Hogwarts: My Spell Infinite Derivation

Chapter 27 First Encounter with Hermione, Searching for Material

At this moment, Charles paid no attention to the strange expression on the little wizard's parent's face, focusing intently on the brick wall of Diagon Alley.

With each brick he picked up, the Deep Blue System in his mind would give a notification.

"Deduction points +2..."

"Deduction points +3..."

Don't underestimate the small number of points each time the increase is; based on Xia's experience over the past decade, it's already much more than the amount of ordinary food.

Just like the deluxe set meal at the Leaky Cauldron, the portion is huge, but it's all ordinary food. Even if you eat ten of them, you might not gain two or three deduction points!

In this comparison, the increase in deduction points brought about by the brick wall is actually quite considerable.

Most importantly, the Ministry of Magic maintains and repairs this brick wall; once the magic inside is drained today, the Ministry of Magic will replace it.

Over time, this will become a steady stream of income.

After passionately kissing every brick wall he could reach, Charles's mental points increased by about a thousand.

Feeling that the magic inside was on the verge of collapse, and that if things continued like this, they might not be able to open the door and enter Diagon Alley, Ciel reluctantly left the brick wall.

Just then, a surprised and uncertain voice came from beside Charles.

"Charles Evans?"

Charles turned his head and saw that it was the little wizard who had been watching him in astonishment who had asked the question.

She has fluffy brown hair, slightly large front teeth, and looks a bit like a squirrel. She exudes the aura of a top student.

Upon seeing this young wizard, Charles felt a sense of familiarity.

Could this be Hermione Granger, one of the three main characters in the original Harry Potter series?

But how did she know my name, and I feel like I've seen her somewhere before?

Hermione soon revealed the answer herself.

She stared at Charles with wide eyes, her gaze revealing a burning desire to win.

"You also received an acceptance letter from Hogwarts?"

"That's wonderful! I've always wanted to beat you, and I thought I wouldn't have that chance after coming to Hogwarts. I never expected you to be going to Hogwarts too!"

"Just you wait, Ciel Evans, I will never lose to you again in the magical world!"

Charles paused for a moment before realizing what was happening.

It turns out that back in the Muggle world, he and Hermione had participated in a competition together.

Although Hermione is a top student, she could never be a match for someone as overpowered as herself, so she's always been thinking about beating her at least once.

At this moment, Hermione's parents, who were standing to the side, also suddenly realized what was going on.

The strangely behaving child in front of her was actually Charles Evans, the genius student her daughter had been talking about all along?

Oh, that makes sense then. Geniuses always have some quirks.

They also extended an invitation to Charles.

"Ciel, what a coincidence, you actually know Hermione."

"Want to go for a stroll in Diagon Alley together?"

Hearing her parents' invitation to Shire, Hermione's heart skipped a beat, and a blush appeared on her face.

She has been keeping an eye on Ciel ever since she was defeated by him in the first competition.

As a top student, Hermione also has her own pride and wants to get back at them in the later competitions.

However, there seems to be a huge gap between academic high-achievers and geniuses. In every competition, Xia Er crushed all his opponents with an absolute dominance.

Later on, Shire participated in competitions that Hermione could never reach.

This was the first time Hermione had ever been so thoroughly outclassed by someone her own age, which is why she paid extra close attention to the Shire.

This encounter with Ciel in front of the brick wall in Diagon Alley truly gave her a feeling that it was almost destined.

Sensing Hermione's expectant yet slightly shy gaze, Ciel smiled and then decisively refused.

"I'm sorry, I have some personal matters to attend to."

"Next time for sure, next time for sure."

Then, Charles waved goodbye to them, tapped a brick, and strode through the door into Diagon Alley.

Seeing Ciel leave, Hermione's eyes showed disappointment, but she still tried to comfort herself.

"He must really be busy. Didn't he say he'd definitely invite him to go shopping together next time he sees me?"

Even so, Hermione was still quite annoyed.

Even as she was about to enter Diagon Alley, she pressed her hand against the wall with even more force.

A thought popped into her mind.

Maybe I'll even bump into Ciel in Diagon Alley later?

But then, something even more frustrating happened to Hermione.

The portal that Charles had just passed through had vanished without a trace.

The brick wall seemed to be malfunctioning; no matter how much Hermione took out her wand and tapped the bricks, there was no response.

"Are you kidding me?"

"When the professor brought me here last time, he clearly told me that this brick wall was regularly maintained by the Ministry of Magic and there would never be any problems. How come there's a problem now?"

"Is this the result of the Ministry of Magic's efforts to maintain order?!"

Hermione glared angrily at the brick wall, as if she could already see a microcosm of the Ministry of Magic bureaucrats' incompetence and shoddy workmanship.

At this moment, Hermione, who had been experiencing repeated setbacks, had an idea.

"If I become Minister of Magic in the future, I will definitely prevent such things from happening again!"

……

Meanwhile, Shire, who had just entered Diagon Alley, was unaware of Hermione's inner thoughts.

After getting rid of Hermione's family, Ciel breathed a sigh of relief.

"Luckily I walked fast, otherwise I would have been entangled and it would have been very inconvenient to do anything."

As for Hermione, Ciel quite liked the character when he watched the movie in his previous life.

But please, no one actually brings their love for anime characters into real life, right?

An eleven-year-old brat, dating? What a load of rubbish!

Kids this age are so troublesome, even Ciel finds them annoying as friends. What normal adult likes taking care of kids?

Dumbledore, despite his advanced age, still enjoyed playing house with children and even enthusiastically setting up various games, but the Shire had no such interest.

Walking briskly down Diagon Alley, Charles soon arrived at his destination—Flourish and Blotts.

This place can supply Hogwarts textbooks, which is practically like a Xinhua Bookstore in the Muggle world; you can find almost any book you want here.

Fortunately, since Xia Er uses Deep Blue for deduction, having readily available reference materials can significantly reduce the consumption of deduction points.

This is also why Charles came here in the first place.

Previously, with Professor McGonagall by his side, Charles couldn't openly buy some of the advanced books he needed, but now he can do so freely.

Upon entering Flourish and Blotts, Charles quickly found the books he needed.

Alchemy from Beginner to Cemetery, Potions from Beginner to Cemetery, Transfiguration from Beginner to Cemetery...

In addition, there are papers published by some well-known wizards.

For example, Dumbledore's "The Twelve Uses of Dragon's Blood" and Severus Snape's "A Potion for Suppressing Werewolf Impulses - Wolfsbane Potion," which earned him the Order of Merlin Second Class, are among the high-end magical works published in Flourish and Blotts in recent years.

However, this area is sparsely populated, and many papers on the bookshelves have clearly not been touched for many years.

A hint of unease flickered in Charles's eyes.

He was also unsure whether these books and papers could truly serve as material for Deep Blue.

If successful, his deduction point deficit will be greatly alleviated!

After taking a deep breath, Charles carefully took down a copy of "The Twelve Uses of Dragon Blood".

I flipped through it casually, and Dumbledore's detailed explanation of the magic of dragon blood came into view.

Deep Blue then issued a series of notifications.

"Obtaining materials related to dragon blood magic will significantly reduce the number of deduction points required when the host subsequently deduces knowledge related to dragons."

"Obtaining dragon blood samples or even live dragons for verification can further reduce the number of inference points required."

(End of this chapter)