The next morning Felix went to his classes, as usual, the three wanted men who were still alive were naturally picked up by Aurors, he didn’t pay much attention to them, at most, he checked on the new defences that had been added to the school this year, Professors Flitwick and McGonagall had been busy because of it some time.
They added this new layer of defence to guard against the Death Eaters, and in the words of Charms Class Professor Flitwick, “The You-Know-Who regarded Headmaster Dumbledore as a major obstacle for his reign during the First War! Who knows what he’ll do this time?” Of course, Felix and Snape, during a private chat, concluded that Voldemort would not deliberately target the school students.
He wanted to rule, not slaughter. But Filius was right about one thing; there are indeed quite a few people in the school who became a major nuisance to Voldemort, it was just Dumbledore before, but now there is an additional Felix, as well as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, three students who have disgraced him. If one looked even more broadly, the young wizards from Muggle families and students and teachers who did not approve of his brutal philosophy could also be classified in this category.
Although Voldemort would not deliberately target those latter group – that would only come after he had taken over the British magical world, as part of his “grand cause” – anyone with a bit of intelligence would realize that if Voldemort aimed to do something, no matter who his target is, he would not show mercy. Voldemort would never care if you are innocent or not.
That’s why defensive measures are necessary.
“I don’t need to tell you about the exams next June, and one of the major point in your life is finally here,” Felix said in his fifth year Ancient Rune Class, “I reckon you’ve been hearing this similar statement over and over again since last year, it’s like a countdown ticking in your head –”
” Actually, for us, it started in our third grade.” Ron whispered, “Because we have a good friend whose name is Miss Know-it-all.”
Hermione rolled her eyes.
“All in all, you’re lucky that the Ancient Rune Class practical part of the exam has only been divided up this year with no clear specification made beforehand, which means that it won’t be too difficult and the test coverage will be relatively narrow.”
The students below listened with great focus, usually, at this point of the year, every word uttered by the professor would be worth memorizing, as there is a high chance that it would be relevant to the exam.
And this is the O.W.Ls year!
“Magic Golems, the three most common kinds of Sneakoscopes out of the seven, and rune cards … Other than that, what we’re going to talk about today is relevant: from now until the time of Christmas, you will learn to make twelve types of amulets.”
” The core of each amulet is made up of an array of runic circuits. Of course, the true version is much more complex, because of the stability and duration of the magic power… Today, we are going to learn about an amulet that can ward off dark creatures, and you will notice its entire runic circuit core has been carefully structured around the light rune.”
“You are by no means unfamiliar with this knowledge, but you haven’t exactly delved much deeper into it either, so today’s lesson will help you understand and consolidate this knowledge better.” Felix paused and looked down at the students, “You all have a copy of the rune booklet, right?”
The students nodded in unison.
“Very well, apart from some basic theory, this booklet also contains a complete dissection of an ancient magic, Illumination, which I have already covered in the Magic Rune Club. The Light Rune is also used as the core of the Illumination Magic. In addition to this, the Bright Fire-making spell, which is highly rated by the Dark Force Defence League, also made use of this same rune as its core … Overall, it has become a highly iconic rune, in other words, a test point.”
A bold student couldn’t resist asking, “Professor, so this rune will appear on the O.W.L exam?”
Felix blinked, “All I can say is, it’s very likely. Mr. Thomas.”
He waved his wand and a large wall of writing appeared on the board. “The crafting method is in the textbook, and the dos and don’ts are on the board. In addition-” With another wave of his wand, a cluster of white smoke emerged from the tip of his wand and a series of images hovered in midair as it became footage. ” Footage of amulet making, for your reference.”
The students below the podium are no strangers to this, but it is the first time this magic has been used in an ancient rune class. They stared at the footage in mid-air –
A clean, slender hand held the rune carving knife – they guessed it would be Professor Hap – and fluidly wrote a burning magic rune on the palm-sized chestnut slab, so fast that before the first one had cooled, the last one was already finished, and the whole circuit of magic runes linked together and burst with a bright glow. When the bright light faded, the hand began to move again, and they could only partially understand the next procedure, and after nearly three minutes, an amulet was made.
Next, the silver cloud in the air suddenly froze and the scene returned to the beginning, starting a new cycle.
“I haven’t figured it out yet-”
“You have to watch it together with the material and the notes on the board.”
“So we just have to do what we’re shown?” Harry murmured in awe, “If only Potions class could be like this.” Potions recipes in the fifth year had taken another step up in difficulty, the various steps involved became so complicated, and slight negligence could turn the potion into a pot of waste water.
“Snape should really learn this, instead of spending his energy on thinking about how to deduce our points.” Ron couldn’t help but complain.
“I think Professor Binns needs it too.” Seamus chimed in. His words drew a chorus of approval; Professor Binns is well known for being able to present the thrilling Goblin Rebellion and the War of the Giants into a boring technical report. Many of the students became programmed to get sleepy when he opened his mouth.
When the classroom quieted down, Felix said, “I don’t think you’ll be able to make it in one attempt, but it’s always wise to set your aim high. Anyway, let’s get started.”
The students off the podium took out their rune carving knives and chestnut slabs and started to try their hand at making amulets.
Throughout the whole session, Felix walked around the classroom, pointing out various problems of the students, and he noticed a certain phenomenon – to be precise, it had been going on for a while, and today was just another reoccurrence – the Slytherin students’ looked at him with reverence.
This kind of behaviour is very different from before, and cannot be justified simply as a sign of adherence to classroom discipline. Well, at least – when they met him in the corridors recently, they would deliberately slow down their speech and appear extremely dignified. It was as if they were afraid of making a joke in front of him.
Felix had thought that this reverence came from the reputation of the Elder Wand, but the Ministry of Magic had helped him to dispel the rumours, and yet their attitude persisted without waning. He wondered if they knew about his new habit of ‘walking’ in Hogsmeade these past two days.
Even the Gryffindor students could notice this kind of perversion.
“The Slytherin students are oozing something amiss from top to bottom.” Ron said at lunchtime, waving his fork in his hand, “I almost thought they were in cahoots with Percy.”
” W-what it got to do with Percy?” Harry asked.
“Percy’s been busy as hell! And, of course, he’s overjoyed. I mean, he’s supposed to remain idle for the next few years after hosting two big tournaments in a row last year, but now there’s the Ancient Rune Exchange, and that’s great news for him.”
“The Slytherin students wouldn’t still think that the Professor is holding the Elder Wand, would they?” Hermione asked, “I mean, the Professor has clarified that, hasn’t he?”
“Probably too desperate for glory.” Harry said, this is something he understood better than Ron and Hermione, as he had been playing Quidditch with Slytherin house for three years and became familiar with their ways.
The bad reputation of Slytherin house had to do with many factors. Such as being arrogant and loving to talk about their status, of course, more importantly, there had been a growing trend from top to bottom where they valued honour too much and were not shy about using many petty tricks to win when they were on the bottom.
“You guys are right,” the ghost Nearly Headless Nick floated over, ” In their opinion, Mr. Hap is expected to be Headmaster of Hogwarts. I don’t know who first spread this word, but it suddenly became widespread in Slytherin House.”
“But does it really matter?” Harry asked.
” Well, of course, it does.” Nearly Headless Nick said, “Do you know how many Headmasters have come from Slytherin House throughout the history?”
“Er …” Harry fumbled, he looked at Ron, who shared his blank expression, and then at Hermione who had a rather odd look on her face, so he asked uncertainly, “Maybe a dozen?” Nearly Headless Nick shook his head “Are there too few?” and Harry added another question.
He knew just one, Sirius’ great-great-grandfather, known as the most unpopular Headmaster in the history of Hogwarts.
“Not very few, but only one, Phineas Black.” Nearly Headless Nick revealed the answer.
“Only him?” Harry asked in surprise. He finally understood why Hermione’s expression looked quite weird. She must have known, because she had almost memorized the book, ‘Hogwarts: A History’.
“Over thirty Headmasters and only one was from Slytherin, so you can imagine what kind of expectations they harboured … Honestly, I think the Headmaster Black was quickly accepted and supported by Slytherin House during his time was probably also related to the fact that he was the only Slytherin Headmaster, even though the future generations didn’t think much of him. ”
“But wasn’t he the most unpopular Headmaster?” Harry muttered.
“There’s no contradiction between the two. It’s true that some of the things he did while in post were unpleasant, but at the beginning, Slytherin House was cheering and celebrating it, and they had a lot of expectations for Headmaster Black at the time.” Nearly Headless Nick, said, “Although even Slytherin House’s own students couldn’t stand him later on.”
“So what the hell has he done that angered his own people.” Ron muttered.
“I can’t speak ill of him behind his back, he was once a Headmaster of Hogwarts after all, you can check it out by yourselves.” Nearly Headless Nick said as he drifted off and flew away.
At the table, the golden trio froze for a moment and continued to eat with their heads down.
” Any new news?” Harry asked Hermione.
“Today? Nope.” She said briefly.
” International Confederation of Wizards still hasn’t approved Professor Dumbledore’s application?” Ron asked.
” Well, not this soon, but the preparations have started, in fact, the event will proceed whether they agree with it or not, it will just be a lot less impactful.” Hermione explained to them the reasoning behind it, “And it will also slow down the speed at which the ancient practical runes will be promoted in other wizarding schools.”
Harry suddenly gave a violent cough.
“Is there such a thing? Did I overlook it?”
“It’s obvious… It mentioned, that they would invite experts in ancient runes and the Headmasters of other wizarding schools… Why do you think they would do that?” Hermione asked rhetorically.
Putting it that way, Harry and Ron somewhat understood the reason.
“How’s the ‘pumpkin pie’ doing these days, any ideas?” Ron asked after a few moments, ” I have to deal with a lots of assignments and the little time I have is reserved for Quidditch practice.” He groaned, “I kind of understand what Fred and George were saying, O.W.Ls year really does stress people out – since it peels a layer off our skin!”
“I asked Hedwig to send him a big bag of snacks.” Harry said honestly. He wondered if Hagrid had shared it with Grawp; there wasn’t enough in that bag to even feed that giant a single bite.
“Ugh, I send him one as well,” Hermione sighed, “I wish he’d come back sooner, Professor Grubbly-Plank is obviously getting more popular.”
“Professor Grubbly-Plank has to deal with a lot of her own mess,” Ron said, “She has her own small estate with a few magical creatures in it. Fred mentioned that she has a large colony of fire crabs on her estate …”
Harry and Hermione looked at him at the same time.
“How do you know that?”
Ron shrugged, “Fred and George have a shop in Hogsmeade, and Professor Grubbly-Plank’s estate is nearby, a few Crups ran out of an estate once and Fred and George helped her catch them back.”
“How come I’ve never seen that pet shop in Hogsmeade?” Harry couldn’t help asking.
“There is no shop, Professor Grapeland only takes private orders from foreign countries. Every kind of pet requires a special licence.”
“A special licence?”
“Yeah, things like fire crabs, Crup, and Jobberknolls which are somewhat risky but not particularly dangerous can be used as wizard pets, but of course, children are out of the question, Charlie was particularly obsessed with Moke – a lizard that shrinks at will – for a while, but we only have cats and gnomes around the house, with some occasional harmless little creatures that will come and go… …”
At the weekend Harry gathered the members of the dueling study group together and a few extra people showed up than last year. Luna had come along and curiously surveyed the Room of Requirement while Ginny whispered in Harry’s ear for an explanation, as she acted as if they had accidentally entered the wrong room.
“We’ll train a few things that aren’t taught in class, like Patronus Charm, runic magic, some very practical spells like the Four-Point Spell that will show the way, and all other things we mastered during the tournament. It’s not just about learning magic, we can all sit and chat too, or occasionally go outside to the Black Lake to blow off some steam.” Harry explained to the crowd his plans for the dueling self-study group.
“Where is this place?” Ginny asked.
” It’s Room of Requirement, it will provide us with training space and most importantly the equipment that we can use as we please without having to think about the damage.” Harry instantly said.
The crowd looked around with amazement as rows of targets and mats appeared out of thin air as they watched. They looked at it all with fascination.
For the next while, Harry, Ron, and Hermione instructed the others to shoot Red Sparks with their wands, “Don’t underestimate it, it can save your life in a pinch.” Ron said half-truthfully. Everyone here could manage to make sparks from their wands, but it wasn’t enough to use them for warning purposes.
After the first activity, they parted in front of the tapestry of trolls before the Room of Requirement.
“Not that bad, was it?” Hermione said.
“Yeah.” Harry said vaguely, not wanting to explain his feelings about the two minutes he had spent alone with Ginny, he felt like he had done something wrong, and anyway neither he nor Ginny had brought up the subject of how to make the sparks more focused and brighter, but again Harry couldn’t remember exactly what they had talked about.
They went down the revolving staircase and prepared to eat in the great hall. At the stair from the third to the ground floor they heard a loud noise coming from the entrance hall, and they looked at each other and picked up their pace in unison, the sound became clearer, it is a woman’s shriek.
“What’s happening?” Ron asked in shock.
Many people crowded in the entrance hall, densely packed, enclosing a central space, and the chatter noise kept rising. People in the back row craned their necks in excitement to look ahead as Harry, Ron and Hermione struggled to get through the crowd, ” Make a way, there are two Prefects here!” Ron shouted.
“Who isn’t?” Draco Malfoy whispered in his ear.
Ron was startled, followed by a look of disgust, “What are you doing here?”
“Watching the fun,” Draco said slowly, “Or based on your excuse, I’m doing my duty as a Prefect?”
Ron’s face flushed.
Harry didn’t say anything as he caught a brief glimpse of Professor Hap, who stood solemnly in front of the crowd like he had run into an extremely difficult problem. But the professor isn’t at the centre of this incident – he’s just a bystander. Harry shifted his eyes to look at the two women who stood at the center of the crowd, Muggle Studies Professor Charity Burbage yelling at Professor McGonagall, “Let me go, Minerva, let me go!”
“I won’t allow you to leave.” Professor McGonagall tightened her lips and said dryly, “Neither Headmaster Dumbledore would.”
Professor Bubarge had two trunks trailing beside her, well stuffed and bulging, and it looked like that was everything she had, and Harry listened for a moment, learning from the chatter of the crowd that Professor Burbage suddenly wanted to leave the school for some unknown reason.
“Professor Burbage has not been in her best condition lately.” A third-year girl said sadly.
“She’s in a trance …”
“Maybe she’s too eager to finish that new book.” A well-informed student said.
In the middle of the entrance hall, Professor McGonagall tugged Burbage hard and refused to let go as she sternly said, “Charity, if being locked up in a muggle prison is still bothering you …”
“…It’s not because of that.” Professor Burbage sobbed.
“Then what is the reason?”
Professor Burbage’s eyes suddenly widened, and she stared listlessly at the dimly lit ceiling as if something unseen is preparing to swoop down and take her away, she shuddered and sobbed, “It’s a nightmare … I, I’ve become a Squib!”
An uproar erupted in the entrance hall.
————-
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