Library.
Felix has his hands in the books and hears nothing beyond the windows.
Yesterday's public lecture did not seem to affect him, even though he was the direct cause of such a stir.
He flipped through the book with his left hand and held his wand in his right hand and flicked it in small circles as a single rune appeared and dissipated in the air. Mrs Pince was watching intently from the sidelines, she had been staring at Felix for over half an hour.
Mrs Pince is a thin, elderly woman who looks somewhat malnourished. But she is well suited to the job of librarian because she loves books and has a keen sense of detection and is always the first to find and punish students who break the rules.
If a student dared to pull out their wand and gesticulate in the library, she would have thrown them out, but Felix being a professor made her a little hesitant.
Luckily, Felix quickly left with two books, saving her from being so stumped.
Felix returned to his office and took a piece of chestnut wood out of his suitcase, magic pouring down from his carving knife, carving an ancient rune into the surface of the chestnut.
Chestnut wood is a wand-making material, but in itself is like a blank piece of paper with little inclination to be cheap, and was discovered by Felix to practice ancient rune engravings.
The magic-infused carving knife leaves magic runes on the surface of the chestnut wood, and with each complete magic rune sketched out, it glows with a fiery red light, which then quietly goes out again, branding it with a black mark.
Felix's speed in carving the magic rune was so fast that it kept the surface of the chestnut wood shining. The carving knife kept dancing as if it's writing an immortal chapter that would go down in history, rather than carving a magic rune.
After a few minutes Felix had filled the layer of chestnut wood with runes, he drew his wand and brushed it across the top, a thin surface layer of wood instantly detached and flew off to the other side of the table.
Felix then took up his carving knife again and continued to work on the chestnut wood.
Only when the piece of chestnut had shrunk by three inches did he stop and stretch out in back on the spot.
In one corner of the table, thirty thin slabs of wood had been piled up like pages of a book, covered with ancient runes in black colour.
Felix calculated a number in his mind and nodded in satisfaction, "272 runes, that's the amount of power I currently have at my disposal."
He got up leisurely and stood in front of the window overlooking the outside landscape, his decision to return to Hogwarts had been so right.
This is the life I want!
" Wow~"
An owl flew in through the window and dropped a letter on the table.
Felix opened the envelope and read the letter, but he couldn't help but frown.
It is a letter from an "old friend".
Felix only had been graduated for three years and had only one year of real travel experience under his belt, but it had been one rich year of experience, and it opened his eyes wide enough to be "well-traveled" - no matter where in the world he went, he could name the nearest wizarding community with his eyes closed. He could name the nearest black market near him in the world.
This letter came from a 'friend' he had met in the black market.
Felix drew out a parchment and hastily wrote down a string of words, asking him to meet him at the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade on Saturday.
Until the owl flew away, he was still thinking about his friend's intentions.
He recalled the first time the two of them met.
The man, who called himself Kline, often wore a hood over his robes, and his face was so misty from the beginning that it was impossible to see who he really was.
Kline practised the principle of equivalent trade, like rare magic manuscripts, potions, magical creatures, etc. He had access to them all.
Felix had traded with him seven times, and they had maintained each other's rules.
So he is curious about Kline's purpose in seeking him out for. More intrigued, of course, about what this friend had in stock lately.
Ten o'clock on Saturday morning.
Felix arrived at the Hogshead Inn, it's still early and there is only one customer.
Felix walked up to the table of that customer, smiled at the sight of the familiar misty hooded face, and sat down. As he took his seat, their two figures were hidden and their voices were completely cut off from the outside world.
"Kline."
"Felix." It is a neutral voice, indistinguishable from male or female, and impossible to identify the age.
There is no shortage of these types of a mysterious presence in the wizarding world, and the reasons were always varied. Like being a dark wizard, or committing some serious sins, hiding from the enemy, or, perhaps, just having some kind of bad edgy taste.
"What do you want from me?"
"To get some information."
"What kind of info?"
"The relics of the Second Dark Lord."
Felix went silent for several seconds, his mind kept turning.
"Yes, but you'll have to tell me your source of information first."
Klein tapped his fingers on the corner of the table as if weighing it up, but he quickly uttered one word, "Uagadou."
"You sought out that mad witch sacrifice group?" Felix is somewhat surprised; Uagadou is an African school of wizardry, and African wizards didn't start using wands until the 20th century, which set their path off from that of other countries.
For example, they also inherited a branch of prophetic magic, known as witch rituals, although outsiders called them mad witch rituals.
This is because this prophecy magic is actually a form of dark magic, and each prophecy requires a price to be paid - such as a limb of your body.
And to top it off, the prophecy is not always accurate ...
Klein mentioned Uagadou, and that was all Felix could think of, since African and Britain's wizarding sides were not that involved, and there was no interaction between the two sides.
"Go on," Felix said, intrigued, given Kline's character, there was no way he would get a watered-down witch priest, and it must have cost him quite a lot to get a highly skilled witch priest to make a prophecy.
"The prophecy stated that the Dark Lord's relic would remain in Hogwarts for a year."
Felix's heart fluttered, "What exactly is this relic?"
"Not sure, only know that it is very evil."
Felix became a little speechless, why do you bother if you're not sure!
And evil, you think you're Auror?
Seeming to see Felix's disbelief, Klein added, "The prophecy I requested is: the secret of leaping over the dead."
Almost instantly, Felix's brain worked at full blast as he said, "You say that again?"
"Leap over death."
"But the Dark Lord is already dead."
"That's the prophecy."
"You can look it up yourself."
"Hogwarts has Dumbledore."
"You're afraid of him?"
Klein laughed twice, and although Felix couldn't see through the fog over his face, he knew the other party's face wouldn't look very good at the moment.
Felix pretended to "ponder" for a long time before he said, "Thank you for the information, but I will not ensure that I will obtain the relic. I can only promise that I won't turn my back on you and go off on my own to crack the Dark Lord's secrets."
Klein thought for a moment and said, "Yes."
The two extended their hands, their index fingers touched, and a golden stripe bloomed.
It's a temporary magical pact for a year, with no penalty for Felix if he broke it, but at that time, Kline would have his location at his fingertips for a year!
If you are not afraid of the revenge of a mysterious wizard, you can always break the pact.