Alchemy, the Source of Magical Products

"Three of every snack except Cockroach Clusters!"

Linley saw the Weasley twins' predicament, and their actions moved him somewhat. Generously, he grabbed a handful of Galleons from his pouch, which had been enchanted with the Undetectable Extension Charm, intending to play the part of a nouveau riche like Harry Potter would next year.

The plump woman glanced at Linley in surprise, then gave him three of every type of snack except Cockroach Clusters. She also took out three extra Chocolate Frogs for the Weasley twins.

"Let's eat together! I can't finish all this by myself!"

After watching the plump woman leave the compartment, Linley said to the Weasley twins with a smile.

Fred and George exchanged glances.

Fred picked up a Fizzing Whizzbee from the pile of snacks and popped it into his mouth. As he chewed, he kept exclaiming, "Hiss, that's sickeningly sweet! I bet Professor Dumbledore loves these!"

George, meanwhile, handed one of their Chocolate Frogs to Linley.

Linley did not stand on ceremony. He tore open the wrapper, grabbed the Chocolate Frog's hind leg before it could escape, and tossed it into his mouth.

After finishing the Chocolate Frog, Linley pulled a card from the wrapper.

The card depicted a man with pale blue eyes and short black hair. Two streaks of white light reflected off his spectacles, making him look quite stern, though his deep-set eyes carried a trace of gloom.

Linley turned the card over and read the words on its back:

Valison Green, renowned French alchemist and personal disciple of the Great Alchemist Nicolas Flamel.

Mr. Green's widely known contributions included:

Participating in the capture of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945,

Inventing the alchemical product known as the Mana Stone,

And making breakthroughs in alchemy alongside his teacher, Nicolas Flamel.

After reading this passage, Linley's gaze sharpened.

This Mr. Valison Green was a figure absent from the original story, and his involvement in the capture of the Dark wizard Grindelwald also contradicted Linley's understanding of the original work.

Of course, the magical world was a complete world, not something the mere pages of a novel could fully reveal. It was hardly surprising that it contained powerful wizards never recorded in the books.

Still, the alchemical product Valison Green had invented—the Mana Stone—made Linley wary.

At that moment, Fred and George had also torn open their own Chocolate Frog wrappers and were wailing over the fact that both of their cards were Dumbledore.

When George spotted the card in Linley's hand, he said with interest, "Mr. Valison Green? That's one of the rarer cards. You got lucky, Linley!"

Seeing them look at him, Linley asked directly, "Do you know Mr. Green? I'd like to know exactly what kind of item this alchemical product, the Mana Stone, is."

Seeing how tense Linley looked, the Weasley twins burst out laughing.

After a while, Fred rubbed his chest and explained to the bewildered Linley, "The alchemical product Mr. Valison Green invented, the Mana Stone, has some ability to suppress magical power. After he introduced it, it was highly sought after by the Ministries of Magic in various countries and used to guard important places within them, such as the Department of Mysteries in our British Ministry of Magic."

"However, the Mana Stone's ability to suppress magical power isn't as formidable as people imagine. A Mana Stone the size of a Quaffle can only reduce a wizard's ability to cast magic within a ten-meter radius by less than ten percent. It has no effect at all on Demon King level wizards as powerful as Professor Dumbledore!"

With that explanation, Linley finally understood.

Right. If the so-called Mana Stone had been too powerful, it probably would not have been pursued by Ministries of Magic around the world—it would have been banned instead!

At that moment, George said to Linley with a smile, "Now you've seen how powerful alchemical products can be, right? It's all thanks to alchemy. The Quick-Quotes Quills those reporters often use and the Stink Pellets from Zonko's Joke Shop are all magical products made through alchemy!"

Linley nodded slightly. He remembered something about this; it seemed that the Weasley twins would later open a shop called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

Fred said somewhat ruefully, "George and I have wanted to study alchemy for ages, but it's an elective only available to sixth- and seventh-years. And Ancient Runes can't be taken until third year either."

George chimed in from the side, "So we borrowed A Beginner's Guide to Ancient Runes, the Rune Dictionary, and the Magical Phonetics Chart from a sixth-year Ravenclaw senior in exchange for a tin of Fizzing Whizzbees. We're planning to teach ourselves Ancient Runes ahead of time, then move on to alchemy!"

Fred said, "George and I have already decided that once we learn these runes, the first thing we'll do is improve the Stink Pellets and give Filch a little shock! Oh, right, Filch is Hogwarts' caretaker."

Linley had not expected the Weasley twins to have started getting involved with alchemy so early.

But it was not strange. After all, by the time Harry Potter entered Hogwarts, the Weasley twins were already able to improve Stink Pellets, and they had only been third-years then.

After listening to the Weasley twins' introduction, Linley found himself becoming interested in alchemy as well.

So Linley asked, "Could I take a look at the books you borrowed? I'd also like to get an early start on Ancient Runes."

The Weasley twins agreed without hesitation.

Fred walked to the corner of the compartment and found three somewhat worn magical books among the pile of luggage. They were the A Beginner's Guide to Ancient Runes, Rune Dictionary, and Magical Phonetics Chart George had mentioned earlier.

Linley took the magical books from him. In return, he lent the two of them a notebook containing his mother's understanding of Incendio.

"This contains some of my mother's insights into Incendio from when she studied at Hogwarts."

Linley explained to the Weasley twins.

Fred took the notebook and teased, "Linley, with this notebook to help you, your Incendio must be pretty impressive, right?"

Linley nodded. He took his Wand from his robes and gave it a light wave. With a flawless Silent Spellcasting, a ball of flame appeared out of thin air between them, bobbing up and down.

Feeling the searing heat, both of them twitched at the corners of their mouths.

Fred had never expected Linley's Incendio to be so powerful. Heaven knew, he had really only been joking!

Silent Spellcasting—this was Silent Spellcasting!

Even among adult wizards who had graduated from Hogwarts, there were probably very few capable of Silent Spellcasting!

Fred and George screamed wildly in their hearts.