Making Wands

"... He will be serving as a teaching assistant for Herbology Class, Professor Sprout should be very pleased about."

Professor McGonagall introduced the new batch of teaching assistants, and soon it was time for the last one.

"This gentleman is Max Dawson." The young man named Max Dawson had a somewhat sinister face and was very tall. However, one of his hands hung unnaturally to one side, and there was a bandage on the same side of his head.

"Mr. Dawson is from Durmstrang and will be serving as a teaching assistant for Charms Class —Mr Dawson, what happened to you? What happened? You were doing fine during your interview a few days ago." Professor McGonagall adjusted her glasses and looked at Max Dawson, who seemed to have been beaten up.

Sean, standing nearby, also turned his gaze over. It was rather unusual that this new teaching assistant was from Durmstrang. Of course, Sean had no problem with graduates from other schools; he simply disliked Durmstrang's principal, Karkaroff.

Dawson looked sinister, but his voice wasn't sinister at all; it just sounded a bit annoyed.

"There's been a problem... Professor McGonagall."

"Is there any need for Hogwarts? Or have you changed your mind?" Professor McGonagall inquired.

Dawson shook his head. "No, it's an honor to pass the Hogwarts interview. I just encountered some..."

He gritted his teeth, a mixture of annoyance and shame in his eyes. "After passing the interview, I went back to Durmstrang— "

The others looked at Dawson with strange expressions.

Dawson waved his injured hand and said, "Please don't misunderstand, I haven't told anyone about my upcoming job at Hogwarts —I just wanted to get a notebook."

Having said all that, Dawson others might misunderstand, decided to start talking.

"Those were my personal notes from when I was studying at Durmstrang, which also incorporated manuscripts from the Durmstrang library. They were mainly about Charms. When I graduated, I gave those notes to a junior student I was close to—I shouldn't have needed them, but I got this job, so I decided to take these basic notes back as a reference for my teaching."

His expression darkened slightly as he spoke, "Before that year disappeared, my junior was already a seventh-grade student, so getting the notebook back wouldn't have affected him at all. And indeed, he greeted me warmly and readily returned it to me after hearing my purpose. But I didn't expect..."

"After I finished talking to him, I suddenly wanted to go and see my dorm room where I've lived for seven years. After all, I haven't been back to school for so long—" As he spoke, Dawson's eyes showed obvious anger. "I don't know what the school is doing. Logically speaking, the dorm room should be in that area, but I couldn't find it?!"

"Or rather, I didn't go to the wrong place, it's just that the original dormitory area had been renovated, and it had become strange rooms—I didn't even want to go in and take a look, after all, I'm already a graduate. But! As soon as I got close to it, I was attacked by upperclassmen!"

"Those... that bunch of bastards attacked me with magic right there at school, there were just too many of them!" Dawson's face flushed slightly, and he didn't seem very confident in his explanation.

It seems there weren't many who attacked him, but Mr. Dawson was clearly defeated... Sean thought to himself.

Otherwise, Dawson wouldn't be in this state, and he wouldn't be vague and glossed over the number of attackers.

Are the senior students at Durmstrang really that strong?

When Sean entered, he carefully sized up the new teaching assistants. Having dealt with many strong individuals, his judgment of strength was fairly accurate. Max Dawson's strength should easily place him in the top three among the new teaching assistants, and Professor McGonagall's selection criteria were always very high.

"And then?" Professor McGonagall asked, frowning.

"After that...after that I left Durmstrang ..." Dawson muttered.

Judging from his appearance, it shouldn't be the so-called "leaving," but rather being disarmed and beaten up. His departure posture was probably quite rounded.

But that's not the point. Durmstrang's attitude was strange. Unless Dawson wasn't telling the truth, it was definitely not a reason for a graduate of the university to be beaten up for wanting to see the dorm.

Something's a bit strange...

Professor McGonagall considered for a moment. "Mr. Dawson, is there anything Hogwarts can do to help?"

Dawson's face turned red. He waved his hands repeatedly, accidentally aggravating his injured arm and wincing in pain.

"No, no need... I've already left a letter for Principal Karkaroff. Those lawless bastards will be punished."

"That's good—by the way, Mr. Dawson, perhaps you could consider going to see our school doctor, Madam Pomfrey, she, um—" Professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment. She could tell that this Max Dawson was quite concerned about his image.

Sean added, "Madam Pomfrey is currently testing a new Invigoration Draught, and she urgently needs a new test subject who is both magically mature and physically robust. Of course, this medicine has no side effects."

Dawson hesitated for a moment, then walked out with an indifferent expression. "Well, I'd be happy to help with that."

After everyone else had left the Staff Room, Sean, who remained, asked Professor McGonagall, "Is Mr. Max Dawson alright?"

Professor McGonagall nodded. "They were selected through normal screening, and their recommenders are reliable adult wizards— the Polyjuice Potion test and Imperius Curse test were conducted during the interview, and there were no signs or suspicions of disguising themselves or being controlled by others."

Sean narrowed his eyes. He hadn't noticed anything wrong with Max Dawson, but given the current situation, it was highly likely that Durmstrang's principal, Karkaroff, was not a good person. Therefore, the possibility of Karkaroff contacting the Returners was very high.

If that's the case, then Durmstrang's true nature is hard to say.

"But those are all things tested during the interview, right?" Sean asked.

"That's right... Sean, you think Max Dawson might be controlled by someone with ill intentions at Durmstrang?"

"The chances are slim, after all, he's injured and easily attracts attention—but I think it's always better to be cautious. If he doesn't suspect any good intentions, we can act in advance."

Professor McGonagall pondered for a moment and nodded, "You're right. I didn't think it through. I'll find a way to check Dawson's current condition again."

"Um."

Two days later, Professor McGonagall approached Sean, and the two discussed Dawson's situation in her office.

"We checked him, Dawson showed no signs of being controlled, nor did he try to go to any deserted places. He's been quite well-behaved and obedient," Professor McGonagall told Sean.

Sean rested his chin on his hand and thought for a moment before slowly saying, "I also asked someone to investigate, Durmstrang doesn't seem to have made any strange moves recently, at least not on the surface."

Was I being too suspicious? After all, although it was strange, Durmstrang's actions didn't seem to affect the direction of the Wizarding World. It might just be that he modified a secret room, and Max Dawson happened to try to enter, only to be beaten up by the students guarding it.

Sean and Professor McGonagall discussed it for a long time, but in the end they didn't get much useful information.

Left with no other choice, Sean could only conclude that he was being overly suspicious.

Of course, necessary monitoring is still necessary, and if nothing seems amiss later, then it can be discontinued.

Under these circumstances, another month flew by, and the atmosphere at Hogwarts became unusually heavy.

Final exams are approaching, and this year's exams are much more difficult than in previous years, which has made many students nervous.

In addition, two grades have to take the OWLs exam at the end of the semester, and students in those two grades are very busy.

During this period, Sean continued to teach Transfiguration while maintaining his other courses—and with remarkable results.

For example, the first-year students, who had been enrolled for less than six months, had already kept up with the entire year's curriculum under Sean's guidance, and many of them had even performed exceptionally well.

Sean estimated that among the first-year students he was teaching, there were a few gifted students who could barely keep up with Hermione's pace—of course, this was without considering Sean himself.

The progress analogy here is comparing Hermione without Sean by her side.

Hermione, now a super-achiever with a strong competitive spirit, is progressing much faster than a normal fourth-year student, and her abilities are naturally beyond question.

In other courses, the workload of professors has been significantly reduced due to the addition of teaching assistants.

Charlotte and Colton were probably the two best-performing assistant coaches besides Sean.

The two of them "joined forces" and almost stole away Lockhart's last remaining supporters. Now, Lockhart, the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor officially hired by Hogwarts, has been essentially sidelined, and Charlotte and Colton have much more influence than him.

Max Dawson, whom Sean and Professor McGonagall had been wary of, also performed well, at least as a teaching assistant.

Sean plans to monitor the situation until the end of the semester. If nothing unexpected happens, he won't need to cause any more trouble for the other party.

It wasn't actually that troublesome; it just involved checking from time to time whether he had taken the Polyjuice Potion or whether he was under the control of the Imperius Curse.

At present, although the atmosphere at Hogwarts Castle is tense and anxious, it is also a good place for learning and progress.

Room of Requirement, Sean is examining the strangely shaped wand in his hand.

After winning the honor of the Golden Staff Maker, Sean made several attempts, after all, the Wallop family might lack other things, but they would never lack Galleon.

However, the difficulty of this embedding was somewhat beyond Sean's expectations.

Wandmaker's Glory (Gold): For ten hours after use, you will gain a keen observation of wand wood and core materials, and the [Embedding] ability. Cooldown time is one month.

[Embedding]: You can embed a second magical material into a completed wand. The wand's power, controllability, etc., will be improved. The extent of the improvement depends on the compatibility between the second material and the original wand.

Additionally, you can embed various cores into a brand-new wand blank (a wand without a core), the number of cores depending on the wand wood and the compatibility of the different cores.

Note: Recklessly inserting the wand may destroy both the wand blank and the wand core. Please be careful.

This is the purpose of the gold prize. Since the cooldown period is a full month, we can't let it go to waste.

Sean plans to use a large amount of powerful magical materials as the main materials for his new wand. Of course, the materials must be good, and the wand must be powerful and easy to use.

Before this, Sean had activated his abilities and tested each one individually. However, he discovered that even with the Wandmaker's Glory granting Sean extraordinary senses, he still couldn't properly insert various wand cores into the wand blank.

And this brand-new wand in his hand is the first wand that Sean has successfully acquired so far.

The wand is made of oak, a wood that is sensitive to its owner's emotions. This wood is very loyal to its owner and will provide different levels of magical output depending on the owner's emotional changes.

If you're feeling down and have a lot of negative emotions lately, oak might seem a bit weak and inadequate. However, if you're feeling positive, oak can unleash a more powerful force than other wand woods.

Of course, the most crucial element is the staff core. With the [Embedding] skill, Sean boldly chose two types of staff cores: Phoenix Feather and Unicorn Tail Hair.

Unicorn Tail Hair are known for their stability, while Phoenix Feather are more like a brilliant but unruly genius.

Including the previous attempts, Sean had ruined more than a dozen of those ready-made wand blanks, and the wand cores were also burned at the same time.

This is the first successful product.

Unlike other oak wands, Sean's wand is noticeably thicker at the base and then tapers rapidly in diameter upwards.

Its surface is smoother and shinier than that of a regular wand, yet it feels great in Sean's hand.

Phoenix Feather and Unicorn Tail Hair give this wand a wonderful feel, while the tip displays a mixture of silver and red.

Sean suppressed his excitement and carefully cast a spell.

"Incendio" (Incendio)

A beautiful and intense flame erupted, its dancing flames as proud as Phoenix, yet as calm and gentle as Unicorn before Sean.

The casting speed has increased... the power has increased significantly... and the controllability has improved dramatically...

Sean frequently changed wands, immediately gave an accurate assessment. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the first wand he created was even better than Grindelwald's tree branch wand—no, to be precise.

This wand is more powerful than any wand Sean has ever used before!