Chapter 34: Midnight Scream

On the Marauder's Map, the dot representing the caretaker, Filch, was hovering in the outside corridor. The black dot labeled “Madam Norris” was rubbing against the three circles labeled “Weilan,” “Hermione,” and “Ron.”

Filch’s cat, Madam Norris, was just outside the door, only a door separating her from them.

“Hmm, my little darling, do you smell those little brats?” Filch’s voice sounded from outside the door. Weilan and the others dared not breathe, continuously praying for Filch to leave quickly.

Madam Norris caught their scent, and Filch began circling in place, searching.

Although Filch didn't seem to be looking their way for the moment, he lingered in the corridor outside the door for a long time. If Weilan opened the door, the sound would definitely alert Filch.

At that time, even with the cover of the Invisibility Cloak, Filch would notice a door appearing out of nowhere on the wall.

As time passed, Weilan couldn't help but feel anxious. Hermione shook her open pocket watch in front of him, silently mouthing to him, “It’s almost midnight.”

One minute before midnight, Filch finally gave up searching there. He led Madam Norris out of the corridor.

“Quick, quick, be careful to cover the Invisibility Cloak, don’t let your feet show.”

Weilan, leading the way, twisted the doorknob. Perhaps it was due to the shielding magic outside the door, or perhaps because it was too old, but the wooden door was very stiff when opening.

He pulled it back three or four times with force, pulling the door open from the inside.

“Only a few seconds until midnight!”

Hermione urged them in a low voice.

Weilan, through the Invisibility Cloak, grabbed the wooden door, waiting for Ron, who was at the very end, to step out, ready to close the door immediately.

But he was one second too late.

It was midnight.

A shrill woman’s scream pierced the silent night of Hogwarts, tearing through each of their eardrums.

This was not one woman screaming and crying, but a group! And the source of the sound was precisely the Slytherin office at the end of the secret passage.

“Bang!”

The scream lasted for less than a second. As Weilan decisively closed the wooden door, it instantly became silent.

Filch was still startled.

Footsteps gradually approached. Weilan made a snap decision:

“Let’s move a few steps forward, to the opposite side of the corridor. Filch heard the sound source; staying here will put us face to face with him.”

Filch’s old face appeared at the end of the corridor. He and Madam Norris returned to the painting of the King Cobra.

Weilan stood behind him, not daring to breathe.

Filch found nothing. After yelling a few words at the air, he attributed it all to a new prank by the Weasley brothers, muttering and grumbling as he left.

Once Filch was far away, Weilan, Hermione, and Ron, draped in the Invisibility Cloak, scurried back to the Gryffindor common room.

Neville, dressed in pajamas, had been waiting for a long time in a chair in the common room.

“Your toad.” Weilan pulled Leffy from his pocket and placed him in Neville’s palm, then lifted the Petrificus Totalus from Leffy.

“Thank you, Weilan.”

With Leffy returned, tears of gratitude streamed down Neville’s face: “You weren’t discovered, were you?”

“We were almost caught by Filch.” Ron gulped down a large glass of water.

“Thank you, thank you.” Neville kept repeating the words. He pulled a Galleon and several sickles from his pocket and handed them to Weilan.

As Weilan counted the coins, Hermione thought of the exciting experience of the night and tilted her head, asking:

“By the way, why were there women screaming in that room at midnight?”

“I don’t know.”

Ron put down his teacup:

“There’s no point in investigating that, Hermione. Hogwarts has too many secrets. If you try to figure them all out, you’ll exhaust yourself.”

Just then, Weilan finished counting the coins—including the 2 sickle deposit he paid in advance, Neville paid a total of 2 Galleons.

Seeing that the payment was settled without objection, Neville went back to sleep.

“Ron, Hermione, let’s discuss how to split it.”

Weilan pulled a notebook from his embrace, reluctantly caressing its leather-bound cover.

“I don’t have to take Neville’s payment, but I really want to keep this notebook.”

“You’re not really going to try the time magic on it, are you?”

Ron looked at him in surprise.

“No.”

Weilan wouldn’t tell anyone about the golden finger, so he could only come up with an excuse to put them off:

“It’s a Slytherin research notebook. I want to see if I can hype up its value. If it takes off, I’ll make a fortune.”

Ron and Hermione’s faces instantly spelled out “I knew it.” Weilan’s cheeks flushed, and he lowered his head shyly.

“Alright then.” Hermione yawned and walked towards the girls’ dormitory. “I’m not taking any money. You two keep discussing. I’m going back to sleep.”

Ron scratched his head and thought: “You found the toad after all, and I didn’t want that notebook anyway. How about we split it 50/50?”

“Thank you, Ron, you’re a good person.” Weilan was very moved. “Have you finished your homework? Do you want to copy mine?”

“Homework!” Ron suddenly remembered, almost jumping out of his chair. “I haven’t finished the essay Professor Sprout assigned yet!”

Then, he slumped back in his chair: “Oh, it’s too late. I’ll copy it in a couple of days.”

…

The next two days of classes were uneventful.

During his free time, Weilan sold half of his stationery, with a gross profit of 1 Galleon, 20 sickles, and 21 Knuts.

Neville burned his sixth cauldron in Potion Class. Snape was furious and gave him detention.

So, on Wednesday evening, Neville had to gut a large barrel of horned toads in Snape’s office. When he returned to the common room, he was on the verge of a breakdown.

Hermione tried to teach Neville a scourgify charm to clean the toad guts from under his fingernails. Ron watched them, whispering to Weilan:

“I don’t understand why Dumbledore hired Snape! He was clearly You-Know-Who’s subordinate before.”

“I don’t understand either.”

Weilan was racking his brain, helping Ron brainstorm his Herbology Class essay:

“Perhaps he was actually Dumbledore’s spy before? Always lurking by You-Know-Who’s side, gathering intelligence for Dumbledore.”

“Pfft.” Ron laughed, “Weilan, do you believe what you just said?”

Weilan himself didn’t really believe it. Because according to the original story, Snape should have reformed and turned over a new leaf only after Lily’s death.

In this timeline, Lily hadn't died, and Weilan couldn't think of any other reason that would prompt Snape to turn from dark to light.

It was just that Weilan really couldn't understand why Dumbledore still employed Snape as the Potion Professor.

Beyond that, what Weilan deeply regretted was that the Slytherin notebook he brought out only provided one additional useful record—

“By restoring past events, one can, to some extent, help people understand the structure of ‘the past’ and deepen their comprehension of ‘time’.”

That was it. The record ended there, followed by large areas of smudging and damaged pages.

But this piece of knowledge still brought Weilan 3 experience points.

Now the experience points display: 【Experience Level: 1 (17/20)】

Only 3 more experience points to level up!

Weilan spent a day in the library, starved for knowledge, but couldn't find anything else that would increase his experience points.

The other ancient magic recorded in the Slytherin notebook also didn’t work. It had to be magic knowledge related to “time” to increase the golden finger’s experience.

The spell “Tempora Retexere (Time Reversal)” that Weilan had placed high hopes on turned out to be quite useless after practice. It could only help Weilan recall things that had happened in his memories.

“This effect isn’t even as good as Minute Observation!” Weilan complained helplessly.

However, Weilan believed this spell shouldn't be underestimated.

Just like many young Muggles learning math would mock the simple uselessness of 1+1=2, they would never imagine what a formidable mathematical edifice these simple equations were the foundation of.

Similarly, a spell worthy of being gloriously recorded by Slytherin should not be as simple as it appears.

On Wednesday night, Weilan lay in bed, comprehensively reviewing and analyzing all the information he had gathered over the past few days:

“I overlooked the important information the golden finger gave me at the very beginning: its name!”

“This golden finger is called ‘Eye of Time Traces’; it was related to ‘time’ from the very beginning.”

“I can only gain experience by absorbing knowledge related to time and deepening my understanding of ‘time’.”

“According to the Slytherin notebook, ‘restoring past events can help people deepen their understanding of ‘time’.’ This might be why I can gain experience through solving cases.”

“The key to improvement lies in ‘deepening the understanding of ‘time’… Hmm, so that’s why the experience gain is so elusive when I solve cases? Because the ‘understanding’ might not be deep enough?”

“Currently, almost all research materials related to ‘time’ are in the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry of Magic, or they might be recorded in ancient ruins or artifacts.”

“Both of these options are very difficult. For now, gaining experience through solving cases seems to be the most effective method.”

“So the Detective Agency must continue to operate, and Dumbledore’s request to inquire about the locations of ancient ruins must also be fulfilled!”