In the silent darkness, Ethan quietly put on his dressing gown, picked up his wand, and crept through the room, down the spiral staircase, and into the Gryffindor common room.
A few embers still flickered in the fireplace, turning the armchairs into hunched, dark shadows.
Wrapping his robes tightly around himself, Ethan pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and slipped out soundlessly.
The castle in the dead of night was extraordinarily quiet.
Drafts of cold air blew through the corridors, and even the people in the portraits had their eyes tightly shut, their faces appearing an unnatural, pale grey.
Making as little noise as possible, Ethan quickly made his way to the fourth floor and slipped quietly into the library.
Avoiding Madam Pince’s alarm spells with extreme caution, it took him ten minutes just to approach the Restricted Section.
The Restricted Section was blocked off by nothing more than a single rope.
Because of this, Ethan had always suspected that although this was a forbidden area, perhaps the school secretly maintained an encouraging attitude.
Could those rules merely be the Ministry of Magic’s regulations, rather than the school’s own?
Otherwise, why leave it completely unguarded?
“Lumos,” Ethan whispered.
A steady, soft white light immediately lit up at the tip of his wand.
Keeping an eye on the surroundings, Ethan searched carefully.
After a moment, his eyes lit up as he pulled down a purple spellbook and flipped through it rapidly.
*Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts* “Protego, Impedimenta…
Found it!
The Disillusionment Charm!” Ethan held his breath and committed it to memory, repeating it over and over.
Once he was absolutely sure he had it right, he put the book back without a moment’s hesitation and turned to leave.
Hogwarts library books had anti-copying charms cast on them, making them impossible to replicate—a highly effective anti-piracy measure.
“Meow?” Suddenly, a red-eyed cat darted into the library, running straight into Ethan as he was preparing to leave.
Mrs.
Norris?
Ethan’s pupils contracted.
He instinctively tightened his grip on his wand but quickly relaxed his hand and bolted down the stairs.
Before long, a harsh, snarling voice and heavy footsteps echoed through the corridor, waking up quite a few portraits.
In a pitch-black, empty classroom, Ethan let out a soft sigh of relief, his expression shifting.
You certainly are dedicated, Mr.
Filch.
“Good thing it’s the weekend…” He wouldn’t be able to leave anytime soon, so Ethan simply sat cross-legged and began to study the Disillusionment Charm.
He explored the charm step by step.
If anything felt even slightly off, he would immediately abort and start over.
It wasn’t until two hours later, when dead silence once again claimed the corridors outside, that Ethan crept out of the classroom, quickly made his way down the stairs, and left that section of the castle.
This time, he was incredibly lucky not to run into that cat again.
As the sky began to pale, Ethan, wrapped in his robes, whispered the password.
Before the sleeping Fat Lady could fully wake, he slipped inside and quietly returned to his dormitory.
It wasn’t until he stripped off his clothes and climbed into bed that Ethan finally let his guard down.
A wave of exhaustion washed over him, and he tangled his legs in his blanket, falling into a deep sleep.
With only 4 points of Spirit, he was indeed a bit weak.
“Ethan?
Ethan?” Through a haze of sleep, Ethan heard someone calling his name.
As consciousness returned, a sudden jolt of panic seized him.
Thinking his excursion last night had been discovered, he sat up abruptly and looked around with a vigilant expression.
Neville stood by his bed, looking at him timidly.
Ethan let out a sigh of relief.
Looking around the room, he saw that the others were still fast asleep.
Rubbing his eyes, he said, “Good morning, Neville.
You’re up early.” Neville looked at him sheepishly.
“Granger seems to have something to discuss with you.
She had Trevor wake me up.” “She’s looking for me?
Thanks.
You can go back to sleep.” Neville nodded, clutched his toad, and climbed back into bed.
Ethan quickly dressed, grabbed his wand, and left the room.
Down in the common room, Hermione was sitting on a sofa, reading a thick magic book.
Walking down the spiral stairs, he yawned and said, “Good morning, Granger.” In his memory, he didn’t recall making any plans with her.
Hermione closed her book and looked at him in surprise.
“I can’t believe you’re sleeping in on a weekend.” “Saturday is meant for resting, after all.
Neville said you were looking for me.” He had been at Hogwarts for a week now, and for one reason or another, he had managed to mingle well with many people.
The brilliant young witch before him, however, was his exact opposite.
All of her free time was spent in the library.
Though she also liked helping her peers, her somewhat unapproachable nature meant that most people preferred to come to Ethan instead.
As a result, up until now, this young witch didn’t seem very close to her roommates and had almost no friends—Harry and Ron didn’t like her much either.
In his memories of the original timeline, their relationship only reached a breakthrough after Halloween.
Hermione said seriously, “Actually, I’m very interested in the button transfiguration you did last time.
Combining a Color-Change Charm with Transfiguration to produce patterned buttons…
I’ve been trying it myself for the past two days, but something always feels slightly off.” “Ah, that…” Ethan thought for a moment and stood up.
“It’s hard to explain in just a few words.
Come on, let’s head to the Great Hall for breakfast first, then go to an empty classroom.” Hermione nodded.
Fumbling in her pocket, she pulled out a box of Chocolate Frogs.
Under Ethan’s surprised gaze, the young witch emphasized, “I bought this myself.
It’s not one of those sweets you gave away.
This is an exchange!” Ethan sighed.
“Alright.
Honestly, I don’t really like sweets, but Ron loves these things.” Hermione looked displeased.
“This is an exchange between you and me.
Out of principle, you have to eat it yourself.” “If I eat all of them, before long, I’ll be rounder than Neville and my mouth will be full of cavities…
When that happens, my mother might actually have a breakdown.” “But you were the one who made this rule in the first place.” “Yes, which is why I’m planning to change it.” Complaining to each other, the two of them left the common room together.
…
At two o’clock in the afternoon, in the empty study room, Ethan rapidly wrote down the entire theory of the Disillusionment Charm.
He turned over every word and sentence in his head, breaking the wand movements down into dozens of tiny steps to ensure there wasn’t the slightest error.
He had developed this knack while designing study notes for the little badgers recently.
It was incredibly useful and perfect for slow learners.
Even so, learning the Disillusionment Charm remained a daunting task.
It wasn’t until the sky outside began to darken that Ethan finally exhaled in relief.
Flicking his wand, he whispered, “Disillusionment Charm!” Instantly, a sensation of cold enveloped Ethan.
Looking down, he saw that his body had taken on a distorted, transparent outline.
This was because his mastery of the Disillusionment Charm was still immature.
When powerful wizards used this charm, only a very faint, almost imperceptible distortion would mark their outline.
Ethan couldn’t help but smile.
The first step was always the hardest.
Now that he had figured out the method, it was only a matter of practice before he mastered it!
“But I still need to be careful.
It would be best to learn all the high-level spells in the Restricted Section, especially Occlumency…
though I might not find that in the library.
Maybe I can search Professor Snape’s office?” “And there’s also my Spirit attribute…
I’ll have to pull frequent all-nighters from now on.
If my Spirit isn’t high enough, it will seriously affect my state.” Ethan suddenly felt a rush of oxygen deprivation in his brain, and a wave of weakness washed over him.
He immediately canceled the Disillusionment Charm and silently checked the time.
Fifteen minutes.
Eleven points of Magic was only enough to sustain the Disillusionment Charm for fifteen minutes.
“But to be able to cast such a high-level spell at my level is already quite an achievement.” Meanwhile, in front of the notice board, quite a few young wizards noticed that a new announcement had been posted.
“[First-Year After-School Study Group: From today onward, for any student seeking help, the value of the sweets exchanged must not exceed 1 Knut.
Ideally, exchanges should be made using knowledge or interesting items, such as acceptance letters (for viewing only).] — Ethan White.”