Hogwarts: Even Voldemort Can't Stop Me From Studying

Chapter 291: Chapter 170: Scarlet

How fast can a Peregrine Falcon fly?

Normally, the flight speed can reach 140 kilometers per hour, and during a dive, it can exceed 300 kilometers per hour.

Vid was realizing the speed after his transformation for the first time.

High above, the gale was howling, tearing clouds were quickly left behind, and a hawk seemed to be targeting this peregrine falcon. However, after following for a while, it eventually gave up on its own.

On the parchment, black spots were still moving.

Vid glanced aside from time to time, adjusting his direction to avoid flying the wrong way.

The black spots on this parchment represented Peter Pettigrew’s location.

Initially, when capturing Peter, Vid attached a positioning parchment to him before he was taken away.

After all, that guy was an escape expert. To prevent the original story from repeating, Vid made a good preparation.

The parchment was shrunk with a spell and looked not much bigger than a piece of dandruff, so Vid wasn’t worried about it being discovered.

However, he couldn’t use a permanent sticky spell on a person without being detected, so if Peter Pettigrew took a bath, the parchment would likely be washed away.

Fortunately, at no point during his trial at Wizengamot Court or in Azkaban did they provide the criminal with such amenities.

That tiny piece of parchment has remained up to now.

Vid wasn’t surprised by Peter Pettigrew’s jailbreak.

Despite the Ministry of Magic claiming they had enough measures to deal with animagus wizards, ensuring they wouldn’t escape, the size of a rat was simply too small, possessing strong skills in gnawing and digging, making it difficult to be completely foolproof.

Vid initially thought Peter Pettigrew would escape from prison quickly, but surprisingly, he stayed in there for almost a year.

Did he only recently find an opportunity to escape?

Or did Peter Pettigrew do something during that year?

Vid felt a bit uneasy, flapping his wings to fly even faster.

Beneath the peregrine falcon was the endless sea.

The functionality of the positioning parchment was quite limited; it couldn’t show environmental changes like the Marauder’s Map, nor could it display paths and distances like Muggle maps; Vid could only confirm the direction Peter was in relation to him.

After flying for a while, Vid suddenly realized Peter Pettigrew had shifted from the north side to the south, knowing he had overshot.

Immediately, Vid traced an arc in the air, turning around, slowing his speed, and searching carefully.

The peregrine falcon’s vision was eight times better than a human’s, capable of seeing prey more than a kilometer away. But to spot a tiny gray rat, Vid needed to descend lower.

He searched back and forth with no sign of a bald man frantically swimming or a little mouse, only a Muggle fishing boat on the sea.

Expectably, Peter Pettigrew was likely aboard this vessel.

That guy was much more cunning than Sirius... when Sirius escaped in the original plot, he relied solely on dog-paddling, arduously swimming across the North Sea to land.

Vid gained height, continuing to fly alongside the fishing boat for a while.

The men onboard were resting, all leisurely. Some were smoking and reading inside, others were sleeping, with just one man tidying up fishing nets on the deck.

Shortly after, someone came out carrying a large basin. He called out briefly, and the others sat directly on the deck to start eating.

Just then, a rat scurried out from somewhere, stealthily surveyed the surroundings, scurried into the kitchen along the wall, and transformed into a short man with a leap.

Peter Pettigrew was well experienced in stealing food.

Back when he was hiding in the Weasley Family, he could only get a small amount of grains or leftover biscuits each day, depending on stealing, Peter managed not to starve.

Now, without sparing a glance at several sandwiches left on the table nor touching a basin of freshly-cut carrots,

Peter jumped directly to the corner, grabbed some raw vegetables and fruits, stuffing them into his arms, then rummaged through cabinets to find the sugar jar, threw a handful into his mouth, stole a handful of salt, and grabbed two chocolate bars and a strip of salted jerky.

He was stealing what there was an abundance of on the ship, making adjustments afterward to make it look untouched.

However, on the sea, water was more important than food.

Peter directly stole a bucket of clean water, holding it in his arms, as he snuck out while everyone on the ship was busy eating.

With one foot out the door and the other in the kitchen, calculations of how long the food could last crossed Peter’s mind, but his sixth sense suddenly began wildly alerting him.

The man’s watery eyes widened instantly; he instinctively began to step back, but the body beneath the neck didn’t follow the head’s direction.

Soon after, even his head wouldn’t move, only his eyes could still rotate.

—An immobilization spell? Who found him? Or were those two guys...

Before Peter Pettigrew’s thoughts rolled to completion, he noticed his clothes lift up, and they pulled him too, steadily drifting him towards the ship’s side.

—No, no, no...

Panic-ridden screams filled Peter’s mind as his survival instincts nearly pierced through the magical constraints, blazing from his eyes! He tried to turn his eyeballs backwards with all his might, seemingly trying to see something.

”Sploosh!”

The immobilized person was weighty as a stone, the seawater engulfed him with a profound gurgle, forming a tiny whirlpool, swiftly shattered by the waves stirred by the fishing boat’s engine.

Vid, standing above the control room, remained vigilant, casting a Bubble Head Charm before diving into the sea.

”Sploosh!”

A fisherman on the deck, eating, suddenly lifted his head, tilting it to listen for a moment, then asked others: ”Did any of you hear a splash in the water?”

”Perhaps a dolphin or swordfish?”

The others also heard but didn’t pay much attention, smilingly said: ”There’s no way a person fell in... there’s nobody else on this ship.”

”—True.” That person relaxed, resuming his meal.

Beneath the surface, with a Bubble Head Charm, Vid finally saw Peter Pettigrew.

The immobilization spell had worn off; the man was furiously swimming upwards. Upon seeing Vid emerge in the water, terror immediately surfaced in his expression, blending with pleading and hostility in his eyes.

Vid, without hesitation, cast spells in rapid succession, with spells’ glows raining down ahead—

[Speedy Imprisonment! Petrificus Totalus! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Defodio! Confringo!]

Peter Pettigrew transformed into a rat with surprising speed, dodging the first three spells, but he got hit by the fourth spell, then the fifth and sixth...

Scarlet blood gradually spread in the sea.

Not far away, a shark pivoted, swimming toward the area.