Just as Shawn looked at the suddenly overflowing candies in his bag and Justin despaired, the owl suddenly huffed and spoke. "Young wizards, hmph! Lucky young wizards! Hurry inside! Don't let Lady Ravenclaw find out!" With its wings' movement, a crack opened in the wall, revealing a sky-blue door.
Hermione's eyes widened. "Thank you." Justin immediately dropped his crestfallen expression and thanked sincerely.
Shawn picked up the quill lollipop thoughtfully.
Inside the hidden room, some confusion still lingered on Hermione's focused face. Shawn took out his notebook, then heard Justin say softly, "Actually, portraits get lonely too, right? Mr. Owl has been hidden in the wall all along. I'm guessing he can't freely visit like other portraits. Otherwise, his glasses wouldn't keep falling."
"Yes," Shawn said.
"Oh, Shawn, if I had no one to chat with all the time, I think I'd go crazy." Justin seemed to think of something, his light gray eyes deepening. "What do you plan to do?"
Shawn seemed to have anticipated this. "How about we move it?" Justin said softly.
"We can try." Shawn nodded, but he didn't actually think they could succeed. One of Hogwarts Castle's most charming aspects was the numerous secrets it held. Even Headmaster Dumbledore couldn't confirm he knew all of Hogwarts' secrets.
And the owl portrait was part of these secrets. Shawn had reason to suspect that, like Gryffindor's Fat Lady wearing a floor-length gown, it bore some similar responsibility of guarding the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. And this kind of responsibility obviously couldn't be casually removed. Otherwise, the professors wouldn't have left this classroom alone.
But he still held a little hope. As he said, trying wouldn't hurt.
[I changed its ritual, greatly increasing the success rate while significantly improving the potion's quality. Before using it, please ensure you've proficiently mastered the improved ritual and are prepared mentally to go three days without sleep]
Has the success rate greatly increased? Quality improved? Shawn felt his breathing accelerate.
[But I must remind you once again: When brewing potions, ensure you won't make a single mistake in the ritual, or you can only pray for Merlin's blessing that you won't open your eyes to see me]
The typical wizarding dark humor... Shawn silently thought. Then he began learning and mastering the improved ritual.
Beside him, Justin and Hermione started practicing the Levitation Charm again. Outside the window, owls flew out of Hogwarts Castle carrying letters. Every weekend was the owls' busiest time. They carried words, delivering longing, then returned carrying even deeper longing. Thus, Hogwarts Castle gradually became shrouded in dusk.
Magical lanterns slowly lit up, revealing Justin's anxious face. "Oh, Professor Flitwick said to make the feather spin once—that represents a wizard's Entry level in the Levitation Charm." He wore exhaustion on his face, yet that feather wouldn't spin, even though he'd completely followed Shawn's guidance.
Even Hermione looked troubled. Although, as newly enrolled young wizards, they were already quite outstanding, they still felt enormous pressure compared to the young wizard who used Lumos like a searchlight.
On the other side of the classroom, Shawn completed familiarizing himself with the ritual. He flipped to the last page of his notes:
[This is why potion-makers need focus and calm. But magic can always be divided into two sides. Some appropriate emotions can also produce unimaginable power. This is what the improved ritual achieves]
What Potion Master Libatius Borage left behind wasn't just some improvements. Perhaps, as he said, this was groundbreaking work. When performing the ritual, I would become more focused, and would also mix in a strong emotion, similar yet different from the emotions for Transfiguration and Lumos, Shawn thought.
"So what emotion does the Levitation Charm need?" Shawn murmured, naturally associating with the unanswered question from last Charms class. He looked at that feather, suddenly recalling a question: why must the practice object always be a feather? Just because it's light?
"It's because feathers inherently symbolize breaking free—breaking free from gravity, escaping constraints. Win-gar-dium Le-vi-o-sa!"
[You practiced the Levitation Charm once at Expert standard, Proficiency +50]
Shawn's wand tip flashed briefly. The feather wavered and floated up, spinning several circles in the air, then, like a bird flapping its wings, danced rhythmically.
Justin, beside him, was already stunned. "He just muttered a few sentences, said things I couldn't hear at all, and reached this level?" Justin said dazedly. "Sometimes I feel Shawn is exactly like the wizards I imagined—casually muttering a few words and violating my not-yet-solid magical common sense."
Hermione stared intently at the dancing feather, then frowned at her own wand, then sighed somewhat helplessly. She looked at Shawn's focused profile, her small face gradually becoming determined again.
The feather slowly fell. Shawn waved his wand again. "Win-gar-dium Le-vi-o-sa!"
[You practiced the Levitation Charm once at Expert standard, Proficiency +50]
The instant the panel notification sounded, Shawn felt a wave of fatigue. He let the feather slowly float into his palm, then saw Justin's excited face and Hermione blushing somewhat embarrassedly.
"As Professor Flitwick said when explaining Lumos, spells with wizard emotions are more powerful. Lumos requires wizards to long for light. The emotion the Levitation Charm needs is breaking free—breaking free from gravity... I think that's why wizards always use feathers for practice."
After Shawn finished, Justin's expression already showed some daze. Is this how you understand it? Why can't I think of this at all? Then he and Hermione quickly took notes, writing down every word Shawn said.
Shawn slowly took out his History of Magic notes from his bag. Tomorrow, he had a complete day to finish the History of Magic timeline and organize a "Shawn-specific" magical history framework. Astronomy was the same. Although it was a profound part of magic, standards for young wizards had always been low. Shawn only needed to record celestial movement trajectories, like organizing the History of Magic.
This meant his scholarship fragments would reach four pieces tomorrow, specifically: Charms, Transfiguration, Astronomy, and History of Magic.