Chapter 640: Transformation of Illusory to Reality (2 in 1)
The last Ancient Rune class for Grade Five before the Christmas break was changed to a free period, where the students leafed through their ‘Practical Rune for Beginners’ book and then chatted enthusiastically.
Colin Creevey pulled out a list of names and swore that they were the Animagus Transformation forms of the students in ‘Animagus Course’. He read the names on the list aloud, glancing at Professor Hap as he read each one out, hoping to get a response.
But Felix was too busy playing cards with a few students to see his darting eyes.
Valen sat in his arms, looking at the same deck of cards as him, enthusiastically and constantly coming up with ideas. “Are you sure about this one?” Felix asked, looking down, and Valen nodded firmly, stretching out her fingers dexterously, yup, this is the one.
“Expelliarmus.” Felix said.
The student opposite, Newman Balk, grinned broadly and flipped over an undercard that he had kept hidden for three rounds – “Humanoid Shield Charm, I used a non-verbal spellcasting, so the defence worked.” He said smugly, and then slammed a hand full of cards together.
“Incarcerous Spell – Professor, you’re restrained and can’t counter – Lightning spell! With a complementary Conjunctivitis Curse, heheh, another Control card… and check this out, Blazing Golden Fire.”
Felix watched sourly as the little figure that represented him burst into flames and turned to ashes due to the heat. Valen covered her eyes.
Newman Balk celebrated it as he high-fived another student.
On the other side, Creevey reached the end of the page. “… Draco Malfoy – the white peacock; Elvira – the fox; Harry Potter – the Lion, and for the record, I didn’t feel a least bit surprised by this; Harry had drawn the Gryffindor sword in his second year …” he said fervently.
“Fake news,” Ginny whispered to Luna a few tables away, “Harry told me he has a greater chance of transforming into a stag.” Luna who was building blocks with solid magic runes, and trying to piece them together in the shape of a trophy, looked up nonchalantly, “Patronus?”
“An interesting topic, isn’t it?” Ginny said with a toss of her hair, “Too bad that there are too few samples, Animagus and Patronus charm are both extremely rare, and not many people in history have mastered them at the same time …”
” A lot of people in the club can summon their Patronus.” Luna said vaguely.
“We’re special.” Ginny said immediately and tactfully, “There haven’t been many stray Dementors hurting people in the past few hundred years, not until the third year-” she became furious, “I blame that Umbridge woman! I heard the You-know-who destroyed her mind, what a great joy!”
Luna paused, and her expression became thoughtful.
“My dad said that the You-Know-Who had an unusual relationship with a Dementor and that he could have disguised himself as one when he was younger and followed a couple of them around to steal a few kisses, you know, a Dementor’s kiss …”
Ginny froze for a moment and then giggled happily, “Ouch-”
After a long while, she straightened her body, her face scrunched up, and she said seriously, “You have a point, Luna. Why didn’t I notice it before – it’s amazing how much the You-Know-Who follower’s clothes and dementor cloak resemble so much, and even his body shape is … Maybe he misses those carefree days.”
“There’s also that nose and hair that could be used as confirmation,” Luna said seriously, “if you’ve ever noticed.”
Ginny’s whole body shook from laughter, and she slumped over her desk, her shoulders flailing, and Luna gave her a curious look that held both confusion and incomprehension, but she nonetheless patted Ginny on the shoulder and went back to building the magic rune blocks.
After the class ended, the students filed out, and many of them who were heading to their homes for the holidays greeted Felix in advance.
“See you next year, Professor Hap!”
“See you next year.”
When everyone else had left, Felix breathed a long sigh of relief, after playing cards all morning, as his and Valen’s thinking was diametrically opposite to one another, so mixing them up together resulted in more losses than wins. He decided to give Valen a separate spot in the afternoon, and they could work together to deal with the other students.
“Kee?”
Valen climbed up to where Luna had been sitting before and curiously surveyed the trophy left on the table, which had been pieced together out of ancient runes, it was wobbly and the shadow of a Goblet of Fire could be seen faintly in its shape.
Felix picked up the trophy and had an idea in mind. He had remembered Luna’s thesis, the concept behind it was generally correct and had some similarities to the rune creature he had created, but it would not be easy for Luna to materialize that idea, there is simply too much knowledge involved.
But that didn’t stop Luna from receiving a talking trophy as a Christmas present.
Half an hour later, a shiny trophy appeared in front of Felix, its body entirely made of ancient runes and blank memory fragments that could flexibly transform between the real and the virtual. It could normally be stored in the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake.
He stared at the trophy, cleared his throat, and asked, “What would Felix Hap prefer to receive as a Christmas present?”
” A magic book, a unique insight, and a painting.” Trophy replied.
“And what he wouldn’t like to receive?”
“A pumpkin mask, Dirigible Plum earrings, and a vine cape glued with glowing sequins.”
“Excellent.” Felix said with satisfaction and decided to hurry up and send it away as soon as possible. Valen listened on from the sidelines for some time, and sort of understood who had sent all those odd gifts to the Great Demon King.
The great hall looked magnificent as they walked down the stairs, with twelve Christmas trees glittering with silver frost and tiny icicles, and if you got close enough you could hear the faint sound of singing between the ornaments made of mistletoe and holly. There are flower fairies dancing and fluttering around the ribbons and trees, with their transparent wings shedding a silvery glow.
The ceiling background became different as well, and the enchanted snow fell in trickles, burrowing into the necks of the students and cooling them.
The dining tables were as chaotic and lively as usual. But Felix keenly noticed the blank expression on the faces of some of the students, who happened to be attending the Animagus course. Neville sighed deeply as he looked at the table filled with beef pies, ribs, and vegetable soup, and grabbed a piece of dry bread, and tore into it in small bites. The look of resignation on his face brought back some vague flashbacks to the Gryffindor ghost Nearly Headless Nick.
A few seats away, Harry couldn’t eat either. Ron stared at the food in front of him, then with great determination he averted his eyes as if he had a grudge against them, and Hermione sipped her gruel carefully, chewing and swallowing slowly.
“Hermione, try this, it’s delicious!” Lavender Brown gloated, munching on the creamy apple pie. She had been tempting Hermione with delicious food throughout the whole meal, and whenever Hermione sternly refused she and Parvati would snuggle up and heckle.
“I’d really love to turn her into a loud-mouthed frog!” Hermione said, in annoyance when Lavender left.
“No, you can’t,” Harry said feebly, as he looked terribly hungry now, “The first few people who did that got a hundred points deducted plus detention for the whole of Christmas, without exception. Professor McGonagall was nearly maddened.”
“Yeah, I’m sure Snape must be humming with glee.” Ron said grimly, “We’re completely hopeless to win the House Cup this year.”
All the students in the ‘Animagus’ course had underestimated the difficulty of having to put a leaf in their mouths – including Felix himself – and it was not for an hour or two, or a day or two, but for a whole month. When he and Professor McGonagall checked last weekend, they found that most of the students had failed their task.
They gave all sorts of reasons, from carelessly swallowing it down while drinking soup to biting the leaf while tearing the steak, to talking loudly and accidentally blowing it out, to even grinding their teeth in their sleep and consequently, the leaf disappeared without a trace the next day. The few students who managed to show their leaves were eventually proven to be cheaters, having simply pulled a leaf off the Christmas tree in the great hall before coming over.
Felix looked on in amazement. Professor McGonagall accepted the excuses quite calmly, and passed him a demonstrative look that Felix guessed probably meant, ‘See this is why it is so rare …’
“If there is no other way,” Ron said fiercely through clenched teeth as he stood up, “we’ll just have to try Sirius’ method.” He was referring to using the Stunning Spell and the Full Body-Bind Curse, or maybe the Langlock jinx would work too.
Neville gave him a sad look, “Okay.” And he said softly.
What they both had in common was that they snored a lot, and when they woke up the morning before, Ron and Neville both found the blade of leaf missing from their mouths at the same time, the former had found the innocent blade on his pillow, and the latter could only glimpse some green remains through his teeth.
Harry was in a slightly better position than them, at least he didn’t snore much, so he woke up with the leaf still in his mouth, only it was broken in two in the middle, with a neat break. He is still investigating the cause.
Out of them all, Hermione was the only one who refused to reveal anything about her leaf, but Harry thought that – since Hermione had stopped volunteering to raise her hand to answer questions for the past few days – was a good indication of the seriousness of the problem.
As they left the great hall, Ron plucked a Christmas tree twig by hand, saying pessimistically, “It’ll come in handy sooner or later.” Hermione didn’t raise any objections.
In the afternoon, Felix appeared in the greenhouse of the Herbology class.
Professor Sprout is still dressed in the same sloppy and unkempt manner, with a patched hat tilted over her flowing grey hair and a lot of mud on her clothes – in a word, a stark contrast to the well-organized greenhouse.
“Felix!” She said enthusiastically, “Minerva told me that a total of 23 Mandrake leaves are needed, isn’t that right?”
“Well – that’s right.” Felix said, “Actually there’s another thing.” However, Professor Sprout had already dragged her short, fat body towards the back of the greenhouse, reaching out and waving a huge pair of scissors.
She said cheerfully, “Well we better have to look for some fresh leaves, every few years Minerva will ask for some for her students … but never so much as this year – we are here – and it just so happens that there are a few mandrake plants that need some pruning leaves, it has been growing for almost four years.”
Felix followed behind her, to a separate section set aside for them.
Seven or eight fully mature mandrake plants stood lush, about as tall as small shrubs, planted in pots the size of Hagrid’s enchanted pumpkins, and he could clearly hear the grunting that rose and fell. “Keep your voice down, they are sleeping, and it will be dangerous if they are awakened.” Professor Sprout said in a hushed voice, moving slowly as she opened the huge scissors in an arc, encircling two blades of leaves in a cold, shiny razor blade.
“Click.”
The leaves fell smoothly. Felix beckoned and the two mandrake leaves whirled and fell into his hands. Sprout changed position again, as she did, “You can’t pick too many from the same plant or they will become unhappy.” She explained.
Soon they had finished collecting them and Professor Sprout handed him another bag for Felix to put the mandrake leaves in. When it was all over, Felix leaned slightly closer, he held out a hand and turned his head to look at Sprout, “May I touch it?”
“Uh oh,” Professor Sprout said hesitantly, “Their screams are deadly right now, best not to wake them up-”
“Of course, of course.” Felix murmured.
He turned his wrist and the huge pot slowly floated up and hovered in front of him. He could only see the top half, the rest of it was buried in the dirt. Felix examined it for a moment, his eyes flickering with the rune symbols from the Book of Runes as the Thinking Room magic slowly spread out with him at its centre.
With a flick of his fingers, the black pot faded to a lighter colour and flickered a few times, and all that remained were some rough lines as if Valen had been drawing a three-dimensional drawing in the air with a quill.
Professor Sprout stood curiously by and observed; she hadn’t seen any magic like it before.
But it was already accepted in the outside world that Felix Hap’s magic attainment had approached the level of Dumbledore’s, which was why she hadn’t tried to stop him.
Before them, a solidified clump of brown soil was bound by an invisible force. Felix flicked his fingers again, and reality transformed wonderfully under his magic, layers of brown soil erased as if rubbed repeatedly by a rubber, leaving blurred traces in a place like pencil sketches, the soil no longer blocked their view, and revealed the mandrake within.
Felix didn’t know who had first suggested that this thing looked like a baby, but he thought it actually looked like a little old man, ugly with unknown spots all over its body, its eyes closed like it’s sleeping without being affected by his magic, its body curled into a ball, its pointy little fists clenched on its chest.
“I’ve never seen a mandrake when it’s asleep, it’s beautiful.” Professor Sprout showed an infatuated expression.
Felix had a new understanding of her aesthetics. He reached out, and his hand went straight through the rough lines that resembled sketches, touching the mandrake plant, and touching its anthropomorphic face.
His magic little by little seeped into it.
On the other side, Professor Sprout also curiously reached out and gently stroked the mandrake’s root-like skin, mumbling something under her breath.
Felix closed his eyes and tried his best to sense his magic. Gradually, he became aware of his own magic power spreading out everywhere and clinging to some magic lines, a unique wooden pattern inside the mandrake.
In the materials found in ancient ruins these magic lines were believed to be the origin of ancient runes, and he caught some familiar shapes.
When he opened his eyes, Professor Sprout was looking at him.
Felix clenched his fist and pulled his arm back sharply, a grid of bluish colour made purely of magic was dragged out by him. These magic resembled messy shapes that you could obtain by pouring molten iron liquid into an anthill. But to Felix’s eyes, it exuded a unique beauty.
He now had the same look in his eyes that filled with fascination as Professor Sprout had just shown.
The web of magic slowly stretched out, and he dispersed most of the irrelevant bits, keeping only a small cluster in the middle that resembled a curved moon. Under his subtle control, the magic changed subtly from its original rough appearance to what looked like a clear crystal cluster, and soon one of the crystal branches fell off and turned into a shimmering ancient magic rune.
Sprout’s eyes widened. Thanks to Felix’s four years of relentless promotion, most of the professors are now no longer strangers to the basics of ancient runes, and right now all she can think of is one word – ancient magic, the ancient magic of the deadly cry of the mandrake.
More and more rune symbols gradually took shape, shedding from the main body and falling like weary birds into Felix’s other hand, and gradually piecing together to create a shape similar to a curved moon, like the magic lines from before.
But even Professor Sprout knew that these two are completely different. She became increasingly nervous inside.
When only one-third of the magic power was left in the air, it suddenly disintegrated on its own, collapsing into a smoky mass of magic. Professor Sprout, who was watching from the sidelines, unexpectedly breathed a quiet sigh of relief, unaware of the cold sweat that broke out on her forehead.
“Doesn’t seem to be working too well.” Felix said with a smile.
“You want to turn the innate ability of the mandrake into magic?” Professor Sprout asked.
“I’ve been researching sound magic recently,” Felix said slowly, “In the summer break I came across some materials in the Ilvermorny School library, but the progress has slowed down lately, and I wanted to look for inspiration from other places … ”
“Speaking of Ilvermorny, Felix, would you like to see the branch of snakewood tree that you brought back? It’s growing nicely now.”
“Sure. …”
They walked towards the other greenhouse, and on the way there, they saw the distant leaving figure of Professor Burbage. “Charity is ready to publish her research,” Professor Sprout informed him, “she seems to be planning to publish a dozen or so theses in one go … I advised her that it would be best to compile them into a book. ”
“I know something about this matter too.” Felix nodded, “Severus is also compiling materials related to it, so maybe they have discussed it.”
The snakewood branch had grown well, already wrist-thick and three or four feet tall, Felix stayed for a while and then left after saying goodbye. He strolled through the snow, recalling the experience that had taken place in the greenhouse. Professor Sprout seemed startled, which was not surprising; he himself had found the result of this research very frightening.
Converting the cry of the mandrake into true ancient magic, this is a true sound of death, that could destroy a city and a nation in a matter of moments, and Felix hoped he would never have the opportunity to use its full power, and this magic to remain as something that only he knows.
Ancient magic – no, the combination of ancient rune and memory magic gradually showed its unparalleled power and potential, just as he had done with the Mandrake’s flower pot, where reality and illusion were at his fingertips.
How f
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