Two Old Men Settle Accounts 23: Chapter 23: Containing Magical Creatures?
Two Old Men Settle Accounts Beside the desk in Professor Flitwick’s office, the warm aroma of black tea and the sweetness of pastries filled the air.
Seeing Lucien complete the Undetectable Extension Charm addition on his own, Professor Flitwick nodded with satisfaction.
“Well done, Lucien.” Lucien pulled his gaze away from the tea and said sincerely, “Professor, thank you for your patient guidance.” Flitwick chuckled and pointed to the pastry stand, “Have something to eat first and take a break.” Picking up a small pink cake, Lucien took small, polite bites.
“Lucien, regarding using objects with the Undetectable Extension Charm to contain living things, what conditions do you think need to be met?” Hearing the professor’s question, Lucien swallowed the last bite of cake and thought for a few seconds before saying, “First, ensuring a living environment is a must—climate, food, water sources…
Secondly, the stability of the space; there can’t be sudden spatial contractions or collapses…
But beyond that, I haven’t thought of anything else for now.” Professor Flitwick nodded at Lucien’s answer.
“You’ve considered it quite comprehensively.
Actually, there’s another issue if you’re accommodating different species.
Since their environmental needs vary greatly, you’d need to set up different spaces, which involves deeper levels of Spatial Folding.” Following Professor Flitwick’s pointers, Lucien became lost in thought.
Indeed, compared to adding Charms to objects with the Undetectable Extension Charm, the difficulty of creating an object capable of containing living beings skyrocketed.
The required knowledge and magical skill were currently beyond his reach.
Professor Flitwick added helplessly, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you with the Undetectable Extension Charm for containing living beings.
That kind of technique is closer to complex magic matrices.
In this field, only the Scamander family has researched it deeply.” The family name Flitwick mentioned immediately made Lucien look up.
“Scamander?
You mean the family of Newt Scamander, the author of ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’?” “Yes, the author of that world-renowned bestseller.” Lucien immediately recalled Newt’s suitcase from the movies he had seen in his past life; inside was layer upon layer of small worlds, containing various distinct environments and housing a large number of Magical Creatures.
That’s basically a small pocket dimension!
“It’s a pity.
A few years ago, one might have tried to contact Mr.
Scamander, but he has already retired into seclusion.
Few people know where he lives or how to contact him.” Flitwick spread his hands helplessly, expressing his regret.
“By the way, Lucien, how did you come to think of trying to use the Undetectable Extension Charm to contain living things?” Facing Professor Flitwick’s curiosity, Lucien scratched his head: “Uh, actually, I just felt the bed in my dormitory was a bit small and wanted to make it a bit bigger.” Hearing that Lucien just wanted to expand his own bed, Flitwick was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“Hahaha, you truly are an interesting and proactive young wizard.” Of course, Lucien had an additional thought that he couldn’t confess to the professor.
That was to contain some Magical Creatures to make it easier for him to observe them, preparing for his future research into Magical Creature Transfiguration.
Hmm, if I could have a suitcase like Newt’s, I could reduce the frequency of my trips to the Forbidden Forest; it would be much more convenient.
Lucien chatted more with Professor Flitwick about variant applications and advanced techniques for common Charms.
He also mixed in questions about Charms like the Disillusionment Charm and Tracking Charm, which he might need later when searching for Magical Creatures in the Forbidden Forest.
As they talked, Lucien noticed the time; it was already approaching noon.
So he rose to take his leave: “Professor, I won’t disturb you any longer.
Thank you for clearing up my doubts.” Flitwick waved his hand, his expression very satisfied.
“Don’t mention it.
I’m very happy to see a student who loves learning.” Flitwick suddenly remembered the chat he had with McGonagall at the opening ceremony.
Yes, Ravenclaw indeed has another fine student!
“Oh, wait a moment, Lucien.” With a wave of Professor Flitwick’s hand, paper and a quill floated over from the desk.
The quill scribbled down several lines of words, and finally, Flitwick signed his name at the bottom.
Flitwick handed the paper to Lucien, who took it with both hands.
“On here are several advanced books on Charms.
If you’re interested in them, you can go to the school library and give this to Madam Pince; she will help you find them.” A clear look of joy appeared on Lucien’s face: “Thank you, Professor.” He had planned to go to the library to borrow books tonight anyway; Professor Flitwick’s recommended book list came just at the right time.
Lucien left the office with the book list.
— A few minutes later, Flitwick looked again at the teacup with the Undetectable Extension Charm applied to it.
Although in his view there was still room for improvement, for this to come from the hands of a first-year student was already incredible enough.
Suddenly, a voice full of vigor drifted into Flitwick’s office.
“Filius, are you in?
I have something I’d like to discuss with you.” Flitwick looked up to see the tall Dumbledore sitting directly across from him.
“Oh, did you just brew some black tea?
It’s still hot.
Filius, your private collection of black tea is the best in the whole school.” Seeing the black tea on the table, Dumbledore picked up a cup.
He opened the sugar jar and dropped several sugar cubes into the teacup.
Flitwick’s eyelid twitched at the sight.
Dumbledore took a sip but felt it wasn’t sweet enough.
He had clearly put in about the same amount of sugar as before.
With a slight glance, Dumbledore discovered the reason.
“Haha, Filius, what made you think to apply the Undetectable Extension Charm to a teacup and add so many minor lifestyle Charms?
The effect is quite interesting, though.” Dumbledore could also see that the combination of these Charms wasn’t perfect or refined enough, but he just took it as a little toy Flitwick had made on a whim.
“Filius, I’ve come to talk to you about that boy, Lucien Greenwood.
I wonder if he’s already attended your class?” Flitwick nodded with a slightly strange expression.
“That makes it easier then.
What do you think of Lucien’s talent?
I mean purely in terms of Charms.” Hearing Dumbledore’s question, Flitwick’s expression became even stranger.
If Dumbledore’s expression hadn’t been so serious, he would have suspected his old friend was playing another joke and had actually been eavesdropping outside the door for a while.
Pointing to the teacup in Dumbledore’s hand, Flitwick tried to keep his tone calm: “Uh, Lucien’s talent for Charms…
The Charms on that cup you’re holding were all applied by him.” “Mm….Hm?” Seeing Dumbledore’s clearly surprised expression, Flitwick confirmed he hadn’t been eavesdropping outside.
From the moment Lucien started asking questions to the completion of the charm additions, Flitwick recounted his entire interaction with Lucien to Dumbledore.
As Flitwick spoke, Dumbledore became increasingly convinced of the accuracy of the Sorting Hat’s evaluation of Lucien—a talent rarely seen in a thousand years.
“It’s a pity, the boy originally wanted to try using the Undetectable Extension Charm to contain living things, but I also told him that Newt Scamander, who mastered that technique, has already retired into seclusion.” Newt?
Suddenly hearing this name, Dumbledore wanted to say—he knew him well!
An old friend!
Speaking of which, it had been a long time since they last contacted each other; he could write a letter to send his regards.
And he might as well ask about this matter for Lucien while he was at it.
“Ahem, Filius, thank you for sharing.
I just wanted to talk to you about this; Lucien’s talent is quite extraordinary.
But he does come from a Muggle family, after all, and his understanding of magic is still insufficient.
He might accidentally try some dangerous magic.
This kind of genius needs proper guidance all the more.
You are the Head of Ravenclaw; I hope you’ll pay more attention to Lucien in your daily life…” Flitwick nodded repeatedly; he very much agreed with Dumbledore’s view.
For students with high talent who progress quickly, teachers should provide even more correct guidance to prevent them from going astray.
But Flitwick quickly caught onto a certain detail.
“Wait, Albus, are you saying Lucien comes from a Muggle family and has no wizarding elders at home?” “That’s right.” “Then, where did he learn these spells he’s already mastered?” The two old men suddenly looked at each other, both seeing the same mutual confusion in the other’s eyes.
How did a simple comparison of notes reveal such a big problem?
— At the same time, Lucien was preparing to go to the Great Hall for lunch.
He happened to pass by the Potion classroom.
The crisp bell for the end of class rang.
Bang!
The classroom doors swung open with a bang, and a gloomy Old Bat walked out.
“Hello, Professor Snape.” Facing the student’s polite greeting, Snape only gave a grunt and walked quickly past Lucien.
Whoa, who made him angry again?
Oh wait, Snape seems to be this angry all the time.
Noticing the sullen face beneath Snape’s greasy black hair, Lucien suddenly had a guess.
He turned to look at the open classroom door.
Sure enough, among the young wizards coming out one after another, he saw Harry’s dejected and indignant face.