As he saw it, a wizard's Magic Power Reserve was tied to their physical growth and increased with age. Physical training and eating ingredients from Magical Creatures could also help. After eating Hagrid's Dragon Liver, he had felt his magic grow considerably stronger. Thinking of that, Anduin almost forgot that Hagrid was another source he could tap. He decided to visit him whenever he had the chance—perhaps he could even mooch some Dragon Meat.
Magic Strength, on the other hand, was influenced more by Willpower and emotion. Charms textbooks contained relevant records: angry people often cast much more powerful attack spells, while many dark-minded wizards found it much easier to master Dark Magic. The definition of Willpower was more vague, but spells cast by wizards with strong wills were often stable and potent. Anduin himself had an exceptionally strong will.
Magic Sensitivity was a concept Anduin had learned about from Professor Flitwick. Through Martial Arts Practice, seated meditation, and his earlier weight and duration training with the Levitation Charm, he had found it increasingly easy to direct his magic. He hadn't understood what that meant before, but now he did: it was a sign that his Magic Sensitivity had improved. Strengthening his body brought him into closer connection with his magic; meditation cleared his mind and heightened his perception; and training with added weight and longer durations kept his magic active and flowing. All of this helped a wizard sense magic.
Anduin planned to keep up the training. The Slytherin dormitory was spacious, with plenty of room in the vast underground area for him to practice. As for a place to work on his spells, he would look for one after he had mastered the basics of most of them.
With his plans for the future settled, Anduin plunged into his mountain of books.
After a seemingly peaceful week at Hogwarts, the conflict between Slytherin and Gryffindor slowly began to unfold.
"Centuries of Charms is a monthly journal, published once every month. The Hogwarts library has copies, but there aren't many, so you'll have to see whether you can get one on loan. They're delayed by about six months, too, so the current issue won't be available in the library until half a year from now. That's how they protect the publisher's sales; no one wants their publications to be freely available. You could start by borrowing some older issues. They're all quite good. I also do some editing and proofreading for the journal."
After Charms Class half a month later, Professor Flitwick gave Anduin a detailed explanation when he came to ask about the journal.
"I see. Thank you, Professor. But if I want to subscribe to Centuries of Charms directly, how do I do that?" Anduin didn't want to fall six months behind everyone else. Besides, the library probably only had one copy of each issue, and he might not even be able to borrow it. That would be a real nuisance.
"Of course. A year's subscription to Centuries of Charms costs 24 Galleons, which isn't cheap. If you'd like to subscribe, just give me the money and I can send the subscription letter to the publisher for you." Seeing Anduin's interest, Professor Flitwick took it as a sign of his eagerness to learn and cheerfully explained the process.
You've got to be kidding. His Daily Prophet subscription cost only five Knuts an issue, and that came out every day. The Charms journal was a little beyond Anduin's budget: 24 Galleons a year, or two Galleons an issue. That was the price of many magical textbooks. It seemed expensive, but after thinking it over, he wasn't quite willing to give up. He made up his mind.
"Professor, please subscribe me for a year. And I'd like to buy the issues from the previous six months as well, if possible." Once he'd decided, Anduin didn't hesitate. He paid Professor Flitwick on the spot.
After handing over 36 Galleons, Anduin immediately felt much poorer.
"This won't do. I can't keep going like this. I need to find a way to make money. I should start preparing for my Potions plan early." After thinking it over briefly, Anduin made up his mind.
After saying goodbye to Professor Flitwick, Anduin didn't head back to the Great Hall for a meal. He planned to visit the Potions classroom. After spending so much time catching up, he should be able to quickly master a few Potion Recipes.
There was no telling whether rummaging through old textbooks was good or bad. Professor Flitwick had given him permission to study old books from the Charms classroom, but Anduin hadn't spoken with either professor before searching the Transformation Class and Defense Against the Dark Arts classrooms. He already felt a little guilty about it, and since Professor Slughorn was Slytherin's Head of House, Anduin hadn't dared to do the same in his own Head of House's classroom.
But now that he'd made up his mind, there was no point hesitating. He would just do it. With that, Anduin sneaked toward the upper-year Potions classroom.
Some time later, Anduin slipped into the sixth-year Potions classroom. He had already searched the second- through fifth-year Potions classrooms. In addition to finding some Potions textbooks, he had even discovered a Veritaserum Potion Recipe in a cupboard in the fourth-year classroom. It had been tucked inside a battered textbook, apparently untouched for years and covered in dust, so Anduin had taken it without a second thought.
Using the Unlock Charm, Anduin opened the cupboard door with practiced ease. Inside were several old sixth-year textbooks. Hogwarts textbooks hadn't changed in years, so all the books he found were copies of Advanced Potion-Making by Libatius Borage.
Anduin didn't waste time. He began flipping through them one by one. When he opened an old textbook with a slightly worn cover, he discovered that it was densely covered in notes. The only book he'd seen with notes packed in that tightly had been Lily's fifth-year Charms textbook. Anduin's heart lifted. Looks like he'd found something good. Searching old textbooks was like playing the lottery: the same book could be worth wildly different amounts.
After leafing through it, Anduin was sure the book was valuable. He returned to the first page to see who it belonged to, so he could thank the owner someday.
"Half-Blood Prince?" Anduin thought the book's owner was pretty full of himself to call himself a prince. It reminded him of how, when QQ first came out in his previous life, plenty of people chose usernames like So-and-so Prince or So-and-so Boy.
After reminiscing with a mocking smile, he quickly put away the Potions textbook belonging to that pretentious prince and left the Potions classroom.
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