Hogwarts: From Little Wizard to White Lord

"Yes, do you remember what Professor McGonagall said when she taught us Transfiguration? In the eyes of wizards, everything has a soul. This is the key to transforming dead things into living things."

Vaughn said slowly, "Alchemy holds a similar view, but alchemical theory holds that all things were once a whole. So even though they have become what they are today, at a higher level, the world and all things still share a common soul called 'ether.'"

"'Ether' holds the secrets of creation. It's an inexpressible concept, incapable of even being organized into language or words. It exists only as simple symbols... The core of modern alchemy lies in alchemical symbols, which help alchemists create all sorts of magical tools, manipulate magic, travel through space, and even reverse time..."

As he spoke, Fred had already opened his eyes and happened to hear the last sentence. He happily agreed, "That's right, my dear brother. Alchemy is so magical, great and incomparable!"

Hermione, who was buried in her notebook, looked up in surprise: "Are you done meditating?"

"It's over."

"What about that... symbol? Draw it and let's see."

Fred narrowed his eyes, looking inscrutable, and slowly replied in a low voice, "I can't draw it. It's only in my mind!"

"..."

Hermione puffed up her cheeks in anger, thinking Fred was being naughty again.

But Vaughan knew that Fred wasn't joking. He explained to Hermione, "Alchemical symbols aren't language, much less words. They don't have a system, and there are no observable, concrete images."

"In a sense, it is actually invisible, unreadable, unspeakable, and unwritten. It is a concept or enlightenment obtained by the soul traveling through the 'ether'."

Hermione was completely confused; this was beyond her understanding.

Frowning for a moment, the girl scratched her hair and looked at Vaughn in confusion. "You mean, it doesn't exist? But you said it was just a crude graphic... That seems so contradictory."

"No, there is no contradiction. It actually exists, in Fred's soul. Or you could say it doesn't exist because you can't see it."

"...Then how do you know?"

Vaughan didn't answer, just smiled.

Why does alchemy require talent? Because without talent, not only can one not understand the basic concepts, but even observation is impossible.

At this moment, perhaps in Hermione's eyes, Fred and George were still the same as usual, but in Vaughn's eyes, they were shining -

As the meditation ended, a large number of tiny points of light lit up in the twins' bodies. They connected into one, and the soft light enveloped their figures, as if covering the twins with a gauze dress woven from stars.

The "gauze dress" is a perfect circle, which has a real appearance and seems illusory.

This "circle" is the symbol that the twins brought back from the ether.

This was the extent of Vaughan's knowledge of alchemy, in which a circle could represent many things.

In the introductory books on alchemy that Vaughan had read, alchemy, which had developed over thousands of years, had a total of 53 symbols.

Eleven of them are considered to be the basic framework of the world.

They represent the four elements and seven metals (gold, silver, iron, mercury, tin, copper, and lead) respectively.

They are unchanging and have definite meanings in any school of alchemy.

That is to say, in addition to these 11 basic symbols, for thousands of years, alchemists have used the remaining 42 symbols to explain and represent the changes in all things and their relationships.

So in alchemy, each of those 42 symbols has a wide range of meanings.

As the subject in magic that is closest to Muggle technology, alchemy is essentially more idealistic than magic. At least magic cannot create things out of thin air (magic cannot produce food or any substance out of thin air. Spells such as summoning spells are essentially about transferring objects from other places).

But alchemy can.

Therefore, any knowledge of this subject cannot be demonstrated to the outside world. Fred said that he could not draw the symbol, not because he could not draw the circle, but because it was meaningless.

Not only could Hermione not see the symbols he drew, but the meaning of the symbols could not be fully expressed through graphics.

Just as Vaughn could see at this moment, but he had no idea what the "circle" that Fred and George obtained from the ether actually represented.

After all, he is still a novice in alchemy.

Soon, George woke up from his meditation, and the twins did not delay any further and started to work immediately.

Fred took out his wand, chanted a spell, and drew a few circles in the air. Under the control of magic, the milkweed juice that had been ground in the mortar quickly released water and condensed into a milky white gelatinous substance.

Chapter 103 Weasley Electric Company, the transformation begins

As Fred continued to stroke his wand, they stretched and extended in the air, gradually shaping into regular, flat strips.

On the other side, George used the same spell to suspend the mithril amalgam in mid-air. As a liquid metal, the strong surface tension made the mithril amalgam naturally transform into a sphere with almost no operation required.

As Fred molded the gel into a rubber strip, the twins looked at each other.

"Ready, George?"

"Ready, Fred!"

"Then let's get started!"

The two men shouted, stared with wide eyes at the rubber strip and the spherical mithril mercury in mid-air, and waved their wands vigorously.

Because they were using too much force, their faces turned red, and their sitting postures were even deformed, with their buttocks slightly raised.

Hermione couldn't help but cover her mouth, she was afraid that she would laugh out loud, because what she saw at the moment was too shocking - the twins' faces were flushed, their buttocks were raised, the posture was too indecent.

The two were still waving their wands frantically, but they didn't cast any spells.

The girl regretted again that she did not bring her camera from home. She decided that she must remember to bring her camera with her when she was in second grade!

In fact, Hermione was still a little disappointed. She was very smart. Although Vaughn had not explicitly stated his intention to take care of her, she had guessed that she did not seem to have a talent for alchemy.

Because she couldn't see the symbols.

She knew that Fred and George were definitely using alchemy, and she felt their postures were strange because she couldn't see.

And Vaughn beside her could obviously see it.

Hermione looked up at Vaughn, who had grown taller recently and was still staring at the twins. She asked in a low voice, "What's going on?"

"It's very difficult," Vaughan replied. "But the symbol is collapsing, so it's going well."

In Vaughn's vision, as the twins used alchemy, the light spots surrounding their bodies, which strangely lacked a sense of space and had no "spherical" shape at all, but were only "circular" in shape, trembled and gradually collapsed towards the center of the circle.

They eventually converged into a ball of light within the two people's bodies.

Vaughn's knowledge of alchemy was limited, so he wasn't sure how everything was done. Perhaps it was the flow of magic power, or perhaps some technique in alchemy.

In short, the ball of light flowed like a gurgling stream from the abdomens of the two men to their arms, passed through their wands, and finally flowed into the rubber strips and mithril mercury respectively.

When the light was fully injected and the "circle" reappeared on the surface of the rubber strip and mithril mercury, the twins gasped and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But the two still did not dare to delay because there was one last step.

Fred and George continued to wave their wands, and under their spells, the rubber strip curled inward, and the mithril mercury suddenly split into many small balls the size of soybeans.

Hermione was finally able to see this scene, but what discouraged her was that when Fred waved his wand again, the mithril-mercury balls stretched and deformed again, as if preparing to outline the symbol, but even the mithril-mercury disappeared from her sight.

She finally understood why Fred hadn't drawn the symbol for her...because it was useless!

She only saw that the rubber strip controlled by George curled into a tube, and then it seemed to hit something, and some invisible thing began to merge into it. The originally pure white rubber strip suddenly appeared light gold, as if it had been painted with gold paint.

Beside him, Vaughn, who had been watching silently, raised his hand.

The silent and powerless levitation spell picked up the wire on the ground. The twins, already tired and pale, nodded to their brother and controlled the freshly made insulation layer to cover the wire, wrapping, splicing, and cutting.

Finally, a section of wire about 30 inches long, with a faint golden surface, fell to the ground.

The twins were already panting with exhaustion. George lay directly on the floor. Fred still had some strength left. He dug out a small diesel generator and connector from his and George's backpacks and handed them to Vaughn. "This is what you gave us back then. We've modified it using the same method. Vaughn, try it yourself. George and I are really exhausted!"

Vaughn looked at their exhausted expressions and asked, "Did you use magic to complete the alchemy?"

This kind of exhaustion is usually the aftereffect of excessive consumption of magic power.

"Of course, alchemy is also magic, my stupid brother!" George complained weakly.

"How dare you! How dare you speak to the boss like that?" Fred scolded him, then jokingly said, "We're counting on the boss to be satisfied and support our business!"

Vaughn, who had called up the somewhat depressed Hermione to help him connect the generator and lightbulb, said, "Don't worry, if there are no problems with the experiment, I will provide you with the funds to open a magic trick shop."

The twins looked at each other.

George, who had been complaining before, smiled flatteringly: "Well, my dear brother, we don't want to open a magic trick shop anymore. Of course, we will still make some prank props occasionally..."

Vaughn, who was working on the line, glanced at them but didn't stop.

"You said back then that once we figured out a way to fix the magical interference with electricity, we'd stop thinking about Magic Tricks... As expected of our genius brother, you were spot on!"

"Nonsense! A troll like you still wants to understand the brain of a genius?"

"Your way of flattering me is too straightforward, Fred. There's no sense of beauty in it. Unlike me, I completely keep my admiration and respect for my brother in my heart!"

"you……"

While the twins were bickering with each other, Vaughn and Hermione had already connected the wires. Vaughn gently pressed the start button, and the generator roared into operation.

He and Hermione stared at the light, while the twins on the other side stopped bickering.

Four pairs of eyes watched as the generator tracks began to spin rapidly and the motor, covered with a layer of golden rubber, began to tremble.

The golden wire suddenly vibrated, emitting a faint magical halo like the aurora.

At the other end of the wire, the solitary light bulb flickered a few times.

The next moment, a dim light lit up in the House of Requirement, which was illuminated by braziers and torches!

Looking at the light that was completely different from the magical flame, Fred murmured, "Vaughn, you're right. We have found a greater pursuit..."

When Vaughn and his team were conducting experiments in the Room of Requirement.

Also on the eighth floor, at the end of the corridor, is the principal's office, accessible via a movable staircase.

Dumbledore was giving Snape instructions: "Severus, I'll have to trouble you to find a way to force Quirinus and create a sense of urgency for him so that he must enter the mechanism according to the time we set... Most importantly, make sure Harry discovers all this!"

Snape's face grew long, and he looked unhappy: "Excuse me, Dumbledore, although I thought Quirrell was a fool when we were in school, especially a few months ago, when he failed in the theft on Halloween and was stopped by Potter, Granger and Vaughan, he dared to stay, which made me marvel at his stupidity, but..."

He emphasized, "But I think as long as you're in school for one day, he won't take any more risks. After that, the mysterious man tortured him for a long time... The mysterious man is down and out now, but it's undeniable that he's still cunning, smart, and alert!"

"At least in the past few months, I haven't been able to find out what method he used to maintain his life, which was like a candle in the wind... You and Vaughn clearly took away all the unicorns."

Speaking of this, Snape looked a little confused.

Investigating what Voldemort relies on to stay alive has been the focus of his work in the past few months. Theoretically, Voldemort chose to suck the blood of unicorns, which means that unicorn blood is likely the only way.

But in the past few months, whether in Knockturn Alley or the underground blocks, Snape had not investigated any abnormal transactions in unicorn blood. Because unicorn blood contained a curse, its scope of use was very narrow. In addition, unicorns were rare, so it was considered a relatively rare thing in the entire wizarding world.

If someone bought it frequently, it would be impossible for him not to find out given his status as a potion master and his connections.

Dumbledore's blue eyes looked at his confused and anxious expression, and suddenly asked, "Severus, don't you want Tom to be resurrected?"