A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 273 An Unexpected Incident While Practicing the Guardian Spell

Harry's bickering with Draco Malfoy temporarily put his fears to rest, but Professor Hyp seemed determined to make things difficult for them, casually remarking from the side, "Time isn't always plentiful, children. You need to make the most of your time."

The crowd dispersed further, and people huddled together like headless flies.

"Which rune have you mastered?"

"Light, flame, and cutting—and you—"

"I only know light and livestock."

Time was of the essence, so they only revealed the most important meaning of the runes, the core message. Fortunately, everyone shared the same idea. Even after Harry completed one exchange, he still didn't know the other person's name or which house they were from.

He found that it wasn't that difficult, so for the next three times, he deliberately sought out lone, unfamiliar people to exchange with. However, he always remembered to politely ask for their names. As for the academy, everyone tacitly left that out.

When he shared his thoughts with Ron midway through, Ron glared at him: "You don't think nobody knows who you are, Harry?"

Harry slapped his forehead; he hadn't even considered that question. He saw Hermione appear, beaming, and grabbed her arm. "How many did you exchange?"

"Fifteen!" Hermione said excitedly. "The secret is to find older girls; they're friendly and have less overlap in your knowledge—wait!"

Hermione's eyes lit up, and she walked up to Daphne Greengrass with an air of superiority, whispering something to her with a radiant expression. Harry watched for a while, and finally noticed that the two seemed to have huddled together in a corner.

"Are they friends?" Harry asked, knowing the girl was a Slytherin.

"A friendship forged in battle," Ron said, "from magical golem battles, or something else, at least that's what Hermione said."

Felix watched quietly, quickly noting in his mind which students could be grouped together. Although he wanted to break down the barriers between the four colleges and promote their communication, he had no interest in putting completely unsuitable people together.

Fortunately, apart from a few groups, most people didn't have as strong an opinion as they had imagined; they just needed a suitable excuse. In that light, his subsequent arrangements didn't seem so abrupt.

When the last student finished exchanging items, most of the students were already trying to use the Ouroboros Ring to collect the runes. Felix clapped his hands to stop them.

Without a sound, their seating arrangement changed; what was once clearly separated was now arranged in a staggered manner.

"Let's talk about how to perceive the structure of an object?"

You should have encountered this in other classes, especially Transfiguration. Perceiving runes follows a similar approach. There are a few tricks involved: gently touch them with your magic, don't roughly inject magic, or you'll destroy them—

Imagine raindrops falling into puddles, spreading out in ripples.

Felix tapped his fingertips in the air, which seemed to take shape, slightly concave, and then a faint blue magic spread out.

"Use your magic, as subtly as possible without interruption. I must remind you, this is not a spell—"

"Bang!"

A student blew up the magic runes, like an orange-red firework exploding.

"Eddie Camille, let me finish," Felix pulled them into the Mind Hut. "Practice here for a while, or the runes you just traded will disappear faster than the invisible beasts."

After the rally ended, Felix asked Neville, "Can you keep up?"

Neville scratched his head. "It was a bit difficult, but much easier than I thought. I left behind four runes."

Only after they emerged from the Mind Chamber did Felix allow them to begin deciphering the runes. The ensuing classroom session resembled a fireworks display, though most people, after seven or eight failures, managed to find the knack and apply the skills honed in the Mind Chamber to real life.

Neville was here for the first time and had not received any prior training; he hadn't even mastered a single practical rune.

"You did well. I noticed you signed up for a dueling tournament?"

Neville blushed and whispered, "I want to try—"

"Okay, go ahead and prepare well. I remember Potter and the others have a dueling study group, which might be helpful to you," Felix suggested.

Neville looked up and told him, "I'm a regular member now, and I'm pretty good at using my Stunning Charm."

"A regular member?" Felix asked, puzzled.

"Uh... Harry and the others don't forbid other people from participating. Many students have come and played once or twice, and they also actively invite some older students."

"Regulars get a copper Nate. As long as the Nate gets hot, it means there's an event." Neville pulled a coin out of his pocket. Felix glanced at it and chuckled. Wasn't this the hot Nate he had made before?

The only difference is that the pattern above has been changed to a lion's head.

As the curriculum of the Magic Rune Club deepened, some students fell behind and chose to withdraw voluntarily—this was unavoidable, because when selecting members, he only had seven people in mind who were truly qualified, so he had to relax the requirements.

Those who dropped out midway weren't prepared to invest a lot of time and energy; they left once the novelty wore off. Before leaving, they returned the copper trinkets used to announce meeting times.

But for Felix, these bronze knuckles were just a transitional item; they weren't even made with the most basic protective magic, and now they've been replaced with the Ouroboros Ring.

He casually tossed the Gennats into the waste area, intending to dispose of them later. Now it seemed his assistant had discovered them and even studied them privately…

Gryffindor Common Room.

Harry told Ron and Hermione about his unexpected trip to Professor Lupin's office yesterday to practice the Patronus Charm.

Hermione shrieked, "You saw Voldemort—you saw Voldemort?" Everyone else in the lounge looked over, and she covered her mouth. "How is that possible? Didn't you say you were afraid of Dementors?"

"I thought so too," Harry said, still shaken. "Professor Lupin found a Boggart in the faculty lounge and said there were ways to fool it, but I refused."

"I really thought my biggest fear was Dementors, but then Boggart turned into Voldemort, who was stuck to the back of Quirrell's head, and then into the Basilisk..."

Ron said incredulously, "It must be out of its mind. How can anyone have two things they fear most?"

Harry explained, "Professor Lupin said it's possible, but it's usually the same type of fear. For example, if you're afraid of spiders, a Boggart might switch between different spider forms. My case is quite rare. Professor Lupin guessed that maybe the Boggart couldn't find anything that would make me lose my mind, so it just had to switch between them—" He grinned as he spoke.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I think it might be due to that Dementor doll... How many times did you guys play with it?"

Ron emphasized, "That's not a game, Hermione. We're getting used to facing Dementors. You see, Harry isn't so scared anymore."

Hermione snorted and asked Harry, "But how are you going to practice the Patronus Charm?"

"Professor Lupin has temporarily fooled Boggart, making it believe that my greatest fear is still Dementors, but he told me to bring a Dementor doll to show him next time..."

Harry shrugged. "The professor said he'd never heard of anything like it before."

(End of this chapter)