Invisible Phantom

During the remaining month of summer vacation, Skylar had not forgotten the various disturbances that would arise at Hogwarts in the coming school year. He began studying spells that might prove useful this term, preparing himself for every situation he might face.

Ever since last term, Skylar had already begun improving the Lumos, Sonorus Charm, and Fire-Making Spell taught in first-year classes. During this long holiday, he finally found the opportunity to put each of his ideas into practice.

Through precise control of magical power and adjustments to his wand movements, Skylar discovered that the light emitted by Lumos, the sound effects created by the Sonorus Charm, and the shape of the flames released by the Fire-Making Spell could all be adjusted in scale and intensity.

For example, with Lumos, Skylar successfully turned his wand into a Muggle adjustable flashlight, allowing the magical light source to vary in brightness according to his will. With the Sonorus Charm, he could freely adjust volume and sound waves like a Muggle sound system. As for the Fire-Making Spell, the flames he produced were no longer merely a long, narrow jet of fire. He could now release a massive fireball like a miniature sun, or scatter countless sparks in every direction.

Besides that, he had maintained correspondence with overseas pen pals over the past few years. Of them, the one he exchanged letters with most frequently was a female pen pal from Japan, Akabane Sakura, who attended Mahoutokoro School of Magic.

Mahoutokoro meant "place of magic" in Japanese and was therefore also called the Magic Place for short. This magical school was a palace located at the highest point of Minami Iwo Jima, Japan. Built from white jade, it resembled a magnificent and exquisite pagoda, earning it the title of the Magic Palace. To Muggles, both the island and the palace appeared uninhabited.

In Japan, wizarding children began attending school at the age of seven, though they did not begin boarding until they were eleven. Before then, they traveled between home and school each day on the backs of giant storm petrels, attending as day students. Thus, although Akabane Sakura was the same age as Skylar, she had already been exposed to magic for six years.

What interested Skylar most about Japanese magic was the Japanese wizards who had been active during the sixteenth-century Warring States period under the name of "ninjas." To meet the intelligence needs of the various feudal lords of the time, Japanese wizarding magic was heavily geared toward stealth, disguise, invisibility, and concealing one's presence. More than thirty types of invisibility magic alone had been passed down to the present day, taking up over half the content of The Invisible Book of Invisibility, which described invisibility magic from around the world.

(Note: Every country's unique magic was considered classified and was not casually shared with wizards from other nations. The Invisible Book of Invisibility only gave brief descriptions of each country's invisibility magic; it did not contain the specific casting methods or techniques for improving invisibility effects. Although wizards could not freely reveal their own country's magic, inherited family magic and personal insights gained through spell research were exceptions. That was why Skylar and Akabane Sakura could exchange magical knowledge.)

During their many exchanges, Skylar and she inevitably discussed the invisibility magic she took the greatest pride in, comparing the differing understandings of invisibility magic at British and Japanese schools. The most common invisibility magic in Britain was the Disillusionment Charm. It worked on a principle similar to a chameleon's, making the caster's outer skin imitate the surrounding environment in an attempt to create visual deception and conceal their body. In Japan, however, the most commonly used invisibility magic was the "Harmony-Light Dust Charm," which altered the body's form and light transmission, making it like dust that light could pass through. Simply put, it made the body truly transparent.

After generations of improvements by wizards, these two spells could be said to have nearly perfect effects, yet Skylar was still not entirely satisfied. There were actually quite a few ways to see through invisibility magic. For instance, the Seeing Eye Charm attached to Mad-Eye Moody's fake eye could see through both the Disillusionment Charm and the Invisibility Cloak. Animals such as cats and dogs could also locate invisible people through their keen sense of smell; in this regard, Skylar was mainly thinking of the students and Filch's pet cat, Mrs. Norris. Snakes capable of sensing infrared radiation could likewise detect an invisible person's body heat.

Skylar's goal was to create an invisibility spell of his own, one that could overcome all those shortcomings.

Drawing on the principles of the Disillusionment Charm and the Harmony-Light Dust Charm, then consulting several Muggle popular science books on optics, Skylar finally developed an entirely new invisibility spell. He named it the "Invisible Phantom Charm."

He took out every anti-invisibility and anti-stealth device stored by the family and tested them one by one. He even asked Lucius to lend him a pair of X-ray spectacles identical to Mad-Eye Moody's, naturally claiming that he wanted to study the alchemical principles behind them. To his delight, he discovered that not one of those costly devices could see through his invisibility spell. This meant that, in terms of concealment, his spell surpassed even the Invisibility Cloak among the Deathly Hallows. After all, the Invisibility Cloak could not fool Mad-Eye Moody's Seeing Eye Charm in the original story.

Paired with his Supreme Robe—which had now gained the additional ability to conceal his presence, scent, and body temperature—the Invisible Phantom Charm rendered Skylar undetectable even to dogs with the sharpest noses or snakes capable of sensing infrared radiation. Even if he stood right in front of them, they would simply ignore him.

More impressively, he had successfully developed an entirely new combat technique. He cleverly incorporated invisibility magic into the process of casting spells, causing the spells fired from his wand to become formless and invisible, impossible to track with the naked eye, much less block. Before this, only one spell had been capable of such an effect: Snape's self-created Sectumsempra. Skylar, however, could incorporate this technique into every spell. He named it the "Formless Casting" technique.

[Invisibility spell "Invisible Phantom Charm" created!]

[Formless Casting technique learned!]

Compared to Skylar's abundant gains, his older brother Draco had neglected his studies. Throughout the holiday, he went out with Goyle and Crabbe nearly every day to practice Quidditch. Second-year students were already eligible to try out for their school's Quidditch teams, and Draco had mentioned more than once at home that he was determined to join the Slytherin Quidditch team this term.

After Draco's persistent pleading, Lucius personally reached an understanding with Marcus Flint of the Flint family—the House of Malfoy would provide every member of the Slytherin Quidditch team with a Nimbus 2001 free of charge. In exchange, Marcus Flint, the Quidditch captain, had to ensure that Draco passed the tryouts.

Nimbus-series Broomsticks were currently the finest available on the market, and each newly released Nimbus 2001 cost 130 Galleons. Even for the wealthy House of Malfoy, purchasing seven Nimbus 2001s at once was no small expense. It was clear just how much Lucius spoiled his son.

Skylar had little interest in Quidditch. His mind was wholly focused on strengthening himself. Only after surviving the crisis Voldemort would bring in the coming years would he consider slowing down and enjoying the beautiful things in life.

Over these two months of summer vacation, his alchemy and Charms had improved greatly. Even his combat techniques had become more flexible, varied, and effortless through his daily practice and constant refinement.

As for the restriction in the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Wizards Act forbidding underage wizards from using magic outside school? That was meant for Muggle-born families or weak half-blood families. As an ancient pure-blood family, Malfoy Manor was covered everywhere by powerful protective and shielding magic. As long as Skylar and Draco remained within the grounds of Malfoy Manor, the Ministry of Magic's Trace could not detect their spellcasting at all.

This showed just how many advantages pure-blood wizards possessed over wizards born into Muggle families. In the original story, if Draco had not wasted his time every day on schemes and pointless fooling around, he would never have suffered the humiliation of repeated crushing defeats in his series of conflicts with Harry Potter.

Speaking of Harry, he had an utterly miserable summer. Throughout July, all his magical belongings had been confiscated by his Muggle relatives, leaving him unable to come into contact with any magic for an entire month.

Worse still, he tried writing to his friends to complain or seek help, yet never received a single reply—all his letters had been intercepted by Dobby. Dobby had acted on his own initiative. Although Skylar knew about it, he did not interfere.

That miserable life continued until Harry's birthday, July 31. Dobby appeared in his room and gave him a baffling warning, then used a Hover Charm that caused Harry to receive a warning letter from Mafalda Hopkirk, head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.

After being imprisoned even more cruelly by his Muggle relatives for three days, Harry was finally rescued by Ron and his twin brothers. Only then did his tragic summer vacation come to an end.

On August 19, Lucius said that he needed to go to Knockturn Alley in London to handle some business. He asked Draco and Skylar to accompany him, so they could conveniently purchase all the books on their reading lists for the coming term.

Knockturn Alley was something like a Muggle black market. Adjacent to Diagon Alley, it was a chaotic and disreputable place, scorned by most wizards. The narrow street was packed with Dark Arts shops, where people could purchase all manner of Dark Arts items.

Respectable wizards rarely appeared in Knockturn Alley. Quite a few notorious dark wizards, Werewolves, and Vampires even hid there. The Ministry of Magic's Aurors had repeatedly tried to uproot Knockturn Alley, this cancer of the wizarding world, but every attempt had ended in failure.

Skylar had always been skeptical of that. He did not believe the failure to shut down Knockturn Alley was due to the Aurors' incompetence. The real reason was probably protection from certain high-ranking officials within the Ministry of Magic—after all, how many people involved in politics had completely clean hands?

The entrance to Knockturn Alley lay right next to Diagon Alley. Lucius, thoroughly familiar with the route, led Draco and Skylar through the somewhat crowded throng and into Knockturn Alley. Before them stretched a filthy lane. The shops of Diagon Alley were already cramped enough, but Knockturn Alley was clearly even narrower. Most of the light was blocked by bizarrely shaped buildings, giving the place a gloomy, sinister atmosphere.

The three shops directly opposite the entrance had their doors tightly shut. Their display windows were completely covered by heavy velvet curtains, and even the names above the doors were difficult to make out. They had clearly been abandoned for quite some time.

The shops on both sides appeared to deal entirely in the Dark Arts. In one shop window, several shriveled human heads were displayed grimly, while a huge cage was crawling with massive black spiders. In a shadowy doorway, two ragged wizards watched them and whispered to each other. Lucius gave them a contemptuous look. Perhaps because the Malfoy family traits were too distinctive, the two wizards timidly withdrew their gazes and continued waiting for their next prey.

An old wooden street sign hanging outside a shop that sold poisonous candles informed him that this was Knockturn Alley. After walking a short distance, Skylar spotted the largest shop in Knockturn Alley: the crooked store bearing the sign of Borgin and Burkes.

This appeared to be their destination. Lucius stopped, turned around, pushed open the shop's wooden door, and walked inside. Skylar was not unfamiliar with this shop, which had some small measure of notoriety in the dark world of wizards.

Behind the shop stood the Burke Family, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Besides selling Dark Arts items, Borgin and Burkes also functioned as a pawnshop. Its owner, Mr. Borgin, especially liked Dark Arts objects with strange uses and unpredictable power. As for whether a transaction could be reached to both sides' satisfaction, that depended on one's own methods.

Lucius did not waste words. He went straight to Mr. Borgin and explained his purpose—he wanted to dispose of several Dark Arts items from the Malfoy family collection. While Lucius and Mr. Borgin haggled over each item on a long inventory list, Skylar and Draco could only wander around Borgin and Burkes, broadening their horizons.