HP: The Root of Everything - The Magician

After the morning classes ended, Hermione had time to study her magic on her own this afternoon.

In the underground secret laboratory, Teach, while analyzing the secrets of the Griffin species on the transmutation array, looked at his disciple Hermione beside him.

Hermione was wiping her Beretta enchanted silver spear, a mischievous smile creeping onto her lips as she did so.

This freed up Teach's hands, allowing him to ask the question.

But Hermione's answer was completely irrelevant. She simply said, "Teacher, lend me your Miss Shakespeare for one night, and I'll return her to you when I'm done."

[Borrow? Use it all?]

Upon hearing this, Xia Ke's anger instantly flared up. She quickly circled behind Hermione and began to torment the little Hermione who dared to humiliate her.

At the same time, a strange sense of grievance welled up in my heart.

Her marriage to Teach was in name only, and Teach's feigned affection for her remained a deep thorn in Xia Ke's heart.

Xia Ke wanted to remove this thorn, but she cherished it so much that she couldn't bear to part with it.

Amidst Shakky's playful teasing and torment, Hermione burst into tears, crying out to her teacher Teach for help: "Teacher, waaaaah~~".

Tichy looked at the two, one big and one small, who were not getting along, and felt a little tired.

Teach knew the reason for Hermione's hostility and exclusion towards Shakke, as well as Shakke's feelings of rivalry towards little Hermione, but caught between the two girls, he didn't know how to mediate.

Whether it was genuine or feigned, Shakky and Hermione were both very important women to Teach.

During the ordeal, Hermione remained defiant towards Shakky, refusing to surrender and choosing death over submission.

Xia Ke, on the other hand, was determined to keep up until she heard little Hermione begging for mercy in her ear.

Eventually, Teach intervened and the two women separated. To appease her, Teach first patted Shakespeare's head, then flicked Hermione's forehead.

Even without Teach's lecture, Hermione knew that her inappropriate use of words towards Shakky was her own mistake, so she took the initiative to apologize.

Teach sighed softly. Not knowing how to handle the relationship between the two women, he could only focus his attention on magic experiments to alleviate his distress.

......

Night time.

As darkness fell, the uneasy feeling in Viner's heart grew stronger, making him somewhat irritable.

Having spent years navigating the world of dark magic, he had a vague feeling that Hermione Granger's actions in sending them to see the griffin were strange, as if a trap was waiting for them to walk into it.

But then he thought again that his and the Nexium compound's changes and disguises could not possibly be exposed.

Because, in the world of magical potions, the variations of polymorphic potions are virtually flawless, and no wizard has ever been able to decipher them.

At the same time, Viner was also thinking, even if there were traps, with the strength of him and Nek, two lawless dark wizards, surely they couldn't deal with a mere third-year kid at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?

"What evil little witch? It's just something the reporters from the Prophet's Newspaper made up for the sake of a news story," Venere thought to herself, trying to comfort herself with a sense of wishful thinking.

So, urged anxiously by Lake, Viner set off.

12 pm.

Under the influence of the Polyjuice Potion, Venere and Nek arrived at the Quidditch practice square at the time and place given by Hermione.

The square was dimly lit by the moonlight, which was obscured by clouds, making it difficult to see far into the distance.

The dim atmosphere made Venus unusually alert; he saw that his hand, hidden beneath his robes, had already grasped his wand.

Compared to Wiener, Lake, though nervous, appeared much more relaxed.

Treasure hunting magic is not a single type of magic, but rather a system within a vast body of magic.

Within this treasure-hunting magic system, there are many branches, one of which is 'early warning magic'.

The warning spell that Lake had placed between his eyebrows did not send him any warning, which meant that nothing dangerous would happen to him in the current environment.

Time ticked by, and just as Venus was growing impatient, Hermione appeared as promised.

Hermione emerged from the darkness of the moonlight, walking with light, graceful steps.

After Hermione stopped about ten meters away from Werner and Lake, she looked at them with innocent, wide eyes and apologized sheepishly, "Sorry, sorry, I'm late."

"As you should know, Hogwarts has a very strict curfew. Mr. Fulch comes with a lantern, staying up all night to catch us night-sneaking wizards."

"I originally thought you wouldn't come out under curfew."

"After all, in my three years at the academy, I've never heard of that young Ravenclaw wizard breaking school rules to go out at night, especially not so late."

After Hermione finished speaking, she looked at Viner and Nek, and continued ambiguously, "I didn't expect you two would actually come after all."

"Your behavior of going out at night is nothing like Ravenclaw."

Unlike Ravenclaw's words, which instantly made Viner tense up, he was very suspicious that Hermione Granger had seen through his and Nek's compound disguise.

But faced with the immense temptation of obtaining the mythical griffin, Venere dismissed his doubts as mere suspicions.

Because Nek did not warn him, his ally in the same boat.

So, imitating a little kid, after exchanging pleasantries with Hermione, and then appropriately displaying a childlike curiosity about something new, Wiener suggested taking them to see the griffin.

Led by Hermione, Venus and Nek went up to the rooftop of the tower.

Griffin was lying comfortably in its nest made of branches and grass. Its gilded wings shone with a golden light that seemed to pulsate with a heartbeat in the dim moonlight.

The mane on its neck flowed with gilded light, appearing extraordinary against the backdrop of the night.

At the same time, the entire body of the Griffin Lion radiates the warmth of the sun, dispelling the darkness that has descended from the sky from covering it.

Griffin's figure was reflected in the pupils of Viner and Neck, and with just one glance, the two of them were deeply captivated.

Lost in fascination, Wiener gazed at Griffin, obsessively believing that the sun-warming Griffin was a salvation for someone like him, struggling in the darkness.

It's like being in the warm, redemptive embrace of the Virgin Mary.

People living in darkness fear the light, yet at the same time yearn for it.

Lake stared at Griffin, unable to recover for a long time.

He appeared calm on the surface, but inside he was already experiencing a surge of intense emotions.

He cried out in his heart, "Teacher, I've found it..."

I remember when you first started teaching me the magic of treasure hunting, you asked me a question: What is the meaning of the words "treasure hunting"?

My answer: Treasure hunting, treasure hunting, searching for the world's greatest treasures.

But after hearing this, you shook your head. You said, "Treasure hunting isn't about money or fame; it's about finding something unique, something that is the most important and precious thing in my life."

I don't understand the word 'unique'.

Silver/gold/diamonds/gems, Galon/magic/antiques—aren't all of these more valuable than 'unique'? So I don't understand what you're saying.

But now, I understand, I've found it...

[Teacher, I have found the most precious thing in the world, the only living thing in the world, and it is right in front of me now.]