The Bard of Hogwarts

Chapter 418 Professor Svenburn

Astronomical Tower.

After Professor McGonagall left, Ino also started walking down the tower.

Meanwhile, the tables and chairs behind him were also slowly disappearing, like a beautiful sketch being erased bit by bit with an eraser.

……

Leave the Astronomical Tower.

Ino made her way back to her office on the second floor, which belonged to the Mechanical Magic Department.

Pushing open the door, you are greeted by an extremely minimalist room. Apart from a large desk that looks like a steel machine tool, a sofa and a matching coffee table for entertaining guests, there is nothing else.

This is nothing like a professor's office; there isn't even a bookshelf.

However, in this simple office, everything changed dramatically after Ino sat down.

The once monotonous room suddenly expanded many times over, and neatly arranged bookshelves appeared on the previously empty walls, stretching as far as the eye could see.

At first glance, it looks like a private library.

Sitting at his desk, Ino habitually picked up the neatly arranged parchments on the table. These parchments were specially selected by him, representing the assignments of students with a talent for mechanical magic.

A thick stack, at least a dozen parchment sheets folded together.

Honestly, as an elective course, it's already quite fortunate to be able to select a dozen or so talented students.

In the second year of the seven-year period, Ino popularized the inexpensive magic lamp, opening up the market and also revealing the improved mechanical knowledge.

During those seven years, he not only discussed improvements with old Bans, but also had many exchanges with the doll Alice.

Perhaps calling it a doll isn't quite accurate, since he later learned that it was a genuine cyborg life form.

This intrigued him, but Alice remained silent after many core issues were raised.

Ino understood this silence; knowledge is never cheap. Simple knowledge may not require much at the beginning, but it always comes at a price later.

In response, Ino also brought out his trump card: the ancient runes he had already mastered. As for the other 24 runes, he did not intend to use them, or rather, he did not intend to spread them before they were materialized and placed in the valley.

But even though it was only worth one piece, he was able to exchange it for very practical knowledge: a mechanical energy conversion method.

This is actually normal. As a mechanical civilization, it's impossible to use carbide lamps for lighting or steam for power.

Everything I saw in Lorton was simply because the city was too small and remote, and had no value whatsoever, so they used the simplest and oldest things.

It was through this exchange that Ino, having acquired the core knowledge, combined alchemy with his own knowledge to pioneer the discipline of mechanical magic.

In essence, it provides ordinary wizards with a path to choose from.

A simple example is that every year, so many students graduate from Hogwarts, and even if they all study diligently, they can only master a few dozen spells at most.

Pure-blood wizards are better off, at least they have some lineage, but the wizards from Muggle families really have to work hard.

Without family connections or personal networks, few graduates stand out.

Most Muggle family wizards who graduate from school end up working in low-level service jobs, like sales clerks or something similar. Even then, competition is fierce, and those with bad luck are forced to return to the Muggle world with only an elementary school diploma, living a precarious existence.

That's how it is in the original story. Hermione, with her extraordinary talent, was eventually able to become Minister for Magic. Her own excellence was one aspect, but how much of the Weasley's power she relied on is certainly worth pondering.

But there's one thing that's quite interesting.

In the story, Voldemort championed the idea of ​​pure-bloodedness, and after his defeat, it seems that nothing much changed.

The Twenty-Eight Holy Families have always controlled the Ministry of Magic; it's just a matter of one group losing power and another taking its place.

With Lestrange and Malfoy out of the picture, Porter, Longbottom, and Weasley were brought in.

Thinking of this, Ino put down the parchment in her hand, opened the drawer, and took out a thick notebook.

He didn't want to be a systemic changer, but he also wanted to give Muggle wizards more options and more ways out.

Mechanical magic, and the subsequent plans, are all about putting everyone on the same starting line.

……

Time passed by, second by second.

Ino carefully reviewed the outstanding students' assignments, and soon it was Hogwarts' curfew time.

10 PM.

Ino stood up and stretched lazily, and the robe hanging on the clothes rack flew over automatically.

After getting dressed, he began his temporary job for the night—night patrol.

The castle remains, but the students come and go.

George and Fred are not the last of their kind, because every few years there will be a mischievous student like them.

For students like this, Ino will not deliberately restrict them, but he will not indulge them either; everything should be done in moderation.

Taking a night stroll in the castle is fine, but venturing into the Forbidden Forest or using secret passages to get to Hogsmeade goes against the rules.

He never penalized such students or put them in solitary confinement; instead, he would directly arrange for them to copy books from the library.

Throughout the school year, you can only enjoy your weekend when you've finished copying everything.

With its "harsh" punishments and Moody outside the castle, the Forbidden Forest has finally lived up to its name, becoming a truly forbidden area.

……

Inside the castle.

Ino wandered aimlessly down the corridor.

I entered Hogwarts at the age of eleven, and now I am 23. Time seems to have stood still in the castle, and everything is just as it was before.

After curfew, Hogwarts was completely silent, save for the whispering of the portraits and the slight clattering of the moving staircases.

Climbing the stairs, you soon arrive at the corridor on the next floor.

Night patrol was a task assigned by Professor McGonagall, and Ino didn't intend to slack off, but to say he was extremely serious about it wouldn't be entirely true.

Thanks to the castle's approval, if someone really wants to catch students who are out at night, they only need to communicate with any of the portraits nearby.

In fact, he did not intend to do that. Just as he said before, as long as he did not cross the line, the castle should still have its joys.

But if you run into the line of fire, you can only blame the other party for being unlucky.

However, many things are just coincidences.

Ino was willing to let them win, but there were always one or two lucky ones.

Fourth floor corridor.

With a series of hurried and chaotic footsteps, two panting figures came into his sight.

Perhaps they were really in a hurry, because the two figures paid no attention to their surroundings and ran quickly toward the stairs.

About ten seconds passed.

The same hurried footsteps sounded.

The elderly Filch, and the equally aged Mrs. Lawrence, were arriving slowly.

Unlike the panicked young wizards, Filch, despite his age, was able to see clearly in all directions.

Good evening, Professor Swinburne.

The moment Filch saw Ino, he stopped in his tracks. Although catching students who were out at night was important, he still had to be polite, especially since there were rumors that Ino would be the next headmaster of Hogwarts.

"Did you just see two students run past?" After greeting them, Filch didn't forget his duties.

A hunched back and an aged face.

At this moment, Ino finally realized that time in the castle was not stopped, but unlike when he first entered the school, Filch's eyes now had less of a fierce look.

"I saw it. Come on, I'll take you to catch it," Ino said softly.

There was nothing he could do; those two unlucky kids had walked right past him without even bothering to cover their faces.

If we don't catch them, it would be a disservice to their status as professors.

(End of this chapter)