A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

“This is one of the drawbacks: it accelerates the depletion of your energy, and this depletion is cumulative,” Felix explained. “You may have just been in the mind-room for seven hours, but you may feel more tired than you have been for fourteen hours.”

Felix then looked at her thoughtfully, “It seems we’ll have to shorten your time in the Mind Chamber from now on. I think three to five hours, twice a week, would be a more appropriate frequency.”

When Hermione heard that the professor wanted to shorten her study time, she instinctively wanted to object, but her recent experience left her shaken, and she accepted Felix's arrangement.

Her attention quickly shifted to the magic she had just witnessed, and she asked curiously, "Professor, how did you come up with that magic? It was absolutely amazing! I think the Ministry of Magic should award you the Order of Merlin!"

Felix shook his head and said softly, "This magic is still very imperfect. I originally thought it would give me several hours, or even dozens of hours, out of thin air, but in practice I have encountered far too many problems."

“The essence of this memory magic is to speed up your thinking, currently it’s about—” He glanced at the clock, “about three times faster.”

Hermione turned to stare at the clock, her expression complex: "I've been in the Mind Chamber for seven hours, and only two hours have passed in the outside world. This is simply a miracle!"

If others also learn this magic, how much time will he have to spend studying it!

However, very few people could withstand the side effects of magic.

And Professor Hyp's assistance is also necessary...

It seems I'm the lucky one, Hermione thought smugly.

Felix continued, “The Mind Chamber isn’t the real world; essentially, everything in it is made up of your perceptions. Are you aware of its problems?” Felix asked.

Hermione thought for a moment, “It reflects our own perception of the outside world, which means—means that we can’t get the right feedback! No, I can clearly practice runes in there.”

The little witch's idea was that the existence of the "Mind Chamber" was based on the wizard's understanding of the outside world, so he could not "construct" things he did not understand, such as using the Mind Chamber to brew potions or practice magic, and of course, he could not master magic runes.

But this contradicts her experience.

Felix watched with great interest as the little witch racked her brains, trying her best to think—Professor McGonagall's assessment of Miss Granger was quite apt.

“That child has a great thirst for knowledge; she always grasps the information in books much faster than others. Of course, her talent may not be as great as yours, but I think you are an exception…”

He was indeed an exception, given his unique advantage in practicing spells. His feelings towards the witch also constantly changed, from a familiar stranger to a recommended assistant, and then to a hardworking academic achiever.

As expected of one of the three main characters in the original story, few can match his potential.

What kind of talents do the other two possess? Felix pondered this question.

The clock ticked away.

"Could it be because of your presence, Professor?" Hermione's eyes lit up.

Felix gave an approving look, revealing the answer: "I am the one who uses magic, so the Mind Chamber is constructed based on my perceptions, at least most of them. And that means—"

"This means your knowledge of ancient runes surpasses mine!"

Hermione suddenly realized, "Your understanding of ancient runes far surpasses mine, which is why I can practice ancient runes within your comprehension."

Simply put, Felix is ​​the creator of the "Mind Hut," and Hermione is his guest.

Hermione continued to deduce along this line of thought, "Then this magic seems to have little effect on the professor..."

Felix shrugged. "It's somewhat useful. It has all the books I've read before, which allows me to quickly review what I've learned. Or, it's very convenient when I want to have some undisturbed thinking time."

In fact, Felix originally developed it as a combat magic—to gain superhuman dynamic vision and reaction speed.

With his level 6 Apparition and Stun, he was incredibly agile.

He had this idea when he was in fifth grade, but he had no clue how to implement it until he graduated.

Forced into a corner, he had no choice but to always carry a vial of magic potion with him, using it to increase his reaction speed.

He didn't gain anything until he read through a large number of research papers on the brain and thinking in the Muggle world, but unfortunately, he used these gains for teaching.

The task is arduous and the road ahead is long.

Putting those thoughts aside, Felix advised her, "The mind hut is not the same as the real world. You will have to practice constantly over the next week to turn the illusory feeling into real reality."

Hermione's current state is like she just played a VR game and learned the skill of "cooking" in the game. If she starts learning to cook after returning to reality, it's like having a tenfold experience boost, but if she doesn't make any extra effort, this somewhat "virtual" experience will quickly dissipate.

She can't do it today; she's too tired.

“Professor…” Hermione bit her lip hesitantly, as if she had something to say.

"how?"

“It’s nothing,” Hermione said quickly.

On her way here today, she saw Malfoy leaving Professor Heap's office. Could it be that Malfoy also received the professor's help and was training in the Mind Hut? She wanted to ask the professor, but couldn't find a suitable excuse.

Perhaps Ron knows?

Ever since the "slug" incident, Ron has been paying special attention to Malfoy, especially to news of his misfortunes.

After resting for about ten minutes, Hermione still looked a little sick, but it wasn't a big problem; she just needed to get a good night's sleep.

……

Evening, in the common room.

Hermione asked Ron about this, and to her surprise, he actually knew the answer.

Ron grinned broadly. "He's been put in solitary confinement by Professor Hyp. It's been three days already... Apparently, Professor Hyp thinks he disrespects his classmates, so he's punishing him by making him copy books."

"Copying books?" Harry asked curiously. He was very happy that his old rival was in trouble and couldn't wait to know more details.

“Yes, completely handwritten. I overheard him complaining about it to Crabbe and Goyle. It was two huge books, at least three inches thick when stacked up, and he spent a whole month on them.”

"what book?"

“I glanced at it, but I didn’t see it clearly. It seemed to be Muggle or something.” Ron frowned and thought for a while. “Right! I remember now, Malfoy mentioned that Professor Hyp’s books didn’t sell at all and were only used as a tool to punish students.”

"Is it 'How Muggles Think' and 'The Muggle Story: From a Million Years Ago'?" Hermione blurted out the titles of both books.

Ron scratched his head. "It seems so... but how did you know?"

Hermione didn't reply, but ran back to her dorm and returned shortly after with two books.

"It's definitely a huge book..." Harry thought. He glanced at the spine, and there were the two names Hermione had mentioned.

Ron's mouth dropped open. "Hermione, don't tell me this is something you use for amusement too."

"You have a problem with that?" Hermione frowned forcefully.

Harry picked up a book, flipped it open, and saw long passages of text that made his eyes dizzy. "Hermione, do you really need to read these kinds of books? I mean, we've grown up in Muggle families."

Hermione seemed very happy. "It's quite interesting to see the Muggle world from a wizard's perspective. And Professor Hyp's books are excellent; his perspectives on issues are completely beyond my comprehension."

Then she added bitterly, "Malfoy is so lucky! If it weren't for Professor Hyp, he would never have had the chance to read such an excellent book in his life!"

Hermione praised Felix without reservation, and the two boys exchanged a glance, silently sharing their thoughts—had Hermione's idol shifted from Lockhart to this Professor Hyp?

Chapter 31 Felix's Inner Journey

Felix watched the little witch leave. He stood by the window and could vaguely see through the darkness that a pair of young wizards were sitting together, holding hands, enjoying a leisurely weekend.

“Peacetime…” He pondered the word with a touch of melancholy, only realizing the impact of war after returning to Hogwarts.

While the Dark Lord was wreaking havoc, Felix was happily leading the older kids in beating up thugs from the neighboring school at the Muggle orphanage. By the time he enrolled, the Dark Lord had been dead for almost a year.

The wizarding world was in chaos at the time—Death Eaters were busy getting their sentences cleared, ambitious individuals were eager to seize power vacuums, victims kept demanding compensation, and there were also fugitives unwilling to accept defeat hiding in the gutter plotting a counterattack. Of course, none of this affected him; what affected him were the young wizards at Hogwarts.

At the time, pure-blood families in the wizarding world did everything they could to distance themselves from the Dark Lord. Discrimination? Absolutely not; wizards and Muggles were one family. But what they were like at home, and how they raised their children, was likely a completely different story.

He enrolled at Hogwarts under these circumstances, and then—

Shh! Be quiet, look what we've found! A Muggle-born Slytherin! Come on, bully him!

Yes, that was the mindset of most Slytherin students at the time.

When the dinner party ended, Felix was about to use his talents to make friends with his roommates when one of the Slytherins said to him with disgust, "Get out of here, you vile Mudblood!"

Even when Felix subconsciously threw a "petrify" at the other person, he still didn't understand the meaning of the word. What was going on?

Both sides were somewhat bewildered at the time.

Fortunately, only one of them was stubborn; the other two roommates had shockingly low moral standards, answering ten questions for every one asked. So, when he lay in bed that night, he had already made a certain assessment of his future situation.

He realized that today's conflict was not the end of the matter, but the beginning of everything.

What happened next went as he expected, but luckily, he won them over in just one week. Bah! He forced his way into befriending the freshmen, who said more than once in public that Felix was a good person, not only exceptionally talented but also helpful.

Although he couldn't beat the upperclassmen for the time being, with the professors and school rules in place, they wouldn't curse him. After all, fights between students of the same grade could be considered minor conflicts, but upperclassmen attacking lowerclassmen could easily lead to expulsion.

By the time he revealed his powerful magical talent, there were few left who wanted to cause him trouble.

It must be said that Slytherin is not lacking in intelligent people.

But the danger wasn't limited to school. Felix couldn't remember how many death threats he received during his school years, but he clearly remembered the first one at his first-year Christmas party.

It was an anonymous letter of yelling. He later guessed that it might have been sent by the parent of one of the new students he had beaten up.

However, he cautiously stayed at school that year, by defeating the second-year Slytherins—this was not his fault, as they attacked first, and he simply followed the trend.

But he didn't expect the death threats to escalate. At the beginning of his second year of school, a batch of red shouting letters came flying at him, and the entire Great Hall was filled with messages like "You filthy mudblood, get out of Slytherin!" or "Don't let me see you, or I'll wipe the shame off Slytherin myself!"

The young wizards eating at the time were terrified, and Headmaster Dumbledore was exceptionally serious, personally examining the remains of the howl letter. But such things are difficult to trace; the owl was rented, and the sound was disguised.

To be honest, he was in a dilemma. He wanted to focus on learning magic, but things never went as he expected.

Felix had to continue his plan to make friends, accumulating many acquaintances and minimizing his enemies. This also meant enduring misunderstandings—those unaware of the truth interpreted it as retaliation.

Not long after, he approached a third-year Slytherin who particularly disliked him and, under the guise of "seeking guidance," sent him to the school hospital for three weeks.

Afterwards, he actively visited the fellow patient and was deeply saddened by his "mistake," after all, it was an accident!

Professor, I'm really heartbroken. Are you going to deduct points from my score? Go ahead and deduct them, I can take it…

Felix suddenly realized that if you wanted to cause trouble for Slytherins, it was really easy; all you had to do was go somewhere where no one was around and call their family trash.

This fishing method has never failed.

After several attempts, the third-year Slytherin was finally convinced—his most stubborn roommate was still the one he had encountered, but even so stubborn, after sleeping on the floor for seven days, he happily accepted his friendship.

In his third year, he finally dealt with the last stubborn seventh-year Slytherin, and when he accomplished it, he felt a sense of exhilaration, like leveling up in a game and graduating at max level.

But he still dared not leave the school; he still had to deal with the annual threat of death.

That's why he spent a whole year working himself to the bone to create two level six spells, even though his magic theory at the time was only level four!

Fortunately, it was all worth it. With his Level 6 "Stun" and "Armor Protection," he took down seven idiots who tried to attack him during his fourth-year summer vacation. These guys are still living in Azkaban now!

The subsequent family duel at the beginning of the fifth grade was nothing to him; not a single formal duel took place—Shafik was taken away the next day.

From then on, until graduation, he lived a very comfortable life.