Chapter 97: The Vanishing Cabinet

It took Wade an entire day to relive and organize his memories, and by the time he walked out of the Room of Requirement, the sky had completely darkened.

Although both the Room of Requirement and the Ravenclaw common room were on the upper floors, one was located in the main tower while the other was at the top of the Ravenclaw Tower, making the distance between them quite far. 

Normally, Wade would summon his broom with a Summoning Charm and fly across, but today, he chose to walk slowly along the corridors, organizing his thoughts and planning his next steps.

As his footsteps echoed through the long, empty hallway, the silence was suddenly broken by a voice—

"Haha… Surpri—se!"

Peeves the Poltergeist appeared out of nowhere, holding several inky black water balloons and hurled them at Wade. Reacting swiftly, Wade pulled out his wand and pointed it at the balloons. The ink reversed direction, splashing all over Peeves' face.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft!"

Peeves spat out the ink from his mouth and cursed under his breath as he flew away, leaving behind a corridor covered in dark ink.

Wade had long since mastered the Cleaning Charm. With a few flicks of his wand, the ink vanished, and the corridor was as clean as before.

Suddenly, someone clapped. "Nice silent spell!"

Wade turned and saw who it was. "Griffiths?"

The red-haired wizard had once again darted into someone else's portrait, and followed Wade with hands behind his back and smiling cheerfully.

Thinking about Peeves' sudden appearance, Wade asked, "Did you put Peeves up to this?"

"Yep!" Griffiths admitted without hesitation, grinning. "You looked like you'd been caught by some time monster, with such a deep and scary expression, so I had Peeves come and say hello—how do you feel now? A bit better, right?"

Wade wasn't sure what expression he had on earlier, but he rubbed his face and said helplessly, "Well, thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome, you're welcome! Helping students is what I do," Griffiths said, beaming. He then asked, "What were you thinking about earlier?"

Not wanting to discuss it, Wade deflected the conversation. "Have you been getting along better with the portraits in the entrance hall lately? They haven't come to me with complaints in a while."

"Uh… well, of course, we've gotten along better…" Griffiths replied hesitantly, clearly dodging the question.

Wade stopped in his tracks, frowning as he asked, "You wouldn't have..."

"Haha, just now there were two Hufflepuff students who wanted to hear one of my old stories! I've got to go, we'll talk next time!" Griffiths raised his voice and sounded guilty, and then hurriedly slipped out of the portrait, disappearing to who knows where.

Wade shook his head.

Recently, more and more students have gotten to know the chatty Griffiths. 

He was always eager to strike up a conversation, and would sometimes suddenly pop out of a portrait, giving a startled student a fright, often causing them to fall into one of the staircases' traps. 

He would laugh hysterically, earning him the reputation of being the "Peeves of the portraits."

However, unlike Peeves, the students didn't dislike Griffiths. Aside from his occasional harmless pranks, he would also tell stories—whether they were true or not was anyone's guess—and would sometimes comfort students who seemed down, doing his best to cheer them up.

Wade often saw four or five students gathered around Griffiths' portrait, chatting with him. His time had become so occupied by the students that he had less opportunity to bother the other portraits—at least, that's what Wade had thought.

But judging by Griffiths' guilty expression earlier, it seemed like there was another story behind his actions.

Back in his dormitory, Wade took out his Book of Friends. After talking with his father for a while, he switched to another page in the book.

[Wade: Remus?]

Before long, Lupin's reply appeared on the paper:

[Lupin: I'm here.]

[Wade: I have a favor to ask—tomorrow morning, could you please go with my father to Gringotts to withdraw some money, and then head to Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley to purchase the Vanishing Cabinet in the shop?]

[Lupin: Sure.]

Lupin readily agreed. After a moment, he added another note:

[Lupin: But as far as I know, Borgin and Burkes only has one Vanishing Cabinet. The other one is missing. If the second cabinet is damaged or located somewhere inaccessible to people—like at the bottom of the sea or buried underground—it would be useless, and could even pose great danger to the user.]

[Wade: I know—but there's another Vanishing Cabinet here, in Hogwarts Castle.]

[Wade: It's worth a try, isn't it?]

[Lupin: Understood. But promise me you won't try it yourself. We can experiment with a rabbit or something first.]

[Wade: Of course, I won't be reckless.]

After putting away the Book of Friends, Wade felt a surge of anticipation.

The idea that enemies could appear at any moment within a supposedly safe fortress was unsettling, but the possibility of leaving the castle at will? That was exhilarating. With such a capability, Wade could accomplish far more.

His mind was occupied with countless thoughts, as well as the various twists in the plot—like the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, Peter Pettigrew hiding in Gryffindor, the Quidditch World Cup, the Triwizard Tournament, Barty Crouch's escape from Azkaban, Voldemort's resurrection, and the incompetent Ministry of Magic...

And then there were the Horcruxes Voldemort had hidden in various places... and the few ways to destroy them:

The Sword of Gryffindor. 

Basilisk fangs. 

And Fiendfyre.

I really have to learn the Fiendfyre curse... He thought of the roaring flames that Grindelwald used to set half of Paris ablaze, and Dumbledore, like a fire god, conjuring an inferno with a single wave of his wand...

If I had that kind of power, would I still need to be so cautious?

Wade jotted down all these thoughts on paper, staring at them for a while before rolling the paper into a ball. He held it near the candle flame, watching it burn into ashes.

The flickering firelight reflected in his pupils, and deep within his eyes, another scene seemed to unfold—Hogwarts overrun by Death Eaters, trolls and Acromantulas rampaging, bodies strewn across the cold ground.

In the midst of battle, life is fragile.

Then there were the parts of the story that hadn't been portrayed—the time after Dumbledore's death, when both Hogwarts and the Ministry were almost entirely controlled by the Dark Lord's followers. The protagonist trio had to go into hiding… How many non-pureblood wizards had been persecuted during that brief yet endless year?

What about the Muggles? And the Squibs, who were never even considered? Were they spared because they were weak, or were they killed, their deaths merely becoming cold, forgotten statistics in a newspaper?

Wade's mind suddenly flashed with images of Ferd and Fiona's smiling faces, followed by two other faces, blurred by time, smiling despite deep sorrow.

He placed his hand over his eyes and let out a weary sigh.

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