The next morning, Valen remained reluctant to get up from under her velvet quilt, so Felix shoved the twittering alarm clock under her little quilt.
Valen turned off the alarm clock and tossed it out, before drowsily smacking her beak and rolling over to sleep more soundly.
Felix arrived at the great hall; the weather is overcast and damp outside, and the owls’ feathers are wet from the dew in the air. A brown owl circled him twice and dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet.
He spread the paper, but there is no mention of yesterday’s attack against the Minister of Magic, instead, there’s a magic photo of Ms. Bones standing in front of the Thief’s Downfall on the front page. In the photo, she looked calmly at the camera with a very relaxed expression, with several people in the background – the Aurors standing behind her with solemn expressions, while Sirius leaning against the wall, and poking the water curtain of Thief’s Downfall with his wand.
When Felix appeared outside the Ancient Rune classroom, a student is already waiting at the door.
“Good morning, Professor Hap.” Colin Creevey greeted enthusiastically.
“Good morning to you as well, Mr. Creevey, come in.” For the first time after two months, Felix opened the door of the classroom, which smelled like a mixture of accumulated dust and damp stale air, and the corners of the walls crept with green moss.
“Tch.” Felix waved his wand and the windows in the classroom opened simultaneously, then a whirlwind came out of nowhere in the room, the tables and chairs “clattered”, while Creevey’s face sparkled with excitement, and after ten seconds or so, a cloud of gray air flew out through the windows, the air in the classroom became fresh and comfortable again.
“Now, all that’s left is moss.” Felix muttered, pointing his wand at the stubborn green patches, the tip of the wand emitting a bright light, and when it hit the wall, the moss on it immediately disappeared.
“Is it cleaning magic, Professor? I can help!” Creevey volunteered. Felix had no objection, so Creevey drew his wand and followed Felix’s example, trying to recite the spell silently. After failing several times, he had to recite the spell honestly: “Scourgify! Scourgify!”
Ten minutes later, they stared intently at the classroom, searching for any possible stains. ” Nearly complete, let’s see, extra ten points for your passion for work.” Felix said and went to the window, where a drizzle of rain has been falling outside, which is carried into the classroom by the wind and hits his face with cool moisture.
Creevey found a seat in the front and took out the book “Practical Rune (Elementary)”, and asked with great interest, “Professor, what kind of new teaching aid have you prepared for this year, can you tell me in advance?”
“Why are you so sure of it?” Felix looked over at him from the window.
“Because every year you prepare something new,” Creevey counted on his fingers, “the first year – oh, I was still in the first year – -was Golem, the second year was a variety of sneakoscope, and the third year was rune cards … I was soooo curious for a while about the new teaching aid we would have this year, so I came over early.”
“Ah, if you put it that way … Aren’t you already holding it?”
Creevey blinked and looked down at the “Practical Rune (Elementary)” in his hand, and his expression collapsed in a moment with great disappointment. “But–” he stammered, ” Just a summary of some practical runes is in here.”
“Well.” Felix shook his left hand, and the ring glowed with a bright light – and with a loud bang, a large box landed on the table.
Creevey’s eyes widened. He leaned down to stare at the contents of the box – it is a variety of small wooden sticks, which appears to be a mixture of quill and wand, with a sharp edge at one end. The sticks are marked with oddly shaped patterns that looked like something in-between letters and runes.
“Rune carving knife,” Felix explained: ” it already became available two years ago, but I have never promoted it, after all, the wand works just fine. But as ancient runes become more and more developed, it is necessary to make more specific distinctions, just like the cauldron of the Potions class, which also has various versions through the centuries: ordinary type, automatic mixing, foldable, special material, etc. …”
This is actually Hedstrom Vera’s suggestion.
Creevey looked at the box and asked, “Professor, how do I pick the right rune carving knife for me?”
“Oh, the material is actually the same – they even come from the same chestnut tree, at most the pattern is different, but it does not affect the use. You can pick the one you like, first come, first served–” Felix said, relieved to see him choosing with interest.
After Valen learned to write, she loved to scribble around with a paintbrush, so Felix cut a full chestnut tree into thick boards as tall as Valen to allow her to write and paint on it. In addition to a few fairly good-looking ‘works’ collected by Felix, the rest of the materials were reshaped into rune carving knives.
He caught a glimpse of Creevey picking up a carving knife and examining the design on it with awe in a fleeting glance. Felix decided to keep that a secret, no, to keep the tradition, and in the future add patterns on the carving knives that have no real use …
At that moment, two more students walked into the classroom, and Ginny and Luna looked at Creevey, who is about to plunge into the box, with rather curious eyes.
…
Felix stood on the podium. The students below are chattering about a rune carving knife in their hands, and they are even seriously speculating about the meaning of the pattern.
“As you already know, this class has a separate practical section, which means that the value of practical runes is recognized by the Wizarding Examinations Authority and included in the examination. According to the first version of the assessment standards, the O.W.Ls exam will only involve engraving common runes and rune circuits, while the N.E.W.Ts exam will involve casting runic spells, such as the Bright Fire-making Spell …”
The runic spell is not as easy to learn as one might think; the minimum requirement to master it is to master practical runes used in that spell. Not many students in the class can actually do this. To be precise, minus Ginny and Luna, who are both members of the Magic Rune Club, the count is currently zero.
At the end of the lesson, Felix collected the summer assignments and announced the end of the class. The rain outside is getting heavier, with a few muffled thunderclaps sounding from time to time. After finishing his meal in the great hall at noon, Felix noticed the door to the staffroom is left open, so he walked in through it.
“Oh, whoever it is, please close the door for me, thanks – it’s a little noisy out there.” Professor McGonagall’s voice stated.
Felix casually closed the door and looked over at a desk – from where the voice had sounded. But all he could see are stacks of parchment, and Professor McGonagall’s body is totally blocked. With a casual wave of Felix’s hand, a flame flared up in the fireplace. The dampness in the room dissipated considerably.
“Summer assignment?”
“Yeah.” Professor McGonagall looked up and nudged her glasses, “The first week of school is the busiest, lots of things need to be dealt with, summer assignments, Quidditch try-outs, adjusting class choices … Information from the Order of the Phoenix also needs to be sorted out in time, not to mention taking time to comfort Charity — -”
She immediately shut up.
“The Muggle Studies professor? What’s wrong with her?” Felix asked curiously.
Professor McGonagall pursed her lips.
“Well, you’ll find out somewhere else … she was involved in a tricky mess.”
Felix still had an impression of this professor from two years ago, when they had attended a not-so-successful international conference together, and the professor had mentioned that she is studying a popular science book on genes and heredity.
Thinking about it, a guess popped into his head – “There won’t be any Death Eaters after her, are there?”
But it shouldn’t be, Rita Skeeter is still kicking alive and well.
“Of course not, she-she was caught by the Muggle police,” Professor McGonagall said with an uncertain tone as she grunted from her nose, “according to her words she was trying to consult an academic for advice, and she accidentally created a few sparks in her wand and was suspected of possessing a dangerous weapon.”
Huh, she is something …
Felix smacked his lips, and said dryly after a short while, “She was not sentenced, right?”
“Her penalty wasn’t too severe on account of her being a professor – just a warning, plus a fine. Good thing she didn’t enter Azkaban. Still, she felt ashamed and submitted her resignation upon her return to Dumbledore, but the Headmaster didn’t agree. She’s been stuck in her office for the past few days, with the excuse of preparing her new book.”
Felix raised his eyebrow, thinking of the paper Professor Burbage had planned to publish, he felt that this new book would cause an uproar, in fact, it is not impossible to publish such controversial content, but it is just that the current time is really sensitive. It took less than ten seconds for him to come up with a solution – to send her a complete set of biology books.
Since she is determined to study, let her spend more time, and when she understands it all, the battle may have already been finished.
At that moment, the door pushed open from outside again.
The “rustle” of the quill on the parchment is immediately muffled by the noise from outside, followed by a damp, cold air rushing into the room, the red-hot wood in the fireplace blazed, sending a series of sparks up.
With a “bang”, the door slammed shut, Snape walked in dragging his ever-present black robe, with a thick pile of parchment floating behind him.
————
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