Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 68 Modifying the Box

Snape was furious for over a week after his private collection was stolen, and it wasn't until the Christmas holidays that he stopped his crazy point deductions from Gryffindor.

The Slytherins were used to it; Snape had always targeted Gryffindor, and since Harry enrolled, it had only intensified. This round of point deductions seemed to them more like a surprise pre-holiday deduction to ensure Slytherin maintained a half-lead in house points over Gryffindor.

Even if they only secured second to last place, the little snakes were happy enough to keep those foolish lions under their noses, enough to keep them happy for the entire holiday.

On December 19th, there were hardly any people left in Hogwarts Castle.

When Ike woke up in the empty dorm room in the morning, he felt a little out of sorts. After a year and a half, he had gotten used to Stuart's wake-up call every morning and Terry's routine "Good morning," after which the three of them would playfully meet up with Michael and Anthony from the next dorm room and head to the auditorium for a delicious breakfast.

After passing through the equally empty common room to the auditorium, Ike nodded to Qiu, casually opened "Ancient Magic Runes Explained," took a sip of hot milk while reading, picked up a waffle, and then focused his attention on the book.

The more Ike read the book, the more he realized how superficial his understanding of ancient runes was, and how rigid and crude his application of them was. On his third reading, he had many new inspirations for the spell that nearly killed Little Voldemort.

Ike believed that if there was another chance next time, he would definitely not give Comrade Xiao Fu the opportunity to run away.

During this Christmas holiday, in addition to continuing to study ancient runes, Ike also plans to modify his expensive Seamless Stretch Charm box and try to make a smaller, more portable one himself.

For example, a pocket watch, or a ring.

As a former avid bookworm, Ike was very envious of spatial equipment. The ring was inspired by fantasy novels, while the pocket watch was the equipment of a protagonist in a fanfiction.

Of course, with Ike's current level of alchemy and the Unseen Stretching Charm, these are still somewhat distant for him, but the box is a very reliable option.

After breakfast, Ike returned to his dorm and emptied his suitcase, then crawled inside. The three-cubic-meter space was just enough for Ike to stand up straight and move around a bit.

Ike took out his wand, aimed it at a wall, and accurately cast the Unseen Stretching Charm. The wall slowly retreated under the power of the magic, stopping after retreating about seventy centimeters.

Ike kept casting spells on the surrounding walls, and the space inside the box grew larger and larger until it was the size of a house before stopping.

Then he quickly walked to the wall, used his wand as a pen, and wrote ancient magical runes that shimmered with soft white light on the wall.

Stable, solid, dust-free—ancient runes were written on the walls, then quickly disappeared. After all four walls were covered, Ike moved his left hand slightly, his body floating horizontally in the air. With a wave of his wand in his right hand, a complex magic circle gradually appeared. As the magic circle merged into the ceiling above his head, Ike drew another magic circle on the ground.

As the last stroke was completed, the entire space seemed to be swept by a soft, ripple-like light, which then vanished in the blink of an eye.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Ike nodded in satisfaction.

The Unseen Stretching Charm is listed by the Ministry of Magic as prohibited from misuse not only because it easily increases the risk of wizards being exposed, but also because the charm is unstable.

Many wizards are keen on using the Unblemished Stretch Charm to modify their handbags and trunks, but they overlook the limits and duration of the spell's effects. It's not uncommon for wizards to find their handbags suddenly bursting open while they're out shopping, scattering their belongings everywhere. While this might be tolerable in the wizarding world, it would cause a major uproar in the Muggle world.

To avoid this, the Ministry of Magic prohibits the private use of the Unseen Stretch Charm to create spatial items, and the only items sold legally are suitcases and family tents.

Of course, many wizards don't care about this rule of the Ministry of Magic. In fact, as long as they are not discovered, no one will specifically check it.

Ike found the method for solidifying the Unseen Stretching Charm in the Forbidden Library—those ancient runes written on the walls. They could stabilize spells that would gradually weaken over time. As for the two magic circles, they were from the Ravenclaw manuscripts, serving the same purpose but being more reliable, even allowing one to cast spells without causing the Unseen Stretching Charm to collapse.

For example, casting a shrinking charm on a regular Unseen Stretch item might cause the Unseen Stretch Charm to break. With these two magic circles, even shrinking it to the size of a grain of sand won't cause this problem.

Using the Levitation Charm, Ike floated out of the box, put the items back, and then used a Shrinking Charm to shrink the box to the size of a pocket before heading straight for the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor.

After silently repeating "I need a place to hide things" three times, Ike pushed open the door that appeared on the wall and plunged into the huge pile of clutter.

This place is filled with items discarded by Hogwarts students over the centuries, enough to meet Ike's needs. Although most of them are damaged to varying degrees, they can be used normally with a little repair.

Sofas, ladders, tables, cabinets, and all sorts of decorations—Ike carried each item into boxes and placed them in their intended positions, working for quite some time before finally finishing.

The box had completely changed; it was no longer empty and looked more like a nicely decorated house.

Going through the crate and down the stairs, you step onto a worn-out Ravenclaw rug missing a leg, with a long sofa beside it. The sofa originally had three legs, but Ike had cut them off with a Chopping Charm, making it a bit short, but still functional.

In front of the sofa was a coffee table with some broken alchemical toys on it. About a meter in, there were several tall cabinets filled with books he had bought and books he had looted from the Room of Requirement. The cabinets were neatly arranged in a row, serving as partitions for Ike.

Inside, Ike used the same method to partition off a bedroom, a potion room, and an alchemy lab. The layout resembled the Chinese character "田" (field), a bit ugly, but functional enough.

On the walls and tables, Ike had placed many magical lamps, all of which worked perfectly. A simple illumination spell would keep them bright for a long time. These were found in a broken cabinet, along with many dirty glass bottles, perfect for holding brewed potions.

It's a simple matter of using a cleansing spell; it's not troublesome.

Next, all Ike needs to do is go to Diagon Alley during his vacation to buy all the materials, and the potions room and alchemy lab will be ready for use.

Of course, Ike could also choose to fleece Professor Snape and Professor Sprout by raiding their private collections.

Professor Sprout was alright; all I had to do was sneak around the greenhouse at night, and with the title of "walking plant," Ike could easily get what he wanted without attracting Professor Sprout's attention.

But Snape's private collection is a bit more complicated.

A new month begins, and I'm going to work hard to update!

First update, more to come later~

(End of this chapter)