The next morning, Valen was reluctant to get up from his velvet quilt, so Felix stuffed the chirping alarm clock into his small quilt.

Valen turned off the alarm clock in dissatisfaction, pushed it out, then smacked his lips in confusion, turned over and slept more soundly.

Felix came to the Great Hall. The weather outside was gloomy and humid, and the feathers of the owls were wet by the mist in the air. A brown owl circled around him twice and dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet.

He spread out the newspaper. There was no mention of the attack on the Minister of Magic yesterday. Instead, a photo of Ms. Bones standing in front of the thief-proof waterfall was hung on the front page. In the photo, she looked at the camera calmly, with a very reassuring expression. There were several background boards next to her - the Aurors stood behind her with solemn expressions, and Sirius leaned against the wall, poking the water curtain of the thief-proof waterfall with his wand.

When Felix appeared in the Ancient Magic Classroom, a student was already waiting at the door.

"Good morning, Professor Hep," Colin Creevey said enthusiastically.

"Hello, Mr. Creevey, come in." After two months, Felix opened the door of the classroom for the first time. There was a smell of accumulated dust and damp and corrupt air, and the corners of the walls were covered with green moss.

"Tsk," Felix said, waving his wand, and the windows in the classroom opened. Then a whirlwind blew out of nowhere in the room, and the tables and chairs rustled. Creevey's face flashed with excitement. After more than ten seconds, a ball of gray air flew out of the window, and the air in the classroom became fresh and comfortable again.

"Next is the moss, which is all delicate work." Felix muttered, pointing his wand at the stubborn green patches, and the tip of the wand emitted a series of bright lights. When the light hit the wall, the moss on it disappeared immediately. "

Is it a cleaning spell, professor? I can help!" Creevey volunteered. Felix had no objection. Creevey drew out his wand and tried to recite the spell silently, imitating Felix. After failing several times, he had to recite the spell honestly: "Clean it up! Clean it up!"

Ten minutes later, they stared at the classroom with sharp eyes, searching for possible stains. "Almost done. Let me think about it. I'll give you ten points for loving labor." Felix said, and came to the window. A drizzle had already fallen outside, and the wind blew it into the classroom, hitting his face and making it cool.

Creevey found a seat near the front, took out the book "Practical Magic Runes (Elementary)", and asked with great interest: "Professor, what new teaching aids have you prepared this year? Can you tell me in advance?"

"Why do you say that?" Felix looked at him from the window.

"Because the professor prepares new things every year," Creevey counted on his fingers, "In the first year - oh, I was still in the first grade at that time - it was magic puppets, in the second year it was various kinds of peepholes, and in the third year it was magic rune cards... I came here early just to know what new teaching aids this year are."

"Ah, if you say so... isn't that what you have in your hand?"

Creevey blinked, looked down at the "Practical Magic Runes (Elementary)" in his hand, and his expression suddenly fell, disappointed. "But..." He stammered, "It just collects some practical magic runs."

"Okay." Felix shook his left hand, and a flash of light flashed from the ring - with a loud "bang", a large box fell on the table.

Creevey's eyes widened. He leaned over and stared at the things in the box - they were all kinds of small wooden sticks, which looked similar to quills and a bit like magic wands, except that one end was sharpened into a sharp angle. The surface of these small wooden sticks was painted with some strange patterns, which looked like letters and magic rune symbols, but they were both plausible.

"The rune-carving knife," Felix explained, "appeared two years ago, but I have never promoted it. After all, the effect of using it with a wand is not bad. However, as the ancient runes become more and more perfect, it is necessary to make more detailed divisions, just like the crucibles in the potion class, which have gone through several centuries and have various models: ordinary type, automatic stirring, foldable, special material, etc...."

This is actually Hedstrang Vera's suggestion.

Creevey looked at the box and asked, "Professor, how should I choose the rune-carving knife that suits me?"

"Oh, the material is actually the same - even from the same chestnut wood, at most the pattern is different, but it does not affect the use. You can choose the one you like, first come first served -" Felix said, and he was relieved to see him choosing with great interest.

After Valen learned to write, he liked to paint everywhere with a paint brush. Felix cut a complete chestnut tree into thick wooden boards as tall as Valen, so that he could write and draw on them. Except for a few decent "works" collected by Felix, the rest of the materials were changed and put in the box.

He saw Creevey pick up a carving knife and look at the pattern with awe. Felix decided to keep this secret, no, keep this tradition, and add some patterns that have no practical use to the carving knives in the future...

At this time, two more students walked into the classroom. Ginny and Luna looked at Creevey who was about to lie down in the box with curious eyes.

...

Felix stood on the podium. The students below the stage each held a magic rune carving knife and chattered about it. They even seriously guessed the meaning of the pattern. Seeing that the topic was dragged to "some mysterious African writing", he hurriedly announced the start of the class.

"You already know that this course has a separate practical part, which means that the value of practical runes is recognized by the Wizard Examination Administration and included in the examination. According to the first version of the assessment standards, OWLs exams will only involve carving common rune symbols and rune circuits, and NEWTs exams will involve rune spells, such as the Light and Fire spell..."

Rune spells are not as easy to learn as imagined. The minimum requirement is to master the magical symbol of a practical rune. In fact, there are not many students in the class who can do this. To be precise, if you remove Ginny and Luna, who are members of the Rune Club, the number is currently zero.

At the end of a class, Felix collected the summer homework and announced the end of the class. The rain outside was getting heavier, and there were a few muffled thunders from time to time. At noon, Felix finished his lunch in the auditorium and saw that the door of the staff lounge was ajar. He pushed the door open and walked in.

"Oh, whoever it is, please help close the door, thank you - it's a bit noisy outside." Professor McGonagall's voice said,

Felix closed the door casually and looked at a desk - the voice came from there. But he only saw a pile of parchment, and Professor McGonagall's body was completely blocked. Felix waved his hand, and a fire ignited in the fireplace. The moisture in the room dissipated a lot.

"Summer homework?"

"Yes." Professor McGonagall raised her head and pushed her glasses. "The first week of school is the busiest. There are many things to deal with, such as summer homework, Quidditch tryouts, adjusting course selection... The information of the Order of the Phoenix must also be sorted out in a timely manner, not to mention taking time to comfort Charity--"

She suddenly shut up.

"Professor of Muggle Studies? What's wrong with her?" Felix asked curiously.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips.

"Well, you will always know from other places... She is involved in a difficult trouble."

Felix's impression of this professor still remains two years ago. They attended an unsuccessful international conference together. The professor mentioned that he was studying a popular science book about genes and heredity.

Thinking of this, a guess popped up in his mind-"Will there be any trouble with the Death Eaters?"

But it shouldn't be, Rita Skeeter is still alive and well.

"Of course not, she - she was caught by the Muggle police," Professor McGonagall snorted and said in an ambiguous manner, "According to her, she wanted to ask a scholar for advice, but accidentally caused a few sparks to come out of her wand, and was suspected of possessing a dangerous weapon."

This matter...

Felix smacked his lips, and after a while, he said dryly: "She was not punished, right?"

"The Ministry of Magic did not punish her severely because she was a professor - just a warning and a fine. Fortunately, she was not sent to Azkaban. She may feel ashamed, and submitted a resignation report to Dumbledore after returning, but the headmaster did not agree. She has been staying in the office for the past few days, saying that she is preparing a new book."

Felix raised his eyebrows, thinking of the paper that Professor Bubbage was going to publish, he felt that this new book would cause an uproar. In fact, it is not that it cannot be published, but the current time is really sensitive. It took him less than ten seconds to think of a solution - give her a complete set of biology books.

Since she was determined to study it, she should spend more time. By the time she figured it out, the war might have been over.

At this moment, the door was pushed open again from the outside.

The rustling sound of the feather pen rubbing against the parchment was immediately drowned out by the noise outside. Then a damp and cold air rushed into the room. The flames in the fireplace roared, sparking a series of sparks on the red-hot wood.

With a "bang", the door was heavily closed, and Snape walked in, dragging his unchanging black robe, with a thick pile of parchment floating behind him.