The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

"Well then, goodnight, you two," Ryze said goodbye as he walked along a side path inside the castle.

Fred offered to take Rizz back, since they had plenty of experience with nighttime outings and would definitely not be caught by the prefect and Felch.

Ryze had no doubt that if he asked a few more questions at this point, he could probably get the Marauder's Map from the Weasleys.

For Ryze, the complex alchemical theories and spell effects behind Marauder's Map could be explained by the creators, such as Lupin and Sirius.

When he prepares to create a new Marauder's Map in the future, this old map will indeed save him a lot of time drawing castle maps.

But he's still in the theoretical learning stage, so there's no rush.

Let Harry and the other two have their fun a little longer.

He also wanted to see how Ron would react when he finally discovered that the live map was actually on his own brother.

So Rez smiled at Fred and said, "Actually, I have quite a bit of experience with nighttime outings, and I recently learned this trick from a teacher."

As he said this, he took out his wand and gently touched himself.

As the Disillusionment Charm was cast, starting from the top of Ryze's head, his skin and clothes quickly blended into the colors of his surroundings.

Chapter 140: Will Ryze be the second White Lord?

“Illusion Spell…” George recognized the spell Ryze used at a glance.

He couldn't help but reach out and probe where Ryze had been standing, confirming that Ryze was indeed there: "It really is the Disillusionment Charm, and it's so hard to spot even at such close range. Boss, you've already mastered it to this level?"

The Disappearance Charm, the most commonly used invisibility spell by wizards, is generally not encountered until fifth grade.

George and Fred, as the pranksters of Hogwarts, naturally began studying the spell in their first year.

However, it wasn't until this semester that they were able to use the spell more skillfully, and even then, the effect might not be as good as Ryze's performance at this point.

Ryze's voice soon rang out in front of them: "It's not entirely my own ability. Last month, Hagrid and I rescued an injured invisible beast in the Forbidden Forest. After it recovered, it refused to go back to the Forbidden Forest and has been staying near Hagrid's hut, eating there and doing some simple chores for him. So I collected some of its shed fur, and recently, with my cousin's guidance, I made an alchemical artifact using these furs to enhance the effect of my Disillusionment Charm, which is why I was able to achieve this level."

As for the Illusion Spell, it naturally came from the teachings of Lupin and Sirius.

Even though James Potter possessed the invisibility cloak passed down through generations of the Potter family, it was clear that the four of them couldn't all squeeze together under the cloak for a nighttime stroll once they grew up.

The Disillusion Charm was one of the spells they were most proficient in during their school days, and Ryze learned a lot about it from them during the holidays.

With the bonuses from Cursed Energy and Mad Scientist, his spell power is consistently over 300 as long as he wears Ravenclaw's ring. His skill haste has also reached 95. In addition, with the effect of accelerated thinking, his learning speed is so fast that even Ravenclaw himself has affirmed it.

It is precisely this learning efficiency—making one day equivalent to three or four days for others—combined with his own thirst for magical knowledge, that has enabled Ryze to grow at his current pace.

George and Fred both seemed quite interested in the Invisible Beasts: "No wonder Hagrid's been able to find us so quickly every time we sneaked into the Forbidden Forest to gather materials over the past month. If we hadn't been quick-witted, we probably would have been caught by Hagrid several times already..."

George's tone was filled with sudden realization: "We thought Hagrid had asked the professors to set up some kind of perception magic near the Forbidden Forest, but it turns out he just gained an invisible informant... Oh, boss, don't mention this to Hagrid. We only occasionally go to the Forbidden Forest to collect materials for making magical items; we've never done anything dangerous..."

After jokingly asking Ryze to take them to see the legendary invisible beast next time, the two of them waved towards Ryze's location: "Anyway, since you've even mastered the Disillusionment Charm, there's really no need to worry about being caught by Felch. So, goodnight, boss, see you tomorrow. We can't wait to work with those two seniors."

"Good night, see you tomorrow," Ryze's voice faded into the distance, accompanied by soft footsteps, and soon their surroundings became completely quiet.

Only after they were sure that Ryze was far away did the twins stop laughing and joking and walk side by side toward the Gryffindor Tower.

They even pulled out a live map in the middle.

Fred tapped the parchment lightly with his wand: "I solemnly swear that I will not do good."

Their gazes didn't fall on the castle map or the moving dots on it, but rather on the most prominent line of text at the top of the map:

Moon face, worm tail, big feet and pointed fork.

“Fred,” George pointed to the four nicknames, “you must have noticed that the cousin Raz mentioned and his friend from his student days seem to match Moonface in terms of ability and style... and the nickname Wormtail also corresponds to that Little Pettigrew who turned into a mouse.”

“That’s what I thought too,” Fred nodded, “but I never imagined the creators of Marauder’s Map would end up like this…”

Thinking about the confident marks these four left on the parchment as they deciphered this magical map, George sighed a little: "Anyway, once we meet them, we should be able to figure it out... I'm also very curious about how they made this map."

The two looked at the Marauder's Map for a while longer, and only after confirming that the surroundings were safe did they put away the map and continue moving forward.

“George,” Fred said in a low voice after walking a short distance, “what do you think of Raz as a boss?”

Upon hearing this question, George subconsciously recalled Ryze's effortless demeanor when he cast the spell.

"He has a pretty good personality. Apart from Malfoy from Slytherin, I've hardly heard anyone say anything bad about him... And he's not like Percy, a rigid, model student. Didn't we see him on the map last year, wandering around the castle at 11 pm? He's much bolder than we imagined."

"And to be honest, we probably couldn't come up with something as interesting as Auto Chess even if we thought about it for ten years. And he seems to have a lot of novel ideas in his head. For the first time, I felt that our imagination was actually overwhelmed by a first-year wizard... In short, at least working for him means I don't have to worry about being bored."

"As for his strength, needless to say, even including the ancient magical creature he has a contract with, we probably wouldn't even be able to touch the hem of his clothes before being knocked unconscious by that little guy named Ellie."

They knew a lot of inside information about Hogwarts. It was said that when Rhett was practicing at the Duel Club some time ago, he had Ellie spar with a fifth-year student.

As a result, the fifth-grader's spells couldn't touch the agile Ellie at all. In the first ten seconds, Ellie easily dodged several of the opponent's spells and then rushed over to knock the opponent unconscious.

“Yeah, if I had to say something, it’s just that he sometimes seems too mysterious, making it hard to figure out what he’s thinking…” Fred stroked his chin, and after a moment of silence, he suddenly asked George again.

"George, do you think... with Ryze's talent, will he become that kind of guy in the future?"

Given their mutual understanding and the seriousness in Fred's tone when he mentioned "that kind of guy," George could naturally tell that his brother was referring to the one whose name couldn't even be mentioned.

After all, Ryze has the blood of the Black family, and that family doesn't have a very good reputation.

Even if Ryze and Sirius are both heretics in the Black family, who can predict the future?

Upon hearing this, George paused for a moment, then waved his hand as if he had heard some absurd joke, indicating that it was impossible: "Don't think nonsense, Fred. What Dark Lord would seriously discuss with us that dung bombs can't be placed inside chess pieces?"

He paused for a moment, then suddenly changed his tone: "But I really think he can become a 'White Lord' who is even more powerful than Dumbledore in the future."

“Shh, don’t say that in Hogwarts. If the headmaster hears us, he’ll probably show us how terrifying the first White Lord was,” Fred quickly covered George’s mouth with a laugh.

"Let's go, stop thinking about these trivial things. Let's think about how to design more interesting pieces. I don't want Moonface and the others to say that our younger generation's ideas are too outdated."

Chapter 141: Neville's Herbal Talent

The Gryffindor students have noticed that the two most mischievous pranksters at Hogwarts seem to have quieted down a lot lately.

Fred and George stopped spending their days figuring out how to stuff dung bombs into Slytherin's common room and stopped smearing Felch's graffiti on the castle statues. Instead, they began to diligently study the history of magic.

If someone were to take a closer look, they could see that the parchment in front of them was covered with the names of various historical figures and some incomprehensible explanations.

Of course, those people would only catch a glimpse of it at most, and then the quick-witted Gemini would chase them away.

Many Gryffindor students wanted to find out what had recently triggered the Weasley twins, but every time they went to ask, they only received the reply, "This is top secret information. Just wait and see what kind of earth-shattering thing we'll do to the whole of Hogwarts."

In contrast to the Weasley twins, who suddenly became well-behaved, it is their younger brother, Ron Weasley, who just started school, and Harry Potter, the boy who miraculously survived, along with Hermione Granger, the youngest witch with the best grades in Gryffindor, who have been unusually active lately.

They recently searched almost every corner of the Gryffindor Tower where odds and ends were piled up, including the Gryffindor Antiquities Room, which hadn't been used for many years.

When asked what they were looking for, Harry could only vaguely say that they were looking for traces left by his parents when they went to school.

No one knows that the recent unusual behavior of both the Weasley twins and the Harry trio is related to Rhett Butler, whom the Weasley twins consider the second successor to the White Lord.

However, what Rizzgan is doing now has nothing to do with the Demon King.

He is currently in the first greenhouse outside the castle.

In mid-January, the wind outside Hogwarts Castle was still biting cold.

But the first greenhouse was stuffy and hot, and the air was filled with a pungent stench.

That smells like Welsh green dragon manure.

These droppings are collected monthly at a fixed time from the fire dragon reserve in Wales.

Then, in the greenhouse of Hogwarts, through high-temperature catalysis and other treatments, it is finally made into excellent fertilizer.

Wearing thick dragon-skin gloves, Rizz cast a nose-blocking spell on himself and evenly poured a small bag of ground moonstone powder into the fertilizer.

Neville, meanwhile, was vigorously stirring the fertilizer in front of him, looking quite serious.

“Alright, Neville, that’s just right,” Rez said, sensing the fertilizer’s condition, indicating that Neville could stop.

Neville then put down the wooden shovel and wiped away his sweat, slightly out of breath.

Although the current environment is indeed not good, and he is doing physical labor, Neville still looks very excited.

“Thank you for bringing me here, Ryze... I feel much more comfortable here than in the classroom or the lounge.”

Rizz chuckled at Neville, "I was worried you'd dislike the environment here, but it's good that you don't."

Neville blushed slightly and said the truth with some embarrassment, "I have never complained about this place. In fact, I had been thinking of coming here to help Professor Sprout, but I never dared to ask."

Rizz nodded: "I can sense that you can concentrate more easily on herbs than on other subjects. I think you have a talent for it, and you can try to put more effort into it in the future. Professor Sprout also likes students like you very much... Of course, you should not fall behind in other subjects either."

Nawi's talent in herbal medicine is indeed excellent; originally, this talent would have taken several years to manifest.

However, thanks to Ryze's encouragement and help, he was able to showcase this talent to Professor Sprout ahead of time.

After encouraging Neville, Riz turned to look at the others beside him.

"We've got this sorted out here, how's it going on your end?"

The people processing fertilizer in the distance were none other than the five participants in the Magic Potion Speed-Up.

Hufflepuff's prefect Gabriel Truman was also carrying a large barrel of fertilizer and other nutrients to accelerate plant growth.

Upon hearing Ryze's words, he straightened up and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“We’re almost there, Rizzi,” Gabriel nodded.

Tonight's event can be considered a workshop for their potions group.

Over the past two weeks, the six of them have put forward a number of suggestions.

After discussing it, Jemma and Ritz spent some money to buy a large quantity of cheap but unstable explosive liquid for everyone to use to practice controlling the fire.

Penelope then produced a set of notes left behind by Ravenclaw's predecessors, which recorded some difficult techniques for practicing controlling magic, such as using the Levitation Charm to perform some complex actions, and applying extremely subtle Transformation Charms to objects, etc.

Gabriel, the Hufflepuff prefect, suggested that they could work together to cultivate some wolfsbane, aconite, and other herbs that could be cultivated in a short time.

At first, Jemma and Penelope thought the suggestion was a bit far-fetched. After all, they still had more than five months to go, but was it really necessary to go to such lengths?

But Gabriel said this has always been his practice.

According to him, when he encountered difficulties in Potions class, he would run to the greenhouse to see for himself how the herbs were growing.

On the one hand, it helps him relax, and on the other hand, this approach allows him to better understand the growth process of these ingredients, helping him to handle them better during the cooking process.

"Wolfsbane is an extremely sensitive and unstable medicine. Not only does it require a high level of magic power and precise control of heat, but I also think that we need to raise our standards for the processing of materials."

“We’ve been processing the ingredients according to the method Professor Snape demonstrated, but I’ve found that even when we cook them in the same way, they might react differently in the early stages of cooking… I’ve thought about it for a long time, and besides the fact that our cooking techniques aren’t precise enough, the subtle differences between the ingredients themselves are probably a crucial factor that can’t be ignored.”

According to Gabriel's theory, he believed that for a highly complex medicine like wolfsbane, each ingredient should be processed differently depending on its specific characteristics.

Even the weather during which these materials are collected can affect some of the properties of the materials themselves.

These words ultimately convinced Xing Shu.

Or rather, the difficulty of making the wolfsbane medicine has reached a point where one must pay attention to the details from these inconspicuous places.

Chapter 142: Cultivation of Wolfsbane and Aconite

Initially, everyone was worried about whether there were any wolfsbane, aconite, or other materials being grown in the greenhouse.

However, Gabriel, who made the suggestion, had obviously consulted the professor beforehand and immediately gave an affirmative answer.

"Recently, because we need to brew wolfsbane medicine, Hogwarts' reserves of related materials have been depleted very quickly. So the professor is cultivating a new batch of wolfsbane aconite. From the initial breeding to the final harvest, it will take about three and a half months. By then, we can probably continue our advanced training."

Actually, if it were just the six of them sharing the same amount of materials each week, the consumption of wolfsbane and aconite shouldn't be that high.

However, considering that Snape may have ultimately taken on the task of improving the wolfsbane potion, such a consumption is understandable.

In short, after some discussion, the six of them decided to give it a try.

From now until the end of April, apart from the initial cultivation phase, each person will take some time each week to take turns coming to the greenhouse to look after and record the condition of these newly cultivated aconite, and study the subtle differences between them.

“Alright, this fertilizer is enough for us until they mature,” Jemma’s expression was slightly stiff at this moment. After all, although her grades in herbal medicine were good, she had never processed fertilizer in such depth as she had today.

After sealing up the fertilizer, the group walked over to the field of newly sown aconite and took a look.

Although all that can be seen now is damp soil that smells of fertilizer, what grows here in a few months may help them complete the brewing of the wolfsbane medicine.

“So, according to the schedule, I’ll start on Mondays, and then everyone will come over and work for half an hour to an hour each day. We’ll all do a summary together on the weekend,” Gabriel first checked whether the fertilizer was evenly distributed on the land before announcing the shift schedule.

After everyone confirmed that there were no problems, Jemma said that it was getting late and they should return to the castle, as the prefects had a night patrol duty to perform later.

After tidying up, the group left one by one.

Rizz saw that the moment they left the first greenhouse, Gemma and Penelope drew their wands and began using various cleansing charms on themselves to remove the smell.

Gabriel, walking at the back, looked at the two female prefects with expressions of impending doom and shrugged helplessly at Raz and Neville: "It must have been tough on these two beautiful ladies... To be honest, it's the first time I've ever seen Jemma and the others spend so much time in front of that pile of dragon dung and handle it so meticulously."

“After all, it’s all for the wolfsbane potion. Didn’t Professor Sprout mention this when we came over? These materials, which we have cultivated ourselves, might make us more adept at brewing potions,” Rhett said calmly.

Gabriel sighed: "That's true, but it's just a guess. We all know that Professor Sprout is just trying to comfort us... After all, while the activity and potency of herbs can indeed be better preserved with careful care, it's still very difficult to use this to overcome the effects of wolfsbane."

He couldn't help but shudder, and lowered his voice to say to Ryze, "Actually, when I first made this suggestion, I was really worried that Jemma would kick me out... Now that they're cooperating so well, I'm a little worried that if it doesn't work in the end, how terrifying will it be if everyone's resentment accumulates over the past few months?"