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Chapter 250: Chestnut Dish
Chapter 250: Chestnut Dish
In the Ancient Runes Office, Hermione curiously looked around. The professor's office appeared somewhat cluttered, with two piles of Christmas gifts in the corner, one of which had a few boxes partially opened.
The spacious workbench was also littered with various peculiar items: a palm-sized silver dish with magical symbols along the edges, a dozen dark green coins with a heavy metallic sheen, a disassembled Magical Automaton, a stack of parchment, a few chestnut dish ornaments, a rune engraving knife, and a couple of books.
Felix noticed Hermione's gaze. "These are all part of my recent work. Some of it you've been involved in."
Hermione nodded. The silver dish was a Pensieve the professor had acquired and needed to repair. As for the coins, she had seen them at a Rune Club meeting; they could transform into a dark green ouroboros. She hadn't expected to see so many at once. Could they be new teaching tools?
Or perhaps they were for the Rune Club?
"You can sit down for a moment. I'll go change my coat." Felix walked into the bedroom and changed into a loose, sea-blue sweater. When he came out, he saw Hermione holding a dark green Slytherin in one hand and playfully teasing it with the other.
At the sound of his footsteps, she explained somewhat flustered, "Professor, you left the coin on the table. I tried to sense it with magic—then it turned into this."
Felix smiled. "You can press your wand to its head and whisper, 'Infinite.'"
Hermione lowered her head to look at the Slytherin in her hand. It didn't look scary at all, lacking the slimy feel of a reptile. Instead, it resembled a piece of metal craftsmanship, with dark green scales layered and extending to the tip of its tail.
The Slytherin's eyes were black and bright, moving with her gaze.
She drew her wand, gently touching the Slytherin's head, and whispered, "Infinite."
The Slytherin nodded at her as if understanding, then began to move. She felt a slight tickle in her palm, and it soon coiled around her right pinky, forming a ring that remained still.
"Is this—an ouroboros ring?"
"Exactly, it's a symbol of the Rune Club. We'll distribute them at the meeting after Christmas. It has two forms—coin and ouroboros ring—and can replace hot knuts."
Felix joked, "Several people have told me that hot knuts are too easily mistaken for regular coins, and they have to be careful not to pay with them."
Hermione studied the snake ring with great interest and quickly found the trick. She waved her hand, and the ring came to life, transforming back into a Slytherin. The Slytherin then coiled itself, reverting to its original coin form.
Hermione placed the coin back on the workbench and pointed to the chestnut dish ornament. "What is this? It looks similar to a Pensieve."
"It's quite close. The research on the Pensieve hasn't been smooth, but I've managed to create some small gadgets. Of course, they can't compare to a Pensieve, but some people might find them intriguing."
Felix gestured for her to try it. Hermione, as the Ancient Runes Class Assistant, was often the first to test the rune artifacts he created.
Hermione walked over and carefully examined the chestnut wood dish-shaped ornament. It closely resembled a Pensieve in shape, though it was slightly smaller. The edges were clearly engraved with runic circuits, which were layered and interconnected, looking quite complex.
She also noticed something she hadn't seen before: a thin layer of silver sand covered the chestnut dish. When gently shaken, the silver sand flowed like mercury.
"These silver things—"
"Blank memory fragments. You can think of them as necessary fillers."
After a moment's thought, Hermione used her wand to touch the edge of the chestnut dish. The runic circuits around the dish lit up one by one, and the silver sand was shaped by an invisible hand, rising to a height of about a foot and forming a slowly rotating cloud.
She suddenly remembered the bronze smoke Professor Flitwick demonstrated in a Duelling Class, which could be shaped into various forms, though it required manual manipulation. The silver cloud in front of her, formed by fine sand, looked more intricate, like liquid silver light, gracefully spreading and floating.
"What should I do?" Hermione asked.
"Imagine a memory. Just a hint, not too personal, as it can read your thoughts."
Hermione was startled but realized that since this was a replica of a Pensieve, it must be related to memories. She recalled a specific memory, then extended a finger to touch the silver cloud.
The cloud began to churn, and the silver sand rained down, gradually forming a three-dimensional model on the silver platter: it was the scene from her second year when she, Harry, and Ron battled the Basilisk in the Chamber.
Hermione leaned her head on the table, carefully examining the tiny "Hermione" on the chestnut dish, which was less than half an inch tall. The same went for Harry and Ron, who were just tiny, and the Basilisk, which was about half a foot long, writhing and smashing a "large" rock with its tail, looking incredibly lifelike.
The architecture of the Chamber was also replicated, including the Slytherin Statue, the open space in front of it, and the snake-entwined pillars. Everything looked so small.
Everything on the chestnut dish was like a miniature sand model, except it was animated. From this perspective, the originally dangerous scene became almost adorable.
Hermione stared with wide eyes, and the "story" unfolded exactly as she remembered, right up to the moment Harry leaped from the Slytherin Statue and plunged the elegant Gryffindor sword into the Basilisk's head. The scene then paused.
Hermione gazed at the slowly rotating silver sand on the chestnut dish, unable to recover for a long time.
"This is, this is..." She struggled to describe her feelings, finally managing to say, "incredibly amazing."
Felix shook his head. He wasn't entirely satisfied because this device was of no use to him, at most helping to expand his thoughts.
"That's because you haven't used a Pensieve. It can restore all the details in your subconscious. If you experience it, you'll be amazed to find how much rich content is in your memory, which you were previously unaware of..."
"What you just saw was the chestnut dish reading your memory and displaying it. Many parts were not clear."
Hermione recalled the scene she had seen and gradually understood the professor's point: "That's true. I didn't see you, Professor Snape, or Headmaster Dumbledore, but you were all there in the Chamber. Also, some areas were quite blurry, but they were so small I didn't notice, like the Slytherin statue."
Felix nodded and smiled. "You'll find that you, Harry, and Ron are the clearest, as you are most familiar with them. Next is the Basilisk, which left a strong impression on you. The surrounding environment is the least clear. To be honest, your memory is already quite good. If someone with a poorer memory used it, the surrounding environment might be largely blurry or not appear at all."
Hermione summarized, "So, it only extracts what we can already recall and displays it, without delving into the subconscious."
"You've hit the key point, Hermione Granger", Felix praised.
(End of Chapter)
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