Another month passed in the blink of an eye.
The school remained as peaceful as ever; nothing major happened, except for Peeves' daily antics of outsmarting students.
Luke, Gandalf, and Galadriel also appeared relaxed on the surface, but secretly remained vigilant.
After two months since the start of the school year, they still hadn't found the lurking individual, which naturally frustrated Luke.
How can one always be on guard against a thief, when a thief only needs to strike once?
Luke naturally couldn't allow the hidden individual to act recklessly under his nose; what else could this be but a provocation?
He could even imagine the hidden person mockingly watching their fruitless search.
Two months, and even with him, Galadriel, and Gandalf working together, they still couldn't find this hidden individual.
This only indicated that the lurking person was very difficult to deal with.
So Luke could only seek other methods to quickly uncover the hidden person.
Otherwise, if the hidden person truly caused trouble, especially with over two hundred students in the school, any harm to a student would be an irreversible consequence!
Therefore, Luke coincidentally thought of the Marauder's Map.
The Marauder's Map was a magical map created by Harry Potter's father, James Potter, and his friends, which detailed the map of Hogwarts Castle and could display the names of every person and ghost in the castle in real-time on the map.
Even a powerful individual like Dumbledore couldn't hide his name on the Marauder's Map.
This was enough to show the power of this magical map.
Luke didn't know the exact method for creating the Marauder's Map, but with his current alchemy and magic skills, it wouldn't be difficult to create one.
After all, James Potter and the other three Marauders were only in their fourth or fifth year when they created the Marauder's Map, so the magical skill required for its creation wasn't high.
With Luke's current magical skill, creating the Marauder's Map would take at most half a month.
The most tedious step in creating the Marauder's Map was drawing a complete and detailed blueprint of the castle, without overlooking a single room or corridor.
The four Marauders spent a full half-year drawing the complete map of Hogwarts Castle.
However, Luke didn't need to go through such trouble; when he invited the dwarves to build the castle, Balin the dwarf had left behind the castle's design blueprints.
So he skipped the step of surveying the castle and, on a dragon hide, used special indelible ink to draw a complete map of the entire castle, including Weathertop and a part of the Black Lake.
But just as he was making the Marauder's Map, the hidden person seemed unwilling to give him this chance, finally making a move after two months of lurking.
Eriador in November had already welcomed the cold north wind.
The Black Lake below the mountain had already formed a thin layer of ice, reflecting light under the winter sun.
The residents of Hogsmeade had already put on thick clothes and were unwilling to go out unless necessary, only wanting to huddle by the fireplace to warm themselves.
However, Hogwarts Castle on the mountain was completely different from below.
While snow and wind had arrived below, the mountain remained warm as spring and full of life.
The golden maolong tree and the silver white tree emitted a warm glow, the wide lawns were still lush green, the flowers in the garden were still blooming, scattering a sweet fragrance.
Even the mountain forests outside the castle were full of green trees, showing no signs of wilting.
This unusual scene, in addition to the vitality brought by the white tree and the maolong tree, was also inseparable from the influence of Galadriel and Gandalf.
As holders of narya, the Ring of Fire, and Nenya, the Ring of Water, their presence in Hogwarts meant that the surrounding environment was affected by the Elven Rings; time throughout Weathertop seemed to be suspended, or rather, extremely slowed down.
So while other places had already entered winter, Weathertop remained like spring all year round, full of life.
In this warm and comfortable environment, the castle welcomed another Quidditch match.
Almost all students and Professors gathered at the Quidditch Pitch to watch the Phoenix House versus Basilisk House match.
Only Luke remained in his office, making the Marauder's Map alone.
But soon, hurried footsteps were heard, followed by a knock on the door.
"Come in," Luke called out, looking up.
"Headmaster, something has happened!" Professor Edward said anxiously as soon as he entered.
Seeing Edward's appearance, Luke's expression tightened: "What happened?"
"During the Quidditch match just now, several broomsticks of the Phoenix House team suddenly malfunctioned and disintegrated in mid-air, causing several Quidditch players riding the brooms to fall from a great height. If Professor Gandalf hadn't reacted quickly to save them, they would have likely met with misfortune!"
Hearing this, Luke's face darkened.
"What exactly is the situation? Why did the brooms disintegrate? Who did it? Have you found out?"
Professor Edward shook his head, "There was no result when I came to find you. Professor Gandalf and Lady Galadriel asked me to come get you."
"Then let's go!" Luke stood up immediately, without hesitation, and left the office with Edward.
When the two arrived at the Quidditch Pitch, the students who had been watching the match had already been sent back to the castle by the Professors.
Only Gandalf, Lady Galadriel, Potions Professor and dean of Basilisk House, Elensys, and a Basilisk House student dressed in Quidditch player attire remained at the scene.
Gandalf and Galadriel both looked solemn, while Professor Elensys had a grim expression.
As for the Basilisk House student, he was constantly sobbing, his face full of fear and unease.
Luke glanced at the Basilisk House student; he remembered this was a first-year new student, one of the three Southern Dúnedain from Gondor.
"Gandalf, Lady Galadriel, what exactly happened? Have you found out who sabotaged the brooms?" Luke asked the two directly.
Gandalf nodded solemnly, his gaze falling on the sobbing student.
"Thanks to Lady Galadriel, at the very first moment of the incident, she found the person who acted. It was this student, Angmar.
According to him, before the match, he secretly snuck into the Phoenix House broom closet and used Alohomora to damage the internal structure of the brooms, causing them to disintegrate in the air."
Hearing Gandalf's words, Luke immediately refocused his gaze on the Basilisk House student.
"Mr. Angmar, can you explain your reason for doing this? Why would you deliberately damage the brooms? Do you know that doing so could kill your classmates?"
Previously, when he was secretly investigating the lurker, he had particularly observed these students.
In his impression, this Angmar from Gondor was from a fallen noble family, with a shy and introverted personality. Although he had ambitions to become stronger, he wouldn't go so far as to commit such a heinous act that could kill his classmates.
Facing Luke's questioning, Angmar trembled, tears streaming down his face, his eyes full of fear, regret, and unease.
"Sob... headmaster, please don't expel me! I don't know why I did it, but there was a voice in my head constantly telling me to destroy the Phoenix House brooms, and then we would win and get the Quidditch Cup... Sob, I didn't want to do it, but I couldn't control myself at all..."