Research on the Development of Ancient Witchcraft

"Research on the Development of Ancient Witchcraft"

Andy pulled the book from the shelf and turned to where he had left off the night before.

The Collins Family was not some ancient and prestigious wizarding family. According to the family records, the first wizard in the family had appeared only two centuries ago.

By modern standards, the Collins Family could be considered a half-blood wizarding family.

There were therefore not many magical books at home. Most were common books available in bookstores, while the few rare copies had been acquired by their ancestors from friends.

Because a Little Wizard's magic was unstable, the family strictly forbade Andy from reading books related to spellcasting, lest he cast magic unintentionally, lose control of it, or harm himself.

Those spellbooks had all been enchanted. The moment Andy touched one, an alarm would sound throughout the house.

"They really guard them like thieves." Andy grumbled out of habit, but his mind was already wholly absorbed in what the book described.

The earliest human wizards had no wands, so spellcasting in that era was difficult. Many wizards could cast only one or two spells. If they lacked proficiency or lost control of their emotions, their magic could even run wild.

"So... emotional control is important for spellcasting?"

"Or rather... the mind and will?"

Andy shifted his gaze to the side. Under the interference of his powerful will, the quill on the desk slowly rose into the air.

Andy had been able to do this skillfully for years.

At first, Andy had thought himself a once-in-a-generation magical genius, someone who would stomp Voldemort underfoot and beat Dumbledore with his fists as soon as he learned magic.

That notion had eventually earned him a merciless round of mockery from his mother, Helen.

The most important reason Andy could perform simple spells was that a Little Wizard's magic was not stable enough.

As he grew older, Andy also noticed that his Wandless Magic was becoming increasingly difficult. Whenever he focused his thoughts and tried to cast a spell, he felt an intense sense of resistance.

Still, Andy had been consciously training his Wandless Magic skills, even as it became harder and harder.

According to Helen, this resistance mainly appeared because Andy's magic had gradually become stable, while his emotions during spellcasting were not intense enough.

Once he had a wand in the future, casting spells would become much easier.

Andy found the same answer in the book.

"So is that how an Obscurus is born?"

In "Research on the Development of Ancient Witchcraft," the introduction to the Obscurus alone took up an entire chapter.

According to the book, when a wizarding child was physically or psychologically abused and forced to suppress their magic, they experienced extreme emotional pain and created a dark parasitic magical force known as an Obscurus.

When an Obscurial reached the point of emotional and mental collapse, they lost control of their body and released their Obscurus.

The book said that an Obscurus possessed immense power and could not be controlled.

"So emotions—or rather, Mind Power—can merge with magic and make it stronger?"

However, according to "Study and Development of Ancient Witchcraft," an Obscurus could only form inside Little Wizards under the age of ten, and they would not live past ten.

Once a Little Wizard was older than ten and the magic in their body had become relatively stable, no amount of intense emotion could create an Obscurus.

"The fusion of Mind Power and magic could be a subject for future research."

The current system seemed useless to Andy, but the data displayed on it allowed him to better understand his own abilities.

The data on the right side of the system listed five attributes: magic, soul, mind, thought, and will.

Setting magic and soul aside for the moment, the system clearly classified mind, thought, and will as three different kinds of power.

"Never mind the mind. Will... does that mean resistance against certain spells? Like the Cruciatus Curse and the Imperius Curse?"

Andy continued turning the pages.

He had already read the chapter on the Obscurus several times. Once he was certain he had missed no information, he moved on to the later sections.

Half an hour later, Andy closed the book.

"Garbage book!"

Ancient magic and modern magic were completely different things, and this book's explanation of ancient magic was nothing but an introduction to its "development history," without a single piece of substantive content.

Hmph! This was really a history book. It had nothing to do with magic at all.

"Someone's coming?"

Andy looked out the window to rest his eyes, only to see a small black dot on the distant mountain. It was rapidly approaching his home and gradually becoming clearer.

"Oh my God, it's him again!" Andy's face fell.

Getting to know Ron Weasley had definitely been a major mistake in Andy's plans for the future.

The Weasley home was separated from the Collins home by four mountains. Andy had once ridden a child-sized Flying Broom around to visit the neighbors, and the Weasleys were naturally no exception.

What Andy had not expected was that the Weasley family had a brat his own age.

Well, Andy had initially been a little delighted. After all, Ron was a character from the original "Harry Potter" novels and one of the main trio.

Ron in the first film had been quite likable, especially his self-sacrifice during the chess match.

However, after Andy got to know Ron—or rather, after they exchanged only a few words—Andy wished he had never met the boy.

They simply had nothing in common!

Andy wanted to talk to Ron about magic. After all, the Weasleys were a long-established wizarding family in the Wizarding World—though they had fallen on hard times, they would never sell the magical books in their collection for money.

But Ron always wanted to talk to Andy about Quidditch, or make wildly fanciful boasts.

If he were really eleven, Andy would not have minded becoming friends with Ron. But Andy was not truly eleven.

In the time it took him to reminisce, Ron had already landed his child-sized Flying Broom in front of the Collins home.

"Andy!" Ron waved up at Andy, who stood by the window.

"Wait a moment. I'll come down and open the door for you."

After returning the book to the shelf, Andy sighed and ran downstairs with a clatter.

Andy had been a Muggle in his previous life, so he possessed an almost fanatical passion for magic.

But Ron was clearly not like that.

He was just an ordinary child of the Wizarding World.

It was like Andy's previous life: everyone knew technology was amazing, but studying math, physics, and chemistry was still a terrible ordeal.

But perhaps it was precisely because Ron had been born into the Wizarding World that Andy was his only Little Wizard friend of the same age.