The Happy Wind Man of Hogwarts

As Ravenclaw students, Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe felt that getting caught daydreaming in class by their own Head of House was an extremely embarrassing thing.

The two immediately turned back around, pretending to be diligent students, and began practicing the Cutting Curse on their wooden sticks.

Kyle, on the other hand, showed no embarrassment at all. He openly asked Professor Flitwick about the principles behind the Cutting Curse.

"Professor, I don't quite understand. Why can simply reciting an incantation and waving a wand release the Cutting Curse?"

As he spoke, Kyle glanced at the wooden stick in Cho Chang's hand beside him. It had already been split in two.

The wooden stick in Kyle's hand, meanwhile, looked exactly the same as when it had been handed out.

Before Professor Flitwick could answer, Kyle quickly added:

"Taken literally, the Cutting Curse divides an object. From a physics perspective, it should be like using something sharp, such as a knife, to cut it apart."

Professor Flitwick listened with a smile.

"But when I watched you and Cho Chang cast the Cutting Curse, I didn't sense anything like a blade splitting it apart. That means it should be breaking apart from within."

Professor Flitwick's face remained full of smiles.

"Then the true principle of the Cutting Curse should be to make magic act on the molecules in the wooden stick, causing the attraction between them to fail or exceed its effective range so they can no longer bond together, thereby achieving the cutting effect?"

Professor Flitwick's smile stiffened.

"How should I control my magic to achieve that effect?"

Professor Flitwick: ???

What the hell was this kid asking?

He understood every word and every letter Kyle said, but once they were put together, he had no idea what Kyle was talking about.

Did a basic spell like the Cutting Curse really require thinking about so much?

Wasn't it just a matter of waving a wand and—bang—cutting something open?

Professor Flitwick was indeed a master of Charms, but his research into spells certainly did not include analyzing them from the perspective of Muggle physics.

But for the sake of his dignity as a professor, he could not let Kyle stump him so easily.

Professor Flitwick put on a serious expression. To Kyle, it looked as though he were thinking and organizing his words.

After a round of futile struggling, Professor Flitwick decided to give up.

He forced out a dry smile. "That is the power of magic. You only need to put your intention into your wand and command it to cast the spell."

Kyle stared at Professor Flitwick: Are you serious?

Professor Flitwick stared at Kyle: Why is this kid looking at me like that? Is he questioning the skill of a Charms master?

A crow flew past the window and cawed twice, making the atmosphere around them inexplicably awkward.

Several black lines seemed to drop from Kyle's forehead. This magic was way too idealistic, wasn't it?

When he cast Water Style Ninjutsu, there was at least some traceable process. The magic inside his body transformed into water elements, then took the shape of a shark. That was the so-called big mouthful of phlegm—no, the Great Shark Bullet.

He could not say whether that process followed the conservation of energy or other laws of physics, but at least there was some logic to it.

But this Cutting Curse... it was truly hard to put into words.

Kyle tried hard to organize his thoughts before finally asking the key question. "So, Professor, is the essence of magic making whatever you wish come true?"

Professor Flitwick's eyes widened in surprise. "Ah, yes. You summed it up very well."

Then that meant...

Kyle raised his wand again and pointed it at the wooden stick on the table before him, slowly channeling magic into it.

At the same time, he sent his wand an extremely strong intention—Cut it open!

Kyle felt the magic within him surge madly into his wand, as if it were about to drain him into a dried corpse. Fortunately, the drain stopped very quickly.

A dazzling beam erupted from the tip of Kyle's wand. After striking the wooden stick, it continued onward and hit the wooden table beneath it.

Blinding red light enveloped the entire table.

Crash!

It was the thunderous sound of the table, split in two, falling to the floor.

Plop...

This time, it was the sound of books falling to the ground.

Kyle stared blankly at the desk in front of him. What had just happened?

Coming back to his senses, Kyle hurriedly propped the desk back up while quietly asking Professor Flitwick, "Professor, did my Cutting Curse count as a success?"

A success?

It was more than a success. This Cutting Curse was practically comparable to Snape's Sectumsempra.

Professor Flitwick wiped away nonexistent sweat from his forehead. "I think you may not have controlled the magic you put into it properly. Don't be discouraged. Let's try again. Reparo!"

The desk Kyle was holding reassembled itself under the effects of the Repairing Charm, returning to its original state. The seams were perfect, leaving no trace that Kyle had just split it in half.

Kyle could not help marveling inwardly at the wonder of magic.

After another wooden stick was summoned, Kyle began his second casting attempt under Professor Flitwick's encouragement.

Kyle thought about the mistake he had made during his previous attempt.

When he had cast the spell earlier, after conveying his intention to the wand, he had felt the magic inside his body mobilize on its own, much like the feeling he had experienced earlier that day in the wand shop.

Judging from the reaction of that professional wandmaker, Ollivander, his magic seemed far more abundant than that of others.

In other words, everyone else had Chakra, while he had Chatonella by the jin or even by the ton.

Was that why his spells were many times more powerful than those of others?

If that was the case, then when casting magic, he needed to restrain the magic within his body a little and not let it all pour out without control.

Otherwise, if that Cutting Curse had landed on someone just now, the whole school would probably be holding a funeral feast.

Having figured out the problem, Kyle tried the Cutting Curse again.

After three or four attempts, he finally managed to control the power of his Cutting Curse to the same level as an ordinary wizard's.

Professor Flitwick nodded approvingly beside him.

Without having learned any casting gestures or incantation techniques, he had managed to cast the Cutting Curse within a single class on his very first encounter with it.

What terrifying talent.

After mastering the Cutting Curse, Kyle began pondering what Professor Flitwick had said earlier.

Since the essence of magic was making whatever one wished come true, then when conveying an intention to the wand, could he make the Cutting Curse produce a different effect by defining its form in a different way?

An idea exploded in his mind like a bolt of lightning.

Kyle shifted from holding his wand in one hand to holding it with both hands. As magic flowed into it and his intention was conveyed, an invisible blade of magic extended from the tip of his wand.

Death is like the wind, always by my side!

The road is long; only my sword keeps me company!

He grabbed the wooden stick before him and tossed it into the air. Kyle closed his eyes, carefully sensing the flow of wind stirred by the stick as it fell.

At this moment, it was as if the Unforgiven had possessed Kyle!

At this moment, he was the Happy Wind Man of Hogwarts!

When the wooden stick falling freely through the air dropped before him—he moved!

Face the wind!

Draw! Diagonal slash! Sheathe!

"Hasagi!"

Under that slash, swift as a gust of wind and a flash of light, the falling wooden stick instantly became two pieces and dropped limply onto the table before him.

Plop...

Professor Flitwick looked at the wooden stick's smooth, clean cross-section, then at the invisible blade at the tip of Kyle's wand. His face twitched violently.

Was this the Cutting Curse???

Was this the Cutting Curse?!

Even Snape's Sectumsempra was not this absurd!