A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Then, the Ice Maiden also stopped moving.

"No power! No power!" Dean Thomas, who grew up in the Muggle world, uttered words that didn't make sense to him.

Fred and George grabbed the puppet and ran to a corner to begin re-engraving the ancient runes.

"Professor Hyp is really awful! Replenishing a rune only allows him to move for half an hour." Many young wizards denounced a certain professor.

The crowd dispersed, and Hermione and her two companions found a new place to sit.

Hermione glanced at the twins in the distance. "They've already reached this level?"

“That’s nothing. Many wizards spend a lot of time on this,” Ron explained. “Fred said that Cedric of Hufflepuff often gets up in the middle of the night to practice secretly, all in order to win the mystery prize in the exam before Halloween.”

"And there are quite a few witches who cling to their magical puppets all day long."

Hermione nodded. Indeed, she had seen young wizards carrying magical puppets everywhere this week. "But Fred's magical puppet isn't this one, is it?"

Ron casually remarked, "He borrowed it from Angelina to recreate that classic battle in the Great Hall. But if you ask me, they're still a bit lacking. I mean, they've only just finished learning the first set of runes, and they need to master four sets, like collecting Chocolate Frog cards, piecing all the techniques together to form a complete set..."

"Harry, you didn't train today?"

Harry grimaced. "Training is in the afternoon." Although only two weeks had passed, he was already feeling the strain.

Ron suddenly chuckled, glanced at Harry and Hermione, and whispered, "It's said that Wood has been struggling with how to do his Ancient Runes homework, and thanks to Professor Heap, Harry was able to have an easy day."

"Is the homework very difficult?" Hermione guessed.

“No,” Ron suppressed a laugh, “but this professor’s sixth-grade assignment wasn’t translation, but a 1,000-word essay titled ‘My Summer Vacation.’”

Hermione felt a strange sense of familiarity.

This style seems to have been common when she was in elementary school...

Professor Hyp was also a Muggle, so he certainly had a lot of life experience, Hermione thought.

As the three were chatting, Percy suddenly stood up, quickly packed his things, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and left without looking back.

It's time for my date!

Watching Percy's retreating figure, Harry mused, "He looks a little agitated."

Ron shrugged. "Percy took too many courses. He passed 12 OWLs and wanted to take another 12 this year, but Professor McGonagall persuaded him to drop some."

The two were somewhat moved, and then looked at Hermione in unison. Could this be what Hermione would look like in the future?

Hermione ignored the two and sat down to read.

Harry glanced at Hermione's book, "A Study of Ancient Runes," and couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you pass the test? Why are you still reading this book?"

Hermione turned a page. "Professor Hyp left a bunch of annotations on my paper, all pointing out things I should pay attention to. And I've found that ancient runes are quite interesting."

"That's quite interesting..."

The two academically challenged students looked at each other in bewilderment. Every time they discussed academic problems with Hermione, they felt like the thing around their necks was a pumpkin that Hagrid had planted in the ground.

So they started playing Wizard's Chess by themselves.

In the afternoon, Wood led the team out of the common room. Harry wanted to ask about his ancient runes homework, but then he remembered that even the end of the world couldn't dampen his enthusiasm for training, so he kept quiet.

On the way, they ran into Colin Crevey, who, like a clingy person, greeted them enthusiastically again, "Hello! Harry!" Harry replied listlessly, "Hello, Colin too."

He had already anticipated that the upcoming training sessions would inevitably be accompanied by countless flashes and shutter sounds.

Inside the castle, Ron was a little bored and could only do his homework.

He stared blankly at the parchment for a long time, and finally folded it into a paper airplane. The paper airplane hit Neville in the nose, making him cry out in pain.

In the evening, after dinner, Hermione went to Felix's office to report for duty.

Chapter 27 Hermione's Rune Journey

The office of the professor of ancient runes.

Felix was grading homework, a tedious task that gave him the illusion of doing 1+1 hundreds of times. Fortunately, he was completely freed up after handing the job over to Hermione, who had just knocked on the door and was unaware of the situation.

"The main ones are fifth and seventh grade exams, which mainly consist of multiple choice and short sentence translation. They are relatively easy to grade—you just need to compare the correct answers and mark the wrong ones with an X."

Hermione lived up to her reputation as a top student, quickly getting into the swing of things, and she was particularly good at this type of work.

Felix then began reviewing Hermione's revised paper—it was to be submitted to Professor McGonagall for publication in an academic journal, and he had to be rigorous in its review. However, he didn't simply and crudely make direct revisions; instead, he continuously offered suggestions and provided page numbers from relevant reference books.

He believed this approach would be more helpful to Hermione.

Half an hour later, the two finished their work at roughly the same time.

"Alright, let's get to the point."

Hermione was fulfilling her duties as an assistant before, but now it's Felix's turn to keep his promise.

The two sat facing each other on the sofa, separated by a small table. Felix summoned two glasses of juice with his wand. He tried to put Miss Granger at ease, but she still seemed quite reserved.

"It's clear from your paper that you already have a good understanding of the history of ancient magic script. Even if you haven't started studying it yet, I can assure you that you will progress very quickly."

"Professor, I'm currently reading 'An Easy Introduction to Ancient Runes,' and I've also learned how to consult 'The Rune Dictionary,' 'The Magic Symbol Collection,' and the books on the list you gave me before, although I haven't fully understood most of them." The little witch sat up straight and quickly introduced her latest learning progress.

Felix paused for a moment. "Very good, but I won't spend too much time discussing the translation with you. I'll just give you some suggestions at most."

"You can start from around 900 years ago, the time when Hogwarts was founded. The four founders were great figures who bridged the past and the future. They translated many manuscripts of their predecessors and left behind a lot of research materials that have puzzled later generations. These contents filled the earliest library."

"However, this part of the material is now in the restricted section. The Ravenclaw material is the most complete, while most of the Slytherin material has been lost. It's possible that after his split with the other three, he took his research results with him in a fit of anger..."

Felix recounted a piece of history in detail, captivating Hermione. "However, it's also possible that the Slytherin research isn't suitable for the library. Who knows?"

"If you need it, I can approve your application."

Felix stood up, gesturing for Hermione to follow, and the two went to his workbench.

"My research focuses not on translation, but on uncovering the power of the runes themselves. Like this—"

He picked up a palm-sized piece of chestnut wood from the table, infused his carving knife with magic, and carved magical runes onto the surface of the chestnut wood. These runes immediately emitted a blazing red light when they were first written, but quickly faded, turning into jet-black lines.

Hermione was seeing this for the first time, and she stared intently, racking her brains to figure out what the professor was doing, but to no avail.

Felix finished inscribing the runes and casually handed it to Hermione, saying, "You can feel it."

She reached out and took the chestnut wood shard. Without even touching it, she could keenly sense the magical fluctuations on it. As her fingers traced the dark runes, a warm sensation spread through her fingertips.

"The magic runes can store magic power for a short time, but if they are not processed, the magic power on them can only last for three days at most. This is also due to the combined effects of the chestnut wood itself."

Hermione nodded. Chestnut wood, as a wand material, is excellent at carrying and transmitting magic.

"There are quite a few solutions to this defect, for example—"

"You can connect them to form a circuit, thus greatly extending the duration of the magic."

"Special protective magic can also be cast;"

"Or add storage and conversion loops..."

Hermione's little brain was working hard to memorize everything; she wished she could immediately grab the parchment and write down every single word Professor Hyp said.

Felix's explanation process was also a process of reorganizing his own knowledge system. Unlike the previous three years when he was "not getting enough to eat," he now has far too many choices and must make careful decisions.

Therefore, giving the little witch a lesson was just a side thing. At this moment, he fell into thought and murmured, "However, these methods are only for maintenance. In thirty or fifty years, they will eventually decay with time."

Why is the sound getting quieter? Hermione quickly moved closer to her, craning her neck to listen.

Are the heroes and creations in mythology merely figments of imagination or do they actually exist?

Are they powerful wizards?

"If so, how exactly do those magical creations that have been passed down for thousands of years achieve immortality?"

Seeing the professor fall silent, Hermione guessed, "Perhaps they themselves can provide magic in an endless stream."

Felix chuckled, "How could that be? They're not living beings."

“What about the Sorting Hat? The Sorting Hat has existed for a thousand years, and it can even communicate with people and has its own wisdom.” Hermione tried to give examples to support her guess. “And there are the portraits of the past headmasters in the headmaster’s office. I’ve heard Harry mention them.”

“Miss Granger, the portrait itself is an exquisite magical artifact; it can hold a person's thoughts. And as far as I know, for a magical portrait to last, it requires regular maintenance, although this interval may be decades…”

“However, the Sorting Hat,” Felix thought for a moment, “I did overlook it. I don’t know much about it. Perhaps I should find an opportunity to reintroduce myself to it?”

"Alright, Miss Granger, let's stop our brainstorming here. Next—"

Felix took the palm-sized piece of chestnut wood from Hermione's hand. "Next, I'll connect these runes to form a circuit. Watch carefully."

This work is quite meticulous. He carefully drew out the lines and connected them together, explaining as he went, "This step is very important. Many alchemical creations have complex functions."

A dozen minutes later, he handed the chestnut wood slice to Hermione so she could feel the difference before and after.

"I can feel the magic flowing, fluctuating and undulating, and it... it seems to be resisting me," Hermione said, somewhat puzzled.

This is truly unbelievable.

Felix understood. "Your resistance stems from the fact that it is a rough, unfinished product, with magical fluctuations spreading unchecked, and you sensed that."

"Of course, this also shows that you are very perceptive, and you must have a strong talent for spells."

Hermione's face turned bright red.

Chapter 28 "I Have Special Teaching Techniques"

Hermione asked, "Professor, what is the purpose of this rune circuit?"

Felix waved her wand, and the chestnut wood chip floated from her hand into the air, their gazes following it.

“This piece of chestnut wood only has one burst magic rune circuit, which is very unstable. As long as I guide it slightly, like this…” He snapped his fingers lightly.

"boom!"

The chestnut wood chips exploded suddenly, accompanied by a bright flash and a loud bang, startling Hermione.

Felix then demonstrated several rune circuits to Hermione, giving her a basic understanding of the professor's area of ​​research.

"That's enough for today. Tomorrow I'll really teach you ancient magic script."

Before we knew it, it was already 9:30.

Hermione returned to the common room and saw Harry, covered in dust and looking exhausted, slumped over the table, fiddling with a wizard chess piece. The "humiliated" knight kept stabbing Harry's fingers with his miniature lance.

Ron was catching up on his Potions class homework, with three answer keys laid out in front of him.

Seeing Hermione return, Harry couldn't help but ask, "How was your first day as an assistant in the Ancient Runes class?"