A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Abbott Balk awkwardly retreated into the crowd.

Felix continued, “Everyone, I will now focus on the most valuable spells. The Fire Rune and the Ironclad Rune are my carefully selected spells, and these two will be your first choices. In addition, if some of you learn quickly enough, I don’t mind giving you additional advice.”

"Alright, let's get back to the main topic. About two weeks ago, I had someone deliver some information to you. If any of you have practiced using rune cards in your spare time, I would be extremely grateful. Now, please, those of you who have mastered fire runes and flowing runes, step forward..."

Tonks took a step forward happily, looking around excitedly. Felix watched silently as well. It was difficult for him to test the combat strength of these Aurors one by one, but many things would be revealed in the details, such as their level of self-discipline and their ability to execute. For example, most of the twenty-odd people who stepped forward were familiar faces he had seen in the files.

There may be discrepancies in the numbers, but this is roughly the amount of elite combat force that the Ministry of Magic can deploy.

No wonder Scrimgeour was in such a hurry, Felix thought calmly. Although he didn't know the exact number, there were probably one or two hundred Death Eaters during the last Wizarding War, and each one was handpicked by Voldemort. Add to that his followers who hadn't been branded as Death Eaters, as well as the dark creatures Voldemort had recruited, and their strength already surpassed that of the Ministry of Magic, which had been at peace for over a decade.

"The Ministry of Magic is still unreliable," Felix thought to himself.

Chapter 463 Flames

“You all possess the ability to break free from the constraints of the rune cards and draw runes... but this is only the first step. You also need to master the magical imagery of ancient runes, and that is not an easy task. Unless—” Felix stared at the twenty-odd people in front of him, “we take some radical measures.”

“Mr. Hyp, you mean—” Kingsley asked on behalf of the others.

“Take risks, show courage…you need to feel it deeply.” Felix said earnestly, and from a distance of more than ten feet, his wand sliced ​​through the air like a sword. With a soft “whoosh,” a bright orange-red flame rose from behind him, twisting into a long serpent of fire.

Kingsley's eyes widened, and he quickly took two steps back. The other Aurors and strikers also drew their wands, pointing them at the towering fire serpent and Felix Heap, who stood calmly to the side of it. His wand had disappeared into his sleeve.

As everyone gradually calmed down, Tonks stared in astonishment at the giant serpent before him, its body ablaze with flames. It was nearly a hundred feet tall, its long body composed of flames, with each scale burning intensely.

She took two steps forward, and Kingsley called out behind her, "Tonks!" The fiery serpent let out a silent roar, then plummeted to the ground with a thud, disappearing from its shape and leaving a straight trail of fire in the arena.

The passage was about six or seven feet wide, and the snake's head fell right in front of Tonks. Its tail extended backward, wrapping around Felix, making his figure appear and disappear in the flames.

"Ladies and gentlemen, step through the flames and feel the power of the fire runes with me."

"Felix said, standing in the flames."

The Aurors were stunned. Kingsley frowned and asked slowly, "Mr. Hyp, is this some kind of illusion?" However, Felix did not speak, perhaps because he did not want to explain, or perhaps his very presence was enough to explain the matter.

Tonks took a step forward.

“Wait, Tonks—” Kingsley said immediately, sensing the predicament. Neither he, nor Scrimgeour, nor even the Minister of Magic could control the situation. Especially when dealing with those who had already demonstrated immense power, their actions were unpredictable.

His role is to handle these "unexpected" situations.

Tonks glanced back at Kingsley, then at Felix, who stood silently in the flames—he was tilting his head slightly, watching her and everyone behind her with a probing gaze, seemingly very curious about their choices.

She started to get excited.

“I will not be hurt,” Tonks said firmly, taking another step forward, just a step away from the flames. The blazing fire sent gusts of hot air through her, and she could smell the burning of hair. Suddenly, she hesitated, her mind wavering. She couldn't help but look at the man in the flames.

“I will not intentionally hurt anyone,” the man told her.

Her heart pounded. Under everyone's gaze, Tonks closed her eyes and stepped into the flames. There was no excruciating pain as she had imagined; instead, she felt waves of warmth. Gasps of surprise rose and fell around her. She opened her eyes, and the flames appeared completely different in her vision.

She saw fiery runes. They were like some kind of spirit, burning and leaping, shifting between the crimson runes and flames. Felix's right hand glowed faintly, wisps of flame emanating from his arm, the runes seeping into them...

Tonks stood there in a daze, and Felix reminded her in a gentle voice: "Feel the emotions of the flames, feel the power of the runes."

Tonks stretched out her palm, and a bright, vibrant flame leaped onto it. Her arm shuddered, but she didn't pull away. The flame stuck to her hand, dancing in her palm before transforming into a shimmering rune.

A feeling of joy welled up in her heart, and she immediately knew what to do next. She silently summoned more magical runes, and soon, wisps of flame surrounded her, forming an impenetrable cocoon of fire.

"This is—" Kingsley's eyes widened. Trusting Dumbledore, he was the second to enter. The flames did not harm him, gently brushing against his robes. Then more people stepped into the flames, remaining unharmed, and now curiously examining the bright flames around them.

An expression of disbelief crossed their faces.

Was it an illusion? Kingsley wondered, when a scream rang out from behind him, "Yaxley!" someone shouted. Kingsley whirled around to see Yaxley emerging from the flames. He appeared to have suffered immense damage; although there wasn't a single burn mark on his skin, his clothes were billowing with thick smoke.

Yaxley sat on the ground, his face contorted in pain, his eyes filled with fear and rage. "What have you done!" he shouted.

“That only proves that you weren’t screened,” Felix said calmly. “You didn’t think I would hand over my power without any restrictions, did you?”

“Mr. Hyp,” Kingsley said with a headache, “our agreement didn’t mention this. You should at least tell us in advance if you have any requests.”

“Because I don’t think this will be an obstacle,” Felix said lightly. “Those who are hostile to ancient runes will naturally not be recognized by the runes. You should have been prepared for this long ago.”

“You mean, Yaxley—” Kingsley looked at him hesitantly, then at Yaxley sitting on the ground with a pained expression, a storm raging in his heart.

“Perhaps I should talk to this Mr. Yaxley; there might be a misunderstanding between us,” Felix said, a smirk playing on his lips. Yaxley—he remembered that name.

“There’s no misunderstanding.” Yaxley gritted his teeth and stood up. “I simply don’t like ancient runes! Sorry, Kingsley—it seems I shouldn’t be here.” He limped away.

Kingsley hesitated for a second or two. "Excuse me, Mr. Hyp, I need to check on his condition—"

"There will be no problem with his health."

“I have no doubt about that,” Kingsley said in a deep voice, “but—” He paused, then said to the others, “Don’t let Yaxley affect you. I’m going out to check things out.” He walked out of the Fire Corridor and followed towards the door.

Felix spoke calmly, reassuring the bewildered Aurors and strikers. “The principle behind this magic is simple… I amplified the emotions of the fire runes, allowing you to better perceive their magical imagery. But inevitably, the runes are tainted with my own will; anyone whose emotions clash with these will be repelled…”

A little while later, Kingsley returned with a light step.

“The therapist said it’s nothing serious, just a shock. Scrimgeour gave him two days off,” he told everyone. They breathed a sigh of relief, while feeling sorry for Yaxley. Several more cocoons appeared on the field, with wisps of flame merging into them.

Felix nodded, looking at Kingsley who seemed hesitant. "Is there anything else?"

"Scringer would like to invite you to lunch."

Chapter 464 Two Issues

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room, while other students were busy finishing their holiday assignments, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were having a lively discussion, finalizing the spells that might be used in their third project.

“We won’t know the details of the third project for about a month, but we can’t wait until then to start,” Hermione told them. Harry noticed that she had taken out her little notebook again, which he remembered was filled with Hermione’s inspirations and information for the second project.

Hermione noticed Harry's gaze and explained, "Some spells are very useful, but we didn't have time to learn them back then, so they come in handy now."

"What do you have?" Ron asked with interest. "I think what we have now is enough."

“No, that’s far from enough,” Hermione said seriously. “For example, in the Thirty-Second Tournament, the warriors were asked to find an invisible beast based on a rudimentary map.”

“It doesn’t sound dangerous,” Ron said. “The Invisible Beasts aren’t very aggressive.”

“Oh, the danger didn’t come from the invisible beasts, but from the other creatures in the mountains. Besides, in the end, the warriors explored the mountains for six weeks without finding anything, and the judges had to declare them all failures,” Hermione said.

"Six weeks? In the wild?" Ron shrank back.

“You can imagine how badly the warriors were in,” Hermione said briefly. “They took an average of much longer to recover…”

Ron's body visibly trembled.

“We really should be prepared,” Ron said seriously. “Any good suggestions on how to avoid getting lost?”

"Professor Belby taught us about wilderness survival skills; Professor Lupin taught us how to deal with common dangerous creatures in the wild... There are also Amplification Charms, Warning Charms, Direction Charms... I think Sharp Blade is pretty good too, it can be used to clear bushes and set up temporary tents... Hey Ron, how's your Apparition practice going?"

"What?" Ron was taken aback and nervously swallowed.

"Don't look at me like that. You haven't practiced since the end of the school year, have you?" Hermione asked, staring at his face.

“Oh, uh,” Ron stammered, “I succeeded twice, remember?”

“That happened last year. If you haven’t practiced it since then…” Hermione looked at him sternly.

"And what about you?" Ron couldn't help but ask back.

“I already knew how,” Hermione said, “of course, not as well as Harry…”

Ron looked at her dejectedly. "So, I have one more task than you? Harry, I need your help, Harry?"

Harry looked up from the book "Famous Wizards and Their Patrons" with a sleepy expression.

"What's wrong with you?" Ron asked curiously.

"The professor told me to practice the Patronus Charm more often when I have time," Harry said with a yawn.

"Guardian Angel Spell? Why?"

Harry shrugged. "The professor said this magic has great potential."

……

After about a week, the number of people in the Ministry of Magic gradually increased, and staff members returned to work.

Felix's special training is also on track. The Aurors and strikers who are ahead of the pack have begun to try to fuse fire runes and fire spells. At this stage, the difficulty has become the control of magic and the timing of the fusion, which is not a difficult task for the Ministry of Magic's elites.

Kingsley and Drax were the first to succeed. For them, the power of a single spell might not have been much, but they were facing an entire magical system.

Everyone valued this rare opportunity, and Felix quietly extended his influence to one of the most important forces in the Ministry of Magic.

He reflected on his experiences over the past few days. There had been no conflict with Scrimgeour's lunch. Scrimgeour hadn't even mentioned Yaxley; he had simply produced a letter of appointment as an advisor to the Ministry of Magic.

"Honorary advisor? What's the use?" Felix asked, flipping through the contents. He didn't find anything like a magic contract.

“An extra income, and the right to advise and oversee certain matters,” Scringer said enticingly. “If you’re planning to go into politics, this will be an important qualification.”

Felix shrugged and took it.

One afternoon, Felix explained the meaning of the 'Flow' rune to everyone again, and Professor Machiban approached him and asked him to attend a meeting.

When Felix entered the meeting room on the second floor of the Ministry of Magic, it was already full of people. These people wore crimson robes with an exquisite silver "W" embroidered on their left breasts. They all looked down at him, some with stern expressions, while others made no attempt to hide their curiosity.

His gaze swept quickly over the wizards, lingering briefly on Dumbledore's half-moon spectacles and the dark yellow-green bowler hat on Fudge's table.

Wizengamo… Felix had a vague idea. He calmly walked to the empty seat next to Professor Marchban, lowered his head and whispered, “What do you need me to do?”

“Nothing needs to be done!” Professor Marchban called out, looking across at the other side. “Dumbledore, may we begin?”

“Of course,” Dumbledore said cheerfully, while Fudge looked quite uneasy as he picked up a striped handkerchief and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.

Dumbledore opened a document on the table, cleared his throat, and said loudly, "As the First Wizard of Wizengamor, I, Albus Percival Woolfrick Brian Dumbledore, summon all the wizards of Wizengamor to discuss and decide on the proposal of Gershilda Marchband, in order to decide whether to accept Felix Hyp as one of us."

The wizards present were buzzing with discussion.

Felix smiled slightly, leaned back in his chair, and waited quietly. After a few minutes, the murmurs subsided, and Dumbledore spoke again, "Please let the proposer state their reasons."

The diminutive Professor Marchban stood up, straightened her slightly hunched back, and said loudly, "Each of you has a document in front of you, so I'll just highlight the key points. Felix Heap has made outstanding contributions in many fields, and he deserves to be one of us!"

"Since Felix Heap took over as Professor of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts, he has demonstrated exceptional teaching and academic standards for two consecutive years. You can see this in his report card, on pages 15 and 16—"

A rustling sound filled the conference room, followed by several suppressed gasps from the crowd.

"This is impossible!"

“Nothing is impossible!” Professor Machiban said. “Just before this, Heidstrand Vera, the vice president of the Ancient Rune Society, and I went to the school to investigate. I can guarantee that not a single word of the information mentioned above is false!”

“We believe you wouldn’t exaggerate anything like this, Professor Marchban,” said Amelia Borns, sitting next to Fudge, her voice loud and deep, wearing a monocle. She reassured Professor Marchban, then looked at Felix with an inquiring gaze.

“Then I will continue—Felix Heap has achieved remarkable results in the field of memory therapy. His research has become the most effective means of treating memory impairment in St. Mungo's, and many patients who were deemed incurable by therapists have recovered their health. Ms. Dorothea Bohem can testify to this—”