A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Hermione asked, "Professor, what is the purpose of this rune circuit?"

Felix waved her wand, and the chestnut wood chip floated from her hand into the air, their gazes following it.

"There's only one Burst Rune loop on this chestnut wood chip, which is very unstable. With a little guidance, like this..." He snapped his fingers lightly.

"Bang!"

The chestnut wood chips exploded suddenly, accompanied by a bright flash and a loud bang, startling Hermione.

Felix then demonstrated a few runes to Hermione, giving her a basic understanding of the professor's area of ​​research.

"That's enough for today. Tomorrow I'll teach you the real ancient magic runes."

Before we knew it, it was already 9:30.

Hermione returned to the common room and saw Harry, covered in dust and looking exhausted, slumped over the table, fiddling with a wizard chess piece. The "humiliated" knight kept stabbing Harry's fingers with his miniature lance.

Ron was catching up on his Potions class homework, with three answer keys laid out in front of him.

Seeing Hermione return, Harry couldn't help but ask, "How was your first day as an Ancient Runes assistant?"

Hermione smiled. "Fantastic!"

Ron was curious about her job. "What did you do? Did you grade papers?"

"Well, I'm only in charge of a portion of the fifth and seventh grade exams. You know, there aren't many sixth and seventh graders who choose ancient magic script; they take classes together from all four academies."

Ron suddenly became animated, "If I were you, I would definitely deduct a lot of points from Slytherin's paper for neatness."

Hermione's face instantly turned serious: "Ron, I must be responsible for my duties."

Ron slumped on the table like a deflated balloon.

"Harry, how about you? How's your Quidditch training going?" Hermione inquired.

"It's still the same old story, especially since Fred and George got information from Slytherin. Nimbus 2001 is so fast that you can't even see their faces." Harry said pessimistically.

Hermione was helpless; the entire school lacked confidence in their first match against Gryffindor and Slytherin. Ravenclaw and Hounds, on the other hand, wanted to use the match to see the Nimbus 2001's practical power and then conduct targeted training.

The team wasn't in high spirits either. Wood whispered to Harry, "Our brooms aren't as good as Slytherin's, but if you're fast enough, you can catch the Golden Snitch before we do..."

This put even more pressure on Harry.

……

On Sunday evening, Hermione went to the Ancient Runes professor's office again.

From afar, she suddenly saw Malfoy emerge from his office. Hermione quickly hid behind a pillar and saw Professor Hyp and Malfoy talking to each other, with Malfoy nodding repeatedly.

Her feelings suddenly became complicated.

Inside the office, Hermione sat quietly on the sofa, watching Felix wave his wand and pile a stack of parchment on the table into a corner.

Could it be Malfoy's thesis?

Hermione's mind raced with various thoughts. She wanted to ask Professor Hyp why Malfoy was there, but she wisely refrained from asking.

Just like yesterday, Felix sat on the other side of the small table, with ten chestnut wood pieces in front of him, each engraved with a magic rune.

"Today we will officially begin learning practical ancient runes." He emphasized the word "practical."

"These ten runes each have a different magical meaning. For example," he pointed to the first chestnut wood piece, "it represents connection. Specifically, it can connect runes of the same category, such as liquid or flow; or concepts of relative categories, such as burst or stability..."

"In practical applications, I found that its shape can undergo seven transformations, each suitable for..."

After speaking for an hour straight, Felix's mouth was dry.

"Next, we will conduct a live-fire exercise."

Seeing Hermione take out her wand, Felix smiled. "Our practice doesn't require wands."

"I once told Professor McGonagall that I have special teaching skills."

Hermione was still a little confused, but Felix had already bent down and gently tapped the little witch's forehead with his wand while whispering a spell.

She suddenly felt her vision blur. The furnishings in the office seemed to tremble and distort like flowing water, with various colors blending together, making her feel as if she were in an abstract oil painting.

However, the distorted environment quickly returned to normal.

To her surprise, she found that she and the professor were still sitting on the sofa, but the room was divided in two by a small table between them. The professor's half was piled with books of all kinds, numbering over a thousand.

The books were divided into more than a dozen stacks, seemingly representing different categories.

But what's most eye-catching are the ancient magical runes dancing on the pages of the book, each a different color: bright red, emerald green, cypress, metallic sheen...

Hundreds of ancient magical runes, like little sprites, darted around half the room.

Hermione couldn't help but stand up. She glanced at Professor Hyp, who waved slightly to indicate that she was free to look around.

The little witch passed through an invisible barrier, and an ancient spell flew to her. Hermione couldn't resist picking up the little creature and letting it bounce around in her palm.

Only after the little one skipped away did she reluctantly turn her gaze away. She wandered among the books, stopping and starting, skimming through them and quickly scanning their names—

*A Study of the History of Ancient Runes*, *An Exploration of Ancient Runes*, *Unveiling the Mysteries of Ancient Alchemy*, *The Principles of Spells*, *An Analysis of Advanced Spells*, *Selected Transfiguration Spells*, *The Book of Duels*, *The Art of Duel*, *Ravenclaw Manuscripts (Volume 1)*, *Illustrated Compendium of Dangerous Magical Creatures*, *Magic*, *Advanced Ancient Runes*, *The Allure of Alchemy*...

There were too many, and they were all huge volumes. Hermione even saw a book that was two feet tall and half a foot thick.

Even as a top student, she couldn't help but feel inferior. She secretly resolved to read just as many books in the future...

She stepped over a tall stack of books, avoiding the still, deep green curtains, and found herself facing a pile of Muggle books: *Thinking Experiments*, *The Secrets of the Human Brain*, *Mind Analysis*, *A Collection of World Jokes*, and more…

She even discovered the complete Encyclopædia Britannica, which was her childhood favorite!

Besides these relatively normal items, in one corner of the room, there were seven or eight books scattered about, constantly emitting black mist. If you stared at them closely, you could faintly hear the wailing of a male wizard.

"Could it be a book of dark magic?" The little witch was a bit dumbfounded, and she secretly glanced at the professor.