A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

"Fortunately," Felix raised his voice, startling the group of young wizards who were lost in a terrible hallucination, "the illumination spell you're going to learn isn't dangerous. At least you don't have to worry about being burned to ashes, corroded into pus by poisonous fog, or turned into a dried corpse by lightning..."

The young wizards all stared wide-eyed; they really hadn't received much comfort from the professor.

"Does anyone know what this means for us?"

One of the twins muttered, "Don't let it take shape."

“That’s right,” Felix gave him an approving look, and Fred’s mouth dropped open; he’d just blurted it out.

"Don't let your ancient magic take shape easily. Repeat the second step until you feel very proficient before you can move on to the next step."

“Each of you will be examined before leaving school. I will also write to your parents to explain the situation and strictly prohibit practicing in private. Even draining your magic is a foolish act, understand?”

The young wizards fell silent, terrified. The professor had never been so strict before, and they nodded repeatedly like chickens pecking at rice.

“Very good, you have about a week to get a basic grasp of the Light spell,” Felix said, pointing to the stone basin, “with the help of it.”

Felix stood up and looked around: "Who wants to be the first to go in? Although it's a replica, I've retained some features of the Pensieve. The way you enter is a bit like diving, which I personally think is quite interesting."

Chapter 312 Prophecy

“Fred and George have no idea that their noses will one day be on public display.” Ron chuckled, his eyes fixed on the small patch of light above them, as did Harry, Hermione, and a dozen or so others around them.

They stood on the empty floor, or rather—in the space inside the stone basin, where the light was not very bright, resembling the twilight scene at dusk.

Instead of a ceiling, there was a circular beam of light overhead, remarkably similar in shape to the rim of a stone basin. At that moment, a portion of that light was obscured, revealing a straight nose, as if a giant were spying on them from outside the house.

Ron said with a satisfied look, "Guess whose nose this is? I think it's George's, although it's not obvious, but his nose is a little crooked."

Harry grinned; it was certainly an interesting vantage point, and they could hear a buzzing sound coming from afar, echoing—

"I saw a lot of little people. Little Ronnie is the easiest to recognize, our family's redhead—oh my!"

The crowd in the stone basin watched as one of the Weasley brothers, flailing his arms and legs, fell from the sky. He tumbled a dozen times before crashing heavily to the floor. George Weasley looked up and saw his brother grinning mischievously, reaching out his hand and saying to him in a mocking tone, "Your hair is quite noticeable too."

George immediately got up, brushed off non-existent dirt, and said in a dramatic manner, "It's all Fred's fault, he pressed my head down, oh, here he comes."

Everyone looked up and saw another person fall from a great height, almost a carbon copy of George. Fred also crashed to the ground with a "thud".

"That's great!" George asked excitedly. "Harry, who do you think landed more gracefully?"

Harry tried to keep his tone objective, suppressing a laugh as he seriously commented, "I think it was you, but Fred's slam was louder on the ground..."

The students fell one by one like dumplings being dropped into a pot, with Professor Haip being the last to land. He landed lightly on the ground, smiling as he said, "An appetizer before the main course. I hope you have fun."

"Next, I will demonstrate the true power of this magic to you."

As Felix spoke, he waved his hand, just like in a fairy tale, "the sky darkened, darkness enveloped the earth, and one could not see their hand in front of their face." Harry felt a little flustered, his heart racing uncontrollably. He tentatively called out, "Ron? Hermione? Professor?"

There was no response, not even his own voice. In his panic, he bumped into someone who looked like he was about to fall, and he helped him up.

"Stay calm—"

Professor Hyp's voice said, "This is a magical mist that can block out ordinary natural light and sound. Generally, experienced people will choose to stay away from this area because they don't know what they might encounter. But if you are already trapped in it, you can use some special magic to break the mist, such as the illumination spell I taught you."

He chanted the spell syllables, and light gathered in his hands, beams of light piercing the darkness and bringing light. But the straight, bright light and the darkness were intertwined, neither able to overcome the other. Harry thought of a scene: a flashlight beam passing through the darkness at night.

However, the professor probably has countless smaller flashlights in his hands...

At the same time, Harry recognized the person next to him—the only second-year student. "Oh, Ginny, are you alright?"

Ginny's face was as red as her hair. "N-no, nothing!"

Felix said, "This is a basic demonstration of your mastery of the magic, and it is the minimum requirement I have for you—you can control it steadily, prevent it from draining your magic, and maintain a basic shape, which looks like a large light bulb."

"Once you've become proficient—I mean, once you have enough control—you'll be able to change the form of this magic at will, like a ball of light—"

He reached out, cradling a milky-white orb of light, its warm yellow hue emanating from the magical mist, giving one an involuntary sense of reassurance. The light brightened, and Harry saw indistinct figures of other people.

"Or perhaps it has an animal appearance—"

A glowing owl flapped its wings, casting an ambiguous glow on their faces. Harry suddenly thought of his Hedwig, but the next second, it transformed into an eagle and various other unidentified birds of prey.

"Or, just the simplest beam of light—"

As Felix spoke, the monkey-eating eagle in his hand shot rapidly into the sky, leaving a long, bright vertical trail, until finally it truly became a beam of light.

"These techniques can be used for your private practice to help you become more familiar with the magic. After that, you can freely infuse magic with it to enhance its power and range."

The beam of light, as thick as a wrist, seemed to break free from its restraints and rapidly expanded, one foot, two feet, ten feet, twenty feet... The beam of light continued to extend, engulfing them, and the magical mist in the entire space was broken, making the sky bright.

Felix withdrew his magic. "Then, next—I will give you one-on-one instruction."

Everyone stared at the professor, confused by his words. One-on-one? Did he mean one by one they would go up and receive instruction? Harry and his two friends, however, had a vague idea: perhaps the professor had prepared in advance, just like Professor Hyp, who was made up of memories in the Nameless Book.

They were half right.

Hermione suddenly covered her mouth, her eyes wide open, and the others also looked terrified. A second head appeared on Professor Hyp's neck, and soon his chest split into two, as if two professors were overlapping.

Amidst the incredibly strange looks from everyone, the second complete "Professor Hyp" emerged from Felix. This Professor Hyp pointed to a name: "Malfoy, come with me."

Draco mechanically walked up to the two professors, looking them over from left to right. He couldn't tell who was real and who was fake. But soon, something even more surprising happened: a third "Professor Hyp" appeared. He casually twirled his wand and said, "Hmm, you're the one, Diggory."

Cedric followed him away with a stiff expression. When he had walked a distance and couldn't help but look back, the fourth and fifth Professors Hyp had already begun selecting students. He finally understood what one-on-one instruction meant.

It really is one-on-one!

“Jeffrey—”

"Percy Weasley—"

“Miss Greengrass—”

One by one, members of the Spellbook Club were taken away by Professors Hyp and the others, each with a bewildered expression on their face. Harry understood them all very well; even after being exposed to the Nameless Book, he was still deeply shaken.

He discovered that Professor Hyp never hesitated to demonstrate the wonders of magic to them and applied it to all aspects of life and teaching; magic had become an integral part of the professor's life.

"You seem to have something to say to me, Harry?"

Harry opened his mouth, thinking of Professor Trelawney's unusual state during the exam. In his mind, either Trelawney had a hidden illness, or she had actually made a prophecy.

He had always thought the divination professor was a fraud, but ever since that night when the Dementors attacked the covered bridge, he no longer thought so.

"What you're worried about will happen in April."

It matches up! This wasn't said to any one person, but to the four people present at the time: Ron, Hermione, Professor Hyp, and Harry himself!

Ron had always hoped that his pet mouse would return one day—not as the Dark Wizard or Peter Pettigrew, but as Scabbers, the inconspicuous mouse who had been with him for more than two years. But his fears were undeniably realized.

Hermione was constantly worried about them being attacked, which was one of the reasons she actively organized the Duel Study Group. And indeed, an attack did occur. Had Sirius not suddenly appeared, they might have been kidnapped by Peter Pettigrew—no, only Peter himself—and Hermione and Ron's fate was predictable.

What about Professor Hyp? One of his respected elders died that day, Hermione told him;

As for himself, he had even more worries—worries about what Ron worried about, and worries about what Hermione worried about. After recognizing Sirius, he began to worry that he was not good enough for such a wonderful family. As expected, an accident happened along the way...

When Harry told Ron and Hermione about his guess, they were also very surprised.

"Harry, it's just a coincidence!" Hermione said haughtily after the initial shock.

“Maybe, maybe it’s true. That old dragonfly Trelawney really does have some skills. Hermione, didn’t you say that her ancestors had real divination talents?” Ron said with some skepticism.

In private, he gave nicknames to the professors he disliked: Snape was called the greasy old bat, and Trelawney, because of her penchant for cryptic behavior and her insect-themed glasses, was known as the old dragonfly...

Harry's two best friends reacted in stark contrast, causing him to waver in his attitude. Finally, during the exam, Harry was the last to leave the classroom, returning the crystal ball to Trelawney. She rolled her eyes, stiffly gripping the armchair, and uttered a nonsensical string of words. Her voice was hoarse and strange, as if it had been forcefully filed down—

"An unprecedented upheaval... a legendary drama unfolds... Ho—the clown returns to the stage to the beat of the drums, the warriors are ready for battle, the lion grows old, the phoenix is ​​reborn... Time! Time!"

Harry was stunned. As he was wondering whether to call for help, Professor Trelawney lowered her head to her chest, snorted, and then, quite suddenly, snapped her head back up and stood there as if nothing had happened.

“I’m sorry, my dear child,” she said as if in a dream, “it was so hot during the day, you know—I fell asleep for a while…”

Harry remained standing there, staring in disbelief.

Trelawney glanced at Harry with surprise, as if he had done something strange.

"What are you thinking about, child?"

……

“What are you thinking about, Harry?” Felix asked.

“N-nothing,” Harry paused for a moment, then came to his senses. “I was wondering if the stone basin also follows the principle of the Nameless Book?”

“More or less,” Felix said, “but it’s more like a combination of the Room of Requirement and the Pensieve than an anonymous book,” he winked, “I received it as a gift from two elders.”

Chapter 313 Divination by Fire and Smoke

From morning to afternoon, club members filed out.

"That's amazing!!!" a student exclaimed excitedly, "It's like the professor belongs to me all by himself..."

“That’s what we all think,” his companion said with a grin.

But he didn't hear me at all, and said in an exaggerated tone, "Professor Hyp also casually discussed with me what kind of casting poses are cooler, did you hear that?"

“I’m a good hundred feet away from you, buddy!”

One girl said, "Professor Hyp was very patient. When he was explaining the rune sequence structure of the Illumination spell to me, he said it looked like a lily of the valley."

“Huh? The professor was talking about tulips,” another girl said.

"It's clearly a rose..."

The group looked at each other, arguing amongst themselves. Ron couldn't help but say, "Perhaps Professor Hyp just wanted to express an arc-shaped structure. These flowers all look very similar, don't they?"

The girls, who were having a heated discussion, glared at Ron, snorted, and left.

Ron scratched his head, puzzled, and said, "Did I say something wrong?"

“No, you just ruined their good mood for the day,” Hermione said casually.

They came to a courtyard where plants grew lushly along the winding paths. Harry casually touched the orange-red spherical fruits in the bushes, next to a large clump of mistletoe adorned with white beads.

"How is Sirius, Harry?" Hermione asked.

“He’s fine. He’s been busy preparing for his brother’s funeral lately, and he doesn’t want anyone else involved,” Harry said softly.

“I think his name was Regulus Black?” Ron said excitedly. “He was really cool, a lone hero…” He lowered his voice and said, “As a Death Eater, he really outsmarted Mysterio. He deserves it.”

"Yes, but we definitely can't mention Horcruxes at the funeral. Headmaster Dumbledore spoke to me about it specifically, you know..."

Ron laughed. "He must have been very troubled at the time, maybe even thinking of casting a forgetting spell on us."

“Ron!” Hermione said sternly.