A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Chapter 444 Sense of Smell

In the evening, Harry knocked on the door of the Ancient Runes office and saw Professor Hyp engrossed in reading a book.

"Professor Haip?"

Felix looked up, and the book in his hand vanished without a sound, making Harry's eyelids twitch.

However, he was already used to it. He sat down opposite the professor on the sofa, and the professor flicked his wrist, causing a magic book to fly down from the shelf and land accurately in his hand.

“Professor, I have a question for you.” Harry didn’t rush to open the book.

"about what?"

Harry told Felix about how he had inadvertently blocked out information during his second assessment, and then asked expectantly, "Does this mean I've mastered the Occlumency technique?"

Felix thought for a moment, “This only proves we’re on the right track… The basics of Occlumency aren’t just about resisting external intrusions while you’re awake or prepared; it’s more about enhancing your alertness and self-protective instincts, allowing your brain to spontaneously shield itself from external influences, including during sleep. Besides, it can effectively train your brain…”

"I see, Professor."

Harry continued reading his book. Although the professor didn't admit that he had mastered Occlumency, perhaps it was because his standards were too high, Harry thought. "I've at least withstood one intrusion...maybe more than one." He hadn't had a nightmare in a long time.

He turned to a new page; on the page was a fluffy, orange ball that looked rather cute. But the next second, he felt an itch all over his body, an itch worse than when he shed his feathers after eating Fred and George's canary cookies, and Harry couldn't help but reach out to scratch—

"Ahem!" Felix coughed, turned a page in the book opposite Harry, and somehow, he started reading that book again.

Harry withdrew his hand, his face flushed as he struggled against the sensation, but the "itch" was far more terrifying than the "torture." At least he knew the latter was fake, since he was safely sitting on the professor's sofa, but he couldn't help but suspect that the professor had secretly cast a tickling charm on him...

Fortunately, Harry's remaining rationality prevented him from asking the question. He tried to clear his mind, but it was intermittent. When he got up and left, walking down the castle corridor, he could still feel the "phantom itch" on his body.

Perhaps it was the lingering influence of that magic book, but he thought it best to take a hot bath today.

Harry took a deep breath, suppressing his agitation. This was a trick he had figured out: when faced with negative emotions, he could try using Occlumency to isolate himself from his feelings and then shift his attention.

However, he's not yet proficient, and he often forgets to use it when nervous...

The weather cleared up a bit in March, but that was quickly followed by strong winds. At least five days of the first week of March were spent in the gale-force winds, and Felix could see Beauxbatons' carriages, Ilvermorny's college statues, and the flags fluttering in the Quidditch pitch through his window.

Felix and Warren were lounging on the sofa, looking rather idle.

During this period, he was lazy and uninterested in anything. He spent most of his time reading the Book of Magic Runes, and even the Duel Class, which had become an elective, he only attended when it was his turn.

He often heard interesting news. Professor Moody liked to arrange for people who didn't like each other to become rivals, "This will inspire your courage and wisdom!" he proclaimed loudly.

The effect was obvious. After each dueling lesson, the students looked the worst off.

The changes in his right index finger were slower than he expected; two weeks had passed and only one finger had been covered. He had tried it himself, and there were no effects, neither good nor bad, as if it were all an illusion. The reason he hadn't noticed was because he hadn't considered integrating the runes into his skin before…

But such a possibility naturally does not exist.

Felix was quite certain that he was undergoing a positive and beneficial change, which was evident from his recent lethargic behavior—neither his mind nor his magic gave any warning.

Just then, a sound-transmitting mirror on the shelf rang, and the unique sound gave him a headache. "Valen, get this for me," Felix said, yawning. Valen, who was examining a gold butterfly-shaped corsage (from Store 7 in the Future World), looked at him and murmured, "Chirp?"

“I don’t want to move…this is a good opportunity to train your sense of smell,” Felix said stubbornly.

"Chirp (What do you want?)"

“Andy’s microphone, that unkempt old man.” Felix described it casually, and the Sniff immediately thought of the fool who performed coin magic in front of it, and also recalled his scent.

Valen sniffed, shifted his furry body, jumped off the sofa, and found a microphone on the shelf. Then he slipped back onto the sofa, found a comfortable spot in Felix's arms, and continued to examine the butterfly corsage in his hand.

Felix picked up the communication mirror and scrolled through the messages. Most of them were sales statistics for "The Adventures of Mick the Wizard of Oz," which he had glanced at a few times and then stopped paying attention to. The rest were various attempts to find out his plans for the new book.

Uh……

Felix scratched his head. He had indeed considered publishing a booklet of magical runes, but the style of that book was destined to clash with comic books. However, he could consider creating a bonus comic book to accompany the booklet, telling the story of the young wizard Mick's school days.

While he had nothing to do, he briefly thought about it in his mind:

"The plot of the comic book is relatively simple. It is about Mick coming into contact with ancient magic script in the third grade and learning from the professor. It is positioned as a short story."

"As for the booklet, I hope it has more of an educational and dissemination function. Well, first of all, it should introduce the history of magic runes. This part doesn't need to be too long, just a few hundred words will do... Then, when you turn to a page, you'll see a series of animated images of ancient magic... To be fair, I'll also add an illustration of an old scholar translating a document..."

Part 2 is about the development and evolution of runes. This part also needs to be simplified; nobody wants to read a long explanation…

Now for the main event: I need to clarify my distinction between runes and ancient magic… Uh, I'd better find a simple ancient spell as an example to analyze, preferably one that's easy to learn and practice,” Felix’s expression brightened, and after thinking for a moment, he said, “Illumination.”

Felix lay on the sofa, pondering as he checked the time. He had a dueling class tonight, and it had been almost a month since he'd last seen them. He wondered what surprises these young wizards would bring him.

Chapter 445 Communication

The auditorium was noisy.

The young wizards stood on tiptoe, peering out, waiting for their dueling professor to arrive.

“Please don’t let it be Professor Moody, he’s terrifying,” a Ravenclaw girl said. “Especially when he rushes over to correct you, it’s like he’s about to cast a curse on you…”

“That’s why he partnered with Professor Flitwick,” her friend next to her said.

At that moment, Felix appeared from the foyer and walked into the auditorium. As he stood on the gilded arena, he unexpectedly discovered students from other schools.

“We have new guests today, welcome,” Felix said softly, drawing his wand and spitting out a few sparks from its tip. “We usually only see each other during meals or in the library, but now you have a rare opportunity to learn about the magical techniques of different schools.”

"Professor, shall we take on the challenge?"

“That’s certainly possible,” Felix said casually, “but I’d prefer that you focus on the purpose of exchange. Would any warrior like to give a try and introduce their school?”

After a moment of silence, a tall warrior stepped out from below the stage. It was Nona Ripper. She smoothed her hair, revealing her long, chocolate-colored neck, and her eyes looked wild.

“Nona Ribert,” she pointed to herself, “is from Vargadu and is skilled in astronomy and transmutation. Of course, after coming here, I discovered that I am also skilled in hand gestures.”

Nona waved her hand, and something that looked more like a stick than a wand flew over. She caught it in her hand and casually swung it twice, making a chilling "whoosh" sound. Several students who were nearby quickly ducked back, afraid of being hit if they weren't careful.

“Wands are not dispensable to us; they make our spellcasting smoother,” Nona explained. “Of course, in addition to wands, we also insist on learning independent hand gestures for spellcasting, which is convenient, quick, and discreet.”

She raised her head. "If you want to dislocate someone's jaw, all you have to do is wave your hand... provided you're skilled enough."

“Very well, Miss Lebert, would you like to have an exhibition match next, or—”

“No, I’ve heard that you can ask a professor for guidance, is that true?” she said with a burning gaze. “I’m very interested in duels, especially against people stronger than me… I challenged every upperclassman on Mount Moon, including the young professors.”

“Of course.” Felix nodded, patted Niffler Valen’s head, and told him to find a safe place.

"Over here—"

"Look here! Valen—"

More than one student shouted this; Warren seemed quite popular, but it still darted over to Hermione, who was standing on tiptoe looking at the ring, and scooped it into her arms. "Hey, we can take a closer look; maybe we can use it for the third project..."

“I don’t want to go up against students of Vagad or Ilfamoni,” Ron muttered. “Both shapeshifting and combination magic are tricky. Byers said they form teams according to Auror standards when they take Defense Against the Dark Arts class.”

"That's an advanced course for upperclassmen, it's like preparing for Auror training," Hermione reminded her.

On the field, Felix and Nona Lebert bowed slightly. Then, Nona suddenly waved her hand, and a burst of sparks erupted from Felix's jaw. He had used the Humanoid Armor Charm in advance.

Felix's voice followed: "Gesture casting is quick enough. If you're unsure, prioritizing your own safety is always the right thing to do... You can use the Ironclad Charm, or prepare an amulet for yourselves."

Nona waved her hands repeatedly, her fingertips tapping rhythmically, and soon the floor of the ring became dilapidated. Felix casually deflected the spell; so far, Nona had not shown enough power.

At that moment, the shattered wooden planks on the ground twisted and transformed into six African spiky rats. Felix thrust his wand forcefully, and six magical ropes flew out from the tip of the wand, looking like a six-headed serpent. The ropes swiftly wrapped around the spiky rats, forcibly breaking the transformation.

Suddenly, the spiky rat emitted a thick cloud of smoke, and at that moment, Nona's figure vanished.

Felix used his magical vision to keep a close watch on her. He turned slightly in the center of the arena and watched as she stretched her body, transforming into an agile leopard. Using the thick smoke as cover, she silently approached. Like a large cat, she nimbly turned in mid-air, poised to pounce. Suddenly, the magical ropes that had been blasted apart on the ground sprang up, transforming into layers of snake shadows that surrounded her.

"Hiss~ Hiss~ Hiss~"

Seeing three snakes staring at her at the same time, and hearing a hissing sound behind her, Nona decisively chose to admit defeat.

After the smoke cleared, she had returned to normal. Nona calmly asked Felix, "In what areas do you think I need to improve?"

“It’s clear you have your own tactics,” Felix said after a moment’s thought, “but your attack intent was too obvious, and you lacked protection while transforming into a human… such negligence shouldn’t exist.”

“It wasn’t an oversight.” Nona laughed. “We’ve been working on our teamwork lately, so you’re not facing Nona Ripper, but a third of the Vagado Warriors. Normally, when I transform into a leopard, I’m covered in various protective magic spells.”

“I see.” Felix nodded slightly. He had roughly simulated it in his mind. Vagado’s shapeshifting tactics might really have great potential. Even the three animal forms currently shown—the eagle, the leopard, and the elephant—while not particularly powerful in any one of them, would be different if teammates were there to cast protective magic.

They simply need to make the most of their respective strengths and unleash them explosively—using the eagle to observe and find weaknesses; the leopard to charge and seize key positions; and the elephant to charge and break through traps to clear a path. This combination would have little problem even against a typical dark wizard.

Then a warrior from Durmstrang School stepped forward. The crowd looked at him curiously, knowing very little about him; he was even less noticeable than the warrior named "Bewick."

At least that Bweck contributed a brilliant scene—Professor Heap descended from the heights of Black Lake, grabbed him, and stuffed him into his pocket, causing a section of the projection screen to remain black for several minutes.

“Uh, hello,” the man stammered, “My name is Ors Poliaco, and I really enjoy Hogwarts wine…”

A burst of laughter filled the auditorium.

Poliaco's face turned even redder, and he looked flustered. Once the laughter subsided, he continued, "I, uh... I'd like to introduce some dark magic..."

The sounds in the auditorium suddenly ceased.

“I…I’ve heard some rumors these past few months, that Durmstrang teaches students black magic without any scruples…I feel it’s necessary to clarify, cough cough! The rumors aren’t entirely true…” Poliaco said, “…It’s necessary to introduce my school, otherwise the misunderstanding will only grow.”

“Since its second headmaster, Durmstrang has placed great emphasis on dueling and war magic. More than six hundred years later, we have taken this tradition to its extreme. Yes, Durmstrang does teach dark magic, but every dark spell is carefully selected to ensure there are no problems... otherwise, Durmstrang wouldn't be comparable to Hogwarts or Beauxbatons…”

The young wizards in the audience were buzzing with discussion.

“What do you think, Harry?” Ron asked.

“That makes sense,” Harry said after a moment’s thought, “but I don’t like Karkaroff.” He had learned by chance that Karkaroff had given Durmstrang’s Warriors a ten in the second project, while the other teams were only around seven or eight.

This was only because Karkaroff had been warned; otherwise, he would have given others even lower scores.

“Nobody likes Karkaroff,” Ron muttered, glancing up at Poliaco on the ring as he explained some of Durmstrang’s rules to demonstrate Durmstrang’s strict stance on dark magic.

Sparse applause rang out in the auditorium.

“Our school rules also prohibit nighttime outings, trespassing into restricted forests, and buying and selling dung bombs!” Ron said softly.

Harry couldn't help but laugh.

“Next, I will demonstrate a few dark magic tricks for you all,” Poliaco said excitedly, emboldened by the applause. “They are not as evil as you might imagine; you just have to use them in the right place and appropriately invoke negative emotions…”

Chapter 446 New Applications of Magic Runes

"People are restless, both afraid and excited," a girl said, shaking her head.

“Oh, Luna…you’re absolutely right.” Ginny agreed with her, and together with the others, she stood on tiptoe to get a better look.

On the arena, Felix addressed the crowd, “There’s nothing wrong with broadening your horizons. Mr. Poliaco, I’ll assist you with your demonstration.” He waved his wand, and the shattered wooden planks transformed into a human-shaped target.

Poliaco drew his wand, raised it over his shoulder, and chanted the spell: "Whirlwind Blackfeather!" A black whirlwind surged from the tip of the wand and flew swiftly toward the humanoid target. The young wizards could clearly see even darker black feathers mixed in with the black wind, which were also spinning rapidly.