Harry Potter: From Muggle Cousin to Conceptual Wizard

Chapter 90 The Night Steed, the Man-Beating Willow, and Self-Study in the Library!

Hagrid, relieved to see that the dragon was alright, left the dragon's lair with Dudley and then turned to head alone towards the outside of the Forbidden Forest.

He kept some Thestrals there, unlike the eight-eyed giant spiders he kept in private. Keeping Thestrals for Hogwarts was reasonable and in accordance with the law.

In some relatively grand and conservative public occasions, Hogwarts teachers and students occasionally use the Thestrals, a rather outdated mode of transportation.

However, Hagrid hadn't had a chance to use the Thestrals in a long time.

Dudley watched as four long-winged, skinny horses, as black as ink, harnessed to reins and pulling a massive flatbed cart, soared into the sky from the forbidden forest.

Hagrid, wearing goggles and holding the reins with his large hands, sat happily on the flatbed cart.

In the blink of an eye, this unique frame became a tiny black dot in the distant sky.

This shows that Thestrals are incredibly fast and incredibly strong, able to fly at such incredible speeds while dragging the heavy Hagrid.

Dudley silently withdrew his gaze, turned around, and left.

He was not surprised that he could see the Thestrals, because he had already witnessed death.

Without considering one's own past life experiences of death, let's focus solely on this life.

A month ago, he and Harry conspired with Voldemort to kill Quirrell.

Although it sounds a bit strange to say it this way, it's not entirely wrong.

Dudley strolled outside Hogwarts Castle. Instead of rushing to the library to meet Harry, he followed the guidance of the Hogwarts supernatural consciousness and went alone to the location of another strange creature.

Fifteen minutes later, Dali saw a thick, lush willow tree, which was the purpose of his trip.

As soon as Dali approached, the large willow tree came to life, baring its fangs and claws... no, it began to wildly swing its branches. Each of the tough willow branches produced a sonic boom at its tip as it was swung by the "beating willow," creating a tremendous spectacle.

Dudley had anticipated this, and immediately threw out his Smetine cane, which transformed into a small mouse in mid-air.

The little mouse skillfully dodged the attack of the willow tree, passed through its branches, and pressed its paws directly onto the large boil on the trunk.

This boil is the Achilles' heel of the willow tree. When it is touched, it temporarily loses its ability to move and becomes docile.

Dudley seized the opportunity and transformed his cane, which had turned into a little mouse, into a long saw. He controlled the saw to fly through the air and, following the principle of sawing off one piece and leaving another, harvested hundreds of thick willow branches of the *Syzygium buxifolium*, as well as several branches as thick as a bowl.

As usual, they were all stored in his personal space.

He then left satisfied.

I have nothing else to do this time, I'm going to the library to study.

There is a secret passage on the Whomping Willow that leads directly to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. This was a protective measure that Dumbledore specially set up for the werewolf wizard Lupin, so that Lupin could go directly to the Shrieking Shack on the night of the full moon and get through his berserk phase.

However, this facility is no longer of much use.

The magically potent willow branches can be harvested and used by Dudley.

Dudley returned to Hogwarts Castle and headed straight for the library on the second floor. Along the way, he encountered other students and received some respectful, resistant, or unconvinced glances.

Some of the more honest Hufflepuff students even bowed slightly to Dudley and addressed him as Dursley's assistant.

However, some older Slytherin students, upon seeing Dudley from afar, actually imitated his walking posture with his cane, laughing and mocking him. As soon as Dudley slightly raised his hand, they scattered like birds.

Then...then they crashed into the invisible wall that Dudley had created with Transfiguration in front of them, getting bumps all over their heads and having points deducted from their academy by Dudley.

Dudley wasn't angry at all. He shook his head helplessly. Why bother with these unlucky kids?

We still don't understand him enough. If it weren't for some unavoidable force, he would never wait until the next moment to take his revenge.

However, this situation also gave Dudley a clearer understanding of the current situation of Hogwarts students.

He wants to implement education reforms, but given the many other things he's already dealing with, it's going to be incredibly difficult.

We can only take it one step at a time.

Dudley didn't stop and quickly entered the second-floor library, where he smelled the rich aroma of ink and saw a vast collection of magical books.

With nearly a thousand bookshelves and tens of thousands of books and documents, this place boasts the largest collection of books in the entire British magical world and is the most important source of knowledge for cultivating generations of powerful black and white wizards.

Voldemort's Horcruxes, Aunt Lily's loving protection of ancient magic, and Dumbledore's vast magical knowledge all originated from this.

Dudley had long yearned to visit this place, but haste makes waste. Despite his excitement, he knew what was important and asked Mrs. Pins, the librarian, about the location of the bookshelves containing books on alchemy and wand-making techniques.

Right now, his number one priority is not finding and killing Voldemort's main soul, nor is it implementing Hogwarts' educational reforms.

Instead, they sought a way to perfectly remove Voldemort's soul fragments without harming the Horcruxes themselves.

Other things were merely done incidentally while accomplishing this task.

Of course, Dudley also hopes to find more inspiration for the harmless removal of soul fragments from Horcruxes while advancing other projects.

Currently, in the realm of magic, Dudley's greatest strength is his mastery of spells, while his secondary strengths are alchemy and staff-making. He wants to fully utilize his strengths and try out the directions of inspiration he had previously conceived.

Once we have some preliminary results, we'll discuss them with Dumbledore and check on the progress.

Dudley, carrying a large stack of books on alchemy and staff-making, went to the reading area and sat down with Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Of the three, Hermione was the most focused on reading, Harry was slightly less attentive, and Ron was scratching his head and couldn't concentrate at all. If his friends weren't there, he wouldn't even be able to sit still.

Dudley didn't disturb them. He put down his book, picked up another, and began to carefully examine it page by page. The first book he read was a book on the basic theories of alchemy.

The alchemical knowledge he gained from fusing with the magic stone was too advanced and too limited, only covering the content related to refining magic stones. To truly master alchemy, he still needed to brush up on the basics.

On the contrary, as for the staff-making technique, although he only knows a few advanced targeted material processing techniques, he has a thorough understanding of the basic staff-making principles. Even if he tries to make one immediately, he has a high success rate. It's just that he can't guarantee the quality and power of the finished product.

Harry and his two companions naturally noticed Dudley's arrival. Seeing that Dudley had no intention of speaking and the library required silence, they also remained silent.

Time passed by, second by second.

Just when Ron was feeling extremely uncomfortable and on the verge of collapse, he finally heard the dinner bell ringing from the Great Hall.

Lunchtime starts at noon and continues until 2 p.m. Anyone who goes to the Great Hall during this period can enjoy lunch prepared by house-elves. Hogwarts students can decide their own lunch time according to their schedule.

Ron immediately gave Harry and Hermione pleading looks, indicating that he had read enough of the book and it was time to go eat some chicken legs!

It's the first day of school, and there's no exam pressure, so why are you studying so hard?

He didn't understand at all.