Chapter 21.
During the remaining month of summer vacation, Soren did not forget the various troubles that would arise in the upcoming term at Hogwarts, so he began studying spells that could be useful in this semester, preparing for the various situations he might face.
Since last semester, Soren had already begun improving the spells learned in the first-year curriculum, such as the Lumos Spell, Sonorus Spell, and Conflagration Spell. During this long vacation, Soren finally found the opportunity to realise his ideas one by one.
Through precise magical control and adjustments to his wand posture, Soren discovered that the light emitted by the Lumos Spell, the sound effects created by the Sonorus Spell, and the flame forms released by the Conflagration Spell could all be adjusted in size.
For example, with the Lumos Spell, Soren successfully turned his wand into a Muggle-style adjustable flashlight, with the light produced by magic able to change brightness according to his will. Similarly, with the Sonorus Spell, Soren managed to make the sound adjustable like a Muggle sound system, allowing for free volume and sound wave adjustment. Additionally, with the Conflagration Spell, the flames he released were no longer just jets of fire but could now produce a cluster of enormous fireballs resembling miniature suns, as well as bursts of scattered sparks.
Moreover, over the past few years, he had maintained correspondence with pen pals overseas. Among them, the most frequent communication was with a female pen pal from Japan, Akabane Sakutsuki, who studied at Mahoutokoro School of Magic.
Mahoutokoro means a magical place in Japanese, so it is also referred to simply as the school of magic. This magical school is a palace located at the highest point of Minami Iwo Jima in Japan, built from a type of stone known as sheepfat stone, making it look like a magnificent and exquisite pagoda, thus earning the title of the magical palace. To Muggles, both the island and the palace appear uninhabited.
In Japan, wizard children begin school at the age of seven, but they do not commence boarding until they turn eleven; prior to that, they travel daily on the backs of giant sea creature between home and school, attending in a day-school format. So, although Akabane Sakutsuki is the same age as Soren, she has already had six years of exposure to magic.
Soren is particularly interested in Japanese witches from the 16th century during the Warring States period, known for their popularity as "ninja." To satisfy the information needs of the major feudal lords of the time, Japanese witches' magic was heavily inclined towards stealth, disguise, invisibility, and concealment. There are more than thirty types of invisibility magic that have survived to this day, accounting for more than half of the "Book of Invisibility" that narrates all invisibility magic in the world.
During her multiple exchanges with Soren, the discussion inevitably turned to her most cherished invisibility spell, exploring the differing interpretations of invisibility magic between the British and Japanese schools. The commonly seen invisibility spell in Britain is the Disillusionment Charm, which uses principles similar to that of a chameleon, allowing the caster's skin to mimic the surrounding environment in an attempt to create a visual deception to achieve the effect of hiding their form; whereas, the most frequently used invisibility magic in Japan is the "Wako Dōchin" spell, which modifies the body's shape and translucence, making the body transparent like dust so that light can pass through. In simple terms, it makes the body truly transparent.
These two spells, having undergone improvements over generations of wizards, are now nearly perfect in effect; however, Soren remains somewhat dissatisfied.
There are actually many ways to see through invisibility magic. For example, the glasses worn by Mad-Eye Moody with a special spell attached can see through the Disillusionment Charm and invisibility cloaks; moreover, animals like cats and dogs can use their keen sense of smell to detect the location of the invisible person, which Soren mainly considers in relation to the students and Filch's pet cat, miss Norris; additionally, snakes, which can sense infrared, can detect the temperature of an invisible person.
Soren's goal is to create an invisibility spell that overcomes the aforementioned flaws, a completely unique invisibility magic of his own.
He referenced the principles behind the Disillusionment Charm and the Wako Dōchin spell, and consulted several Muggle books on optics, ultimately developing a brand-new invisibility spell, which he named the "Invisible Phantom Charm."
He tested all the anti-invisibility and anti-stealth devices collected by his family, and even borrowed a pair of x-ray glasses similar to those of Mad-Eye Moody from Lucius, under the pretext of wanting to study the alchemical principles behind the glasses. To his surprise, he discovered that none of these valuable devices could see through his invisibility spell, indicating that his invisibility magic surpasses even the invisibility cloak of the Deathly Hallows in terms of concealment. After all, in the original story, the invisibility cloak could not hide from Mad-Eye Moody's x-ray vision.
The "Invisibile Phantom Charm" combined with his merlin's robe—enhanced with features to mask presence, scent, and body temperature—ensures that even the most sensitive dogs or infrared-sensitive snakes cannot sense his presence; even if Soren stands right in front of them, he would appear invisible.
More impressively, he also successfully developed a brand-new combat technique, cleverly integrating his invisibility magic into his spell-casting process, making the spells released from his wand formless and without distinct features, impossible to trace with the naked eye, let alone defend against. Before this, only one spell could achieve such an effect: Severus Snape's unique "Non-Corporeal Curse." Soren, however, can incorporate this technique into all spells, which he named the "Formless Casting" technique.
[Invisibility Magic "Invisibile Phantom Charm" Created!]
[Formless Casting Technique Acquired!]
In comparison to the bountiful achievements of Soren, his brother Draco has been neglecting his studies, spending nearly every day of the holiday practicing Quidditch with Goyle and Crabbe. Second-year students are eligible to participate in the selection for the school's Quidditch team, and Draco has mentioned more than once at home that he is determined to join the Slytherin Quidditch team this semester.
Through his relentless persuasion, Lucius personally negotiated with Marcus Flint of the Flint family—the Malfoy family would provide each member of the Slytherin Quidditch team with a Nimbus 2001 broom for free, in exchange for Marcus Flint ensuring Draco passes the selection.
The Nimbus series of flying brooms is the most high-end option currently on the market, and each Nimbus 2001 costs 130 Galleons. Even for the affluent Malfoy family, purchasing seven Nimbus 2001s in one go constitutes a significant expense, highlighting just how indulgent Lucius is toward his son.
Soren has little interest in Quidditch; his focus is solely on enhancing his own abilities. Only after overcoming the crisis that Voldemort will bring in the coming years will he consider slowing down to enjoy the beautiful things in life.
During these two months of summer vacation, his alchemy and charms skills have made significant progress, and even his combat techniques have become more agile, varied, and effortless through daily practice and improvement.
As for the regulations in the "Reasonable Restraint on Underage Wizards Act" prohibiting underage wizards from using magic off school grounds? That's for Muggle families or weaker half-blood families. As an ancient pure-blood family, the Malfoy Manor is enveloped by powerful protective and shielding spells. As long as they are within the bounds of Malfoy Manor, the Ministry of Magic can't track the magical activities of Soren and Draco at all.
This shows that pure-blood wizards have far more advantages compared to wizards from Muggle families. In the original story, if Draco didn't waste his time every day on schemes and boring games, he wouldn't face the repeated humiliations of defeat in his series of struggles against Harry Potter.
Speaking of Harry, his summer was incredibly miserable. Throughout July, all his magical items were confiscated by his Muggle relatives, so for an entire month he was unable to access any magic.
To make matters worse, he tried writing letters to his friends to complain or seek help but never received any replies—his letters were intercepted by Dobby, which was Dobby's decision. Soren knew about this but did not intervene.
These days of misery continued until Harry's birthday—July 31, when Dobby appeared in his room to give him a nonsensical warning, and using a hovering spell caused Harry to receive a warning letter from the Director of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Mafalda Hopkik, regarding unauthorised use of magic.
After being cruelly imprisoned by his Muggle relatives for three more days, Harry was finally rescued by Ron and his twin brothers, marking the end of his disastrous summer vacation.
On August 19, Lucius announced that he needed to go to Knockturn Alley in London for some errands and invited Draco and Soren to accompany him, also to buy the required books for their upcoming term.
Knockturn Alley, akin to a Muggle black market, is adjacent to Diagon Alley and is looked down upon by most wizards. This alley is filled with dark magic shops where many kinds of dark magical items can be purchased.
Serious wizards rarely frequent Knockturn Alley, which even harbors several notorious dark wizards, werewolves, and vampires. Aurors from the Ministry of Magic have made multiple attempts to eradicate this blot on the wizarding world, but they have ultimately returned empty-handed.
Soren has always held a skeptical attitude toward this; he does not believe the failure to shut down Knockturn Alley is due to the incompetence of the Aurors—the real reason should be the protection offered by certain high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Magic—after all, how many hands in politics can be completely clean?
The entrance to Knockturn Alley is right next to Diagon Alley. Lucius skillfully led Draco and Soren through the crowded streets into Knockturn Alley. Before them lay a dirty alley; if Diagon Alley was already crowded, Knockturn Alley appeared even narrower, with strange buildings blocking much of the light, creating a rather eerie atmosphere.
Three shops directly facing the entrance were tightly shut, their display windows drawn shut with heavy velvet curtains, and the shop names above the doors were barely legible, indicating that they had been abandoned for some time.
Both sides seemed to be filled with dark magic shops. One shop's window displayed shrivelled heads, while a large cage was crawling with massive black spiders. In a dim doorway, two ragged wizards were whispering as they stared at them. Lucius cast a disdainful glance at them; possibly due to the evident features of the Malfoy family, the two wizards shrank back their gazes, continuing to wait for their next prey.
A shop selling cursed candles had an old wooden sign hanging out front, indicating this was Knockturn Alley. After walking a short distance, Soren saw the largest shop in Knockturn Alley, the crookedly signed "Borgin and Burkes."
It seemed this was their destination, and Lucius stopped, turned around, and pushed open the wooden door of the shop, walking inside. Soren was not completely unaware of this shop, which held a slight reputation in the dark world of wizards.
This shop was operated by the Borgin family, one of the Sacred 28 pure-blood families. Besides selling dark magical items, Borgin and Burkes also function as a pawnshop, and Mr. Borgin particularly favored those bizarre and unpredictable dark magical items. Whether a mutually satisfactory deal could be made depended on personal skill.
Lucius did not waste any words and went straight to Mr. Borgin, the shopkeeper, to explain his intentions—he wanted to sell some dark magic items from the Malfoy family's collection here. While Lucius and Mr. Borgin negotiated the price for each item on a long list of goods, Soren and Draco could only wander around Borgin and Burkes, gaining some knowledge.