A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

One after another, novel little animals appeared before his eyes, as if he had opened up a new world.

After a moment, he looked up, somewhat puzzled. "Professor Hyp, I haven't seen these animals much before. They don't seem to be magical creatures."

“That’s right, you’re an expert on magical creatures, and you know more about them than I do. Fortunately, I worked in the Muggle world for two years and saw many interesting little animals. They may not have magical features, but thanks to their unique physiological structure and living environment, they still possess fascinating characteristics…”

"I compiled a portion of it from various Muggle books and film materials, and completed this magic book."

Hagrid clearly knew the thought behind the gift, and he muttered to himself, "This is too precious, too precious."

Felix smiled. "Hagrid, don't mention it. I prepared a similar gift for every professor. And—"

"I do have a small favor to ask of you."

"What is it?" Hagrid asked cautiously.

“I need some unicorn fur, not too much…” Felix seemed a little troubled.

“Oh, is that all? It’s simple.” Hagrid relaxed, leaned out, and pulled a furry, dirty mat over from the side.

"Here you go, I have more if that's not enough. I have a lot of these things. The little unicorn will molt several times before it grows up, and I'm the one who takes care of it all."

Felix was a little stunned. He took the soft, floppy cushion, which looked like it had suffered a lot under Hagrid's bottom.

Hagrid added, "While unicorn hairs do possess magical properties, not every single one is good enough to make a wand. These are the ones that old man Ollivander rejected. You know, he has a deal with Hogwarts and gives new students special treatment..."

The two then began discussing magical creatures, and Hagrid was surprised to discover that the professor was not lying and was completely different from a certain narcissistic professor.

Professor Hyp knows a great deal about some magical creatures; in fact, you could say he knows many things that he himself doesn't.

For example, if you encounter a Sphinx, you can ask it three riddles first, which will put it into a state of confusion and thought.

For example, you can use magic to transform a stone when you encounter a dwarf pig monster; they are especially afraid of pure white dogs.

For example, the man-eating giant monster is afraid of bright light...

Midway through the meal, the professor also provided butterbeer and a special cake, which the two enjoyed immensely.

It was already getting dark when Felix stepped out of Hagrid's hut.

He saw a little red-haired witch by the roadside; she seemed to be a bit absent-minded, so he sent her back to the castle.

The next day, Felix traded some more branches of the willow and a pot of devil's web with Professor Sprout, who taught herbal medicine.

The former is a very rare material, often used to make wands, and is also very important in the brewing of a series of potions. But thanks to Harry and Ron—who crashed their car into a Whomping Willow at the beginning of the school year—this material is now quite abundant.

office.

Felix looked at the materials on the workbench: a dirty mat, several black branches seven or eight meters long, and a small pot of plants huddled together.

He was very satisfied.

Felix is ​​preparing to complete a magical artifact.

The method of creation came from a rather old, rare magical book that he had recently found in the library. He hadn't paid much attention to it at first, as the book's title, "Applications of Alchemy," seemed no different from those he had seen before.

But he soon realized the difference: the cover was an addition, and the pages inside were clearly much older. If it weren't for the magical protection, Felix had no doubt that it would have immediately decayed into ashes.

This thin booklet contains the notes of more than ten people, some messy and some neat. Some are supplements and corrections to those who came before, while others are arrogant and condescending towards those who came after.

Chapter 34 Magic Rune Creatures and Halloween

Through a message from a somewhat talkative man named Chagus Gaunt, Felix determined that the ancient book came from a family called "Gaunt," or at least that they had possessed it for a long time.

Because the later notes are full of praise for this great-grandfather.

And it wasn't just one.

This made reading the comments enjoyable for Felix.

The rune artifact that Felix was preparing to complete also came from this ancient book. It is called a "rune artifact" rather than an "alchemy artifact" because its internal circuits are entirely constructed from individual runes, without any trace of later alchemy.

Many people cannot discern this, but Felix is ​​an exception—runes can be used in ancient magic and inscribed on objects because it is a language, a magical language.

Its essence is the exploration and summarization of magic by ancient wizards.

Alchemy, on the other hand, partially inherited ancient magical runes and developed on its own. Its purpose is to "leave magic on objects and give them special magical functions."

Therefore, the symbols used in alchemy cannot be called language, but are merely magical symbols.

However, it also has its advantages. In order to leave magic on various items, many great wizards have tried various methods, leaving behind many incredible enchanting techniques.

The French alchemist Nicolas Lemaître was the master of this art.

Compared to alchemy, rune-based artifacts are considered "ancient." This is one of the reasons why he believes the notebook is quite old.

……

Felix wanted to create a magical artifact called "Binding Vine," which utilizes the extension and growth characteristics of magical vines to launch surprise attacks. Its advantages are that it does not require incantation and its activation is stable and undisturbed.

But as for how powerful it really is, opinions will vary, and Felix certainly has his doubts.

But he didn't value power; what he valued were the ideas contained within: first, the concept behind creating magical artifacts; and second, the techniques for deeply integrating opposing magical properties.

Unicorns represent purity and kindness;

The Devil's Web is an extremely aggressive magical plant that always attacks various small animals and unfortunate humans; hunting is its instinct.

Under normal circumstances, the magical properties of these two are difficult to combine. Felix, following the approach in the ancient book, used the Whomping Willow to neutralize this opposition—despite its violent behavior, the Whomping Willow is actually a neutral plant.

Felix waved his wand, scattering the mat woven from unicorn hair and soaking it in clear water. Almost instantly, the water turned pitch black.

Felix: "..."

He changed the water several times before finally cleaning the unicorn fur, and then dried it with magic.

Only then did the unicorn fur reveal its true form: long, smooth, white fur spread out freely, its warm light flowing continuously, as if it were a solidified mercury creation.

The other two main materials require time to grow. The Devil's Net needs to grow a bit more, and the Willow Branch needs to be imbued with magic to make it more flexible before it can be easily modified.

Felix estimates that preparations will not be completed until at least the end of November.

However, I can consider in advance how to optimize the magic rune circuit...

As the days went by, Felix completed the first large-scale standardized test across all five grades—a test he had promised to take at the start of the school year.

The weekend before Halloween, he was still busy grading papers.

Fortunately, he wasn't alone; he had another assistant working overtime with him.

It's 10 p.m.

Hermione covered her mouth and yawned, then secretly glanced at Professor Hyp.

"Professor, I've finished grading."

Felix looked up. "I still have some left. You should go back first. Have a good Halloween party."

Hermione said goodnight and left the office. Walking along the street, she felt a sense of anticipation for three days later. However, she wasn't going to attend the school's party, but rather the 500th anniversary of the death of Nick the Nearly Headless Ghost of Gryffindor.

Back in the common room, many of the young Gryffindor wizards were still catching up on their homework.

Ron let out a wail; his Potions paper was eight inches short and his History of Magic paper was a foot short.

"Why is there so much homework before Halloween?!"

Ron voiced the sentiments of many young wizards, who nodded in agreement and then continued working on their homework.

Hermione sat down next to Harry and Ron and said bluntly, "If you had finished your homework earlier, there wouldn't have been so much trouble."

She's much busier than the others. Besides her homework, she not only has to fulfill her duties as an ancient rune assistant, but also practice the runes taught by Professor Hyp. So far, she has mastered 19 runes.

Professor Hyp said she has the opportunity to complete an alchemical artifact independently this year.

Ron grimaced. "Stop nagging and lend me your paper on the history of magic."

You need to do your homework yourself!

"I'm just using this as a reference, right, Harry?"

Harry nodded quickly.

In the end, Hermione lent them the homework.

Over the next two days, the festive atmosphere on campus grew stronger. Although it was pouring rain outside and the sky was as black as ink, the room was bright and cheerful.

Professor Flitwick decorated the Great Hall with live bats, Professor McGonagall transformed into huge, colorful decorations, and Hagrid's giant pumpkins finally found their purpose, being carved into openwork lanterns large enough to seat three to five people.

Rumors circulated on campus that Dumbledore had booked a skeleton dance troupe to entertain the festival.

Everyone is looking forward to the Halloween party.

Only Harry and Ron were unhappy because Harry couldn't refuse to attend the 500th anniversary of Nick Fury's death, while Ron stood by his brother and accompanied him.

But the more they saw the decorated auditorium, the more bitter their smiles became.

This bitterness finally reached its peak on Halloween afternoon.

At seven o'clock, the three of them walked straight through the doorway, heading to the banquet. As they passed the hall, it was brightly decorated and flickering with candlelight. The enormous pumpkin lanterns were each as big as a carriage, and some young wizards had already chosen their seats, chatting and laughing.

As Harry squeezed through the crowd, he even saw one of the twins directing a ghost doll to chase after one young wizard after another, spewing black smoke in their faces, while the magical puppet made a creaking, ghostly sound.

Just the day before, Felix released the results and kept his promise: the top student in each grade received a custom-made magical puppet, which was more powerful and contained more "moves".

The fourth-grade winner wasn't one of the twins, but Cedric from Hufflepuff—who had consistently held the top spot. However, when choosing his prize, he was tricked by the twins into choosing the haunted doll.

He was sitting with his friends, but his gaze was fixed on a third-year Ravenclaw girl. He suddenly felt a pang of regret; if only he had chosen a prettier girl and given it to this one…

Cedric's mind was in turmoil, while the path beneath Harry and his friends' feet was winding and twisting. They descended towards the basement, the sounds of laughter behind them growing fainter and fainter, mirroring their own mood at that moment.

After walking through a cold corridor filled with black candles, they saw Nick, "almost headless," standing at the door of a room to greet guests. He was dressed up today, draped in a black velvet drape.

"Welcome, my dear friends, it's so wonderful that you could come..."

Almost at the same time, Dumbledore also announced the official start of the Halloween party, and cheers from the young wizards echoed throughout the Great Hall.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged glances. In the dim candlelight, their faces looked sinister. The three of them walked inside with a death wish.

Chapter 35 Attack

hall.

The atmosphere at the party was very lively, and Dumbledore kept his promise and invited a skeleton dance troupe. They played cheerful tunes on instruments made of bones while performing comical dances, and frankly, their performance style was quite unforgettable.

The young wizards wore expressions of satisfied excitement as they sat inside pumpkin lanterns, savoring the festive delicacies—in Felix's opinion, the taste hadn't changed much, but the presentation was certainly novel and unconventional.