Chapter 156
Chapter 156
Without realizing it, Felix finished reading the whole thing.
“Professor?” Hermione looked over.
She paused the display on the screen and turned to discuss some queries on her thesis.
“I read in the book, the book “wands and wizards” repeatedly mentioned a point, ‘wands are alive’, how should this statement be interpreted?”
“Well … I do not have deep research in this area, I can only explain in a broad sense.”
“Of course.” Hermione blinked and said in a relaxed tone.
“Every wand is unique. Even if they are made of the exact same materials and measurements, the effects that can be displayed in different hands can be distinctly different.”
“Is it because of the owner of the wand?” Hermione guessed.
“Yes, I personally think that the wand in the store is only a half-finished product, it is eager to obtain its own perfection.”
Hermione looked up and stared at Felix, this is a fresh perspective.
Felix explained, “The properties of the wand wood, along with the properties of the magical creature from which the wand core comes, would have given the wand an extremely rich variety of variations, but there is another property that cannot be ignored – and that is the wand owner himself.”
“Rather than saying that the wand is alive, I prefer to believe that it’s the characteristics of the Wand Body, the Wand Core, and the owner of the Wand are bonded together before the Wand becomes complete and brings out its true power.”
“So, this is the theory behind ‘wands choosing wizards’? In order to make itself complete, with both the wand and the wand core fixed, it prefers to pick the ideal master with whom it fits?” Hermione said, following his train of thought.
“That’s a household saying,” Felix said modestly, and then added-
“Moreover, for a young wizard, acquiring the right wand is only the first step; the wand and its owner will partner with each other, learning from each other and promoting each other in the days to come, constantly developing such a mutual bond.”
“We can understand it this way, every wand has a different history.”
“But, Professor, I’ve heard that some wands can betray their owners?” Hermione asked cautiously.
Felix’s expression became serious, “this situation is relatively rare, even the notorious, more deviant wand, would not cause a failure or two to offend its owner, the school confrontation is not even up to this level …”
“But this certainly exists, does it not?” Hermione trailed off.
“Indeed. I think the reasons for this are varied: there is the poor relationship between the master and the wand; there is the wand’s natural sensitivity and worship for the stronger; there is the fact that the ‘failure’ has affected the owner so much that it deepens this rift.”
“However, based on the wand core material alone, the unicorn hair is indeed more loyal, while the dragon heartstring appears to be a bit too lively, and it is possible for them to succumb ‘temporarily’ to a powerful enemy.”
“Temporarily?”
“For example, when a wand of this kind is forcibly taken away by an enemy, if you recover it in time, it can still be used as usual.”
“This, that could …” said the young witch, somewhat startled.
“Miss Granger, what we are discussing is too far from your realm.” Felix terminated the topic.
In fact, Felix believed that the conditions for the wand to change sides were extremely harsh and included at least one ‘one defeat in a rivalry filled with malice’, a conclusion he had come to from some dark wizards.
That’s how Felix got his spare wands from his stockpile.
But even so, these wands are temporary at best – they are not your own wands, and there will be various limitations on spell casting after all.
And from the example of Ron and Neville, perhaps there is also a scenario of ‘willing transfer’, but he has not experienced it first-hand.
“Granger, let’s discuss your modification of the beaded pouch, I originally thought that you would finish it in the next school year.”
…
Felix’s new book is also on the agenda, and in order to expand his influence, he has chosen to complete two books at the same time – one is for underage prep wizards, with lots of dynamic illustrations, supplemented by a lively and interesting storyline.
One is a science fiction title aimed at adult wizards, using the most rigorous logic and text to explain the most common underlying technology of the muggle world.
After he finished part of the manuscript, Felix had the illusion of explaining addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to a retard, which made him want to give up for a while.
But some of his selected audience did give good feedback –
Belby looked at the manuscript, the first illustration is a boiling kettle, the mouth of the kettle constantly gushing hot steam; the second illustration is a tube connected out of the big kettle, steam flowing through the tube to a little windmill at the other end; the third illustration is the windmill driven by steam, quickly rotating together.
The next illustration is a hand-drawn version, which looks more abstract: a train with a huge kettle on the top, connected by a pipeline to the wheels, allowing the train to drive …
In order to make the whole process more straightforward, Felix deliberately coloured the steam in a prominent way, it looks like a train carrying a gaping kettle monster, constantly spewing venom.
“This is the steam engine that the muggles talk about? They rely on this to move the train?” Belby said excitedly, “You know a lot, Felix!”
Three days before the end of the school year, Felix received an invitation letter signed by the “International Federation of Wizards” – an organization similar to the UN, except that the members were all ministries of magic.
“Why did they invite me?”
Felix opened the letter and after a moment looked up, “So it’s an invitation from the International Federation of Wizards to go to Paris for a meeting with the Muggle issues research team? Tsk, never heard of it at all, it can’t be a newly established one in the last few years …”
From the rather formalized rhetoric of the invitation letter, Felix could tell that this research team is adopting a strategy of casting a wide net and fishing for more fish, maybe experts in muggle studies who are slightly more famous will be invited.
The next day, he found the opportunity to ask professor Burbage, and the response he got is not what he expected, she also received an invitation.
“You too?” Burbage looked at him with wide eyes, “Oh, of course, you’re qualified for that. I mean, you’re so young, I didn’t think of it before.”
“Professor Burbage, do you know what this so-called research team is all about?”
“I do know a little about it,” Burbage said, “It seems to be a project led by the U.S. Ministry of Magic on the subject of responding to crises and whatnot. It’s all the usual stuff, you know, they’ve always been sensitive to muggle issues.”
Felix nodded thoughtfully.
The two then agreed to meet in Paris and left on their own.
He also wanted to see how the ‘experts’ in other countries viewed the muggle issue.
For the next two days, Felix took care of various chores: assigning holiday assignments to the young wizards, seeing off Belby’s smooth departure with the other professors, applying to Dumbledore to stay at the school, and attending the school dinner …
In front of the station, the young wizards cheerfully boarded the train, while Felix watched silently from the corner.
The most conspicuous one is the tall and large figure of Marcus Flint, who had been avoiding him ever since he finished his exams.
Followed by Clammy Vera, wearing wide glasses, who approached Felix immediately after the exams, hoping to maintain correspondence after graduation and receive instruction in the Ancient Runes from him.
Several other graduates expressed similar wishes, which Felix did not refuse.
In addition to this, the young wizards who impressed him during the year appeared one by one.
Blake Abbott, Percy, Penelope, Geoffrey, Peter Shelton, Warren Partiz, the twins, Cedric, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood …
He also saw a somewhat depressed Draco Malfoy, Felix’s mind went silent, he already knew that Lucius had struggled numerous times, but was still thrown out of the school board, his son could not help but be affected.
Felix watched the Hogwarts Express train whistled away.
When the shadow of the train disappeared from sight, he turned and left the platform.