Harry stood there motionless, mouth agape, eyes following the eagle. For a long while, his mind simply couldn't process what he was seeing.
Remus's Patronus is a wolf, isn't it? How did it turn into an eagle? Can a Patronus change forms?
It wasn't until he saw the eagle land on Wade's shoulder and dissipate into a silvery mist that he understood.
"Excellent! Wade, truly excellent!"
Lupin clapped his hands delightedly. "I've never seen anyone succeed on their first try, no, I haven't even heard of it!"
Wade smiled, looking down at his Wand, still savoring the feeling from moments ago.
The Patronus Charm… truly amazing magic.
The spell seemed to transport him back in time. Even though the Patronus had vanished, the joy and happiness lingered in his heart.
Lupin noticed Harry's expression and immediately said, "Of course, Harry is also excellent. I saw the silvery mist from the tip of your Wand; that's a truly remarkable performance."
Harry suddenly felt flustered. He unconsciously hid his Wand behind his back and said enthusiastically, "That was amazing, Wade, truly incredible!"
He realized his praise sounded like a clumsy actor delivering lines, so he quickly adjusted, saying, "That's cool!"
His voice sounded much more genuine.
"An eagle Patronus, that's so cool! That's really great, Wade!"
Wade also wore an unconcealable smile.
The success of the Patronus Charm was one thing. Another was that both Animagi and Patronuses reflect a Wizard's inner strength, so their forms are often quite similar, even identical.
He could finally let go of some unnecessary worries.
Amidst his joy, Wade was also generous in sharing his successful experience with Harry.
"It's no different from other spells, aside from needing to conjure a happy emotion within yourself."
Wade said, "You must be confident, have firm belief, know where your happiness comes from, and know why you are wielding your Wand. This is very important."
Encouraged by him, Harry raised his Wand again.
He racked his brain for happy memories. His experiences before the age of eleven were completely devoid of happiness.
After entering school, he felt quite happy, but at this moment, he suddenly realized that truly happy times were few and far between.
Harry recalled his first time riding a Flying Broomstick… his first time catching a Golden Snitch… winning the decisive points for Gryffindor…
"Expecto Patronum!"
Streams of silvery mist burst from the tip of his Wand, vaguely forming a large animal.
Harry gripped his Wand tightly with both hands, feeling utterly exhausted.
"Belief!" Wade emphasized. "A Patronus isn't a show-off tool. What you want it to protect for you—that belief is the source of our strength."
...
They practiced intermittently until evening. Although Harry's Patronus hadn't fully formed yet, it was already clearly recognizable as a horse-like animal.
It was tall and muscular, with its four hooves and tail clearly distinguishable.
Lupin praised Harry repeatedly, saying that Harry's father, James, had taken a full week of practice to reach Harry's current level.
This made Harry's frustrated mood much better, and he secretly resolved to practice more times once he returned to school.
While Harry was practicing the spell, Wade also became more familiar with his own Patronus. He tried sending a message to Lupin using his Patronus, and it actually succeeded.
However, over long distances, his magic couldn't sustain the drain, and the Patronus would dissipate halfway. This meant that a Patronus could never be as convenient as a telephone.
Thankfully, message delivery was only the most insignificant function of a Patronus. Most of its purpose lay in resisting Dark Magic spells and creatures.
Not just Dementors, but other creatures—like Acromantulas—also feared Patronuses, though Wizards generally wouldn't use such advanced magic to deal with them.
...
After dinner, Sirius also returned.
"That was tough!" He burst through the door, yelling at Lupin. "The more I investigate, the more I find! The official sent by the American Ministry of Magic doesn't care at all about the missing Muggle students…"
"Sirius!" Lupin quickly stopped him.
Sirius then noticed the two Young Wizards by the dining table.
"Oh, Harry, Wade! How's your Patronus Charm coming along?" Sirius raised a hand in greeting.
"So-so," Harry quickly asked, "Sirius, were you investigating Carlyle's disappearance?"
"Of course!"
The travel-worn Sirius had intended to go change clothes, but hearing this, he didn't head upstairs. Instead, he pulled up a chair and sat near the dining table.
"You wouldn't know until you investigated, but once I did, I found out this matter is bigger than we thought. At Hogwarts, at most one or two Muggle-born students are abducted each year, but in other countries..."
"Sirius!" Remus said disapprovingly. "The children don't need to know about all that!"
"Don't be so rigid, Remus." Sirius waved his hand. "Wade and Harry aren't ordinary kids. They've even faced Voldemort; there's no need to hide things like this from them."
"..." Remus sighed helplessly, only able to caution, "You can tell them the basic findings of the investigation, but don't forget the part Dumbledore asked you to keep confidential."
A flicker of awkwardness crossed Sirius's face, clearly indicating he had forgotten it just now, but he smoothly replied, "Of course, I remember everything!"
Remus: "..."
He gave up on cleaning the room and sat down silently beside them.
Under Remus's gaze, Sirius momentarily forgot what he wanted to say. After a few seconds of recollection, he spoke, but it was about a topic unrelated to the disappearances.
"Harry's name was on the Hogwarts registry from birth, but Wade's..."
He looked at the quiet young man next to him and asked,
"They say you never showed any magical ability before you received your acceptance letter. How did Hogwarts know you had wizarding talent?"
"Yeah, why?"
Harry couldn't help but ask, then turned to Wade:
"Did nothing unusual ever happen to you? Like making your hair grow out, or suddenly jumping onto a chimney on a rooftop?"
Wade shook his head. "No."
Remus explained, "Sometimes, young wizards with calm emotions and relatively stable magic just happen to be like that. Wade never displayed magical power, which means there were no problems in his life that required magic to solve, so he always seemed no different from an ordinary person."
"But Hogwarts filtered him out from countless people... How did they do that?" Harry asked curiously.
Wade actually knew the reason, but at this moment, like Harry, he looked at Sirius, who was about to reveal the answer.
Sirius grinned and said, "I only just found out recently—Hogwarts has the Book of Admittance and the Quill of Acceptance, and they've been around longer than the castle itself."
"The Quill of Acceptance detects all newly born children with magical talent and then writes their names in the Book of Admittance. The Book of Admittance very strictly assesses the child's talent to ensure no Squibs are accidentally admitted."
"The Book of Admittance and the Quill of Acceptance have never made a mistake, ensuring that all magically talented children in this land are recorded. So, only a very small number of young wizards from the British Isles are taken away."
"But in other magic schools, their methods for selecting students vary."
"Some rely on divination or dreams, which can lead to errors or omissions."
"Some magic schools use detection networks similar to the Ministry of Magic. If there's a clear magical fluctuation, they'll quickly investigate. But children like Wade are easily overlooked."
"And then there are others... like Durmstrang, which only accepts young wizards from wizarding families. Muggle-born children, even if they show magical power, aren't accepted by anyone, and no one explains magic to them."
"Dumbledore speculates that the number of Muggle-born wizards who disappear there might be the highest. But that Igor Karkaroff fellow actually said... what does the disappearance of Muggle-born wizards have to do with him? He's completely unwilling to cooperate with the investigation!"
Sirius grew angry as he spoke, and he sincerely cursed:
"I hope those Dark Wizards take Karkaroff away. Even a block of iron in that position would be more enthusiastic than him..."
"Igor Karkaroff is the Headmaster of Durmstrang."
Remus explained to the two young wizards while Sirius was making his pointless complaints.
"If you meet him in the future, be very careful. Igor Karkaroff was once a Death Eater, but he betrayed the names of other Death Eaters and only then was he pardoned."
"So that fellow is completely untrustworthy. Durmstrang is surely doomed in his hands."
Sirius then said,
"Most of the missing children are like Carlyle; they inadvertently display their powers, and soon after, a Black-Robed Man approaches them."
"Under the Black-Robed Man's coaxing and deception, the family quickly decides to move to a new place. But halfway there, they forget about their child. And where that child, who supposedly moved, went, no one knows."
"Dumbledore contacted all the magic schools—Durmstrang in Northern Europe, Beauxbatons in France, Ilvermorny in America, Castelobruxo in Brazil, Mahoutokoro in Japan, Koldovstoretz in Russia..."
"There were no results. None of them had more students than expected, and they all had a few less. Several schools and Ministries of Magic decided to launch a joint investigation to find those who are abducting young wizards!"
Sirius finished the rest of his words in one breath, guzzled a glass of water, and then asked, "Knowing all this, what do you think?"
"Could the missing people have been captured by the government or some big company?" Harry recalled similar TV plots he had seen. "Maybe someone is using underage wizards for cruel experiments."
"While I desperately hope not, it's certainly possible," Sirius said.
"Those people might be embedded within Muggle governments, or they might have bribed some high-ranking Muggle officials."
Wade said, "They can get information about those young wizards, so they must have a vast intelligence network—nothing is more convenient than the local government."
At this time, the internet hadn't developed to its later extent, and people weren't always carrying cameras, ready to snap interesting or strange things and post them online.
So, being able to keep track of these "strange occurrences" in a timely manner mostly relied on the power of word-of-mouth.
"Highly likely." Sirius showed an appreciative look. "But we can't yet determine who's problematic, because there are simply too many Muggles. So the Aurors devised a plan..."
*Thump thump!*
Remus rapped heavily on the table.
Sirius immediately realized he had said too much and promptly shut his mouth.
"What plan?" Harry pressed.
"Alright, alright, you two should head back to school and sleep!" Sirius roughly started shooing them away. "You have classes tomorrow, remember?"
The two had no choice but to go upstairs to the bedroom with the wardrobe. After returning to Hogwarts, Harry was still muttering:
"I wonder what the plan is…"
"…A decoy?" Wade suddenly said.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Find a Wizard to pretend to be an underage Muggle girl, create a magical outburst that makes some noise, and then see if those people show up."
Harry was silent for a moment, then asked, "What kind of Wizard could pretend to be a young girl under eleven?"
"Have you forgotten about Ageing Potion?" Wade said. "And Polyjuice Potion… magic always finds a way."
...
Several Wizards tilted their heads back and took a large gulp of the strangely colored liquid from their cups.
"How do you feel?" said the Young Wizard who had distributed the Potions.
The Wizards couldn't speak. They quickly showed looks of pain, their bodies shrinking like deflating balloons.
With a plop, their eyeballs retracted into their heads, followed by their noses, mouths, and ears. Their limbs suddenly pulled in, becoming plump and small, and then their clothes slipped off, held up like tents by their bodies.
A small hand emerged from the pile of clothes. It felt to the left, then to the right, finally managing to grasp a Wand before retracting.
A moment later, the Wand peeked out again, tapping the surrounding clothes. The clothes immediately shrunk, becoming very inconspicuous.
As if in an instant, several small children appeared on the ground. Their faces showed expressions ranging from disgust to innocence, and some asked blankly, "Are we the decoys now?"
"It looks like it."
A girl with violet hair said enthusiastically, taking the canned Potions and distributing a bottle to everyone.
"Only use it when the effect is about to wear off," an Auror, who was in charge of brewing the Potions, stood by and said in a hoarse voice. "Drinking it repeatedly will shrink you back into an embryonic form."
But looking at everyone's cheerful demeanor, it seemed they didn't take his words to heart.
Then, they dispersed in all directions.
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