The Fountain of Fortune
The next day was Sunday.
The Hogwarts campus was quiet in the early morning.
Summer vacation has just ended, and regular classes have only been going on for one day. In the eyes of most young wizards, this day's classes were no different from not attending at all, so many young wizards still retain the habit of staying up late and sleeping in at home.
On weekends, few diligent young wizards get up early in the morning; most are still asleep.
Of course, this does not include Xiwen, who has a habit of getting up early to exercise.
By this time, Xiwen had already arrived at the lawn northwest of the castle with practiced ease and began his daily morning exercise.
Hogwarts remained a peaceful and tranquil place, with only the occasional rustling of the wind through the grass and the melodious chirping of birds echoing across the Forbidden Forest and the lawns...
However, the castle's tranquility did not last long --
The piercing sound of sawing wood echoed at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, startling several birds in the woods into taking flight.
By this time, Xiwen had almost finished his morning exercise, so he curiously headed toward the Forbidden Forest. He discovered that the sound was coming from near Professor Kettleburn's hut.
Sure enough, the culprit who disrupted the peaceful atmosphere around the castle was none other than Professor Kettleburn!
He was using his only intact arm to hold a saw, awkwardly dragging it back and forth across a tree trunk about the size of a bowl, making a harsh sawing sound.
"Professor, what are you doing?" Xiwen looked at Professor Kettleburn's actions with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, and couldn't help but ask. "Why not use magic to chop down trees?"
"You don't understand, do you? This is called the renewable use of tree resources!" Professor Kettleburn stopped what he was doing when he saw Xiwen, wedged the saw into the tree trunk to free his right hand, and wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve.
As he stopped sawing the wood, the jarring sounds in the Forbidden Forest immediately ceased, but the atmosphere around the castle was far from returning to its previous tranquility.
"So, what does 'renewable utilization of tree resources' mean?" Xiwen asked curiously. It was the first time he had heard this novel term.
"I ask you, do you know what kind of effects will occur on an object that has been affected by magic?" Professor Kettleburn asked.
"What kind of effect? Isn't it something like changing the shape of an object?" Xiwen asked, a little confused.
"That's not what I was asking you about!" the professor said smugly. "During my years working in the Forbidden Forest, I've discovered a very interesting phenomenon—trees cut down with magic rarely regenerate, while trees sawed down with a saw easily sprout new buds after the next rain."
"You mean... the magic's effect damages the original structure of matter, causing the tree to lose its ability to regenerate?" Xiwen asked.
"You're half right!" Professor Kettleburn gave him an encouraging look, then explained to Xiwen.
"In fact, it's likely that residual magic is trapped at the site of the magic's effect, hindering the growth of new shoots. Generally, you can wait a few more days until the magic at the cut completely dissipates over time, and then the new shoots will grow."
"So you're trying to tell me that when we use magic, we often can't perfectly control it, resulting in excess, useless magic residue on other objects?" Xiwen said thoughtfully.
"Therefore, if we can perfectly control our magic power, we won't waste it, thus better conserving our magic power. Because of this, we might be able to unleash more spells, giving us a greater chance of winning in battle."
"Professor, this is truly a remarkable discovery!" Xiwen said to Professor Kettleburn with great delight, looking as if he had made a great discovery.
"Uh..." Upon hearing Xiwen's words, the professor froze, blinking blankly. "I think that's what I meant..."
Professor Kettleburn was completely bewildered.
Who would have thought that he initially only wanted to advise Xiwen to follow the laws of nature and use natural resources rationally! And Xiwen actually came up with so many things in his own mind...
However, the professor had honed his tough exterior from years of arguing with the principal, and he quickly recovered, saying righteously, "Very good, as expected of the top student in the grade, you've grasped what I wanted to teach you so quickly!"
"Little Xiwen, I told you this knowledge without telling anyone else, so you can't let me down!" Professor Kettleburn said earnestly.
Xiwen looked at the professor's exaggerated performance with suspicion, and immediately understood the truth of the matter.
"Professor, tell me the truth, have you never even considered this aspect of the use of magic?" Xiwen asked Professor Kettleburn with a sharp look in his eyes.
"Haha... How could that be?" Professor Kettleburn laughed awkwardly, trying to smooth things over with Xiwen. "Little Xiwen, we may be close, but I'll get angry if you slander me like that!"
"Alright, then remember to tell Professor Woflin about this academic research and ask him to publish it in the <Magical Theory Weekly> for you," Xiwen said, secretly pursing his lips.
After Professor Kettleburn nodded smugly, Xiwen subtly changed the subject, saying to him, "By the way, why are you up so early cutting down trees?"
Upon hearing Xiwen's question, Professor Kettleburn gritted his teeth.
"It makes me so angry just thinking about it!" the professor said angrily. "Little Xiwen, do you remember that old man Herbert promising me a role in his play? Last year, when we came back from the Forbidden Forest, when we were recuperating at the Hospital Wing."
Xiwen thought for a moment, then nodded silently.
"It's good that you remember. Let me tell you, that Herbert is a scoundrel! He made all the promises, but last semester he kept using the excuse that I wasn't fully recovered and missed the first rehearsal to prevent me from participating in the drama performance."
"That's bad enough, but I booked the first rehearsal with him well in advance this semester. Seeing I couldn't refuse, he assigned me to the props team. That made me so angry!"
"So you're cutting down this tree to make props for a theatrical performance?" Xiwen asked, somewhat speechless, looking at the large tree that had been sawed in half.
"That's right," Professor Kettleburn said viciously. "Since he won't let me act in the play, then I'll make the most perfect props, and see if he'll still have the nerve to refuse me next time!"
Regardless of whether Professor Birley felt comfortable refusing Professor Kettleburn's participation, Xiwen was too embarrassed to get involved in the dispute between the two professors, so he hurriedly took his leave of Professor Kettleburn.
"Wait a minute, Xiwen!" Just as Xiwen turned to walk back, Professor Kettleburn suddenly called out to him from behind. "Remember to come see my play at the Christmas dinner!"
Xiwen didn't quite agree with Professor Kettleburn's assessment of "his drama," even though he was only in the props department, but he nodded helplessly nonetheless.
"Professor, what's the name of the play you're going to perform?" Xiwen asked.
"The Fountain of Fortune!"