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Chapter 102: Nick's Gratitude
Chapter 102: Nick's Gratitude
Liam was watching a group of ghosts ignore their dignity as they scrambled for food at the table. Hermione walked over from the side.
She held a notebook and said, "We really learned a lot today. I discovered so many secrets that I never knew before. For example, that Earl was boasting about his bravery, but a nearby ghost revealed that he actually died after accidentally falling and hitting his head on a crossbow bolt during a pursuit. It's clear that many historical truths are not worth delving into."
As Hermione excitedly recounted her day's discoveries, her stomach growled. Her face immediately turned red when she heard the sound.
Liam also felt a bit hungry at that moment, so he went to find Nick to say goodbye.
Nick had just finished toasting and was standing on the main platform, happily watching the ghosts gathered around the table. When he saw Liam and Hermione approaching, he bowed deeply and said, "Thank you for your help. I feel that today has been the happiest day since I died."
"Don't mention it. It wasn't that difficult for me. We're going upstairs to eat, so we need to leave early. Goodbye", Liam said to Nick.
"Ah, I've been so busy these past few days that I completely forgot to prepare food for you two. I'm truly sorry. Go ahead and eat; I think you can still catch the desserts if you hurry. The gift I prepared for you will be on your bedside in the morning."
With that, Nick bowed again and escorted Liam and Hermione out of the dungeon.
Liam and Hermione hurried through the corridor and up the stairs. When they panted their way into the Great Hall and sat down at their seats, the main course had already been cleared, and the desserts were just being brought out.
"You missed the Halloween Special Apple Pie, which is a real shame", Ron said, his mouth full of caramel apple, as he saw Liam and Hermione sit down.
"But I think attending the ghosts' gathering tonight was very rewarding. I learned a lot that I couldn't find in books", Hermione said, picking up a piece of Pumpkin Pie.
"So, what was special about the ghosts' gathering?" Harry suddenly asked, curious.
"I found the Headless Hunt's performance of head-tossing on horseback very interesting. I've never seen anything like it before", Liam said, eating a piece of cake.
"And the blue candles, the cold temperature, and the room full of ghosts really captured the essence of the Wizarding World's Halloween. The only downside was that there was nothing suitable for humans to eat", Liam concluded.
After stuffing themselves with desserts, Liam followed the crowd back to the dormitory.
The next morning, when Liam woke up, he found a thick parchment letter on his bedside. Opening the envelope, Liam discovered that Nick had asked a House-Elf to deliver it the previous night.
At the beginning of the letter, Nick mentioned that he had used a bottle of Firewhisky from his private stash to get Peeves to write it, as Peeves was the only ghost who could write. He also noted that he didn't want the House-Elf to write it because the content of the letter was not suitable for the headmaster to know.
Liam opened the envelope and pulled out the letter, discovering that Nick had given him quite a few gifts. The letter contained the locations and methods to access several secret passages in Hogwarts, and it also informed Liam that the Room of Requirement held items lost by Hogwarts students over the centuries, which could be found by thinking of a hiding place at the door.
At the end of the letter, it also mentioned that a ghost had told Liam about seeing a group of people sneaking around with several heavy chests and hiding them near the southern coast of England almost two hundred years ago. No one had ever retrieved those chests since then. Judging by their size and weight, they likely contained treasures.
Liam thought to himself that the Christmas holidays would be a good time for a treasure hunt. This gift from Nick was indeed generous, and he hoped it wouldn't end up being a false hope. In any case, helping out had been quite rewarding for Liam.
Feeling very cheerful, Liam watched with great interest the play performed by Harry Potter and Gilderoy Lockhart: Gilderoy vs. the Werewolf.
Honestly, if Gilderoy weren't a wizard, he could find a job in Hollywood. Liam noticed that Gilderoy, with just a few simple verbal instructions, managed to make Harry bring the werewolf to life with some degree of realism.
After all, Gilderoy only needed to guide the real heroes through the process with his words. He could recreate scenes and performances with a sense of reality using just dry descriptions. Gilderoy was undoubtedly a genius in this aspect.
Unfortunately, such teaching was clearly insufficient for a teacher, and Liam felt he wasn't learning anything in such a class.
So, while Lockhart was fully engrossed in the performance, Liam pulled out a stack of parchments and began to deduce the magical lineage of Viking wizards.
Magic wasn't just about learning spells; once the basic runes of a spell were deduced, the user could attempt to modify the magic.
For example, an ordinary wizard using Transfiguration could turn a stone into a statue or, at best, transform one object into another. However, a Transfiguration expert like Dumbledore could deduce extremely complex magic from simple Transfiguration.
For instance, in the original story, Dumbledore used a simple water orb to control Voldemort's magic at the Ministry of Magic, which was actually an extension of basic Transfiguration.
Liam, of course, couldn't achieve that level yet. He was simply breaking down the Viking spell in his memory step by step, confirming the composition of each part of the spell, and analyzing the effects of each component. Finally, he would make minor modifications.
This work was quite intricate, requiring the spell's incantation, gestures, and all other elements to be reduced to their most basic magical runes, and then each rune's properties and content analyzed.
The magic Liam was currently working on was the ancient Viking version of Lumos. This spell was more complex than the modern Lumos but allowed the light to detach from the wand and attach to other objects.
He chose this spell as a starting point because it was simple and safe. Even if he failed, the worst that could happen was a brief flash like a camera's flash or no light at all. But with more complex spells, failure could be very dangerous. For example, Luna's mother had died due to a failed spell.
As the play reached its climax on the stage, Liam finally managed to deduce a modified usage of the spell from his memory: by expending three times the magic power, the spell's duration would double.
Excited, Liam accidentally cast the spell, and everyone in the classroom saw a silvery-white light orb floating toward the stage.
"Oh no, I've gone too far", Liam said, covering his face with his hand.
(End of Chapter)
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