Chapter 25
The next morning, when the young wizards got up in the morning only to find that Gryffindor had an additional fifty points to their House points at once and leading the House Cup as first, there were many inquires about what had happened yesterday.
And so it was announced that Hermione had become the new Ancient Rune Professor’s assistant.
Gryffindor was naturally the proudest, and the other houses were inevitably a bit sceptical that a second-year student who had just started school could become a professor’s assistant?
Was there something fishy going on?
So there followed a very nasty scene on the pitch when Draco Malfoy called Hermione a “mudblood” and Ron, in a fit of rage, used his “half-ruined” wand to inflict a curse, which he hit himself instead.
Hermione felt very upset, but Hagrid reassured her, “He must be jealous, that wicked boy! Our Hermione could write a difficult thesis, yet they couldn’t think of one!”
But soon the tide changed. This was because the professor of Ancient Magic Runes had released an extremely long thesis to be distributed as supplementary study material to every young wizard who had taken the Ancient Magic Runes course, including seventh years.
This paper, naturally, is from Hermione’s work.
Numerous senior students tried to find an omission in it, but at their level, they could not find a single error.
It is not that Hermione’s level of ancient runes surpasses that of the seventh graders; she hasn’t even begun to learn them yet. Rather, it was that she had, almost single-handedly, reorganized the history of ancient runes, the directions of research, the major achievements, and the theoretical schools of thought, and she had brought the material up to date to the last year.
No one has bothered to do this work for nearly thirty years, and as a result, all those who study ancient runes have an outdated version of the history of ancient runes at their fingertips.
That is what made this Hermione thesis so valuable.
Several professors expressed their fondness for this thesis on different occasions, notably Professor Flitwick, who nearly fainted with enthusiasm in class.
And so all the controversy came to an abrupt end. Especially after Hermione’s reference list was “kindly” shared by a Gryffindor student, the debate has now changed from “Hermione is quite perverse” to “the new professor is a sicko”.
It’s not too much to say that a second-year who reads twenty books and writes seven sheets of parchment in a week is a bit “perverse”.
Countless young wizards who had chosen the ancient runes trembled.
Professor Felix Hap felt his reputation had been tarnished.
Even Professor Snape followed suit when he mocked Neville in his recent Potions class by saying, “With your intelligence, I would sincerely advise you not to take Ancient Runes in your third grade, you’ll make the professor think he’s teaching a troll.”
Felix’s Ancient Magic Runes course is starting to get on track.
Fourth-year class.
“Welcome to the classroom of Ancient Magic Runes, this is our first class.” Felix looked down at the young lions and the young snakes.
In there, there are two other familiar figures, the Weasley twins. f𝘳ℯℯ𝙬𝒆𝚋𝐧oν𝑒Ɩ.c𝑜𝙢
“I don’t want to spend too much time repeating the significance of this class, some of the information I have already revealed in advance in the open class.”
“You need this class if you aspire to trace the glory of wizards as they once were, and to decipher the mysteries of ancient wizards’ magic from murky magic manuscripts;”
“You need this course if you aspire to create mysterious artefacts of alchemy, to reproduce the relics of magic that belong to legends and fairy tales;”
“If you wish to study the true meaning of magic, to uncover the greatness and glory that belongs to the wizard alone, you need this course as well.”
Felix watched the young wizards’ expressions closely and felt slightly satisfied to see them involuntarily rise in solemnity; it seemed that this opening statement could be delivered a few more times.
“But it will all start with the basics.”
On the podium, Felix waved his wand and a suitcase opened abruptly, from which dozens of golems flew out and landed precisely in front of the young wizards.
“Cool!” The twins looked at each other and exclaimed in unison.
The other young wizards also excitedly grabbed the golems and held them in their hands, playing with them over and over, while many others pointed their wands and tried to get them to move.
“Given that third and fourth years are the least bothered about exams, our lessons will be mainly practical.”
There is a cheer off the stage.
Felix waited for a moment, letting the young wizards toss the golems in their hands as they pleased, before continuing, “I think some of you have noticed that the golems you’re holding can’t move.”
He smiled mysteriously, with a certain mischievousness, “- in a sense, they are half-baked.”
The young wizards looked at him dumbfounded.
“That’s right, half-baked, these magic golems are missing some key magic runes at the magic nodes – Connection, Consistency, Balance, Coordination – these are the four practical types of magic runes you are covering this term, and there are 27 altogether.”
“Once you have mastered all of them, you will then be given a true magic golem.”
“Plus, of course, 482 theory-based magic runes, and that’s all of you will be learning this year,” Felix added.
One of the twins shouted, “Professor, hurry up and let’s get started.”
Felix gave him a satisfied look, not bad, he’s a funny guy. “In today’s lesson, I will explain the four magic runes involved in the role of the Connection, and if you can successfully master them, you will be able to make your magic golem active.”
“Move?”
“The basic movements, such as punching, kicking, rolling, etc.”
“Professor, can you teach more?”
“Of course … I can’t.”
The young wizards then stayed focused on class like never before, each trying to master the four magic runes as quickly as possible, yet only Fred Weasley succeeded partially by the end of the class – his golem could keep swinging its right arm, but only its right arm.
” Plus ten points for Gryffindor.”
Near the end of class, Felix began to assign homework.
“The homework is to practice today’s four magic runes, and the magic golem you have in your hands is temporarily placed in your care for you to practice with.”
“I hope that in the next class you will all be able to master these four magic runes.”
George raised his hand, “Professor, what if the golem breaks?” There is a point where he wanted to take the thing apart for imitation.
“Don’t worry, I’ve applied some protective wards.”
Felix said again as if being kind –
” Under the protective wards, your magic will only stay for half an hour, so, you know, practice a lot.”
The young wizards who were still packing up their things looked dumbfounded and turned their heads to look at the friendly-faced professor.
But this is nothing for the extremely skilled twins; their focus was on the other side. Fred asked, “Professor, will you be teaching a new magic rune in the next class?”
He couldn’t wait to craft his own magic golem.
“It depends on your overall progress.” Felix’s attitude is quite ambiguous. In fact, of course not, the next class and the next after are theory classes, so be a good boy and go translate the runes for me.
Do you really think I would be tending sheep, what about the assessment?
Felix’s strategy is to get the little wizard worked up with runes first, then he could do whatever he wanted.
“By the way, I will conduct tests, both theoretical and practical, before Halloween. The one with the highest combined score will receive a golem made by my own hands,” Felix whispered, “an upgraded version of this.”
“Now, class dismissed!”
…
The same strategy repeated over the next few days, and soon the young wizards in the third and fourth years were like they had been pumped up and were feverishly studying the subject of ancient magic runes.
After class, there were lots of hand-me-downs and wands to gesticulate at the golem.
This enthusiasm climaxed when Fred Weasley gave a public tap dance performance with a magic golem on Friday before the Transfiguration class began.
Professor McGonagall wasn’t too happy though and gave two points off for Gryffindor.
———-
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