Hermione Could Never Be Smitten / Magical Power Is Directly Proportional to Psychopathy...

"Let me see... Yes, this is very important!"

After carefully examining the hair Luna Lovegood handed him, a hint of joy finally appeared on Harry's face.

This feather is very resilient and much longer than a typical chicken feather. It must have been completely stained with chicken blood before it went unnoticed.

After wiping the blood off completely, Harry realized it was a bluish-green, pointed feather, and he was certain it hadn't fallen from one of Hagrid's chickens!

"Luna Lovegood, where did you find it?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Look, it's nearby." Luna Lovegood gestured with her hands in a circle around her.

"Those... are those yesterday's footprints?"

In an instant, a series of images flashed through Harry's mind.

While the suspect who committed the chicken coop tragedy was destroying evidence, something fell off his body. Because it was too dark and the ground was covered with chicken feathers, he could only search the area hastily, leaving behind that series of footprints.

However, he did not expect that it was because of his previous rummaging that he accidentally broke something he had dropped, which resulted in this sharp feather being submerged in chicken blood!

"Hmm... what is this?"

As the two left the chicken coop and prepared to return to the castle, Harry also made a discovery.

He found a small fragment of a chicken bone on the ground, in an open area not far from the chicken coop.

These were clearly bone fragments accidentally picked up by someone with the sole of a shoe, and Harry was certain they weren't left by Hagrid.

Hagrid wasn't in the chicken coop when the incident happened yesterday, and he didn't come towards the castle this morning either. Even if he had chicken bones on his feet, he couldn't have flung them here.

It's unlikely that Harry left it himself. His flat shoes have shallow soles that can't hold much, and besides, he was very careful when searching the scene yesterday, so it's unlikely he stepped on a bone without realizing it.

Therefore, by process of elimination, we can be certain that this item was left by the suspect!

The suspect is inside Hogwarts Castle, and considering the size of yesterday's shoe print, it can be confirmed that he is a male upperclassman... or a faculty member!

"Hmph, you two, what have you been up to?" Back at the castle, Harry hadn't even fully processed the joy of finding an important clue when reality hit him hard.

The academically gifted girl leaned against the side of the Entrance Hall with her arms crossed, her pretty face as cold and hard as a stone sculpture. Her scrutinizing gaze was like a knife, constantly slicing across his skin, making his heart clench in waves.

"You guys chat, I'm leaving first." Luna Lovegood glanced at the domineering Hermione, then at the weak and helpless Harry, and decisively chose to slip away.

What frustrated Harry even more was that the girl's calm demeanor was completely unflappable, as if she hadn't been with Harry at all and the two had simply bumped into each other at the door.

This teammate's salesmanship is smoother than Dove chocolate! Why don't you stay and say a few words to prove it for me?

"Um... Hermione, could you give me a chance to explain?" Having witnessed Luna Lovegood's hasty departure, Harry cautiously rubbed his hands together, offering Hermione a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Speak." Seeing Harry's expression, Hermione's tone remained cold and hard, but her expression softened considerably.

Harry, upon hearing this, felt as if he had been granted a pardon and quickly and honestly explained the whole story to Hermione, emphasizing that he and Luna Lovegood had truly just met by chance.

"So, the reason you went with that Loony Lovegood was indeed to continue looking for clues at the chicken coop?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow, her tone still tinged with displeasure.

"Of course!" Harry quickly explained, "Luna Lovegood really helped a lot this time, she..."

"What about the clues? Have you found them?"

However, Hermione seemed completely uninterested in the topic of Luna Lovegood, and even interrupted Harry in a somewhat rude manner.

She extended her hand to Harry with a frosty expression, and the displeasure in her eyes became apparent again.

"Found it, it's...it's here!" Harry carefully handed over the sharp hair he had found earlier, his face showing the most complicated expression imaginable.

He now realized that he had definitely angered Hermione again.

Having spent so much time together, Harry wasn't completely oblivious; he had a general idea why Hermione seemed to care excessively about certain things.

However, Harry hesitated to confirm his suspicions.

Harry didn't reject the idea that Hermione would be jealous of him, but he still found it somewhat unbelievable.

"So you mean this thing is connected to the killer in the Chicken Coop case, and the Chicken Coop case is linked to the Chamber. Finding this killer might lead to finding the Heir of Slytherin?"

After listening to Harry's analysis, Hermione finally understood the intricate connections between the two cases.

"I'll investigate the owner of this thing. I'll definitely help you find the real culprit!"

Hermione seemed determined this time; she didn't even wait for Harry's response before putting the fur into her pocket and turning to leave.

"Hermione..."

"Harry, you really did a great job this time. At least you didn't try to force me to go home when the attack started." Harry was about to say something, but Hermione's sudden turn of her head interrupted him.

"But like last year, that's not enough. I want more! I want to be by your side, to face all the difficulties with you, and to solve all the problems together! I really don't want you to think of someone else first when you desperately need help, instead of me! Harry... do you understand what I'm saying?!"

"Of course I understand..." Harry stepped forward and took Hermione's hand from behind. "That's why I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful that you believed in me, that you stayed by my side, and that you faced these terrible things with me..."

"I don't need your gratitude, and you don't need to worry about me all the time, whether it's for my safety or anything else." Hermione turned around, clasped Harry hands together, and said to Harry with utmost seriousness, "Harry, what I need right now is for you to believe me. I'm absolutely not bewitched, and I know what I should be doing!"

In fact, Hermione had known for a long time what she should do, but she had been hesitant to make up her mind to take action.

Even today, when she saw Harry and Luna Lovegood return, chatting and laughing, and when she listened to Harry's joyful account of how Luna Lovegood had helped him find important clues, she felt a deep unease.

This solidified her resolve, and she prepared to take immediate action!

She is Hermione Jane Granger, Harry's sister. She is the one who can stay by Harry's side and give Harry the greatest help!

So she decided to go and verify for herself the truth that Harry had been waiting for.

Chapter 140 Magical power and the degree of psychological abnormality are directly proportional.

"Phew... So, this is how wizards gradually become psychopaths, right?"

At night, after Harry finally managed to break free from the extreme darkness of his emotions, he was already drenched in sweat.

Since accepting the Book Spirit's guidance and beginning to learn how to control his emotional fluctuations through self-suggestion, Harry has realized just how difficult this path truly is.

Human emotions are an extremely subjective psychological activity. To control them through self-suggestion, Harry would have to constantly persuade or even hypnotize himself, immersing himself repeatedly in various extreme emotions, and then trying to break free.

This process was incredibly painful for him, and he could barely sleep for nights on end.

And he finally understood why many powerful wizards often had unusually strange personalities and abnormal traits.

Because their emotions are influenced by magic, they tend to behave in particularly extreme ways in one or even multiple situations.

The Book Spirit calls this phenomenon a 'loophole in the mind,' believing it to be a completely irreversible process. Therefore, as wizards' magical power gradually increases, they will slowly become more emotional, and their behavior will gradually become irrational.

Hmm, Hermione also complained about the riddles of the Severus Snape after she came out of the Chamber last year, saying that powerful wizards probably weren't very good at logical reasoning. Now it seems that's really true.

Wizards simply need to let their emotions run wild and then use magic to alter reality; they don't need any logic at all.

In conclusion, magic and emotions influence and reinforce each other, with magic eventually becoming increasingly powerful and emotions gradually becoming more neurotic in the process.

Take dark wizards as an example. Without harboring perverse thoughts, it's impossible to achieve much in the realm of Dark Magic. Conversely, as Dark Magic continues to improve, dark wizards will become increasingly perverse day by day.

According to the Book Spirit, Harry has now successfully opened the door to perversion, and is just around the corner from becoming a complete pervert.

After a short period of training, Harry was able to make the Occamy and the Bowtruckle, wail along with him with just a little sobbing.

The Book Spirit couldn't help but marvel at his promising future, but Harry was not satisfied.

"Come on, this isn't a success at all!" Harry frantically wiped away his tears. "Why does this sound affect me as well as others?"

"That's just how it is~" the Book Spirit said matter-of-factly. "Don't forget the essence of magic: if you want others to believe, you must first believe yourself!"

"But if that's the case... what's the point of me mastering it?" The Book Spirit's words made Harry feel bitter.

Think about it: suppose Harry tries to hypnotize his opponent with his voice, but he falls asleep the moment the opponent starts snoring. What's the point of hypnotizing them then?

"There's no other solution to this; you can only rely on your willpower to persevere." The Book Spirit seemed helpless as well. "If you hone your mental will to the point where it can withstand the magic you release, you'll naturally be unaffected. You have that strange spell that can stabilize your mind, so I believe you'll make significant progress soon."

"Heh, you make it sound so easy~" Harry rolled his eyes resentfully.

Indeed, according to the Book Spirit, he could withstand the effects of magic through willpower in the future, but did this guy know how painful that process would be?

"Or, you could consider practicing Occlumency." After a long silence, the Book Spirit offered another suggestion. "Occlumency was originally created to help wizards mitigate the negative effects of emotions, but you so-called modern wizards only know how to use it to deal with Legilimency."

"Occlumency... can you teach me?" Harry's eyes lit up. As the only force capable of countering Legilimency, Harry had long been familiar with it.

However, Scamander is not good at this, so Harry has never dabbled in it.

"I can't teach you that. Occlumency requires strong external stimulation to learn. I'm just a wisp of spirit remaining in the book. Subtly influencing your emotions is the limit of what I can do," the Book Spirit said helplessly. "Besides, Occlumency is ultimately only a temporary solution. Completely isolating your emotions might make you a powerful wizard, but it would also block your path to the top!"

"Okay... but what exactly do you mean by 'spirit' that you keep talking about?"

Knowing that he couldn't take a shortcut, Harry temporarily gave up the idea of Occlumency.

However, after he had some free time, he developed a strong interest in the Book Spirit itself.

"Don't you have many moving and talking paintings in Hogwarts? The so-called 'spirit' is actually something like that." The Book Spirit's voice seemed to take on a more ethereal quality when it spoke of its origins. "If a powerful wizard constantly communicates with their paintings, they gradually infuse some of their own power into the artwork. After the wizard dies, this power drives the wizard's image in the painting to come alive again, repeating the wizard's words or actions. At that point, the wizard's painting possesses a spirit (Aura)."

"So, spirits are actually something like auras?" After hearing the Book Spirit's explanation, Harry finally understood the origin of its spirit.

The so-called spirit is actually the powerful aura that a wizard emits when he stays in a certain place during his lifetime. This aura can affect the wizard's paintings or other objects that can leave a lasting impression, allowing them to reflect the wizard's behavior to some extent after his death.

The Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts is adorned with portraits of previous headmasters, who sometimes offer Dumbledore advice on managing the school, and sometimes even argue over differing opinions.

"But spirits don't necessarily only exist in paintings. A powerful wizard can imbue an object with the outline of a face with a spirit. And the strength of the wizard's magic during their lifetime also determines the activity level of the spirit."

"So... you were a very powerful wizard in your past life?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You'd better not investigate my affairs now, because it won't help you at all." The Book Spirit easily evaded Harry's probing. "Besides, I can only influence your emotions; I'm not a particularly powerful spirit. If the Four Founders of Hogwarts had any spirits left behind, they might even possess astonishing power!"

"The Four Founders ..." Harry's tone became more hesitant, as he felt that the Book Spirit seemed to be implying something.

"Boy, have you ever considered that Salazar Slytherin, as one of the most powerful wizards of his time, left the Chamber... just to purge the school of bastards?"

(P. S. Just to clarify, the Book Spirit refers to ordinary wizards as 'Mabo', I didn't misspell it~)

Chapter 141 The Duelling Club's event was held ahead of schedule.

Sound magic requires harming oneself before harming the enemy, and there's the possibility of the spirits of the Four Founders of Hogwarts... Harry now wishes he had never spoken to the Book Spirit.

Because each time you communicate with it, more and more mysteries surround you.

The Book Spirit said that a wizard like Salazar Slytherin wouldn't set up a Chamber just to eliminate students from ordinary backgrounds, but Harry hasn't even found the Chamber yet, so what the Book Spirit said to him is basically nonsense.

As for the Book Spirit's identity, Harry couldn't figure out what it was all about; he only knew that it was definitely an ancient being.

Because the "Mabo" it refers to is a title of respect given by the Wizarding World to wizards of ordinary origin a long, long time ago.

After the witch hunts led to a complete break between wizards and ordinary people, and most wizards began to become arrogant, the term was lost to history.

In addition, Hermione has also been Hermione strangely lately since she took away that blue-green hair last time.

Harry knew this girl was definitely planning something, but she wouldn't tell Harry, nor would she allow Harry to ask.

Harry unequivocally chose forgiveness in this situation.

Hermione was certainly acting on emotion, but she had this privilege with Harry because their bond was far beyond that of ordinary people.

The few pieces of good news so far are probably Harry's progress in sound magic.

After a series of extreme self-suggestion exercises that led to existential doubt, Harry's mental fortitude finally made significant progress, just as the Book Spirit had said. At least he was now able to easily influence Bowtruckle and Mooncalf without having to fall asleep or cry along with them.

However, against powerful Fantastic Beasts like adult Occamy and Graphorn, Harry's all-out effort could only result in mutual destruction.

However, in the Book Spirit's view, Harry's current power is enough to influence some ordinary wizards without them noticing, which gave him some comfort.

Another fortunate thing is that Professor Sprout agreed to Harry's suggestion and decided to use Weather Charm, greenhouses, composting, and other auxiliary methods to focus on cultivating a small portion of Mandrake.

According to Professor Sprout's estimate, if she focused on cultivating a few specific Mandrake, she might be able to guarantee that she would have mature plants before March, without having to wait until summer.

This was also good news for Madam Pince librarian. Harry ran into her when he visited Filch. She was clutching a brand-new top hat, and after seeing Harry, she simply nodded slightly before hurrying away.

It's already mid-December, and this unsent Christmas gift is destined to be postponed. It's uncertain whether Madam Pince will receive a Valentine's Day reply.

"The Duelling Club... is that what Hermione was talking about yesterday?" A few days before Christmas, Harry looked at the notice posted on the school bulletin board, a look of realization flashing in his eyes.