A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Felix nodded slightly and briefly explained the origins of the two forms of the Ironclad Curse.

Hermione pondered, but the question was too profound for her, so she could only guess without any basis, "Is it related to the understanding of magic?"

“That’s possible,” Felix nodded. “It’s one of the directions I’ve been thinking of, but—” He looked at Hermione, somewhat speechlessly, as she put on the golden mask and met his gaze.

"Is it fun?"

Hermione secretly made a face behind her mask, then took off the golden mask and said seriously, "Could there be a new form of magic above sixth-level magic, like a rune ball? It should encompass both gold and blood-red armored charms... I bet it's very difficult!"

Felix sighed. "The problem is I don't have any ideas, although I know I can do it, it's just a matter of time." But he vaguely saw a higher realm, and he was itching to try it.

“You could ask Headmaster Dumbledore,” Hermione suggested.

“I haven’t seen him lately, maybe our principal is on vacation,” Felix said, shaking his head. He didn’t go into details about how he had used his Guardian Angel to go to the principal’s office that morning and was stopped by the monster statue at the door.

He guessed that Dumbledore was still searching for the Horcruxes and might be chatting with the owner of Borgin Burke right now? At least he knew what to give him for Christmas: a Dark Arts detector or a wool cloak.

“Your advice is very helpful, Granger,” he said, waving his hand to dispel the magic.

Felix left quickly; he had classes in the afternoon. After he disappeared, Harry handed Hermione a newspaper.

"what happened?"

“Borrowed from the next table,” Harry said succinctly. “Take a look at the fourth edition.”

Hermione quickly flipped through the day's newspaper, her gaze lingering briefly on a photo of Durmstrang's headmaster, Karkaroff, with a somber expression. The headline read, "Do cheaters still deserve to be judges?" Unsurprisingly, she saw Rita Skeeter's name in the reporter's section. She was genuinely relieved that the woman hadn't focused her attention on them, and even found it unbelievable that she had escaped unscathed.

She quickly flipped to the fourth edition. It was a short article, an interview with an official in charge of the Wizarding Examinations Board, and she knew that this must be the viewpoint of Professor Gestalt Marchbane that Professor Hyp had mentioned in class.

She skimmed through the text, finding the "sharp and insightful" content—

Reporter: What are your thoughts on Hogwarts' performance in their first project?

Machiban: I am proud.

Reporter: Are you surprised that the two teams won first and second place respectively?

Machiban: No, I think it's normal. It shows that we've emerged from the shadow of war.

Reporter: Some people say that Hogwarts' educational achievements are a result of Fudge taking office. What do you think?

Machiban: Oh, that guy's talking nonsense.

Chapter 404 Even More Precious

In the third-grade classroom, there was a wooden box inlaid with jewels on the teacher's desk.

"Why does she look so familiar?" Ginny whispered. Next to her sat a little witch with fluffy hair, who looked like she hadn't woken up yet.

Felix tapped the lid of the box with his wand, and the wooden box creaked open, revealing a roughly made wooden goblet inside. The moment it was revealed, the young wizards' eyes widened, and two students dropped their quills.

"The Goblet of Fire!?"

A unified gasp filled the air. One student exclaimed in surprise, staring incredulously at the quiet blue flame burning on the wine glass.

Felix smiled. “Of course…no,” he said, panting.

"The Goblet of Fire has been extinguished. This is a replica. I picked up a piece of wood while I was walking on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. At the time, I was wondering how to get your interest going..." he said with a smile. "So I thought I'd take advantage of the tournament to create a souvenir."

All the students sat up straight, staring intently at him.

"This is the prize for today's quiz. Just so you know, the flame on it is not dangerous."

"Professor Hyp, is this the Ancient Flame of Bryus?"

“No, it’s a flame that burns forever, so it’s also called the Eternal Flame,” Felix explained. “Although I can cast it, it takes quite a bit of time to actually do it…”

The students couldn't help but feel disappointed seeing the professor's expression of disdain.

“Although it’s not the Ancient Flame of Bleu, it has its own advantages,” Felix added.

He dipped his finger into the flame of the wine glass, took out a small blue flame, and watched it burn quietly in his hand before gradually disappearing after a while.

When I looked up again, I was met with pairs of eyes that were sparkling like stars.

He smiled slightly; it seemed the one-time-use prop he'd made in five minutes was working well. The only problem was what excuse to use next time. "Alright, let's begin today's test. Take out your 'answer parchment'; I've updated the latest assessment information on it..."

The young wizards below sprang into action, spreading out their answer parchments, tapping them lightly with the tip of their wands, and silently reciting incantations. Soon, they discovered a new symbol in the area of ​​ancient runes—a goblet of fire drawn with simple ink lines.

Ginny quickly pointed at it; she really wanted the Goblet of Fire model, and her hands were trembling with excitement. She poked it twice with her wand, with so much force that one wondered if she would puncture the thin parchment.

But so far no student has managed to do this, because the professors have personally applied powerful stabilizing spells to it.

The Goblet of Fire symbol on the parchment was slowly lit up, with a dancing blue flame burning from its rim. Then, a gift box tied with a blue bow emerged from it. The gift box grew larger and larger on the parchment, and to her astonishment, blue light gathered from above the parchment. Then, the parchment rolled up in a swirling vortex, and the gift box slowly rose from the vortex into reality.

She recognized it as the effect of magic, because the surface of the gift box didn't look real, shimmering with blue ripples.

She glanced around quickly; everyone else—including a dazed Luna—was staring blankly at the gift box being lifted up by the vortex, though she wasn't sure if her best friend had snapped out of her usual state.

Ginny nudged Luna with her shoulder. "Let's have a race to see who's faster!"

“Okay,” Luna said, glancing at her blankly before looking down to reveal a small braid in her fluffy hair.

The gift box opened silently, revealing a bronze book inside, locked. She tried to use a unlocking charm, but to no avail. "What an idiot of me," she muttered, patting her forehead. She then used her wand to trace a few runes on the cover of the bronze book—which happened to be blank—and the lock vanished without a sound.

Turning to the first page, there was a question written on it: "What is your proverb?"

She quickly wrote on it: "Strike like a lion." Only after she finished writing did she realize something was wrong. She stared at the light blue-green page for two seconds, but there was no change. She realized something and quickly translated the sentence into ancient magic script.

Fortunately, she had asked Luna about this.

So the bronze book turned to the next page, and during this break she secretly glanced at Luna. Her answer was completely different from her own, but she also passed the test smoothly. This made Ginny realize that there was no single answer.

She suppressed her other emotions and focused on the second page, which contained a string of scattered magical characters, with the sentence at the top: "My order has been disrupted." She quickly recalled the magical characters on the page. There was one she didn't recognize, but she already knew the answer: it was a sentence from the text 'Nar and the Clay Doll'.

She breathed a long sigh of relief when she unearthed a deeply hidden magic rune from the patterns on the pages. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Luna had already turned to the third page, and she couldn't help but feel anxious.

Time passed slowly, and Felix sat leisurely in the chair next to the podium, organizing his spellbook. Occasionally, he would stand up and walk around the classroom to check on the students' progress.

Currently, Luna is the fastest, followed by Ginny and Colin Crevey. Even he has heard of the 'Harry Potter Fan Club' that he and his brother have established, which has recruited many first and second-year wizards. After the first tournament ended, the membership has started to spread to the upper grades.

The three individuals performed slightly differently.

Luna gently shook her head, answering the questions unhurriedly, sometimes rearranging the sentences to make them as neat as possible. Ginny and Colin were covered in sweat, the Weasley's youngest daughter's fiery red hair plastered to her forehead.

"There are still ten minutes left. If you exceed the time limit, it will be charged separately," Felix reminded him.

Ginny was sweating with anxiety. There were only a few pages left in the bronze book in front of her, but it was getting harder and harder. She tossed her hair in frustration, which looked like a bright, leaping red flame, mirroring the Goblet of Fire on the podium.

It's too late...

Ginny wondered if Luna had finished answering her questions since she seemed to have been silent for a while. Why hadn't she heard a report? She forced herself to forget all of this, eliminating any distractions. Five minutes later, she finally finished answering.

In an instant, the bronze book flipped to the first page with a "whoosh" and finally closed. The blue vortex reappeared on the 'answer parchment' and a large number of colorful fireworks poured out from it.

The sudden noise made the young wizards look up in confusion, staring at Ginny's location.

“Oh, it seems the first one to finish has appeared,” Felix said, standing before her without her noticing, holding a rough wooden replica of the Goblet of Fire, its surface wreathed in a dazzling blue flame. “Here, this is yours, Miss Weasley.”

After class, the others surrounded Ginny with envy, asking for her permission to touch the blue flame.

“It’s so beautiful… I was so close,” Colin Crevey said dejectedly. “I got to the last question. What about you, Luna? You’ve always been good at this. I thought you’d win!”

“I also stopped at the last question,” Luna said in a singing voice.

"Really? That question was really difficult. Maybe give me another five minutes..." Colin said regretfully. "You're so lucky, Ginny... Ginny?"

Ginny was looking at Luna with a scrutinizing gaze. She bit her lip and whispered, "Luna, why don't you 'stop' and go on to the last question?"

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Luna tossed her hair. “It’s pretty difficult, isn’t it? I thought about it for ages… It’s really beautiful.” She stared at the Goblet of Fire with her slightly bulging eyes.

“Do you want it? I can give it to you,” Ginny said.

"Oh, what?" Luna said somewhat flusteredly, "I don't need it... because, because—"

“Because she already has something more precious,” Felix said gently from the side. “Is that what you mean, Miss Lovegood?”

“Of course.” Luna nodded hurriedly.

Chapter 405 The Company's New Look

Felix watched as Ginny and Luna left the classroom carrying a replica of the Goblet of Fire. To be honest, it wasn't light, but he wisely refrained from suggesting they use magic.

They're all smart; they probably just didn't want to, rather than genuinely unaware that they could use a levitation charm to reduce weight... right?

……

The next morning, it was the weekend again. He soothed the sniffler who was still in bed and walked through the fireplace in his office to Diagon Alley.

Felix walked along a long cobblestone road lined with restaurants and shops, huge parasols spanning in front of some of them, and the sign for Florin's Ice Cream Shop gleaming in the warm yellow light.

Even with his own eyes, he could tell that 'Future World' was doing very well—along the way, he could often see magic lamps of all sizes through the shop windows, like drops of water merging into the heart of London's magical world.

At the entrance of Future World Corporation's headquarters, he was surprised to see a large crowd gathered, making a noisy and lively scene. At the same time, some people were also coming out of the building, chatting and laughing.

Two staff members at the entrance reassured the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, please don't crowd, everyone will get a turn." They let one or two people in every now and then.

How is this going?

Felix stood to the side and stared for a moment before stepping forward. The crowd parted automatically. "Wait, sir... are you, Mr. Hep?" the staff member in front said in surprise, then looked at him with admiration and led him into the standing castle building.

"Mr. Haipu, please come in. I still need to maintain order," the staff member said respectfully.

Felix nodded, climbed the steps, and took in the view of the hall.

This place has completely changed.

He remembered that the place was originally empty, with dark floors. Looking straight up from the center of the hall, you could see the chandelier at the top, and on the side, there were spiraling, arched steps that connected each level of the castle.

What impressed Felix most was that he, Snape, and Lupin had fought here, and afterwards they discussed the company's development plan together.

But the hall in front of him looked like a magnificent museum, bustling with people.

The young witches pointed at more than a dozen display cases, which must be the new products developed by the company's researchers, while several staff members in uniform were busy nearby.

“Professor Hyp,” said a girl with long curly hair.

“Crivat,” Felix said to the person next to him, “the company has changed so much, I hardly recognize it.”

“This is the result of everyone’s hard work,” Penelope said with a smile, as they walked up the spiral staircase to the second floor. As she walked, she explained, “Opening the first-floor lobby was Clémi’s suggestion. We display some of our products that are not yet fully finalized outside, and regularly invite outsiders to visit and try them out, and then pick out useful suggestions for improvement.”

“I see, you’ve all done a great job.” Felix nodded slightly and said with a sigh, “Maybe I should give you a raise.”

He stood on the second-floor railing, looking down.