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Chapter 650
Chapter 650
Chapter 650: Rare Gem
On the last weekend of February, in the Ancient Rune office, the owl delivered that day’s Daily Prophet.
Felix spread out the newspaper and read the foreign news headlines on page six, ‘Squib group storms Woolworth Building after Magical Congress of the United States of America announced a temporary hold on the introduction of exclusive wands’. He read it carefully and realized that the journalist didn’t even know as much as he did.
The living conditions of wizards in the magical world of the United States are very different from those of Europe and Africa.
The British Ministry of Magic, for example, would prefer to maintain a one-line contact with the Muggle Prime Minister on vital events, and other European countries’ Ministries of Magic had followed this lead; Africa is another story: because of the prevalence of the local mystical culture and the slow distribution of information, many of the wizards there actually cloaked themselves as ‘witch doctors’, ‘ritualists ‘, ‘soothsayers’ and ‘diviners’ – there are also some who operate semi-publicly like that in Britain, but they would never dare to be so rampant.
The consequences of publicly casting spells would simply mean that they would become a second Carlotta Pinkstone. So Felix and Ms. Bones have decided that if the wizarding community is really compelled to go public, it is far more likely that something will go wrong in the United States and Africa than in Europe.
Ms. Bones has therefore instructed the British representative in the International Confederation of Wizards to submit an early warning notice proposal.
Felix has also come under a lot of criticism during this time because ‘the invention of the exclusive wand would aggravate the already crippling secrecy’, and it is no surprise that the Magical Congress of the United States of America, the most unstable magical community in the world, would be the first to issue such a policy.
At least it is sufficient for him that more countries’ ministries of magic have chosen to accommodate exclusive wands with caution.
The chaos in the Magical Congress of the United States of America had actually been foreshadowed.
Like recently, Minerva had hosted a number of American wizarding parents who wanted to enrol their children in Hogwarts, and who were themselves ready to relocate to the UK in the near future.
“The Noels are just the most perceptive and probably the least courageous.”
According to what Felix had learned from the information he had been given, it was not uncommon for such things to happen; a number of British wizards had taken refuge abroad during the First Wizarding War, and smuggling had been rampant during that time.
Because it is much easier for a wizard to get from one end of the earth to the other than a muggle.
As far as Felix was concerned, many wizards didn’t really have much of a sense of distance, and all the time needed to move abroad – from England to France and to America is nearly the same – the only thing they needed is a Portkey, and a reminder of the difference between the galleons they would have to pay.
Only at the end of the war did many of those wizarding families return to England, but some also decided to stay abroad.
Now the Magical Congress of the United States of America and the Revolutionary Society, as well as other circles from all walks of life, have been discussing the matter with great fanfare, even to the point of making a fuss at the International Confederation of Wizards, causing a headache for the new President of the Confederation.
Felix didn’t expect that he would become the source of such disturbances.
Valen was lying in front of the special Pensieve, curiously observing the silvery substance inside, and with the wand in her hand, she glanced vigilantly at Felix, who did not respond much, so she stirred the substance inside with the tip of her wand.
A young voice, with a little echo, sounded.
“I’m not looking down on Hagrid, Professor Dumbledore. I just consider … his act of raising an Acromantula in the castle to be too dangerous. I am a Prefect.”
With some surprise, Valen hastily pulled her exclusive wand back, the silvery substance in the Pensieve swirled slightly and from it, a voice of another person sounded, Valen’s small dark eyes widened, and despite the similar echoes, she could discern that it was the Great Demon King speaking.
“… I have heard that you are looking for the legendary Slytherin Chamber? It’s a mess there, I’m going to turn it into a playground, and you agree that the entertainment for Hogwarts students is too lacking, right? What do you like …”
Felix looked out the window, and with a half-hearted glance at the calendar markings, he ticked off the March 10th and stood up to move his neck.
“Come on, Valen. Let’s take a stroll down to the great hall and see what those students have achieved in half a month. If we’re lucky we might be able to see a splinch in time!” He said lazily, “I have seen some students who have barely mastered Apparition in these last few days, it’s bloody gruesome …”
…
Harry was discharged earlier today and was surprised to see few familiar faces when he returned to the common room after having determinedly shaken off Madam Pomfrey’s pestering.
“Harry, you’re out of the hospital?” Coote, a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, said happily, as he announced loudly, “Hey! Everyone, welcome our wonderful ‘Captain Ghost’ back to the team.” The men in the common room gave a few obligatory claps and Peakes, the beater, blew a loud whistle.
“Where are the rest of the group?” Harry asked.
“In the great hall taking ‘Apparition Class’.” He said.
Harry thanked him, and waved at Peakes and Demelza Robins in the distance, and went to his dormitory and wandered around, it was empty, and he was a little bewildered to find an Apparition certificate on his bunk, along with a small bag of galleons, which he counted to be exactly twelve, and he realized it is a refund fee that he paid for signing up for the Apparition class earlier.
Harry was a little surprised, had it taken a whole year for the Ministry of Magic to even think of giving them the certificates? Couldn’t they have just mailed them in? He felt sure that if he had gotten one himself, Ron and Hermione must have gotten one too.
He made his way to the Great Hall, which is packed with students chatting in small groups and hundreds of wooden circles for practice on the floor.
Harry turned his head and looked around, but there wasn’t even a single professor in sight. What the hell is going on? Luckily, though, he saw someone familiar, and he walked over just in time to hear Ron sharing his experience of practising his Apparition with someone.
Hermione and Neville are both there, along with Ginny, and it’s obvious that she’s holding her breath.
“… The more scared I get, the worse it will become, I swear! I had a couple of nasty splinches when I was learning to Apparate … Yeah, Professor Hap helped once or twice, and after that, we worked it out ourselves, like losing an eyebrow or getting a small gash or something …”
” It was really quite hard,” Ron said, “I never got the hang of it … Harry was the one who was pretty good at it.”
To assert their renewed friendship, Ron didn’t mince words when it came to praising Harry, knowing that normally the next topic of conversation would be “Weasley’s One Hundred Thrilling Apparitions”.
“Harry!” Ginny greeted him in surprise, jumping over and giving him a hug, “We were just talking about visiting you later.”
“I don’t want to stay until Easter.” Harry whispered.
He then noticed with some embarrassment that the people around him were looking at him with a very intrigued look.
“As I recall, Harry used continuous Apparition to get the golden egg under the protection of the Dragon.” Parvati Patil said.
“I thought it was a coincidence.” A student said.
“Of course, it’s not a coincidence, Harry is especially good at that!” Ron said with more vigour when he saw Harry, ” Do you remember how I beat Nona Leibert in the third task of the tournament with ‘Apparition plus Stunning Spell’? It was very difficult to cast a spell right after the Apparition, and it is an advanced technique even in the Auror group.”
Ginny rolled her eyes.
She had gotten some Auror training info from Tonks a long time ago and knew a little bit about it; it was true that Apparition with quick spell casting is an advanced dueling technique, but it is considered by many to be flashy because it is easy to make mistakes and once a splinch happens it’s over and the enemy will laugh at you.
Not to mention the fact that most people cannot overcome the directional imbalance of moving at high speed. After knowing how Professor Hap had graded the magic, Tonks gave the opinion by saying “Apparition below level four is not suitable to be used in combat.”
On the other hand, Ron spoke more and more eloquently, tickling the students’ minds.
“Harry, we haven’t seen you demonstrate it at the club. Now that the professor isn’t around-” Dean said. The crowd followed suit and asked Harry to show them. Harry glared at Ron, but he found himself rushing to say, somewhat eagerly, “I need a target.”
“Happy to oblige.” Ron said with a grin.
They headed towards a vacant space in the corner, and when Ron passed Hermione and Neville, he whispered in a soft voice, “Remember to come and rescue me if I can’t hold out.”
A dozen Gryffindors stood up and sparsely formed a half circle.
Ron stood against the wall on one side and raised his wand to cast a Supersensory Charm on himself.
“Ready?” Dean acted as a self-appointed referee. Both Ron and Harry’s demeanour became serious. “Three – two – one – go!”
A disarming charm flew towards Ron, who leaned down to dodge the spell. At that moment, Harry suddenly disappeared from his spot – a cheer erupted from the crowd – and he appeared at Ron’s right side, the red light that gathered at the tip of his wand shot out, and Ron hastily formed a small patch of shield charm on his chest to deflect the spell.
Students resting in the distance noticed the commotion and gathered around.
For the next ten seconds or so, the two fired a number of non-lethal spells at each other, disarming charm, binding spell, stunning spell, full body-bind curse, and minor hexes that are popular among the students, Harry was especially eager to test a toenail-growing hex on Ron right now.
“They’re both so awesome.” An underclassman said in awe.
“I’m not surprised by Harry’s performance, but Ron – is he also this skilled in a non-verbal spell?”
“Hmm, he’s below average in Transfiguration class and still can’t smoothly mask his freckles. All the non-verbal spells he knows are basically dueling spells …”
“What kind of magic is that?” Another seventh-year student asked in shock.
The two men in the middle of the audience went back and forth, shooting spells at each other, their feet constantly moving, dodging the magic lights that flew in front of them when they could, and if they couldn’t, they would gather a small halo of light in front of their bodies to defend themselves against the spell, and then immediately counterattacked, in a dizzyingly fast pace.
“It’s one of the advanced techniques of the shield charm, just like the humanoid shield charm.” Neville explained.
Every now and then Harry would suddenly disappear and appear out of nowhere from around a corner to fire a spell at Ron, and as soon as that happened Ron quickly stepped back so that his back faced the castle wall and his eyes caught Harry’s silhouette; or he would cast a full shield charm in the opposite direction, concentrating on the one side, and with the heightened senses from the supersensory charm, he was always just barely able to cope.
The students watched in awe, though they didn’t see the continuous Apparition.
“Harry, give some extra effort.” Dean shouted.
Harry held his breath and met Ron’s gaze, and the two exchanged a silent look. “They’re all waiting.” Ron said with a wide grin. The next second Harry suddenly disappeared, his wand stabbed straight out and the disarming charm shot out with a sharp whistle. Then he disappeared from his spot and appeared in the air near the ceiling of the great hall as if he had merged with the clear, wavy blue sky overhead.
With a flick of his wand, a dozen candles came crashing down on him, while onlookers were still looking around for Harry, only the students who had just approached in the distance and a group of professors who had just come out of a meeting in the staff room saw the scene.
Draco Malfoy was constantly fiddling with a white peacock transformed from a goblet, and then his head turned to the side to stare dead at Harry, and a glint of resignation flashed in his eyes.
“Oh, dear!” Professor McGonagall said, covering her chest. The other professors stared in confusion as well, and only Felix had a small smile on his lips.
Harry’s attack didn’t end there.
He disappeared again on his way down, appearing to Ron’s right side – actually, normally he would have appeared behind his enemy, but now he is just putting on a show – and with a continuous flick of his wrist, a red and gold spell combined in the front to form a continuous attack, like a tidal wave towards Ron.
A cry of surprise erupted from the crowd.
Ron, who had been alerted in advance, is casting his spell unhurriedly at the moment, aiming for a rather theatrical effect before allowing a spherical magical barrier to protect him at the last second. Bang bang bang bang – Harry’s spells hit the barrier one after the other, sending ripples and the candles popped to the ground, breaking into two or three pieces.
The students’ eyes followed the candles on the floor as they tiptoed, and the great hall fell silent. A series of rapid footsteps approached and the crowd turned back, and couldn’t help but cower as Professor McGonagall came striding over. She made her way through the crowd to appear in front of them and asked sternly, “What’s going on?”
“We’re demonstrating Apparition.” Harry said honestly.
“Yeah, Professor McGonagall,” Dean said helpfully, “Didn’t Professor Twycross use Harry as an example earlier? It just so happens that Harry came over today, and we thought we would let him demonstrate it to everyone.” Harry and Ron nodded nervously.
Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.
“Minerva.” A pale-skinned male wizard appeared and said persuasively. He is the Apparition instructor sent by the Ministry of Magic, as Dean called him, Wilkie Twycross. “As I did mention before, I could see that Potter and the boys were restrained and did not use the offensive spell. I’m sure with this wonderful demonstration, the other students will take Apparition more seriously.”
There were low choruses of agreement from the students around the room.
“Well, in that case -” Professor McGonagall’s lips pursed into a thin line, “then no points will be deducted, but since you’re so free, why don’t you stay back as Professor Twycross’ assistants and lend a hand in keeping order. And save yourselves …”
Harry opened his mouth but didn’t dare to raise an objection. Ron, on the other hand, readily accepted.
“Alright,” Twycross clapped his hands, “back to your respective positions, this time I hope someone will manage to appear in the wooden circle …”
The students dispersed and Grindelwald appeared at some point, standing in the corner, his eyes trailing after Harry who is following behind Twycross. He watched closely, his lips quivered slightly as if he watched a rare gem.
Only at noon did the Apparition class end. Several professors moved the long dining table back to its original position, and the tired sixth-years and some of the seventh-years stayed behind to wait for lunch to begin directly, and Harry took the opportunity to ask questions about the Apparition certificate.
“Professor Twycross didn’t mention the reason directly, but I think it might be due to considerations about the implications,” Hermione whispered to Harry, “after all, if the Ministry of Magic had issued us certificates last year, it would have been a clear violation, but it is different this year … ”
Harry thought for a while before he could make sense of the logic, they couldn’t use the Apparition at school, and it would be almost July by the end of the school year, only a month before he would become an adult, and it would basically have no impact on the Ministry of Magic.
At 8 pm, Harry stood in front of the stone gargoyles in front of the Headmaster’s office and said the password “Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum”. The stone gargoyles moved aside, the wall behind them split open and Harry stepped up the spiral stone staircase, wondering what Dumbledore would be teaching him as he climbed the stairs.
The stairs ended and a brass door ring in the shape of a lion with an eagle’s head hung on the gleaming oak door.
Harry took a deep breath to calm down and gripped the ring tightly.
Knock, knock, knock! The door opened silently.
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