Hogwarts: Starting with full Unforgivable Curses

Then, Dylan turned to Neville and asked, "Neville, do you remember a passage in 'Introduction to Muggle Swordsmanship'? Could you repeat it for everyone? It describes 'how to learn swordsmanship in the fastest way'."

Upon hearing Dylan's question, Neville immediately straightened his back and, recalling the contents of the book, accurately recited: "The book says that if you want to learn Muggle swordsmanship in the fastest way, you should temporarily put away your wand, find an experienced lord, swear an oath, join his party, and train with the knights under the lord."

He paused, then continued reciting: "If you can do this, you will be inspired by the atmosphere of the knights' serious training, and your sword swings will become more and more powerful. Sword techniques that you originally found obscure and difficult to understand will become much simpler under the influence of this atmosphere, and you will even learn them naturally without having to deliberately memorize them."

"The Muggle Swordsmanship Treatise..." After listening to Neville recite the text, Sirius gently touched his chin with his finger, his eyes full of curiosity. "Just listening to this description, it seems quite interesting. It talks about Muggle swordsmanship, but it also combines it with wizarding thinking. I'd like to find a copy to read later, maybe I can discover something new."

“I’m afraid you’ll have a hard time finding this book; it will be quite difficult to obtain.” Dylan shook his head, his tone tinged with regret. “This book is kept in the restricted section of the Hogwarts Library and is rarely open to the public. Moreover, the author of this book has a rather special identity, and it is a unique copy that has never been mass-produced, so it is impossible to buy outside. You can only see the original version in the restricted section.”

“It’s not surprising. There are quite a few similar rare books in the library at number twelve Grimmauld Place.” Sirius nodded, his curiosity undiminished. “Most of those books have been passed down through the Black family. Because they are all unique copies, they have never been circulated outside the family and can only be looked at by family members.”

He paused, then smiled and said, "Moreover, this book is called 'An Introduction to Muggle Swordsmanship.' The fact that it's in Hogwarts' collection at least shows that the author is a wizard—a wizard who doesn't learn magic but instead studies Muggle swordsmanship and even wrote a book about it. It's quite interesting to think about, and he's not like the usual wizards."

“No! This could even be considered heretical.” Sirius suddenly realized something and his tone became more serious. “As you know, most wizards don’t have a good opinion of Muggles. They think that Muggles have no magic and that their lifestyle is backward. Many wizards are unwilling to even learn the basic common sense about Muggles, let alone study Muggle skills. It’s really extraordinary that this author was able to do this.”

Then, he turned his gaze to Neville and asked, "Neville, you can recite the contents of the book accurately. It seems you have studied this book very thoroughly. Do you know who the author of this book is? A wizard who can write such a book must not be an ordinary person."

Without the slightest hesitation, Neville answered Sirius's question directly: "The author of this book is Godric Gryffindor."

"Hmm?" Sirius raised his eyebrows immediately upon hearing the name, his eyes filled with surprise and doubt. "The Godric Gryffindor you're talking about, is it the same person as the founder of Gryffindor House whom we all know, or... is it the Godric Gryffindor we all know?"

“It’s the Godric Gryffindor we all know.” Neville nodded with certainty, his tone firm. “The great wizard who founded our Gryffindor house. His name is clearly written on the title page of the book; there’s no mistake.”

"Huh? How is that possible!" Fred and George exclaimed simultaneously upon hearing the answer, their voices filled with disbelief. "Godric Gryffindor... he actually studied Muggle swordsmanship? And he actually joined the Muggle lord's knightly order and learned swordsmanship there? This is completely unbelievable!"

Neville nodded slightly, a small gesture, but his attitude was clear: "If the contents of that book are not a lie, and have not been altered by later generations, then this event should really have happened—the book also describes in detail his training experience in the Knights, including details of his swordsmanship duels with other knights, which doesn't seem like a fabrication."

"Merlin's beard!" The expressions on the faces of most people in the guest room, including Lupin, became quite interesting. There was surprise, doubt, and a bit of disbelief. No one expected that the founder of Gryffindor would have such a past related to Muggles.

After a long while, Lupin was the first to calm down. He looked at everyone and said slowly, "Actually, thinking about it carefully, this doesn't seem so surprising. You all know about the Gryffindor sword, right? It's the sword that Godric Gryffindor used when he was alive. It's incredibly sharp and can absorb magic."

He continued, “The era in which Gryffindor lived was quite unique. The relationship between wizards and Muggles wasn’t as distant as it is now; in fact, it was somewhat tense. Back then, many wizards would disguise themselves as Muggles to facilitate their activities in the Muggle world. It makes sense that Gryffindors would carry a sword and pretend to be knights, which would allow them to better integrate into Muggle society and also conceal their wizard identity when necessary to avoid unnecessary trouble.”

“Neville, perhaps you could talk to everyone again about the ending of ‘An Introduction to Muggle Swordsmanship’.” Just as everyone was digesting this news, Dylan suddenly spoke up to remind them, “The book also contains some interesting descriptions of Gryffindor’s later thoughts and experiences, which can give everyone a more comprehensive understanding of the founder of Gryffindor House—he was indeed a very special and interesting wizard.”

Upon hearing Dylan's words, Fred immediately pressed on, "Neville, tell me quickly! What other surprises are there in the ending? For example, did he have any further contact with the Muggle Knights, or did he combine swordsmanship and magic?"

George exclaimed in surprise, his voice brimming with excitement: "I never imagined I'd be interested in anything related to the history of magic! I used to find the history of magic lessons incredibly boring, but now, listening to you talk about Gryffindor, it's all so interesting." "That's just some kind of anecdotal history in the history of magic, isn't it?" Sirius's face also showed great interest. He turned to Lupin and said with a smile, "Lupin, you did much better than me in the History of Magic textbook, and you remember more. Do you remember if the textbook ever mentioned Gryffindor's research into Muggle swordsmanship? I have absolutely no recollection of it."

"Did the History of Magic textbook actually mention these things? For example, that Godric Gryffindor once joined the Muggle lord's knightly order and was skilled in Muggle swordsmanship?" Sirius Black pressed Lupin for an answer, clearly very interested in this "historical anecdote."

“In my memory…” Lupin frowned, pondered for a while, and then slowly shook his head. “The History of Magic doesn’t seem to mention any of this. The textbook only says that Gryffindor was one of the founders of Hogwarts, emphasizes his courage and pursuit of justice, and mentions the Gryffindor sword he left behind. As for his personal experiences, especially those related to Muggles, there is almost no record of them.”

"Then we'll love hearing unofficial histories even more! The stuff that's not in the textbooks is so much more interesting!" Fred and George cheered immediately, leaning forward and staring eagerly at Neville. "Neville, don't hesitate, hurry up and tell us what happens at the end of the book! We can't wait!"

Neville took a deep breath, trying to recall the words at the end of "An Introduction to Muggle Swordsmanship," his tone carrying a touch of solemn recollection: "In the last few pages of the book, Godric Gryffindor mentions his experience in the Muggle Order—he says that in the Order, everyone trains and fights together for a common goal. This way of gathering companions and working together to do something is much more efficient than fighting alone. It was during that experience that he first conceived the idea of ​​founding a wizarding school."

He paused, then continued, “Gryffindor wrote in his book that at that time, the magical inheritance of wizards was mostly passed down within families or one-on-one between master and apprentice. Very few people could come into contact with magic in this way, and the content of the inheritance was also very limited.”

"He felt that if the premise was to 'enable as many young wizards as possible to acquire more magical knowledge and improve their magical abilities,' then establishing a specialized school where young wizards from different backgrounds could learn together would undoubtedly be a better choice than the traditional method of inheritance."

“Now I think I understand why ‘An Introduction to Muggle Swordsmanship’ was placed in the restricted section.” Sirius sighed softly after listening, his tone tinged with emotion. “One of the founders of Hogwarts, the initial idea for establishing this great school actually came from his own Muggle experience, specifically joining the Muggle Knights—if this got out, it would probably overturn many wizards’ understanding of Hogwarts, especially those pure-blood wizards who look down on Muggles, they certainly wouldn’t be able to accept it.”

“No wonder my mother used to criticize Hogwarts for ‘not producing true pure-blood wizards’ while still insisting that my brothers and I attend Hogwarts. With the Black family’s resources, they could have easily hired private tutors to teach us magic at home.” Sirius seemed to have suddenly resolved a long-standing question. “If you think about it from the perspective that ‘school inheritance is more effective than family inheritance,’ her actions make perfect sense—although she wouldn’t admit it, she actually knew in her heart which learning method was more beneficial to us.”

“Perhaps the elders of other pure-blood families have also felt the difference between these two learning methods,” Lupin added from the side. “They realized that letting their children learn with their peers at school not only allows them to acquire more diverse magical knowledge, but also teaches them to cooperate and communicate with others. These are things that family education alone cannot provide. Therefore, they take similar measures, put aside their concerns about the ‘non-pure-blood environment,’ and choose to send their family members to Hogwarts to study.”

"Does this give us a new perspective to improve our previous live magic broadcast plan?" Just as everyone was discussing the choice between Gryffindor and the pure-blood family, Dylan suddenly spoke up with a faint smile on his face, "We can think of the audience watching the Triwizard Tournament as knights practicing swordsmanship together in a knightly order, or students attending classes together in a school—they all share the same goal: to see the match clearly."

He continued, "The text on the screen is like a professor instructing these 'knight' 'students,' providing them with clear guidance. More importantly, don't forget that the screen itself has already been given a mirage effect, giving it basic image presentation capabilities."

"So, what the audience needs to do is actually very simple: follow the instructions on the screen and mentally simulate the process of casting the spell. This is equivalent to injecting extra magic and will into the existing mirage, further enhancing the effect of the spell and making the image clearer and more stable."

Upon hearing Dylan's concluding remarks, Aberforth Dumbledore was the first among those present to react.

His stroking of his beard slowed noticeably, and his previously smiling expression gradually turned serious. As a veteran wizard who had experienced the "Wizard World War," he had a deep understanding of special types of magic such as "war magic." From Dylan's words, he vaguely heard the shadow of "group magic," which could often achieve effects far exceeding those of a single person's spell by gathering the will and magic power of many people. It had been widely used in war.

“Well, I must admit, Dylan, your solution this time, while initially surprising, is still very ‘Dylan’ upon closer examination—always finding the key from unexpected angles and using clear logic to sort out complex problems.” Sirius couldn’t help but laugh, his tone full of approval.

Neville, Hannah, Fred, and George nodded in agreement, their faces beaming with satisfaction. Fred and George, in particular, unusually took out notebooks and quills, diligently jotting down the examples and key ideas Dylan had given, clearly intending to digest this information thoroughly after the meeting and fully understand the logic behind Dylan's proposed solution. (End of Chapter)