A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts

"You've seen moving pictures in the newspaper; you're not unfamiliar with that... The magical world has a more advanced form of magical portraits, capable of conversing with people and retaining some of the wisdom of the portrait's owner during their lifetime. It depends on how much memory you provide. This is the inspiration for what I said."

"If you want to see the other person, the simplest method isn't to transmit real-time images, but to hold each other's photographs and use magic to replicate your current actions onto the other person's photograph. Like this."

Felix waved his hand, and his image in the photograph also waved.

"The approach is relatively simple, but it requires customization. At present, only the inventors of the precursor to the talking mirror, Fred and George Weasley, have embraced this service, tailored specifically for couples."

Winnie's head was swimming; she felt conflicted. On one hand, she knew the magical world lagged in many aspects behind the real world, even trailing by centuries. But on the other, the magical realm almost predicted the future of technological advancements.

It wasn't just this one product; many Future World Company products had a faint semblance to this.

She tried to attribute this phenomenon to the uniqueness of magic, but the reasoning didn't hold. Then she glanced at Felix, and it suddenly dawned on her.

"You are the most outstanding inventor of this age, Mr. Harp. The magical world is too stuck in its old ways."

Felix waved his hand dismissively. "I wouldn't dare admit that."

He wasn't refusing; the deeper he delved into magic, the more he understood one thing: every great wizard was a potential inventor.

If the Weasley twins could create the talking mirror, couldn't Dumbledore do the same?

From what he knew, Dumbledore had conversed about alchemy with Nicolas Flamel in his younger days, and Felix himself had crafted some practical magical tools. But Dumbledore had never considered starting a company or converting his wisdom into money.

Dumbledore's approach actually mirrored that of exceptional wizards throughout history.

These individuals lacked a business mindset, constrained by traditional wizarding views. But they weren't short of money, so satisfying their own and their immediate circle's needs sufficed.

Another example was the pure-blood families; they'd rather hold onto their ancestors' magical notes, allowing them to decay and be lost rather than let that knowledge spread beyond their circle.

...

After Valentine's Day, Felix returned to school as usual.

In the Ancient Runes class—

"Welcome back, students," Felix paced around the classroom leisurely. "I believe you had a pleasant weekend. Indeed, Madame Puddifoot's Valentine's package was a steal, the collapsed mountain peak out in the outskirts was quite the sight, and even... I heard a visit to the Hog's Head became a new trend?"

The students exchanged knowing looks; Harry saw Hermione silently mouth the words: "Nonsense." He grinned.

"But I hope you'll focus now."

"Less than two months until Easter, after the break, you'll be getting career counseling, but by then, it might be a bit late."

Mid-sentence, Felix paused, reaching into his pocket to pull out a small note. "Ah, let me see... next on the agenda is the importance and significance of O.W.Ls exams, along with a revision plan... These things are truly headache-inducing."

He briskly tossed the note away, transforming it into a paper plane before it hit the floor.

The students craned their necks to watch the paper plane fly out of the window.

"Alright, that was just what I jotted down in the teaching meeting, merely to let you experience my boredom at the time..." Felix strode back to the podium, addressing the stunned students below. "Let's talk about something practical."

"If you're entering sixth grade, what will the advanced Ancient Runes class cover?"

The students listened attentively to the professor's explanation.

"Firstly, the course content isn't fixed. This field is constantly evolving, and there's always something new being introduced. If you're interested, you can go through the 'New Interpretation of Runes' magazine from cover to cover. There are many articles, some cutting-edge, some intriguing, and quite a few are contributions from you guys...

I intend to structure a clear framework over the years, but regardless, the focus of the advanced class will be on practical runic teachings, that's for sure."

"I want to mention another thing. Fifth years, especially after career counseling, you must carefully consider your future."

"I can get you into the Thinking Chamber, one class where you'll learn hundreds of translational runes, thus logically, each one of you can achieve excellence in the O.W.Ls..." Felix said calmly. "Yes, I can make that happen."

"Grades aren't the issue; interest is the key."

"In the advanced class, my expectations of you will increase as the subject of Ancient Runes keeps improving. Teaching content will also vary from person to person. You'll spend a lot of time exploring cutting-edge topics, and if you're not genuinely interested, this process will be quite torturous."

"So, think carefully: what does this course really mean to you? Maybe your pondering today will lead to the birth of new interdisciplinary subjects..."

Throughout March, the students were busy.

But beyond the campus, or rather beyond Britain, the international magical community was thrown into chaos by Voldemort alone.

From after Valentine's Day until early March, Felix and Lucius met several times, realizing that Voldemort seemed to have vanished completely, leading Felix to assume he was preparing for a duel with Dumbledore.

But the reality proved that Voldemort was hard to keep down.

On March 12th, a letter caught Felix's attention. Enclosed with the letter was a newspaper clipping from overseas, reporting that Voldemort had broken into a foreign auction house and snatched a precious magical cloak.

But witnesses said that after acquiring it, he simply muttered "trash" and vanished.

On March 17th, he appeared in the underground vault of a Gringotts branch in France and took away a notably famous fairy sword.

On March 25th, Voldemort broke into an ancient wizarding site under excavation in Brazil, pried open a coffin, and upon finding burial objects, he tossed them to the ground like trash, causing the once life-like ancient wizard's body to decay rapidly.

During this period, a task force comprising Aurors from multiple countries was formed.

They were tasked to capture Voldemort, but for over half a month, they had nothing to show for their efforts. Newspapers were filled with reports; a small country's Minister for Magic openly declared that Voldemort was a mere clown, only capable of evading capture.

The next day, Voldemort raided that country's Ministry of Magic, slaughtering over fifty wizards. Subsequently, he appeared at the headquarters of the task force that had been trailing him for this period, decimating the flies buzzing around him.

For a while, silence engulfed everything; no one dared to speak.

Even within Britain, there was a profound sense of passivity. The newspaper pages seemed solely occupied by Voldemort; many elderly people were forced to recall the terror of the war over a decade ago, and the tense atmosphere persisted until just before Easter.

Finally, the Ministry of Magic set and publicly announced the trial date for the Dark Wizard.

At the same time, Felix also received a letter from the highest wizarding court—Wizengamot.

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