Chapter 90: Classroom Clarifications
Chapter 90: Classroom Clarifications
Felix stayed in Snape's office until the end of the first afternoon class before rushing off to teach the seventh-year young wizards.
He stood at the podium, looking down at the young wizards from the four houses.
There were fewer than twenty of them in total. "Tsk, tsk! There are far too few."
At the beginning of the school year, Felix had discussed with Professor Mcgonagall and managed to "appropriately" relax the academic requirements, allowing some young wizards who scored an A to join his advanced class.
He did this with the hope of "getting as many as possible", thinking that perhaps he could use his strong personal charisma to persuade a few more young wizards to join the large family of ancient Runic Script researchers.
However, this course had always been lukewarm, with a rather lackluster response. Apart from those who aspired to study ancient texts or wanted to work at Gringotts or the Ministry of Magic's retirement department, others showed little interest.
So, in his seventh-year class, he had either the top students who aimed to cover all their bases by selecting as many advanced courses as possible, or the underachievers who, by sheer luck, managed to get an A in ancient Runic Script.
For example, Marcus Flint, a typical underachiever, only chose two subjects in his seventh year: Care of Magical Creatures and ancient Runic Script.
He only managed to get into the ancient Runic Script class because Felix had lowered the bar a bit; otherwise, he would have been taking just one course.
Felix knew that the seventh-year Care of Magical Creatures class would cover a lot of knowledge about raising and breeding rare magical creatures, requiring the students to read and memorize a vast amount of material. Given Marcus Flint's troll-like brain, Felix couldn't fathom how he managed to pass.
At the podium, Felix waved his wand, sending a dozen papers flying to the young wizards in front of them.
He commented, "Overall, your grades are steadily improving. However, I must remind you that according to the Newts examination standards, you will need to translate a complete ancient text."
"This means that during the exam, you might encounter quite obscure ancient Runic Scripts that you won't find in the five years of ancient Runic Script textbooks."
"Professor, how should we prepare for that?" a Ravenclaw witch asked, pushing her thick glasses up. She was easily recognizable.
"Miss Vela, this involves a bit of exam technique, such as inferring the meaning."
"Inferring the meaning?" Vela pushed her glasses up, puzzled.
"In the sixth and seventh-year ancient Runic Script textbooks, a significant portion is dedicated to explaining the evolution of ancient Runic Scripts. For example, Eoh has gone through seven versions, each with slightly different meanings and writing styles."
"But if you understand its evolutionary logic, you'll see that its core meaning has never truly changed."
Vela nodded, acknowledging that she was familiar with this knowledge.
Professor Hepburn continued, "Therefore, if you know one version of the ancient Runic Script, you can infer its meaning based on its core concept and the context."
"Even for those Runic Scripts you've never encountered, you can make reasonable inferences based on their forms. This involves using the 27 most common evolutionary forms..."
"Of course, magical Runic Scripts are not included in this range and need to be memorized separately, but there are not many of them."
Marcus, sitting beside her, looked utterly lost. What are you talking about?
Why do I recognize each word, but when put together, it's like a foreign language?
"I understand, Professor Hepburn", Vela said excitedly.
In this class, only she truly loved ancient Runic Script, determined to pursue a career in it, though her focus was on text translation.
This influence actually came from her family—her grandfather was the vice president of the Ancient Runic Script Association.
When she mentioned during the Christmas holiday that the new Ancient Runic Script professor at Hogwarts was Felix Hep, her grandfather's expression was truly amusing. He cursed Felix, calling him a heretic who had gone astray, but then bashfully admitted, "He does have real talent, so you can barely learn from him if you must." This made her place Professor Hep on the same level as her grandfather in her mind.
"Let's continue—" After addressing the daily questions, Felix's gaze fell on Marcus: "Flint, your grades are always hovering around a C (passing), and I'm really worried about you."
Marcus's face fell. He had truly put in a lot of effort in Ancient Runic Script. Even during Quidditch practice, he kept a textbook in his bag—though he had only opened it once.
But at least he had shown the right attitude, and he hadn't been this dedicated to any other subject. Unfortunately, he just wasn't cut out for it. Marcus had considered dropping the class, but he would start trembling whenever he saw Felix, and he couldn't muster the courage to do so.
"Professor, I'll try harder", Marcus said shakily.
"Very well, feel free to come to me with any questions."
Felix began the lesson, and in this small classroom, the distinction between top students and struggling ones was clear. The top students grew more engaged, while the struggling ones became increasingly lost. Marcus was an anomaly—he was a struggling student trying to act like a top student.
The class passed quickly.
Felix left with a stack of parchments, which contained the seventh-year students' assignments.
Today, he had received homework from three different grades. Felix planned to leverage his assistant's enthusiasm for learning, assigning her to handle the third and fourth-year assignments.
In the evening, Felix casually flipped through Professor Flitwick's Christmas gift—a manuscript on Ancient Magic.
The parchment featured two types of handwriting: one was extremely ancient and distant, the Ancient Runic Script, and the other was Professor Flitwick's annotations and comments, detailing his research approach.
It was very enlightening.
However, according to Professor Flitwick, he did not have a special talent for Ancient Runic Script. Therefore, this incomplete Ancient Magic was a joint research project with the former Ancient Runic Script professor, Babbling. When Professor Babbling left Hogwarts for a vacation, the research stalled.
By giving the manuscript to Felix, Professor Flitwick was also extending an invitation to collaborate on the research.
Felix waved his wand, and a faint blue light, like a river of stars, traced through the air and landed on a quill.
The brown quill first shrank to the size of a toothpick, then rapidly expanded to the size of a cane. As Felix continued to infuse it with magic, the quill grew to about seven feet and then stopped.
"Hmm, the effect is similar to combining the Shrinking Charm and the Enlarging Charm, but it doesn't have the high consumption, high danger, and high intensity characteristics of Ancient Magic."
"Instead, it's more like modern Simplified Magic, with a limit to its power and magic consumption."
"Is it because the part that completes it follows the principles of Simplified Magic?"
Felix scribbled notes on the parchment, preparing for a long battle. Reconstructing Ancient Magic was no easy task.
'I really wish I had a teacher,' he thought wistfully as he went to bed.
(End of Chapter)
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