A Nine-and-Three-Quarters-Inch Wand

In the eyes of many students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Anthony Weasley was a mysterious person.

Many young wizards from Muggle families felt that Anton seemed to fit their fantasies of wizards better: powerful, mysterious, neurotic, and full of the unknown.

In the half-month since term began, people had often seen Anton floating past with a big wooden stick in his hand, the hem of his long wizarding robes swishing as he glided freely through the castle corridors like a fish.

Of course, many people had also been surprised to notice that the big wooden stick in Anton's hand was gradually getting smaller.

"Nine and three-quarters inches!"

Anton floated above the Black Lake, talking to the enormous Giant Squid without caring whether it could understand him.

"Yes, I can feel it. Nine and three-quarters inches is the perfect wand length for me." He rubbed the wand in his hand. The magical light of Sectumsempra flickered at his fingertips, scraping against the wooden stick with a rustling sound as precious wood shavings fell into the Black Lake.

"Or rather, this length is better suited to the Levitation Charm and the Weather Charm."

It was an extremely peculiar feeling. The deeper Anton's research into Gray Magic went, the more surprised he became to find how perfectly spells such as the Levitation Charm and Weather Charm, as well as Ritual Magic, fit with Gray Magic.

Subtle yet profound—this magical property was remarkably similar to the way the Collective Consciousness affected the magic produced by nature.

It felt like a scientist who had spent years studying why water flowed downhill suddenly saw an apple fall from a tree, and was struck by the revelation that the hidden principles governing all things were connected.

Casting Gray Magic was just like casting the