The Society for the Promotion of Alchemical Excellence was only a small part of it. Two papers had sent shock waves through the entire magical academic community.
Within a day, the papers had swept through academic circles. When it came to the paper on improving the Wolfsbane Potion, though, most discussion focused on Dumbledore being listed as its second author.
The Potion-Charm Conversion paper was the one people discussed for its actual content.
Nearly everyone in magical academia was asking the same question: Who was Will Behrens?
It was an unfamiliar name. He wasn't a Pure-blood or a celebrity, yet he had caused an enormous stir without anyone noticing him until now. The Wizards of the Spell-Potion Transmutation School were delighted, but most people were simply baffled. After all, only a few knew what had happened in Egypt last Christmas.
When they learned Will was only in his third year at Hogwarts, some even claimed he was Dumbledore's illegitimate son. That rumor was soon drowned out by everything else being said.
As for the Sleeping Charm, some insisted, "It's just Stupefy. This 'Will Behrens' is chasing fame. A third-year student couldn't possibly have achieved this."
Others were following the spell instructions in the paper, hoping to learn it and experience its effects for themselves.
Letters poured toward the Scottish Highlands like snowflakes. Flocks of owls flew to Hogwarts, and some people even went there in person.
Academic circles were in an uproar, with arguments raging on every side. Across the Wizarding World as a whole, however, the news had made little impact.
Not all Wizards followed academic affairs. Even when research would eventually make their lives much easier, few paid it any attention.
It was much like modern society: celebrity gossip could easily overshadow a less eye-catching research project.
Lucius