Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 321 Mystery

It was already very late at night, and even the portraits of past principals on the wall were dozing off, but the two people sitting at the table showed no sign of drowsiness.

I am filled with confusion.

"Sir, was what we saw at the end the scene of his magical outburst?" Harry asked, frowning.

"Yes," Dumbledore sighed, "Harry, how much do you know about magical disturbances?"

"All I know is that it's something that inevitably happens during a wizard's development; when magic surges, it means that person has the talent to use magic," Harry said.

Dumbledore shook his head slightly, waved his hand, and two cups appeared on the table, already filled with lemon tea. He picked up a cup, took a sip, and said, "You're right. A magical outburst is an important indicator of whether a child has the talent to become a wizard. No one knows when it will happen, nor what form it will take, but in any case, what happened to Ike is quite extraordinary."

"What does that mean?"

"Although there isn't enough evidence to suggest a connection between the scale and power of a magical outburst and the wizard's talent, according to the general understanding in the magical world, that level of magical outburst is enough to demonstrate Ike's talent," Dumbledore said. "Subsequent events have proven this point."

He paused for a moment before asking, "There's a detail I don't know if you noticed: do you remember his last look?"

"I remember." Harry nodded, but he didn't know what words to use to describe that look. It was filled with too many emotions, so complex that he couldn't understand it at all.

"That's what I don't understand the most," Dumbledore said. "Children's eyes should be clear and pure. How can a five-year-old have such eyes?"

"There must be secrets here that we don't know, but unfortunately, we can't find out the truth."

Then, Dumbledore changed the subject, saying, "However, I do have a guess about that strange rain and that unusually long road..."

"What is it, sir?" Harry asked immediately, very curious. "Is it some kind of magic?"

"You could say that," Dumbledore paused before continuing, "You should have learned in your history of magic class that the magic we use now is not something that has been passed down from ancient times. Over the long period of time, we have lost a lot of it. You could say that only about ten percent has survived, or perhaps even less."

"Right now, many wizards are keen to pursue ancient magic, and in doing so, they mainly do so through two avenues... Harry, do you know what they are?"

"Ancient runes? But I don't know about the other one, sir," Harry replied, shaking his head.

"It's a legacy," Dumbledore said, adjusting his glasses. "Remember Bill's previous work?"

"Pyramid curse breakers? Ron and his crew traveled there."

"Yes, in a sense, the pyramids can also be considered a kind of legacy," Dumbledore said. "They are filled with all sorts of curses and magic that we cannot understand or control now, most of which are dangerous and deadly. And because of the break in the transmission of magic, we cannot accurately understand those spells and curses, which is why anti-magicians were born."

"You could say Bill's previous job was actually very dangerous. You spent so much time with him over the summer, you must have noticed the scars on his body..." Dumbledore said, seeing Harry nod. "Those were from his work."

He paused, seemingly giving Harry some time to process the information, before continuing, "What I'm trying to tell you is that there are still many things in this world that we don't understand, and modern magic and ancient magic are completely different systems..."

"You think that was caused by an ancient magic we don't know about?" Harry asked.

"That's the only plausible explanation." Dumbledore paused, his tone becoming more serious. "Harry, like I said, Ike might be even more dangerous than Voldemort, just like this memory, shrouded in mystery we can't see through..."

"I'm showing you this so you know you have to be careful when you're around him."

"I will, sir," Harry nodded solemnly. Seeing this, Dumbledore smiled with satisfaction.

He glanced at the time, a relaxed expression on his face, and said, "Alright, it's late now. Let's call it a day. You should go back and get a good night's sleep."

Sweet dreams, Harry.

"You too, sir."

As Harry said, he slept very soundly that night and woke up feeling refreshed. However, because there were many people at breakfast and he was afraid of being overheard, he didn't tell Hermione and Ron what he had seen the night before until they were on their way to the Herbology class, which was in the greenhouse.

The greenhouse where the sixth-grade classes were held was far away, and coupled with the bad weather, it took them longer than usual to find it. However, this wasn't enough for him to finish explaining everything; he didn't finish until quite some time after class had started.

"How terrifying, the mysterious man in his youth," Ron said softly as he put on protective gloves.

They were dealing with the knotted vine, a more dangerous plant. What appeared to be a tangled mess of roots was actually highly aggressive. Their goal was to extract a grapefruit-sized pod from those tightly coiled, thorny branches.

It's dangerous; people always end up getting badly injured by those branches. Like Neville, who had already removed a pod, half his face was covered in bloody welts, making him look horribly injured.

Seeing Neville's miserable state, Ron couldn't help but shudder. He then turned to Harry and whispered, "Actually, I've always wondered why Dumbledore let you see all this. I mean, it's interesting, but what's the use? It won't give you the power to defeat the Dark Lord, will it?"

"I don't know." Harry shook his head, putting on a protective mask. "But he said it's very important and will help me survive."

"And I think it will also allow me to understand the enemy better and discover their weaknesses."

"Did you find out?" Ron asked again.

"Not yet," Harry said with a sigh, putting on his goggles. He glanced at Hermione and noticed she was unusually quiet, so he asked, "What's wrong, Hermione?"

Hermione was wearing a protective mask and goggles, and her voice sounded a little muffled, but Harry and Ron could tell that something was wrong with her tone; she seemed quite unhappy.

"So, Dumbledore went to see Ms. Julianne, right?" Hermione said calmly.

(End of this chapter)