Hobby

The weekend weather was wonderful, and the students were relaxed, especially since it was the first weekend of the term.

The classes had not yet reached their key or difficult material. Aside from the rather strange difficulty of Tver's essays, the students were all happily playing in front of the castle.

So when Tver got up early and saw the students playing outside the window, he could not help but feel cheerful as well.

Yesterday, he had verified it once more. Just as he had sensed, the essence of the soul was not merely willpower, as academia believed, much less memory.

In fact, the soul was like the filling in a sandwich cookie—the collection of everything non-physical beyond one's body, including a wizard's willpower, memories, magic, vitality, spirit, and so on.

Tver had actually anticipated this long ago. When he studied souls, he had discovered that they could influence far too many things to be described as a single aspect.

Once he understood this, he realized the power of the three Unforgivable Curses.

He could simply control someone's magic, making them unable to draw upon it.

He could also disrupt someone's magic, artificially causing it to run wild.

He could even erase magic entirely, turning a wizard into a Muggle.

Of course, that was not something the current Tver could accomplish. For him, the greatest significance of last night's research was that his understanding of souls had advanced another step.

And the badge had reacted again.

Tver took the badge out of his pocket. After a night of trembling, it had returned to its original brilliant, shimmering appearance.

The four symbolic animals upon it seemed to have come alive, their eyes extraordinarily lively as a faint warm glow emanated from within them.

This was how it had looked when he first arrived in this world, and its original appearance as the badge that had protected him for five years.

As his strength increased, the badge had regained its power, and he could clearly sense the life force radiating from within it.

That power continuously wore away at the force of the curse's erosion, the two forces battling each other between rebirth and destruction.

Tver knew that the badge's power would eventually run out, and the curse would still gain the upper hand. But that was fine. At least he had bought himself more time.

Why did it feel like he was feeding coins into a machine to extend his life?

Tver put the badge back into his pocket and patted it twice gently. When he looked outside, even the sunlight seemed a little brighter.

In his excellent mood, even his steps felt lighter. He walked all the way to the Great Hall with a smile, and the students could clearly sense his joy.

"What happened to make you so happy?" As usual, Professor Flitwick was the first to ask.

With a smile at the corners of his lips, Tver held up a tiny gap between his fingers. "A little progress in magic."

"If it can make you this happy, then it is more than a little progress."

Professor McGonagall spoke enviously.

At her level of ability, the possibility of advancing further in magic was already vanishingly small. Only years of gradual accumulation could grant her even the slightest insight into greater strength.

Well, it really was not just a little progress.

Tver did not dare discuss this with Professor McGonagall in public, so he quickly changed the subject.

"What do professors usually do on weekends? How come I haven't seen some of them come for breakfast?"

"That depends on the professors," Professor McGonagall said after thinking for a moment. "Most of them spend their time researching things they enjoy."

"Professor Sprout is most likely tending to the herbs in the greenhouses, while Snape likes to study potions in his office."

"Kettleburn is probably taking care of his, ah, little darlings. So, Tver, you can use this time to do something you enjoy as well."

Something he enjoyed—meaning a hobby?

But Tver did not even know what his hobbies were. Under the shadow of death, he had spent almost every moment thinking of ways to keep himself alive.

A hobby was simply too much of a luxury for him.

But now that he was at Hogwarts, life here had eased his tightly wound nerves somewhat.

So, should he find himself a hobby?

For the moment, he had no idea what he liked, so Tver decided to stay in the Great Hall and quietly observe the young wizards.

Unbeknownst to him, the young wizards were observing him too.

"Ahhh, did Professor Fawley just notice me?!" A Gryffindor girl suppressed her excited voice, not noticing that her whole body had curled up with excitement.

It was hard not to notice.

"The professor was obviously looking at me. Look, he glanced over again!" another girl said disdainfully as she looked at her friend.

That glance immediately plunged the two into a childish argument, all for the sake of claiming the professor's attention.

Hermione rolled her eyes subtly, eating while flipping through the book in her hands.

"My God, is that even a book meant for people to read?" Ron said from beside her.

He had hurriedly finished breakfast but remained in the Great Hall, intending to use the time for a tense and exciting game of wizard's chess with his roommate, Seamus Finnigan.

But before the game could begin, the book in Hermione's hands had frightened him.

It was packed with words from top to bottom, without even a single illustration. Worse still, he could not even understand the title!

Hermione slapped the book irritably.

"This is a book Professor Fawley recommended. It's about advanced applications of magic, and it can give ordinary spells tremendous power!"

The twins nearby seemed to have heard the professor's name. As if their DNA had been stirred, they instantly appeared at Hermione's sides.

"What did you just say? This was a book Professor Fawley recommended?" George glanced at the title.

The Multidimensional Effects of Magic

Yeah, definitely not something normal people could understand.

Fred stroked his chin, recalling how Tver had used nothing but a Levitation Charm to knock their entire class flat.

"I'm more interested in the advanced applications of ordinary magic. Wasn't this the spell Professor used against us?"

George immediately recalled the memories of being dominated by Tver, but the next second, he exchanged an excited look with Fred.

Being of one mind, they saw the exact same thought in each other's eyes.

"Does it have anything about applications of the Levitation Charm?!" they said in unison.

Just then, a gentle voice spoke up behind them.

"This is only a theoretical study. It's an introductory primer for the advanced application of spells. If you want to truly put them into practice, you'll need to do a lot more research."

Harry had not joined the conversation, so he was the first to realize who had arrived.

"Professor Fawley!"

His excited voice drowned out the discussions at the table and rang through the Great Hall.

Tver smiled gently at him.

"I came to watch you play wizard chess. I've recently become rather interested in it, and I hope I'm not interrupting your discussion."

After some observation, Tver had found himself a hobby—wizard chess.

It just so happened that clearing the stage also required a proficient grasp of wizard chess. Since Ron could clear it, then if Tver could reach a stalemate with Ron, wouldn't that mean he could reliably clear it?