Hogwarts Study Panel

Chapter 154: Letters from London

The cold of December always made wizards want to linger by the fire a little longer.

Sheehan sat at a table near the fireplace. He quietly gathered up the many books on the table and filled out the list of books he wanted to borrow on the crumpled form before Mrs. Pince chased him away with a feather duster.

With another natural wave of his wand, the Rune, the Explanation of Old Fursax, and the Anglo-Saxon Furstok Commentary stacked up on their own and followed him out of the library.

Before leaving, he also tidied up the bookshelves in the area, but he only completed a small part of Mrs. Pince's work.

The library was enormous, with thousands of bookshelves and hundreds of aisles. Without magical assistance, even Mrs. Pince, who was familiar with the place, wouldn't be able to organize it all in a short time.

Thinking about it this way, it's understandable that the Hogwarts Library closes at 8 p.m.

"Goodbye, Mrs. Pince."

The books blocked Sheen's head, but a small booklet floated out from above it. Sheen had a habit of jotting down details from the history of magic, and these details, with a little association, could reveal some unique magical knowledge.

such as:

Alberta Tussell was a witch. In 1430, at the age of 39, she participated in the All England Wizarding Tournament, defeating the favorite Samson Wilblin with a blasting spell to win the championship.

A little background information reveals that before Alberta Tusser, people used to unleash powerful spells that required a long preparation time, such as magically conjuring up a small mountain out of thin air.

It was during the time when she and another wizard skilled in exorcism were active that wizards gradually realized that simple magic could produce great effects, which further led to the creation of modern standard spells.

Mrs. Pince was very fond of these details, and her extensive knowledge allowed her to come up with many interesting explanations.

In return, she would often stay in a spot close to the fire. Other young wizards dared not sit next to her, but Sheen would always sit down with her book in hand.

On Halloween, she gave Sheehan a beautifully packaged copy of "A Study of the Development of Modern Witchcraft," which was filled with her own annotations.

Sometimes Sheehan and Mrs. Pince were more like pen pals; they spoke very little, but wrote extensively on their commentaries on wizarding history.

I flew back to Ravenclaw on my broomstick, my scarf sliding backward in the wind.

When I landed on the rooftop, Hogwarts Castle had become deep and dark in the night.

At this time, there is always a magic lantern lit up in the window of the Ravenclaw Tower, lit just for him.

"cool--"

Michael brought in the magic lantern, letting out a soft exclamation with a hint of envy, as always.

He recently discovered that Sheen's magic broom is a Nimbus 2000, and occasionally he would take it to examine it.

Although Sheen agreed to let him use it for a while, the usually easygoing Sheen just smiled and said:
“Oh—Sheen, I’m afraid not many people know this, but I always do. This is something important, and it should only be used by you.”

A deep voice reached his ears, and Sheen looked out the window—the snow was unusually heavy tonight, rustling and covering the entire castle.

So he put down the runic array book that had been troubling him, and placed some cookies next to it.

The cookies were engraved with arrays of magical runes, because they involved advanced transmutation, and Sheen had been unable to create a satisfactory piece.

"biscuit?"

Michael moved over from another table.

“Sheen, it’s really surprising that you won’t share with me—I don’t feel good about it.”

Seeing that Sheen had no objections, he casually ate a cookie, and then in a very short time, wings and a face full of fur grew.

As soon as Anthony entered the room, he and Sheen had to work very hard to stop him from trying to fly out the window.

Sheen took a breath and silently wrote on the parchment:

Failed Owl Cookies:
Reasons for failure: such as Nieven array error;

Failure effect: Transforms into half an owl and loses some of its sanity.

Michael's head was still by the window after his failed transformation:
"Help—" he screamed in terror. Sheen grabbed his left arm; actually, his body was still in the room and he was not in any real danger.

"Stop yelling. And you should have another serving, if you don't die from the fall next time."

Anthony gripped his right arm and said calmly.

"why?"

This tactic worked; Michael stopped making a fuss and was dragged through the window.

“Kateridge was the first wizard to discover the properties of the gill sac grass, and thus became a member of the Chocolate Frog card... Maybe you can be the first wizard to transform into an owl and die of stupidity—I’m waiting to buy your Chocolate Frog card.”

After Anthony finished speaking, he went out the door, but before leaving, he suddenly whispered something to Sheen.

“Although I don’t know what it is, Sheen, maybe a failed product can be fun, like many prank candies.”

As Sheen was deep in thought, Michael chased after him, his face flushed. Sheen knew he would finally have some peace and quiet.

His attention returned to the owl cookies.

His failure lay in his lack of understanding of runes; he could sense every point where the magic was malfunctioning, but he didn't know how to improve it.

So he wrote down the question and planned to ask Professor Terra next Monday.

When the night had been deep for a long time.

An owl flew wearily from a great distance. Then it crashed headfirst into Sheen's window with a loud "bang."

Sheen quickly carried it inside.

This is a rather spirited-looking owl, with silvery-white feathers and white snowflakes on its wings.

Flames erupted from the tip of Sheen's wand, and two fire lizards surrounded him.

As the snow slowly melted, Sheen took out a thick, terrifying garment from the package it had brought.

It was tattered and patched, and looked as if it had been stitched up more than once or twice.

Sheen's eyes flickered; he suddenly thought of the kind old lady, Milan Taylor.

But no matter how hard I looked, all I could find was this piece of clothing; there was nothing else.

Finally, Sheehan found five pounds and a letter in the rolled-up cuff of his sleeve:

Whether your great event comes or not, my child, you once said that you could survive on just five pounds. Please keep these five pounds safe, and may you always have the courage of five pounds.

On the back of the letter, where it was sent, the street where the London orphanage was located was still littered with uncollected garbage bags.

A woman with rough skin sat by the window, her brows both relaxed and furrowed.

Children in orphanages are used to being abandoned, but that doesn't mean they aren't sad.

"For God's sake..."

she muttered.

Meanwhile, the Ravenclaw Tower.

The owl seemed to have taken to staying by Sheen's side, playing happily with the two salamanders.

Sheehan knew he would have to wait a while longer before entering Hope Cottage tomorrow; he was already thinking of Mr. Owl's words:
"No! You! Go in! You little wizard who's fallen for someone else!"

At this moment, the wind howled from London, hoping to grow wildly like grass seeds covered in snow in a greenhouse.

(End of this chapter)