50 Chapter 50 "Gurunis Magic"
Time flew by quickly, with three weeks having passed, and October had arrived unnoticeably.
As Draco and Harry had to juggle both their rigorous coursework and intensive Quidditch training for the upcoming match, the days were becoming busier for them.
Little Silver Paw had grown at an astonishing pace, not much different from a wolf pup.
With its beautiful silvery-white fur and unique features, complete with emerald green eyes, it was undeniably a captivating sight.
During breakfast, Skyler brought Silver Paw to the Great Hall, attracting the attention of students from all four houses.
Their expressions held various emotions—envy, admiration, curiosity, and even jealousy.
Some daring girls approached Skyler, eager to strike up a conversation and learn where they could acquire such an extraordinary pet.
Ron, on the other hand, stared at Silver Paw and then at Scabbers with his mottled fur and a missing toe.
Feelings of resentment welled up within him, muttering, "What's so special? It's just a pet."
Hermione swiftly countered Ron's comment: "That's a wolf pet. I dare say there has never been a student at Hogwarts who had a wolf as a pet, let alone a beautiful silver wolf like this. It's truly unique."
For some inexplicable reason, Ron's temper flared, and he left the breakfast table without eating.
The Weasley twins offered words of consolation to Hermione, saying, "Don't mind Ron; we think having a little wolf as a pet is pretty cool."
The Gryffindors who were present, regardless of gender, nodded in agreement with the twins.
In a typical novel, there might be a plot where older students try to forcefully acquire the protagonist's pet, only to be embarrassed later.
However, such an incident did not occur in this novel.
Skyler's formidable family background and strength deterred most older students from provoking him, as offending the Malfoy family was no laughing matter.
Observing Silver Paw growing stronger and less dependent on his care, Skyler began preparations for the Patronus Charm exchange event.
After discussions with Cedric, Penelope, and Percy, the bulletin boards in each house displayed the date of the Patronus Charm exchange meeting.
The event was scheduled for the evening of October 16th, which was two weeks away.
To accommodate attendees, Skyler obtained permission to use a magically expanded, non-permanent extension of a classroom capable of holding up to 100 people.
In the two weeks leading up to the exchange meeting, Skyler balanced his time between classes, homework, and strolls with Silver Paw.
He also delved into Professor Flitwick's notes on dueling, explored "Hundred Changes and Thousands of Magic Secrets," and delved into Snape's foundational potion notes.
Professor Flitwick's notes contained a wealth of dueling skills, such as using the least amount of magic power to produce a spell with optimal results.
These techniques included situations where it was more efficient to transfigure an obstacle rather than destroy it with an explosive spell or to apply Protective Charms to save magical energy when facing Fire Curses.
Skyler was fully immersed in refining his magical abilities.
These optimal strategies for countering different attacks were all derived from practical combat experience, which was incredibly valuable for Skyler, considering his relative lack of real combat experience.
However, it's essential to note that Skyler's inexperience in real battles is relative.
In the past two semesters, he had confronted five formidable adversaries: Trolls, Basilisk, Gallup, Harry, and Merlin.
In fact, among the more than 500 students at Hogwarts, Skyler might be the most experienced in actual combat.
"Hundred Changes, Thousand Magic Secrets" introduced the theory of transfiguration differently from native European Transfiguration.
While European Transfiguration emphasized the comprehension and alteration of matter, akin to the rigor of physics and chemistry, Eastern transfiguration prioritized creativity over form.
It encouraged the transformation process to be fluid and unrestricted.
Of course, the drawback was evident - if the transformation process went awry, it could lead to severe consequences.
Yet, for a skilled and experienced transfiguration master, the prospect of a failed process was practically nonexistent.
If a wizard could ultimately reach the level described in the book, it would indeed be ingenious, unpredictable, and unparalleled.
In contrast to these two books, Snape's Potion Notes held less allure.
While they did provide valuable insights into potion-making, they failed to offer the sense of "opening the door to a new world" that Skyler craved.
Skyler had no intention of keeping these notes to himself.
He used the Copying Charm to create copies for each of his Slytherin classmates, including Goyle, Crabbe, and Millicent Bulstrode, who had limited interaction with him.
The students, being from pure-blood families, recognized the preciousness of these notes, and Skyler could see the gratitude in their eyes.
Besides, Skyler did not neglect his primary goal of exploring Hogwarts and enhancing his curse repertoire.
Following successful improvements to spells like Levioso, Lumos, Sonorus, and Incendio, he directed his attention to the Aguamenti.
This spell enabled the caster to produce a stream of clean, drinkable water from their wand, typically used for securing drinking water in the wilderness or extinguishing fires.
However, Skyler wondered whether the water pressure produced by this curse could be adjusted to enable more varied applications.
Furthermore, Skyler contemplated whether the Water-Making Spell's properties, such as consistency and pH, could be altered through spell enhancement.
If successful, he speculated that a modified Water-Making Spell could release acidic water or sticky water, among many other potential alterations that his imagination could not yet fathom.
This illustrated the vast potential of the Water-Making Spell.
This wasn't a fanciful conjecture; Skyler recalled a Spell from his sixth-year Curse class in the original books that involved liquid transformation.
It could convert vinegar back into wine, not through transfiguration but a direct change initiated by the spell itself.
From a Muggle chemistry perspective, the spell reversed the oxidation process of the vinegar, demonstrating the spell's capability to induce chemical changes in liquids.
Skyler had already explored the Room of Requirement and the Forbidden Forest.
For his next endeavor, he set his sights on the fifth-floor secret passage, which Dobby had cleaned and restored during the summer vacation.
This secret passage was concealed behind an enormous mirror that stood as tall as an adult.
By uttering the spell "Secret Mirror Reveals," the image in the mirror would unveil a deep pathway.
Skyler stretched his hand towards the mirror's surface, only to find that his hand effortlessly passed through the mirror, akin to walking through the wall at platform nine and three-quarters in King's Cross Station.
While the secret passage wasn't expected to pose any danger, considering the Weasley twins from the original books had frequently used it, and Dobby had recently undertaken its maintenance, Skyler meticulously donned his Invisibility Cloak and held his wand firmly as he ventured into the mirrored world.
Whispering under his breath, "Lumos!" Skyler illuminated the tunnel with the tip of his wand.
The passage was not steep, and it was relatively easy to traverse, but it meandered with various turns along the way.
Skyler estimated that he had been walking for about half an hour before arriving in a substantial cavern.
The cavern was devoid of any notable features, save for the four stone walls and two tunnel entrances (one of which was Skyler's entry point).
Recent magical repairs were evident on the stone walls.
One could easily surmise that prior to the restoration, these walls must have been riddled with numerous cracks, which were concealed beneath layers of accumulated dust and grime.
Most of these repair marks seemed consistent with Dobby's work, but one peculiar and distinct crack marred one of the stone walls.
This was unusual, as house-elves like Dobby were renowned for their meticulous and thorough work.
Skyler promptly attempted a repair spell on the crack, yet it had no effect.
A perplexing situation indeed!
To delve deeper, Skyler opened his magical perception and detected magical energy fluctuations around the crack.
However, these energies differed from his usual pristine white aura, instead displaying a dark green tinge, reminiscent of magic associated with creatures like elves or fairies.
Given that Dobby's magic proved ineffective, Skyler leaned towards the belief that this cave space might have a connection with the fairy realm.
While fairies held their unique form of magic dear, not all wizards were ignorant of their existence.
Among the books Skyler had obtained from his grandmother Druela's house was one containing information about fairies.
It was penned by a particularly cruel ancestor of the Lestrange family, an individual obsessed with magical studies.
This ancestor had abducted several fairies, subjected them to various cruel magical experiments, and had managed to unveil some of the secrets of Fairy and Elf magic.
Although this book couldn't be considered a comprehensive analysis of the magical systems of fairies and elves, it served as a basic introduction.
While Skyler couldn't directly employ Fairy magic, this didn't hinder him from comprehending the magical traces on the crack.
Furthermore, the magic eye he possessed allowed him to observe the fluctuations of magic energy on the crack.
Skyler resolved to experiment with an ancient and rarely practiced magic.
First, he inscribed a complex magic circle around the crack using a cutting curse, and then, standing three feet away, he aimed his wand at the magic circle and chanted, "Magic Divide everything into one, and all things into one!"
A warmth emanated from the tip of his wand, and Skyler's magical energy flowed from within him into the wand.
The wand's tip emitted a white halo resembling ripples in water, expanding outward in concentric circles.
This phenomenon had only occurred when Skyler first held the wand.
The magic circle appeared to come alive, releasing waves of magic energy.
A mysterious Gurunis magic rune suddenly materialized on the stone wall—Skyler recognized this rune as "Kaunaz," symbolizing "sacred fire" or "light."
While Skyler had read in various historical documents that words could possess magical properties, and he was aware that Gurunis magic runes were used for spellcasting in the Middle Ages, witnessing the manifestation of a magic rune was an eye-opening experience.
At that moment, the Gurunis magic rune detached itself from the stone wall, floated in the air, exuding a fiery warmth, and ultimately transformed into a golden-red flame that vanished without a trace.
Unbeknownst to Skyler, his pupils briefly reflected the exact same firelight at the moment it disappeared, gradually fading away as if they had been bleached.
"Is this the legendary Gurunis magic?" Skyler mused to himself. "This flame appears distinct from modern magic's fire curses... Aside from light and heat, there appears to be something akin to traces of soul magic. I sense fervor and a thirst for knowledge in the flames, or rather, it seems like guidance and the transmission of knowledge..."
(Note: The meanings attributed to the "Kaunaz" rune, such as "sacred fire," "enthusiasm for knowledge," and "emphasis on inheritance," were determined by the author after consulting a Muggle's Gurunis dictionary.)
Turning his attention back to the crack, the magical fluctuations had dissipated, and Skyler sealed it with Reparo.
He continued to traverse the cave space until he arrived at an abandoned shop in Hogsmeade Village.
Dust and cobwebs enveloped the area, and the musty scent hung in the air.
Peering through a window of the empty shop, Skyler gazed upon an old pub with a prominent boar's head signboard hanging at the entrance.
Evidently, the shop's location was not on the village's primary commercial street but situated on a quieter side road, much like the Pig's Head pub.
Hence, it remained unrented.
Skyler had no intention of getting caught up in any disturbance in Hogsmeade Village, so he turned on his heel and retreated through the tunnel, retracing his path to conclude his day's adventure.
Superficially, this adventure might have seemed to yield minimal benefits for Skyler.
However, it had opened up another doorway in his understanding of magical theory.
He had witnessed Guruni magic and acquired knowledge.
Moreover, it had sparked Skyler's resolve to explore various ideas and experiment with the proficient use of Gurunis magic runes for spellcasting.
