” Clown, Warrior, Lion, Firebird … Who do they each refer to?” Ms. Bones asked tentatively. If the first two sentences pulled back the curtain of the times, then the next four sentences are obviously the important players on the stage. She actually had some guesses in her mind, and at this moment she wanted to get confirmation from Dumbledore and Felix’s mouth.
“Before things really happened, we can only guess.” Dumbledore shook his head slightly.
“But there are some things – such as the Firebird Nirvana, does not it refers to Phoenix? Or someone related to the phoenix?” Ms. Bones asked, as her eyes unabashedly looked at Dumbledore.
It is a well-known fact that the Headmaster of Hogwarts has a phoenix named ‘Fawkes’.
“That’s one of the cons of prophecy,” Dumbledore said with a smile, “when you try to find out the ‘truth’, you will get deeply involved in it – I can associate a dozen or so wizards who are related to the ‘Firebird’, and more if you count foreign countries. It could represent some magical creature, such as a phoenix; or some magic, such as a unique Patronus, a transfiguration; or even a state, a quality … what we are guessing at the moment is just what we would like to see in our future.”
…
Time passed day by day, Felix took the time to visit the Ancient Rune Society, with Clammy in tow, they made their way unhindered to the office of the president of the Ancient Rune Society – actually a separate study, filled with various stone tablets, handwritten notes, and ancient inscriptions.
Felix caught a glimpse of old Vera, who is sprawled at his desk with a row of rune cards on it, mouthing some words.
Clammy lightly coughed twice, and the man at the table froze in response.
Then Clammy had to walk over, and tapped her finger on the table, and reminded, “Grandfather, Professor Hap is here …”
“Who’s here?” Old Vera looked up at her slightly perplexed, his attention seemed to remain on the table, “Forget that, never mind that, first help me figure out what this is supposed to mean here?” He waited a few seconds and got no response, so he looked up absently, and his eyes suddenly widened when he locked eyes with Felix’s.
“I heard from Clammy that you are available lately, so I popped over.” Felix stifled a smile and said, “I’ve recently read a few books you’ve written and had some questions that I wanted to discuss with you …”
As it turns out, even the most stubborn person, when someone takes the initiative to hand out the ladder, will accept it hesitantly.
(*ladder here means help, like receiving an olive branch*)
At least old Vera is such a person, he has long been compromised, and is no longer concerned about ego and honour this time.
At first, Felix asked a few symbolic questions, which had happened to touch the old Vera’s proud point, and he began to talk at length and eloquently, then a little less than ten minutes later, it became his turn to take Felix’s hand to ask about the rune cards.
“I want an order compiled according to the difficulty, for learning purpose.” Old Vera said.
Felix got a little surprised when he heard that, as he never expected him to inquire about the educational materials.
” Look, I’m researching theoretical runes, and they have some similarities,” Old Vera reluctantly ‘quoted’ Felix’s definition and explained, “As long as I want, learning dozens of practical runes a day is no problem at all. I just need to adjust the writing and cognitive habits.”
Felix understood how difficult it is to learn. As old Vera said, there is indeed an overlap between the two – both theoretical runes and practical runes can be memorized quickly, but the rest will take a lot of time.
According to this line of thought, the old folks in the ancient rune society who have studied theoretical runes all their life can actually master hundreds of runes casually, and the subsequent learning will not be too slow.
Of course, there are not so many practical runes on the market for them to learn. As Felix didn’t release them all.
“Mr. Vera, I have one thing to ask you.” Felix said, “This year, Hogwarts’ ancient rune class will undergo a curriculum revision and be divided into theoretical and practical parts, with separate exams for both parts. The theoretical part is fine, but the practical part requires a new curriculum – and I think what you’re working on now will be very helpful when writing the material.”
“You mean to let me be involved in it? You’re willing to cede that part of the rights?” Old Vera looked rather surprised.
“The final decision is definitely still in my hand.” Felix said calmly.
The ancient runes had developed to the point where it no longer belonged to him alone, and there is absolutely no need for that. It is enough for him to keep an eye on the most important places to make sure there are no mistakes and prevent the development from deviating from the expected direction.
…
Near the start of the school year, happy news finally came from the sword castle. The Thief’s Downfall is completed.
“It doesn’t seem to be quite the same as the one in Gringotts?” Sirius surveyed the finished product in the testing room.
In front of him, there is an archway with two straight sides, no different from the normal door frame, except that at the top there is an extra half arc, from which a thin curtain of water drapes down, and Sirius and Ms. Bones look at each other’s hazy figures through the water curtain, from each side.
“The principle has changed, I incorporated some rune circuits to replace the goblin magic part.” Felix said. “The effect is similar, if you don’t trust us, you can try it.”
” So how are we going to do that, does anyone have a polyjuice potion on them?” Sirius looked at the others with a probing look, all of them shook their heads, so he looked at Felix again, only to find him looking at him with a smile on his face.
Sirius froze for a moment, what does that mean. But he suddenly snapped out of it.
“Animagus?”
Felix nodded at him, yes, just as you think.
Sirius did not refuse, and his body quickly turned into a big dog with black fur. Its fur is oily and smooth, and its body is huge, like a bear.
The Animagus form of Sirius seemed a little excited, and barked twice all around, wagging his tail and circling around Harry who came along, looking cheerful.
Ms. Bones’ thick eyebrows jumped hard. She had to clear her throat – by that time the big black dog had put both front paws on Harry’s shoulders. “Oh, Sirius, Ms. Bones seems to be calling you.” Harry said with some effort, as he nearly fell on his face.
The big black dog circled the archway twice and then went in through one of the side, the curtain of water on the archway rippled with a circle, and Harry’s eyes suddenly widened as if he had seen something incredible.
In fact, it is also true. The thin curtain of water seems to be another mystery, the big black dog’s half head disappeared from one side, but did not immediately appear on the other side. The dog was unaware of this, and proceeded to walk forward, when only two hind legs remained, the other side of the arch showed the half of its head, it looked as if a section of Sirius’s body had been removed, and it looked very comical.
Harry’s shoulders shook, as he stifled a laugh, and the rest of the people present – including Ms. Bones’ corner of the lips quivered.
But the next second, the comic scene turned into a frightening drama, the big black dog’s head started to shrink and deform forcibly, and the black hair quickly faded, followed by his shoulders, arms, and body parts, as he reverted to human form.
Sirius shook his head, seemingly confused about where he is, and it took a few seconds for him to come to his senses.
“That was amazing.” He tsked, and circled the archway, he looked no different from his usual form. He poked one hand into the curtain of water, then pulled it out again, and the curtain didn’t react visibly this time.
A neat round of applause rang out in the test room.
…
A week before school started, Felix got his new wand. Thirteen inches, ebony, with his hair as the core. When his fingers touched the wand, there is a sudden warmth in his fingertips and the wand vibrates slightly, as if leaping and cheering, waiting impatiently for his first casting –
Felix held his wand and sliced the air as if he is wielding a long sword – Ollivander watched with rapt attention – A ‘rift’ appeared and rapidly expanded as it connected to another place, covering the vicinity around it and pulling it in. The tiny wand store seemed to shift at once, appearing in an untidy, desolate land overgrown with weeds.
Everything seemed so real, the dim light, the swaying shrubs, the whistling sound, and Mr. Ollivander smelled the smell of fresh dirt carried by the wind. He tried to take two steps forward, only to bump into something, but it looked clearly vacant.
“An illusion? No, it’s more real than an illusion …”
He plucked a handful of weeds from the ground and watched it turn into stars in his hands.
The next second, the whole illusion disappeared, and they returned to the wand store. Felix nodded in satisfaction, although the exact effect had yet to be verified, the thinking room magic alone showed a notable improvement, he could more easily bring the memories in his head into reality, “Much better than I expected, Mr. Ollivander, thank you, you’re the best wand maker I’ve ever met.”
“It’s you who matches the wand very well,” said Mr. Ollivander with a bitter smile, ” If you had someone else to try it, or change a different material, you wouldn’t have this effect.”
After that, Felix paid enough money.
“Speaking of which, I have to thank you,” Mr. Ollivander said, “thanks for alerting me, I found two groups of sneaky people.”
“Were they Death Eaters?”
“Probably,” Mr. Ollivander himself was not sure, “those people were covering their heads, the good thing is, the Ministry of Magic has issued warning devices to each store, one-click is all it takes for the patrolling Aurors to quickly arrive, so they didn’t have a chance to do much.”
…
“Remus, it’s so good to see you, I thought you had forgotten about us.” Sirius hugged Lupin and pretended to complain.
“He didn’t necessarily forget about you, but he must have forgotten about his boss and work.” Felix said slyly from the side.
“Ahem-” Lupin looked away sheepishly.
“What’s going on?” Sirius asked as they sat in the living room of Black’s old mansion at the moment, waiting for people to arrive for the meeting.
” Encountered a closed and xenophobic community.” Lupin explained, “It wasn’t wise to risk contact with the outside world under the nose of a pack of nervous werewolves, so I stayed there till everything was over.” He had a palpitating look on his face, “Once or twice I almost thought I wouldn’t make it back.”
Sirius didn’t say anything else, just slapped his back twice heavily.
Kingsley and Emmeline Vance arrived, and everyone offered a warm welcome back to Emmeline’s recovery, as the quiet witch smiled from ear to ear.
Soon, Snape also appeared. One by one, everyone entered the meeting room. “Don’t try to eavesdrop, I will cast a spell.” Mrs. Weasley warned the children.
“Spoken like it’s the first time you’ve ever done that.” Fred muttered. The door slammed heavily in front of him.
In the meeting room –
Snape is the first to speak.
“What I’m about to read is a top-secret document, which is not allowed to be mentioned publicly in any context as requested by Headmaster Dumbledore, and it is also forbidden to be shared with non-members of the Order of the Phoenix.” He deliberately glanced at Sirius, who “tsk” ed.
“According to a credible source, the Dark Lord – the You-Know-Who,” Snape said with an expressionless face and a different voice, “has a keen interest in something in the Department of Mysteries and is sparing no effort to look for it …”
“Even after the availability of Thief’s Downfall?” Sirius interrupted him.
“… You’ll find that thing won’t stop him,” Snape said breezily.
“And I know what he’s capable of, I’ve fought him–”
“You mean escape?”
Both Snape and Sirius spoke in a tit-for-tat manner, causing others to have a headache.
“Well, you can save your greetings till the end of the meeting.” Kingsley said.
“… Given the failure of controlling Broderick Bode, the Unspeakable, using the Imperius Curse before, he may send out Death Eaters to gather information – he has a shortcoming in this area, as a Death Eaters who have worked for the Department of Mysteries Augustus Rookwood is imprisoned in Azkaban …”
“… Thief’s Downfall is also not omnipotent, it can not detect the human heart, whether it is willingly, or forced, or unintentional disclosure of secrets, it can not detect it, nor can it warn … ”
Snape finished, then leaned his body on the back of the chair without saying a word.
“Ahem, then I will continue on this topic,” Kingsley spoke calmly: “We have been long ready for this, every important material in the Department of Mysteries will be protected under complex magic, under normal circumstances, only those respective Unspeakable can access it, but there may be a loophole after working hours, so Dumbledore Convinced Ms. Bones to let the Order of the Phoenix to undertake the task of protection at that time, to avoid any slip through the net.”
Not everyone in the Order of the Phoenix knew about Voldemort’s goal, so they used ‘something like that’ as a proxy when talking about the Prophecy Orb.
“There’s not much to say on my end,” Sirius said, “We’re more or less relieved to have Thief’s Downfall. Amelia decided to set up one in Azkaban as well, the schedule is currently fixed for the day after tomorrow …” His tone suddenly became complex, if this thing was available a few years earlier, he certainly could not escape.
Snape looked up, his eyes shone with a strange light as he muttered: “Azkaban? Are you starting to miss it, you must have made quite a few friends there …”
The conference room nearly turned into a gladiatorial arena.
…
By the time the meeting was over, the members of the Order of the Phoenix who were not assigned any tasks stayed to enjoy a leisurely afternoon tea, while Snape and Professor McGonagall left because of their personal commitments. Felix stared at Snape’s disappearing figure and asked Mr. Weasley, “Is he always this busy?”
“Probably, he usually won’t stay late on weekdays.” Mr. Weasley muttered. They went to the living room and sat down, not long after Mrs. Weasley and Tonks appeared with some dessert plates, “Watch out for the last step.” Mrs. Weasley warned.
“Oh, okay.” Tonks said, followed by a headbutt on the umbrella stand and the plates fell out of her hands.
Felix moved his fingers and motioned for the plate to settle on the table.
“Thanks, I always forget there’s something here.” Tonks said bitterly.
“Actually that umbrella stand was moved from the foyer to here just two days ago,” Ginny quipped from behind her, ” because you always bump into it when you come back from work …”
Tonks became annoyed and tried to cover Ginny’s mouth, who ran away squealing.
“Where’s Frank and Alice?” Felix asked, he hadn’t been here for a while.
“They went away on a trip, I believe they went to the giant’s territory.” Mr. Weasley said.
On the other side, Bill is chatting with Sirius and Lupin.
“The goblins are angry, you know, about the Thief’s Downfall thingy.” Bill said the information he had snooped in his office.
“Lame pretence, they simply don’t want to stand in favour on either of our sides.” Sirius said.
“If you’ve ever dealt with them, you’d see that goblins have different ideas than common people, different from common wizards to be exact.” Bill shrugged and said, “They are really angry that wizards stole their technology … but you are right, they really have no intention of siding with us …”
“Sirius, when are you going to leave the Ministry of Magic?” Lupin asked. He didn’t ask when Sirius would be out of duty at the Ministry of Magic, but rather when he would withdraw as planned since Sirius is going to be a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts in the new school year.
“By the day before school starts.” Sirius said after a moment of hesitation.
“You’re not reluctant to leave, right?” Bill asked with a smile.
“Ha, are you kidding me, I can’t wait to leave a bit early.”
————
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