With a soft sound of displaced air, I found myself inside Hogwarts. I could feel the wards scanning me. There was a curious feeling in the probes of the wards, as if they were trying to understand what had happened and how my magic had changed.
This was the first time I felt this kind of probe. Sure, the wards in the pub scanned me, but it just registered me as a new entry, not like this…
Usually, wards like this simply registered magical signatures, but this one felt more alive? I don't know—I guess I don't really know Hogwarts as well as I thought I did.
Still, Giving in to my curiosity, I sent a pulse of magic that conveyed that something had happened and this was the result.
My conversations with the planet had given me great insights on how to communicate and convey meaning using energy, and that's exactly what I did.
The response was immediate, like a child who had just found a new toy: happiness and joy, with a hint of curiosity.
I performed the same gesture and conveyed my purpose for coming, which was to seek all the knowledge that Hogwarts had to offer.
The response I got was a mix of amusement, as if to say, "Duh, what else could you be here for?" along with a hint of mischief, like " hehe, I'll do something naughty, and you wouldn't know."
It was endearing in a way.
I returned to what I was doing and stood in front of a wall, which opened before I could do anything.
It was Hogwarts' doing if the joy I was feeling right now was any indication.
Sighing in exasperation, I went inside and found what I was looking for: a simple study room in the middle of a huge library-like room that had a cozy atmosphere.
I approached the first book on the shelf to my right, titled "Essence of Magic: A Comprehensive Study of Magical Theory" by Rowena Ravenclaw.
The next three books had the same title, but the authors were the other three founders. I took all four books and summoned my grimoire, then pumped it with half of my magic so it could start copying the books on the shelf while I read.
I found myself immensely interested. The insights she provided on magic were very helpful, especially regarding its relationship with reality.
The book went to great lengths to describe her understanding of how magic interacts with reality and how the reality aspect of wizarding magic can be strengthened.
It discussed mental exercises that engage both the logical and illogical sides of this reality aspect.
Although she touched on other aspects briefly, she recommended reading the books written by her colleagues, as they were more knowledgeable in those areas.
Finishing these books gave me perspective on how much wizards had devolved since then. This raised a lot of different questions about how and why that had happened, but I suppressed them for now.
The second book, authored by Helga Hufflepuff, focused on the emotional and desire aspects of magic.
The positive use of the emotional aspect was the dominant topic, and I learned a great deal about how the positive emotional side of wizardry affects wizards, their environment, and the spells they cast—especially the healing magic type of spells…
The interplay between magic and emotions was particularly eye opening.
The books from Gryffindor and Slytherin addressed the topics of wish and desire, respectively, with their explanations of the effects of negative emotions and reality from their unique perspectives.
Reading these books has been a great pleasure.
The insights and information I gained have been immensely rewarding, and I could feel my perspective on wizarding magic widening, with everything becoming clearer and more obvious.
It felt like I was initially looking at magic through a keyhole, but now I had found a window.
True, I always believed that everything is possible with magic, but now I can truly see it…
As I looked up from the books, massaging my eyelids—I realized I was hungry; I hadn't eaten anything since Azkaban, and no, the small meal I ate in Tom's pub doesn't count.
I called for Dobby to bring me something to eat and started looking into my grimoire to see what it had copied.
It had only copied the books that existed on the shelves closer to me and started analyzing them first.
I realized that I was so distracted by the new books that I neither gave clear instructions nor linked it to the room, so it could ask for more books to copy? Ugh.
I sent a pulse of magic to request permission from Hogwarts and received it almost instantly, so I began providing my grimoire with instructions on what I wanted and left it to do the rest.
After I was done eating, I started thinking about what subjects I should begin with while my grimoire was doing its job.
The room responded to my thoughts, and books on Runes began appearing on the shelves.
The book that caught my attention was a thin black volume titled "Runes: The Language of Magic" by Belby Bottonbely.
Ignoring the somewhat amusing name of the author, I took the book and started reading.
'Wow'
This might be the best introduction to Runic magic in the magical world!!.
It discussed the differences between Runes, their uses, how they came to be, and why they do what they do.
For example, did you know that the Runes used by wizards are unique, in the sense that obviously no one other than a wizard can use them, nor can anyone else use different Runic languages together —like in the same "sentence" like wizards—to achieve their desired results?
Well, Runic languages like "Elder Futhark," for instance, are very old and consist of 24 symbols charged with the emotions and magic of wizards since their creation, embedding their meanings into reality.
This is also true for other languages like Norse, Giant, Anglo-Saxon, etc.; their meanings always remain constant, and how you use them to achieve your goals is up to the wizard. They can use a single language or an amalgamation of all of them and still get the results they want…
It truly was inspiring read…
Searching for the second book about Runes and their meanings, I started with Elder Futhark and continued to devour the knowledge contained in these books—they are going to be immensely helpful.
Ah~ magic, what a beautiful thing. The more you know, the more you thirst for knowledge.
It's truly wonderful, and yet I am, finding myself more and more disappointed with magical society the more I read.
How dare they hoard all of this knowledge while they waste their time and potential on nonsense like politics and nobility?
I'm really starting to despise them because this just means my debt to magic is going to take some time to repay…
I've just found a new reason to view this war as a culling game—this way I can start to remake the entire system from the ground up so that it would take less time for me to get the magical world up to standards and free myself from my debt to magic…
Although, before I start my plan to reform the magical society, I need to train and consume knowledge like no one else, and let's not forget that the knowledge hoarded by the so-called noble lineages and bloodlines is waiting for me to devour.
This is going to be a very exciting journey.
Suddenly I felt a pull on my magic—Hogwarts was asking me what had gotten me excited? So, I started telling her about it: the magic, the runes, everything.
The funny thing about this whole situation is that I didn't find it weird or anything, despite the fact that trying to explain everything to her feels like I'm explaining things to a kid who wanted to be anywhere but here.
Hahaha, how amusing! Instead of continuing to explain Runes, I decided to ask if she had seen symbols like these anywhere—I just wanted access to her ward stone but didn't know if I needed special permission or something…
Hogwarts surprised me, though, as she managed to somehow send images in response instead of the usual intent and feeling-based communication.
She showed me the Runes all over the castle. Everywhere! But while doing so, she also showed me a room on the fifth floor where a Runic circle and symbols are written all over the place…
I didn't know why, but my instinct warned me about the room as soon as I saw it…
This intrigued me, so I asked about it, and she told me that it was Dumbledore's doing. I wanted to investigate, but the logical part of my brain told me it's better to continue my work here before going anywhere related to Dumbledore.
Who knows what kind of messed-up stuff that senile old man is involved in?
Anyway, back on topic, did you know that if you want to perform a proper ritual, you need to, first and foremost, be very knowledgeable about Runes along with Arithmancy, symbolism, and geometrical studies? The reason for this is simple: you have to write what you want the ritual to do inside the geometric shape most suitable.
As it turned out, It doesn't necessarily have to be a circle but it usually is. I haven't delved into rituals yet, but I already sense it's going to be an extensive area of study.
Ugh, I won't be able to study like this. I am distracted by different topics and want to study them all…
I'll have my Grimoire sort this out while I do some exercises followed by meditation first, and then I'll get back.
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Hey guys!
Does anyone know how to go about finding a beta-reader?