Rebirth In A Magical World - Chapter 78

A little disappointed, I closed the Mechanics of Flight book. Ninety-nine percent of the contents were useless to me. Magical flight and mechanical flight were just too different for it to be useful.

However, there was a section in the book that gave me pause. The book mentioned that the four forces that affected flight are lift, thrust, weight, and drag. Each force has an opposing force that acts against it.

Lift is the force that enables an airplane to rise due to pressure generated by air passing over and under the wings. While I found this interesting, I disregarded it because we don’t rely on wings to fly. We rely on flight spells, which technically can be applied to almost anything.

While I disregarded lift, it’s opposing force, weight, made me pause. Gravity was the pull of the earth, and I wasn’t sure how much weight played a role in our flight spells, it was something to think about in the future.

Similarly, thrust didn’t interest me too much. Unlike muggles, we don’t burn fuel to produce thrust. Our flight spells take care of that. However, I have to admit the speed that planes can achieve is impressive.

The one force mentioned that really interested me was drag. Drag was interesting to consider because it was essentially friction generated by an object as it passes through the air. The result is that it opposes thrust and can slow down objects moving through the air.

While I wasn’t sure what to think about the other forces, drag was something I could work with. If I could somehow create a spell that reduced drag on the Firebolt, I am sure it would increase the speed. By how much, I have no idea. But, it would be awesome if I could create a spell and apply it to the Firebolt. It would be my own contribution to my family’s revenge on Delvin.

I knew if I wanted to contribute to the Firebolt project, I would need to get started right away. I needed to get back into the sanctum in the Ravenclaw tower. Some of Rowena’s books go into great detail in creating new spells. While there are other books out there that discuss spell creation, I have a feeling that Rowena does a much better job explaining it.

To that end, I have been practicing the disillusionment charm. I’m not sure what the consequences would be for being caught sneaking into Hogwarts, but I’m sure I don’t want to find out.

Not for the first time, I wish I had the Marauder’s map. Right now, it was in Fred and George’s hands. While I have an inkling of how it was created, it would be too time-consuming to recreate a map of my own from scratch.

Rather than spend countless hours creating a map of my own, I had an idea of how to copy the map by linking the Marauder’s map to a blank sheet with the Protean Charm. The only thing holding me back right now is that the charm is a Newt level spell, and I’m not quite there yet. But hopefully, by the end of the school year, I will be.

Until then, the only thing I can rely on is my disillusionment charm. Supposedly, it was possible to reach a point of mastery that a disillusionment charm could turn one invisible. But, I wasn’t anywhere close to that yet. Right now, the best I could do is produce the basic chameleon effect.

While it wasn’t real invisibility, if you stayed real still, it was close. To practice my ability sneaking around and not being caught, I had been honing my skill against my little sisters. I have to admit. It is fun seeing them scream in fright when I sneak up on them.

Pulling out my aspen wand, I pointed it towards myself and muttered, “Indespectus.”

Immediately, I felt the sensation of an egg cracking against my head and raw egg running down my neck. My arm took on the exact color and texture of my wooden desk. The rest of my body followed suit and blended into whatever was closest.

On my bed, Athena c.o.c.ked her head in curiosity. I haven’t been able to sneak up on her at all. Whatever abilities she had, they allowed her to track my movements. The first time I used the Disillusionment Charm, I had spent twenty minutes slowly sneaking up on her, all the while she gave me a look reserved for idiots. Since then, I decided to go after softer targets.

After a few more days of practice, I figured I was ready to sneak into Hogwarts. I chose to go during the day, seeing as the house-elves were very active at night during the school year. For added security, I was bringing Athena. With her skills, I should be able to avoid any unnecessary attention.

I waited till Mum was gone before I made my move. I went ahead and initiated the disillusionment charm because once I left our property, I couldn’t risk using magic. Once I got to the tower, I made my way to the vanishing cabinets that I stored next to Anton’s personal library.

Its collection had grown a great deal as I had been adding copies of books from Hogwarts. Many were outdated or had similar material, but I figured there was no harm in expanding my collection.

Once I stepped through the vanishing cabinet, I found myself back in the Room of Requirement. Looking around, there were stacks of dusty old objects that reached the ceiling. Over a thousand years of lost or forgotten things lay hidden in the warehouse-sized room.

I made my way through the winding aisles trying to remember the quickest path to the door. On my way, I passed by a familiar old bust with a wig and tiara on top.

Once I found the door, I started concentrating on the exit opening next to Ravenclaw tower. I knew that this was the easy part. The tricky part would be sneaking back through the tower as the Room of Requirement’s door relocated back to the seventh floor.

After slowly opening the door, the first thing I saw on the other side of the hall was the Bronze Eagle Knocker that asked riddles. I peeked my head out slowly, wanting to make sure the hallway was clear.

When I got to the sanctum, I had been expecting to find the Bronze Eagle waiting for me. Instead, I found an empty round room. Puzzled, I looked around the room, Where the hell could it have gone? Was it wandering around the castle somewhere?

Knowing it was useless to wonder, I turned my attention back to the empty room. I knew that this room was similar to the Room of Requirement, and it took barely any effort to summon the Library of Ravenclaw.

While I perused through the other heirs work, I knew I needed to make more copies. There was so much valuable knowledge here. Each heir had been a pioneer and had set the bar high. Ignatia Wildsmith was obsessed with magical transport and created the Floo Network and several other magical transportation devices like vanishing cabinets and portkeys.

Hesper Starkey was a genius potion maker who was obsessed with the effects that the moon had on potion ingredients. She created several famous potions such as the Polyjuice and Wolfsbane potions. After skimming her books and seeing the dozens of potions she created, I was convinced that she had been born with the Hag’s Blessing, or more modernly known as the Potioneer’s Touch.

Equally impressive was Mungo Bonham. He was the founder of St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injures. He is widely considered to be the father of modern magical healing in Europe. However, some criticized that many of the modern healing techniques he created came at the expense of the Muggles he experimented on. Regardless, before him, healers were scattered and unorganized, and there is no doubt the overall good St. Mungo’s had brought to the magical community.

Another heir whose work impacted magical society is that of John Homme. He invented talking portraits. I found his work to be mind-blowing, the enchantments and spells that go into a portrait are able to somehow take an imprint of the person and bind it to a portrait. One of the necessary components is the blood of the person being painted. It gets magical mixed with the paint being used. Was it a little creepy? Yes, but the art was still amazing.

Most wizards households have a few paintings of their ancestors to seek advice from. The only downside of portraits is that they cannot evolve as individuals. They are frozen, unable, and incapable of growing and changing. It’s why Anton has the same reaction every time he gets surprised and throws a fit about intruders. Hundreds of years from now, he would react in the exact same way.

I was a little surprised to learn that the first Heir of Ravenclaw, Willis Fern, was responsible for refining the mental arts of Occlumency and Legilimency. Before his time, the mental disciplines were extremely shallow. He took them to a whole new level. I was also pleased to discover that his work included more abilities in the mental arts than I previously knew about. I had a feeling that these abilities would be useful someday.

I turned my attention to the least known heir, Rowan Ibex. The Ministry of Magic had banned his work on Time Magic. All of his work had been confiscated or destroyed. The same went for any books written by him, although I imagine that there is a grimoire or two floating around out there.

As much as I wanted to delve into their work, I was here for something else. If I wanted to create a spell on time for the Firebolt release, I needed to study Rowena’s book on spell creation.

Thankfully, the room’s enchantment was able to summon a comfortable chair, so I grabbed the book on spell creation and sat down and began reading. Two hours later, I closed the book and tried to digest everything I read.

Spell creation wasn’t going to be simple. Even creating simple spells can take months for people who have experience in creating spells. I can’t imagine how much time the other heirs went through in pioneering new areas of magic.

The book explained that the first thing I had to do was know precisely what I wanted my spell to do. While this may sound like an easy step, it is one of the most crucial steps. Without a clear idea of how I wanted the spell to perform, it would be nigh impossible to forge it into a real spell. The reason why it was so important was there were so many ways magic could accomplish something.

The next step was far more difficult. Once you knew exactly what you wanted the spell to do, you had to bind it with an incantation. In Europe, it was common to use Latin. Thankfully, back in my first year, I learned Latin. What was interesting about binding a spell with an incantation was that the wording mattered. You can’t just use any word or phrase. You needed to use mantras that alluded to the spell.

The final step was to establish the best wand movement that would let the spell be performed. Once all of these steps were finished, the spell would come into being and would be permanent.

I still found it curious that someone could create a spell and teach someone to cast the spell without knowing what it did. Some of Rowena’s other books discuss her theories on why magic acted this way. I had my own thoughts on the matter, but that was something to study another day.

I ran my fingers over the book fondly. The great thing about getting a hold of Rowena’s books on spell creation was all the detailed instructions on how to go about each step. It was like giving me a comprehensive blueprint on how to create a spell. All of this knowledge was going to lay my foundation as a wizard. I wasn’t going to be content with merely following in others footsteps like the majority of witches and wizards. One day, I will pave my own path and plume the depth of magic.

A yowl interrupted my thoughts, I turned and found Athena staring at me intently warning me that we needed to get going. I needed to get back home before Mum noticed I was gone, or my disillusionment charm wore off.

On that note, I left the sanctum and made my way to the common room entrance. I let Athena take the lead through the castle. We didn’t run into any of the staff or elves, but we had a few close calls with a couple of ghosts. Luckily, Athena was able to sense them in advance with her senses, and we were able to avoid them. I was relieved that Peeves didn’t mess with us. Ever since he found out that Athena could hurt him, he had been giving me a wide berth.

I got back to the Room of Requirement and made my way through the maze of stack objects. Opening the door of the vanishing cabinets, I stepped into the darkness and opened the other side where I found a big surprise waiting for me.

The Bronze Eagle from the Sanctum was standing in my tower with its bronze feathers puffed up and was arguing with the painting of my ancestor, Anton.

“Get out of my tower, you feather-brained intruder!” Anton screamed as his unruly hair made him look like a wild hermit.

The Bronze Eagle Puffed up his feathers in rage, “Feather-Brained! How dare you!” It screeched in outrage. Proudly raising its beak, the Statue scathingly, ” I’ll have you know I am the most complex creation that Rowena Ravenclaw ever crafted.”

Anton sneered, “And yet it seems you lack the intelligence to follow simple instructions.”

I rubbed my temples as I could feel a headache forming as I listened to them arguing against one another. I had a feeling that they could spend the entire day insulting one another, so I interjected before the Eagle could respond. “Both of you shut up.”

Both of them looked at me in surprise, not realizing I had arrived. Anton seemed to sense my dark mood, “Alex, this thing broke into the tower in your absence. You should banish it to the dungeons. That will teach this monstrosity the consequences of trespassing.”

I rolled my eyes, Anton hated anyone trespassing. Last summer, a squirrel had gotten into the tower, and he still grumbled about me letting it go free. If he had gotten his way, that squirrel would be in the dungeon receiving a painful education on the consequences of trespassing.

“Enough, I will deal with it,” I replied.

Turning to the Eagle, I fired off a few questions, “What are you doing in my tower? How long have you been here? How did you get in?”

The Bronze Statue shrugged, and snidely remarked, “You snuck into my home, I was just returning the favor. If you didn’t want visitors, you should have locked the Vanishing Cabinet’s doors.”

My face flushed in embarrassment upon hearing the Eagle’s snarky tone. I hadn’t even considered that someone from Hogwarts could gain access to my tower. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Anton giving me a dark look. I sensed that he wasn’t too happy I had left a hole in the defenses.

Wanting to change the subject from my mistakes, I asked, “How are you even here? I would have thought you were bound to Hogwarts.”

The Statue sneered, “Don’t confuse me with those lesser puppets. They were crafted with a singular purpose in mind. I am on a whole other level.”

“So, Rowena Ravenclaw made you.” I clarified.

“Yes,” It bragged. “I am the culmination of her research into bringing a statue’s awareness to a higher level. Unfortunately, she was unable to create any more like me.”

“Why not?” I asked.

The Eagle clamped its mouth shut and refused to say more on the subject. No matter how I worded the question, he refused to give away Rowena’s secret. Something bad or embarrassing must have happened that prevented Rowena from making any more statues with intelligence.

In the end, I gave up. The statue was far too loyal to its creator. Maybe one day, I can worm my way into his loyalties and find out the reason. Until then, I had more than enough to do to keep me occupied. First, I need to get a spell to prevent the cabinets from being used without my permission. The last thing I need is a random student gaining access to my tower.

It didn’t take me long to find a spell that would lock the cabinet. I set up a verbal password on the doors, and without the chant, the doors would remain shut. The Bronze Eagle seemed content to stay in the tower while I worked out how I wanted my new spell to work. Honestly, I think it stayed because it was a little bored. While the statue could be rather snarky, it was nice to have someone to talk to other than Anton in the tower.