Wandless Magic

Just then, Dumbledore suddenly rose, and the hall fell silent.

The white-bearded headmaster announced in a ringing voice:

"Another year has passed, and it is time to award the House Cup."

"The scores for each house are as follows."

"In fourth place, Gryffindor, with 313 points."

"In third place, Hufflepuff, with 352 points."

"In second place, Ravenclaw, with 426 points."

"In first place, Slytherin, with 472 points!"

Cheers erupted from the Slytherin table.

The Gryffindors hung their heads.

The main reason they had lost so many points was that Harry frequently clashed with Professor Snape, getting points deducted at every turn. Then there was Hermione, who skipped far too many classes.

Although the professors liked Hermione very much, rules were rules. They still had to deduct points when necessary.

But what could they do? The two had not only made great contributions to Gryffindor's Quidditch team, but also foiled Quirrell's plot. How could anyone truly blame them?

...Huh?

That's right, their contributions...

Could it be...?

At that thought, the Gryffindors' eyes lit up.

The very next second, their hunch came true.

"First, Mr. Harry Potter demonstrated excellent analytical and deductive abilities, seeing through the conspiracy hidden beneath the surface. For this, I award Gryffindor fifty points!"

"Next, Mr. Ron Weasley disregarded his own safety, risking his life alongside his friends. Another fifty points to Gryffindor!"

"Finally, Miss Hermione Granger remained calm and composed in her confrontation with Quirrell, demonstrating outstanding magical ability and tactical intelligence. I award Gryffindor sixty points!"

"That brings Gryffindor's final score to 473 points, winning first place and the House Cup!"

As his words rang out, every Gryffindor rose to their feet.

"YEAH!!!!"

In stark contrast, the Slytherins looked utterly thunderous.

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had both been bumped down a place, with the former relegated to last. Yet somehow, both houses applauded even more enthusiastically than Gryffindor.

Apparently, Slytherin had done plenty to get on their nerves.

At the high table, Professor McGonagall beamed with delight.

Snape, meanwhile, wore an expression that said, Fucking knew it.

Harry lowered his head slightly, blushing. His deductions had seemed correct, but although he had gotten the reasoning right, his conclusion had been wrong.

Still, seeing everyone so happy, he decided to let it go and pretend nothing had happened.

Hermione could barely keep a straight face either.

See that, Voldemort? You're worth sixty points.

And beating Slytherin by just one point? That didn't just hurt. It rubbed salt in the wound.

Blatantly rigged.

Dumbledore, you're not even trying to hide it anymore.

Dumbledore sat down, looked at Hermione, and gave her a knowing look.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

Back in her dormitory.

[Hermione Jean Granger]

[Magic level lv3 (672/50000)]

In the battle with Quirrell, Hermione had harvested a full 5,000 points of soul energy. Combined with the experience she had accumulated from practicing spells here and there over the past six months, her magic level had shot straight past the level-two cap.

She had advanced to level-three magic on the spot.

Now, in terms of magical power, she was firmly on the level of an adult wizard.

Thank you, Quirrell! Thank you, Voldemort!

In truth, Quirrell's soul had not contained that much energy. Most of it had come from Voldemort.

Because of his Horcruxes, Voldemort's main soul wandering outside them would not dissipate. But not dissipating did not mean it could not grow weaker.

Since he and Quirrell had shared a body, the moment Quirrell's body turned to ash, Voldemort was considered to have died again. Dark Harvest triggered on the spot and savagely reaped what little remained of his soul.

It had practically cut his soul remnant down to a soul sprout.

To Hermione's even greater delight, the [Spells] section had reacted again.

This time, however, it was not a newly recorded spell. It had appeared automatically after her magic advanced to lv3.

[Wandless Magic lv1 (1/1000)]

Wandless Magic!

Compared to spells with tremendous destructive power, Hermione felt this was the truly godlike skill. It was also something she had always wanted, but had never known how to learn.

Wizard magic seemed powerful, but there was one prerequisite: they had to be able to cast it.

Magic that could not be cast was no different from having none at all.

Yet most wizards could not cast spells if they lost their wands and had their mouths sealed, leaving them no different from ordinary people. This was their greatest weakness, with only a handful of exceptionally powerful wizards exempt.

Of those problems, losing their wand was the most serious.

Quite a few wizards knew how to cast a Nonverbal Spell. The only differences were proficiency and effectiveness.

But without a wand, practically ninety-nine percent of wizards could not cast any magic at all.

Forcing it would only make their magic run wild and injure them.

Through her observations over this period, Hermione had concluded that wizards feared three things: being disarmed, being silenced, and being ambushed.

The first prevented them from channeling their magic. The second prevented them from reciting incantations to turn that magic into spell effects. The third was a problem because nobody kept a Shield Charm around themselves twenty-four hours a day.

And this time, the Spellbook had directly solved two of those major problems.

Although lv1 Wandless Magic meant that, without speaking or using a wand, she could only produce effects up to lv1, its strength lay in applying to every single spell.

Even Dumbledore could only cast certain extremely familiar spells without a wand. Trying it with unfamiliar spells was very dangerous.

She, however, could cast all of them wandlessly without worrying about safety.

At the same time, this was a good start. Once her proficiency increased, the effects would naturally improve.

Besides, Wandless Magic had another major significance for her.

Catching people off guard.

Imagine her being disarmed, her wand flying out of her hand, and her enemy thinking victory was assured-never realizing that, to her, the wand was merely an accessory.

Then she would raise a hand and fire five blasts of Avada Kedavra from her five fingers. The sight alone could scare her opponent to death.

Could even Old Voldy, the HP world's number-one Avada Kedavra user, pull that off?

Her magic might only be lv3 right now, but in a real fight, even an elite Auror from the Ministry of Magic could be sent straight to the afterlife if they slipped up.

Hermione closed the Spellbook and glanced out the window.

Summer vacation was coming.

The effects of her three lv1 Unforgivable Curses were still far too weak.

She could not openly practice them here. Even if she avoided an all-inclusive stay in Azkaban, she would still be treated as a born dark wizard.

But on the other side...

Even if she threw spells at thin air, she would not have to worry about anyone judging her. Besides, the Marvel Universe had never lacked people who deserved to die.

Marvel.

Inside a vast training room spanning several thousand square meters in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Triskelion.

Looking at the agents standing neatly before her, Hermione cast a sidelong glance at Black Egghead.

"These are the students you found for me?"

Black Egghead frowned slightly. These were elite agents he had handpicked from all of S.H.I.E.L.D. Were they still not good enough for Hermione?

"Is there a problem?" Fury asked, puzzled.

"No." Hermione shook her head slightly.

There was certainly nothing wrong with the agents' abilities. It was just who they were...

Grant Ward.

Brock Rumlow.

Jasper Sitwell.

Clint Barton.

There were also a few agents she did not really recognize, some looking like office staff and others like field operatives.

Hermione checked them one by one with Legilimency, only to discover...

Except for Hawkeye, every last fucking one of them was Hydra!

Where was Natasha? Where was Coulson? Where was Maria Hill?

What exactly were your selection criteria?