A History of Magic and Unfounded Trust

That afternoon, Luke and the others finally had their first class.

The first thing they saw upon entering the A History of Magic classroom was their translucent instructor, Professor Binns.

He stood quietly at the podium, a ghost silently lost in thought.

Luke had arrived early and chosen a seat near the middle.

The one who entered right after him was Taylor, the descendant of the Seer.

With her head lowered, Taylor walked straight over to Luke and quietly sat beside him.

Luke raised an eyebrow but did not ask why. At the very least, she did not seem hostile toward him.

Soon, more and more students flooded into the classroom. Ravenclaw shared this class with Slytherin. The little eagles had a natural fondness for A History of Magic. After all, it was one of the places where they could manifest their intelligence.

But Professor Binns's classes... always disappointed everyone.

"Starting with Merlin..."

The instant Professor Binns began his lecture in that wheezing, drawn-out voice, nearly every student felt sleepiness slam them in the head like a hammer.

They were all dazed, looking as though they could fall asleep at any moment.

Luke, who had not slept well the night before, was even worse off. He had already been a little sleepy before class, and the moment Professor Binns opened his mouth, he immediately wanted to yawn.

But out of respect for the professor, he held it back in the end, merely closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

Malfoy, seated one row behind him, was clearly far more straightforward.

He simply started snoring. Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him had fallen asleep even earlier than Malfoy. When Luke turned around and saw the three already "fallen" casualties, he pressed his lips together.

Professor Binns's lectures were truly dry and tedious. There was no focus to them at all. He was merely reading from the textbook. If this had been the teaching style from Luke's previous life, then Professor Binns was the kind of teacher who could do nothing but read from PowerPoint slides...

Faced with such a teacher, and without a phone in his hands, Luke felt a faint sense of despair.

"...When discussing Ancient Magic, we often associate it with words such as secrecy, uniqueness, and instability."

"Of course, there is also an adjective that cannot be ignored. Powerful."

"All instability brought power. Runic Magic formed from Ancient Runes was merely one of the best-known examples. Though this type of magic seemed difficult to master, it was ultimately an ancient foundational type of magic. More powerful magic was special magic created by powerful Wizards combining Runic Magic with their own Talent Magic..."

When Luke heard this, his spirits immediately lifted. He had seen this kind of special magic in the secret teachings left behind by his family.

But he had not found any similar methods of cultivation. He had not even found further descriptions of it.

Even the Gaunt Family's secret volumes merely recorded that Slytherin possessed his own original magic. They did not even give the magic a name, much less mention the requirements for learning it...

"...It was an era when all kinds of magic grew wildly. Once spell patterns became fixed, magic became far less dangerous to Wizards themselves, and with the aid of wands, the requirements for casting magic grew lower and lower."

"Overall, the Wizarding World progressed in both population and inheritance. Those special magics gradually faded into obscurity. But so long as the desire to create does not cease, we believe that powerful special magic may still be born. Though it may still lack broad applicability, it nevertheless proves that magic's path has not been cut off..."

It was hard to imagine that material which could have stirred every Young Wizard's curiosity and enthusiasm with only a little passion could be made so utterly dull by Professor Binns.

Most of the Young Wizards did not even hear that part. They were either whispering among themselves or snoring away below.

Huh? Why were there even people secretly holding hands down there!

How could they do this? They were only eleven!

Wasn't this starting a relationship far too early?!

Luke looked at the unknown Ravenclaw boy and girl over there and did not know what to say.

Just then, he suddenly felt Taylor poke his arm beside him.

He turned to look at her.

Then he discovered that Taylor, who had kept her head lowered the entire time, had actually raised it. The face he had not been able to see clearly beneath the dim green candlelight the night before was now fully visible.

On her softly contoured face, the most striking features were her vivid lips, red as pomegranate blossoms in June, and those azure eyes that reminded Luke of the depths of the ocean.

Luke admitted that he was briefly distracted. Fortunately, he quickly recovered.

"What is it?"

Without realizing it, his tone had become gentler.

It could not be helped. For some people, exceptional looks earned them plenty of kindness from life itself.

Taylor did not speak. She merely began softly humming an unknown song while her fingers moved through the air in a rhythmic pattern.

The instant the song began, Luke felt the drowsiness lingering in his mind vanish completely.

A flicker of surprise passed through Luke's eyes. If Professor Binns's voice was like a magic that made people sleepy, then Taylor's song, which instantly woke people up, was genuine magic.

And it was magic that did not exist among any known spells.

The song did not last long, but even after Taylor stopped, Luke remained wide awake for the moment. First, Taylor before him had made a strong enough impression. Second, the magic's effects probably did not vanish immediately, though he did not know how long they would last.

"What are you doing?"

Luke asked in a low voice, thoroughly confused.

"It seemed like you were very curious about Talent Magic."

Taylor blinked and replied with an innocent expression.

But Luke had no intention of joking around with her. "Isn't this the kind of thing you shouldn't casually demonstrate to other people?"

Even without Taylor telling him, he now understood why Voldemort had hunted her family. This so-called Talent Magic could not possibly fail to draw Voldemort's attention. If this magic could be inherited reliably, or if it had a complete legacy that could be passed on to others, then Voldemort could recruit another group of followers.

He might even attract magical scholars who did not care much about reputation—or rather, scholars so obsessed with studying magic that they had gone mad—to serve him.

After all, from Taylor's few words, Luke could tell that this magic's direct combat ability was probably not very strong.

Taylor merely looked into Luke's eyes.

After a long while, she spoke. "Even though you do not believe my grandmother's prophecy, I still have to say this: if the Savior in Trelawney's prophecy is Harry Potter, then the Savior in my grandmother's prophecy is you."

"Luke Gaunt."