Will didn’t know what was happening in the Gryffindor common room and continued his leisurely, happy life.
Ever since his conflict with Yaxley and others in the common room, his dormitory had become a single room, and no one would say he was a ‘Ravenclaw spy’ anymore—at least not openly.
He couldn’t be bothered to worry about what was said behind his back.
As for the families behind those people, just as he expected, they had no influence within Hogwarts.
One day, after Charms Class, Will found Professor Flitwick.
“Will, why isn’t Miss Lestrange with you today?” Professor Flitwick joked with Will.
The two were already quite familiar, and Professor Flitwick was very fond of this inquisitive, polite, and humble young Wizard.
“I have some questions for you, so I let her go play with her friends first.” Will handed his notebook to Professor Flitwick.
“Professor, I want to know how Runes were transformed into the current spell system.”
Professor Flitwick looked at Will in surprise.
“Will, Runes already involve third-year material. You don’t need to understand this at this stage.”
“Professor, I don’t want to understand Runes; I just want to know why Wizards changed from using Runes to using spells, and how the connection and transformation between the two occurred,” Will explained.
“This will help me understand the current spell system more easily. When you were at my house, you only talked about the connection between emotion and spells.”
“Alright,” Professor Flitwick cast a Levitation Charm on his pile of books.
“Let’s go to my office.”
Will followed Professor Flitwick to his office.
“Who created Runes, and when they were created, is unknown. Some say it was Merlin, some say Odin, others even say Jesus Christ, but these are all just legends. However, ancient Wizards did indeed use Runes to cast magic. They would stack different Runes in specific structures to produce incredible effects: emitting light, creating flames, summoning monsters, and even twisting the boundaries of life and death. Moreover, Rune casting was quite stable, and the structural stacking was very fast once mastered. But the only problem was—difficulty.”
“For example.” Professor Flitwick drew a twisted, complex pattern in the air with his wand.
“*sōwilō, the sun, also meaning light, brightness.” Will pronounced the Rune in a strange, awkward tone, almost unrecognizable to humans.
“You’ve actually started learning Runes?” Professor Flitwick was surprised by Will’s progress, but he continued to explain, “Each original Rune structure is very difficult for a Wizard to master, because they are not ordinary syllables and words, but special characters that truly contain magic. That’s why ancient Wizards were powerful and few.”
“So later, through generations of Wizards’ ‘improvements,’ the syllables of Runes were simplified into incantations, which is why Wizards have to chant spells. And the structure of Runes…”
Will immediately reacted: “The structural stacking of Runes turned into the spell-casting gestures of current Wizards!?”
“Exactly. That’s why when young Wizards learn spells, I emphasize pronunciation and gestures—it’s to help you master spells more accurately and quickly.” Professor Flitwick paused.
“A classic example is Baruffio, the Wizard. He mispronounced the ‘F’ as an’S’ when casting the Levitation Charm, and ended up lying on the floor with a wild ox standing on his chest. This was because his pronunciation caused an error in the spell structure. To put it another way, he used an incorrect Rune structure.”
[You have gained new spell knowledge. Charms experience +22]
[You have gained new Rune knowledge. Runes experience +7]
At this moment, Will realized that he absolutely had to take Runes as an elective.
“Thank you, Professor Flitwick. If possible, may I come to you after class to learn more about spells?” Will wasn’t foolish; Professor Flitwick always helped him gain a lot of experience, and seeking his guidance could only be beneficial.
“Of course you can. If you’d like, once or twice a week, in the afternoon or evening, how does that sound?” Professor Flitwick always gave a green light to students who loved to learn.
“Thank you very much, Professor Flitwick.”
…One afternoon some time later, Neville once again asked Will for help with Accio.
Neville had already initially mastered it, now only having some minor flaws.
Soon, the two left the Room of Requirement.
They parted ways at the entrance of the Great Hall; Will went directly to the Great Hall, while Neville returned to the common room.
This scene was coincidentally witnessed by Harry and Ron.
“What kind of evil experiment do you think that guy is going to do to Neville?” In the Great Hall, Ron stared at Will, frowning as he asked Harry beside him.
Harry scratched his head: “I don’t know, but I feel like he’s genuinely trying to help Neville.”
“Harry, George and the others told me they always run into that guy when they’re out at night. Think about it, a Slytherin who’s always out at night—what does that mean?” Ron lowered his voice. The source of this chapter is novelping.com.
“That he can’t sleep at night?”
“Is it possible he’s also looking for that thing? You know, that dog Neville and we saw that day, maybe he’s forcing Neville to tell him about it now.” Ron didn’t realize how many holes there were in his words.
Harry knew what Ron was talking about—the thing guarded by that terrifying Cerberus, the thing beneath the trapdoor.
“Probably not…” Harry’s intuition told him Will shouldn’t be a bad person, but Snape’s favoritism towards Will made him somewhat suspicious of Will too.
Then, Harry’s gaze followed Will, and he saw Will go to Snape.
The two said something, and Snape suddenly looked at him, staring into his eyes.
Harry felt the scar on his forehead throb faintly.
He covered his forehead and lowered his head.
Ron solicitously supported Harry.
“What’s wrong, Harry? Is your scar hurting again?”
“It must… it must be Snape’s doing.”
“He found out we suspected his little Dark Wizard, so he attacked you as a warning! It must be!” Ron quickly came up with the ’cause and effect’ of the situation, saying through gritted teeth.
Harry covered his forehead and didn’t speak.
Ron had no choice but to help Harry back to the common room.
From beginning to end, neither of them noticed a young man with a large purple scarf wrapped around his head, sitting at the Professor’s table, watching them.
Will didn’t yet know that he had been suspected by Harry and Ron.
He had just received a note for the Restricted Section, allowing him to borrow books related to Runes from there.
“Professor Snape, thank you very much.”