A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

"I haven't been idle these past two days either. I've prepared some things that will probably be used during the Halloween holiday training. Please pass them on to Scrinker."

"This is... ancient demonic script?"

“That’s right. You can purchase a batch of rune cards from the ‘Future World’ company for the Aurors and strikers to practice in advance, which will save a lot of time.”

“I understand, I will pass it on to Director Scrimgeour,” Delilah promised.

The next day was the weekend.

Felix slept late into the night; he had stayed up all night, but the effect was remarkable. In his office, he held a small, bright red bird in his hand.

"Uh, we can't call you Warning Bird anymore, so let's call you Echo Bird."

Because of time constraints, he only managed to get a general idea last night using his magical perspective and accelerated thinking. However, with all of Nicolas Flamel's knowledge, he quickly retrieved similar alchemical items from his memory and spent half the night successfully replicating a substitute.

This alchemical artifact serves as an extra eye. When used, a command is input into it, and it will remain stable until the command is completed or it is destroyed. At that point, it will either fly back to its owner or spontaneously combust.

Felix looked down at the fiery red bird, which nimbly hopped and skipped in his palm.

"You just keep an eye on the house to prevent anyone from breaking in illegally."

The fiery red bird chirped twice and hopped onto the magic lamp on the ceiling, almost invisible unless you looked closely.

Felix checked the time and figured that the dining time in the Great Hall had long passed. He led Valen, familiar with the way, toward the castle's underground buildings, encountering several students on their way to the kitchen for food.

Felix shared his experience with them and recommended lemon salmon fillets. "Scald and debone the salmon, slice it, sear it with black pepper, and then drizzle it with lemon juice...it tastes quite good."

The two Ravenclaw students who were with him kept swallowing hard.

“Professor Hyp, did you invent the Fishbone Removal Spell?” one of them asked.

“No,” Felix replied immediately, “but I happen to know this spell.”

The two students exchanged a glance. "Really... We happen to have a problem. We always have trouble using this spell; some fish bones always get stuck inside. What's the reason for that?"

"Did something go wrong with the transmission of the spell?"

"It shouldn't be. Qiu uses it very well... She's my roommate, and she can grill fish herself!"

“I see,” Felix thought for a moment, “It might be related to magic control. I suggest you keep your magic within a certain range, a bit like casting a transformation spell. Of course, don’t use too much force, or you’ll completely shred the fish…”

They walked into the basement, discussing magic. Felix thought he saw a red-haired figure disappear around the corner. Weasley? He considered it for a moment, then didn't think much of it.

Valen stood on Felix's shoulder, his small black eyes also fixed on the end of the corridor, where he caught a familiar scent.

In the kitchen, the house-elf Uncle Yun warmly welcomed them.

Felix handed over a candy gift box, and after several refusals, Yunbo and the enthusiastic elves took out a small jar from the corner containing fresh salmon.

"This was specially reserved for Mr. Haipu!" Uncle Yun said, struggling to hold the small jar.

“Thank you for your hard work, make one for them too.” Felix said, pointing to two Ravenclaw students who were already stunned.

Ten minutes later, Felix and Valen emerged from the kitchen, each holding a skewer of salmon, and swaggered down the empty underground corridor, happily munching on their catch. The irresistible aroma wafted around them, drawing stares from the wizards in the framed paintings on the walls.

"Why don't we go check out Vargadu's camp? Their amulets and curses are quite interesting..."

Just then, they heard Snape's voice coming from around the corner of the corridor.

“Thirty points each, plus one day of detention.” The slow, deliberate voice said, “Potter, Weasley, could you possibly surprise me any more? Ordinary rule violations don’t seem to satisfy you anymore, causing a ruckus in the Slytherin common room… Potter, tell me, are you trying to show off your extraordinary courage?”

“We didn’t cause a ruckus in the Slytherin common room!” Harry said, annoyed.

“No talking back, Potter. Ten points deducted from Gryffindor,” Snape said lazily. “More than thirty pairs of eyes prove you have the Patronus—” He stopped abruptly, his nose twitching slightly. Harry, Ron, and Draco in front of him stared at him with their mouths agape, as if they had seen a ghost.

Snape whirled around and saw Felix and Warren standing not far away, both holding salmon skewers, frozen in place.

"Uh, Severus, and the three of you, what happened?" Felix asked casually, as the two skewers of salmon in his hand suddenly disappeared.

Valen's two little hands were full, but unlike Felix, it couldn't put the fish in its pocket. So it could only turn around and hide behind Felix, stuffing the salmon slices into its mouth, its pink beak covered in obvious oil stains...

Snape was speechless for a moment, scrutinizing the two figures with his deep gaze.

“Potter—” he drawled after a long pause, “used his Patronus to break into the Slytherin common room, trying to cause panic—”

“It’s not panic!” Harry shouted. “We just want to let Malfoy out! We can’t just barge in, and we don’t know the password—”

“It’s true,” Ron swallowed hard, the salmon fritters smelled so good. “We want to talk to him about grilled fish…” He suddenly coughed violently. “I mean, about the thesis, the combination of the ‘Light’ rune and the Fire spell.”

Felix roughly understood what was going on.

“Leave the three of them to me, Severus,” he said. “I happen to need to speak with all of them.”

Snape glanced at him. "You can't skip the detention." He turned and left.

Felix shrugged. “Let’s go.” He told Harry, Ron, and Draco that they wouldn’t be going to Camp Vargadu.

They continued uphill, with Harry, his two friends, and his companions following behind. Harry kept sensing a faint smell of fish coming from behind Professor Hyp, and his stomach began to rumble.

"Harry, you used Patronus?"

“Yes, Professor,” Harry said in a low voice.

"Just a guardian deity?"

“Harry can use his Patronus to send messages,” Ron said.

Felix stopped and looked at Harry with slight surprise. Harry stammered, "Professor, you told me about the principle of using Patronus to send messages. I tried it last night, and it's quite simple..."

Chapter 458 Illusion Curse

Felix had known for a long time that the Guardian Charm was a very useful spell.

It has a strong restraining effect on certain creatures, such as Dementors and Groundbats; it can transmit information over long distances and pass through physical objects, not to mention the series of ingenious uses that Felix developed himself. But he always had one question: what was this spell originally used for?

Few people realize that the Patronus Charm wasn't specifically developed to combat Dementors. In fact, the former appeared much earlier—the wizard "Invincible Andros," who could summon Patronus the size of giants, was active in ancient Greece, while Dementors are first documented in the 15th century.

Felix once suspected that the Patronus Charm had some other purpose, but unfortunately he couldn't find it. He had an idea that in an era when dark magic was prevalent, being able to unleash a Patronus might be considered a sign of "noble character." Such people generally possessed both strength and virtue, naturally earning the respect of others.

The guardian spell naturally became a kind of detector, possessing a special status.

……

“Please have a seat,” Felix said.

They returned to the Ancient Runes office, where Harry, Ron, and Draco lingered on the same sofa. Harry felt uncomfortable; he had never sat so close to Malfoy before. He couldn't help but look around, and soon his gaze fell on the small square table in front of him.

There was a machine that looked like a toaster, next to a stack of brown "bread slices." In the machine's recess, a "bread slice" was stuck, with a handsome photo of Cedric Diggory pasted on it, smiling faintly at them.

"Professor, what is this?" he couldn't help but ask.

“A magic projector,” Draco suddenly interjected. Harry and Ron gave him strange looks, but quickly accepted the explanation. Although reluctant to commit, the wealthy Malfoy family was no stranger to such things.

“That’s right, it’s a magic projector,” Felix said, sitting on the single sofa next to him. “The samples sent by ‘Future World’ Corporation, I mean those films.” He added.

Harry stared at Cedric, who was still smiling at him, a sense of absurdity rising within him. "So, this is...this is all..."

“The Warriors’ performance in the second project,” Felix said with a smile, pointing to a stack of flat, brown boxes on the table. “All of them. But they certainly can’t just be sold off like this. There aren’t any relevant regulations yet, but Future World hopes to set some standards and regulate themselves.”

Harry didn't quite understand, but he realized one thing: this was similar to a Muggle movie, except this time, he might be the main character, or at least one of the main characters. He remembered what the professor had said to them after the match: "You're going to be famous because of this match."

He finally understood the meaning of that sentence.

"So, our performance will be seen by more people?" Ron's eyes lit up, and he asked eagerly.

“Theoretically, that’s true,” Felix nodded, and several small plates of pastries and butterbeer floated over and landed on the table. He gestured for them to continue, saying, “However, there are some details to consider, such as your personal wishes—”

“I agree,” Ron said immediately.

Felix laughed.

"To put it simply, when you participate in the competition, you implicitly agree to compete in front of an audience. 'Future World' Company is just pushing your performances to a wider audience. Even so, there may still be people who do not want their images to be leaked... We will try our best to communicate with you to understand your wishes."

"So we can refuse?" Harry asked.

“That’s true for some insignificant and isolated shots,” Felix said. “But it’s not acceptable when it comes to important game moments. Of course, we’ll pay a fee, not much, but like I just said, we hope to set some standards.” He emphasized.

“Sounds good,” Ron said. Fame and money at the same time, why wouldn’t he agree? His only concern was that it might be expensive and his family might not be able to afford it.

Harry had a vague worry in his heart: what if the Death Eaters and Voldemort saw these scenes? But then he thought that if the Death Eaters and Voldemort wanted to know his secret, he would have no way to stop them, as there were too many spectators at the time.

“I agree,” he said after a long consideration. Of the magic he knew, apart from Occlumency, the others weren’t exactly secrets. And Occlumency wasn’t outwardly visible; as long as he didn’t reveal it, no one else could tell.

Draco's eyes flickered, and it was unclear what he was thinking.

“Very good,” Felix said. “Then your matter is settled.” He gave them the hint to leave. “These images will eventually be pieced together, and you will be invited to watch them before the release. Your payment will be made then. If there are no problems, it’s settled.”

Harry and Ron left with mixed feelings.

Only Felix and Draco remained in the office, along with Warren, who was eating crisp ladyfingers. Warren occupied a single sofa, sitting opposite Felix with Book 2 of *The Adventures of Mick the Wizard of Oz* on his lap.

"Do you know anything about Apparition and Disillusionment?" Felix asked.

Draco nodded. "I've looked it up. They're all advanced magic that you learn in higher grades."

"That's right. The Disillusionment Charm can be learned in the advanced Charms class in the sixth year, while Apparition requires a teacher appointed by the Ministry of Magic, and the student must be an adult."

“But Potter knows this magic!” Draco blurted out, his face turning pale. “I mean—”

“I understand,” Felix said with a smile. “He seems to have broken the rules again. It was his reward for getting first place in his third year, and he chose it himself. Actually, there’s nothing wrong with underage students learning Apparition; it’s only when it’s used publicly that it causes some legal trouble… Fortunately, Potter first used Apparition publicly when he was fighting for honor for the entire British wizarding community.”

"If there are no objections, let's begin now."

"The Disguise Charm is a spell used to disguise oneself. When using it, one must make one's body color and texture consistent with the environment behind and around... It's easy to learn, but difficult to master."

“These two spells have different difficulties, but both require the use of magical energy in the body. In other words, they demand a high degree of control over magical energy, which you lack. Therefore, I have prepared some targeted exercises…”

For the next two hours, Draco Malfoy practiced leaving indelible marks in the air, a task he had to accomplish by hand, and which required both speed and aesthetics.

Draco Malfoy's face was flushed from the firelight; the weather in March wasn't very good yet, and the fire in the fireplace flickered and crackled.

Professor Hyp said some teaching aids weren't ready yet, so the actual practice would have to wait until next week. However, when he left, he still took with him a breakdown of the Illusionary Body Charm.

This is his assignment; he must submit an analytical paper by next week.

Chapter 459 Trainee Reporter

The last few days of March passed peacefully, and Alastor Moody's procurement work came to an end on a stormy morning.

At that moment, a dozen owls landed on the auditorium dragging a huge bundle, their feathers disheveled. Professor Moody asked a few students to take the poor little creatures to Mrs. Pomfrey for treatment.

“A long-distance raid!” Moody said. “These days, there aren’t many people you can trust, and you can never be too careful when it comes to security.”

“That despicable man destroyed my entire collection,” he said in a gruff voice. “It was something I’d spent decades collecting. That spyglass was incredibly effective; it could monitor any conspiracy within a kilometer radius. The only problem was that it was too sensitive, which is why I moved it to a remote location. Otherwise, it would keep beeping…”