"Awakening?"

Such a common word, striking his eardrums, made Vid’s fingertips feel slightly cold, and the toad in the cage had completely quieted down without anyone knowing.

After a moment, Vid asked, "Ancient things...what are they?"

This time, Ms. Gray did not answer, she only glanced quietly at Vid and said, "Be careful...those things are far more dangerous than the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets..."

The ghost turned away, passing directly through tall oak trees and overgrown shrubs, the pearl-white figure quickly disappearing from sight.

Vid did not chase after her, he lowered his head and looked at the toad in the birdcage.

Perhaps because his brain capacity was insufficient to support complex thoughts, the toad remained squatting in the cage in a daze, and it was a long time before it suddenly came back to its senses, secretly peeking at Vid’s reaction.

The two pairs of gray eyes suddenly met, the toad’s pupils contracted, its belly puffed up, and it let out a "croak——" sound.

Vid’s gaze immediately became full of meaning.

He looked at the nervously looking toad, did not expose its identity, but calmly carried the cage and walked out of the dark forest.

The "toad" in the birdcage also breathed a sigh of relief, quietly curled up in a corner, looking at the increasingly large castle in its sight, with tears involuntarily welling up.

God knows how many hardships it went through to finally reach this place as a small, ugly, helpless toad!

...

In fact, Lucius Malfoy’s first choice was to find Narcissa for help to lift the curse. But unfortunately, the protective system of Malfoy Manor was repaired or reinforced by their family for generations, even as the owner of the manor, he couldn’t sneak in as a toad.

He caught bugs and drank dew, stayed outside the manor, hoping to see his wife. Lucius believed that as long as Narcissa knew who he was, she would definitely spare no effort to help him.

But because of her husband’s disappearance, Narcissa was rushing around everywhere, without the usual interest in taking walks near the manor.

She hurried in and out of the manor using Floo Powder or Apparition, and it took Lucius a good two weeks before he finally bumped into an opportunity when Narcissa walked out of the manor gates.

And the result?

Before he could jump up to his wife and raise the leaf that revealed his identity (which read "Lucius Malfoy"), he saw his wife glancing coldly and disdainfully at the toad that eagerly jumped towards her, her Magic Wand swung like a whip!

Lucius: "..."

He did not want to recall that day.

In short, he survived—heartfelt, tearful, shivering with post-fear.

The painstakingly written leaf was blown to pieces, and the toad’s body had several hard-to-heal scars.

After that, he knew he had better not appear in front of Narcissa, so he tried every possible way to directly deliver messages to her—

Using caught bugs to form the words he wanted to say, but before completing a single word, the bugs in the front were carried away by hardworking ants;

Abandoning the bugs, he tried using brightly colored berries, which not only attracted a flock of birds but also left him mocked by two mischief-making crows for a long time, their "caw caw caw" laughter reverberating in his mind for many days without disappearing;

He switched to leaves, only for them to be blown away by the wind;

Twigs were too inconspicuous.

He painstakingly arranged a pile of stones, finally spelling out what he wanted to say, hoping day and night, yet never saw Narcissa walk out of the manor again.

Their closest distance had a gap of over a hundred meters.

Lucius peered through the gaps between the fence and shrubs, seeing his wife sitting pale-faced in the gazebo, looking hollow, her body getting thinner, seemingly having lost all vitality.

He felt both heartache and urgency, tirelessly jumping outside the fence, letting out "croak croak croak"—

"Look at me! Look at me! I’m right here!"

But he did not catch Narcissa’s attention, his calls instead attracted a starling—such a bird would grab the toad’s hind legs, repeatedly smash it until it was powerless to resist, then it would eat it!

Lucius used his human intelligence and combat experience, after strenuous efforts, finally got rid of that pesky predator, and when he exhaustedly returned to the place where he arranged the words with stones, an icy coldness rushed from the sole of his feet straight to his head, making even breathing difficult.

Finally, someone noticed the information he left, but it was not the eagerly anticipated Narcissa, instead, two emaciated House-Elves.

—The Malfoy Family’s House-Elves.

The two House-Elves discovered the words on the ground, whispering to each other, one of them suddenly squatted down, fiddling with the stones on the ground before looking at its own fingertips.

Malfoy’s heart skipped intensely, as if an icy snake was crawling up his spine.

He knew what the House-Elf was looking at—while arranging the stones, he couldn’t avoid leaving some of his mucus on them.

This mucus was often used in brewing Magic Potions, so residents of the Magic World would certainly be familiar with it.

So they would certainly know that the one arranging the stones...was a toad!

The House-Elf clutched the stone, glancing around, Lucius immediately shrank behind the shrubs, completely hiding himself.

Back then, Lucius deeply understood the loyalty of House-Elves, he would surely have walked out and ordered them to bring the mistress here.

But at this moment, he held his breath, his body trembling slightly, as if an invisible force pinned him to the spot, not daring to show himself.

After Dobby’s betrayal, looking at the intertwined scars new and old on those two House-Elves, their worn-out pillowcases, Lucius couldn’t help but wonder—

Faced with his transformation into a weak and powerless toad, would they really still obey his orders and treat him with goodwill and respect?

One House-Elf returned to the manor, while the other searched around.

Lucius couldn’t resist feeling hopeful—if they managed to bring Narcissa, perhaps it would show...

But he did not see Narcissa.

Just with a blink, nearly all the House-Elves in the manor rushed out. They gathered around the name on the ground, discussed briefly, then scattered, searching in all directions!

...

"Thud thud thud..."

A rapid footstep sounded, the surrounding ground seemed to tremble, Lucius Malfoy recalled the tension and fear when he was nearly found by the House-Elves.

—It was the moment in his life that felt closest to death!

The toad’s body trembled, waking from the memory, seeing an immense figure revealed from the shadows of the trees, towering, blocking out the sky and sun, terrifying!

His mind froze for two seconds before reluctantly recognizing the person running over was none other than Rubeus Hagrid!

"Vid, is that you?"

Hagrid’s thick beard was glistening with dew, holding an ax in his hand, explained: "I heard there was a student who ran into the Forbidden Forest, I thought it was those twins again. Merlin, they never have a day without mischief!"

"So?" Vid joked: "You’re going to chop them?"

"What? Oh, of course not! This is just for self-defense." Hagrid slid the ax into the belt on his back, gesturing for Vid to follow him back while saying: "You shouldn’t be in the Forbidden Forest, Vid! You know the school rules!"

"Sorry." Vid instinctively moved the cage with the toad behind him, casually finding an excuse: "I just felt...this place was suitable for thinking about the third event of the competition."

The league was currently the school’s top priority, using it as an excuse was like saying "this is part of the plan," easily gaining understanding.

However, Hagrid’s reaction was beyond Vid’s expectations, seeing this Half-Blood Giant’s eyes widen in shock, bushy eyebrows almost knotted, blurting out: "You—how did you know? Who leaked the content of the third event to you?"