotations on the entries for Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, Agatha had placed information related to these two at the forefront when investigating the Potters' social connections during their lives.
The Marauders: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.
During their school years, the group had allegedly been involved in multiple conflicts with Lily Evans' childhood friend, Severus Snape.
Harry raised an eyebrow at this: Four against one?
He drew a thick line underneath this item, noting: Suspected bullying? Investigate further!
He continued reading.
The Potter and Black families were both pure-blood families, though the Blacks were more famous compared to the Potters, likely due to their obsessive pursuit of purity and the numerous crimes they committed during Voldemort's reign of terror.
Among them, Bellatrix Black, who married into the Lestrange family, was the most typical example.
Harry's eyes skimmed over this and then stopped on another piece of information.
Remus Lupin's true identity was a werewolf; very few people discovered this during his seven years at school, as the Marauders helped the werewolf Lupin conceal the truth.
Their method of assistance was through being Animagi; according to existing intelligence, all four were illegal Animagi not registered with the Ministry of Magic.
James Potter's Animagus form was currently unknown, but it was confirmed that Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew's Animagus forms were a black dog and a rat, respectively.
A rat.
A rat?