The Lonely Dragon of Hogwarts

Everyone says Hogwarts is the safest place in the wizarding world.

Even Gringotts is no match for Hogwarts.

But in fact, the main source of this security is Dumbledore, the most powerful white wizard of this century.

With his presence, most dangers can indeed be kept out of Hogwarts.

Just like John himself.

With Dumbledore's blessing, he was protected from a direct attack by the goblins.

But nothing is absolute.

If you want to sneak into Hogwarts, as far as John knows, there are five methods: polyjuice potion, secret passage, [Animagus transformation], invisibility, and riding a broomstick directly into the campus like Charlie and the others.

Among them, secret passages and invisibility are relatively easy to break.

Polyjuice Potion and [Animagus Transformation] are a bit more difficult to obtain.

Unless John could move the anti-thief waterfall in Gringotts and soak the entire Hogwarts.

But this is impossible.

Even a wealthy man like John couldn't afford this kind of expense.

The best way to catch Rita Skeeter is to rely on the Marauder's Map.

It's a pity that the magic map was destroyed during the previous battle between Snape and Lupine.

Fortunately, John still has something in his hand that can be used as a substitute for the Marauder's Map - the 'Orientation Spell Tracker' made by Alice.

After leaving Hagrid's hut for the day, John returned to his magical suitcase.

He actually wanted to contact Michael at first and ask him to visit Rita Skeeter again.

However, he finally put down the double mirror.

After all, Rita Skeeter has already heightened her vigilance. According to the information Fudge revealed earlier, the security force around her should not be weak.

What's more, Michael was really tired.

During this period, John used a double-sided mirror to communicate with Michael every day. It can be said that he witnessed Michael's stubble slowly crawling all over his face, his eyes slowly filled with bloodshot eyes, and his originally energetic expression gradually became... The whole process of being weak and tired.

The long-term multi-line monitoring of Crouch and Bagman's off-campus activities can be said to have exhausted all of Michael's energy.

John really didn't want to add any more workload to him.

At the same time, this is also the reason why John is sure that Michael will not betray him.

People are so busy with your affairs, if you doubt them again, are you still a human being?

So after much deliberation, John began writing directly to Borgin-Bock.

You must know that if the 'Orientation Spell Tracker' wants to work, it needs a calibration object. This object must be on Rita Skeeter, or something she has used for a long time, in order for it to be successful.

As John's largest supplier of potions and materials, Borgin-Bock is also the largest 'black shop' on Knockturn Alley. John believes that even if they can't catch Rita Skeeter herself, they can definitely help him. The customer finds what he wants.

And it is.

It took less than a week for Borgin-Bock to send John what he wanted.

It was a small box of Rita Skeeter's own fingernail clippings.

John has no worries when it comes to authenticity.

Because before it was sent over, someone from Borgin-Bock had already added it to the polyjuice potion and tested it, and it indeed turned into the appearance of Rita Skeeter.

John was really struck by this approach to experimentation.

I don’t know if the guy who drank Rita Skeeter’s old nail soaking water vomited afterwards.

But what John didn't expect was that these nail fragments were actually provided by Gilderoy Lockhart.

Yes, that was John's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in second grade.

These two people should not be related to each other under any circumstances... Ah, that's not right.

After all, although these two people have different main directions of attack, in the final analysis, they are both 'writers' who rely on their pens to make a living.

It's not impossible that they know each other and have had contact.

But, how close of a relationship would it take for Lockhart to collect Rita Skeeter's fingernail fragments?

John simply couldn't think about it anymore.

This is really disgusting.

Shaking his head, John used magic to control the nail fragments in the box to float into the card slot on the back of the 'Directional Spell Tracker'.

As the slot cover is closed, the pointer on the tracker's compass-like panel instantly bounces to a certain direction.

John shook the tracker.

The pointer is still pointing in that direction.

This means that Rita Skeeter is currently in Hogwarts.

"Good luck."

The corners of John's lips raised into a sneer, and he walked out of the dormitory.

According to the guidance of the tracker, John walked around the castle several times, and then left the castle, wandering around the hunting grounds and the edge of the forbidden forest.

Although it was the weekend, there were not many people on the hunting ground.

Everyone had come to see the new Care of Magical Creatures substitute teacher, Professor Graplan, caring for the unicorn.

And standing here, John could vaguely hear the crying coming from Hagrid's cabin.

Yes, Hagrid was still crying.

Over the course of the week, things were going pretty well for Michelle.

Due to its own good reputation, coupled with John's pressure, and the fact that Rita Skeeter's rumors were so outrageous, at least everyone in Hogwarts only thought that the article in the Daily Prophet was fart.

But Hagrid's luck was not so good.

He has not yet come out of his grief. He hides in the hut all day long and cries non-stop. If John, Michelle and others hadn't visited him every day, Hagrid might have starved himself to death.

This also led to Professor Graplan still helping him with the Care of Magical Creatures class.

According to John's estimation, if Hagrid didn't cheer up quickly, his official title of Professor of Protection of Magical Creatures would be snatched away by Professor Grapeland.

Because not many people in Hogwarts like Hagrid.

Especially the Ravenclaw and Slytherin students.

But Professor Graplan's class content was much more interesting than Hagrid's.

It’s obvious who the students will like.

Most importantly, parents of students are also putting pressure on Dumbledore during this time.

Just as they couldn't tolerate a werewolf like Lupin becoming a professor, they couldn't tolerate a hybrid giant like Hagrid being in the same room with their children.

The further we walked towards Hagrid's hut, the louder Hagrid cried.

"Don't worry, Hagrid, I'll find her out soon."

John sighed and continued to move forward according to the tracker's guidance.

When they arrived at a farmland cultivated by Hagrid behind Hagrid's hut, the pointer on the tracker suddenly began to spin.

This means that John has arrived at Rita Skeeter's location.

However, John looked around and found nothing except the snow-covered ground and the wooden house with loud cries.

John didn't give up.

He took out his wand, took a deep breath, and began to gradually release his magic power to sense it.

Thanks to his ability to 'chew', John's ability to perceive magic is far superior to that of ordinary people.

Even top professor-level wizards like Snape can't compare to him.

Such a powerful perception ability quickly allowed him to discover abnormalities.

There was a faint magic emanating from the woodpile stacked behind Hagrid's hut.

John stepped forward, flicked his wand, and moved the firewood away.

Soon, a small beetle appeared in his field of vision.

It's February now!

A beetle would actually appear in this icy and snowy place!

"Aha! Found you!"

John said with a sneer.

Hearing this, the beetle was obviously panicked.

It spreads its wings and is about to fly away.

But John moved faster than that.

"There are many obstacles!"

When John pointed his wand, the beetle seemed to hit an invisible wall and fell directly, falling right into a glass bottle that John had prepared long ago.

As John closed the bottle with the cork, the beetle inside finally gave up its struggle.

It was lying on the wall of the bottle, twitching and gesticulating with its legs.

If you look carefully, you can see that it is trying to draw a 'Help'.

Unfortunately, John didn't even have the slightest intention to pay attention to it, and returned to Hogwarts Castle with a sneer. As he walked, he was still vigorously shaking the glass bottle in his hand.