Chapter 16
"Hermione, do you know? You are an extremely talented young witch. All the other professors have told me so, and I think the same." Aisen smiled as he said this to Hermione.
In truth, the reason he said this was to give her some encouragement and to prevent her from feeling too much pressure if the other young wizards isolated her.
Perhaps the little wizards were more sensitive to Hermione's "arrogance," but in Aisen's eyes, it was merely the "pride" of a young girl.
Being praised like this by Aisen, Hermione's face immediately flushed red. She even turned her head away, too embarrassed to look at him anymore.
"Alright, go back to class. Madam Hooch is coming." He pointed toward Professor Hooch approaching in the distance, then gently patted Hermione's head with his other hand.
"Goodbye, Professor Aisen!" Hermione shrank her neck slightly, said the words in a soft voice, and then hurried away.
Watching the little witch turn and leave, the smile gradually faded from Aisen's face, replaced by a thoughtful expression.
"As expected, the same casting trait can be replicated repeatedly." Aisen muttered to himself. However, it seemed that the same trait from a single magical item could not be replicated multiple times. For example, his own wand was still on him, but after the miracle trait had recovered, there was no prompt indicating a new casting trait had been discovered.
In other words, no matter what traits a magical item possessed, they could only be replicated once. As for how far the same trait could be fused, Aisen had no way to test that yet.
"Whatever, I'll think about it later!" There was no point dwelling on it now. Soon after, Aisen wandered leisurely to the library. That's right—since he had this opportunity, he might as well study properly.
To be honest, Hogwarts offered many courses, but Aisen wasn't interested in some of them. For instance, he had only skimmed the basics of History of Magic. He hadn't studied Herbology or Potions at all.
As for Defense Against the Dark Arts, because it included content on using potions to counter certain dark magic effects, Aisen had studied it a little.
There was no helping it—right now, all his energy was focused on Charms and Transfiguration. So, despite his current strength being more than sufficient, as a qualified wizard, he was still lacking in many areas.
After arriving at the library on the second floor of Hogwarts Castle, Aisen couldn't help but gasp in awe. It was unavoidable—the library contained thousands of bookshelves and hundreds of aisles. The passages stretched deep inside, and it was impossible to count how many books there were in total.
From the very founding of Hogwarts, the four founders had left behind many precious volumes. Over the thousand years since, the school had continually updated its collection through regular purchases and donations from graduates. By now, the library's holdings had reached an astonishing level.
It could be said that Hogwarts Library held the largest collection of books in the entire wizarding world.
On this Thursday, the library was exceptionally quiet. Naturally—students were all in class, so only the librarian, Madam Pince, and a few upper-year students were present.
This was perfectly normal. There were always students who came to borrow books for assignments, especially the older ones, who might visit even more frequently to prepare for exams.
After greeting Madam Pince at the entrance registry, Aisen walked into the library on his own. The Restricted Section—the place Harry and Hermione often sneaked into in the original books—contained many dangerous dark magic texts, as Aisen well knew.
The most infamous was "Moste Potente Potions", from which the young Tom Riddle—later known as Voldemort—had learned how to create Horcruxes while still a student. Now, that book had been taken by Dumbledore to his office. All books mentioning Horcruxes had been removed by him.
Additionally, Hermione had once borrowed a book called 'Powerful Potions' from the Restricted Section to brew Polyjuice Potion. But obviously, none of those were Aisen's current targets.
So, after locating books related to the Trace-less Extension Charm and the Apparition Charm, Aisen sat down at a nearby table and began reading.
As time passed, Aisen gradually became completely absorbed.
…
"Professor Aisen, it's closing time for the library!" A voice suddenly rang in Aisen's ear, startling him awake.
"Alright, Madam Pince. It should be fine for me to borrow these two books, right?" Only then did Aisen realize he had been lost in the books for several hours. Eight o'clock in the evening was closing time.
"Of course, Professor Aisen, but please do not damage the books!" Clearly, as a professor, Aisen had borrowing privileges. Still, Madam Pince dutifully reminded him.
"Naturally. I'm someone who cherishes books very much." Aisen wasn't the type to destroy books for no reason.
Back in the staff quarters, Aisen once again began studying the Trace-less Extension Charm and the Apparition Charm. After reading more deeply, he had a clear grasp of the casting techniques and difficulties of both.
Apparition could wait for now. Aisen knew that when casting it, one had to follow three principles: Destination, Determination, and Deliberation.
First, focus your mind on the desired destination. Second, resolve yourself firmly—let the will to reach that place fill your entire body. Then, third, perform the spell calmly.
However, knowing it was one thing; Apparition was genuinely dangerous. During the process, splinching could occur—part of the body might Apparate while another part remained behind.
Without a professor supervising, such a situation could be life-threatening. So, even though Aisen felt he could cast it now, he didn't dare practice alone.
He planned to ask Professor Flitwick for guidance when he had time and practice under his supervision.
As for the Trace-less Extension Charm, Aisen felt he could try it right away.
Pulling out his suitcase, Aisen drew his wand, intending to cast the Trace-less Extension Charm. But just before incantating, a sudden thought struck him: if the spell failed, would the suitcase explode?
Although he'd never had this issue when experimenting with other charms before, the Trace-less Extension Charm involved space magic after all, so Aisen had to be cautious.
After thinking for a moment, he pointed his wand at the suitcase, transfigured it into a sparrow, and let it perch on his shoulder. Then he left the quarters and headed to the eighth floor.
That's right—he intended to practice in the Room of Requirement. It was said the room could transform according to the user's needs.
It was past eight in the evening when Aisen returned from the library to his quarters. After studying deeply there for a few more hours, it was now nearly ten o'clock. But as a professor, wandering the castle corridors at night was no big deal.
Arriving on the eighth floor opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls, Aisen knew he had reached his destination. He paced back and forth three times, concentrating on the thought "I need a place to practice magic," and a door appeared in the wall.
Inside, a spacious area materialised before him. In the corners stood several practice dummies, clearly meant for spellwork.
But Aisen paid them no mind. He let the sparrow on his shoulder fly to the floor, where it reverted to the suitcase. Then he began practicing the Trace-less Extension Charm.
Bang—
The suitcase exploded in front of him. Fortunately, Aisen reacted quickly enough to cast the Iron Armor Charm on himself beforehand, so he wasn't harmed at all.
"Reparo…" With a repairing charm, the suitcase became whole again.
Bang—
The suitcase exploded again, was repaired by Aisen, exploded once more, and was repaired again…
As the failures continued, time slowly passed. By the time Aisen successfully cast the Trace-less Extension Charm for the first time, more than an hour had gone by.
After another ten minutes of uninterrupted practice, Aisen finally mastered the spell. By then, the interior space of his suitcase had been expanded to the size of a room.
In fact, the main reason Aisen could master the charm so quickly was his perfect control over his magical power and the sheer strength of the magic within him.
Of course, he was still far from casting the Trace-less Extension Charm effortlessly. For example, the suitcase of the magizoologist Newt Scamander contained a space that was practically a small world. That level of the Trace-less Extension Charm was Aisen's future goal.
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