Hogwarts: I Am an Exemplary Wizard

Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Memories and Letters

Sure, here’s the translation:

```html

The dark common room was empty; it seemed Conna and Cedric’s detention still wasn’t over.

Kael didn’t turn on the lights and simply sat quietly on a sofa, pondering over something.

Too many things happened tonight; he needed to sort them out carefully.

First of all, Kael was certain that the person they saw during the night patrol was indeed Hagrid, and couldn’t possibly be anyone else impersonating him.

Even if a person could use Polyjuice Potion to mimic someone, what about Fang who was with him at the time? It was unlikely that Fang was an Animagus.

After all, Polyjuice Potion doesn’t work on animals.

But if that was indeed Hagrid himself, why did he say he hadn’t gone to the Forbidden Forest at that time?

And Dumbledore’s words.

Memory, Forgetfulness Spell?

Or maybe... Swooping Evil’s venom.

Kael took out a small piece of wood with corrosion marks from his pocket and gently rubbed it in his hand.

He had secretly cut it from a tree trunk when Hagrid wasn’t looking.

Under the moonlight, the wood glowed with a faint blue phosphorescence.

The color matched indeed, but Kael remembered Swooping Evil’s venom wasn’t supposed to be corrosive; could he have remembered wrong?

As he was thinking, the door of the common room opened again, and two figures walked in one after the other.

”Kael, you’re here, just as I thought.”

Cedric spoke in a lowered voice: ”Filch was out for a while, then came back in a rage; he must have gone looking for you.”

Kael put away the piece of wood and nodded: ”I did see him when I came back.”

”What did you do to make him so mad?” Cedric asked curiously.

”It wasn’t me, it was Hagrid.” Kael shook his finger and said, ”He got stumped by Hagrid.”

”No wonder Filch was so angry; I remember he and Hagrid never really got along.”

Cedric continued, ”By the way, what was your detention? I thought we would definitely come back before you.”

Fred told me the five of us had to clean the trophy room together – something that’s never happened before – and it was extremely easy.

But Filch thought the same, so he made us clean it three times before he agreed to end the detention.”

”Mine was similar,” Kael said. ”I was taken to the Forbidden Forest to find some stuff with Hagrid.”

”To the Forbidden Forest, at night?” Cedric was stunned.

He had imagined countless possibilities before, copying books, cleaning classrooms, polishing armor – all sorts, but never thought Kael’s detention would be going to the Forbidden Forest.

This wasn’t similar at all; it was vastly different!

Were they really detained for the same reason?

Even though they’d been to the Forbidden Forest once at night, it was just around the outskirts and wasn’t dangerous even at night.

But finding stuff with Hagrid, it couldn’t possibly be just a stroll outside, could it?

”You weren’t hurt, were you?” Conna asked, somewhat nervously.

”Of course not; if I were hurt, I’d be in the Hospital Wing right now.” Kael laughed, ”I’ll tell you, I even saw a Centaur in the Forbidden Forest...”

Kael recounted his experiences in the Forbidden Forest, leaving Cedric and Conna amazed.

Their expressions shifted from initial worry to envy as they listened.

They wanted to go and have a look deep in the Forbidden Forest...

As the sky gradually brightened, the three stopped talking as sleepiness rose over them,

Returning to the dormitory, Kael couldn’t fall asleep, so he took out parchment and a quill and wrote a letter under the moonlight.

Then he packed the letter, addressed it, and placed it in front of Ladon.

”It’s going to be a bit of a hard trip,” Kael whispered, ”Send this letter to Newt tomorrow morning; if he hasn’t returned yet, leave the letter on the largest tree at the door.

There’s a Bowtruckle there that will help keep the letter.”

Kael decided to contact Newt, in case the Swooping Evil’s venom did have corrosive properties; after all, it’s a magical creature, so it wouldn’t be surprising if mutations occurred.

Just unsure if he’s back yet...

It’d be best if he had; if not, it doesn’t matter either.

After all, Dumbledore already knows about this, so he doesn’t need to bother himself with the rest.

Ladon opened one eye and placed a claw on the envelope.

Having received the response, Kael lay back on the bed, this time quickly falling asleep.

...

Afterward, neither Dumbledore nor Hagrid sought him out again, so Kael was happy to enjoy some leisure and suppress his curiosity, focusing on preparing for the final exams.

As exam week arrived, it seemed the castle transformed overnight to a different scene, with young wizards practicing wand movements while walking everywhere in sight.

At this time of year, Hogwarts Castle was the most dangerous time of the year because there were always young wizards inadvertently reciting spells while waving their wands.

And there were quite a few cases like this; just walking from the common room to the auditorium, Kael saw two unfortunate victims of spell accidents.

Fortunately, they were only hit by Levitating Spells and Repairing Charms, not needing a visit to the Hospital Wing.

Kael cautiously avoided the hidden ”assassins” in the crowd and safely reached the auditorium.

The professors also became aware of this.

They had no choice; almost every class had two or three young wizards absent due to being sent to the Hospital Wing, making it hard for them not to know.

In Transfiguration Class, Professor McGonagall sternly prohibited wizards from practicing wand movements in hallways.

”What were you doing earlier.”

Professor McGonagall said, pressing her lips, ”If you want to practice, find an empty classroom; if I see anyone unable to control their wand, they’re looking at a week’s detention.”

Compared to Professor McGonagall, Snape’s approach was more direct; he informed everyone that if anyone missed Potion Class due to this issue, too bad – whether absent or responsible, their potion final exam scores would be scrapped.

Just like that, there was no reasoning.

Also, perhaps it was a misconception, but Kael felt Snape glanced at him when saying this.

Under the professors’ strict orders, it took less than half a day for those ”castle assassins” to completely vanish.

By dinner time, Hogwarts had returned to its previous tranquility and serenity as if nothing ever happened.

At the dining table, Kael absentmindedly cut into the steak on his plate.

He wasn’t worried about Snape secretly targeting him, but about Ladon.

Five entire days had passed since sending the letter, and Ladon had yet to return.

Five days; from Dorset to Hogwarts, you could make several trips by train in that time.