Chapter 102: Research Team
Chapter 102: Research Team
After a long while—
Ginny finished crying and asked, "Professor, will I be expelled?"
"No, you can rest assured about that."
...
When Ginny returned to her seat with red eyes, Ron and the twins stared at her intently.
Ron wanted to say something, but Ginny ignored him completely. She moved her small chair closer to Luna, who hummed a peculiar tune in her ear.
The twins were a bit restless, but fortunately, Professor Hup dismissed them after collecting their written suggestions.
"Ginny, what happened?" George couldn't help but ask as they left the office.
Ginny shook her head.
"Did Professor Hup scold you, Ginny? I mean, going to the Forbidden Forest was a bit dangerous, right, Fred?"
Fred replied without hesitation, "That's right. If you're interested in the Forbidden Forest, I can show you around. It's not much, just trees, rocks, and flowers."
She bit her lip tightly and didn't speak.
Luna, holding hands with Ginny, said in a singing voice, "Professor Hup is quite reasonable, isn't he? But you don't look too well. I suggest you visit the Hospital Wing."
"Thank you, Luna."
"How did you—"
"Fred, George, and Ron, I'm fine. I just", Ginny took a deep breath, "ran into some trouble, and Professor Hup helped me out."
Seeing her brothers about to ask more, she said sternly, "I won't tell you." Ginny then pulled Luna away, running off quickly.
Fred looked at her retreating figure and said with a sigh, "Ginny is growing up, not the little girl who used to follow us around anymore."
George retorted, "So you miss the old days?"
"Ah, we only miss the past to ensure we can never return to it", Fred made a face.
The two of them laughed and joked around.
In the following week, Hogwarts remained as calm as ever.
Every evening, the nine young wizards would report to the Ancient Runes Office and complete some test tasks as directed by Professor Hup.
Most of their detentions were scheduled for the weekends, but Ron's, due to the "serious nature" of his offense and Lockhart's strong recommendation, were consecutive for thirty days.
However, when Professor Hup promised to reduce their future detentions based on the number of sessions they completed, the other young wizards readily agreed to serve their detentions with him.
The reason was simple: other professors assigned monotonous, repetitive work, while Professor Hup's tasks were the most interesting.
By the third or fourth day, they had formed a cross-house research team, earnestly discussing improvements to the 'Answer Space.'
They weren't just talking in general terms but were genuinely invested in the project.
Seeing the young wizards' enthusiasm, Felix was pleased and willing to provide guidance.
But as the sole technical advisor and judge, he had to reject one unrealistic idea after another, selecting only the most feasible improvements.
"Young wizards, professors are not all-powerful and cannot accommodate all your wild ideas."
This was Professor Hup's response when the twins suggested adding a 'video call' function to the parchment.
In the end, under Felix's guidance, the young wizards designed several versions.
The most basic and primitive version was similar to what they had seen, with the addition of house emblems and enhanced feedback functions.
The twins and Ron played significant roles in this.
The feedback on the parchment could be broadly categorized into two types: praise for correct answers and teasing for incorrect ones.
The twins' sharp tongues impressed their teammates, while Ron excelled in the realm of praise, coming up with countless sugary compliments.
"Actually, these are all direct quotes from Lockhart's fans", Ron explained.
For the subsequent versions, they followed Professor Hup's professional advice and created a series of progressively more challenging improvements.
The highest demand was for the leaderboard, but that was relatively easy to address—he could use Synchronization Magic to compile all the information from the Parchments into the elegant scroll in his possession.
This device essentially served as a server.
However, it wasn't very intelligent and would require manual sorting to arrange the entries in order of rank.
As for other features like online duels, friend lists, and subject divisions, those were beyond what he could achieve in the short term and would exceed the capacity of a single Parchment. Felix pushed these ideas to the distant future.
By the end of the week, the twins, Graham Montague, and Marcus Flint had completed their detentions, but they chose to stay and finish the project.
Ginny and Luna made the same decision.
When Hermione learned about the research group, she immediately asked Felix to join this temporary team.
With Felix's presence, no one dared to openly discuss the tensions between the houses, though some might still show a mocking expression. At such times, Professor Hup's gaze would often follow.
"I never thought we'd actually work together on something, and that my partners would be Slytherins!" Fred muttered to George one day.
"Hey, who would have thought? This is even more unbelievable than us not causing any trouble at the end of the term", George shrugged.
The twins' gaze fell on the Slytherin Quidditch team captain—
While Marcus wasn't particularly insightful, he represented the lower limit of young wizards. As a pure tester, he repeatedly uncovered bugs in the 'Answer Space,' such as asking, "Professor, why did the writing on the Parchment disappear?" "Oh, you took too long to think, it assumed you fell asleep."
By the morning of the tenth day, Felix woke up early to head to the Room of Requirement for his daily magic practice.
He had only recently discovered the room's true capabilities.
Felix had stumbled upon the Room of Requirement during the first attack, but he initially thought it was just a mysterious room for hiding things. The concealment magic on it was impressive, but this wasn't a high priority for him.
It was only after Tom in the diary revealed the room's true secret that Felix's interest was reignited.
The Room of Requirement could flexibly change its internal environment to meet the user's needs, which immediately piqued his research interest. However, with his current knowledge, he couldn't decipher the room's secrets; he could only glimpse the Magic Channels running throughout the room.
'The Room of Requirement's magic supply is rooted in the thousand-year-old castle of Hogwarts.'
This was Felix's thought.
Although his research was hindered, he had developed a new use for the room—practicing spells.
He could unleash his full strength, including his instant-kill technique, without any reservations. The benefits were obvious; at least, he no longer had to spend an hour traveling to the depths of the Forbidden Forest to practice.
...
The sky was just beginning to lighten as Felix walked through the empty corridor.
After completing his training for the day, he was heading downstairs to the kitchen to find something to eat when he ran into Lockhart.
Lockhart was dragging a large box, with two smaller ones floating behind him.
"Professor Lockhart?"
The sudden voice startled Lockhart, and the two boxes he was barely controlling dropped to the ground with a thud.
"Who's there?" Lockhart called out in a low voice.
Felix's figure descended the stairs, and he looked Lockhart up and down. "Professor Lockhart, are you planning to go out?"
(End of Chapter)
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