A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Yes, just like the confidence in Professor Lockhart.

Ten minutes later, some students arrived, and several professors also came to join in the fun. It seemed that this was not a class, but a large party.

Harry caught sight of Lockhart and quickly lowered his head to avoid the gaze of the professor who was at the center of the "controversy".

Running into him never brings good things!

He had been suffering these past few days, and the source of his suffering was threefold: Quidditch training, Lockhart, and that freshman named Crevy.

Apart from Quidditch training, which was both painful and pleasurable for him, he avoided the other two training methods whenever possible!

At the appointed time, Felix appeared. He wore a light blue robe—the same color as his eyes—his hair was slightly slicked back, and he smiled, looking no more than seventeen or eighteen years old.

You really look like Lockhart!

Many younger students whispered to themselves that they were truly terrified of this outfit.

Felix weaved through the crowd, leaped lightly, and landed on the platform. He held his wand, looked around, and the crowd gradually quieted down.

In Harry's eyes, the professor drew a mysterious symbol with his wand, and the next moment, his voice reached his ears. The volume was not loud, but it was very clear, as if the professor was speaking right next to him.

"Let's begin class."

Felix looked at the young wizards below the stage. "I, Felix Heap, am currently the professor of Ancient Runes." He waved his wand, outlining his name.

Then he asked the first question.

"Does anyone know what ancient magic script is?"

brush!

Hermione instinctively raised her hand, and before she could react, her body had already moved on its own.

“Miss Granger.” Felix nodded to her.

Hermione began, “Ancient runes, also known as ancient spelling, are a script used by wizards hundreds of years ago. Ancient wizards used it to record magic, and therefore, modern wizards mainly study how to translate these magical manuscripts. However, ancient runes were also one of the sources of power for ancient wizards.”

The last sentence was added by her after reading "Exploring Ancient Magical Script".

“Very good, Gryffindor gets 5 points.”

Felix began to recount the history and evolution of ancient runes, moving quickly as he considered these things unimportant, or at least unimportant to him.

The young wizards couldn't remember either.

"You only need to remember one thing: Ancient runes are a bridge that connects ancient magic with modern magic, and at the same time, it also connects ancient alchemy with modern alchemy."

Seeing the young wizards below the stage buzzing with discussion, Felix nodded in satisfaction.

"But Professor, why is it that all we learn is how to translate ancient runes?" a Ravenclaw senior girl asked, raising her hand.

Felix looked at her: "There are two main reasons."

"The first reason, which is primarily based on translation, is indeed the mainstream view in the current magical world."

"In my view, ancient magic script can be divided into two parts: ancient script and magic script. The former is a kind of script used by ancient wizards, and the latter is a kind of power wielded by ancient wizards—it's just that over the long course of history, they have become intertwined, making it difficult for later generations to distinguish between them."

"The former represents the mainstream view. They take it upon themselves to inherit and study ancient magical manuscripts, which is indeed very useful. You know, most of our knowledge about ancient wizards comes from these people."

"This route is relatively easy to get started with, and even you can do it now."

"However, it is extremely difficult to directly grasp the power of ancient wizards through ancient runes. Not only do you need to have excellent magical skills, but you also need to have excellent research abilities."

The young wizards understood only vaguely, but grasped the general idea. It involved studying ancient runes, which actually had two branches. One focused on translation, its advantage being its ease of entry and minimal requirements on the wizard's personal abilities—even a Squib could do it. However, truly understanding it required a significant investment of time.

The magical world is full of old wizards who have spent decades researching and eventually become completely confused themselves.

Another branch focuses on mastering the power of ancient wizards, which is difficult to get started with. If you are not an elite and a top student, you should give up on this idea as soon as possible.

Felix paused for a moment to give everyone time to process the information, then smiled and said, "Back to the previous question, as for the second reason—it's not on the exam."

The young wizards were suddenly speechless; this reason was quite compelling.

“However, I personally believe…” Felix said, “that giving you a little exposure to the practical application of ancient runes will effectively motivate you to take this course.”

"Are you going to teach us ancient magic?" one of the twins shouted.

Felix shook his head. "No, ancient magic is known for its power and difficulty in taming, and I have no intention of teaching you that. Besides, my research in this area is still in its infancy."

"Alright! That concludes the theoretical section. As this is a public lecture, I won't be covering too much specialized knowledge—"

"Next, it's time for the demonstration."

Chapter 18 Open Course (Part Two)

The young wizards were excited to hear Felix's words; their curiosity had long been piqued.

Even the professors present were full of curiosity.

Professor Snape stood in the corner, also wondering what this kid had figured out that dared to steal his class time!

Professor Flitwick was very excited; he truly loved spells, though his knowledge of ancient runes was limited. He also strongly agreed with Felix's views on ancient magic, as he himself possessed several powerful ancient spells, though he rarely used them.

Lockhart looked on with envy at Felix standing in the center of the auditorium, thinking that if he could also hold a public lecture, he would probably get more attention.

If he were to write this scene into his new book...

But what should he do? Perform in stage plays?

Everyone in the room had their own thoughts. Felix decisively waved his wand, and all the candles in the hall went out instantly, completely obscuring the sky above the ceiling.

The entire auditorium was plunged into darkness.

"Fluorescence." Felix's voice clearly reached everyone's ears, calming the somewhat restless young wizards. "This is a commonly used spell, its purpose is to illuminate the surroundings—it's very simple, even young wizards who haven't entered school can master it through self-study."

With the help of the flickering fluorescent light, the group could vaguely make out Felix's figure.

"Once you have fully mastered this spell, you can make some changes to it—"

“For example, amplify the light,” Felix said, and the light from the tip of the wand spread across the entire platform.

"Change color," the light cluster continuously switched from white to red, green, yellow, cyan...

“Or, throw it.” Felix waved his wand, and the ball of light flew far from the tip of the wand, tracing an arc in the air.

The auditorium plunged into darkness once more, "and the ancient magic it corresponds to—"

Then, everyone heard a strange word being pronounced. The next moment, a massive amount of light burst forth from the center of the platform, and the milky white light enveloped the entire auditorium. Most strangely, the light seemed to spread in all directions, and not a single shadow could be found.

“This is the illumination technique,” ​​Felix said softly.

Every young wizard in the audience burst into thunderous applause.

Felix smiled. "This is just a simple example, but we can still see the difference." He waved his wand again, the candles were relit, and the ceiling returned to its original state.

“Modern magic has limits on its power and intensity, although it fluctuates within a certain range—but we can still clearly perceive this.”

"Ancient magic, on the other hand, is simple and brutal, and its power often depends on the amount of your magic power."

"For example, if I wanted, I could use this magic to light up the entire Hogwarts."

A student in the crowd shouted, "Professor, I want to learn this!"

Felix felt a sudden urge to laugh. He said in a tone that suggested he was amused and trying not to laugh, "Forget about it. If you learn this magic, it will drain all your magic power in the first place."

"Does anyone remember what I just said? Ancient magic is known for its power and difficulty in taming. I think most of you only remember the first part."

"But the second half of the sentence is the key point!"

Below the platform, all the students were buzzing with excitement, their faces beaming with anticipation, as if they themselves would be able to learn powerful ancient magic at any moment.

Unfortunately, the books that record ancient magic are all in the forbidden book section.

A strange light flashed across Ron's face. "I want to learn this! I must learn this magic! It's so cool!"

Harry was also fascinated. A simple glow-in-the-dark spell, when replaced with ancient magic, had this kind of power. What if it were replaced with other magic? For example, Hermione's Petrify spell, would it completely petrify someone, turning them into a stone?

Snape remained expressionless, but this power...

So, did Dumbledore and the Dark Lord possess powerful ancient magic?

Felix waved his wand, shooting out streaks of red sparks from its tip, drawing the students' attention back to him.

"Next, we will proceed with the next demonstration, which is the focus of this open class, and of course, it is also the assessment content for this year's Ancient Magic Script course—"

“One of them.” He paused deliberately.

The students' somewhat calmed emotions were stirred up again.

Is this really so enlightened? An open-book exam?

At that moment, Felix jumped down from the platform and shouted, "Suitcase, fly!" With his incantation, a suitcase flew over quickly, landed on the ground, and then bounced open with a "bang," from which more than a dozen figures flew out and landed motionless on the platform.

At this moment, everyone realized that what was standing on the high platform were actually half a foot tall (about 15cm) puppets. These puppets had different appearances, some male and some female, some old and some young, but each one was very distinctive.

"This is... Hey! I've played this game before!" Justin, the Muggle-born wizard, suddenly exclaimed, his face turning bright red. He never expected to see a figurine at Hogwarts, especially one that could move!

Harry felt a vague sense of familiarity; it seemed his cousin Dudley had mentioned it.

"What is this?" asked Ron, who was a pureblood but had no idea what it was. "It's just a moving doll, what's so surprising about it?"

“This is a character from a fighting game in the Muggle world.” Harry racked his brains, trying to provide more information, but unfortunately, he had never played it either.

"Fighting games?" Clearly, Ron was more interested in that term.

Felix laughed and said, "It seems some people have already recognized that the design of these dolls is indeed inspired by a Muggle game, but that's not our focus today."

Felix waved his wand, and two dolls on the platform leaped high into the air, standing in the center of the platform, while the other dolls retreated to the edge.

Does anyone know their names?

"Fireman and Ice Maiden!" Justin shouted, this was his domain!

Felix continued, "Then do you know their abilities?"

"Fire and ice!" Justin answered again, more proactive than ever before.

Felix repeated, “Fire and ice…so!” He waved his wand again.

The puppet on the platform suddenly moved. The fire man's right fingers suddenly burst into bright yellow flames. With a forceful wave, the flames expanded to the size of a Quake ball, flying far away... half a meter, before exploding with a bang.

The young wizard who was nearby couldn't help but take two steps back. He was relieved to see that the flames hadn't flown off the platform, and then stared at the doll with burning eyes.

I want to play, and I want more.

On the other side, the Ice Maiden kicked out with a sharp and graceful motion, sending out a row of ice-blue icicles that made some of the little witches' eyes light up.