Chapter 632: A New Beginning, Seventeen Magic Runes

When Harry walked out, his head was still dizzy, as if his consciousness was still in Professor Bagshot's office. They sat on the soft sofa cushions, reflecting the red, swaying fire in the fireplace, and talked about their views on magic.

Professor Bagshot's theoretical knowledge is very profound. It covers everything, but it doesn't seem too verbose, and he can always use some exquisite demonstrations to clearly show his personal ideas. In comparison, Harry felt that he was slurring his words and his mind was a mess.

This idea made him feel depressed, because he had taught many students spells in the front-line lookout club.

Harry couldn't help but compare the professors he met in this course.

In the first and second years, he met Quirrell and Lockhart, but he didn't learn much useful knowledge from these two people.

Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort at the time, and he might have been planning how to seize the Philosopher's Stone all day long, and he was not in the mood to teach. Because it is said that his theoretical knowledge is quite solid, which is somewhat credible. Harry has experienced the curse that Quirrell cast on his broomstick; of course, it may also be that Quirrell's mind has been corrupted, as evidenced by the fact that he always speaks incoherently and nervously in class.

When Harry first knew that he was a Horcrux, he was suspicious for a while, suspecting that he would grow a face like Quirrell's on the back of his head.

And the other one - Lockhart - is useless except for the Oblivion Charm, and is currently suffering in Azkaban. However, Harry has to admit that if he must compare the excitement in class, Lockhart is definitely better, because he is not stuttering, but is passionate and full of emotions when reading the text and performing without props, which alone is much better than Quirrell, who can't even speak fluently.

Harry thought impartially that when he was not using himself as a prop to play some mentally abnormal roles, watching Lockhart jumping up and down was quite stress-relieving.

Harry's real Defense Against the Dark Arts education should have started with Professor Damocles Belby (if you don't count the dueling club).

Professor Belby is a potion master who developed the wolfsbane potion. To some extent, his choice is the opposite of Snape's. However, Professor Belby himself said that he was here to fill a vacancy temporarily, but Harry still felt that his series of defense courses around the Forbidden Forest were very useful.

In the third year, the students welcomed Professor Lupin. I don't know if there was any additional subjective emotion, but Harry thought this was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts professor he had ever met. Remus had a gentle personality and a friendly attitude towards students. Moreover, because of his hidden werewolf identity, Lupin had come into contact with and solved many difficult dark creatures and evil magic. "I am part of them." Lupin once said bitterly, and Harry strongly opposed this idea. The reason is that many students still miss him very much - they were in the fourth year at that time, and they were tortured by Moody's teaching methods, and "Professor Hepp may have saved a lot of advertising fees by inviting you over!"

Harry's feelings towards Professor Moody were also complicated, because he knew that his admiration and yearning for the legendary Auror was actually partly disguised by the Death Eater Crouch Jr., but he decided not to get stuck in a rut, after all, he learned a lot about how to deal with dark wizards, and he was absolutely reliable.

The professor of this course last year was Sirius (in the most recent contact, Sirius said that he saw Rita Skeeter reporting on mad cow disease on Muggle TV). Harry guessed that Sirius should also have special tasks as a professor - such as training students to deal with emergencies and actual combat under the threat of the shadow of war. Students of the same grade as Harry generally felt at ease in the OWLs practical exams.

As for Professor Bagshot - Harry's heart sank, probably because he was once a saint, he had a lot of hostility towards Muggles, or, in other words, "different treatment". Harry thought of the speech he had seen today. It was obvious that Grindelwald believed that wizards and Muggles were two different groups, and the two were in competition.

But there is a Statute of Secrecy, right?

A voice in Harry's mind asked himself, what if the Statute of Secrecy fails? He could not think of a solution at all, which made his heart heavy. A sudden cold wind rolled snowflakes and hit his face. Harry raised his eyes and found that the window in the corridor was not closed.

He walked forward, some tiny ice crystals stuck to the window frame, and his fingers were freezing cold. He knew that winter was coming-"What are you doing?" Filch suddenly appeared, holding a glowing wand in his hand.

"Close the window." Harry said.

"The lights are about to go out, and you are still wandering around the castle. I suspect..." Filch said in a cold and threatening tone. Mrs. Norris hid under the shadow of her master and rubbed Filch's trouser legs comfortably.

"So it's not curfew yet?" Harry said loudly, "Thanks for reminding me!" He strode away, and behind him came Filch's panting voice, and then he heard Filch mutter a spell in a low voice, and the window slammed shut.

Some relationships are difficult to improve. Harry thought as he climbed the stairs. He thought of Draco Malfoy. They were destined to be difficult to be friends. There were too many grievances in front of them, unless there were force majeure factors that forced them together-such as group training in class.

When Harry thought that in another two years, the two of them might not have any contact for the rest of their lives after graduation, he couldn't help but feel a little melancholy. In his heart, Hogwarts was the first place he felt like home.

The next day, at the dining table in the Great Hall.

"So, Professor Bagshot didn't punish you at all, and discussed magic with you?" Ron's tone seemed a little jealous.

"Yes." Harry said, and he took the opportunity to drink porridge to tell Ron and Hermione about his experience last night (but omitted the part about the saint).

"He's not that unkind," Ron said, smacking his lips. His attitude towards Professor Bagshot was much better. Even Hermione was slightly surprised. "But why did he give you detention?"

"My thesis does have a lot of problems," Harry shrugged.

He didn't expect himself to make excuses for Professor Bagshot, but he really didn't want to expose the fact that the professor was once a saint. That's all in the past, isn't it? Publicizing it would only put Professor Bagshot in an awkward position. He thought of Remus's werewolf identity. When Remus confessed to them, he submitted his resignation not long after.

"By the way, Hermione," Harry asked casually, "How much do you know about Grindelwald?"

Although he had tried to downplay it as much as possible, Hermione still took a breath, "Why did you suddenly think of asking this?" "Uh, because... I was eating chocolate frogs in Professor Bagshot's office yesterday-" "He also treated you to snacks?" Ron interrupted. "-Yes, I drew a Dumbledore card. You know, we know Nick Flamel, but we know very little about Grindelwald's past."

Hermione frowned slightly, as if thinking seriously.

"Harry, there is very little research material on Grindelwald. Oh, it's not that there is no research material on him. What I mean is that there is very little information about him, his childhood, his upbringing, etc. He seems to have become a well-known figure all of a sudden, inciting riots everywhere, disrupting local order, and creating all kinds of sensational violent incidents. These are all recorded in books such as "Modern Magic History", "The Rise and Fall of Dark Magic", and "Important Magical Events in the 20th Century"... "

Hermione talked nonstop, but when she saw Harry's expression, she stopped.

"What's wrong?" She asked anxiously.

"Are there any records of his speeches?" Harry asked softly, trying to make the direction of his words not so obvious, as if it was just a momentary curiosity. "I think he should be a very charming person. After all, he can gather such a large wizard army..."

Hermione shook her head and whispered, "I don't know."

"So we only know that he is a powerful dark wizard, very inflammatory, and - he uses the symbol of the Deathly Hallows as his symbol." Ron concluded, "It sounds like a tough opponent, fortunately he was defeated by Dumbledore."

After that, he continued to deal with the fried eggs and sausages on his plate, obviously not taking it to heart. Harry didn't want to attract attention, so in the next two days, he just took the opportunity to look up reference books, stood by the bookshelf in the library, and quickly browsed through the books mentioned by Hermione.

From the point of view of the book, Grindelwald is a bad person and an enemy who destroys the cornerstone of the stability of the wizarding world.

On Thursday evening, Harry accidentally saw Luna walking through the venue, dressed in a trendy way. He suddenly realized that it was almost the weekend and he hadn't given Luna a reply. Ron and Hermione held opposite attitudes on this matter.

"Why should we go to the stinking sewer?" Ron's face wrinkled, "Not to mention we have to go into the girls' bathroom - I don't want to deal with Myrtle anymore."

"You don't have to go." Hermione said.

"Leave Ginny alone? Mum will kill me if she knows." Ron shouted.

Yes, the content of their discussion has changed. It is not whether to teach Luna the Parseltongue, but whether to take time to accompany them to search the Chamber of Secrets. Harry didn't want to go from the bottom of his heart, because this adventure was doomed to fail, and the real Resurrection Stone was on Dumbledore's hand!

"…You don't know how much training you've been doing lately. Perks and Gutter privately call you a tyrant," Ron said to Harry, who was dumbfounded. "Yeah," Ron nodded in understanding. "Luckily Katie Bell told them how Wood tortured the players when he was still here. Compared to him, you're pretty good."

"Maybe I should increase the training volume a bit more, so they won't have time to talk about it," Harry said through gritted teeth.

Ron shrank his neck.

"Let's find a night and go back quickly," Harry said with determination. Hermione raised her eyebrows, "If I understand correctly, you want to go out at night--" "Yeah," Harry said with a 'you finally know' expression, "Anyway, it's not the first time, so it doesn't matter this time. I can't delay the two-day Quidditch training on the weekend," he emphasized.

"I think it's fine," Ron said. "I don't want to sneak into the girls' bathroom during the day. I'm a prefect now. If something goes wrong, it will be a big deal."

Harry also thought about the possibility of being discovered by Mafalda and her bees (some people call the little wizards who work part-time in the "Puzzle Wall" tabloid). A sensational headline suddenly came to his mind, 'The Weird Habits of Gryffindor Prefects and Team Captains'. He felt cold all over and his thoughts became more determined.

"Tomorrow night!"

Harry told Ginny the news later. The next day during breakfast, Luna ran over happily to thank him, and almost let it slip, which scared Harry to use the Sticky Jaw Curse. Luna puffed her mouth and stammered and was pulled away by Ginny.

After breakfast, they went to the Ancient Runes class, which has now entered a new stage.

"The progress is a little faster than I expected," Felix said, "It may be related to several large-scale detentions..." The students below stared at the professor. "...We are learning new content today."

He suddenly stopped talking and looked around the classroom. "Who didn't come to class?"

The students began to look around, and Pansy Parkinson raised her hand.

"Professor, Daphne asked for leave and is now in the school hospital."

"What's the reason?"

"It is said that scurvy powder was mistaken for parsley powder and added to the food by mistake, causing symptoms of mild encephalitis." Pansy said. She and Blaise Zabini sat together, and the two behaved intimately.

"It's just a headache, a slight disturbance of consciousness..." Felix said, Pansy was a little stunned, why did he describe the symptoms again?

"Is that so?"

"Yes, yes."

But there are more reasons for this symptom than just taking scurvy by mistake. Felix thought, it may also be due to the confusion spell and the forgetfulness spell.

What a coincidence.

Generally speaking, the sequelae of the Confusion Curse are very mild. If it only interferes with the sanity of the cursed person for one or two seconds, it may not even cause any reaction. However, if the person is under the control of the curse for a long time, such as old Crouch, who was affected by the Confusion Curse and the Imperius Curse for a long time, he finally lost consciousness and had to receive professional treatment.

A figure emerged in Felix's mind, the saint who followed Grindelwald's trail, Nicole Noel. Felix previously suspected that she might be the real owner of the house-elf Bundy, so he did not doubt that she could contact Grindelwald, but now it seems that she should have used Daphne Greengrass to pass on the message.

Whether this is the case, we will know after class when we go to the school hospital.

This also reminds Felix that the saints are not harmless little white rabbits. They used to be well-organized and clearly divided, which is far from being measured by the dimension of "force". The same thought came to Harry's mind. He even knew more than Felix - he had seen Daphne meet a strange woman and receive a gift box, and the gift box finally appeared in Professor Bagshot's office.

But Harry thought at the time that the old woman in the windbreaker might be one of Daphne's elders. He looked at Professor Hepp. He should know something, right? But the professor had already started the lecture.

"...I am very happy to see that most people have mastered the skills to make practical runes manifest without a wand, and thus gained some flexible means of casting spells, but this is not the point," Felix said: "A single ancient rune is not very outstanding in terms of power or adaptability. There are better spells to replace them."

"Next, you will be exposed to the extremely practical content of ancient runes, a technique derived from the rune circuit. Is there anyone willing to cooperate with the demonstration? There will be extra points--"

Several arms were raised.

"Anthony Goldstein." Felix called the name of a Ravenclaw boy.

Goldstein stood in front nervously.

Felix waved his hand, and a dozen rune symbols appeared out of thin air, tightly connected to each other. "Try to grab it." Felix encouraged. Goldstein stretched out his hand - the students below held their breath and watched carefully - his fingertips touched the string of rune circuits that were biting together.

The rune seemed to be attracted by Goldstein, actively integrated into his skin, and drilled up along his fingers. Goldstein was startled and rolled up his sleeves. He was surprised to find that the rune was branded on the skin of his wrist like some kind of mark.

Goldstein blinked.

"Professor? This is..."

He was a little worried that the thing on his wrist could not be removed, but the next second, he found that his body became light and fluttery. He just tiptoed and flew towards Professor Hepp. Professor Hepp dodged, and he rushed straight to the window.

"Don't use too much strength." Felix reminded him.

"What?" Goldstein asked in a hurry. He stretched out his hand and tried to block the wall. As a result, he seemed to be weightless and bounced in the opposite direction at a very fast speed. He was caught by Professor Hepp when he passed by him.

Goldstein's feet fell back to the ground.

"Try again." He heard the professor say to him.

Goldstein took a breath excitedly, "I seem to have found a trick." His current state was a bit like being hit by a levitation spell, but he was not completely unable to control his movements.

He stood in place and jumped lightly. The next second, he found that he jumped into the air, his head rubbing against the ceiling. The students below seemed very short, looking at him eagerly, and he couldn't help laughing.

He fell lightly in the air, like a feather, and had time to say hello to his good friends one by one.

Felix grabbed his wrist and let him stand steady. When his hand was removed, Goldstein found that the magic rune on his wrist was gone, and he seemed very heavy and almost sat on the ground.

"You can go back now, Mr. Goldstein. Ravenclaw gets 10 points."

"A magic circuit that reduces the weight of an object." Felix said with satisfaction, "It is usually used on magic creations, but why can't it be used on the human body? You should have come into contact with human body deformation, right?" Some students in the classroom nodded.

"You can imagine the magic circuit as a solidified spell - of course, what you are going to learn next is all carefully selected and created by me. You will find that it can not only be applied to objects, but as long as you follow the seventeen 'magic laws', it will also become a part of daily spellcasting."

"Moreover, it has its own unique advantages, such as long maintenance time, difficulty in cracking and targeting, higher concealment, etc."