The Spell Damage ward was on the fifth floor, where Harry and Black were receiving treatment.
As soon as Weilan stepped into the corridor on the fifth floor, a sorrowful crying sound reached his ears.
“Oh! Merlin’s beard! Harry, poor Harry! How could this happen? You were fine when we parted at the end of the term!”
“And Sirius… such a handsome and dashing man, tormented into this state by that hateful murderer!”
It was Hagrid, the Giant.
His enormous body almost filled the entire row of seats in the corridor, and he was currently wiping his tears with his large, polka-dotted handkerchief.
Hermione, a girl with thick brown hair, stood beside Hagrid, comforting him:
“Don’t be sad, Hagrid, didn’t Dumbledore come to see them today? He said if there’s a way, there will definitely be a way. Our top priority is to cooperate well with Dumbledore… Hi, Weilan!”
“How are they doing?”
Weilan leaned closer and asked Hermione.
“Dumbledore said he has a solution.”
Hermione leaned in and spoke to Weilan:
“Although ancient magic has almost disappeared in our era, a large number of ancient ruins are still preserved underground in Hogwarts and its surrounding areas.”
“Dumbledore means that he will try to seek magical heritage in these ancient ruins to lift the mind control on Harry and Sirius.”
Weilan’s eyes lit up.
He knew this was indeed a feasible method.
It seemed he had underestimated the wisdom of the Wizarding World’s greatest White Wizard before.
“So, before Dumbledore left, he entrusted us with a very important task!”
Hermione solemnly put her hands behind her back:
“There are many ancient ruins preserved in the areas around Hogwarts, but most of their entrances are very hidden, and even using magic cannot reveal much.”
“But the residents of these areas have lived here for generations, and more or less, some related rumors have been passed down among them.”
“Dumbledore hopes that in our free time, we can walk around Hogwarts as much as possible, inquire about ancient legends from the residents, and report back to him regularly. That would be the greatest help to him.”
“But I think we might need a cover identity to do this…”
Weilan’s dark eyes shifted slightly:
“I have a good idea—Hermione, are you interested in co-founding a detective agency with me?”
“A detective agency?”
Hermione’s brown eyes lit up with a sudden flash:
“That’s a good idea! We can use the reason of investigating cases to inquire everywhere in the areas around Hogwarts! Wait, who else is in your detective agency?”
“Hmm… I plan to ask Ron for his opinion tonight.”
The implication was: currently, it’s just the two of us; Ron might join.
“It doesn’t matter if there are few people; trustworthy members are the most important!”
“If Mr. Weasley doesn’t mind, I’d like to stay at The Burrow for the last few days of the summer holiday—you know, we need to make arrangements for the establishment of the detective agency!”
Weilan nodded: “Okay, Mr. Weasley is in Lily’s ward. Go discuss it with him, and I’ll meet you on the first floor after visiting Harry.”
Hermione, clutching her small bag, scurried down the stairs.
After Hermione left, a woman’s shrill scream suddenly came from the ward to Weilan’s right, startling Weilan and making him retreat three paces. A moment later, he recognized it as Narcissa’s voice.
“Draco… no… I want to pursue the lady… no, save Draco first…”
Accompanied by indistinct murmurs, the sound of bumping against the wall, each heavier than the last, came through. Several on-duty healers hurried into the ward, and Narcissa’s shrill cries gradually subsided.
Weilan took a deep breath, prepared himself mentally, and then stepped into the ward where Harry and Black were being held…
Ten minutes later.
Weilan, looking dejected, came to Hagrid’s side.
Two pairs of sad eyes met, and Hagrid squeezed his body to make a small space for Weilan on his right.
“I didn’t expect their condition to be so serious… They still recognized me, but they completely saw me as an enemy.”
“Compared to them, although Narcissa isn’t very clear-headed, she still remembers to save her son.”
Weilan sat down beside Hagrid, his eyes vacant.
“Yes… I hope Dumbledore makes good progress.”
Hagrid offered his polka-dotted handkerchief to Weilan, but the latter politely declined.
A moment later, Weilan thought of something and asked Hagrid with anticipation:
“Oh, right, I also submitted a bottle of blood to James. Do you know about the research progress on that bottle of blood?”
“Oh, you mean that.” Hagrid put away his handkerchief, his small eyes under his bushy eyebrows staring at the ceiling as he recalled, “Dumbledore looked at it and said that this item cannot be used for treatment.”
“Why?” Weilan stood up from his seat, looking at Hagrid in surprise.
“He said that the owner of that bottle of blood is immune to the Veela’s ancient charm magic because the blood’s owner possesses a stronger ancient magical bloodline…”
“Unless this ancient sage can be invited to St. Mungo’s Hospital to personally use long-lost ancient knowledge and cast his powerful magic, a few drops of his blood alone will not have any therapeutic effect.”
A tremendous shock froze Weilan in place; he didn’t even know how to react.
He? Weilan Costa? A powerful ancient magical bloodline?
Could this be why that Veela called him “special”?
Although Weilan’s grades at Hogwarts were good, placing him on par with Hermione.
But he believed these achievements stemmed more from his own diligence and repeated memorization practice, rather than some ancient magical bloodline.
“In that case…”
Weilan wanted to say more, but looking back and seeing Hagrid’s simple and honest smile, he dismissed the thought.
“I’d best confess my bloodline issue to Dumbledore privately.”
Weilan thought to himself:
“On one hand, this will help in finding a way to cure Harry and Black.”
“On the other hand, the Veela’s reason for capturing me might very well be my bloodline.”
“Currently, I have too little information. For matters involving ancient hidden magic, seeking Dumbledore’s help is the best way to ensure safety.”
Having decided on his strategy, Weilan bid farewell to Hagrid and met Hermione on the first floor.
“Mr. Weasley agreed!”
Hermione rushed over, exclaiming excitedly:
“He said he’ll send me home first to pack my things and explain clearly to Mum and Dad. Then we’ll go to The Burrow!”
Weilan nodded in agreement, and as they reached outside the hospital, he casually opened the car door for Hermione.
Hermione paused slightly, glancing at Weilan in surprise, then her cheeks flushed pink as she got in.
…
“You’re finally back, Mum was just talking about you! Oh! Mum, Hermione’s here too—”
The Weasley twins, who were clearing Goblins in the garden, saw Hermione and Weilan get out of the car and loudly called out to Molly, who was cooking in the kitchen.
Molly came out of the kitchen, very happy to see Hermione, and settled her in Ginny’s room.
The broth on the stove was bubbling, Ginny helped her mother peel potatoes, and Mr. Weasley and the twins were outside the house.
Weilan tugged Ron’s sleeve, winking to signal him to follow.
Ron, bewildered, was led by Weilan into his room.
Hermione, at some point, had moved from Ginny’s room to here, and she casually closed the door behind Ron.
Hermione and Weilan stood side by side, their expressions serious, as if they were about to conspire on something important with Ron.
Weilan got straight to the point:
“I want to establish a detective agency to serve the students and staff of Hogwarts, as well as the villagers in the surrounding areas of Hogwarts. Hermione has already decided to participate. Do you want to join?”
Hermione added: “Dumbledore hopes we can use this to inquire about information on certain hidden ancient ruins, to find opportunities to cure Harry and Black…”
“Join! I must join!”
Ron had no objections, not even waiting for Hermione to finish speaking.
“Alright then, our detective agency is hereby established!”
Weilan took out a quill and a card, dipped the quill in ink, and asked his two members.
“Do you have any ideas for the name of the detective agency?”
“You were the one who proposed creating the detective agency, so you are naturally our president, and the right to name the detective agency is in your hands.”
Hermione said so, and Ron nodded vigorously behind her.
“If I name it, it might not be so fancy.”
Weilan picked up the quill and swiftly wrote a few words on the card:
“Costa Detective Agency”
“That’s good too.” Hermione took out a fresh piece of parchment, “Next, we need to clarify the agency’s principles.”
“Our primary and long-term task is to investigate the locations of ancient ruins and find opportunities to cure Harry and Black.”
As Weilan dictated, Hermione used a large font to record this sentence on the parchment.
“Our current short-term task is to quickly increase the detective agency’s reputation and expand our client base, so that we can gather information from as many people as possible.”
Hermione switched to a smaller font and continued writing on the parchment, word for word.
Hermione’s seriousness made Weilan nervous.
“Let’s leave it at that for now; our short-term task is already a big problem!”
Weilan cleared his throat, interrupting Hermione’s rustling writing: “Finally, we need to discuss the profit distribution in advance, meaning how much of the earned remuneration each person should receive.”
This was a very delicate and serious issue, concerning the unity and cooperation of the entire team.
Hermione immediately raised her hand to state her position:
“I won’t participate in the remuneration split. My parents give me enough pocket money.”
She was well aware of Weilan’s and Ron’s financial situations.
“You are the president; you have more things to worry about, so you should naturally receive more remuneration.”
Ron voluntarily backed down, not wanting to make things difficult for Weilan: “How about a seventy-thirty split? You get seventy, I get thirty.”
With the remuneration distribution agreed upon, the detective agency was officially established.
There was no grand or impractical inauguration ceremony. Weilan wanted to first achieve the detective agency’s short-term goal—to spread the name of the Costa Detective Agency.
Weilan pulled out a map of Hogwarts and the surrounding villages from his backpack. Although it wasn’t as magical as the Marauder’s Map, it had all the necessary comprehensiveness, accuracy, and precision of a map.
Speaking of which, Weilan had this map out of necessity for his business—
Sourcing goods from remote Wizarding settlements was much more affordable than from the center of Hogsmeade, as long as you didn’t mind the extra legwork.
Weilan reined in his thoughts, revealing all the experience he had gained from traveling between villages for three years:
“There are 10 Wizarding villages on this map. A Wizarding village is like Hogsmeade, a village composed entirely of Wizards.”
“And these villages on the outskirts—look, the ones I’ve circled in red—either have both Wizards and Muggles living in them, or are entirely Muggle villages, with some areas also inhabited by Goblins.”
“Currently, I can think of three usable channels for promotion.”
