NOVEL NEXT Chapter 22: Rat Language?
Felix walked out of the Hogshead Inn and let out a deep breath.
You can't underestimate someone!
Look, a dark wizard has the ambition to pry into the secrets of the Dark Lord, so isn't his own goal of "discovering the true meaning of magic" a little modest?
Felix thought carefully about it and decided that his own ambition seemed loftier.
As for the pact with Klein, pew pew pew...!
Does he think he's a fool for getting into trouble under Dumbledore's nose?
Besides, he already knew the answer to the question.
What's the secret of the Dark Lord's leap over the death? The Horcruxes, that is a concept he already knew. So as long as he didn't look for that soul artefact, the pact would naturally be solved in a year's time.
Since the prophecy was that "the Dark Lord's relic will only remain at Hogwarts for a year," which meant it was only a passing guest, so the pact between the two would only need to exist for a year - that was Klein's thought.
Felix, on the other hand, guessed that the relic would probably be destroyed by the protagonist group.
The protagonist group had no peace each year they were in school, so perhaps they would have to wait until they graduated before they got a complete break.
But that reminded him that the crisis of this year's "plot" would come from the Dark Lord's relics, the Horcruxes.
Which Horcrux could it be?
That was the question Felix had been thinking about since he returned to his office.
He vaguely remembered that there were seven Horcruxes, most of which were the relics of the four giants of Hogwarts, which corresponded to Harry's seven years at school, so what did they destroy in the first year?
The Ravenclaw crown, the Slytherin locket, the golden cup of Hufflepuff, all of these were the ones he knew, so by definition, the Gryffindor sword should also be a Horcrux?
Which one of those had been destroyed last year? The first film seemed to be called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", so the Philosopher's Stone was a Horcrux?
Felix guessed wildly without care.
The information he had at hand was not really useful, for one thing, you couldn't prove what you said because he didn't know where the Dark Lord kept the Horcruxes, and for another, it was too taboo, because Felix already had a bad name, and telling Dumbledore about Horcruxes out of the blue ... sounded like he wanted to research Horcruxes, no?
So, let it be, he at most knocked on the side of the drum.
It's a perk for his assistant (tool person) Miss Hermione Granger.
Yes, the assistant slot has been booked for her for ... one reason or another.
Two of the only three candidates had hung up: the Weasley twins had approached him yesterday and voluntarily withdrawn. Because they were busy with Quidditch training this week and were expected to spend every weekend for the following year on it.
Felix had heard them imply that he had to put the Wood guy in detention, and it was for the whole school year so that they would have time to do other things.
Was this something he could agree to? The professor blatantly used his power for personal gain, would he still be able to mix around with others?
The main thing was that the terms and conditions were not agreeable, they were asking for too much in terms!
Detaining a student for an academic year for no reason, even Snape wouldn't do that.
This left Felix a bit speechless, he had wanted to return a favour to Professor McGonagall, and it had developed into this.
Are there any good students left in other houses...
But the good thing is that Miss Granger is very reliable, and she could be met in the library every day, and it was evident that she was working so hard that her eyes were darkened by three extra circles.
The next day, the library.
Another uneventful day, Felix picked out a copy of The Secret of Dueling from the Forbidden Books section and gnawed on it with gusto.
The book, which was mainly an archive of secret stories of various duels between wizards throughout history, is placed in the Forbidden Books section because it contained many taboo graphics. In the days when the laws of the wizarding world were unregulated, dark magic flourished for its rapid progress and immense power and weirdness, so duels in those days were bloody and brutal, and could even be bizarre.
For example, he now sees the image of an unlucky wizard's head irreversibly 'pumpkinised', not swelling to the size of a pumpkin, but becoming a complete 'vegetable'.
Even more miraculously, the loser survives, only to die three years later.
There is some fighting instruction in the book, and the scale is huge, with Felix even seeing how to incorporate a curse within a normal charm.
New tricks to acquire!
It's nearing noon when Felix stepped out of the library to enjoy his lunch.
On the other side, Hermione hesitated slightly before decisively followed.
"Professor! Professor Hap."
Felix stopped in his tracks, "What can I do for you, Miss Granger?" He didn't tell Hermione the fact that she was already the only candidate for an assistant, learning more wasn't a bad thing.
"It's like this, I read in a book that some exceptionally gifted wizards can hear things that others can't, is that true?" Hermione asked as she calmed down her breathing.
Felix looked stunned, Chief K? But he quickly dropped the thought, that didn't ring a bell.
"Can you be more specific, you're giving too broad terms."
Hermione considered carefully, seemingly organizing her words, "It was a short story about a young wizard and ... his father, transcribing material in a castle, and then the young wizard suddenly heard strange words, but his father! Didn't hear anything at all."
Strange, why did Hermione always pause on the word 'father'?
The thought flashed through his mind and Felix pondered it carefully before replying, "There are a lot of little stories that are actually made up, so what you were told isn't necessarily true, but we can discuss it for now."
Hermione nodded cheerfully.
"The first possibility is that the young wizard is lying, and he's trying to use this to gain his father's attention, something that is very common in the Muggle world;" Felix began by stating the answer he thought was most likely.
Seeing Hermione trying to answer, he shook his head, "The second possibility, is that they are making a Transcription of some dangerous grimoire, be aware that some ancient grimoires contain enchantments or have been specially tampered with by their former owners, and dangerous consequences could easily result from unqualified people touching them."
Looking at Hermione thoughtfully, he added, "There are quite a few of these books in the Forbidden section of Hogwarts."
They were all locked up with magic chains, though it's strictly forbidden for young wizards to peek at - unless you had the professor's signature in your hand.
"A third possibility," Felix raised his volume slightly, "is that the young wizard has awakened some talent, such as prophecy, perception, or a sudden mastery of some language."
"Can you elaborate on that, Professor?"
"Well, as you know, some young wizards have special talents, such as animal affinity, or a natural talent for casting spells without a wand, and a rarer one is the gift of prophecy, which Professor Trelawney's elders seem to have ... Oh, and Trelawney is a professor of divination, you probably will take her class."
"As for the gift of language, it is often related to their ancestors, if their ancestors mastered a mermaid language, this gift may be passed on to the next generation, or it may suddenly appear in the bloodline hundreds of years later."
Felix gave a random example, "The young wizard in your story, for example, may well have had an ancestor who spoke the rat language, and he just happened to overhear a certain chatty, ratty gentleman chattering that day."
Hermione remained in place until Professor Hap's figure left, thinking. Could it be that Harry's ancestors had an odd wizard who spoke rat language?
She became somewhat confused.