At the end of the party, Felix got up to leave with the party popper that belonged to him, then he saw Hermione did not go with her companion but stayed alone.
"Is something wrong, Miss Granger?" He assumed that Hermione is waiting for him.
"Oh, Professor," she hesitated, "I have something to say to Professor McGonagall."
"Is that so ...," Felix nodded, "I'll leave you alone then, and by the way, I like the music box you gave me, it doesn't seem to be a pure alchemical item?"
Hermione worried expression melted away, as she said happily: "that is what I brought from home, using the original mechanical structure to enchant it, for the music part I take reference from the Parseltongue scroll, the runic circuit on it which stores sound is very convenient ..."
Felix understood, after the Chamber of Secrets incident last year, Harry still spent a few days supplementing the pronunciation of the Parseltongue, Felix then sorted out the corresponding syllables into a book in his memory and saved it in the thinking room.
He did remember Hermione playing with the scroll for a while and asked him about some production techniques ...
Back in his office, he took the time to return a few more letters, one of which is an official letter that caught his attention.
"Surprisingly, it's a letter from the Ministry of Magic."
Felix looked at the logo on the letter and speculated in his mind what it could be about, could it be his dissertation on memory healing? But he had only sent it yesterday, since when did the Ministry of Magic is quick to respond.
Opening the letter, he first scanned the signature at the bottom, it belonged to Rufus Scrimgeour the Advisor to the Minister for Magic, and then he read the body.
"Dear Mr. Hap: Some of my colleagues have noticed that your new book, 'Magic' in the Muggle World, which has been listed as a recommended book by the ministries of magic in twelve countries, coupled with your two previously published books on Muggle studies, all indicate that you have a very deep understanding of Muggles, and We would like to invite you to give an internal lecture for the Ministry of Magic ...
...
The date is scheduled for the first Thursday after Christmas break, 2:00 p.m., Room 2. If you have any objections, or if the schedule is inconvenient, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours faithfully
Rufus Scrimgeour, Office of the Advisor to the Minister of Magic."
Below followed by a long list of departments whose personnel were the audience for his speech if he accepted, including: the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee, the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, the Obliviators, and the interested crowd.
" Fair enough, they are all departments that deal with ordinary people on a regular basis."
Felix thought for a moment, he is still willing to promote his ideals, and he would like to know more about the actual situation of the Ministry of Magic, among some of the people he has dealt with so far, Fudge is a standard politician, Umbridge is no less than three times more disgusting politician, Kingsley Shacklebolt is calm and competent.
For the rest, some of them were either unknown or he had only communicated with them through letters, so he could not form an accurate judgment.
He drew out a piece of parchment and penned: Dear Mr. Scrimgeour, I accept your invitation with great pleasure, but the time, I hope to move it to Friday, I have no classes that afternoon ...
After the letter is sent, the only thing left is just relaxing. In the last days of the holiday, instead of soaking in the library books or studying the runic creations in his office, he developed a new habit.
A few runes, only the size of his little thumb, would always appear in his hand, and now and then he would pick them up and play with them for a while, even when he ate and slept, he maintained them as much as possible.
At this point he had reached, simply improving the number of runes is no longer very useful, he learned from many ancient books, and alchemical items with ancient runes, that in fact, the level of his understanding is not that deep.
He decided to take the time to organize what he had learned, if he could complete a book of magic runes, it would definitely produce better results than mastering a few hundred more new practical runes.
He also visited several experts in ancient magic runes - he had very few friends in this area, even the most talkative Tofty, knowledge in this area is quite limited.
In Felix's opinion, he might as well pose as an alchemist and mingle in alchemical circles. Before Nicolas Flamel introduced him to a few people, he also wrote a few letters expressing the idea of exchange, and then he slowly faded away, because the focus of both sides is completely different, the exchange always feels awkward.
Alchemists are more concerned about the selection and proportioning of alchemical materials, as well as the fusion of different properties, a rare recipe may sell for a sky-high price or become an untold secret. They are also concerned with the skills of using alchemical runes, especially the unique ways to implement functions.
Felix exchanged some knowledge with them, and then kept the communication on a low frequency.
He is not in a hurry, and if there is no suitable circle, he will build one himself: among the students who graduated last year, eight or nine of them still maintain correspondence with him, and the girl named Vera has the most active approach.
She has become a Curse-Breaker, a rather dangerous and serious profession, in which they may be killed by ancient wards, hexes, or curses, though the pay is correspondingly good.
Clammy Vera recently wrote to tell him that she is currently working in Egypt, where there are a huge number of ancient tombs and historical sites located, along with friendly colleagues.
She had even found a situation where practical runes were useful - many ancient defences and traps were inseparable from alchemy, and practical runes, with their superior magical properties compared to other alchemical runes, were often chosen by ancient wizards as the core of entire defense and counterattack systems.
In a recent operation, Vera accidentally found a practical rune hidden on the decoration pattern in the pit, through which she avoided a sinister curse and successfully reversed it.
Felix is not shy about giving pointers, and in his reply, he points out that for some alchemical traps that are less offensive but difficult to break at once, try overlapping a runic circuit to draw the magic out and let it run out of energy by itself.
...
On the other hand, Harry, Ron, and Hermione have not been idle, since Hagrid wrote to Professor Kettleburn asking for help, every day since then they go to Hagrid's hut to see how things are going.
There is something serious to do, which has also reduced Harry's resentment towards Hermione in a way. He knew Hermione meant well, but the firebolt he had just got in his hands was taken away by Professor McGonagall to check for possible black magic and curses, and he had to put up with the old Comet series, which had filled him with grievances.
It wasn't until near the beginning of the school year that Hagrid finally received a letter back.
"Read it, Hagrid, read it!" Harry said impatiently.
Hagrid ripped open the letter and cleared his throat, "Hagrid, it's good to hear from you, and I sympathize about what happened to Buckbeak, but there's nothing I can do about it, I really don't have any contacts in the Ministry of Magic, and you can't expect a lousy old man with sixty-two periods of probation and an unrewarding career change before he retires to have any good connections unless you want to meet a troll friend or two --"
The trio's expressions became odd, both regretful that Professor Kettleburn hadn't helped and stifled by his sardonic self-deprecation; they looked like they wanted to laugh, but desperately tried to hold it back, and Ron's eyebrows were going to fly over his head.
"So how do we--"
"Don't rush, there's more behind that." Hagrid said, "I'll keep reading - but I recommend you to someone who has enough prestige in the field of magical creatures and who, as it happens, is very interested in hippogriff, supposedly under the influence of his mother. I enclose the address, and you can write to him in the near future, and I will also write a letter explaining the situation to him. Yours faithfully, Silvanus Kettleburn." Hagrid finished reading the letter and looked up at them.
"Who is it? Who is the person he recommended?" Hermione asked hoarsely, she had recently caught a cold.
Hagrid lowered his head again, looked at the bottom of the letter, and read out a name with a wide eye, "Newton Scamander."
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