A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 272 The Club's First Cooperation

Felix and Newt exchanged addresses, and Felix learned that after Newt retired, he lived with his wife in the countryside of Dorset, where they had a “huge” basement for some magical creatures in need.

“I don’t always support them; I’m more like a therapist. Once the ‘patients’ have recovered, I let them go back to nature,” Newt told him.

Although he had guessed the answer, Felix still asked, "Mr. Scamander, if you don't intend to get anything from them, how have you maintained your love for them all this time?"

Newt smiled and said, "How do you maintain passion? By passion itself, of course."

……

The following weekend, at a Magic Rune Club gathering, Felix showed the members the Ouroboros Ring.

He flipped the dark green coin in his hand, letting it nimbly weave between his fingertips. His actions quickly attracted the attention of the students. The next second, the coin transformed into a small snake, which condensed into an ouroboros ring on the little finger of his right hand.

He waved his wand, and dozens of coins flew from the table in the corner, landing precisely in front of each young wizard.

Consider this a belated Christmas gift for you.

"It can replace the bronze knat we gave you before, and it comes in two forms—a coin and a ring, whichever you choose. If you want to become the latter, simply say: 'Infinity,' and then infuse it with magic. You can try it now—"

The club members held out their hands, letting the coins settle in their palms, feeling their weight. Neville, attending the gathering for the first time, stroked the patterns on the coin; its surface had a unique, heavy sheen, yet it didn't feel like metal. He looked up at Harry sitting next to him, who mouthed to Neville: Basilisk scales.

Hermione told him this, and he relayed it to Neville. Actually, Harry was quite surprised when he heard about it; he thought the basilisk had been thrown back into the Chamber of Secrets after the exhibition. But Hermione told him that the basilisk was a valuable magical artifact and had already been divided between the professor and Snape…

Neville's heart pounded, as if he were performing some kind of ritual. He recited clearly and precisely, "Infinity." The coin in his hand transformed, turning into a slender, dark green snake in the blink of an eye.

Neville held it up and asked tentatively, "Do you know how to do it?" The snake slithered onto his right little finger, coiled around it twice, and twisted into an ouroboros ring.

The most excited were the Slytherins. Draco Malfoy fell in love with the little snake that the coin had transformed into almost instantly. He couldn't help but reach out his index finger and gently touch its head. It wasn't slippery as he had imagined, but rather had a warm and smooth feel, as if it were carved from a piece of dark green gemstone.

The little snake raised its head, its shiny black eyes meeting his gaze.

Draco extended his finger, and the snake swayed, coiling itself around his finger and gently undulating its body, its head and tail forming a loop. He looked around with delight, his peripheral vision catching Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass, their eyes wide, completely captivated.

The others reacted calmly; they neither rejected the snake design nor showed any particular liking for it. Cedric considered asking if he could ask for a different form, but then he remembered that this "snake" wasn't the symbol of Slytherin House, but rather the ouroboros, a symbol of alchemy and magic, representing a certain ideal championed by the Slytherin Club and Professor Hyp himself, so he gave up on the idea.

Then he heard Professor Hyp's voice—

"Its material comes from the thousand-year-old basilisk. You should remember it; it's the one in the secret chamber last year. I discovered that the basilisk's scales have extremely strong magical inertia, making it difficult to channel magic, but they are also excellent materials for isolating and storing magic."

"I used the scales of the basilisk as a container, and drew magical runes with powder from African tree snake skin and bird snake eggshells, and that is how the Ouroboros Ring you see came to be."

When the African tree snake skin was mentioned, Hermione glanced quickly at the professor. She knew that this material was one of the key ingredients in making Compound Elixir, but she didn't know that it could also be ground into powder to draw runes. However, considering that the professor had been struggling with the uses of basilisk scales for a long time and had made many attempts, she felt relieved.

Felix began his demonstration, waving his hand to show the students a string of useful magical runes near his wrist. He then brought the ring on his right pinky finger close to them, and the Ouroboros Ring suddenly began to move. The snake's mouth opened its tail, and its body shot out, swallowing the runes one by one before returning to Felix's hand and transforming back into a ring.

"In practice, I've discovered that it can store magical runes for extended periods, significantly slowing down the dissipation of magical energy. While I haven't yet found any use for it for me, the benefits for you are quite obvious—"

Under everyone's watchful eyes, he tapped the little snake on the head, and the snake opened its mouth and spat out the string of runes it had just swallowed. Felix revealed the answer, saying, "Once you successfully sketch a rune, you can preserve and analyze it for a long time until you are completely familiar with its structure."

Felix smiled and said, "So, our topic for today is cooperation and exchange."

"In the previous gatherings, you all have mastered at least one useful rune. Now I need you to trade with others for runes that they are good at, at least twenty of them."

He glanced at Hermione and added, "You can exchange a maximum of three runes from the same person." Otherwise, the students would only need to find Hermione.

Draco couldn't help but complain, "Professor, this isn't fair. There are the fewest Slytherin students here."

"Hmm—that makes sense." Felix readily agreed. "In that case, let's add one more condition: the person you exchange with cannot be from the same academy as you."

The other students exchanged glances, and Felix smiled and said, "You should have figured it out. I want you all to get to know each other. At the previous assemblies, you all sat together from the same college, which isn't good for future cooperation..."

"Now, let's begin."

The club members began to move, and it became clear which of the four houses was the most popular. The students of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin instinctively gathered around the young Hufflepuff wizard.

"This is such an unexpected turn of events—oh Warren, you've got a taste of your own medicine," said Pete Selton, a sixth-grade Hufflepuff girl. She chuckled.

Warren Pardis of Ravenclaw said sternly, "Don't be silly, I've helped you quite a few times..."

Ever since Professor Hyp called on him last year to participate in an ancient runes knowledge competition with this girl—back when there were no parchment answer sheets—she has been at odds with him. However, the two occasionally go to the library together to do homework and look up information, which has led to the development of a unique fighting friendship.

At least that's what he thinks.

Harry squeezed on the outside of the crowd; he was never good at handling these kinds of situations, especially when it came to actively making friends. But when he noticed that Draco Malfoy didn't look too happy either, his mood instantly brightened, like being back in Diagon Alley, eating ice cream at Florin's Ice Cream Parlor in the summer sun.

Draco noticed Harry's gaze and muttered sarcastically, "Potter—you're as annoying as McAdam, why don't you go back to your boxing ring?"

Harry stared at him in astonishment. He didn't care about Malfoy's rude attitude—their relationship had never been friendly—but the information that came out of his mouth was quite unexpected.

Have you read "The Adventures of Mick the Wizard of Oz"?

"No, no!" Draco immediately denied.

Harry said definitively, "You've definitely seen it. McAdam and Boxing House are from the books." He suppressed a laugh and added, "And you've at least read the third book."

Draco's face darkened instantly, and he opened his mouth several times, but couldn't think of any rebuttal.

Congratulations to the third Alliance Leader of this book—thanks to Alliance Leader AD98 for his support!

(End of this chapter)