Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 103 First Experience with the Time Converter

The spells class ended at noon, and the young wizards rushed to the Great Hall to prepare for lunch as soon as get out of class was over.

Compared to last year, the morning break time has been extended, which has significantly reduced the previously ample lunch break time, making things much more hectic.

Ike felt even more pressured.

Classes start at 1 p.m., leaving little time for lunch, and Ike also faces the challenge of juggling three subjects: Divination, Ancient Runes, and Muggle Studies. Although Hogwarts tries to consider each student's choices when scheduling electives, with classes from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. and 1:00 to 1:45 p.m., and two compulsory days a week, the school also manages to better distribute students.

It can be said that, apart from those who select all courses, other students will definitely not experience course conflicts.

But there was no other way; for Ike, this was the simplest way to obtain the right to use the Time-Turner.

He couldn't possibly miss this opportunity.

At 12:50, Ike arrived on the eighth floor of the castle on time. There were already many people waiting in front of the Divination classroom. Students from all four houses were present, but apart from Moratti and Padma, who were also from Ravenclaw, Ike only knew the names of the others and wasn't very familiar with them.

This is perhaps a common problem among the young eagles; most of them don't make friends with people from other colleges.

Hmm... this is Ike's impression, it doesn't represent Ravenclaw's...

At 12:55, the trapdoor panel on the ceiling, inlaid with the brass plaque that read "Sybill Trelawney, Divination Teacher," opened precisely on time, and a silver ladder descended. The young wizards, clutching their copies of "Seeing the Future Through the Fog," climbed up one after another.

The classroom looked small, with twenty small round tables arranged compactly, and two chairs placed next to each table. The chairs were very close together, practically touching.

The room was filled with many lamps, all covered with deep red scarves, and the windows were drawn tightly shut with curtains. A roaring fire blazed in the fireplace, warming the entire room.

Everyone was clearly intimidated by the artificially created sense of mystery and obediently found seats. Just as they sat down, they heard a muffled voice.

"Welcome! It's so good to finally meet you in the material world!"

The voice that followed was that of Professor Trelawney. She was very thin, wore very large glasses, and was covered with all sorts of ornaments that made a rustling sound as she moved, giving the impression that she was very good at fortune telling.

"Welcome to Divination!" Professor Trelawney said. "It is the most profound of all magical arts. I must tell you upfront that without insight and sufficient talent, I cannot teach you divination."

"Throughout history, books have never been important in the field of divination..."

Ike listened quietly to Professor Trelawney's rambling, but as he listened, he suddenly realized that what she said made a lot of sense.

Indeed, this is true; historically renowned diviners were almost all born that way, and it's rare to hear of anyone becoming a qualified diviner through training. While Professor Trelawney's statements are generally unreliable, she is remarkably rigorous when it comes to the general process and history of divination.

After a brief scare, Professor Trelawney had everyone pair up and each take a teacup filled with tea. After drinking the tea, they were to shake the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup three times, then turn it upside down on a plate. Once the last drop of tea had seeped out, they were to hand the cup to their partner for interpretation.

Ike's partner is Oliver Rivers from Hufflepuff. The two of them hold each other's teacups and try to interpret the shape of the tea leaves according to the book, attempting to make a prediction that might be reliable.

This behavior caused Ike to have deep self-doubt, and even with books as a reference, he couldn't glean anything from them.

The entire class period passed in deep self-doubt for Ike. As soon as class ended, Ike left the classroom and went straight into the Room of Requirement.

In his own private space, Ike carefully tucked away the "Easy Introduction to Ancient Runes" and turned the hourglass on the time-converter once. The moment he released his grip, the surroundings suddenly changed.

Ike felt himself being pushed backward rapidly, with countless blurry patterns flashing before his eyes and strange sounds ringing in his ears, as if many different sounds were mixed together and played at an accelerated pace.

It was a strange and rapid change. Before Ike could even catch his breath, everything around him stopped and returned to its familiar state.

Pushing open the door, I headed straight for the ancient magic script classroom. Inside, it was already packed with people.

Stuart and Anthony had saved seats for Ike and waved to him as he arrived. Ike smiled, waved back, and sat down next to them.

"Why are you so late? You'll be late in a few minutes," Stuart asked.

"Something came up and I was held up for a bit, it's nothing," Ike said with a smile as he put the book on the table.

The three chatted for a few more minutes before Professor Bassheda Bablin, the professor of ancient runes, entered. She was a woman who resembled a medieval noblewoman, dressed in Victorian-era attire and exuding elegance.

She spoke in a gentle voice and habitually used some Old English vocabulary, which was quite unfriendly to the students, since no one would use vocabulary that was used hundreds of years ago.

But the lecture was still very good; at least Ike listened to it, even though he already knew the content, he still gained something.

Self-study and having someone teach you are two different concepts, and the results are naturally different.

Soon it was time to leave get out of class. Ike said goodbye to Stewart and Anthony, and then hurriedly left first.

This time, he went straight to the right-hand corridor on the fourth floor, which had been abandoned ever since Dumbledore used it as the starting point for the adventure game in the first year, and basically no one came here.

He pushed open the broken wooden door and locked it again, then turned the time converter around once more. This time he was prepared, but it still ended without him sensing anything, leaving him somewhat disappointed.

He came and went quickly, and left the room somewhat dejectedly. By the time he reached the Muggle Studies classroom, Ike had already recovered.

He was already mentally prepared for this. If he could have easily figured out the secrets of the time converter, there wouldn't have been no new time converters created for centuries.

Time is a wondrous thing.

(End of this chapter)