The next morning, Professor McGonagall brought news.
Dumbledore's lesson was confirmed for Friday afternoon of this week.
James had written again, and this time, his words lacked the ecstatic tone of his previous letter; anger and confusion filled every line.
James's investigation was not going well at all.
An unexplainable force was preventing the Aurors from uncovering the truth.
First, a mistress voluntarily confessed, taking all the blame, and then the higher-ups immediately pushed for the serial murder case to be hastily closed.
The Daily Prophet also uncharacteristically came out, claiming that under the 'personal guidance' of a certain high-ranking official, the aimless Aurors had finally found a direction for solving the case, and the serial murder case was now closed.
Coincidentally, there were no new victims accumulating in the serial murder case either.
The heat and discussion surrounding this matter were rapidly decreasing.
The good news was that Lily's health was recovering very well; she had already returned to her clerical job at the Ministry of Magic.
Lily was quite popular at the Ministry of Magic, and she heard some unusual news from clerical staff in many different departments.
For example, recently, the number of Dementors in Azkaban was always short. The person in charge there had reported it more than once, but it had always been suppressed by the higher-ups.
James now stayed awake all night.
He was very worried, always feeling that if the mastermind's conspiracy could not be discovered in time, it would cause turmoil throughout the entire magic world, and at that time, countless innocent people would die.
Weilan thought for a moment, and in his reply to James, he told him about the various events that had occurred during the Triwizard Tournament.
"Their focus may have shifted to Hogwarts and the surrounding areas."
Weilan advised James:
"If you can't find anything, then don't dwell on it anymore."
"Hogwarts is under Dumbledore's protection."
"Mrs. Potter and Harry still need your care."
"Christmas is coming soon, Merry Christmas in advance."
Weilan sealed the letter and sent it to James.
"Christmas... Christmas Ball..." Weilan unintentionally glanced at the silk dress Fleur had sent, which was still on his bedside.
Rubbing his head, Weilan felt a headache, it was very troublesome.
Fleur refused Weilan's return.
She sadly told Weilan that in her hometown, if a gift given by a girl was returned by a boy untouched, it would be a very shameful thing.
Weilan was very embarrassed: "But I quietly asked you out, and there's no third person present now."
"That's still very shameful, there's no reason to return a gift anyway!"
Fleur tossed her silvery long hair and walked towards the Beauxbatons carriage.
"You can sell it, give it away, burn it, do whatever you want with it, but there's no reason to return it to me!"
When she said this, her tone contained an inexplicable sense of grievance.
Weilan could only take the dress back to his dormitory, like a hot potato.
However, he still couldn't find peace in the dormitory.
Ron's gaze towards him carried obvious depression and... injustice.
"What's wrong with you?" Weilan, this time, was quite perceptive in noticing Ron's emotional change.
"Nothing, you don't need to care about me."
Ron threw a clump of purplish-Brown fabric onto the bed: "You're about to shine at the Christmas Ball, wearing a beautiful silk dress and holding Fleur's hand."
"And me? Hmph, I might get sick then and not go to the ball."
Weilan fixed his gaze and realized what the clump of purplish-Brown fabric he had thrown on the bed actually was.
It was the dress Mrs. Weasley had prepared for him—a very ugly dress that looked like a women's long gown.
"Have you been to Floyd's Fine Wizarding Wear in Hogsmeade?" Weilan tried to help him.
Ron turned his back:
"Don't tell me you don't know how expensive things are in Hogsmeade! Besides Three Broomsticks, Pig's Head Pub, and Honeydukes, which shop in Hogsmeade has cheap and affordable things?"
Weilan immediately thought that perhaps he could give Ron the silk dress Fleur had given him.
But after putting himself in Ron's shoes, he quickly realized this was a foolish idea—doing so would be humiliating Ron. He remembered that Ron's favorite girl was Fleur.
"I'll go to Hogsmeade with you to bargain."
Weilan didn't blame Ron, smiling as he put his hand on his shoulder:
"Don't forget, we are somewhat influential celebrities in Hogsmeade... Make good use of this identity, and the boss won't overcharge too much."
Before Friday, Hermione heard about Ron's situation and told Ron that if he was willing, she would help him find a dance partner.
"Really?" Ron clearly already had someone in mind, "Can I invite Lavender Brown?"
Weilan was shocked: "When did you take a liking to her?"
"By elimination!" Ron was very embarrassed, "You're the one both Hermione and Fleur have their eyes on, so there are only a few girls left for me."
"I'm not very familiar with girls from other houses either... I can't possibly invite Ginny, can I? So there aren't many girls I can invite."
"I think Lavender is very enthusiastic, she would be a good dance partner."
Hermione nodded:
"I'll ask Miss Brown for you, it's still very early, I'm sure no one has invited her yet."
"Then your dance partner should be... Fleur, right?"
Ron asked Weilan in an uncertain tone.
"If it were before, I would definitely choose her, but now I don't like Veela."
Weilan rubbed his temples as he answered Ron:
"I haven't decided yet, but it's just a Christmas Ball, I don't think it matters too much who I choose as a dance partner."
Friday arrived quickly, and during Transfiguration Class on Thursday, Professor McGonagall had already given Weilan the password to the Principal's office.
As soon as class was over, Weilan rushed to Dumbledore's Principal's office.
Dumbledore was sitting behind a desk with claw-footed legs, his wand lightly tapping, and pages of parchment automatically sorted themselves neatly.
"You're here, earlier than I expected, have some tea first."
A white-glazed porcelain teapot automatically poured a cup of tea for Weilan.
Weilan lightly blew on the hot tea, about to take a small sip.
However, Dumbledore's next sentence immediately made him lose his enjoyment of the tea:
"I've found a way to cure Harry and Black—"
Weilan immediately stood up from his chair.
"—But only a part of it."
Weilan sat back down in his chair.
A musty-smelling piece of parchment floated in front of Weilan.
"You previously provided an abandoned Castle in the Hogsmeade Valley, Falbarton Castle. This time I made a big discovery inside."
"Falbarton Castle was originally a magic fortress built by medieval pure-blood Wizards, belonging to the Falbarton family."
"This pure-blood family later died out due to infighting and plague, but this family had a deep connection with Ravenclaw."
Weilan scanned the parchment in his hand.
This seemed to be a shorthand transcript of a conversation, detailing a dialogue between Rowena Ravenclaw, one of Hogwarts' founders, and Merlin during her lifetime.
And the person who recorded this conversation was the ancestor of the Falbarton family.
Dumbledore explained the identity of the Falbarton family's ancestor:
"Based on the various clues in the Castle, it's not difficult to infer that Ravenclaw greatly admired their ancestor, promoting him to be Ravenclaw's first Head Boy, and he followed Ravenclaw, assisting her in handling various affairs."
The content of the conversation can be briefly summarized as Merlin, during his student days, asking Ravenclaw a question.
"If a person's mind is enchanted by a special Veela magic, how can he be cured?"
"This Veela magic is very special," Merlin told Ravenclaw, "It equally enchants men and women, and even pulling the Veela away from them doesn't eliminate the effects of the enchantment; they seem destined to be the Veela's puppets for life."
Ravenclaw told Merlin that a Potion could be given to the patient, followed by periodic spell treatments, combined with ritual magic at specific times, which could save these puppets.
But without a doubt, this was a rather complex magic, and there wasn't enough space on this brief parchment to record so many words.
The record ended there, without specifying how this magic was to be performed.
"It's undoubtedly regrettable that I didn't find a record of this solution in the Castle."
Dumbledore told Weilan what happened next: "So I changed my approach."
"According to the records in the parchment, we know that at least three people knew the cure."
"They are Merlin, Ravenclaw, and Falbarton."
"So, let's reasonably assume, would they share this knowledge with those around them?"
Weilan could vaguely guess the name Dumbledore was about to utter.
"Helena Ravenclaw, she is Ravenclaw's biological daughter, and now she is The Grey Lady, the ghost of Hogwarts."
"So, I went and asked her."
