As Char waved his wand, a thin wisp of silver smoke gushed out from its tip. A strange feeling emerged in his heart, as if a part of his own will was being drawn into the smoke, forming a special connection with it.
Char looked rather surprised. He had come to deeply understand the connection between will and magic, but previously, magic had always been determined by will. This was the first time he had encountered a spell that seemed to pull back on his will. This was a version that had been edited beyond recognition; one could only imagine the power of the original Patronus Charm. It was not impossible to believe it could directly and forcibly pull a wizard's will and condense it into a concrete form. It was indeed a very special, and very dangerous, kind of magic. No wonder it had caused such a massive mess in history.
A chill ran down Char's spine, and his expression became more serious. No matter how safe this magic was now claimed to be, he knew he must be more cautious with it, given its troubled past.
Then, Char's eyes fell on his system panel. After he had performed the spell, the faint words "Patronus Charm" had appeared, but they had not yet fully taken shape. Obviously, according to the system, he had not yet reached the level required to learn this magic.
Char wasn't surprised by this. The difficulty of the Patronus Charm was well-established. Harry had started learning it in his third year, and as Voldemort's last Horcrux, he was affected by a fragment of Voldemort's soul, even being able to speak Parseltongue. Dumbledore himself had admitted that Harry had gained some magical powers from Voldemort, meaning his natural magical strength and perception were extremely high. It was just that he didn't usually pay much attention to magic and hadn't fully developed his talents. When he truly wanted to learn something, his speed was beyond imagination.
But even with Harry's immense talent, it took him nearly a whole year to master the Patronus Charm. Apart from Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't master it until their fifth year, after several months of secret training in Dumbledore's Army. By the fifth year, wizards are close to adulthood and have already started advanced magic courses. No matter how lazy a student is, their talents have basically been fully developed by then. Ron and Hermione's talents were definitely not as strong as Harry's, but they were still excellent. Even so, as fifth-year students, they had to spend months practicing hard to cast the charm. This showed just how difficult the spell truly was.
Char's current magical aptitude was quite good. But apart from his outstanding achievements in herbology, his exposure to ancient magic, and his possession of a natural will, he might not be any stronger in other areas of magic than Hermione was in her fifth year. Mastering the Patronus Charm quickly was still a bit unrealistic.
Especially when his eyes fell on the magic power intensity displayed on the system panel. His brows furrowed slightly, and he sighed softly in his heart. "My magic perception has been upgraded to platinum level, which is excellent. But my current magical power, looking at Hogwarts as a whole, is probably at a lower to middle level. The Patronus Charm requires a high level of magical power, which will undoubtedly increase the difficulty for me to get started."
Fortunately, his water-holding capacity had reached the platinum level. Once the water boost was triggered, his magic power intensity could be increased, which could make up for this shortcoming.
In a moment, the slight sigh in Char's heart was suppressed. His talents and conditions had been much worse before, but he had learned magic all the same. Now, things were better. It was just a matter of trying a little harder. There was nothing to be pretentious about. With the time spent lamenting and complaining, he could be practicing and actually learning.
As for the benefits of the Patronus Charm for other magic that Dumbledore had mentioned, Char hadn't realized them yet. But that was normal. How could there be so many magical tricks that could make a person progress rapidly and be reborn just by learning them? He hadn't even started to truly learn the Patronus Charm yet. Even if there were benefits, what could he possibly see now? He shouldn't become impetuous and impatient for quick success just because he had made some achievements recently. He needed to take steady steps and make gradual progress.
Immediately, Char continued to wave his wand. Thin silver smoke continued to gush from its tip. And with each attempt, on the system panel, the words of the Patronus spell became a little clearer, slowly moving towards the Black Iron level.
Char was completely focused, repeating the exercise again and again. Silver smoke, filled with his will, gradually filled the small greenhouse. A wisp of the smoke touched the Herpo notebook that Char kept with him.
And this... was like something had been touched.
The notebook swallowed up the wisp of silver smoke, and the human-skin paper began to flip slowly. Gradually, more and more of the silver smoke seemed to be attracted by the notebook, sinking into it. The speed at which the notebook flipped began to get faster and faster.
By the time Char noticed something was wrong, there was already a rustling sound in the small greenhouse. A vortex had formed above Herpo's notebook, and almost all of the silver smoke that had filled the room was being drawn into it, continuously absorbed by the artifact.
Char's pupils shrank slightly. The Herpo Codex, which he had obtained from Lucius Malfoy, had been studied by him several times due to Herpo's infamous reputation. But it was mostly filled with crazy, emotional language, with not even many complete sentences. Trying to get any valuable information from it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Therefore, Char had temporarily given up his exploration of the codex, having no real hope for it and just treating it as a precious collection to keep in case he needed it someday.
But Char had never expected that the silver smoke produced when practicing the Patronus Charm would actually cause a reaction in Herpo's notebook. This was quite a big commotion. Given the reputation of the despicable Herpo, Char still had a strong fear and vigilance towards the things he left behind. He didn't approach rashly, just watching from a distance.
Then, he discovered a strange change in the notebook. The crazy words that had originally filled its pages suddenly began to rearrange themselves. Lines of brand new, fluent ancient Greek text appeared on the first page.
"I am Herpo, and I have made a terrible mistake."
"I failed to seal the manifestation of my evil will; it escaped."
"I also have a strong feeling that the influence of it, and the Patronus Charm I created, will not end here."
"I must find a way to fight them, otherwise a terrible disaster will happen."
The text stopped there. Even though more silver smoke poured in, the remaining words did not appear. The notebook fell silent again.
Meanwhile, Char's eyes were filled with shock. He had never imagined that beneath the notebook filled with Herpo's mad ramblings, such a secret was hidden. As Dumbledore had said, a genius wizard in ancient Greece had created the Patronus Charm through a large number of bloody and cruel experiments. Was this genius wizard Herpo? And had he even predicted the possible harmful effects of the Patronus Charm on future generations? Was there a way to fight back recorded in this notebook?
After a long time, Char's mood gradually calmed, but his brows furrowed even more. If possible, he really didn't want to know these secrets. After all, the less you knew, the safer you might be. The Patronus Charm had left hidden dangers in history, and even Dumbledore's face had been heavy and serious when he mentioned it. Char had no intention of delving into the matter. If he got dragged into it, it might just be a whirlpool that swallowed everything up.
But fortunately, after so many years, the secrets of the Herpo Codex should not have been discovered. The Malfoy family had collected it for many years, and nothing had happened. Even if there were hidden dangers, they would not explode in the short term. And judging from the reaction just now, it seemed that only under the magic of the Patronus Charm could the true information recorded on it be revealed. And the Patronus Charm would have to reach a certain level. Char hadn't even mastered the spell yet, so even if he wanted to explore the secrets within, he wasn't qualified enough. He would at least have to wait until he could condense his own Patronus, and that was still a long way off. For the time being, he didn't have to worry.
This made Char feel a little relieved. But after such an episode, he no longer had the mood to continue practicing. He had learned too many secrets of the wizarding world tonight. Besides, practicing the Patronus Charm involved willpower and was very mentally exhausting. After this long period of training, even with his extremely strong mental fortitude, he still felt tired.
After taking a deep breath and looking at the sky that had already begun to brighten, Char walked towards the Hufflepuff common room, planning to use a cup of hot tea to soothe his tense and tired spirit.
When he walked into the lounge quietly, trying to avoid making too much noise, he saw something that surprised him. The first-graders were all in the lounge. A look of surprise appeared in his eyes. He glanced at the time—it wasn't even five in the morning. Normally, unless there was an emergency, the kids would cherish every second in bed. If it weren't for the temptation of breakfast, getting up was the biggest problem for the young Hufflepuffs. Why were they all up today?
What Char didn't expect was that the kids who were awake were not enjoying a delicious breakfast from the kitchenette. Instead, they were practicing spells. For a moment, Char wondered if he had walked into the wrong common room.
"You... what's going on?" he asked. "When did our house become so competitive?"
Hearing Char's question, the little Hufflepuffs looked at his figure, still covered in morning dew, their faces tight. When did the school start rolling up its sleeves? You, the king of pulling all-nighters, don't you have any self-awareness at all?
A moment later, Hannah, with a tired face, answered Char's confusion. She said with a sad expression, "If given a choice, who would want to get up so early to practice spells? It's all because of the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. Merlin, why did this happen to our class?"
At the mention of this, Hannah couldn't help but shudder, and the rest of the young Hufflepuffs also had faces filled with fear.
"That's the Forbidden Forest!" one of them exclaimed. "It's said there are vampires, werewolves, and all sorts of other evil things in there."
"The Weasley brothers are said to be frequent visitors to the Forbidden Forest," another added. "They bet that half of our class will die in there!"
"I heard that it wasn't just us; many of the little lions in Gryffindor were frightened and cried."
"It is said that the Slytherins are still trying to find ways to feign illness or ask for leave to avoid the exam."
And besides the fear of the Forbidden Forest itself, Hannah looked at Char and sighed twice before whispering, "Besides... we heard about it, too. For this test, Char, you have to enter the Forbidden Forest from another entrance with Harry and the others. You can't stay with us."
At the mention of this, Hannah's eyes filled with worry for Char, and a sad look crossed her face again. "There's nothing we can do. I can't help you, Char. I can only let you face those terrible things alone. So, at the very least, we have to do our best and not let you worry about us. You just need to focus on your preparations."
Hannah clenched her fists, her eyes full of determination. "We'll take care of ourselves. In the final exam, we will also work hard to ensure that our house gets first place. You've done enough, Char. We only hope to see you walk out of the Forbidden Forest safely. Forget getting up early; we can even pull an all-nighter."
At this, the other kids also nodded with determination.
Char was stunned at first. He hadn't expected the kids to work so hard, so contrary to their usual style, all to stop him from worrying. And everyone was worried about his safety.
Then, his heart warmed. He nodded slightly. "Don't worry. I'm ready. Don't be afraid; Headmaster Dumbledore won't let those terrible things happen to you. I'll tell you something in secret: I've been to the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid many times. It's not that scary. It's the Weasley twins—they've always wanted to go, but they've always been stopped by Hagrid. What they said was just to scare you."
Hannah's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Char laughed. "When have I ever lied to you?"
This undoubtedly made Hannah and the other little Hufflepuffs breathe a sigh of relief, their tense nerves relaxing a lot. Before they knew it, Char had already become the backbone of the first-graders. After he said the Forbidden Forest wasn't that scary, many of the young students who had been worried and even had some difficulties using magic were finally able to stabilize their performance.
Char sat in the corner, watching the little ones practice, his heart still filled with warmth. Thinking of his own trip to the Forbidden Forest, a hint of coldness flashed across his eyes. Quirrell's target would definitely be mostly on his team with Harry, but he would never miss the opportunity to use the rest of the students to distract Dumbledore and the professors. The Hufflepuffs, he feared, would inevitably encounter danger.
Dumbledore would make arrangements, but they couldn't put all their hopes on him. Maybe he could do something too. It would certainly be great if he could enhance the strength of the young ones and allow them to be more capable of protecting themselves. But even though they were much stronger than their counterparts in the original story at the same time, they were, after all, only first-years. The spells they had learned were very limited, and they lacked the ability and conditions to learn many others.
At this thought, Char's gaze inevitably fell on the system panel and the laser spell he had previously derived from the Lumos Charm. If this spell was completely finished, it would be very suitable for teaching the children. After all, it was derived from the Lumos Charm, so the difficulty wasn't too high. The young students had a solid foundation in the Lumos Charm, so it was very likely they could master the laser spell within a few days. And this spell had a certain lethality and was also more effective against dark creatures. It would be best to give them some way to protect themselves in the Forbidden Forest.
However, the words "Laser Spell" were still a little blurry. It had not been fully formed. This meant the spell was still missing a bit of its main force; it wasn't perfect yet. If Char taught it to the little ones rashly, he didn't know what might happen. But what was it missing?
Char had thought about this for a long time but hadn't found any inspiration. Now, he activated his Occlumency again, entering a high-intensity flow state. The world around him seemed to slow down countless times as his thoughts ran at high speed. Time passed, second by second, as he pondered over the laser spell, checking all the factors over and over again, but he still couldn't find the missing part.
His spirit, already exhausted from practicing the Patronus Charm, became even more burdened in this state. Even his vision gradually blurred. The image transmitted from his retina to his brain, of the wands that the children waved when practicing the Lumos Charm, turned into intermittent, flickering afterimages.
Char shook his head, rubbing his aching temple, ready to relax. But a moment later, his thoughts suddenly froze on the picture in his mind. Then, he seemed to have thought of something. With blurred vision, he looked at the scene of the young Hufflepuffs practicing the Lumos Charm. There was an area that presented a special scene. In his eyes, the broken fireflies of light flickered—sometimes so dim it was almost darkness, sometimes so bright it far exceeded the combined glowing charms of two wizards.
This phenomenon made a term he had learned in his previous life flash through his mind. At the same time, a flash of light went through his thoughts. He understood what part of his laser spell was missing.
"Light interference?!"
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