Early in the next morning, Felix got the research materials in the Room of Requirement.
He easily found the "large cabinet with a blistered surface, as if it had been poured with strong acid", as Tom put it. After using the Levitation Charm to move the cabinet away, he found a dusty wooden box hidden in the back.
He carefully waved his wand, his body flashed with layer after layer of protective magic, and he opened the dusty chest with the Unlocking Charm, and a thick stack of neatly cropped parchment was inside.
No curses, no dark magic, no traps.
This left the heavily armed and cautious Felix a bit disappointed.
Except for the strong stench emanating from the half-hidden cabinet, which forced him to put a Bubble-Head Charm on himself, the whole process was easy beyond imagination.
Back in his office, Felix couldn't wait to look over the material.
Frankly, this process is a bit messy, the information contains many anatomical drawings of magical creatures and Slytherin's own label, when Felix brushed his hand across the surface of the sheet, he seemed to hear this creature' dying wail.
It reminded him of his own experience of studying dark magic, where his mind seemed to be soaked in foul-smelling black water, invisible arms desperately dragging him downward.
Felix quickly closed his mind with an Occlumency, and he forced through the discomfort to read over the information on the parchment.
Almost an hour later -
"Whew~"
Felix exhaled a long breath, he felt very complicated at this moment.
It would be difficult to understand the weight of the name Salazar Slytherin simply from the mere words of the latter. In a way, Felix even some understanding of the sixteen or seventeen-year-old Tom Riddle, why he was so fanatical and reverent of Slytherin.
It's never because of being a Slytherin's descendant.
He looked at the parchments in front of him, they are not only carriers of knowledge - each parchment contains the thought and will of Salazar Slytherin himself when writing the information, it is a calm to cold rationality, in his eyes all kinds of magical creatures are just materials that need to be studied, you can't feel half compassion for them, and You can't feel any sympathy or pity for them.
But it was this absolute calmness that made Slytherin's research process extremely organized, each line of text, each composition contains the ultimate charm of magic.
Even under the protection of Occlumency, Felix could not help but be fascinated, and the thought of following Slytherin's footsteps welled up inside him.
This is not the influence of magic, but the powerful personal charm of a legendary wizard in the pursuit of magic.
Felix held back his reluctance to seal the material completely, "That is not my path." He admonished himself.
There were only three parchments left in front of him, and they were all knowledge that he had picked out as most suitable for him.
But Felix did not immediately begin to study, he stood up and walked to the window, looking out over the distant landscape of Hogwarts.
His mind went haywire.
" Huh! Tom, is this your calculation? Under Extreme disadvantage, you can find the means to fight back." Felix murmured under his breath.
Many books in the magic world are potentially dangerous, and not everyone is qualified to read them. Like the Forbidden section at Hogwarts, which has numerous dangerous books locked away - not just the knowledge recorded in them, but many of them, which require a terrible price to pay just for reading it.
And Tom Riddle's purpose would be obvious, to borrow the Allure of Salazar Slytherin's own wizarding path to influence and assimilate Felix's mind.
I can't beat you, and I can't influence you, but I can find a being stronger than me and let his mind transform you.
The winter sun is warm but not glaring, the snow in the courtyard is white but not shiny, and the cold wind blowing through the tower is chilly but not biting.
He looked away and said softly, "Salazar Slytherin ..."
"... In a sense, we are on the same path, both in pursuit of the ultimate magic. But I have my path, and will not jump into your domain just because you have gone further."
"People all start out weak. Thousands of years ago, were you not as confused about your path as I am today?"
"Now you are a high mountain that is deep and dangerous in my eyes, a legend that is out of reach, but time is on my side, the future is on my side. One day, I will walk side by side with you until I surpass you."
Felix had been standing in front of the window, watching the sunrise until the middle of the day, and as its rays spread over every corner of Hogwarts, his heart became firm again.
This morning, Felix did not think about any magic, but he felt that his understanding of "magic" itself had advanced a great deal, and this "progress" is comprehensive, it could not be reflected in a specific spell, but it allowed him to see through the fog. He knew for a long time that had been stagnant.
He knew that the bottleneck of his magic theory, which had been stagnant for a long time, had finally loosened.
The accumulation of several years in the past had qualified for a qualitative change at this moment.
Felix waved his wand, and the milky white light centred around him, illuminating the courtyard below, the greenhouse in the distance, the snow on the ground, and the frozen black lake.
The swaying dead branches mottled, the shadows of the black stones by the lake disappeared at this moment.
The bearded Dumbledore, holding a piece of Zizi bee candy in his hand, looked up from the Headmaster's office next to the main castle building, his blue eyes reflecting brightly through half-moon-shaped lenses.
"It's remarkable." He said softly, "Right, Fawkes?"
A palm-sized phoenix, grooming its feathers by itself.
Inside the Hogwarts school, the life and times of the world played out.
Gilderoy Lockhart huffing and puffing in his bed, enjoying the leisure of Christmas break.
Professor McGonagall, making a cup of coffee and flipped through the students' reports.
Professor Flitwick waved his wand and savoured the Spell Book.
Professor Sprout, tending to the mischievous mandrake in the warmth of the greenhouse.
Professor Snape, fiddling with a measuring cup with a disgusted look on his face and an illustrated booklet in his hand.
Hermione Granger, looking in the mirror and tugging at the cat's ear on top of her head in distress.
Luna Lovegood sitting in the Ravenclaw common room, shaking her head and reading a joke book.
...
On the snow, the two young wizards made their way through the snow.
Harry suddenly felt a white light flash before his eyes, and he looked around but found nothing.
"Did you notice that?" He said to his companion.
"What?" Ron looked up and said distractedly.
"It seems like a light just flashed ..."
"Where?" Ron looked east and west and found nothing.
The two continued to trample through the snow in the courtyard and walked in the direction of Professor McGonagall's office.
A gust of wind blew up, bringing up a few fallen leaves, and carried their faint voices -
"Harry, do you think Professor McGonagall will give me permission to leave?"
"Sure will, you're doing the serious thing. You're long due for a new wand."
And in front of a window in the castle tower, Felix looked calmly and put away his wand, no longer a trace of confusion in his eyes.
"In the next millennium, I will be a legend."
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