On the last day of the Christmas holidays, after bidding farewell to his parents, Eisen returned to Hogwarts. Having dealt with various matters in the Muggle world, such as film production companies and the like, all he had to do from now on was occasionally send back some "self-created" movie scripts to the production companies.
Although Harry had followed Dumbledore's instructions and kept the Invisibility Cloak buried at the bottom of his trunk, forgetting about the Mirror of Erised, he began having frequent nightmares.
"You see, Professor Dumbledore was right; that mirror could have driven you mad," Ron said, his face bearing an expression of "I told you so."
"Professor Eisen, what do you think?" Hermione, who had just returned to school the previous day, clearly disagreed with this view and thus turned toward Eisen.
When Eisen saw the trio again, Harry recounted the troubles he had been experiencing lately. Although Hermione was disappointed that Harry and Ron hadn't figured out who Nicolas Flamel was, she was still very concerned about Harry's problem.
Harry had been having the same nightmare every night, in which he saw his parents disappear in a sudden burst of green light, accompanied by an eerie laughter.
Eisen knew that this was, in fact, a reenactment of the real scene from Harry's childhood when Voldemort killed his parents.
"Don't worry; if possible, I think you could learn Occlumency," Eisen said, though he knew what was going on, he certainly couldn't act like he knew everything. Otherwise, there would be no way to explain it to anyone.
However, after comforting Harry, Eisen did make a suggestion. After all, Harry would eventually have to learn Occlumency, so starting earlier might be somewhat useful.
Of course, Occlumency was indeed very difficult, and even Eisen's own progress in learning it was slow, let alone Harry's. In the original story, Harry had never really mastered Occlumency, or perhaps he had, but he had only used it once when burying the house-elf Dobby.
From this point of view, even if Eisen suggested that Harry start learning Occlumency early, it was unlikely to change much.
Regarding the trio's questions about Occlumency, Eisen did not provide too many explanations. Because if he went into depth, he might have to touch upon the content of Harry's mind being invaded and influenced by Voldemort. So, Eisen only gave the conclusion that Occlumency helped to clear the mind and promote sleep.
After the term started, the trio resumed their happy learning life. With Hermione's supervision, they once again began using the ten-minute breaks between classes to visit the library and research information. However, Harry had less time due to his Quidditch practice commitments.
The next Quidditch match was Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, and if Gryffindor won, they would surpass Slytherin in the House Cup. Clearly, this was a rare opportunity for Gryffindor, who had long been at odds with Slytherin. After all, this was the first time in seven years.
Therefore, even though the Gryffindor Quidditch team captain, Wood, demanded more rigorous practice than ever before, Harry still completed the training every day, even on rainy days after heavy snowfall.
Moreover, Harry discovered an added benefit: the exhaustion from daily training reduced the frequency of his nightmares. However, this good news for Harry was soon followed by bad news from Wood: in the upcoming Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff Quidditch match, Snape would be the referee.
Upon hearing this, Harry's face darkened. Whenever he thought about Snape being the referee, he recalled being told by Hermione and Ron that Snape had jinxed him.
"If Gryffindor has a chance to beat Slytherin and win the House Cup, Snape will undoubtedly find every possible excuse to take points from Gryffindor," the Boy Who Lived thought to himself.
After training, while the team members were still discussing the potential consequences of Snape being the referee, Harry hurried to the Gryffindor common room.
Upon arriving, he found Ron and Hermione there. Ron was fiddling with his wizard chess set, while Hermione was reading a book nearby.
"Come play a game of wizard's chess!" Ron invited Harry as he sat down beside him. Rarely able to beat Harry at wizard's chess, Ron seized every opportunity to challenge him. However, as he looked up and saw Harry's expression, he changed his question: "What happened? You look terrible!"
Harry glanced around, noticing that the Gryffindor common room was quite crowded. He lowered his voice, not wanting others to hear, "Snape's refereeing the next Quidditch match!"
"Then you shouldn't play!" Hermione immediately looked up from her book, her face showing surprise.
"Yes, just say you're ill," Ron suggested.
"You could pretend to break your leg!" Hermione agreed with Ron's suggestion.
"No, you'd have to actually break your leg!" Ron shook his head, proposing a more brutal plan. After all, for wizards, only an actual broken leg would be a legitimate excuse to stay with the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey.
However, Harry shook his head and rejected these suggestions. There was no way he could do that; Gryffindor didn't have a reserve Seeker, and if he didn't play, the entire team couldn't compete.
Shrugging, Hermione and Ron didn't say anything further. After all, Harry was right; if he didn't participate, the consequences would be too severe.
Hermione's gaze returned to her book as she muttered and flipped through the pages.
"What's this?" Seeing Hermione's actions, Harry looked at Ron with a puzzled expression.
"Hermione says she's found out where to look for Nicolas Flamel!" Ron leaned over and whispered an explanation to Harry.
"I've found it! I've found it!" Suddenly, Hermione stood up, shouting loudly and attracting the attention of several people. Realizing this, her face flushed, and she quickly sat back down, gesturing to Harry and Ron.
"Nicolas Flamel?" Harry and Ron didn't pay much attention to Hermione's actions but instead looked at her excitedly.
"Yes, Nicolas Flamel is known as the only maker of the Philosopher's Stone," Seeing their confused expressions, Hermione rolled her eyes and placed the book in front of them. "Look at this passage!"
The book read: The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The Stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.
There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight).
"Fluffy must be guarding the Philosopher's Stone!" After reading this passage, Harry made a definitive judgment.
"Exactly, Professor Dumbledore is a friend of Flamel's, so Flamel must have asked him to keep the Stone safe. Because someone is after it, Dumbledore moved it from Gringotts and had Fluffy guard it," Hermione nodded, her brown hair seeming to shimmer with radiance.
"No wonder Snape's trying to get his hands on it. A stone that can turn any metal into gold and make you live forever? Who wouldn't want it?" Ron also expressed his amazement.
Clearly, all three agreed that the Philosopher's Stone was Snape's target.
While Harry was feeling troubled, on the other side, Eisen was lost in thought in his office.
The reason for Eisen's contemplation was rather perplexing. He had discovered that his abilities had reached a bottleneck. Of course, this wasn't a bottleneck in terms of the strength or quantity of his magic, as he had a golden touch that had already increased his internal magic to an enormous level:
Name: Eisen Turner
Supernatural Talent: Magic (Activated)
Magic Value: 5500 (Increases by 10 points per day)
Supernatural Trait: Excellent-Grade Casting Trait (Compatibility 115%) (Integrated)
Miracle Trait: 1 share (Automatically gains 1 share per year)
The constant increase and strengthening of his magic did allow Eisen to cast more powerful spells. However, in his view, his abilities had reached a bottleneck. Or, more precisely, his Transfiguration skills had hit a ceiling.
For instance, although his Transfiguration abilities allowed him to freely transform objects and living beings, even achieving elemental transformations, he could not transform one element directly into another.
Previously, Eisen had thought that his lack of sufficient magical power was the main reason, but after months of accumulation and practice, he realized he still couldn't manage it. Moreover, he had a feeling that relying solely on his internal magic reserves to build strength would never allow him to achieve it.
(end of chapter)