Chapter 15
The second week after the start of term, just as the Quidditch tryouts were approaching, the first-year little wizards finally began their flying lessons.
During this period, because of his fame, Harry had become recognized by absolutely everyone. Just as Aisen had predicted, Professor Snape, for some reason, seemed to take an instant dislike to Harry and seized every opportunity to deduct points from him.
Snape's behavior had directly made him the most detested professor in the eyes of Ron and Harry. Besides him, there was also Professor Quirrell, who wore a large turban and gave off a strong smell of garlic, which the young students found almost unbearable.
Although Professor Quirrell insisted that his turban was a gift from an African prince who wanted to thank him for freeing him from the curse of a zombie, no first-year believed this story. The Weasley twins even stubbornly maintained that Quirrell's turban was stuffed full of garlic.
At half past three on Thursday afternoon, the first-years trickled onto the flying lesson pitch. This time, the Gryffindor and Slytherin first-years were having their flying lesson together.
Because they had just had Astronomy class the night before, some of the young wizards were still whispering to each other on their way to the flying pitch.
Yes — perhaps because they were about to have their first proper contact with broomsticks, some of the children were seriously discussing the possibility of using a broomstick to fly to the moon.
"Ron, do you think a broomstick could fly to the moon?" Since Ron came from a wizarding family, Harry asked him directly on the way.
"I don't know," Ron shrugged, "but maybe Professor Dumbledore could do it!" Even though he also thought it was impossible, he still instinctively believed that Dumbledore was capable of such a feat.
"But once you're in space, you can't breathe!" Harry countered reasonably. Clearly, he felt that even a wizard as great as Dumbledore couldn't simply stop needing to breathe.
"Maybe he could use magic to solve it. Who knows?" Ron had no idea how it would work either, and could only assume that Dumbledore knew some immensely powerful magic that could handle the problem.
Speaking of flying lessons, Aisen was actually quite envious. Up to now, he had never ridden a broomstick. Although he had once flown in an airplane soaring through the sky, that kind of flight gave him almost no sensation at all.
Flying has always been one of humanity's deepest longings. Right now, although Aisen very much wanted to experience it, he felt too embarrassed to try in front of all the first-years.
What if, like some of the students, he had no talent for flying? Wouldn't he just humiliate himself in front of everyone? So Aisen could only suppress the urge to get on a broomstick.
On the pitch, Hermione did not display her usual top-student aura; her flying talent could only be described as average. Harry and Malfoy, on the other hand, both showed truly outstanding flying aptitude.
After Malfoy snatched Neville's Remembrall and began taunting him, he and Harry ended up putting on an impromptu broomstick chase performance. Meanwhile, Hermione was so angry her cheeks had puffed out like a chipmunk.
There was nothing to be done — when Professor Hooch had taken the injured Neville to the hospital wing, she had instructed the students not to move. Yet Harry and Malfoy had immediately started their flying chase, thoroughly infuriating the model student Hermione.
From a distance, Aisen, who had deliberately come to watch the first-years' flying lesson, couldn't help but applaud Harry's flying skill. Honestly, in the wizarding world, the difference in natural talent between wizards could be enormous.
For example, Harry had flying talent, the Weasley twins had prank talent, and so on. And now, with his System, Aisen was confident that in the future he would surely possess many more "talents."
After the chase, Malfoy threw the Remembrall high into the air, and Harry managed to catch it just before it hit the ground.
Discovering for the first time that he had real talent for flying, Harry felt an unprecedented sense of exhilaration. But he didn't notice that his entire performance had been witnessed by Professor McGonagall.
"Harry Potter!" A voice abruptly cut through his good mood.
"You'll break your neck—" Professor McGonagall looked utterly shocked. Clearly, she hadn't expected the Gryffindor first-years to be quite so daring, though more than anything she was astonished by Harry's exceptional flying ability.
"Professor, it wasn't his fault—"
Several Gryffindors rushed forward to defend him, insisting that Malfoy had started the whole thing. But Professor McGonagall gave them no chance to explain and simply marched Harry away.
What happened next, if everything went as Aisen expected, was that Professor McGonagall, recognizing Harry's extraordinary talent, would recommend him to Oliver Wood — Gryffindor's Quidditch team captain and Keeper.
Normally, first-years were never allowed to join the house Quidditch teams, but because of Harry's exceptional ability, an exception was made. He was permitted to join Gryffindor's team as a Seeker.
Thinking about Quidditch — the wizarding world's equivalent of football — various ideas began bubbling up in Aisen's mind. Most of them, naturally, were related to his System.
For instance, in Quidditch there were four balls on the pitch. One was the size of a football, passed between Chasers, and called the Quaffle — an ordinary, motionless ball.
Besides the Quaffle, there were two slightly smaller iron balls called Bludgers. Bludgers were extremely aggressive; they flew wildly around the pitch, trying to knock players off their brooms. And the smallest ball of all was the Golden Snitch.
The thoughts that suddenly occurred to Aisen concerned the Bludgers and the Snitch. He wondered: did Bludgers and the Snitch also possess magical properties?
The moment this question arose, Aisen felt he had to test it. Because it suddenly occurred to him — if different magical items had similar functions, could the same magical property be extracted from them? Or would the properties differ, and if so, in what ways?
As this question flashed through his mind, it immediately gave rise to another: could the same magical property be repeatedly extracted and fused?
For example, if he visited Ollivanders and tried several wands, could he extract multiple copies of the "wand-casting" property and fuse them all into his finger? Would doing so continuously increase compatibility and amplify the power of his spells?
And if that method didn't work, could similar properties from different magical items be repeatedly fused and stacked? For instance, first replicate and fuse the flight property from a broomstick, then do the same with the flight property of a Bludger, and then the Snitch?
If he could stack them like that, wouldn't his flight speed become faster and more agile?
The thought made Aisen's heart race with excitement. Unfortunately, his system could only produce one miracle property per year, so large-scale experiments were impossible.
For the time being, then, Aisen decided he should focus on filling in his weaknesses rather than stacking the same property repeatedly. Still, he could at least run a small test right now.
With that thought, Aisen walked straight onto the flying pitch.
"Hermione, come here for a moment." The first-years were still standing together waiting for Professor Hooch. Aisen beckoned to Hermione.
"Professor Aisen!" Seeing that it was Aisen calling her, Hermione's face showed a conflicted expression. She was clearly torn between obeying Professor Hooch's instruction to stay put and following Aisen.
After only a moment's hesitation, however, she walked over to him.
"How did you find the flying lesson?" Aisen decided to start with this topic.
"Not great, Professor. I've realized my flying talent isn't even as good as Harry's!" Whether in Charms, Potions, or Transfiguration, she had always been the top student. Discovering that Harry was far better than her at flying still left her feeling somewhat unwilling to accept it.
"Haha, there's nothing to be done about that. Harry perfectly inherited his father's flying talent," Aisen said, perfectly understanding the little girl's feelings. After all, when a top student suddenly discovers that the class slacker is overwhelmingly better than them in one particular area, the shock can be quite jarring. Still, he added an explanation.
"Um… Professor Aisen, is there something you need?" Perhaps because the timing didn't feel right, Hermione didn't press the matter further and instead asked about Aisen's purpose.
"Oh, right — could I take a look at your wand?" After stating his request, he felt a little worried. After all, a wand was an extremely important personal item to any wizard.
"Thank you!" Fortunately, Hermione, coming from a Muggle background, wasn't particularly sensitive about it. Or perhaps it was simply because Aisen was a Hogwarts professor. Though puzzled, she still drew her wand from inside her robes and handed it to him.
[Discovered Extraordinary Property — Superior Spellcasting Property]
Would you like to consume one Miracle Property to replicate it?
Sure enough, seeing the window that suddenly appeared before him, Aisen confirmed that his miracle property could indeed replicate spellcasting characteristics from different wands.
Feeling the slightly stiff flow of magic through the vine wood wand (just over ten inches long), Aisen noted that while the magic circulated a bit awkwardly, this particular spellcasting property could clearly be replicated.
However, sensing the resistance in the magic flow, Aisen fell into thoughtful silence. It seemed that compatibility level wasn't strongly tied to whether the property was rated "Superior."
"Vine wood wand — very fine quality!" Aisen said, handing the wand back to Hermione.
"Thank you, Professor Aisen," Hermione replied, still a little confused about him wanting to observe her wand, but decided to act polite as always.
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