A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Hermione smiled. "Fantastic!"

Ron was curious about her job. "What did you do? Did you grade papers?"

"Well, I'm only in charge of a portion of the fifth and seventh grade exams. You know, there aren't many sixth and seventh graders who choose ancient magic script; they take classes together from all four academies."

Ron suddenly became excited, "If I were you, I would definitely deduct a lot of points from Slytherin's paper for neatness."

Hermione's face instantly turned serious: "Ron, I must be responsible for my duties."

Ron slumped on the table like a deflated balloon.

"Harry, how about you? How's your Quidditch training going?" Hermione inquired.

"It's still the same old story, especially since Fred and George have gathered intelligence from Slytherin. Nimbus 2001 is so fast that you can't even see their faces." Harry said pessimistically.

Hermione was helpless; the entire school lacked confidence in their first match against Gryffindor and Slytherin. Ravenclaw and Houndhouse, on the other hand, wanted to use the match to see the practical power of Nimbus 2001 and then conduct targeted training.

The team wasn't in high spirits either. Wood whispered to Harry, "Our brooms aren't as good as Slytherin's, but as long as you're fast enough, you can catch the Golden Snitch before we do..."

This put even more pressure on Harry.

……

On Sunday evening, Hermione went to the Ancient Runes professor's office again.

From afar, she suddenly saw Malfoy emerge from his office. Hermione quickly hid behind a pillar and saw Professor Hyp and Malfoy talking to each other, with Malfoy nodding repeatedly.

Her feelings suddenly became complicated.

Inside the office, Hermione sat quietly on the sofa, watching Felix wave his wand and pile a stack of parchment on the table into a corner.

Could it be Malfoy's thesis?

Hermione's mind raced with various thoughts. She wanted to ask Professor Hyp why Malfoy was there, but she wisely refrained from asking.

Just like yesterday, Felix sat on the other side of the small table, with ten chestnut wood pieces in front of him, each engraved with a magic rune.

"Today we will officially begin learning practical ancient runes." He emphasized the word "practical."

“These ten runes each have a different magical meaning. For example,” he pointed to the first chestnut wood piece, “it represents connection. Specifically, it can connect runes of the same category, such as liquid or flow; or concepts of relative categories, such as burst or stability…”

"In practical applications, I found that its shape can undergo seven transformations, each suitable for..."

After speaking for an hour, Felix's mouth was dry.

"Next, we will conduct a live-fire exercise."

Seeing Hermione take out her wand, Felix smiled. "Our practice doesn't require wands."

“I once told Professor McGonagall that I have special teaching skills.”

Hermione was still a little confused, but Felix had already bent down and gently tapped the little witch's forehead with his wand while whispering a spell.

She suddenly felt her vision blur. The furnishings in the office seemed to tremble and distort like flowing water, with various colors blending together, making her feel as if she were in an abstract oil painting.

However, the distorted environment quickly returned to normal.

To her surprise, she found that she and the professor were still sitting on the sofa, but the room was divided in two by a small table between them. The professor's half was piled with books of all kinds, numbering over a thousand.

The books were divided into more than a dozen stacks, seemingly representing different categories.

But what's most eye-catching are the ancient magical runes dancing on the pages of the book, each a different color: bright red, emerald green, cypress, metallic sheen...

Hundreds of ancient magical runes, like little sprites, darted around half the room.

Hermione couldn't help but stand up. She glanced at Professor Hyp, who waved slightly to indicate that she was free to look around.

The little witch passed through an invisible barrier, and an ancient spell flew to her. Hermione couldn't resist picking up the little creature and letting it bounce around in her palm.

Only after the little one skipped away did she reluctantly turn her gaze away. She wandered among the books, stopping and starting, skimming through them and quickly scanning their names—

*A Study of the History of Ancient Runes*, *An Exploration of Ancient Runes*, *An Exploration of Ancient Alchemy*, *The Principles of Spells*, *An Analysis of High-Level Spells*, *A Selection of Transfiguration Spells*, *The Book of Duels*, *The Art of Duel*, *The Ravenclaw Manuscripts (Volume 1)*, *An Illustrated Compendium of Dangerous Magical Creatures*, *Magic*, *High-Level Ancient Runes*, *The Allure of Alchemy*...

There were too many, and they were all huge volumes. Hermione even saw a book that was two feet tall and half a foot thick.

Even as a top student, she couldn't help but feel inferior, and she secretly resolved to read just as many books in the future...

She stepped over a tall stack of books, avoiding the still, deep green curtains, and found herself facing a pile of Muggle books: *Thinking Experiments*, *The Secrets of the Human Brain*, *Mind Analysis*, *A Collection of World Jokes*, and more…

She even discovered the complete Encyclopædia Britannica, which was her childhood favorite!

Besides these relatively normal items, in one corner of the room, there were seven or eight books scattered about, constantly emitting black mist. If you stared at them closely, you could faintly hear the wailing of a male wizard.

"Could it be a book of dark magic?" The little witch was a bit dumbfounded, and she secretly glanced at the professor.

Chapter 29 Mind Hut

Felix clearly noticed Hermione's gaze.

“Oh, those are indeed books on dark magic, but there’s a saying, isn’t there? If you want to defend against dark magic, you need to have some understanding of it. As far as I know, the Aurors in the Ministry of Magic specialize in teaching some dark magic.”

"But I rarely see them..."

"Some wizards do not use black magic, but that does not mean they do not know black magic."

Felix smiled gently at her. "I once traveled the world for a year, and I must say that black magic is indeed more effective in solving certain problems."

Upon hearing Professor Hyp's explanation, she quickly considered it and found the reason barely acceptable, but still said with a stern face, "Professor, I still suggest you use black magic less in the future. I read in a book that black magic always subtly infiltrates your heart, corrupting you without you even realizing it—"

"—Many young wizards go astray because of this, especially underage wizards, for whom dark magic is an irreversible poison to the mind," Felix said, following Hermione's words.

Seeing the little witch's surprise, he blinked. "I've read this book too."

"However, I still want to thank you for your advice."

Hermione pursed her lips, her expression mirroring Professor McGonagall's.

Seeing his assistant looking somewhat sullen, Felix subtly changed the subject, praising, "I didn't expect you to have read so many books. For your age, that's quite an achievement."

Following the professor's gaze, Hermione then discovered that the other half of the room—the side closer to her, divided by a small table—had a completely different decorating style.

The warm sunlight cast large swaths of radiance, and the light brown carpet and pale yellow curtains created an extremely comfortable atmosphere. In the center was a small round table with two potted plants on it.

On the wall directly opposite is a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. Inside are hundreds of neatly arranged books, and on the second shelf from the top, there are seven or eight photo frames, including family photos and photos of Hermione from childhood to adulthood.

Right next to the bookshelf was an ivory-colored door.

Hermione covered her mouth in surprise; this half of the space was seven or eight tenths similar to her room at home.

She turned to look at Professor Hep, her mind filled with doubts, for only this professor could answer her questions now.

Professor Hyp provided the answer: "This is a world of thought, a dwelling place of imagination, you can call it whatever you want. Of course, none of this is real; we are merely consciousness existing here."

Hermione clicked her tongue in amazement. Standing at the boundary between the two spaces, she stared wide-eyed, looking left and right. She waved her hand hesitantly, "So, this place was built by us together? Half of it represents your inner world, and half of it represents my inner world..."

Felix pointed to his head, “It’s merely an external reflection and projection of a part of our inner world.”

“And all our deepest secrets are behind the door.” He glanced at the ivory door, then waved his wand, and the dark green curtain behind him rolled up high, revealing a tall doorway.

Hermione visibly relaxed; she had quite a few secrets she wasn't willing to reveal easily.

For example, Harry's Parseltongue.

"Professor, why did we come to this...world of thought?"

Felix did not answer directly, but instead introduced part of his experience: "After graduating, I spent a year traveling around the world before settling in London to specialize in Muggle studies."

“Muggles are no less intelligent than wizards, and in many ways, such as logic, reasoning, and problem-solving methodologies, they are even more outstanding. And more importantly, they are more likely to pass on their knowledge.”

"They will pass on their knowledge, accumulating it generation after generation, and through quantitative change, qualitative change will occur."

"Wizards also have traditions, such as Hogwarts, but they are far behind in terms of inheritance and development."

"It was when I realized this that I started reading Muggle books. To be honest, I was used to animated photos, so reading Muggle books was quite a change."

“Their research on mind and brain has caught my attention. I’ve found that they’ve gotten ahead of us in this area—which should be a better area for wizards—after all, we have a range of memory spells like Oblivion, Legilimency, and Occlumency.”

"But unfortunately, we only inherited the spell, not the idea."

"So, I combined Muggle knowledge to create a magic, which, although it is still quite different from what I had envisioned, is perfectly suited for our teaching today."

"What's the use of this magic?" Hermione asked curiously.

“Your thinking speeds up,” Felix explained. “Here—which I call the Mind Hut—your thinking speeds up, and with the help of this place, we have the illusion that time is stretched out. I can only increase it three or four times at the moment; any higher and it becomes dangerous.”

"Similar to this magic is the Baffy Mind-Awakening Potion, but the two do not work exactly the same. The latter can enhance the user's mental abilities."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Professor, this magic is absolutely amazing!"

Felix shook his head. "It's not perfect yet."

Seeing that the professor was unwilling to say more, Hermione began to practice inscribing ancient runes. She used chestnut wood chips that Felix had provided her—which was also one of the drawbacks of this magic: what you cannot understand cannot appear here.

For the rest of the time, Hermione practiced on her own, with Felix providing guidance every now and then.

Seven hours of thinking.

Felix noticed that Hermione's face was covered in sweat, and her figure was fading, making her look somewhat like a transparent ghost.

"Professor, I can't concentrate, I can't maintain... focus."

"Well, it's almost time. Let's call it a day." Felix snapped his fingers, and the next moment, the world spun around them, and their thoughts returned to the lounge.

Felix's wand was still resting on Hermione's head when he suddenly staggered and nearly fell to the ground.

He pressed one hand to his forehead and waved his wand with the other, and a bottle of potion flew out of his suitcase.

Under the wand's command, the potion bottle acted quite consciously, not only opening its lid by itself but also summoning two cups to pour out some of the potion.

On the other hand, Hermione was in a much worse state. She collapsed onto the sofa, her face contorted in pain, as if she were about to faint at any moment.

"Drink it, it will relieve your symptoms."

Hermione reluctantly drank the potion.

"Have a piece of chocolate." Felix handed her another piece of chocolate.

Seven or eight minutes later, Hermione finally came to her senses, muttering repeatedly, "That was horrible, that was horrible."

Chapter 30 Professor Worshippers

After eating the whole piece of chocolate, Hermione finally returned to normal. Although she looked quite tired, at least her intelligence was back online.

"Professor, is this the downside of the Mind Chamber? It feels like I haven't slept for three days and three nights, and then this exhaustion suddenly overwhelmed me," she described her feelings.