Hogwarts: Starting with full Unforgivable Curses

“That’s right, this distance is the result of our repeated tests in the washroom,” Fred added, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone. “But then again, we still have to thank Percy—if he hadn’t been a prefect, we wouldn’t have been able to get the key to the washroom, let alone conduct our experiments inside.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Fred nodded in agreement. “Now, every time we go to the prefect’s bathroom to do experiments, we can’t help but miss him—after all, that used to be Percy’s private ‘territory’!”

Neville didn't respond, but said seriously, "This isn't the prefect's washroom right now, and there isn't enough water for the water plants to move around. I'll put it in a glass bottle for now, and later I'll take the bottle downstairs and put it next to Aberforth... Aberforth, so everyone can see its actual effect."

"Look! The curtain is responding!" Just then, Fred and George suddenly smiled excitedly, each holding up one of the gray curtains they had prepared beforehand.

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to it, and at this moment, a clear, colorful image appeared on the screen.

Upon closer inspection, one will notice that the image on the screen centers on the aquatic plants inside the glass bottle, with tables, chairs, and the floor of the room visible around it.

Clearly, this was a scene captured by the seaweed, which was then transformed by magic such as mirages and transmitted to the screen in real time. The whole process was smooth and natural, without any lag.

Neville's fingers gripped the glass bottle tightly, his voice still tinged with lingering tension: "Then...then I'll go downstairs, everyone keep an eye on the curtain."

After saying that, he picked up the glass bottle and left the guest room with slightly hurried steps.

As Neville moved, the screen display that everyone was focused on changed accordingly—the image that was originally centered on the glass bottle began to move in real time with Neville's steps. The wooden handrail of the stairs, the small scratches on the steps, and even the peeling paint on the walls were clearly displayed on the screen, just like seeing Neville go downstairs with your own eyes.

Not long after, the outline of the first-floor bar appeared in the picture, indicating that Neville had arrived at his destination.

Just when everyone thought the demonstration was over, Dylan, who had been intently observing the screen, suddenly spoke up: "Don't you guys think the image on the screen seems a little blurrier than before? Especially the details around the bar, they're not as clear as they were in the room."

"Huh? You can tell that?" Fred's expression immediately turned astonished upon hearing this, and he leaned closer to examine the screen carefully. "How come I didn't notice? The scene in the room just now and the scene here look almost the same, don't they?"

“Yes, when we were doing experiments with Sirius before, the image only showed a noticeable blurring change when we were at least three floors apart.” George also leaned in, his brow furrowing slightly. “Now, it’s only one floor apart, and there’s already a change. Dylan, your eyes are too sharp!”

"Probably... because I'm usually quite sensitive to details in a scene when I'm observing things," Dylan smiled.

Fred rubbed his temples, his tone tinged with helplessness: "It seems... you have a lot to say. We can't find any reason to refute you. It seems that in the future, we'll have to let Dylan be the 'referee' when testing image clarity."

George shrugged and chimed in, "There's nothing we can do about it. We're not that sensitive to these details, but it's better this way. It's always better to find problems early than to have them go wrong when we're actually using it."

Neville wandered around the first floor, not only completing the demonstration but also bringing back the curious Aberforth Dumbledore.

Aberforth followed behind Neville, holding a rag for wiping cups, clearly attracted by the commotion.

"That's roughly the result." Neville returned to his room, letting out a long sigh of relief. His tense shoulders finally relaxed, and his tone was much more natural than before. He looked at everyone and asked, "What do you all think? Is there anything that needs improvement?"

After a pause, he added, "Actually, when I was improving the aquatic plants, I also secretly incorporated some of the sensing characteristics of the Devil's Web. Originally, I wanted to improve the sensing ability of the aquatic plants to make the image on the screen clearer, but I didn't expect that it would still be blurry."

“It’s probably still affected by the distance.” Fred shrugged, his tone somewhat regretful. “Dylan just noticed that the image coming up from the first floor is a bit blurrier than when we were in the room.”

George nodded and added, "Although the changes aren't particularly noticeable, they do exist. It seems our previous design was inadequate in terms of distance adaptation."

"What are you two up to?" Aberforth Dumbledore, who had been observing from the sidelines, finally spoke. His gaze fell on the screen in Fred and George's hands, filled with curiosity. "The image on this screen looks like a magical artifact with a mirage charm applied to it?"

"Wow! You could even figure that out? That's quite a surprise!" Fred whistled loudly, his eyes full of astonishment. "We thought only wizards who specialized in magical artifacts knew this magic."

George blinked and leaned closer to ask, "Aberforth, you know about mirages too? Did you study this kind of magic when you were young?"

Upon hearing this, Aberforth Dumbledore clenched his right fist and lightly tapped Fred and George on the head, his tone slightly teasing: "Want to guess what special services my Hog's Head Bar offers besides selling alcohol? Don't mistake me for an old man who only wipes glasses."

“No need to guess! No need to guess!” Fred and George quickly rubbed their heads, waving their hands with a grin. “We all know, Aberforth, you’re the most capable pub owner in Hogsmeade. There’s nothing you don’t know!”

While they were playing around with Aberforth, Sirius pulled Dylan to a corner of the room and began to discuss the problems they had discovered during the demonstration.

“Dylan, you saw the demonstration just now. The basic situation is like this—as the transmission distance increases, the image displayed on the screen will gradually become blurry. The farther away, the more obvious the blurring becomes.”

Sirius's tone was somewhat heavy: "We've discussed several solutions before, such as finding other more powerful magic to replace the Mirage Charm, or using special magical items to enhance the signal, but the results were not ideal. Either they caused the screen to lag, or they increased the weight of the items, making them inconvenient to carry."

“In my opinion, the problem lies in the mismatch between the mirage and the carrier.” Dylan pondered for a moment and then gave his analysis. “You chose a lightweight screen as the image carrier for easy portability, but this material itself cannot withstand too much energy. Once the energy is increased, the screen is prone to damage, and if the energy is insufficient, the image will be blurry.”

“That’s right! You’ve hit the nail on the head!” Sirius nodded emphatically. “If you want to present a clear and stable image, ordinary paper or a screen will indeed struggle. The limitations of the materials are too great.”

"As for replacing it with other more robust materials, such as metal plates or crystal, there are also problems," he continued. "The main problem is that our current design approach is based on lightweight carriers such as paper and curtains. If we change the material, the previous layout of the magic runes and the energy conduction path will have to be redesigned, which is equivalent to starting from scratch."

“We’ve also considered having Neville and Hannah cultivate a special magical plant, and using its fibers to make paper. Perhaps we could achieve both lightness and toughness, thus making a technological breakthrough.” Sirius’s tone carried a hint of helplessness. “But cultivating a new magical plant and then making it into suitable paper would take too long. We probably wouldn’t be able to make it in time for this Triwizard Tournament. However, the Triwizard Tournament is a rare opportunity for publicity, and it would be a real shame to miss it.”

“That’s true.” Dylan nodded, instantly understanding their current predicament—time was tight, technical bottlenecks were difficult to overcome quickly, and perfecting the magic live-streaming technology before the competition was extremely difficult.

However, thanks to Sirius and his team's detailed explanation of the technical aspects, an idea suddenly flashed through Dylan's mind. His eyes lit up, and he looked at Sirius, saying, "Perhaps... we can try a different approach and let the audience help us solve this problem?"

"Let the audience solve this problem?" Sirius subconsciously repeated Dylan's words, his eyes full of doubt. He leaned forward and asked eagerly, "Dylan, what exactly do you plan to do? Are you suggesting we let the audience help maintain the magic signal? That seems unrealistic."

“In terms of specific methods, it’s actually very simple and doesn’t require complicated magical operations,” Dylan said with a slight smile, his tone relaxed. “What we need to do is redesign the layout of the screen and add an extra text description along the edge or in a prominent position.” He paused, then explained further, “This text must clearly describe what kind of effect viewers will experience when using this screen to watch the live stream—such as how the image will be presented, how the signal will be received, the basic casting method for mirages, and the intensity control of magic injection. These details also need to be written out completely so that viewers can understand them at a glance.”

"It sounds... kind of like a product manual we usually see?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, his doubts undiminished. He had originally thought Dylan would propose some complicated magical improvement plan, but he didn't expect it to be such a "simple" method.

At this moment, Lu Ping, who had been listening attentively, also came over and joined the discussion. He agreed, saying, "Since this is a product they developed, it is necessary to include a clear product manual. On the one hand, it will allow users to quickly understand how to use it, and on the other hand, it will demonstrate their professionalism. There is nothing wrong with that."

“Now that you mention it, it’s true.” Sirius nodded, agreeing with Lupin’s assessment, but still couldn’t help asking, “But can simply adding an instruction manual solve the blurry image problem? What additional work do we need to do next? Like training the audience on how to cast spells?”

“No further work is needed.” Dylan maintained his smile and said confidently, “This written explanation is the key. The most important thing is to ensure that the audience can understand the content and know what they need to do to make the picture clearer.”

He recalled the event arrangements he had learned about before and added, "If I remember correctly, there are no strict restrictions on the spectator qualifications for the Triwizard Tournament. Whether it is a professor from the school or a student from any grade, they can go to the spectator seats to watch the game - that is to say, freshmen who have just entered the school can also attend."

"Therefore, the text instructions on the screen must achieve this effect: after reading them, freshmen who have not even mastered basic magic can feel confident that, as long as they spend more time practicing, they can also successfully cast a mirage. Only in this way will they be willing to try and help us enhance the image signal."

Sirius and Lupin exchanged surprised glances after hearing Dylan's words.

In their view, Dylan's ideas were both ingenious and unlike his usual style, even "very magical," yet "not quite the kind of solution Dylan would propose."

In their impression, when Dylan solves a problem, he always starts from a rigorous magical theory perspective, combines the relevant books he has read, sorts out the logical thread of the problem clearly, and then deduces step by step to finally find a solution.

Even if they had never heard of some obscure magical theories before, after Dylan's clear and logical explanations, they would always suddenly understand and exclaim, "So that's how it is!"

This proposal, however, completely breaks away from the traditional theoretical framework and is more like a clever guidance based on "human nature".

Noticing Sirius's unusual expression, Dylan quickly guessed what the two were thinking. He smiled and asked, "What's wrong? Do you feel that the solution I'm offering this time is a little different from usual, a bit special?"

"Indeed, a little." Sirius nodded honestly, trying to organize his thoughts to accurately describe his feelings. "How should I put it... Based on my understanding of you, you usually start with theory when solving problems, but this time you did the opposite. I was even prepared to write down the book titles and go to the library after the meeting to borrow the books you might mention, to understand and digest them properly, and then follow your line of thinking to solve this 'magic live broadcast' problem. But your solution this time completely exceeded my expectations."

"Oh! I never expected that our brave Sirius would need Professor Dylan's patient guidance to understand things, just like a freshman. It seems we'll have to ask Professor Hawkwood to give you some extra lessons in the future!" Just then, Fred and George's teasing voices came from the side, their faces full of playful smiles and their tone full of banter.

At some point, Fred and George had stopped fooling around with Aberforth and returned to their seats, listening attentively as Dylan explained his solution.

However, the two of them sat much closer than before, because Aberforth had also moved a chair over and wanted to understand the plan more clearly. The two of them had to squeeze together to make room for the bar owner.

"Ahem!" Sirius was a little embarrassed by what Fred and George said, so he quickly coughed a few times to cover it up. He turned his head and glared at the two of them, as if to say, "You two shut up." Then he quickly turned back to Dylan and said, "Ignore them. You go on. We're all listening."

Dylan frowned slightly and began to think. His explanation just now seemed not intuitive enough. Although Sirius understood the surface logic, he might not have fully grasped the underlying magical principles.

After quickly organizing his thoughts, Dylan said, "Let's take the most basic spell as an example, like the Levitation Charm—one of the first spells we encounter when we first enter school, and everyone should be very familiar with it."

He looked at Sirius and asked, "Sirius, have you ever tried to levitate anything with your current level of magic using the Levitation Charm? Like a table, a chair, or a heavier cabinet?"

"It seems... I haven't really tried this problem before." Sirius frowned slightly, his eyes filled with a hint of reminiscence. "I usually use the Levitation Charm casually, like leviting a book that's fallen on the ground or a water glass. I've never really tested the maximum weight, so I can't be sure how far I can go."

“Now, if I were to demonstrate for you how to use the levitation spell to lift this solid wood table in front of us and keep it suspended in the air for a while, after you’ve seen my demonstration, try to lift this table using the same spell. Do you think you can do it?” Dylan said, pointing to the heavy solid wood table between the two of them and gently tapping the tabletop, making a dull “thump-thump” sound to demonstrate the table’s weight.

“Of course, no problem! Lifting a table is nothing difficult…” Sirius’s eyes suddenly lit up as he spoke, as if he had suddenly remembered something. “Wait! Harry told me about this before! He said that when he saw you lift a bookshelf heavier than this table with the Levitation Charm in class, he suddenly realized that his Levitation Charm could also achieve a stronger effect, but he just hadn’t dared to try it before.”

“That’s it.” Dylan smiled and nodded, then continued to explain, “To master the most basic levitation spell, we only need to remember the incantation ‘Yugadimurleviosa,’ master the correct casting gesture, and inject a small amount of magic to make small objects float. It is precisely because these requirements are so simple that the levitation spell is one of the first spells we learn after entering school.”

"But it can't be that simple. The amount of magic injected, the concentration when casting the spell, and even the caster's mental state can all affect the levitation spell's effect." He changed the subject, slowly raising his arms with his palms facing up, aiming at the other furniture in the room, including the chair next to him, the bookshelf in the corner, and the vase on the table.

This action was like some kind of silent command. The next second, apart from the chairs where Sirius and Lupin were sitting, all the other furniture in the guest room slowly left the ground and floated steadily in the air. Even the books on the bookshelves didn't shake at all.

"That's so cool! This must be a staffless, silent spellcasting technique!" Fred and George stared wide-eyed, unable to resist whistling, their voices filled with amazement. "We've only ever seen this kind of spellcasting in books before; this is the first time we've seen someone use it so skillfully in person!"

“From a magical classification perspective, it certainly qualifies,” Dylan explained while maintaining the furniture’s levitation. “When you truly understand the essence of the Levitation Charm, combine it with your past memories of using it, and then apply a relaxed, peaceful, and firm emotion—an emotion that allows magic to flow more smoothly—and finally add the unwavering will of ‘I can do it,’ you can fuse these elements together to achieve wandless and silent spellcasting.”

He paused, then added, "This is probably the core technique of casting spells without a wand or sound—first, thoroughly understand your own understanding of magic, figure out what the essence of magic is, then explore your own heart, clarify what goals you want to achieve through magic, and gradually find the magical realm you truly want to pursue."

As Dylan slowly lowered his arm, the magic in his palm also receded, and the floating furniture in the room began to fall steadily, landing gently on the ground without making any noise.

Neville, who had been sitting attentively listening, became unusually serious, a thoughtful glint in his eyes, clearly inspired by Dylan's words.

“What you’re saying reminds me of what my mother said when she taught us dark magic.” Sirius rubbed his temples, his tone complicated. “She said that to master dark magic, one must harbor strong malice towards others and let that malice drive the magic, otherwise one cannot cast true dark magic—now that I think about it, this is actually emphasizing the influence of mental state on the effect of magic, only in the completely opposite direction.”

“In that case, the Patronus Charm works on a similar principle,” Lupin added from the side. “To cast a full Patronus, you must use your happiest memories as a foundation and evoke strong positive emotions in order for the Patronus Charm to exert its maximum power and drive away Dementors. If the emotions are not strong enough, or the memories are not happy enough, the summoned Patronus will be weak and may not even be able to take shape.”

“Yes, whether it’s dark magic, the Patronus Charm, or even the most basic Levitation Charm, they are all essentially influenced by the caster’s psychological state and emotions.” Dylan nodded, agreeing with their statement. “Do you remember Professor McGonagall’s first Transfiguration class?”

"When Professor McGonagall corrected our mistakes, she specifically mentioned a crucial point—when casting a spell, one must concentrate, maintain a cautious attitude, and clearly define one's goal. For example, if you want to turn a match into a needle, you must clearly visualize the shape of the needle in your mind, including its length, thickness, and the sharpness of its tip. These details cannot be vague, otherwise the magic will fail or the transformation will be incomplete." (End of Chapter)