Hogwarts Summoning Guide

The air inside Hagrid's hut was filled with a wonderful aroma, thanks to the many things Bai Lin had brought from the East. Among them, the most practical item was probably a Sichuan hot pot base cut into pieces. In Hagrid's words, it was "magical oriental spices; just a small piece can make the whole pot of meat taste delicious to the bone."

"Sigh, for the British, they only deserve a tiny bit of spice..." Bai Lin muttered, quite disdainful of Hagrid's behavior of only daring to put a small piece of base ingredient in a huge pot of water. Moreover, it is well known that British kitchens are a disaster zone, and Hagrid is not among the worst cooks.

"Professor? You... is this the latest trendy hairstyle?" Ron was puzzled when he saw Bai Lin's bald head as soon as he came in.

"I've gone bald, and I've become stronger!" Bai Lin said seriously, "This is the only way to become stronger... You'll understand slowly..." Ron nodded thoughtfully.

When Yuxi saw Bai Lin seriously lying to Ron, she almost burst out laughing. She quickly chuckled and invited the three little ones inside to warm up, since England is at a higher latitude and it's still quite cold in January.

Hagrid was startled to see Harry's haggard appearance and quickly helped him up. He seated him in the most comfortable large recliner in the hut and asked, "What happened? How did you get like this? Are you sick? Did you go to see Madam Pomfrey?"

Hearing Hagrid's four questions, Harry opened his mouth, but found himself at a loss for words.

“Harry’s been having nightmares lately,” Ron said, helping him out. “He can’t sleep well every night and has no appetite. We all think he’s under someone’s curse!” Ron was very serious, his face saying, “This is definitely a huge conspiracy.”

"Ron, I told you before, it's impossible for a wizard to pass through Hogwarts' magical barrier and curse a student! If that were possible, do you think Harry... I don't mean to offend you... you know..." Hermione chattered on, scoffing at Ron's "ancestral curse theory."

Hermione was clearly more rational; if a dark wizard could curse Harry from a distance, Harry might not survive the first book.

"What did you dream about?" Bai Lin was more interested in the content, thinking it was possible that Harry had also become an Awakened: "No matter how bizarre it was, tell me about it, maybe I can analyze it for you, I'm a dream interpretation master!"

"Is this a talent you've acquired through years of research?" Hermione muttered to herself.

"It's true! You have to believe Kerry. I was also plagued by nightmares before. Although the dreams seemed to be telling me some kind of message, I felt that I would be driven crazy by the nightmares before I figured out what they were!" Yuxi couldn't help but share her own experience.

Harry nodded, and Hagrid served him some mutton hotpot. He ate a few bites and found it a bit spicy, but his stomach felt warm and cozy, and he felt somewhat better.

"It's been almost ten days... I've had so many dreams... though they might sound absurd..." Harry stammered.

"You don't need to be so reserved. We are all the people who care about you the most. Even if you said that aliens are going to attack Earth, I would believe you!" Bai Lin encouraged.

"Ah, no matter how out of my mind I am... I would never say something as absurd as aliens attacking Earth..." Harry said seriously. Bai Lin, Youxi, and Hagrid exchanged helpless glances. It was precisely because the wizards' concept of "aliens" was so distant that they dared not easily announce the evil spirit Gracua to the public. Apart from being regarded as crazy, it would have no practical effect.

"My dreams are very chaotic... like they're connected, or like fragments of memories. I've had these kinds of dreams before, but not as often. In the dream, I became someone else... Tom... Riddle..." Harry stammered, observing everyone's reactions as he spoke.

"Riddle! The Dark Lord?... Ah, sorry Harry, I'm just a little surprised..." Hermione covered her mouth, feeling a little embarrassed when she saw that everyone didn't seem surprised.

Bai Lin gestured for Harry to relax. While eating hotpot, Harry did feel much more relaxed and recounted his dream in detail. Bai Lin then took out a piece of white paper to record it. Although the order was chaotic, Bai Lin easily found the pattern. Some fragments basically described the first half of Tom Riddle's life.

"This matches the diary we found!" Hermione and Ron exclaimed as they looked at Bai Lin's rearranged records. Although the diary had been destroyed, they had once read through its contents.

"The diary you mentioned should be Tom Riddle's student record. His later discoveries about his origins, his killing of his biological father's family, and his work at the Borginborough Dark Magic Shop are another part of your dream," Bai Lin said.

"Um, Professor, you seem to be very familiar with him... the Mystic?" Harry keenly noticed that Bai Lin didn't seem surprised by these fragments of dreams and easily sorted out the logic.

"He is our common enemy... I think these dreams themselves don't have much of an impact on you... You should be suffering from another illness... Survivor syndrome." Bai Lin said, "It means that people who survive disasters naturally develop a sense of guilt, feeling that so many people have sacrificed themselves, why did I survive, am I letting down the dead? Usually, the stronger a person's sense of morality, the stronger this feeling is."

Hermione walked up behind Harry, put her hand on his shoulder, and comforted him, saying, "That was all the work of the Mystic, it wasn't your fault!"

"His guilt stems from... he feels connected to that person, like he can speak Parsley, he's afraid he'll become that person one day..." Bai Lin said bluntly, "But I have to tell you, you are you, you can't become him. Let me explain why all this happened..."

Harry straightened up and listened attentively to Bai Lin's analysis.

"That guy, on that day," he pointed to the scar on Harry's forehead, "the protective spell that Harry's mother opened with her life unexpectedly reflected the Hawadais Killing Curse, shattering his own soul. A fragment of his soul then attached itself to the only living being in those ruins, Harry..."

Harry immediately tensed up. When he heard Bai Lin say that he had a piece of Voldemort's soul in him, he felt as disgusted as if he had eaten a dead rat.

"I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. If that person is destined to make a comeback, in order to defeat him and prevent him from harming more good people, your dreams can help us understand his actions. Because whether we like it or not, we can't avoid him unless we go to a foreign land and watch him do evil and kill people like flies..." Bai Lin said quietly.

Harry seemed to have made up his mind. He stood up and said firmly, "I will defeat him! I will never let him hurt innocent people again!"

Bai Lin clapped his hands and said, "Ha, that's right! I think the reason you've been having so many dreams lately is probably because that person has also noticed your soul connection. He would never sit idly by and let you pry into his secrets. You need to go to Dumbledore immediately and ask him to come up with a way to prevent that person from using this connection to access your memories!"

Hearing Bai Lin's suggestion, the three children exchanged glances. Harry hadn't dared to tell his teacher, or even Black, for fear of being seen as spoiled or making a fuss (this was related to his over ten years of foster care; he had always received negative responses when asking his aunt's for help). However, after Bai Lin's suggestion, they realized it was indeed a serious matter and they should report it to Dumbledore. In a way, Bai Lin had also advanced the plot ahead of time. Dumbledore would arrange for Snape to teach Harry the Mind Lock Charm, allowing Harry to peek into Snape's memories and learn about the love and hatred between Snape and his parents.

But before leaving, Harry turned back and said, "Um... there's another dream, I don't know if I should tell you..."

Bai Lin was taken aback, and Chao Harry nodded.

Harry said, "I dreamt of a giant octopus... much bigger than the giant octopus in the Black Lake... I couldn't see the end of it, it was like a moving island... Sigh... Maybe it was just a dream... How could there be such a big octopus in the world..." He chuckled to himself and turned to leave.

Bai Lin was startled. He vaguely thought of a possibility that sent chills down his spine.

The giant octopus Harry dreamed of was certainly not the little guy from the Black Lake, but most likely the enormous monster Gracua found near Antarctica—Zemuus. However, Gracua has been on Earth for over half a year, so there's no reason why Harry would only become an Awakened in the last few days. Therefore, the possibility is... that the Awakened isn't Harry, but Voldemort.

Having witnessed a series of events in the East, Bai Lin knew that if the Awakened were chosen by the gods to let humanity know the information of the Old Ones and thus form a force of resistance, then the gods certainly did not choose the Awakened based on humanity's sense of good and evil. They were either randomly selected, based on magical potential, or something even more mystical, based on some kind of spiritual reception ability. The gods released signals to humanity on a wide scale, but only those with the ability to receive them could receive them.

Bai Lin believes the third possibility is more likely. That's why the disabled painter, ordinary people like Kiki, and demons like Fujiwara Ichiura, whom he met in Italy, all became awakened. Similarly, it's not surprising that Voldemort also received the information. Furthermore, because of the soul connection between Harry and Voldemort, he obtained fragments of Voldemort's dream.

"If I were Voldemort... what would I do if I dreamed about Gracchus?" Bai Lin couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

In the afternoon, Hagrid also left mysteriously, and in the following days he intentionally or unintentionally avoided Bai Lin. It was probably because Dumbledore had spoken to Hagrid that he was not allowed to reveal the details of the second match that was being prepared for to Bai Lin.

"Do I need you to reveal anything?" Bai Lin muttered. On the balcony of the owl's room, he set up the tactical binoculars he had brought back from the East, and could see everything that was happening in the Black Lake.

As shown in the movie, the Ministry of Magic and the Hogwarts faculty erected three tall towers in the very center of the Black Lake for the convenience of the audience. There were several small platforms at the foot of the towers, so it seems that the original challenge has not been completely changed. However, Bai Lin believed that Barty would not be idle, but had prepared a trap for himself.

Bai Lin was engrossed in the story when suddenly a graceful figure lightly walked up the stairs. "Ha, Professor, you really were here!"

Bai Lin looked up and saw that it was Cho Chang, who was all smiles. Bai Lin remembered that Harry also found Cho Chang in the Owl House in the movie, so this might be her favorite place.

When Qiu Zhang saw Bai Lin's bald head, he couldn't help but laugh so hard he could hardly breathe. Bai Lin was both amused and annoyed, so he put his hands on his hips to let Qiu Zhang see for himself.

"Did you get locked up when you came back to China? I heard that criminals there have to have their heads shaved!" Qiu Zhang said, covering his mouth with his hand and laughing.

Bai Lin shrugged and said, "If you laugh again, you won't get the gift!"

"Stop laughing, stop laughing, give me the gift." Qiu Zhang's expression was a little coquettish as she quickly moved closer, feeling that if Bai Lin didn't take it out soon, she would do it herself.

"Here," Bai Lin took out a lucky bag from his magic pocket and handed it to Qiu Zhang. It was bought at a department store and contained snacks, handicrafts, and some small decorations with oriental characteristics. There was nothing of value inside, but Qiu Zhang was obviously very happy and looked like he loved it.

"Ha, I can use this to decorate my dorm room!" Qiu Zhang said happily, taking out two small lanterns and several paper-cut window decorations.

Bai Lin was immediately speechless. To be honest, he thought the bright red decorations were a bit too festive. But as long as Qiu Zhang liked them, that was fine. He also brought similar items to several other close students. The Hufflepuff students enjoyed a hot pot dinner. As the old saying goes, everyone should share the spoils.

As the competition progressed, Bai Lin also noticed the differences between the competition venue and the layout in the movie. Black Lake was divided into five areas by wooden stakes, some large and some small. However, Bai Lin could tell at a glance that each area was to be challenged by a warrior. He was sure to be in the largest area, where the large body of water could affect his search speed, and he could also bring in some dangerous creatures to create some "little surprises" for himself.

Suddenly, a question occurred to him: in the second match, each champion's most cherished "treasure" was stolen and became a hostage in the Black Lake (Bai Lin couldn't help but complain here, why was Harry's "treasure" Ron? Should we say Harry is unfortunate or Ron is unfortunate?). Fleur's hostage was her sister Gabrielle, Cedric's hostage was Cho Chang, and Krum's hostage was Hermione. These people should have volunteered to become hostages and were not actually in any danger. Otherwise, this would be too unreasonable. What did the champions' friends and family do to deserve this?

Bai Lin wondered who the Ministry of Magic would choose as its "treasure".