The impact of the Christmas ball was greater than expected, and even Felix was affected.
While he was eating breakfast, he noticed a fiery gaze. He looked up and saw that it was the warrior of Vagado, the witch named Nona Lebert. She stared at him with interest, but when Felix gently fed Sniff a piece of strawberry cake, the fiery gaze disappeared from him.
The corridor was full of chattering girls. They wandered in the corridor in groups. Whenever a good-looking boy passed by, they would hold their breath and look at him with expectant eyes.
Of course, they might have made a mistake. So many people should not gather together. Although companions can increase one's courage, they will also reduce the confidence of the other party accordingly. Felix has seen more than once that the eager wizard retreated in front of a group of girls.
"It's quite interesting." He thought to himself.
In the Magic Rune Club, Felix sat lazily on the sofa, and the members of the club sat around him in twos and threes.
"Today is the last activity of this semester. The next time we gather you together will be after Christmas. The specific time has not been determined yet. Keep an eye on your Ouroboros ring... Let's get back to the point. I don't ask much of you. Follow the progress of the last activity and continue to deepen your control over the runes."
Felix waved his arm, and a metal cage covered with dark tarpaulin flew out from the corner of the room. An irritating buzzing sound came from inside.
All the students pursed their lips and looked at the cage with complicated eyes. They knew what was inside.
"Oh, by the way, the old rule - if you get stung, the potion is on the table." Felix said, and seven or eight bottles of bright blue potion flew out of the ring and landed on the small round table in the room.
The members of the club skillfully took out thick leather gloves, lined up in front of the cage one by one, and resignedly put their hands in. With a tooth-grinding "chirp", Draco Malfoy grabbed a half-inch long blue worm from the cage.
"I hate Billywig worms." He whispered. While still wearing the gloves, he flicked it a few times with his other hand. The Billywig's jade-like body kept twisting, and a thin stinger at the bottom kept piercing the gloves.
"Maybe I should remove your stinger so that you won't sting me." Draco whispered in a threatening tone, "Maybe it would be a good idea to throw it in someone's collar."
Harry immediately looked back at him warily, and Draco laughed silently.
After a while, everyone got a Billywig. Harry stared at the one in his hand, always feeling that it was more active than the others, until he saw Ron quietly cast a "Petrify All".
Is it still possible? Harry's eyes widened, and he immediately wanted to copy Ron's approach. But the next second, the spell was lifted, "I'm watching, Weasley." The professor's voice slowly reached their ears.
Many students who had prepared in advance showed regretful expressions, and Fred and George put away a pair of tweezers.
Hermione snorted, expressing her dissatisfaction with their opportunistic behavior. She sat next to Ginny and Luna. Luna was in the third grade this year. She submitted her application in the first month of school and passed the assessment successfully.
After her, the number of club members increased by five.
Hermione demonstrated to Ginny and Luna in a low voice. Her fingertips were rippling with light blue magic, surrounding the Billywig worm layer by layer, like a blue and shiny cocoon, confining it in a very small area.
"Look, wrap it with magic first, then take off the gloves. It's more convenient to use two hands... Ginny, I need your help." Ginny
helped her take off the gloves, and then Hermione's two hands kept moving in the air.
The wings of the Billywig worm grew on both sides of its head, flapping very fast, but at this moment it could only be trapped in the planned space in vain.
"Like this, and then increase the distance little by little, you have to make sure you can do this."
Hermione said to Ginny and Luna. Opposite her sat the Greengrass sisters, staring at her with wide eyes. The sisters had the same posture - the gloved hand holding the Billywig worm, with burning eyes and bulging mouths.
On the other side, Harry fiddled with his worm resignedly. He was not as good at magic control as Hermione. According to the professor, she had reached the second stage and could control the Billywig worm at will within a range of one foot. He himself, as well as most people in the club, had to lock it tightly with magic, because if they were careless, it would fly away quickly.
What followed was a nightmare... Harry didn't want to recall the last assembly. In fact, he did a good job, but when you are surrounded by dangers, whether you will be stung or not is not up to you.
According to his observation, after that, the club members from Gryffindor College seemed to have lost interest in "Fizz Bee Candy" because this candy reminded them of their own painful experience of being stung.
Harry carefully and attentively controlled the magic power. He felt that he was in good condition today, so he tried to relax the control and expand the magic net around the Billywig worm. The insect fluttered its wings, and he was startled. He quickly retracted the magic power, and the insect's legs immediately straightened.
It was still alive. This was his conclusion after repeated confirmation. Harry looked around guiltily and was satisfied to see that Malfoy's wing became wrinkled. At Professor Happ's reminder, Malfoy had to recite the healing spell on it.
The next time passed quickly, and even Malfoy and Ron's screams of pain did not affect him.
Near the end of the assembly, Harry successfully expanded the range of Billywig's activities. He watched it flap its wings, but it couldn't fly more than half a foot away, and nodded with satisfaction.
Others in the class also made progress.
Harry discovered a secret. Professor Happ always explains the benefits of doing something before asking them to do it. Taking the recent gatherings as an example, everyone was moved by the beautiful picture he described: "casting spells without a wand, controlling magic at will, learning spells and mastering them in a short time."
Especially when they saw Professor Hepp sitting on the sofa, but being able to control any fast-flying Billywig worm in the house, they had to believe the truth of his words.
After the gathering, the young wizards filed out.
Hermione stayed to help clean up the bottles and jars they left. "Oh, it looks a bit pitiful..." She said to a Billywig worm that had lost its wings.
"This is the most suitable teaching prop I can find, Miss Granger, and they are also a kind of potion material... I heard that you are still maintaining the rights promotion association for house elves?"
Hermione nodded. She hesitated for a moment and said in confusion: "I don't know whether to continue. The house elves don't seem to need my help, and Harry and Ron are not interested in it..."
Felix understood this.
"I know you can't stand the way wizards treat house-elves and think they are being abused, so I suggested that you investigate first, and now it seems to be working well - in the past you could only see the unfair treatment they received as a whole, and projected this feeling onto each individual elf, so you naturally ran into obstacles everywhere.
There is a saying that you can only understand if you have experienced it yourself, Miss Granger, you must first realize that you are facing a race, a group, and the demands of different individuals in the group are often very different.
You must first determine who your obstacle is."
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You mean...pure blood?"
Felix laughed softly. "I didn't say anything, Miss Granger. I read your report, it's very detailed, and even mentioned the goblins of Ilvermorny... You know yourself that the house-elves at Hogwarts live a good life. Those tragic experiences often come from certain special groups, and with your current influence, I'm sorry to say that there is really limited what you can do."
"But," Hermione thought slowly, and her thoughts gradually became clear. "I know what to do. I want to--"
"No, don't say it out loud, it won't work if you say it out loud. Keep it in your heart and remind yourself all the time, so that you will have the motivation to move forward." Felix blinked at her and said.
"Oh, professor..."
Hermione laughed. She seemed to have solved a problem that had troubled her for a long time, and the whole person felt relieved. But she was also more motivated.
"Have you solved the secret of the second project?"
"Not yet," Hermione shook her head. "Actually, I have designed a way to analyze the golden egg, but I'm worried that it will be damaged, so I plan to wait for a while." Felix nodded
slightly.
"By the way, professor, will you attend the ball?" Hermione asked.
"Maybe I'll show up, eat something or something." Felix said uncertainly, while directing the cage to be put in the corner: "I'm not very good at dancing."
"It is said that there will be a new song by the Weird Sisters at the dance! Don't you want to try it?"
"I know, I've heard it in advance. Do I need to give you an album?"
"Uh... No." Hermione said disappointedly.
...
"WWN?" Harry asked in confusion.
"It's the wizard radio. You should have heard of magic radio?" Seamus looked at Harry uncertainly, and when he nodded, Seamus continued to introduce: "That's it, similar to the Muggle radio, but if you listen to it for a while, you will find that the songs in it are always nostalgic..." "
New songs are hard to find." He finally said with emotion. Everyone else stared at him, and he smiled and explained: "My mother said so."
"Yes, after several years, the Weird Sisters finally released a new song... I bet my mother will be very happy." Ron said affirmatively. In
the last week of the semester, the school was getting more and more lively.
The little wizards put almost all their enthusiasm on the upcoming Christmas dance. Because the students were absent-minded, Felix simply skipped the class. The progress of the Ancient Magic class was much faster than other subjects, especially the fifth and seventh grades, who had already started reviewing.
He moved his small projector to the Ancient Magic classroom and played movies for the students.
"Professor Hepp, I heard something from other grades... We don't want to watch dinosaurs, or little boys alone at home playing tricks on stupid thieves. Are there any romantic movies?" Lavender Brown said boldly.
"Romantic?" Felix repeated. Finding that all the girls had the courage to look at him, Seamus wanted to say that he would rather see what the Muggles imagined dragons to look like, but Patil was looking at him fiercely, so he had to shut up.
"Okay," Felix agreed, and he picked and chose in the ring, "There should be one that can meet your needs, probably..."
The thick curtains in the classroom were drawn, the light became dim, and with the creaking sound of the machine, the movie began.
This is an animation, and it starts with a beautiful natural landscape, green grass and red flowers, waterfalls and streams, and a beautiful castle standing deep in the dense forest. The students who saw the movie for the first time started to chatter about it -
"Animated comic strips? I like the new one from LCA, has anyone seen it?"
"I think it should be a Muggle movie, the professor mentioned it before."
"Huh? How did they make the pictures move? Has anyone taken Professor Bubbage's class?"
"Oh, don't mention it, I don't want to discuss disgusting flies and peas... To be honest, I think her research has gone astray, and I will definitely not continue to choose it next year."
As the narration of the movie began, they gradually quieted down and were attracted by the fascinating story.
"A long time ago, in a distant and magnificent castle, there lived a young prince-"
"Hey, prince!" a witch shouted.
"Shut up, Lavender."
"--He has everything his heart desires, but the prince is spoiled, selfish and ruthless. On a cold winter night, an ugly old woman came to the castle and wanted to exchange a bouquet of roses for a place to live... But the cold-hearted prince didn't want her to defile his gorgeous and exquisite castle. The old woman advised the prince not to be blinded by appearance, because beauty is hidden deep in the heart.
But the prince was unmoved...
...
So, the witch turned the prince into a terrible beast, and the roses she had presented before were also cast with magic. If he could learn to love someone and get her love before the last petal fell, the spell would be lifted. Otherwise, he would be destined to become a beast forever...
The prince fell into deep despair. Who would fall in love with a beast?"
The students were stunned. What kind of powerful wizard was this who actually possessed such terrible magic.
However, they have realized that this is not a real thing, but something they imagined, and it was made up by Muggles who can't do magic, so some common sense mistakes are inevitable...
As the story goes deeper, they are completely attracted by the plot of the movie. Even the boys who were indignant and clamoring to see dinosaurs before couldn't help but worry about the characters in the movie.
"That man named 'Gaston' is so bad!"
"If only a dark wizard passed by at this time-"
"What are you thinking about?"
"Bell is so kind..."
The movie came to an end with a gorgeous dance party, and the students were still not satisfied. Felix smiled and said to them, "Okay, this class is delayed for a few minutes. You'd better hurry up and go to the hall to eat."
The students filed out and excitedly discussed the plot in the corridor.
The boys focused more on discussing whether the magic in the story could be realized. "I don't think that after turning people into teacups, they can still talk and move. This is unreasonable!" Ron said.
"Hey, man, maybe the professors can do it?" Seamus argued.
"It's just a movie." Dean said. He grew up in a Muggle family and was the one who could best understand what the movie wanted to express.
"No, this violates the rules of transfiguration," Ron blushed. He hesitated for a long time and found it difficult to remember the corresponding knowledge points, so he looked to the side, "What do you say, Hermione?"
"I'm busy!" Hermione said. She didn't walk with Harry and the others, but walked to the hall with the girls and discussed quickly.
"What evil has she been possessed by?" Ron asked in confusion.
Harry shrugged, "Maybe she really likes this movie."
"You also think that the magic in the movie is impossible, right?" Ron asked him.
Harry thought of the nose-biting teacups sold in Zonko's shop and the magic puppets that rehearsed operas in classroom 7. He was a little unsure, but in order to take care of Ron's feelings, he nodded reluctantly.
In the evening, they returned to the common room from the library-much earlier than usual, but there was no way. In order to celebrate the completion of the first book on alchemy, Ron and Harry played a thrilling game of wizard chess. Ron used two majestic pawns to force Harry into a dead end. Harry's white king had the crown on his head in his hand and was ready to throw it out at any time.
"Your chess skills have regressed." Ron said.
Harry did not respond. He stared at the chessboard intently, hoping for a miracle. As a result, a miracle really happened. Because Ron's chess pieces made too much noise when beating Harry's bishop, the three of them were driven out by the librarian Madam Pince.
...
They opened the door to the common room and found that even the Fat Lady had changed as Christmas approached. She changed into a new set of clothes. "Want to dance, warriors?" she asked drunkenly, holding a box of chocolates with liqueur fillings.
"I can recommend a partner for you," Ron muttered, and when they went in, he whispered, "His name is Barnabas, and he's a ballet teacher."