allendalepharm Chapter 319 I Invented a Magic Trick
Chapter 319 I Invented a Magic Trick
Chapter 319 I Invented a Magic Trick
"Dumbledore's Lesson" spread like wildfire throughout the world, and all the newspaper reporters who were fortunate enough to attend the class were frantically describing the many amazing aspects of the lesson.
This really puts the editors-in-chief of newspapers to the test of their magical abilities.
Clearly, Rita Skeeter and Xenophilius Lovegood, both Ravenclaws, were simply unable to articulate Dumbledore's magical philosophy effectively.
In fact, almost no newspaper or magazine can fully explain the content of this lesson. They each have their own angles and viewpoints. Even though they are talking about the same thing, the content they report is always completely different, and sometimes even contradictory.
The readers holding the newspapers were stunned.
Interestingly, the editor of The Wizarding Weekly, which relentlessly smeared and mocked Dumbledore for a decade, has instead provided an in-depth and clear analysis of Dumbledore's transfiguration world.
This potions master, who was nearly a hundred years old, had always been a devout saint. After Dumbledore imprisoned Grindelwald in Nurmengard, he opposed Dumbledore every day at the International Wizarding Federation, opposing everything Dumbledore advocated. Unexpectedly, he was the person in the entire media industry who understood Dumbledore the most.
"They just jump on the bandwagon!"
Grindelwald glanced at the report in The Wizarding Weekly, his expression complex, then looked at the pile of newspapers on the table, pursed his lips, and muttered a complaint.
"Even if they read a few more of your papers published in *Transfiguration Today* back then, they wouldn't be making such a fuss. Each of those papers is more in-depth than this lesson!"
What needs to be said has already been said. Dumbledore has never been stingy in sharing his wisdom on Transfiguration, but unfortunately, people don't care about the knowledge that is casually placed in front of them.
What I can talk about now is nothing more than some reflections on metamorphosis that I have gained from my life experiences over the past two or three thousand years since I stopped contributing articles.
But those are Dumbledore's unique world of transfiguration, which ordinary wizards really can't understand. Even those wizards who can understand them already have their own magical paths and can't follow them.
"But you're pleased to see this spectacle, aren't you?" Lockhart gestured to the pile of newspapers on the table. "I've seen many newspapers linking Dumbledore's Master Class to the Triwizard Tournament, which is clearly being pushed by some force."
Yes, it's Grindelwald.
"That was a very productive lesson." Grindelwald changed the subject abruptly, picking up the list Professor McGonagall had given him. "Compared to the impact on society, we should pay more attention to the trends within the school. Thanks to this lesson, the number of applicants for the Transfiguration project's 'Treasure Chest Battle' has surged."
It's important to know that the registration for the "Treasure Chest Battle" in the Three Kingdoms Tournament hasn't opened yet; it will have to wait until after the Christmas Ball.
As a result, so many young wizards have already approached Professor McGonagall to submit applications.
Dumbledore was pleased with the matter, but shook his head and rejected the list that Professor McGonagall had submitted at the last minute. "A moment of passion and impulsiveness may lead to something extraordinary, but what we need is for Transfiguration to be deeply ingrained in people's minds. We'll talk about everything after I finish teaching the Transfiguration course."
Unlike the seven-year Transfiguration course at Hogwarts, he taught more about concepts.
In Lockhart's words, this is the difference between "the Way" and "the Technique".
Dumbledore longed to guide more wizards onto the path of transfiguration, especially the young, spiritually brilliant, and romantically inclined wizards in the school.
"Yes, the campus is the focus."
Grindelwald's lips curled slightly, his smile full of meaning. "We need to know that most of the adult wizards who are still indulging in magical romance are dark wizards."
This conclusion was a bit difficult for Dumbledore to accept.
But Lockhart exclaimed "Holy crap!" and realized that was indeed the case.
How could a normal adult wizard, busy with life, possibly have so much anticipation and desire to explore magic, to pick up a spellbook of unknown origin and study it carefully and be so motivated to try it out? Only those reckless dark wizards would do that.
In this sense, the corruption of the soul and distortion of personality by dark magic has its benefits; it can strip away some of the social aspects of wizards, making it easier for them to enter into a magical life.
"wrong!"
Lockhart suddenly realized what he meant and looked at Grindelwald seriously. "Those were wizards of the old era. The atmosphere of dark magic was always more mysterious and powerful, but wizards today are not like that!"
"You've all seen my flying car. When Mr. Arthur Weasley built it, that was the true mystery and wonder of the new era of wizarding, a style completely different from the old-fashioned magic!"
"Modern mysticism—" Grindelwald squinted and nodded, recalling Dumbledore's evolution in the field of alchemy, from hookah skulls to Deluminators, a change from classical to modern times.
"I often mention the magical realm you described."
He looked at Lockhart with an inquisitive gaze. "But all I can see are achievements in alchemy. What about magic, the most fundamental magical power of wizards? What remarkable results have you achieved?"
If one cannot achieve anything in magic and spells, then "modern mysticism" is destined to be a breakthrough in a niche field, and it cannot represent the mainstream.
Lockhart raised an eyebrow. "I recently invented a spell!"
!!!
!!!
Dumbledore and Grindelwald immediately looked over warily.
They had no choice but to react so strongly. Lockhart's magic was always supported by a lot of bright, righteous and beautiful words and theories, but the magic he performed was more and more evil than the last!
Let's not even mention the Oblivion Curse, which would send chills down the spine even a bystander would not believe.
The magic vanished into thin air, and what he cast was utter ashes. It was a curse even more evil than the Killing Curse, one of the three unforgivable curses. Dumbledore and Grindelwald had discussed in detail how to invent a counter-curse for this magic, but ultimately to no avail.
If Voldemort said that it was possible to develop a counter-curse for the Killing Curse, then this smoke dissipated and ascended to heaven, making it impossible to find a target to cast a counter-curse.
The Magic: Mind Cleansing Spell can forcibly calm group emotions and expel negative dark forces; it is a powerful group control spell.
This perfectly aligns with the three unforgivable curses: the Killing Curse (killing), the Imperius Curse (controlling), and the Cruciatus Curse (torture).
Not to mention the spell "Thunderstorm Mountain Fire," which is fundamentally a dark magic spell called Fiendfyre, Lockhart's signature spell.
There are also other bizarre and strange spells such as transforming into a ghost, casting spells with anti-curse thinking, pulling the dead into the real world to chat, forcibly pulling different groups of people into a framework under one's control (the "My School is My Home" spell), and inscribing a list of unharmable people on Voldemort's soul.
In Grindelwald's words, this is a black wizard disguised as a "white wizard"!
"Wait, what kind of look is that?"
Lockhart objected. "The academic atmosphere at school is so intense these days, everyone's talking about magic, and Tom's still telling us he's going to continue down the path of magic. Can't I benefit from this too?"
Dumbledore exchanged a strange look with Grindelwald, coughed lightly, and gestured with his hand, "If you don't mind, could you show it to us?"
The two old men sometimes couldn't help but lament that they might really be getting old and were beginning to fear anything that was full of changes, but Lockhart was always that unpredictable factor.
They sometimes have to admit that the reason they're being a bit lenient with Tom Riddle these days is because Lockhart's arrival has made Tom seem less important.
For fancy tricks, you have to look to Lockhart.
Tom himself may not realize it, or even if he does, he may not be willing to think about it in this way. He may never be able to outmaneuver Lockhart in his life, and instead, he may be outmaneuvered by Lockhart.
"Okay~"
"I'd love to share!"
Lockhart flashed his perfect smile, gracefully drew his wand, glanced around, and shook his head. "This might not be the right place."
He waved his wand lightly.
The three people sitting around the desk suddenly began to twist and spin, as if the whole world was shrinking and twisting rapidly and without a trace, like a painting. Soon, an abandoned factory in a remote corner of the Muggle street appeared before them.
However, the spellcasting soon began to show signs of stagnation, as if it had been stuck.
"Dumbledore demonstrating a Transfiguration technique in his Transfiguration class that warps the world in a self-centered way?" Grindelwald watched in amazement.
Dumbledore shook his head. "It did use some of the spellcasting techniques I was discussing, but it seems to be—Apparition? Perhaps even imbued with some time magic?"
Lohart nodded, looking around with some confusion. "I could easily travel to Hogwarts before, why can't I now?"
Ignore Hogwarts' defensive magic!
And it happened at different times during Hogwarts!
Why is it not working?
This even includes Lao Deng's account of Transfiguration, making it an upgraded version.
"In preparation for the Triwizard Tournament, I had to strengthen the school's castle magic. You know, even house-elves from outside the school can come and go easily. I have to avoid any potential trouble."
Dumbledore explained with a smile.
"Castle magic—" Lockhart looked at Grindelwald with some resentment. Old Grindelwald had promised Dumbledore that he would teach him this kind of magic, but he always talked about the profound magical theories and rarely talked about the specific details of the advanced spells.
"The spell I invented this time does indeed belong to castle magic. Of course, I have incorporated some magical concepts from the Loyalty Spell, Blood Spell, and Restoration Spell."
Dumbledore immediately realized, "Is this a new discovery in the field of 'relationship magic' that you're currently exploring?"
With such a clear theoretical framework for magic, it's hard not to think of this.
"Yes."
Dumbledore was relieved. No matter how strange Lockhart's magic was, as long as it was "relationship magic," it was always related to social relationships and couldn't be some kind of dark magic spell.
Given the spells invented by Severus Snape, from Slack Force and Inverted Bell to Divine Strike, one could expect that if he continued to invent spells along this path of attacking and harming the human body, it wouldn't be impossible for him to create spells like the Killing Curse, Crucifixion, and Imperius.
The path of magic is very clear.
A cry came from the shelf on the desk.
The phoenix, an immortal bird, flapped its wings and swept in with flames, instantly carrying the three of them through space and quickly arriving at the location Lockhart had just been heading to.
In front of the dilapidated and abandoned factory.
"When I was looking through some wizarding history materials in Beauxbatons, I found that wizards in the early days liked to go to Muggle homes, either to abduct children with magical talents, to threaten or harm them, or to do some strange things."
Lockhart stroked his wand as he recounted this event, which wasn't properly recorded in modern magical history, "At a certain point, such accounts of wizarding attacks became less frequent, because a great Muggle technological invention was being widely adopted!"
Dumbledore and Grindelwald became interested and began speculating about what it could be.
But they didn't guess it.
Lockhart patted the mottled wall behind him. "Cement!"
"Isn't it strange? It doesn't seem any more sturdy than a stone house."
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"But what's interesting is that cement is not a product of nature. Stone, soil, and even volcanic ash, among other early building materials, all came from nature."
"After Muggles started using cement to build houses, wizards were surprised to find that some spells that targeted buildings became ineffective. For example, spells like Shadow of the Wall and the ability to walk through walls, which allowed people to blend into the walls, were obsolete. To this day, many spells are not even recorded."
"Beauxbatons' archives contain fragments of wizards' diaries from that time, in which they describe in horrified language the fears of many wizards—Muggles living in some kind of very sturdy house!"
"Nowadays, the sturdiness of reinforced concrete houses has been deeply ingrained in people's minds and is no longer given extra attention, but in fact, the houses where wizards live do not use this technique."
"I'm not sure if you know this, but the Black family, who are said to be the oldest, actually built their ancestral home with Muggles, which is why it uses Muggle street numbers."
"I confirmed this with Sirius."
"Thus, it formed the theoretical basis of modern mysticism."
"Muggles always yearn for a pigeon coop in the city, because a sturdy house always gives them a sense of security from the wind and rain. This mentality was not common in the lives of ordinary people in ancient times who did not live in castles, because thatched and mud houses could not actually provide such a sense of security."
Lockhart stroked the concrete wall. "Home is a word that belongs to the community, but it also belongs to the lonely soul. The house becomes the embodiment of home."
"I don't know if you've ever seriously considered my 'mutual dependence' magic. In fact, in many people's eyes, the owner and the house also have a mutually dependent relationship."
"Some are even relationships of provider and protector."
As he recounted these events, he recalled the difficult years of paying off his mortgage in his previous life. In this mortal world, how many people, like him, have wasted the most energetic years of their lives on such things?
This feeling was so profound that when he stepped into the realm of "relationship magic," he quickly developed deep thoughts about magic in this direction.
"So this magic is—"
He waved his wand and gently tapped the house behind him, "I promise to provide for you; please shelter me."
It's like the kind of folk saying that's cursed, like smoke dissipating and ascending to heaven.
Suddenly, a silvery mist rose from the entire dilapidated factory building, shimmering with light. Then all the strange phenomena disappeared, and the building returned to its normal state.
"It looks very solid!" Grindelwald sensed the difference instantly. He had an extremely profound understanding of castle magic and had built Nurmengard, a prison known for its ability to imprison magic masters, with great pride. He was very perceptive.
Sure enough, when he tried using Fire Charm, Shatter Charm, and Tap Dance Charm (which can be used to demolish houses) with the attack power of a normal Auror, he found that the dilapidated abandoned factory in front of him, which was clearly about to collapse, actually resisted the attack of these spells.
But when he tried to use a more intense attack, the factory collapsed with a crash.
"Tsk~"
Grindelwald scoffed, "It doesn't look like it'll do any good."
They have high standards.
But in fact, both he and Dumbledore knew that the spell Lockhart had just cast was probably very easy to learn, so easy that even young wizards at magic schools could easily learn it. Having such strong magic resistance was already quite impressive.
Lockhart smiled and shook his head. "It's more than that. As I said, I depend on this house for everything. I am the provider, and it is the protector."
"When I lived in this house, leaving behind countless traces of my personal life, wept in this house, laughed wildly in this house, made love with beautiful women and fathered children in this house, watched my children grow up day by day in this house —"
He waved his wand gently, restoring the destroyed factory. He patted the unique reinforced concrete walls, "It will grow stronger and stronger, so strong that ordinary wizards cannot destroy it, so strong that dark magic creatures cannot enter and harm me—"
Grindelwald exclaimed in surprise, "Wow! This will be enough to change the whole world!"
He thought of far too many potential applications for this magic.
The key point here is that it only applies to houses made of reinforced concrete!
Because of this magic, Grindelwald can foresee how many wizards will abandon castles and mud and stone houses in the future and choose Muggle houses made of steel and concrete, or even live directly in the Muggle jungle of steel and concrete!
The new era of wizards sometimes begins with a series of small details, quietly accumulating until they eventually become a mighty torrent of history.
Grindelwald's heterochromatic eyes gleamed, as if peering into some possible distant future.
He murmured with a sigh, "Tell me more about this magic. I'm very interested in it, and maybe I can help you promote it."
"real?"
Lockhart became excited. He knew all too well Grindelwald's influence in the wizarding world. He had always declined Grindelwald's help before when he asked for Hakimi's help, but he didn't expect that he would become so proactive with this newly invented magic.
He then elaborated on the theoretical basis in more detail: "The convergence of all the emotions, will, experiences, etc., in a wizard's life, along with the blossoming of magic, creates powerful magical force—"
"This technique originates from Voldemort's use of the Killing Curse to create Horcruxes, causing carnage when the victim dies. When the victim dies, everything deep within their soul is stirred and unleashed—"
"!!!" Grindelwald suddenly turned around and looked at Lockhart.
"!!!" Dumbledore was even more dumbfounded.
They were all stunned.
Lockhart then realized that he seemed to have touched a nerve again, and spread his hands innocently, "I said this magic is wonderful, is it too late?"
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