#71 - End of term
Often, after a new spell is developed, it takes a long time to refine the incantation. Sometimes, a practical spell will undergo years, decades, or even generations of refinement to adapt to the masses and become widely circulated.
Vanessa's research on the Separation Charm has also made some progress. The technique she developed to enhance casting accuracy, which Anduin calls "Precise Control," requires strong magical perception and control to cast. Currently, only some senior students in the Magic Club can successfully cast it.
Anduin, however, feels that this casting technique is very valuable and can even be applied to many other spells. His previous advancement of the Levitation Charm into the extraordinary realm was not unrelated to his mastery of this technique.
Anduin has already decided on his magic research topic, which is 'The Development Ideas and Application Directions of Sonic Spells.' First, he has mastered the sound-related spells 'Sonorus,' 'Quietus,' and 'Silencio.' Second, the related runes and runic symbols are not complex, and he has them all recorded. Furthermore, Senior Quirrell's development of the Amplifying Charm is also a sonic spell, providing a reference point.
He is trying two research directions. One is ultrasound, using its good directionality and high frequency. Then, imitating the characteristics of bats, he wants to develop a spell that can locate through echolocation. In this way, after using this spell, it is like deploying a directional radar, which helps to identify the environment and search for enemies, even if they use the Disillusionment Charm.
The other direction is infrasound. Powerful infrasound has strong lethality and penetration. After being received by the human body, it can cause dizziness, nausea, and other symptoms. If the intensity is high enough, it can even be fatal. If he can develop a spell that utilizes infrasound, it would be equivalent to developing a powerful AOE skill with interference and killing performance.
Like Senior Quirrell, without the assistance of a runic array, he can only depict runes on paper, perform runic combinations, and then translate the runes into spells to test whether the spell is useful.
However, Anduin has a strong advantage in developing spells compared to Senior Quirrell, that is, he has strong perception and control over magic power, and he has experience in silent casting. Therefore, he does not need to translate the runes into spells to test, and he has a runic array, which is much faster in terms of efficiency.
Therefore, during the Easter holidays, Anduin hardly left his house, analyzing the runes of sonic spells on the runic array while sketching runic formulas on parchment.
At the same time, Anduin also began to take 'Baffling Brain Elixir' regularly and in fixed quantities.
The effect was very obvious. Anduin could clearly feel that his thinking speed was getting faster, and his memory and reaction abilities were gradually getting stronger, which greatly increased his efficiency in magic learning and research.
From many potion books, Anduin learned that Baffling Brain Elixir is best taken when performing brain work. Taking it usually will also have good effects, but if you don't use your brain often, the effects will gradually dissipate over time. Only by thinking and remembering more during the period of taking it will you still maintain strong benefits after the taking time has passed.
This is a bit like protein powder. Eating it usually will only make you inexplicably fat, and you will slowly lose weight after you stop eating it. Only by eating and exercising at the same time will it quickly be converted into muscle.
……
After the Christmas War, there were no major battles in the magical world, only sporadic small conflicts continued. Anduin could see from the Daily Prophet that the war was gradually becoming fierce.
As the end of the term approached, Anduin was also considering where to spend the holidays. For some reason, Sirius Black was constantly wandering around, and many Death Eaters seemed to regard him as a target, while the Potter couple seemed to have disappeared. Anduin couldn't contact them at all.
"Could it be that I can only go back to the Leaky Cauldron during the summer vacation? But with the current situation, Diagon Alley is not very safe either." Anduin was very troubled by the arrangements for the summer vacation. He planned to ask Professor McGonagall in a few days if he could stay at school during the summer vacation.
However, a letter dispelled this arrangement. It was a letter from Augusta Longbottom. Anduin clearly remembered this stern and kind old lady.
In the letter, Augusta invited Anduin to visit her home and said that it would be even better if he could live there for a while. Anduin thought that spending the summer vacation at the Longbottom's house seemed like a good idea.
Anduin immediately replied to Mrs. Longbottom, expressing his gratitude for her invitation and saying that he was happy to spend the holiday there.
Augusta's reply was quick. She happily expressed her welcome and informed Anduin of her address. Since she had to take care of little Neville alone, and the Longbottom couple needed to work at the Ministry of Magic, Anduin needed to go to the Longbottom's house by himself.
After deciding on the destination for the holiday, Anduin began to prepare gifts for the visit. After all, it would not be polite to arrive empty-handed.
Anduin spent 50 Galleons to ask Hagrid to buy him a whole leg of Spotted Boar ham and two bottles of Ogden's Old Firewhisky, and took out 4 bottles of Euphoria Elixir that he had left over before, wrapped them in gift boxes, and prepared them as gifts for the visit.
And the boring time always passed quickly, and the second half of the school year soon came to an end.
Anduin achieved 5 Exceeds Expectations and 2 Outstandings in the seven subjects of the final exam. The two courses that did not reach Exceeds Expectations were History of Magic and Astronomy. Anduin basically only kept up with the progress in these two courses, and most of the time was spent practicing spells and studying runes.
Under Anduin's efforts to give Vivian extra tutoring for a week, she finally passed all the courses, and even got an Exceeds Expectations in History of Magic. Sure enough, everyone has their own strengths.
As Professor McGonagall revealed before, the content of the Transfiguration exam was indeed to transform a mouse into a snuffbox. Anduin couldn't understand how someone could fail this kind of situation where they knew the exam questions in advance.
After the end of the final exam, Hogwarts held a farewell party, which was the end-of-term banquet, on the day before the end of the semester. At the banquet, Professor Dumbledore announced the ownership of the House Cup for this academic year. Unsurprisingly, Ravenclaw successfully won the House Cup this year.
Slytherin and Gryffindor fought fiercely this academic year, and the scores on both sides were deducted to almost the bottom. Vanessa was very anxious about this, but based on the current situation of Slytherin, Anduin estimated that it was very likely that she would not be able to touch the House Cup once in her seven years of school.
In this Great Hall full of blue flags, Anduin spent his first academic year not very calmly.
