Hello, Harry!

Three days later, George successfully obtained a copy of Guide to Wandless Spellcasting from a clerk at Flourish and Blotts.

Ten days later, George stood in the courtyard, waved his wand at a locked box, and cast:

"Alohomora!"

A blue beam of magic shot from the tip of his wand and struck the box with precision.

Most spells were accompanied by beams of different colors when cast, especially offensive and targeted spells such as the Unlocking Charm, Disarming Charm, and Killing Curse.

But some spells activated silently, without any obvious sign, such as Accio, Reparo, and the Levitation Charm.

"Click."

A crisp sound came from the lock as the clasp sprang open on its own.

"Finally succeeded."

George smiled in satisfaction.

After ten days of tireless research, along with occasionally asking Tonks for advice when she came over to mooch meals, he had finally managed to cast the Unlocking Charm successfully.

Through his studies over the past few days, he had also realized that he was no so-called magical genius.

A true genius was someone like Hermione, who had never been exposed to magic and had no one to guide her. While spending most of her time learning the history and common knowledge of the Magic World, she had still found time to study spells and easily mastered several before school even started.

An even greater genius was someone like Snape, who had created powerful spells of his own while still in school.

As for Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Voldemort, they could no longer be described merely as geniuses.

Fortunately, he had his own methods as well.

He had supposedly studied for ten days, but in truth, he could be said to have studied for twenty.

Whenever this body could no longer endure and needed rest, his original body in the Marvel Universe took over.

Talent was the most important thing in learning magic, followed by diligence. Since his talent was lacking, he would make up for it with hard work.

Aside from training, his original body had little else to do at the Experimental Base. He had plenty of spare time and could practice his movements with a stick roughly the size of a wand.

Through constant practice and reflection, he could speed up his learning of spells.

He just had to avoid the cameras or turn his back to them so no one noticed. Even if someone did, it would not matter. No one in that world knew what he was doing anyway.

Once his original body gained freedom in the future, his speed in learning magic would become even faster, because he effectively had twice as much time as others to study and research magic.

In fact, if one did not count his cheating, learning a spell in ten days already made him something of a genius among wizards.

After all, most young wizards did not master many spells in an entire year. The less capable ones might only learn a few.

"Next, I'll keep practicing Gesture Casting until I can cast successfully with gestures, then I can consider the next spell."

After testing it several times and confirming that he had completely mastered the Unlocking Charm, George immediately tossed aside his wand and began practicing it according to the instructions in Guide to Wandless Spellcasting.

Another eight days passed. Through uninterrupted practice by both his original body and his duplicate, he finally managed to cast the Unlocking Charm without a wand.

However, while a wand could cast the Unlocking Charm in one or two seconds, replacing the wand with gestures took nearly seven or eight seconds. Even after becoming proficient, it would probably still take five or six seconds.

In a duel between two wizards, five or six seconds was enough for the other wizard to cast three or four offensive spells with a wand.

No wonder this method of casting had been phased out.

"August 21st. Today is the day Lockhart is holding a book signing at Flourish and Blotts."

That morning, George ate breakfast while looking at the date on the magical calendar, slowly making his calculations.

He naturally had no interest in Lockhart, that great fraud. But if he remembered correctly, today was also the day Harry Potter would be following the Weasley family to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies.

After completing First Year, Harry had returned during the summer to the home of the aunt and uncle who hated him. Because of the House-elf Dobby, his uncle had locked him up and forbidden him from returning to Hogwarts.

His good friend Ron and the Weasley twins had secretly driven their father's Magical Car to bring him back to live at The Burrow.

"Then I'll make contact first."

In the end, he still decided that he could take the initiative to approach them.

Compared with Voldemort, who would not be resurrected for several more years, he felt that staying with Harry and the others would bring greater benefits at present.

There were many places and things at Hogwarts that he could hardly access on his own, but if he was with Harry and the others, there would be no problem.

For example, the restricted section in the Hogwarts Library. It was basically impossible for him to secretly read the Magic Books inside.

But if he was with Harry, Dumbledore would turn a blind eye. The same went for places like the Room of Requirement.

Thus, after breakfast, George did not continue researching spells as usual. Instead, he stood by the window in the apothecary's main hall and began watching outside.

About an hour later, he saw a father and son with heads full of blonde hair walk elegantly into Borgin and Burkes across the street.

"That should be the Malfoy father and son.

Looks like Harry Potter is already in the shop."

They dared bring a child into Knockturn Alley at this particular time, and their expensive wizarding robes and air of superiority made their identities easy to guess.

Sure enough, about ten minutes later, not long after the father and son left Borgin and Burkes, a thin boy with glasses and covered in soot hurried out of the shop.

"Where is this?"

Harry stood in the narrow, dark alley. Looking at the shops around him, which seemed to be filled with Dark Magic, he felt a chill run down his spine.

The window display of the neighboring shop grimly exhibited several shriveled human heads. In front of the shop two doors down, huge black spiders crawled densely inside a large cage.

When he turned to look at a dark doorway on his right, he saw two ragged wizards watching him and whispering to each other.

"I need to get out of here quickly. Hopefully, I can feel my way out."

Today was his first time using Floo Powder, but something had gone wrong. Instead of arriving at Diagon Alley, he had ended up in a terrifying, strange shop and had even accidentally witnessed an illegal transaction between the Malfoy father and son.

"Are you lost?"

Just as he nervously prepared to avoid that dark doorway and feel his way in another direction, a steady yet slightly youthful voice suddenly sounded behind him.

He turned around to see a boy as thin as himself but with an exceedingly resolute expression standing behind him, holding a Magic Book.

"This is Knockturn Alley, where Dark wizards gather. It isn't safe if you're here alone."

"Hello, my name is Harry. I accidentally ended up here because of the Floo Powder. I was trying to get to Diagon Alley."

Perhaps sensing the little boy's goodwill, Harry hurriedly explained.

George smiled as well.

"Hello, Harry. My name is George. You probably said Knockturn Alley instead of Diagon Alley.

But it's all right. They're connected. I'll take you out."