Hogwarts Wasteland: The Witch from the Borderlands

Although it's called Charms class, Professor Flitwick spends a lot of time correcting students' hand gestures, including basic magical theory. Compared to Professor McGonagall's casual mentions, Flitwick explains things in a simple and easy-to-understand way, even though most young wizards don't care why reciting a few spells can make feathers fly.

Hermione, however, was quite interested in it. After being the first to make the feather fly and perform a graceful dance, she earned Professor Flitwick's excited "Gryffindor +5 points!"

The Levitation Charm looks similar to gravity magic, but its principle is completely different. In this world, the Levitation Charm is simply "I want the things in front of me to float," without caring about gravity or mass. This made Hermione very interested in its underlying theory.

Then, to everyone's astonishment, she jogged over to Professor Flitwick, sat on a pile of books, and began discussing magical theories with him.

Doing this in Professor McGonagall's class might result in a deduction of points, but Flitwick didn't care. He was very lenient with the young wizards, consistently having the lowest failure rate over the years. He was very impressed with this little witch who dared to come up and ask a question in the very first class, and answered her question with a smile.

"The essence of magic is, of course, determination, or willpower? But I think the word determination better reflects the sense of purpose," Flitwick instructed. "In many spells you will learn later, determination will be categorized in more detail. For example, the Patronus Charm requires you to incorporate joy and the determination to protect, while the infamous Unforgivable Charm requires you to be filled with malice. Of course, I will not teach you these."

"Spells and gestures, including wands, are used to help us build resolve, define goals, and control our emotions. For a skilled wizard, these are not essential conditions for casting magic." He frowned. "Oh, perhaps it's too early to tell you this now; Professor McGonagall will complain that I'm going beyond the curriculum."

"But I heard about how you deflected the Death Curse in a moment of crisis. That's quite astonishing, isn't it?" He said to Hermione with a smile, "The essence of magic is to turn a wizard's determination into reality. When emotions reach a certain level, even if you do nothing, the world will change for you."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. Compared to the magic of the borderlands, the magic of this world is more flexible. Although it may seem rigid in the hands of a novice wizard, in the hands of a skilled one, you can't even tell what spell they used.

The magic at the border is characterized by its immense power and devastation; if my Radiant Meteor doesn't kill you, I'll unleash an even bigger meteor. If that's still not enough, I'll try a comet. Even the gods who created world order will kneel before my torrents.

Of course, this doesn't mean that there are no auxiliary magics in the borderlands. There's "Invisibility," which is similar to the Illusion Spell; "Magic Realm," which can increase the power of magic; gravity magic, which can be used for powerful control and sealing; and various prayers that form their own lineage, covering all aspects of magic.

Compared to this, the magic of this world is much weaker in terms of destructive power. Avada Kedavra, which was once listed as an unforgivable curse, is merely a death decree for a single target. Even with continuous development in the decades after the war, the improvement in its destructive power is still very limited.

In the border region, nuclear weapons might be powerful, but they could never defeat the Golden Dynasty. Whether it's the Shattered Star General who sealed the starry sky alone, or the Valkyrie Malenia who harbors corruption within her, they are far more terrifying than nuclear weapons. Even the fire giant defeated by Queen Marika can easily unleash flames that burn the world. Not to mention the ancient dragons, the former world overlords, who could move an entire city into the space-time rift.

The class was spent in conversation between Hermione and Flitwick. The headmaster of Ravenclaw was very fond of this studious and quick-thinking little witch. When he learned that Hermione was supposed to be sorted into Ravenclaw but went to Gryffindor because of the Sorting Hat's "mischief", he was so excited that he almost went to the headmaster's office to argue with her.

This further fueled the hawks' hatred for Hermione. It was bad enough that she was showing off in Potions class, but now she dared to steal the headmaster's favor—it was utterly heinous!

But Hermione didn't care at all. The maroon sponge, having absorbed a lot of knowledge, was in a good mood and even ate two extra pieces of Scottish Highland beef ribs for lunch, which were one of the ingredients used in yesterday's Potions class.

Ron bluntly stated that Hermione's appetite was approaching that of a lioness, and then the latter used the levitation charm she had just learned to levitate her hair, making her look like an electrified red pheasant, until she put her down before her herbalism class.

The afternoon herbal medicine class was taught by Professor Sprout, the headmistress of Hufflepuff. This short, stout, gray-haired professor was not missing any physical parts. Although she was covered in mud, she greeted every child who entered the greenhouse with a smile.

It's worth mentioning that Hogwarts' greenhouses are underground, divided into several levels. First-year students can only have classes in the top greenhouse, where bright magical lamps provide lighting instead of the sun. Professor Sprout clearly feels sorry for the wear and tear on the magical lamps, mentioning every now and then, "In this day and age, there aren't many places that can burn the magical sun for such a long time!"

When the clumsy boys accidentally knocked over a leaf, she felt a pang of heartache: "15 silver sicos! That leaf is worth 15 silver sicos; you'd have to work odd jobs for a week in Malfoy Castle!"

Of course, she wouldn't punish the students for this, but running this expensive greenhouse was exhausting. She had tried her best to save Dumbledore money, but farming in the wasteland was too difficult. Many expenses had to be incurred: lighting, clean water, suitable soil... Different herbs had very different requirements for temperature and humidity, so they couldn't be put together. Some even required special magical environments, so they had to be grown in separate greenhouses.

Even if Herbalism is abolished, Hogwarts still needs a large number of magical plants and fungi to meet its needs—Professor Potter's potions are a very important strategic resource.

Because she had been deeply immersed in the world of spells all night, Hermione could only skim through "A Thousand Magical Herbs and Mushrooms" during her lunch break, so her understanding was not very in-depth. However, she was very interested in the man-eating cabbage with its gaping maw and the mandrake with its deadly howl.

During this time, she also asked Professor Sprout if there was any pollen that could react with air and burn, as she wanted to try making the perfumer's sparkling fragrance.

But the professor scrutinized him with a wary look: "Kid, I'm sure this plant isn't in your textbooks. White phosphorus flower is a mutated species that was only discovered in recent years. I spent a lot of money to get two plants through someone, and I'm counting on them to propagate. Don't even think about getting your hands on them."

Hermione had no choice but to give up on the matter outwardly, but her eyes were already darting around, searching for a way to other greenhouses.

With Harry's invisibility cloak, how could Professor Sprout's greenhouse, built with Galleons, not have any treasure?