Mental Will and Magic

Just as Sean stared at the candy that had suddenly appeared in his bag while Justin despaired, Mr. Owl suddenly spoke in a huff:

"Young Wizard, hmph! Lucky Young Wizard! Get inside, quickly! Don't let Lady Ravenclaw find out!"

With a flap of its wings, a crack opened in the wall, revealing a sky-blue door.

Hermione's eyes widened at once.

"Thank you."

Justin immediately put away his dejected expression and thanked it sincerely.

Sean picked up the Quill Lollipop, looking thoughtful.

Inside the hidden room.

A trace of confusion still lingered on Hermione's focused face.

Sean took out his notebook, then heard Justin say softly:

"Actually, portraits get lonely too, don't they? Mr. Owl has been hiding inside the wall the whole time. I guess it can't visit other portraits freely like they do.

Otherwise, its glasses wouldn't keep falling off."

"Mm."

Sean replied.

"Oh, Sean, if I had no one to talk to all the time, I think I'd go mad."

Justin seemed to have thought of something, and his pale gray eyes grew deeper.

"What are you planning to do?"

Sean seemed to have expected it.

"How about we move it?"

Justin said quietly.

"We can try."

Sean nodded, though he did not truly think it would work.

One of the most enchanting things about Hogwarts Castle was the countless secrets it concealed.

Even Headmaster Dumbledore could not be sure that he knew every secret of Hogwarts.

And the Owl Portrait was one of those secrets.

Sean had reason to suspect

that, like the Fat Lady in Gryffindor with her floor-length gown, it bore some duty similar to guarding the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, and such a duty clearly could not be erased at will.

Otherwise, the professors would not have left this classroom alone.

But...

he still held on to a tiny sliver of hope.

Just as he had said, there was no harm in trying.

Scurvy Paste is one of the simplest potions, and also one frequently used by wizards in North America.

I altered its ritual, greatly increasing the chance of success while significantly improving the potion's quality.

Before using it, make sure you have fully mastered the Improvement Ritual and are mentally prepared to go three days without sleep.

The success rate was greatly increased?

The quality was improved?

Sean felt his breathing quicken.

I understand the excitement every potion researcher feels upon reading this, but I must remind you once again:

while brewing the potion, make sure you do not make a single mistake in the ritual. Otherwise, you can only pray for Merlin's blessing

that you will not open your eyes and see me.

The dry humor common among wizards...

Sean thought silently.

Then, he began studying and mastering the Improvement Ritual.

Meanwhile, Justin and Hermione beside him had begun practicing the Levitation Charm again.

Outside the window, owls flew out of Hogwarts Castle carrying letter after letter.

Every weekend was the owls' busiest time.

They carried written words, delivering messages of longing.

Then they returned bearing even deeper longing.

And so, Hogwarts Castle gradually fell beneath the dusk.

The Magic Lanterns slowly lit up.

Their glow revealed Justin's anxious face.

"Oh, Professor Flitwick said the feather has to spin once for it to count as a wizard getting started with the Levitation Charm."

Fatigue hung on his face, yet the feather refused to turn at all—

Even though he had followed Sean's instructions exactly.

Even Hermione looked troubled. Though they were already outstanding among first-year Young Wizards, they still felt immense pressure from the Young Wizard who used the Lumos Charm like a Conjunctivitis Curse.

On the other side of the classroom, Sean had finished familiarizing himself with the ritual. He turned to the final page of his notes:

When a wizard developed strong emotions toward a potion they were brewing—whether joy, concern, or sorrow—it would have a tremendous effect on the potion.

That was why potion makers needed focus and calm.

But magic could always be divided into two sides. Certain appropriate emotions could also produce unimaginable power.

That was what the Improvement Ritual was meant to achieve.

What Libatius Borage, the Potions Master, had left behind was more than a few improvements. Perhaps, just as he had said, this was a great pioneering undertaking.

Sean thought, that when performing the ritual, he would become even more focused.

And it would be mixed with a powerful emotion, similar to yet different from the emotions behind Transfiguration and the Lumos Charm.

"Then what emotion does the Levitation Charm require?"

Sean murmured, naturally recalling the question from the previous Charms lesson that had yet to be answered.

He looked at the feather.

Then a question suddenly occurred to him. Why did the practice object have to be a feather?

Was it only because it was light?

"It's because feathers symbolize breaking free—breaking free of gravity, breaking free of restraints—

Win-gar-dium Le-viosa!"

You practiced the Levitation Charm once to an expert standard. Proficiency +50

A flash of light flickered from the tip of Sean's wand. The feather floated up unsteadily, spun several times in the air, then, like a bird flapping its wings, began to dance through the air in a rhythmic pattern.

Justin beside him was utterly dumbfounded.

"He just muttered a few words—said something I couldn't hear at all—and he can reach that level?"

Justin said blankly, "Sometimes I feel like Sean is exactly what I imagined a wizard would be. He casually mutters a few words, and suddenly overturns all the magical common sense I haven't even fully grasped yet."

Hermione stared unblinkingly at the dancing feather, then frowned as she looked at her own wand.

After that, she let out a somewhat helpless sigh.

She looked at Sean's focused profile, and her little face gradually became determined again.

The feather slowly descended.

Sean raised his wand once more.

"Win-gar-dium Le-viosa!"

You practiced the Levitation Charm once to an expert standard. Proficiency +50

The instant the System Panel notification sounded, Sean felt a wave of exhaustion. He let the feather slowly drift down into his palm, then saw Justin looking excited and Hermione blushing with slight embarrassment.

"Just as Professor Flitwick said when explaining the Lumos Charm, a spell infused with a wizard's emotions becomes more powerful.

The Lumos Charm requires a wizard to yearn for light, The emotion required for the Levitation Charm was liberation, liberation from gravity... I think that's why wizards always used feathers to practice."

After Sean finished speaking, Justin's expression had already gone slightly blank.

Was that how you were supposed to understand it?

Why had it never occurred to me at all?

Then he and Hermione quickly picked up their quills and wrote down every word Sean had said.

Sean, meanwhile, slowly took out his History of Magic notes from his bag.

Tomorrow, he had an entire day to complete the History of Magic timeline and organize a History of Magic outline "for Sean's use."

The Astronomy class was the same. Although it was a profound branch of magic, the standards for young wizards had always been low.

Sean only needed to record the orbital paths of the celestial bodies, just as he had organized History of Magic.

That meant his Scholarship Fragments would reach four tomorrow, namely:

Charms, Transfiguration Class, Astronomy class, and History of Magic.