Slytherin's Manuscript

Professor Snape stood expressionlessly by Matthew's group, staring at Matthew's operation.

After the cauldron began emitting red steam, Matthew skillfully turned off the fire and filtered out the residue.

Finally, he poured the filtered liquid into a new container.

Once Matthew completed all the steps, Snape picked up the container holding the Salamander Horn Liquid and examined it.

"First to finish! Five points for Slytherin."

Snape had found another opportunity to award points.

He set down the container, turned back to the podium, and said, "Ten minutes left. Those who don't finish, copy the extraction process for Salamander Horn Liquid a hundred times."

The students below quickened their movements, but the mistakes multiplied. Snape's face darkened at a visible pace.

Ten minutes later, Snape announced the end of class. The students who finished right on time breathed sighs of relief.

Those who failed looked ashen. The thought of being punished with a hundred lines on the first day of school by Professor Snape left their expressions like Frostbitten Eggplants.

After Matthew helped Snape clean up the classroom, he spoke up: "Professor, I've been researching Ancient Runes recently and want to consult Salazar Slytherin's manuscripts. I need your signed approval slip."

Snape glanced at Matthew and said slowly, "Don't waste your talent. Spreading yourself too thin early on isn't a good thing."

Matthew explained, "You know my grandfather is Alfat Black, a scholar of Ancient Runes. I'm quite interested in this field."

Snape said no more, wrote out an approval slip, and handed it to Matthew.

Leaving the classroom, he headed straight for the Great Hall. Potions was the last class of the day, so it was now dinner time.

Arriving at the Great Hall, he scanned the room and spotted his roommates, who had saved him a seat.

As Matthew walked over, he heard them still discussing Potions class.

Jerry said, "Professor Snape seemed in a really bad mood today. I think his face looked scarier than usual."

Geralt took a sip of black tea and said, "I just heard from Pansy that during first-year Potions, Harry Potter got two points deducted by Snape."

Jerry's face was full of surprise. "You don't get points deducted for not answering a question in class, even if he's a Gryffindor."

Geralt didn't know why either and guessed irresponsibly, "Who knows? Maybe Professor Snape just really can't stand Harry Potter."

Matthew glanced toward the Gryffindor table and was surprised to find Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione sitting together. In just one day, they'd already become familiar.

Harry looked a bit dejected. The first week of school, and Gryffindor had already lost points because of him.

The other three were trying hard to comfort him.

"The Iron Triangle has assembled."

Matthew sat down and said to Jerry, "Lend me today's Charms homework to copy."

He couldn't be bothered to do today's homework. His progress was too far ahead; writing homework was useless to him.

Jerry rolled his eyes and complained, "The top student in the year wants to copy my homework."

Geralt grinned and said, "I want to copy too. Rounding up, that means Matthew and I are tied for first in the year."

Halfway through his meal, a brown owl flew into the Great Hall and dropped a letter in front of Matthew.

He Took the Letter and fed the owl a chicken wing.

It was a letter from Luna.

In it, she asked how Matthew's first day of school was going. She told him the mistletoe by her front door had sprouted, and she also mentioned how many mealworms the Little Thunderbird had eaten today.

Matthew wrote a Reply Letter.

He told Luna about staying up all night with his roommates talking about the Newcomer Banquet, wrote about Professor Snape's unusual behavior today, and finally described how he met two new first-year friends on the Hogwarts Express.

"Goodbye, Bobo." He handed the finished letter to the owl, who picked it up and flew off.

Geralt then said in a sarcastic tone, "You and your 'neighbor' get along so well. As long as you're at Hogwarts, you get a letter from her every week. What a good neighbor, huh? Hey, why are you taking my—leave me one chicken wing!"

Matthew shot him a glance. "I thought you were full."

After dinner, Matthew went to the library.

Having a professor's approval slip didn't mean he could freely browse the Forbidden Section. The slip usually specified the materials needed, and only those could be borrowed.

He gave Professor Snape's approval slip to Madam Pince, who led Matthew into the Forbidden Section.

The bookshelves here were organized by danger level, and within the same level, by subcategory.

Soon, Madam Pince found the Slytherin manuscript Matthew needed. She handed him a Hardcover book.

The cover read: Slytherin's Secrets: A Collection of Ancient Runes Manuscripts.

Clearly, this was a later revised edition.

"Thank you." Matthew took the book and found a spot in the Common Study Room to read.

Slytherin's writings had very little description of "meditation" and no mention of a Meditation Method.

After flipping through for a while, in the chapter on "Runic Phonetic Etymology," he found the line: "Meditation is the key to runes."

The book stated that when Slytherin traced the origins of runic phonetics, he discovered the earliest recorded documents on runes dated back to the 7th century.

The final entry recorded a conversation between Slytherin and a student—

"I asked Merlin how runic script could be integrated into magic.

Merlin replied to me, 'Meditation is the key to runes.'"

Interestingly, Merlin, renowned throughout the Wizarding World, was one of Hogwarts' first students and also among the first batch admitted to Slytherin House.

He was active between the 10th and 12th centuries, achieved great feats, founded the "Order of Merlin," and established the rule prohibiting the use of magic on Muggles.

The Wizarding World's common saying today, "Merlin's beard," refers to this very Merlin.

According to general consensus in the Wizarding World, he is not the same Merlin as the one in the Muggle World's legends of King Arthur; they merely share the same name.

The earliest literary records of the Arthurian legends appeared around 600 AD in a certain Welsh bard song. Historians judge that the ancient Merlin's era of King Arthur should actually date back to around the 5th century.

The active periods of the two Merlins differ by nearly six or seven hundred years.

"Did Merlin say this?" Matthew had no clue.

According to Hogwarts' School History, after entering Hogwarts, Merlin grew rapidly. In his later years, Slytherin and Merlin shared a relationship that was both teacher and friend.

After Merlin graduated, their differences over attitudes toward Muggles grew increasingly wide, and they eventually parted ways.

At this moment, Madam Pince knocked on the study room door and reminded them, "The library's closing time has arrived."

Matthew put away his books, preparing to head back to the common room first. Hogwarts' curfew came quite early.