Hogwarts starts with stealing power.

Hermione, facing her mother who was as kind and concerned as ever, suddenly asked a question.

"Mom, if one day you were in danger of losing your lives and were targeted by your enemies, would you choose to hide it from me and leave?"

Ms. Granger paused, her brow furrowing.

"Honey, why did you suddenly ask that question? Are you having some kind of trouble, or are you being targeted by someone?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, I just read a book that set up such a scenario."

In the end, to avoid implicating their child, his parents chose to live in anonymity in a remote village and did not see their child for decades.

When their lives were about to end, they secretly went to see their child and found that the child's life was a mess after leaving them.

The child was originally an excellent student, but he turned into a petty thief. In the end, the parents repented to their child on their deathbed, saying that they should not have abandoned him.

But they also said that if they had the chance to choose again, they would still do the same thing. Why is that?

Ms. Granger stroked Hermione's hair and gave her a gentle hug.

"Because parents cannot be certain about their child's future, the only thing they can be certain of is leaving their child at that time so that the child will not be implicated. This contains the parents' love for their child."

Hermione asked, "If you were in their shoes, would you have done the same thing as these parents?"

Ms. Granger shook her head: "I'm not sure, I haven't had that happen to me, and I don't know how to answer."

She paused for a moment and then said, "But one thing I'm sure of is that no matter what happens, I don't want to involve you, and I don't want to hide anything from you."

The book you read has already shown us a predictable outcome: the initial intention was for the child's good, but the consequences have led to a misalignment of the child's life.

Hermione, I have faith in you. No matter what happens, I think it's best not to hide anything from you.

We are a family. Whatever happens, we will face it together. Don't burden one person with all the danger and hardship; a family is about protecting each other.

Hermione blinked, her eyes welling up with tears.

She realized that if she made choices for her parents without their consent when they encountered difficulties, wasn't that a sign of distrust?
Love that you think you have is not love at all.

At this moment, Hermione's thoughts began to subtly change.

Perhaps she had misunderstood before; she could come up with a foolproof way to protect her parents without harming them should they encounter danger in the future.

Today, she will learn the last secret spell, [Heart Key Resonance], and then do everything in her power to find a way to break the cycle.

Hermione wasn't sure if she could re-enter this special loop space after breaking the loop.

But she had already been stuck in this time gap for nearly 10 years, and if she continued to stay, she feared that her mind and body would suffer, and she would have to leave.

-

At Malfoy Manor.

Draco has finished all of today's training.

After his father Lucius taught him all the combat skills he would need, he stopped urging him to study and instead opened the family's secret vault, allowing him to choose the areas that interested him and learn independently through books.

It contains all the forbidden books that Malfoy has secretly collected over the years, each one a treasure of the magical world.

Most of these books are very old, but the methods they use are still very powerful and effective in the wizarding world today.

Although the banned books here cannot directly instill knowledge into the brain, reading them can unconsciously increase one's attention and focus, thus greatly accelerating learning efficiency.

At the same time, these forbidden books were also accompanied by the murmurs of evil gods while being read, but they were not as powerful as the forbidden books provided by the Ministry of Magic; the murmurs of evil gods were relatively low-level.

Draco didn't even need to circulate his cultivation techniques; he only needed to light the Radiant Candle to dispel the evil god's ramblings in the book.

So Draco has been immersing himself in the ocean of knowledge these days, reading day and night.

He only stopped reading when his temples began to throb, followed by a sharp, needle-like pain.

Draco put down his book and rubbed his temples.

"I can't read anymore. My body can't take it. I sleep every day, so why do I still feel so tired?"

Draco looked at the book in his hand, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes. "Could it be because of these banned books?"

Although the knowledge inside is not directly instilled into the brain, the brain is also fully focused and rapidly increases efficiency while reading.

Maintaining this state will also be a burden on the body.

Unable to continue reading, Draco turned his attention to learning about the family's treasured artifacts.

The family has a large collection of rare items, each with a different function. Even if some functions seem to be the same, there are differences in the details.

Draco didn't touch those strange and mysterious objects that looked very profound.

This is not within his reach; to attempt to touch it rashly could very likely cost him his life.

His father, Lucius, had warned him that some artifacts classified as high-risk should only be approached with full preparation.

There are some high-risk artifacts that even he dares not open rashly, for fear that if he cannot satisfy the artifact's appetite, the artifact will turn around and devour him.

Therefore, Draco doesn't have access to many artifacts, and the one he's most interested in is the one Lin Xia used when she visited his home—

A magical picture frame.

The picture frame contains an old man with platinum blonde hair.

With a pipe in his mouth, sunglasses on his eyes, and a long beard, he exudes a very cool overall image and demeanor.

Draco wasn't sure if the figures in the paintings had always looked the same, or if they had deliberately changed their appearance to reflect the changing times, always keeping themselves at the forefront of fashion.

When the old man saw Draco, he took off his sunglasses and said in a hoarse voice, "Draco, what brings you here again? Don't you need to attend the Heir course?"

Draco believed that the person in the picture must be related to the Malfoy family, even if he had never been the head of the family, he must have a direct blood relationship with the family.

That head of platinum blonde hair is the best proof; this hair color cannot be inherited by those who are not of direct lineal descent.

He knew this picture frame belonged to the manor when he was a child.

But he had no idea it was a strange object before; it was as if the frame had deliberately kept it a secret.

They found out later, but they weren't interested in the picture frame either.

It was when Lin Xia came to visit that she said the picture frame was very interesting and offered to buy it, but her father refused. That's when he realized that this strange object was not ordinary.

With Lin Xia's discerning eye, she wouldn't be interested in ordinary oddities.

Draco sensed the subtle whispers of the evil god approaching, but he wasn't afraid. He simply moved the radiant candle he was holding forward, instantly illuminating the somewhat dark area.

If you're not asking questions and it's just a normal conversation with him, very few of his delirious pronouncements will occur. Even when you ask questions, as long as they aren't very difficult, they won't produce many delirious pronouncements.

Since he couldn't read those interesting old books, Draco decided to pry open the picture frame and get him to tell him more about the secrets of the Malfoy family or about the world of evil gods.

Draco replied, “Grandpa, I have completed all the courses for the Heir. Father said there is nothing more to teach me and that I should learn on my own.”

I've been reading banned books for several days, and my head is starting to hurt, so I came out for a walk.

Grandpa picked up his pipe, took a deep drag, and exhaled ring after ring of white smoke.

"I remember you're only 13 years old this year, right? You've already completed all the heir courses at 13. These courses are enough to keep you up until the seventh grade. You actually finished them so quickly..."

No wonder Lucius said your talent was the most outstanding among the successors of the last hundred years.

Draco wanted to ask the old man some questions, hoping he would reveal secrets that the old man knew but didn't yet.

But upon hearing what the old man said, he suddenly had a brilliant idea: what would happen if he didn't ask the old man a question, but instead asked the old man to ask him a question?
Draco said, "Grandpa, I don't know if I'm good or not. Don't believe my father's side of the story."

Why don't you test me and see if I can answer it? You can see for yourself whether I live up to your father's assessment of me.

The old man raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

"This is the most interesting question I've ever encountered. You don't ask me the question; instead, you expect me to ask you the question. Interesting, really interesting..."

He raised his hand, stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, and then agreed to Draco's proposal.

“Young man, I don’t know how the Malfoy family legacy has changed now. I’ll test you with the knowledge that I had to know in my time. I hope the heir of the Malfoy family will not disappoint me.”

Draco smiled slightly, exuding elegance and displaying the refinement of a noble heir.

"Grandpa, just ask me anything. I'll tell you whatever I know."

Draco had expected the old man to ask about some of the Malfoy family's secrets, but he didn't.

Every question he asked had nothing to do with the Malfoy family.

He inquired about the situation of wizards outside the country, international politics, and the wizarding conflicts between nations.

These are all secondary issues. When it comes to more profound knowledge, the old man asked all his questions in ancient runes, also known as nihi.

Ancient runes are derived from runes, representing another transformation and utilization of runes.

However, there is another theory in the wizarding world: the ancient script is not like the Nielin script, but another script created by the world, such as the Nielin script, which is easier for wizards to use.

His knowledge of ancient magic script was not given to him by the Malfoy family, but rather through Lin Xia's participation in related research, which forced him to study ancient magic script diligently.

I thought that ancient runes could only be used when doing research, but I didn't expect to be able to use them in the answer to the portrait.

Moreover, judging from the old man's posture, he seemed to value the ancient demonic script immensely.

Could it be that in their previous era, ancient spells and incantations were the dominant spells?
Draco felt a pang of doubt, but he didn't ask it immediately. Instead, he honestly answered the question posed by the picture frame.

He had some knowledge of the history of magic and had never heard of any era that used spells; all of them were based on ancient magical script.

Ancient runes are too difficult for ordinary wizards; only talented wizards can master them quickly.

If an ordinary wizard were to learn this, it might take them more than ten years to learn only two or three spells, which is far from effective.

Suddenly, the picture frame posed a question in ancient runes that was rather advanced for Draco.

Draco cleared his mind of all distractions, his brow furrowed, as he continuously calculated the spell in his mind.

Nearly half an hour later, the answer to the picture frame was revealed.

The old man in the picture frame sighed, "You even solved this problem. Although it took a while, you finally got it right. It shows that you have a solid foundation in ancient magic script, but you don't use it often."

The wizarding world is getting worse every year. The time before last, I exchanged questions with the head of the Malfoy family. I answered it immediately, but he couldn't answer it for a whole day and had to ask for help from outsiders.

In a fit of anger, I refused to communicate with him. I had thought that the Malfoy family's education would get worse and worse, and that I wouldn't even be able to see a wizard I could communicate with in the future.

I didn't expect you to answer that; it doesn't disgrace your status as an heir to the Malfoy family.

Draco hesitated for a moment, then said, "Grandpa, the Malfoy family heir course didn't teach us Old Magic. I don't know how good Father was at Old Magic, but I learned all of it at Hogwarts."

The picture frame asks, "Is Professor Barbling still teaching you?"

Draco nodded: "Yes, she is our Ancient Magic teacher."

He asked, "Do you know Professor Barbling?"

The picture frame replied meaningfully, "That's a question. Are you sure I want to answer it?"

Draco's intuition told him not to let the picture frame answer!
So he immediately said, "No, pretend you didn't hear my question."

The old man's smile deepened. "Your intuition is very sharp. If you want me to answer this question, I've decided not to charge you anything."

But if you don't let me answer this question, and instead I ask all the questions, and your answers are all correct, I've decided to give you a gift.

Draco's eyes lit up. "What gift?"

This picture frame looks extraordinary; even my father couldn't gauge its danger level. The gift it prepared certainly wouldn't be ordinary either.

The old man in the picture frame said, "You can have the opportunity to receive my guidance, but you must remember that every answer I give will come at a price."

A look of confusion crossed Draco's face. "What price?"

He had never paid a price when Lin Xia asked him about the picture frame.

If the consequences are severe, Lin Xia will definitely inform him.

The old man said, "I also want to know what the price is. These prices are not under my control. The law can only determine the extent of the price based on the depth and complexity of the question asked."

"Both you and that girl have very special constitutions. I don't know how you managed to shield yourselves from the consequences, but the laws tell us that you circumvented them in some way."

The old man took a puff of his pipe and said with great enthusiasm, "I am very interested in your methods of avoiding the consequences. I am willing to be carried by you. In return, you can ask me three questions every day for free."

This "free" doesn't mean you don't have to pay any price, but rather that you don't have to pay me anything. However, after I answer, I will charge you something; this is the power of the law, and I cannot escape it.

Draco asked in confusion, "Aren't all the questions I ask you free of charge? Why should I have to pay you a separate price?"

The old man suddenly smiled and said, "You think it's free because Malfoy Manor has already paid a price for you, but my answer also requires paying an even higher price, a force that the manor cannot avoid."

Draco suddenly thought of something and asked, "What if you can't answer that?"

The old man said, “The questions you can ask me are definitely questions I can answer. If I can’t answer them, the power of the laws won’t allow you to ask them.”

Draco hadn't expected the artifact to be portable. He cautiously said, "Let me think about it." (End of Chapter)