Hidden Abilities

The third week of term began.

While the first-year students were still enjoying campus life, Skylar was already racing against time. He spent every free period and weekend buried in the library, greedily absorbing any knowledge that could improve his strength according to the reading list he had planned out over the past two weeks.

Skylar would not reluctantly leave his seat until five minutes before the library closed. Under Madam Pince's watchful glare, he would borrow no fewer than ten books, then use the Time-Turner in the dead of night to continue his mad reading spree in his room.

Skylar's strange behavior finally caught Madam Pince's attention.

Madam Pince had been quietly observing the boy. She was deeply curious how a first-year student could finish more than thirty books a day, and maintain such an astonishing reading speed day after day. More than half of those books were magical texts that only seventh-years needed to study—covering Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, defensive magic, and many other fields.

While Madam Pince observed Skylar, she had no idea that Skylar was observing her as well. In Skylar's eyes, the utterly unremarkable-looking Madam Pince was anything but simple. He possessed the ability to see through others' magic, and as his knowledge broadened, he had gradually formed a rough estimate of everyone's magical power.

On the day of the Welcoming Feast, his observations of the professors' table had shown him that Dumbledore possessed the highest magical power in the school. His magic blazed like fire, fierce and overwhelming. Next came the four Heads of House—Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout. All four possessed clearly greater magical power than Lucius. As for Madam Hooch, who taught Flying Class, and Professor Sinistra, who taught Astronomy, their magical power was noticeably weaker even than Lucius's.

Madam Pince's magical power was only slightly below that of the four Heads of House, but her magic was somewhat unusual. It gave Skylar a cold, eerie feeling. That discovery made him decide not to provoke Madam Pince lightly, and he could only suppress his desire for the Restricted Section for now.

Time flew by, and two months passed just like that. Halloween was approaching, and according to the plot, first-year's boss, Professor Quirrell, would make his first move that day.

After two months of relentless hard study, as well as practical combat training against Dobby in his room from time to time at night, Skylar was now completely different from the person he had been at the start of term.

With Skylar's deliberate scheduling, along with the extra four hours each day granted by the Time-Turner, he had spent at least ten hours a day practicing spells over the past two months—ten times what an ordinary student would spend. At last, all that hard work had paid off.

Not only had Skylar mastered many upper-year spells, he had also learned Occlumency. He had originally assumed Occlumency would be quite difficult. After all, Harry had struggled himself half to death in the original story and still failed to master it in the end.

But to Skylar's surprise, Occlumency had posed hardly any difficulty for him. After carefully reading the Guide to Occlumency he had found in the library, he followed every step he had memorized clearly and, on his first attempt, successfully entered a state of mental emptiness.

Unable to understand why, Skylar searched the library for a great deal of information on mind magic. He discovered that the difficulty of mental magic varied from person to person, and that differences in soul strength were the main reason for the significant gap in mental control.

[Occlumency Learned!]

With a why-not-give-it-a-try attitude, Skylar attempted to learn several of the most basic mind spells: the Hypnosis Charm, Confundus Charm, Refreshing Charm, and Cheering Charm. He successfully cast them on his first attempt as well, leaving Dobby, his test subject, sleepy one moment, confused the next, then excitedly hopping about, and finally grinning foolishly...

That was when Skylar realized something was wrong. Mind magic was among the most profound branches of magic. Even the most basic mental spells, such as the Cheering Charm, fell within the scope of third-year Charms.

Skylar knew very well that he possessed an extraordinary talent for mastering incantations when learning spells. Yet limited by his age and the amount of magic in his body, even the most gifted academic wizard could not possibly master such complex spells on their first attempt. Skylar vaguely sensed that perhaps his bloodline power, the Magic Eye, still concealed many special abilities that needed to be explored more deeply.

On the eve of Halloween, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he believed they were ready to start making objects fly. Ever since seeing Skylar save Neville with this spell during their first Flying Class, the students had been eagerly hoping to try the skill themselves.

Professor Flitwick divided the class into pairs for practice. Draco paired with Pansy, Daphne with Meredith. Since Skylar had long since mastered the spell, he did not need a partner. Instead, he could stand nearby and offer guidance to several students, looking every bit like a little teaching assistant.

"All right, don't forget that subtle wrist movement we've been practicing!" Professor Flitwick said in his usual squeaky voice, standing atop his stack of books. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. Pronouncing the incantation correctly is also very important. Don't forget the wizard Baruffio—he said 's' instead of 'f,' and found himself lying on the floor with a buffalo standing on his chest."

Over the past two months, after Skylar's guidance, the young Slytherins had all improved considerably. Draco, Daphne, and Meredith had improved the most, though naturally Skylar's favoritism had played no small part in that.

As for Goyle and Crabbe, Skylar did not particularly like either of them. Crabbe was not as meek and honest as he appeared. In the original story, he had silently learned Dark Arts, including the Fiendfyre Curse. His current obedience as Draco's follower was merely a matter of circumstance. The moment anything went wrong with the Malfoy family, Crabbe would certainly reveal his ambition.

In Skylar's view, one major reason Draco in the original story had gone astray and nearly lost his way was undoubtedly the influence of these two bad friends.

Under Skylar's guidance, Draco was the first to successfully cast the Levitation Charm, making his feather float in midair. Daphne and Meredith followed close behind, each earning five points for Slytherin.

The fourth person to succeed was a Ravenclaw girl with long black hair. Her features were exquisitely delicate, but what drew the eye most was the elegant, unhurried air she gave off. With her black-framed vintage glasses and dignified coiled hairstyle, she exuded a strong scholarly charm and a uniquely intellectual beauty.

Even Skylar, who was used to seeing beautiful girls, felt a flash of astonishment. For no apparent reason, he felt an urge to go over and get to know her. Although he had not yet interacted with any Ravenclaw students, Skylar's frightening memory immediately recalled the name called for the girl during the Sorting Ceremony—Morag MacDougal.

The other young wizards tried again and again, but their feathers remained motionless on the floor. One Ravenclaw boy—Skylar remembered that his name was Michael Corner—was a self-styled handsome playboy. With Slytherin's outstanding performance before him, Michael was eager to prove himself and fiercely flicked his wand. The result was—

With a bang, the feather exploded. Though the blast was not powerful, it still burned an embarrassing hole in his sleeve...

The Levitation Charm was actually a simplified version created by countless predecessors after repeatedly simplifying the complex magic of reversing gravity. It was not difficult to cast successfully—one only needed to pronounce the incantation correctly and use the proper wand movement. But Skylar was not content with merely making a feather float.

Skylar knew that Hogwarts only taught the basic principles and applications of these spells, but every spell, when traced back to its roots, involved a mass of more complicated theory and more advanced applications. For example, the Patronus Charm in the original story could originally only drive away Dementors and Lethifolds, yet Dumbledore could use it to deliver messages over long distances and even summon multiple Corporeal Patronuses.

After breaking it down and analyzing it, Skylar discovered that the Levitation Charm was actually composed of four parts: "levitation"—removing gravity's effect from the target object; "suspension"—making the target hover at a designated position in midair; "movement"—allowing the target to move according to the caster's will; and "descent"—restoring gravity to the target, or even increasing gravity's effect upon it.

Skylar effortlessly made the feather before him float up. It drifted lightly in the direction his wand pointed, even spinning and flipping as it hovered in the air. Finally, under Skylar's command, it floated in a perfect arc into the feather box on the professor's desk.

The young Slytherins were already used to such a display, but the Ravenclaw students present felt immense pressure. With Skylar in Slytherin, it seemed this year's House Cup was basically beyond hope. Professor Flitwick, meanwhile, greatly appreciated Skylar and awarded Slytherin another ten points. Slytherin was now thirty points ahead of second-place Ravenclaw, while bottom-ranked Gryffindor trailed by a full sixty points.

After class, Professor Flitwick kept Skylar behind alone. He asked Skylar to write a paper on his insights into the Levitation Charm and submit it to Spell Innovation. At the same time, using that as his reason, he invited Skylar to join his Charms Club.

Skylar had already decided to revitalize his family through his own strength and reputation, so naturally he welcomed any opportunity to add to his prestige.