"Draco woke us up, but where is he now? Where did he go?"
Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe exchanged glances, finally snapping out of their daze.
A gust of wind swept through the forest, and the chilly feeling made them all shiver.
Goyle rubbed his mouth vigorously to wipe away the white drool from the corners of his mouth, then pointed to a carriage and asked, "Shall we take this carriage?"
Crabbe struggled to climb into the carriage. "Well, that's the only way. Let's just go to the Great Hall and wait for Draco."
The carriage groaned, and its wheels rolled forward twice.
...
Draco Malfoy remembered his father's instructions to get in touch with Vizette Lovegood.
His failed encounter with Harry Potter last year had strained his relationship with Harry.
Besides, it was Harry Potter who had refuted him back then, so he didn't want to mend the relationship; that would be too embarrassing!
Now that Vizette Lovegood was willing to get into the carriage, he must seize the opportunity and fulfill his father's instructions.
His parents loved him very much and had high expectations for him, and he didn't want to let them down.
Despite the chill of the Scottish Highlands at night, Draco felt his head burning with anxiety over how to start a conversation.
Last year he had made a mistake by telling Harry Potter that "schools should only accept students from ancient families," not realizing that Harry Potter had grown up in a Muggle family.
He decided to talk about topics he knew, to avoid unnecessarily touching on the other person's sore spots.
Draco racked his brains, trying to figure out what he knew that would get the Ravenclaw students' attention...
Ravenclaw was interested in knowledge...
Vizette Lovegood had excellent grades...
He knew a bit about Dark Magic, and when he had recently gone to Knockturn Alley, he had seen quite a few interesting things that he could use for chatting...
Considering the points above, Draco seemed to know what he should say.
"Vizette…where did you go all summer…?" He tried to recall what his father would start a conversation with others with.
Vizette was somewhat surprised that Draco Malfoy would continue to talk to him. "I went to Sweden, the birthplace of runes. It was very interesting."
Reflecting on his experiences last year, he realized that Draco Malfoy hadn't seemed to have done much; the main instigators were likely members of the Parkinson family and students associated with them.
Later, as he began to display some magic, the discordant sounds and malice gradually disappeared.
"Sweden? Do you know there's a magic school there?" Draco said in a low voice, choking on his saliva as he spoke so fast. "Cough cough cough… I was planning to study there."
"I've heard of Durmstrang Institute, but I've never been there; the route doesn't go there." Vizette nodded. "Gellert Grindelwald was also a student there."
Vizette and Draco started talking, while Pansy pursed her lips even tighter, making them almost invisible.
Draco's voice grew louder. "I went to Knockturn Alley. Have you been to Knockturn Alley?"
"I passed by once last year, but I didn't go in," Vizette said truthfully. "The potion maker at the apothecary told me that Knockturn Alley seems to be quite dangerous."
"If someone takes you there, it's just an ordinary place." Draco raised an eyebrow. "I often visit a magical item shop called Borgin and Burkes."
"There are many interesting things there. One of them is a withered human hand called the 'Hand of Glory.' You can put a candle on it, and only the person holding it can see the candlelight."
"There's also a necklace that's been kept hidden away. It's said to have killed quite a few people... It looks quite nice, though. It's made of many opals strung together with a gold chain..."
"It certainly seems to be a dangerous place." Vizette frowned immediately upon hearing the description of the necklace. "That opal necklace must contain a deadly curse."
"That warning was no joke. If you actually come into contact with this curse, you'll probably be suspended in mid-air, enduring prolonged torture before finally dying."
"That terrifying?" Draco asked in surprise. "Vizette, you also study Dark Magic...? I thought you all rejected Dark Magic..."
Vizette smiled slightly. "Isn't this the point of Defense Against the Dark Arts? If you want to break Dark Magic, you naturally need to understand it."
"That's true…" Draco nodded. "Defense Against the Dark Arts class starts with the Dark Arts, then moves on to defense…"
Compared to other Hogwarts students he had met, Vizette gave him a rather different feeling.
At least his attitude toward Dark Magic made him feel comfortable, and he was more willing to speak up.
"Vizette, you seem to know a lot about the curse on the opal necklace? What kind of magic is it? Do you know?"
Vizette pondered, "If we're only considering the opal feature, my guess is the 'Levicorpus'."
"This kind of magic is very suitable for making Dark Magic items, so you still have to be careful, it's really dangerous!"
Hearing Vizette's reminder, Draco nodded repeatedly, "I'll be careful, but what exactly is its effect? I've never heard of this kind of Dark Magic in the books at home..."
The platform was quite a distance from Hogwarts Castle, but Draco felt that time passed very quickly.
To his surprise, Vizette's knowledge of Dark Magic was also quite profound.
"Croak...croak...croak..."
The carriage slowly came to a stop, and the croaking of toads came from the roadside.
"Lumos!"
Vizette waved his wand, unleashing a burst of soft white light that illuminated a dark brown toad in the distance, with thirteen bumps on its back.
"What a restless pet. Nox!" The white light vanished instantly, accompanied by another incantation, "Trevor, come here!"
The toad Trevor flailed its limbs in the air, but could not resist the invisible force, and quickly flew into Vizette's hand.
Draco got out of the carriage and frowned as he looked at the toad flailing its limbs. "Vizette, is this... your pet?"
"This is Neville's pet; it loves to run around." Vizette shook his head. "Since you've seen it, you can do me a favor."
"Neville? Neville Longbottom, is he a Gryffindor?"
"Right."
Why was he still helping him?
"It was just a small favor."
"Vizette! We're here!" Several people were standing in the distance; they were Vizette's roommates.
Vizette waved to them, then turned to Draco and said, "My friend is calling me, I'll go now, see you next time."
"Okay, see you next time." Draco nodded.
Watching Vizette's retreating figure, another question suddenly occurred to him: "Vizette, if I lose something... will you help me find it?"
"If I can find it," Vizette turned around and said seriously, "to find something using a summoning charm, I at least need to know what it looks like, otherwise it will be troublesome."
….
Share Powerstones for bonus chapters!