The days at Hogwarts

From Flamel's story, Loren learned something.

Since the early 15th century, the persecution of witches and wizards by Muggles has been taking place throughout Europe. Many witches and wizards have been imprisoned and sentenced to death (beheading, burning) for engaging in witchcraft and showing signs of magic.

Some wizards enjoy teasing Muggles and have fun with it. For example, the fortune teller Wendelin likes the feeling of being burned, so she deliberately disguised herself in various ways and let Muggles catch her 47 times and burn her 47 times.

Similar to this is Lisette Delapan in 1422, who was able to use magic to escape even after being captured.

But as the struggle between the two sides escalated, the Muggles seemed to have summed up some experience. In the later stages, some wizards were not so lucky.

For example, Sir Nicholas Deminsey Porpington in 1492 was Nearly Headless Nick. He had his wand taken away from him and was thrown into a dungeon, so he could not use magic to escape his fate of being executed.

The struggle became more and more fierce. Even adult wizards who were able to protect themselves still suffered occasional casualties, while underage wizards were more vulnerable to danger.

Wizarding families are particularly vulnerable to losing their children, as children are unable to control their magic and often attract the attention of Muggles who hunt wizards, and are powerless to resist.

As Muggle persecution of wizarding children became more common, more and more Muggles forced wizards to perform magic for them, and witch burnings increased, including Muggles being mistakenly burned as witches.

The newly established British Ministry of Magic sent a special delegation to contact the Muggle monarchs William III and Mary II, hoping that Muggle law would recognize and protect wizards.

The failure of this attempt to gain official recognition and protection forced witches to voluntarily go in the opposite direction - to go underground and keep their secrets.

In response, the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was introduced.

The original purpose of Trace was to protect underage wizards. This magic detects all magical activities, not just the individual who performed the magic.

In turbulent times, if there were any magical fluctuations around underage wizards, a warning letter would be sent to their homes.

But instead of warning underage wizards against using magic, it is intended to provide early warnings to wizarding families, telling them when and where their children might be in danger of exposing their identities.

After seeing this, the parents of the little wizards will sort out the situation at the time. If there is no danger, they will ignore the warning letter. If there is a risk, they will move the child as soon as possible.

This tradition has been preserved to this day, but has deviated from its original purpose. Muggles have reduced their persecution of wizards, and the warning letters have lost their effectiveness.

For a period of time, parents of Hogwarts students found that they would receive a letter from the Ministry of Magic if they used a little magic. For a wizard housewife, she could receive hundreds of warning letters a day, which was very annoying.

At that time, the Statute of Secrecy began to take effect, and wizards began to move away from Muggle society and gather in some famous secluded places. Gathering would create a market and bring profits.

This common phenomenon has been noticed by pure-blood families, and with the accumulated financial resources of generations, they gradually control some fundamental industries.

This is all well and good, but Muggle-born wizards are an exception.

The progress in sociology, economics and other disciplines in modern Muggle society is greater than that in the previous several thousand years combined.

Wizards who come from Muggle families can quickly demonstrate their ideological advantages in business and politics.

The elites among the pure-blood families noticed this trend, but because of their arrogance they disdained to learn Muggle knowledge and instead tried to curb Muggle wizards.

Pureblood families united. Economically, purebloods only did business with purebloods. Politically, pureblood families used large amounts of political donations to promote their respective spokesmen to important positions.

In terms of education, they also came up with ways to curb the growth of Muggle-born wizards. Under the manipulation of pure-blood families, the Ministry of Magic revised the "Tracing-Warning Letter" regulations. If children from wizarding families or mixed-blood families use magic, their parents will not receive a warning letter.

However, those who come from Muggle families and there are only young wizards who can do magic in an area will be warned.

At this point, Trace and the "Law for the Reasonable Restraint of Underage Wizards" became a persecution of young wizards from Muggle families by pure-bloods.

This is a regulation that aims to curb the growth of Muggle wizards from the educational root. It prevents them from practicing spells during holidays and they can only increase their magical knowledge by reading a few books.

But they won't have more books than wizarding families, and it's difficult for wizard students from Muggle families to outperform students from wizarding backgrounds.

Throughout their student life, they cannot practice magic during the holidays, and after returning to school, they have to spend time reviewing what they have learned before, and also learn new knowledge. These wizards have to work harder to catch up with the teaching progress.

But Hogwarts is not very strict, and young wizards can graduate as long as they can pass the exams.

Many young wizards from Muggle families are unaware of their lack of ability. After graduation, they can only become low-level laborers in the wizarding world or return to the Muggle world.

Finally, Flamel concluded: "This is a rule! The rule of pure blood!"

Loren stood there in a daze, digesting what Flamel had said.

He did not investigate whether anyone had complained to the Ministry of Magic and asked for amendments to the law in the past hundred years, nor did he investigate why successive Ministers of Magic, even a great man like Dumbledore, had not amended the law.

It goes without saying that this is a rule jointly established by all pure-blood families.

Even wizards who grew up in Muggle families would uphold this rule because their children would be the beneficiaries of this rule.

To clean up and revise it would be no less than a revolution for the entire wizarding society, and it also involves the existence of the Statute of Secrecy.

After a while, Loren came back to his senses and asked, "Is there any way to remove the trace thread?"

This was the main point he wanted to ask in the first place.

Flamel smiled slightly when he heard this question, and seemed not to care at all about Loren's opinion on it.

His illusory body swam behind Loren and whispered in his ear, "That's why I say Trace is a magic that was dug out from an old pile of papers..."

Tracing back to its origin, the trace originated from the slave society, which was an ancient magic used by slave owners to supervise and control slaves. Later, the slave system was overthrown, and this magic became information on paper.

It wasn't until the time came to build confidentiality measures that some old scholars dug up the magic.

Because the source is too ancient and the time is too long, even the old scholars could not figure out the magical principles behind it. In the end, they combined the trace thread with the magic contract and came up with a weird "Law on Reasonable Restraint of Underage Wizards".

If we want to crack it from the perspective of the principles of magic, it will be a huge project, not to mention that the magic contracts involved make the trace even more complicated.

But again, the traces reconstructed by later generations by copying are not as powerful or accurate as ancient magic. They can only be magical detection of the surrounding environment.

In other words, this is a magic-sensitive material. The simplest and most direct way is to flush it out with magic.

Without casting any magic, the little wizard's own magic power would constantly wash away and erase any trace of the existence.

If the wizard's own magic power is used, without external interference, this process will last for several years.

Take an ordinary Hogwarts student as an example. For a normal young wizard, his magic power will continue to grow with age. By the time he graduates, at the age of 17, the magic power flowing naturally in his body can wash away the traces.

This is also why the Ministry of Magic announced that young wizards will not be supervised after they reach adulthood. It is not that they will not be supervised, but that they cannot be supervised.

“Is there a faster way?”

Flamel smiled brightly, "Of course I do. Need I remind you, it's the most powerful source of magic in the world."

"The Philosopher's Stone!" Loren clapped his hands in sudden realization.

What is he waiting for? Loren got out of bed and ran straight to the principal's office. He also had something to ask Dumbledore.

Passing by the lounge, Ron was still bragging about how he used chess pieces to hold Quirrell, but there were far fewer little wizards in front of him.

Harry sat next to him, looking painful, as if there were bugs on his back, twisting his body and moving his butt from time to time.

Principal's office.

"Principal Dumbledore, I'm here to get my Philosopher's Stone." Loren sat down at his desk with confidence.

Dumbledore was checking the Hogwarts' annual financial report. Hearing this, he looked up and smiled at Loren, "Oh, I think it was the Philosopher's Stone that I borrowed from Nico. It can't be said to be your Philosopher's Stone anyway."

Loren poured himself a cup of tea, "Just give it to me anyway."

Dumbledore thought for a moment, put down the documents in his hand, opened a small drawer in front of him, took out a red translucent crystal and handed it to Loren.

Is this the Philosopher's Stone? Loren looked at the stone.

The crystal blue and shadows in his eyes intertwined, and the stone emitted a dazzling light.

If Dumbledore's magic is to look like a little sun, then this thing really is a little sun.

Loren turned his head and covered his eyes immediately, but it was too late.

"Ah!" A bright light flashed before my eyes, and everything was white. I felt swollen and painful. Tears could not stop flowing out.

Dumbledore looked at Loren with a mixture of laughter and tears. This greedy little devil had learned a lesson.

He tapped the top of Loren's head gently with his wand, and Loren immediately felt a coolness enveloping his eyeballs. The bloating and pain gradually faded away, and his vision became clear again.

Loren turned his head away and dared not look at the Philosopher's Stone anymore. He felt hopeless. His cheat code had become a debuff. How could he refine the Philosopher's Stone if he could not even look at it?

"Okay, you can watch it now." Dumbledore said with a smile.

Only then did Loren turn his head slowly, and when he realized that there was no strong light, he guiltily avoided Dumbledore's sight.

It was with Dumbledore's help that my eyes recovered. If I were alone, I would be blinded by the flash and there would be nothing I could do.

Dumbledore said: "These eyes are a unique gift. You should learn to control them rather than passively accept them."

Loren was a little confused. "How can I control this? I can't decide what I see with my eyes."

"Loren, magic vision and real vision are two different dimensions. Of course you can control them."

Dumbledore looked into Loren's eyes and said, "Magic is not just about color and light. Your eyes are just conveying information to you in this instinctive way. If you can control this perception, you can turn the light of the Philosopher's Stone into a softer landscape."

Chapter 113 Conversation

"What should I do?" Loren asked.

"Focus." Dumbledore held out his ancient wand in front of Loren.

Loren first saw a cluster of red light on the tip of the wand. His magical perception vision was induced, and his eyes were glued to it. He was unconsciously attracted and immersed in it.

Dumbledore used his wand to attract Loren's attention, and then swung the wand suddenly, shifting the focus of Loren's vision away.

For a moment, Loren's eyes couldn't focus and he couldn't see anything clearly.The colors of all the things in the office suddenly faded away, leaving only outlines drawn with white lines like line drafts.All the lines are twisted and intertwined like water.

There is no magic in objects like teacups and wooden tables, the outlines are clear, and the lines are fixed without flow.

In this scene, Loren could see more details clearly.

There was a slightly raised wooden lump on the second shelf of the bookshelf. A few bubbles floated up from the tea in the cup, and the shape and movement of the object were more intuitively presented in his field of vision.

Magical things, such as Dumbledore in front of him and the Philosopher's Stone on the table, their outlines keep flowing.

Loren looked down at his hands. The outline of his palms was also flowing, and a thin thread was wrapped around his fingers. This was the trace thread.

He hooked the thin thread with the fingers of his other hand, and the lines of his fingers and the lines of the tracer thread intertwined and then passed through each other without affecting each other.

"Perceive magic with your heart, not your eyes." Dumbledore's voice came.

Under Dumbledore's guidance, Loren abandoned colors and vision, and the world appeared as a line drawing on a two-dimensional canvas.

Ignoring the line drawing in front of him, Loren entered a wonderful state.

All the magical things in this office exude their own presence, and each thing has a different presence.

The two most powerful sources of magic are Dumbledore and the Philosopher's Stone.

Dumbledore's magic was more active, showing a thriving vitality, like a volcano. The magic in the Philosopher's Stone was more powerful, but stable and quiet, like a dead star.

This feeling was unlike any other sense. Not sight, not hearing, and equally hard to describe, but he felt it.

Dumbledore placed the antique wand on the table, and the hard wood made a slight sound when it collided with the table.

"Pah."

As the sound rang out, the white lines in Loren's vision disappeared, all objects were recolored, and he also came out of that wonderful state.

"Remember this feeling." Dumbledore looked at Loren with a gentle smile.

Loren was a little unsatisfied, "Is this the magic master's magical perception?"

For things without magic, all perceptions are enhanced, and the existence and movement of objects can be captured more clearly. For things with magic, it is transformed into another unique perception.

Dumbledore pinched his beard and pretended to be thoughtful. "Emmm, although I don't know the situation of others, my perspective should be able to give you some reference."

"How should I get into the state I was in just now?" Loren took his eyes off the wand and looked at Dumbledore.

"When your magical vision opens, calm down, recall the feeling just now, and feel the world with your heart." Dumbledore replied.

Loren nodded as if he understood, recalling the feeling just now in his mind.

Dumbledore saw Loren lost in thought and picked up the document on the table to continue reading. The office fell into silence again, the old man and the young man sat opposite each other, each busy with their own things.

It was unknown how much time had passed until Dumbledore finished reading the last page of the document and signed his name at the end with a quill.

"So, can you tell me now, what are you planning to do when you suddenly come to ask for the Philosopher's Stone?" Dumbledore's voice awakened Loren from his memories.

"Well, there's something different about the parchment Percy gave us to sign. You see, I have a strange eye. From what I can tell it's not just to maintain the Statute of Secrecy."

Loren said, holding out his hand and showing Dumbledore the trace wrapped around his fingers. He knew Dumbledore would definitely see it.

Dumbledore did not look at Loren's tender hands, but at Loren's face and eyes, trying to see something deeper from his expression.

But Loren showed no expression, just wagging his white fingers. "The book Nico gave me told me that I can use magic to wash away the entanglement of the trace thread."

Dumbledore did not respond. He closed the financial report on the table and put it aside. He looked at Loren seriously and said, "I want to know your opinion on Trace and the "Act on Reasonable Restrictions on Underage Wizards."

The fact that he came to him to ask for the Philosopher's Stone showed that Loren already knew about the Trace. The previous few sentences also showed that Loren knew something about the Trace and the meaning of the bill.

While at Nicolas Flamel's house in Devon, Nico gave the picture to Laurent in the presence of Dumbledore.

Although Dumbledore may not be clear about the role of pictures in conjunction with the fantasy book, pictures are definitely like magical portraits, carrying many memories of the portrait's owner.