Under Charles’s expectant gaze, a silver radiance burst from the tip of Dumbledore’s Elder Wand.
A silver phoenix with its head held high emerged from the brilliant light.
It spread its long wings, trailing an elegant tail of silver feathers as it circled the hospital ward several times before flying toward the window and disappearing without a trace.
A look of shock appeared in Charles’s eyes.
He had seen the Patronus Charm being cast in the movies in his previous life, but witnessing it with his own eyes was an entirely different experience.
Dumbledore’s phoenix Patronus radiated a powerful and noble presence that could almost be seen with the naked eye.
Just like Dumbledore’s terrifying talent and strength, it was completely different from the Patronuses of ordinary wizards in the magical world.
This only made Charles even more curious.
What would his own Patronus be?
At this moment, Dumbledore began explaining the requirements for casting the Patronus Charm.
After finishing his explanation of the wand movement, Dumbledore had originally intended to elaborate on the principles behind the Patronus Charm—the noble spirits of love, tolerance, kindness, and how they influenced the form of a Patronus.
But just then, Dumbledore seemed to suddenly remember something.
His expression changed, and he looked at Charles apologetically.
“I’m sorry, Charles.”
“I’m afraid today’s lesson will have to end here.”
“I just remembered something urgent that I need to deal with immediately.”
“As for taking you to purchase your textbooks and wand, Professor McGonagall will come here afterward.”
With that, Dumbledore’s figure disappeared from the spot with a sharp crack.
He had Apparated away.
A strange look appeared in Charles’s eyes.
Dumbledore’s departure had been far too hurried.
What could possibly have made him rush off like that?
Charles remembered that in the original story, shortly before Harry Potter entered Hogwarts, there had been a break-in at Gringotts.
Quirrell, who had been possessed by Voldemort, had broken into Gringotts in an attempt to steal the Philosopher’s Stone and help Voldemort regain his physical body.
But Dumbledore had already made arrangements in advance.
He had moved the Philosopher’s Stone away and was already planning to use it as a means of testing Voldemort and challenging Harry Potter later on.
Something like that was probably the only thing capable of making the normally unflappable Dumbledore leave in such a hurry without even having time to say much more.
However, Dumbledore’s hurried Apparition had unexpectedly given Charles a pleasant surprise.
Inside Charles’s mind appeared the image of Dumbledore casting the Patronus Charm.
And alongside it was the image of Dumbledore Apparating away.
The mechanical voice of the Deep Blue System immediately sounded.
“Detecting knowledge available for deduction — Patronus Charm, Apparition.”
“Would you like to proceed with deduction?”
Hearing the notification, Charles was practically overflowing with excitement.
This time, he had obtained more than just the Patronus Charm from Dumbledore.
He had also obtained Apparition!
To be honest, in Charles’s opinion, the Patronus Charm had a rather narrow range of applications.
Even Dumbledore’s Patronus was mainly useful against Dark creatures.
Outside of that, it could only obediently serve as a messenger.
With such limited applications, if Charles couldn’t continue deducing it, it would hardly be worthy of its ridiculously high casting requirements.
But Apparition was absolutely one of the most incredible forms of magic in the magical world.
Not only was the barrier to using it relatively low, its effect was also ridiculously powerful.
A few spins and you could cross space itself.
You didn’t even need a wand.
It was practically cheating.
Although there was a risk of Splinching, compared to the spatial effects involved, that tiny risk was practically insignificant.
Charles had no idea who had originally developed Apparition.
Whoever it was had definitely been a master of spatial magic!
An uncontrollable look of excitement appeared on Charles’s face as he asked Deep Blue how many points were required to deduce the two spells.
The answer, however, was like having a bucket of cold water dumped over his head.
“The first deduction of the Patronus Charm requires 10,000 Deduction Points.”
“The first deduction of Apparition requires 50,000 Deduction Points.”
The Patronus Charm was manageable.
Ten thousand points was something Charles could grit his teeth and afford.
After all, he still had nearly fifty thousand Deduction Points remaining.
But Apparition was ridiculous.
Fifty thousand points.
He didn’t even have that many points in his account anymore.
As for why it cost so much, Charles could understand.
Anything involving space was profound no matter where you looked.
Even concepts from Muggle science, such as general relativity, would require a considerable number of points to deduce.
And Apparition could directly allow a person to travel through space.
Of course it would be expensive.
Charles sighed.
“If the first deduction of Apparition already costs fifty thousand points, then the second deduction will probably cost hundreds of thousands, perhaps even several hundred thousand.”
“It really is never enough.”
Charles began calculating what other methods he could use to obtain large amounts of Deduction Points.
There was the Ministry of Magic’s reimbursement agreement.
There was also Dark, who might return at some unknown point.
But what other sources could provide him with a huge number of points?
Eventually, Charles’s thoughts settled on the destination Dumbledore had hurried off to.
“Quirrell…”
“Two-faced man…”
“The Philosopher’s Stone…”
“Horcruxes…”
“All of those are good stuff.”
Charles couldn’t help licking his lips.
A fiery glint flashed through his eyes.
“There’s a Philosopher’s Stone at Hogwarts this year.”
“And Ravenclaw’s Diadem can be found in the Room of Requirement.”
“I wonder how many Deduction Points I’d get if I ate those two.”
“By then, I should have enough for three deductions of Apparition, right?”
Just as Charles was calculating this, another loud crack sounded outside St.
Mungo’s Hospital.
A stern-looking witch dressed impeccably hurried into the hospital ward.
Naturally, this was Professor McGonagall, the person Dumbledore had mentioned who would take Charles to Diagon Alley.
When she saw Charles, Professor McGonagall’s eyes turned slightly red.
She gave him a hug.
“Poor child.”
“You’ve been through something so terrible.”
“Don’t worry.”
“Once you go to Hogwarts, no one will ever be able to hurt you again.”
Feeling Professor McGonagall’s genuine concern, Charles nodded gratefully.
In the original story, Professor McGonagall could be described as someone without a single stain on her character.
She was fair and impartial without being lacking in compassion, and she genuinely cared for the students of Hogwarts.
In terms of character, Dumbledore might actually be less reliable than Professor McGonagall.
After a moment, Professor McGonagall composed herself and reached out to take Charles’s hand.
“I’ll Apparate with you to the Leaky Cauldron and show you how to enter Diagon Alley.”
“The process can be a little unpleasant.”
“Just bear with it.”
Then, with a loud crack, Charles suddenly felt the world spinning around him.
He finally understood what the original story meant when it compared Apparition to the sensation of being flushed down a toilet.
Space twisted around him.
Countless images flashed past at incredible speed.
The sensation was even worse than the most severe motion sickness Charles had ever experienced in his previous life.
When they finally landed, Charles immediately began dry-heaving.
But at that very moment, the Deep Blue System sounded in his mind.
“Because the host witnessed the spatial distortion occurring during Apparition, partial reference material has been obtained.”
“The Deduction Point cost of the first deduction of the Apparition Charm has been reduced by 5,000 points.”
Charles’s eyes instantly widened.
How could I have forgotten about this?!
Deep Blue indeed possessed the ability to perform infinite deductions.
It could theoretically deduce advanced mathematics step by step starting from elementary-school mathematics.
But the Deduction Point cost would be extremely high.
After all, that was equivalent to creating an entirely new field of knowledge from nothing.
But if you had the corresponding textbooks, it was different.
You already had reference material.
You simply needed to learn from it.
The required points would therefore decrease dramatically.
Now it seemed that magical spell deductions worked the same way.
If he could obtain enough reference materials—or, like this time, personally witness the spatial distortions occurring during Apparition—Deep Blue’s deduction difficulty would decrease, and the required Deduction Points would drop significantly.
This was absolutely wonderful news for Charles.
At this moment, Professor McGonagall was waiting beside him.
She seemed accustomed to seeing young wizards react this way after experiencing Apparition.
She patiently waited for Charles to recover from his dizziness and nausea.
She even stepped slightly farther away, presumably to avoid having Charles vomit all over her robes.
Once Charles finally straightened his back, Professor McGonagall spoke.
“All right, Charles.”
“We’ve arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.”
“Come along.”
“I’ll take you to Diagon Alley…”
In her mind, a young wizard about to witness the magical world for the first time would surely be unable to contain his excitement.
But Charles’s reaction clearly caught Professor McGonagall completely off guard.
Charles had absolutely no intention of continuing forward.
Instead, he remained where he was and looked at Professor McGonagall pleadingly.
“Professor…”
“Could we do that Apparition thing a few more times?”
“I really love riding Muggle roller coasters and Ferris wheels.”
“That spinning, dizzy feeling is incredibly exciting.”
“And Apparition is way more thrilling than a roller coaster!”
“It’s fun!”
“I love it!”
…
(End of Chapter)