A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Hermione understood somewhat: magic is not easy to maintain for inert magical materials, so markings can be used to strengthen the form of the runes.

“Actually—” Felix added, “the process is separate—sculpting and infusing magic. I’m just very familiar with the process, so I combined the two steps. When you practice, you should still do them separately.”

One of his backup plans, 'Felix's wisdom tooth,' was accomplished in this way.

Hermione nodded.

Felix then produced five more wooden carving knives, which looked somewhat like unusual wands. Hermione had seen the twins' fake wands earlier that day and remembered them vividly.

“These carving knives are made from the same materials as the wands, and their properties are similar to those of the wands they were made from,” Felix pointed out, pointing to each one.

"The gooseberry wood carving knife is difficult for beginners to master; it is exceptionally sensitive to magic, in fact, too sensitive. But once you have the skill, it quickly adapts to its owner's magic, becoming extremely personalized, and no one else can use it at all."

"Ebony carving knives excel at carving aggressive magical runes; however, mastering them is not easy. They work in perfect harmony with owners who have the courage to be themselves and refuse to follow the crowd."

"I personally believe that the red oak carving knife possesses a certain degree of memory; once you become proficient, it will actively guide you in completing the runes."

"Chestnut wood carving knives are a favorite among beginners; there's no particular preference, but of course, they offer no advantages whatsoever."

"A laurel wood carving knife, uh, I don't really like this kind of carving knife. You have to use it often, otherwise when you remember it after a long time, it might strike you with lightning when you infuse it with magic..."

After Felix finished explaining, Hermione curiously picked up the carving knives and examined them repeatedly, growing more and more fond of them with each look. She exclaimed happily, "Professor, when can I own a carving knife like this? I mean... I'd be willing to pay for it..."

“You don’t need to worry about that for now. That chestnut wood carving knife is for you to practice with,” Felix said. “You’ll need to think about getting your own carving knife in a few years.”

"By the way, what's your wand made of?" Felix asked.

“It’s grapevine wood,” Hermione said. “The core of the cane is dragon heartstring, twelve and four-fifths inches.”

Chapter 125 Wands and Wizards

“Grapevine?” Felix repeated, and the little witch noticed that Professor Hyp’s expression clearly froze for a moment.

“Very good,” he commented briefly.

Felix explained, "In my personal experience, engraving knives are very similar to wands, so apart from chestnut wood knives, the first engraving knife should ideally be made of the same material as your wand."

"For example, I find ebony carving knives most convenient."

Hermione had a look of sudden realization. She thought to herself, "Grapevine wood, the first choice for my own carving knife."

However, this also made her curious. When she was buying a wand, Ollivander said that it is the wand that chooses the wizard, not the wizard that chooses the wand. Professor Hyp also gave similar advice. Is there a secret behind this?

She shared her questions with Professor Hep.

Felix thought for a moment and said, "That makes a lot of sense, because Ollivanders Wand Shop never makes custom wands, which means that young wizards have to adapt to the characteristics of wands."

"So, the wands we have are only generally compatible with us?" Hermione understood what he meant.

“That’s one way to look at it, but don’t worry, for the vast majority of wizards, there’s no need to consider such subtle differences,” Felix said. “It’s quite an interesting question. You can go to the library and see what your friends’ wands look like and what qualities they represent.”

Hermione was indeed very interested; this kind of behavior, which satisfied both her thirst for knowledge and her desire for gossip, was simply irresistible to her.

"Professor, do you have any book recommendations?" the little witch asked. She was used to asking Professor Hyp for a reading list and always got an accurate reply.

really

“Hmm… I remember there’s a book in the library called ‘Wands and Wizards,’ which introduces hundreds of famous wizards and their wands,” Felix said.

Hermione muttered a couple of sentences and wrote down the book title.

“Alright, next up is the seventh carving knife.” Felix steered the conversation back on track.

The little witch looked at the last carving knife, thin like a dagger, its color a chilling, deathly white, and it looked like the tooth of some kind of creature. She exclaimed in surprise, "This is... a basilisk's fang?"

“That’s right, I came up with the idea of ​​using parts of magical creatures’ tissues to make rune-carving knives quite by chance,” Felix said with a smile. “It was just an experiment.”

Hermione thought the material was too evil; wouldn't the runes carved from it be infused with snake venom or curses?

So she asked Felix, "And how effective is it?"

Felix clicked his tongue and vaguely said things like "expanded new ideas" and "try using a unicorn horn next time." Hermione wisely didn't press him further.

After spending some time explaining the concept of the 'Inscription Knife' invented by Professor Hyp himself, the two finally returned to their original topic: the difference between a single inscription and an inscription circuit.

Felix put away the other carving knives, leaving only the ebony and chestnut carving knives. He handed the chestnut carving knife to Hermione.

Hermione examined the carving knife in her hand carefully, realizing that it would be with her for a long time.

Its color is somewhat like a light coffee color, and its material is uniform and dense, with straight and fine textures distributed on it, which looks a lot like the pattern of Yuhua stones.

Then she stared at the carving knife in Felix's hand.

Professor Hyp's ebony carving knife, like his wand, was made of carefully selected heartwood, without a single impurity.

It was a pure, deep black, with a matte sheen, giving it an extremely heavy and hard texture.

Felix picked up a thin piece of chestnut wood and said to Hermione, "Whether it's a wand-shaped carving knife or a piece of chestnut wood, both are very magic-friendly, so carving runes is more like writing an article."

He deftly held the carving knife and smoothly wrote a string of magical runes. A red glow bloomed from the black tip of the knife. When Felix lifted the carving knife, the fiery magical runes had quietly extinguished, leaving a black mark.

"There are two ways to write magic runes: either in one go or one step at a time."

"This is the first type."

He then took another piece of chestnut wood and wrote individual runes on it one by one. After showing it to Hermione, he carefully drew lines to connect them together.

Hermione held both chestnut wood pieces at the same time, comparing them.

In her mind, the former resembled a single, flowing stroke of cursive script, but at the expense of individual letter legibility; while the latter was a neat, regular printed script, except that some mischievous children had connected the letters together with crayons. Compared to the pleasing appearance of the former, it looked more like a poorly made doodle, making one want to frown.

But Felix told her, "This is the one you need to master." He pointed to what he called the combination of 'print + graffiti'.

“Your beaded pouch will require three sets of rune circuits, and I will explain how they are connected.”

Felix snapped his fingers lightly, and the two consciousnesses entered the Mind Chamber.

Since the beginning of the school year, he has become increasingly proficient in controlling this magic.

This seems to align with Snape's theory that magic he invented would naturally increase in power.

……

On Sunday morning, Harry yawned as he walked out of his dormitory and saw Ginny and Ron sitting next to Hermione, looking at something.

"Good morning," he said. He had been training Quidditch late the night before, so he was a little sleep-deprived.

Harry pulled out his Potions homework from his bag, but his mind was a jumbled mess.

Several minutes passed before he noticed the strange behavior of the three people opposite him. "What are you doing?"

Hermione was writing intently on a thin piece of wood, which she mistook for parchment, and examined it repeatedly.

The tool she was holding was also strange; it looked a bit like a quill pen, or a miniature magic wand.

But Hermione clearly didn't have time to answer him, and Harry looked at Ron.

Ron whispered to him, "It's a magic loop."

Ginny retorted, "No, it's a magic rune circuit."

Ron shrugged. “Pretty much,” he explained to Harry, “you know, for fixing her beaded pouch.”

He looked over from the other side of the table and saw Hermione sketching a strange pattern on a thin wooden board, which, from his angle, looked a bit like a giant squid from the Black Lake.

Red light flowed continuously from the 'pen tip' as she wrote slowly, the initial strokes already cooling to black.

"Phew~" Hermione let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from her face.

"So, did it work?" Harry asked with interest, though he still didn't quite understand what she was doing.

But Harry estimates he will also be taking Ancient Runes next year.

Hermione relaxed completely and said lazily, "I can never consistently inject magic; the differences between individual runes are too great."

"I remember you said your success rate was 90%?" Harry asked.

“That’s a single rune; rune circuits are much more difficult…” she said with a sigh.

Chapter 126 The Empty Castle (Seeking first subscriptions!)

A new week began, and the young wizards were surprised to find that the classroom had changed.

Spells class.

Professor Flitwick took out a stack of parchment, stood on a pile of thick books, and said, “Young wizards, today you will be introduced to a new teaching tool, which I think many of you have already heard about…”

Potions class.

In a fifth-grade class, Snape calmly looked at the young wizards below the stage: "For the sake of your OWLS grades, I need you to pay more attention to the theory. I've said this many times before."

The young wizards were like quails, not daring to say a word.

He suddenly raised his wand, and dozens of parchments flew out like swords, landing one by one in front of the young wizards, each parchment shimmering with magical light.

The well-informed young wizard couldn't wait any longer and pressed his wand against it, shouting, "Secret of the Runes!"

But the parchment remained motionless.

Snape said slowly and deliberately, “Very well, Miss Campbell has given us a bad example.”

Transformation Lesson.

Professor McGonagall's sharp gaze swept around the room. "The professors have put in tremendous effort, and I hope you won't take it lightly."

"Now, take out your wands and repeat after me: The secrets of magic, forever etched in your heart."

The young wizards began to chant along...

Ancient magic script class, sixth grade classroom.

Felix smiled and said, "You'll find that the new 'Question Parchment' has many more features."

"Including the rankings you've all been eagerly anticipating."

The young wizards couldn't wait to try it out. Besides the activation command no longer falling into the category of 'ancient runes,' the visuals also changed—

Atop the rolling mountains, a castle looms in and out of sight, then the scene rapidly unfolds: a grand hall, a spiral staircase, courtyards, towers, a library, the Forbidden Forest…

This seems to be the perspective of an outsider entering Hogwarts for the first time, with simple lines outlining the most familiar scenes.

This scene is captured on Hogwarts Castle, with the flags representing the four houses flying at the main gate. The snake, badger, lion, and eagle on the flags are incredibly lifelike.

When their gaze falls upon it, they will find the corresponding creatures swaying, standing upright, roaring, or flapping their wings.