Three days had passed since our trip to Hogsmeade. On the second day, Kate somehow discovered my address—the one Smith specifically used for mail—and joined the letter-writing chat circle.
However, this also allowed me to learn a wealth of gossip that never made it into the original books.
Another piece of news brought a smile to my face: Kate mentioned that their rule-breaking trip to Hogsmeade had somehow made the school gossip rounds. Surprisingly, Professor Flitwick didn't issue any punishments, even though the complainant lacked concrete evidence.
According to Kate's clandestine investigation, the informant was none other than Percy, a red-haired Weasley prefect. Strangely enough, Percy had been showing a persistent, unnatural interest in Penelope ever since.
Furthermore, once Penelope discovered it was Percy who snitched, she deliberately played a prank on him. Kate stubbornly refused to reveal the details, implying she had played an active accomplice role in the scheme.
In the original timeline, given Penelope's scholarly personality, moments of loneliness would likely drive her out of the book-filled common room straight to the library. That was probably how Percy originally wormed his way into her life.
But now? Hahahahahahahahaha.
It was another busy day spent buried in books. Yet, as he read, Ryan couldn't shake a growing sense of peculiarity. He scrutinized everything on his desk:
A Transformation Guide for Beginners
Curses and Counter-Curses
Theory of Magic
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4
Major Discoveries in Modern Magic
Expanding his reading pool, he noticed a deeply strange pattern: aside from the brief somatic wand movements and phonetic incantations required to cast them, everything else about modern magic felt entirely idealistic.
The most bizarre of all was Transfiguration. It relied on a single incantation which essentially translated to "Change me." The textbooks were filled with ominous warnings, horrifying consequences of botched practices, and subjective theories compiled by previous authors.
Meanwhile, The Theory of Magic contained statements bordering on the contradictory:
Spells are merely keys; the words themselves hold no inherent power.
A single spell can manifest through multiple diverse variations.
The most common spells are invariably the easiest to master.
It is always best to learn a foreign nation's magic directly within its native soil.
Names are, fundamentally, the shortest and most potent spells.
In short, it all boiled down to subjective experience and conceptual definition. Ryan had harbored an intuitive hunch about this from the start, but he hadn't expected the magical system to be so entirely conceptual.
Take Snape's signature spell, Sectumsempra, from the original books. It was literally just the phrase Sectumsempra scrawled in the margins of a Potions textbook. Once Harry learned the word and spoke it aloud, he cast it successfully. It felt deeply surreal—as if there were no rigid, underlying grid of magical laws governing it at all.
"Jack, bring me some reference texts on spell theory and origins."
"Right away, Young Master Ryan."
Ten minutes later, a fresh stack of heavy tomes materialized before him:
A Step-by-Step Guide to Developing Your Own Spells
The Book of Spells
Unlocking the Magic
Smith's Ancient Magical Teachings
Creating hearthfires, conjuring gales, parting waters—we are all creators possessing omnipotent agency, labeling our own innate phenomena, calling them 'magic.' We classify and organize every universal event, spreading our definitions outward and codifying them into magical runes.
Ordinary mortals study runes, discover their inner potential, instigate events, and manifest their willpower. They assign names to these forces and pass them down. So, this is true magic. It is hardly surprising that a single spell can take multiple verbal forms; they are merely different names for the same underlying concept—just as death wears countless masks and the wind answers to a dozen titles.
Sectumsempra was merely a conceptual label for the phenomenon of "invisible laceration." Yet, because it was forged from profound malice and intent, no one except its creator could easily heal or reverse the damage, as outsiders lacked any intuitive grasp of the dark emotional matrix that birthed it.
Just like George in the original timeline, who permanently lost his ear to that curse during the Battle of the Seven Potters—neither Tonks nor any member of the Weasley family could do a thing to regrow it.
Ryan suddenly recalled Snape treating Draco Malfoy after Harry struck him with the same curse. What specific emotional resonance and psychological history lay hidden behind that long, strange, lyrical incantation?
"Sectumsempra," Ryan whispered softly.
An invisible blade hissed through the air. Clink—a ceramic cup on the desk shattered into fine dust.
At that exact moment, Ryan experienced a profound epiphany. Utilizing his enhanced Thinking stat, he perceived the spell not as mere energy, but as an intense wave of remorse intertwined with an obsessive urge to mutilate and destroy. His mind raced, rapidly flipping through the memory-palace pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, landing squarely on Chapter Thirty-Three: 'The Prince's Story.'
James Potter raising an invisible sword, shouting: "Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!"—just like his father always boasted.
So Snape had once considered joining Gryffindor. He ultimately regretted choosing Slytherin, driven there by misplaced ambition, which ultimately cost him Lily's affections. The subconscious target of his lethal resentment must have been Harry's father, James.
An invisible blade? No, an invisible sword was a far more accurate descriptor. The irreversible nature of the magic, the venom infused within its cut—it was pure, concentrated hatred for James... or rather, hatred for the Marauders as a whole.
It all fell into place. Years later, when Snape crossed paths with Lupin again, the visceral look of distorted disgust on Snape's pale, exhausted face had shocked Harry deeply.
That expression went far beyond professional discomfort; it was utter, unadulterated loathing.
The look on Snape's face whenever he gazed at Harry was practically identical. How had Harry, despite his observational instincts, managed to so completely misjudge Snape during their first year? Of course, Snape was a master of occlumency and emotional concealment, but Harry had also grown reckless the moment he stepped into the magical world.
Immediately afterward, Ryan recalled Harry's description of Malfoy's injuries: blood gushing from his chest and face as though whipped by an invisible broadsword. Indeed, Harry Potter possessed an uncanny sensitivity to magical signatures—a phenomenon that went far beyond mere teenage intuition.
At that moment, Ryan felt a sudden, profound alignment with the underlying architecture of magic. A long, bizarrely rhythmic sequence of incantations poured effortlessly from his lips.
When Jack attempted to repair the shattered cup using a standard charm and failed, Ryan waved a hand to stop him. Reciting the complex counter-curse, Ryan finished with a crisp, simple command: "Reparo!"
The ceramic shards zipped back together, restoring the cup to flawless condition.
Spells proficiency: Level 2 (49%) → Level 3 (59%) ↑
However, Ryan thought to himself, this mastery stems entirely from my godlike, systems-enhanced perspective. If I had to rely solely on rote spell-countering, my cognitive level would need to be several tiers higher.
Especially when the intrusive thought of analyzing the Killing Curse (Avada Kedavra) crossed his mind, a visceral wave of impending doom flashed through his consciousness, abruptly halting the dangerous train of thought.
What historical reality actually hid behind that specific curse?
Lord Voldemort had fled the muggle orphanage—where he returned every summer until his sixteenth year—to hunt down his surviving relatives among the Gaunt family.
That excursion would have occurred during his fifth or early sixth school year. That very summer, he cast the killing curse, using his uncle Morfin Gaunt's wand to eradicate the Riddle family.
Initially, Ryan had assumed Voldemort invented the spell himself during that timeframe to murder his estranged bloodline.
Yet, after experiencing true reincarnation and unlocking high-level cognitive stats, historical discrepancies in Ryan's memory surfaced.
The Ministry of Magic officially classified the Killing Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Imperius Curse as the 'Three Unforgivable Curses' way back in 1717.
Therefore, the Killing Curse must have been conceived and codified long before 1717.
Yet Tom Riddle—Lord Voldemort—wasn't born until December 31, 1926.
Hmm, I clearly need to dive into deeper historical texts.
Checking his current system status sheet:
Race: Wizard
Power: 15 (Normal human limit: 10)
Constitution: 29 (Normal human limit: 10)
Magic Power: 21 (Normal human limit: 10)
Skills: Thinking Level 3 (15%), Body Modification Level 3 (57%), Alchemy Level 2 (47%), Talismans Level 2 (22%), Potions Level 2 (11%), Shapeshifting Level 2 (63%), Martial Arts Level 2 (23%), Spells Level 3 (59%), Exploration Level 1 (78%)
Everything was progressing precisely as planned.