A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

The young wizards clapped enthusiastically, turning to look at the tiny, hunchbacked witch in the back row, whose face was so wrinkled that ants could get lost, as she waved:

“We have a lot to talk about! But I think class is more important!” the short Maggie shouted with a booming voice.

Ron clapped his hands and strained to look towards the back row: "She's our examiner next year, isn't she? Isn't she?"

Harry was also staring at Professor Marchban, but he also glanced at the balding old man beside her. While not quite as strikingly similar, the old man's build did resemble Uncle Vernon's. Especially when he was silent and staring with his bull-like eyes, the two were practically identical.

Harry was afraid that this person would suddenly jump up, his tongue curled up, muttering something no one could understand, just like Uncle Vernon when he was very angry and couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Hermione seemed to want to make a good impression, sitting properly, though her eyes practically flew up to her eyebrows. Beside her, Neville sat, his face flushed, still reeling from the pre-class scare—Professor March Benedict was a friend of Neville's grandmother and naturally knew him. Before class, she had loudly inquired about Neville's grandmother and parents' well-being, with March Benedict repeatedly telling Neville to "speak louder!" As a result, her voice grew louder and louder, while Neville's voice grew softer and softer.

“The other one is Mr. Vera, the vice president of the Ancient Rune Association.” Felix continued after the applause subsided, and the old man snorted as if to acknowledge him.

This time, the applause was much sparser, and the students exchanged puzzled glances.

What is the Ancient Magic Rune Association?

"An organization?"

"How come I've never heard of this before?"

"It's probably a private club, formed by a group of ancient rune enthusiasts... similar to the Gobstone Club in schools."

"This club is still in school?"

"I can guarantee it, absolutely!"

……

Felix calmly took out his textbook and said cheerfully, "Today we'll continue learning; this part of the knowledge might appear in the .ls exam..."

Chapter 452 In-Class and Out-of-Class

"The rune 'Sun Wheel' describes a dynamic process of ascent and change... It can represent the rising of the sun, changes in will, especially changes in will influenced by magic... It can also represent the path to success, and the honor gained through one's own strong will..."

Felix spoke eloquently on the podium, while Professor Gershilda Marchban, sitting in the back row, stared wide-eyed.

She was quite old and a little hard of hearing, and was preparing to use a spell to improve her hearing—this spell, if used for too long, would make her feel irritable, like a thousand bees buzzing in her ears, so she only used it on important occasions, such as the annual wizarding exams. But suddenly she found that before she could even draw her wand, Felix's voice was already clearly reaching her ears.

The key point—she looked around—was that no one else seemed to feel uncomfortable, which meant that Felix had subtly affected her alone.

Besides, when she saw the bright symbol held in Felix's palm, a question was answered: why did this young man dare to say in front of her, the examiner, that 'this knowledge might appear in the .ls exam'?

This is because it's a practical ancient magical script. Aside from this young professor and his students, there aren't many others who have the most authority on this subject.

At most, there might be a few alchemists, but they only have a slight understanding of it, and their research focuses on the application of runes in alchemy.

Aside from these people, the people from the Wizard Examination Authority wouldn't do, and the people from the Ancient Rune Society—she glanced at the old man next to her with wide eyes, and knew very well—they wouldn't do either.

A student raised his hand.

"Miss Greengrass?"

"Hmm, so this is a dual-purpose spell? It's both a translational spell and a practical spell?" Daphne asked.

“That’s right,” Felix nodded to her, “you can understand it that way.”

At this moment, Heidström Vera, sitting in the back row, stared at the runes in Felix's hand for a moment, then rubbed his eyes in disbelief, his face showing an expression of ecstasy. He imitated Daphne and raised his hand, looking at Felix expectantly.

“Um… this, Mr. Vera?” Felix said, suppressing a laugh.

“I see,” Heidstrand Vera said, his eyes wide with pride, “I’ve also learned this rune, but the way I learned to write it is quite different from yours.” He pointed to the rune with his chubby finger, “and I’m pretty sure yours is different from the one marked in the Magic Symbols Book. The correct way looks like… uh…”

On the platform, Felix, matching the pace of his speech, slightly tilted the symbol in mid-air, adding a slight curve to both sides. "Is that so?"

Strangely, when he did this, the runes immediately became dull and lost their luster.

“…That’s right.” The old man looked puzzled.

Felix looked at the crowd below the podium.

“Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Vera,” he said cheerfully, seemingly expressing his sincere gratitude. “This is exactly what I need you to pay attention to.”

The students stared at him wide-eyed.

"I've recently made a new discovery: many spells that are considered translations are actually variations or misinterpretations of a practical spell. I suspect this is due to the passage of time... So I plan to review the knowledge you've learned in the past with you soon."

“For example, in this case, the translational runes look like a slightly curved lightning bolt, or a flat, slanted letter ‘s’; while the practical runes,” Felix readjusted the runes in his hand, showing the students the entire change, the curved lines gradually straightening out, just like—

“The flipped-over capital letter 'n' with protruding ends,” he said. The symbol in his hand was also relit, shimmering with a soft light.

Heidström Vera's face turned bright red, and he stammered, unable to utter a word.

"The evidence lies in the magical journals of two medieval wizards in the library: 'The Will of Magic' and 'Derek Pudlin's Notebooks.' These belong to a highly skilled wizard and an apprentice wizard, respectively, as can be seen from the varying levels of sophistication in their writings… When using the same runes, their writing styles are clearly different. A reasonable guess is that the former knew the true form of the runes, while the latter simply copied them or took a shortcut…"

Heidstrand Villa looked around; the students were all busy taking notes, but there was nothing in front of him… Suddenly, he thought of a good idea.

Crabbe felt a sharp poke in his back, then heard a low voice say, "Little Fatty!"

Little fat boy?

He turned around angrily, staring unfriendly at Heidstrand Vera, whose figure was also not particularly well-proportioned. After a few seconds, he realized that the person behind him was there to listen in. He stared blankly at the vice president of the Ancient Rune Association, looking as if he had been cursed with dementia.

“Hey, little fatty!” Old Vera waved his wand in front of Crabbe. “Lend me your parchment and quill to make a copy.”

Crabbe made a confused expression, as if he hadn't understood at all.

Old Vera stared at him, a tense silence lasting a few seconds, then his wand pointed deftly: "Parchment flying, quill flying... Very good, duplicate it! Duplicate it!"

Old Vera looked at the copy in his hand and nodded in satisfaction. "Here, your stuff." He handed Crabbe's things back to him. Then he began to take notes.

He was determined to check all the information that kid had mentioned. Who knew if it was just made up? He couldn't let that kid get away with it!

As he took notes, he thought indignantly, and soon filled an entire parchment.

From his vantage point on the platform, Felix surveyed the entire scene with a cheerful tone. He had been looking forward to this moment for a long time, and he knew that Professor Marchban and old Vera intended to stay for quite some time, which meant he could prepare several more similar lessons.

Thinking classrooms, stone basins, or even classroom number seven are all options to consider.

The only thing that made him hesitate was that Felix hadn't decided whether to show his student's true level. He estimated that he had the right to offer advice on practical runes, but he might not be able to get a word in edgewise on translational runes.

If the difficulty is really increased, it might be... well... wait, it doesn't seem like a big deal.

Felix pondered that there was only so much translated magic script, and the scope of the exam wouldn't exceed the content of the magic manuals that had already been unearthed.

In addition, the Ancient Magic Script Association publishes a magazine every now and then, with the publication interval depending on when new findings appear.

He had only ordered a few magazines from the Hogwarts library, but from what he observed, almost no one read them; the magazines, published twenty years ago, were still as good as new. He could finish reading them in a morning on a weekend.

……

Finally, the bell rang, and the students filed out, leaving only three adults in the classroom. Felix was about to say something when the short, Professor Marchban darted forward, grabbed his hand, and hurriedly asked:

What spell did you just use?

"It's just a simple application of the amplification spell," Felix replied, puzzled.

“Simple application!” Professor Marchban looked at him in surprise. “It seems you haven’t neglected your study of spells… But do you have any good methods for dealing with hearing loss in the elderly?”

"Of course, I know a spell: 'sharp hearing and keen eyesight,' which Professor Flitwick has studied extensively..."

Felix smiled and began talking to Professor Marchban, which somewhat eased the other person's embarrassment.

Heidström Villa breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He suddenly felt afraid to face the young man alone. Felix Heap had shaken the cause he had persisted in for half a century in just one class period.

He seemed somewhat dazed, vividly recalling the scenes of his granddaughter chattering about the 'future world' company every time she came home.

“Mr. Vera… Mr. Vera?” A voice seemed to come from beyond the heavens.

"What's wrong?" old Vera replied casually.

“…It’s nothing,” Felix said, calmly observing him. “Professor Machiban just asked for your opinion, since she’s not very knowledgeable about ancient runes. Apparently, you volunteered to join—”

“Oh, uh,” old Vera straightened up, adopting a face as if he were about to enter a duel, and said righteously, “Ahem! It’s too early to draw conclusions… There are many ambiguities, and I need to investigate, uh, I mean, I need to sort things out.”

“Of course, no problem,” Felix said with a smile. “Then it’s settled. I’ll be waiting for your report.” He sighed dramatically. “Professor Marchban, Mr. Vera, you two may not know, but I’ve been under tremendous pressure for the past two years…”

"Pressure?" Professor Marchban looked at him skeptically.

Old Vera also looked surprised and decided to listen carefully.

"...Yes, you two may not know, but I didn't choose the advanced course in ancient magic script when I was in school. In the past few years, I have been improving through self-study and correspondence with Professor Babling. So when I first joined the company, I was afraid that I would mislead the students."

Professor Marchban looked at him strangely, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes widening as she stared. She asked in a rare hesitant tone, "You said you were afraid of ruining your students, but last year's graduates, except for one student who got a 'good,' all the others were 'excellent'?"

"Uh……"

"And as far as I know, a third of the students who took the exam finished the test early," Professor Marchban said slowly. "Although I am hard of hearing, I was struck by the conversation of a young couple after the exam."

"What did they say?" Felix asked casually, seemingly genuinely curious.

“One of them said, ‘The test is so easy. I’ve checked it five times and it’s still not over. I’m about to throw up.’ The other said, ‘Just this once, bear with it. I’ve checked it six times…’” Professor Marchban pursed his lips and recounted the story dryly.

Old Vera stood frozen in place, a portion of the annual .ls exam questions handled by the Ancient Rune Society. He unconsciously clenched the parchment in his hand; a pile of questions awaited his confirmation.

For the next few minutes, the three of them acted as if the conversation had never happened.

Chapter 453 Responsibility Inspires Courage

Professor Marchban abruptly shifted the topic to her friend Gilbert Wimpple on the Experimental Spells Committee, saying in a loud voice, “Wimpple wants to come over! But I advised him to fix those horns on his head, which have been there for a while. I happen to know that Dorothea was in St. Mungo yesterday, so I told him to hurry over there… He asked me to bring you this information.”

Felix took the documents. Machiban casually said, "There are some questionnaires inside, assessing the danger and ease of learning of spells, as well as potential risks, etc. Just give them to the students, have them fill them out, and send them back to the Ministry of Magic's Experimental Spells Committee. The Ministry will send someone to examine them."

Before leaving, she tentatively asked, "You really don't plan to write your own name? It's possible that the new spell will be named after you!"

“Oh, no need, I have trouble coming up with names,” Felix replied.

Old Vera stopped at the door and casually asked, "By the way, those ancient magical script books in the library—"

“Still in the same place, the second to last row of bookshelves,” Felix replied immediately.

Old Vera paused for a moment, waved his hand, and muttered "thank you."

……

Felix walked out of the ancient rune office, thought about what had just happened, and couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth: "I'll provoke that stubborn old man a little today, and a little more tomorrow, and then we can just wait and see. After all, with Kremy's connections... I'm such a good person!"

"Teach...Professor?" A head peeked out from the corridor, stammering.

It's Nawei.

"What did you hear?" Felix asked him with a smile.

"You...you're a good person..." Neville answered blankly, then a look of horror crossed his face as he desperately covered his mouth.