“I am François Volin-Mauriac.”
Mr. Mauriac bowed gracefully.
“Now, I’m going to test your wands, who should I start with?”
He turned around lightly, with a cheerful smile on his face.
“Oh, Miss Delacour, let’s start with you, okay?”
“Of course, Mr. Mauriac.” Fleur smiled slightly, took out her wand and handed it to him with both hands, “Please.”
“oh!”
Mauriac stretched out his hands and took the wand with his extraordinarily slender fingers.
“I remember, this is my work. About seven years ago, you specially asked me to customize it. That’s right.”
He ran his fingers over the wand’s shaft.
“24.13 cm long, made of maple wood, containing a Veela hair.”
“Yes,” said Fleur. “It’s my grandmother’s hair.”
“That’s right.” Mr. Mauriac was a little excited. “A magical combination of materials. I have never tried it before, but it suits you very well, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, I like it very much,” Fleur said.
“Your satisfaction is my pleasure, Miss Delacour.”
Mr. Mauriac waved his wand gently, and many pink and gold sparks shot out from the wand.
Then he whispered, “The orchids are blooming!”
A bouquet of flowers blooms on the head of the wand.
“Checked, no problem.” He shook the wand to make the flowers disappear, then held the wand with both hands and handed it to Fleur, “You took good care of it.”
Fleur smiled brightly, took the wand with both hands, and then walked back to Madame Maxime with light steps to sit down.
“Next…”
Mr. Mauriak raised his hands, turned around lightly again, and looked at Krum.
“Oh, come on, show me your wand, boy.”
Viktor Krum stood up, slumped his round shoulders, took two steps with splayed legs, stretched out his hand and handed his wand to Mr. Mauriac.
“Oh! Boy!” Mr. Mauriac looked at Krum like he was looking at a monster, “I don’t accept anything that anyone hands me with one hand!”
“My name is Viktor Krum.”
Krum’s brows were furrowed, as if he didn’t like being called “boy”.
But he turned the wand in his hand and held out his other hand.
“You don’t like me calling you boy? I must say, I’m forcing myself to call you that word too.”
Mr. Mauriac took the wand with both hands and gave Krum another sympathetic look.
He shook his head, “To be honest, you are too old. You are only 17 years old, but you have the face of a 30-year-old.”
Krum, who originally looked a little grimacing, now had a complicated expression and looked even older.
But he ignored Mr. Mauriac’s venomous words and remained taciturn.
Mr. Mauriac didn’t get a response. He rolled his eyes at him and turned his attention to the wand in his hand.
“oh!”
After just one glance at the wand, he immediately showed an expression of disgust.
“This primitive style without any sense of beauty must be the product of that old guy Grigovitch!”
He gave Krum another disgusted look.
“But it obviously suits you very well, Krum. It’s bulky, thick, stiff, and 26 centimeters long.”
Krum still had his eyes drooped and his expression dull, not responding to him.
“Huh, hornbeam wood, containing the heart tendons of a dragon, flocking of birds.”
Mr. Mauriac curled his lips and waved his wand.
Krum’s wand made a loud bang, like a pistol being fired, and a flock of birds fluttered out of the wand’s head and out the open window.
“no problem.”
He held out the wand with both hands.
“Thanks.”
Krum stretched out his hands to take the wand, turned around and walked away. His steps were fast, as if he was escaping from some terrible germ or poisonous gas.
Mr. Mauriak didn’t take it seriously and turned to look at Scott again with a light movement.
“Oh, that leaves you, the English boy from Hogwarts.”
He stretched out his hands directly.
“Hello, Mr. Mauriac.”
Scott pulled out his wand and placed both hands on his hand consciously.
“Very good, you are very polite, boy.” Mr. Mauriak nodded with satisfaction, “You look like you are 17 years old, as handsome and charming as I was when I was young.”
Scott twitched the corners of his mouth, “Thank you.”
Mr. Mauriac then began to look at his wand.
“Well, there is no doubt that it is the product of that old guy Ollivander.” He murmured, “It’s so gratifying. Compared to that old-fashioned guy Grigovitch, Ollivander at least knows a little bit about the basics. aesthetics.”
He still ran his fingers over the staff.
“Ebony wood, with the nerves of a dragon inside, is a reasonable combination.” He commented, “At 31.115 centimeters long, it is longer than most wands.”
He waved his wand lightly.
“Lumos!”
A ball of white light lit up at the tip of the wand.
“It’s in good shape, no issues.”
He handed the wand back to Scott with both hands.
Scott quickly stretched out his hands to take it.
“Very good!” Mr. Mauriac raised his hands again, “My work has undoubtedly been completed, so please allow me to take my leave.”
He looked at some of the furnishings in the room, especially the asymmetrical ones, without concealing his disgust.
“For the sake of my fragile nerves, I won’t allow myself to stay in this unattractive place for a long time. Goodbye!”
As he said that, he didn’t care at all about Mrs. Maxim’s ugly face and left quickly.
Scott noticed that although he left quickly, the distance covered with each step was almost the same.
The fragile “Mr. Symmetry” left as soon as he could, but he had obviously annoyed Madame Maxime, and the rest of the group had to bear the low pressure of the plus-size lady innocently.
“Oh, don’t worry, Mauriac is such a weirdo!” Mr. Jolly tried to smooth things over awkwardly, “The next step is the interview and photo session.”
He clapped his hands, and two reporters walked in from the door, one of them holding a magic camera.
“Hello, we are reporters from the Furstenberg Daily News. I am Alan Martin, who is in charge of interviews, and this is Balmarsson, who is in charge of taking photos.”
It was obvious from the looks of these two French journalists that they came mainly for Hibiscus.
Subsequent visits and photos confirmed this.
They only asked a few simple questions when they visited Scott and Krum, but they asked many times more questions when they visited Fleur.
Scott was happy and relaxed, sitting aside and watching Fleur deal with reporters’ endless questions, but he could only suppress his impatience.
But Klum’s performance surprised him a little. Scott thought that as a star, Klum was used to facing the media, but Klum appeared very uncomfortable during the interview.
When it came time to take photos, the reporter also made sure that Furong stood in the middle position, and even took many solo photos of her.
Scott noticed that Klum, who had been subconsciously hiding from the camera, was obviously relieved.
At breakfast the next day, Scott saw the French magic newspaper “Furstenberg Journal” in Lucio’s hand.
“It’s a pity.” Lucio, who had dark circles on his face, yawned and handed the newspaper to Scott, “They didn’t give you and Krum much space.”
Scott didn’t read the newspaper first, but asked, “Did you sleep well last night?”
“What do you think?”
Lucio pouted, took out a small leather bag from his pocket, and dumped a pile of headphones on the table.
“The optimized version of the translation headset, several classmates and I rushed to make it overnight.”
“Oh!” Scott laughed, picked up one earphone, and handed the others to his classmates at Hogwarts, “Good job, Lucio.”
Lucio yawned again, “You guys give it a try first, and we’ll make adjustments if there are any problems.”
Scott looked at the [R] logo on the headset and said very politely, “No problem, it is produced by Russell Alchemy Classroom, it should be easier to use than the previous one.”
After hearing his words, the tired Lucio smiled with satisfaction.
At this moment, several students happened to pass by. Hearing this, they immediately stopped and looked at Scott and the others with unkind eyes.
“How dare you say that,” the tall boy in the lead said, “You don’t know anything, how dare you slander our Girard Alchemy Classroom, from Hogwarts.”
Before Scott could respond, Lucio immediately stood up.
At this moment, the tiredness on his face had been wiped away, and he was clearly in a fighting state.
“What do you mean by verbal slander?” He glanced at the boy, “The fact is that the translation headphones produced by you Girard made all the guests very dissatisfied, and we, Roselle, took action to remedy the mistake you made!”
The other party’s face immediately darkened, “Don’t do unnecessary things without authorization, Lucio. Are you dissatisfied? Why should they be dissatisfied? They can attend all the classes without paying anything. This is already a great favor!”
This time, Lucio’s expression also changed.
“You did it on purpose, Waldo.” He said, “I should have suspected it a long time ago. Although your Girard’s alchemy level is not as good as ours, Russell, it’s just a translation headset. How could such a low-level mistake happen? …”
The more he spoke, the more gloomy the faces of the other people became.
Apparently, he was right.
The tall boy in the lead wanted to say something, but his expression suddenly changed and he turned around and left.
“Walk!”
Under his leadership, several other people who followed him also left in a hurry.
“what happened?”
Fleur came over at this moment.
She glanced at the backs of the students in Girard’s Alchemy Classroom and looked at Lucio with a frown.
She lowered her voice, “Lucio, I thought you understood. At least, you shouldn’t do it in front of the guests…”
“Oh, you must not know what those guys did.” Lucio curled his lips and told Fleur about the translation earphones.
Fleur’s expression changed.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said coldly, “I will tell Madame Maxime what you said.”
Lucio nodded in agreement.
“That’s fine, I don’t want to take care of these troublesome things.”
“Sorry.” Fleur smiled apologetically at Scott and the others, “I made you laugh. We will definitely handle this matter. I wish you a happy meal and goodbye.”
After saying that, she turned around and left with graceful and light steps.
Her smile was obviously very lethal. Most of Scott’s companions almost forgot what happened just now and just stared at her back in a daze.
Scott glanced at the newspaper in his hand.
He found that except for a group photo, all the other photos published in the newspaper were single photos of Fleur.
The report also spent a lot of space praising Fleur’s beauty and talent, but only mentioned Scott and Krum in passing.
Seeing this, Scott smiled with satisfaction.
He always felt that it was not a good thing to receive too much attention.
He was very glad that this time the Triwizard Tournament was not held in Hogwarts, which could avoid a lot of trouble.
Otherwise, he, as a British, would undoubtedly attract more attention.
After breakfast, Scott, Fred, and Cedric followed Lucio to the Roselle Alchemy Classroom.
Among the students of the Hogwarts delegation, only Scott, Fred, and Cedric were interested in alchemy and chose this course.
On the way to the classroom, Lucio told them something, which was the reason why the students in the Girard Alchemy Classroom did so.
It was Madame Maxime who made the decision to open all courses at Beauxbatons during the Triwizard Tournament, but this decision was not supported by everyone.
Some professors, led by Professor Veronica Girard, the owner of Girard Alchemy Classroom, did not agree to open all courses, especially the alchemy class, which was regarded as the traditional strength and core competitiveness of Beauxbatons School of Magic.
But with the support of other professors, especially Professor August Roselle, the owner of Roselle Alchemy Classroom, Madame Maxime’s decision was approved by more people, so it was confirmed.
“I’m afraid even Professor Girard herself didn’t expect that her apprentices would do such a trick to express their protest.” Lucio shook his head, “If she knew, she would probably be more angry than Madame Maxime.”
Scott nodded in agreement.
It’s too shameful to do such a trick.
It’s simply smearing the name of Beauxbatons and Girard.
“It must be that guy Waldo who acted on his own. He has never been very smart.” Lucio said with some gloating.
Hearing this, Fred said curiously: “But those students, I mean, those in Girard’s alchemy classroom, seem to be led by him.”
Lucio sneered, “Because his last name is also Girard, he is Professor Girard’s nephew, so even if he is a little stupid, those people always follow his lead.”
Next, Lucio told them more background stories.
The two alchemy classrooms, Roselle and Girard, have been opened in Beauxbatons for hundreds of years, and have always been controlled by the Roselle and Girard families.
Maybe because of peer disdain, the two wizard families who are both studying alchemy have accumulated many contradictions due to the long-standing competition, which has made the apprentices in the two classrooms hostile to each other.
Of course, the styles of the two families are also different.
The Roselle family is more open, advocates communication, and is not stingy in teaching others.
The Girard family is very conservative, always likes to cherish their own knowledge, and never easily pass on knowledge.
“In short, Professor Girard and Professor Roselle are both the best alchemists in Beauxbatons, but she is far less popular than Professor Roselle.”
Lucio said quietly.
“Because of the Girard family’s consistent conservative style, she recruited very few apprentices, and they were basically descendants of families that were friendly with the Girard family. Among those apprentices, she always valued Waldo, her nephew, who had the same surname as her.”
He laughed with gloating again.
“This time Waldo got into trouble, and Madam Maxime will definitely use this as a handle to make Professor Girard lower the standards and recruit more students. I guess Professor Girard will have to compromise. In short, even if she loves Waldo, she will definitely punish him severely.”
Cedric asked, “Since they are not willing to recruit students, why do they come to the magic school to be professors?”
“Of course it is because it can bring them status and prestige, and there is also an exchange of interests with other families.” Lucio answered without thinking.
Scott and the others were thoughtful.
But the three of them treated these things as a story and did not make any comments on them.
Only Cedric asked with concern, “Is it okay? Just tell us these things like this.”
“It’s okay.” Lucio didn’t care too much, “These things are open secrets. Everyone knows them, but no one will talk about them publicly.”
He suddenly smiled cunningly.
“Besides, what’s the problem with me, a Spaniard, discussing a few French things with the British?”
“Absolutely no problem!”
Scott and Fred both gave him a thumbs up.
While chatting and laughing, they arrived at their destination.
“We’re here.”
Lucio pointed to a metal door in the corridor ahead.
This door looks like gold but not gold, like silver but not silver, with many patterns, densely engraved ancient magic words, and inlaid with several huge gems.
A beautifully carved wooden sign hangs above the door.
[Roselle Alchemy Classroom]
[——Starting in 1535]
Lucio said: “The material that casts this door is an alchemically transformed alloy, known as Russell’s alloy. It is said that no wizard can break it and no magic can be cast on it.”
As he spoke, he placed his hand on the circular pattern in the center of the door.
Drip, drip.
The gem flickered a few times and the door opened.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to come to class with me in the future, because you can’t open this door by yourself.”
Lucio pushed the door open and walked in, with Scott and the others following behind him.
“So big,” Cedric said softly.
The space inside the classroom is unexpectedly large, almost as big as half a Quidditch pitch.
Although the space is large, it does not appear empty, but rather crowded.
A huge workbench, towering bookshelves and racks filled with shelves, as well as some bizarre specimens and instruments, occupy the entire space.
Lucio said: “The professor hasn’t come yet, please follow me.”
He walked to a workbench next to the window.
“This is my territory.” He turned around and said, “Because you are auditors, so, probably, you can only borrow our things to operate…”
He looked at the things on the workbench reluctantly.
“Everyone values these very dearly and may not be willing to let you borrow them. It’s just me.”
He sighed.
“Anyway, you must be careful not to damage anything of mine. Of course, please pay me the corresponding gold Galleons for the materials consumed.”
The three of Scott looked at each other, and then nodded.
Soon, other students entered the classroom one after another.
“Lucio, I heard that you and Waldo had a fight?”
“What happened…oh!”
Several students came straight to Lucio as soon as they entered the door, but they quickly shut up after seeing Scott and the three of them.
Lucio said: “You know, about the translation headphones, Waldo warned us not to do anything unnecessary, and then I found out that their mistake was intentional.”
“Oh my god…”
The others opened their mouths in surprise at first, and then started laughing again.
Perhaps because of the presence of Scott and the others, these people began to gather together and whisper.
“did not expect……”
“He’s still so stupid…”
“This time I will definitely…”
“Professor Girard…”
Although Scott couldn’t hear it clearly, he was sure that they were gloating like Lucio.
At this moment, the closed door opened again, and a wizard wearing a white robe and with long black hair walked in.
“Professor Russell is here.” Lucio whispered.
Somewhat to Scott’s surprise, Professor Russell looked very young, no more than 35 years old by visual inspection.
He has an exceptionally handsome face, deep brows, sharp edges, and excellent temperament.
The apprentices immediately stopped whispering and all stood up, including Lucio, who greeted the wizard respectfully.
“tutor.”
Scott and the three of them also bowed.
“Professor Russell.”
“Um.”
Professor Russell nodded slightly and glanced at the three Scotts.
“There are only three guests who have chosen my course, and they are all Hogwarts students. Anyway, you are welcome.”
He said welcome, but the professor’s expression and tone of voice were cold.
He strode to the largest workbench in the front of the classroom and stood there. He took off his pure white gloves and put them away, then looked at Scott and the three of them again.
“As far as I know, Hogwarts does not offer alchemy as a class, so you may not be able to keep up with our progress.”
As he spoke, he placed his hands on the workbench and leaned forward.
“But I’m sorry, I can’t change my teaching plan for you, so I can’t guarantee that you will gain something from my class…”
Having said this, he straightened up again.
“I will not have any requirements on your learning progress. You can withdraw from my class at any time without explaining to me.”
When he said these words, his expression was still cold and indifferent, but his eyes were always looking at Scott and the others calmly.
“If you ask me, I would suggest you to sit in on the classes in Dulan’s Alchemy Classroom. With the third-year students, Professor Dulan will start teaching from the most basic knowledge.”
Hearing this, Scott and the other three turned to look at Lucio.
They came here, but he suggested it.
Before that, they didn’t know that the Alchemy Classroom was divided into advanced and elementary classes. It was not written on the course schedule or the door sign.
Lucio responded to them with an innocent look on his face.
Scott thought for a moment and raised a hand.
Professor Russell’s eyebrows moved slightly, “Is there a problem? Are you…oh, the warrior of Hogwarts, Mr. Trollope?”
“Yes, Professor,” Scott said, “Excuse me, can we ask you questions and read from the books in this classroom?”
“oh?”
Professor Russell seemed a little surprised.
But he nodded quickly, “Yes, as long as you don’t affect our teaching. Of course, books cannot be taken out of this classroom.”
“Thank you for your generosity.”
Scott bowed politely.
Fred and Cedric bowed after him.
Professor Russell nodded, motioned for them to sit down, and then started teaching.
“Today’s theoretical part, we continue to study in depth the work of Raymond Sluler, “The Book of Mysteries of Nature: The Fifth Element”, turn to page 236…”
Scott and the three of them sat next to Lucio, borrowing the book in his hand, and listened carefully.
Anyway, let’s finish listening to this lesson first.
Soon, Fred began to zone out, and a blank look appeared on Cedric’s face.
Scott listened for a while, and soon found that he didn’t understand much either.
In the final analysis, the path Scott took is fundamentally different from alchemy.
The transformation of matter involved in alchemy is a real transformation, while transfiguration involves a temporary transformation through the magical effects of magic.
In comparison, the former is undoubtedly more complicated.
To use alchemy to convert one substance into another requires a very tedious process and a very large reserve of knowledge.
But using transfiguration to transform matter only requires “I believe” and enough magic power reserves to do it.
Of course, alchemy has its irreplaceable status.
After all, transformation requires magic power to maintain. If the magic power dissipates, it will return to its original shape, and it cannot transform substances that the wizard himself cannot understand.
Whether it is making advanced magic items, developing new materials, or exploring the mysteries of new substances, alchemy is an indispensable magical discipline.
But for Scott, alchemy only serves as a reference for his magic system, so he has not studied this subject in depth.
As for Fred, although he and George are good at inventions and creations, they rely on the magic item manufacturing technology inherited from the Weasley family, which is somewhat different from orthodox alchemy.
As for Cedric, he has no foundation at all.
He was only interested in auditing this class because he loved Transfiguration and saw that Scott incorporated the concept of alchemy into Transfiguration.
In short, Scott and Fred were “wild ones” and Cedric was a novice. When the three of them came to this advanced alchemy classroom, they obviously came to the wrong place.
This is all Lucio’s fault.
Scott had never felt like a class was that long.
Out of respect and for the sake of the reputation of Hogwarts, both he and Fred could only sit obediently, for fear of disturbing other people, and could not doze off.
Not to mention Cedric, the model good student.
It wasn’t until Fred kept moving his buttocks, twisting around slightly like a bound flea, that the theoretical part of the teaching finally came to an end.
Professor Russell arranged experimental operations for the students, and Scott and the others were able to speak.
“I thought you would have a certain foundation, especially Scott.” Lucio said with a smile while playing with the tools and instruments on the table, “It seems I overestimated your level.”
Scott said angrily: “Well, what I’m good at is limited to the inscription and activation of the magic circuit.”
“So your alchemy is to activate the magic circuit?” Lucio shook his head, “That is only part of the work of making magic items, and it is also the most rigid and simple part of the alchemy system.”
“Simple…simple?” Cedric’s eyes were full of questions.
“Oh, ancient magic texts are not simple at all.” Fred said with some dissatisfaction, “That was the most serious class I took.”
Lucio glanced sideways at him.
“Ancient magic texts are not equal to alchemy.” He kept moving his hands, “Oh…Scott must understand, please tell me.”
Fred and Cedric both looked at Scott.
“how to say.”
Scott thought for a moment.
“The ancient magic text course itself is a language course, and this language contains magic power. It is very complicated as you can imagine. It is undoubtedly very difficult to learn it well.”
Fred and Cedric nodded repeatedly.
Scott continued: “Although using alchemy to create magic items also involves knowledge of ancient magic texts, unless you want to become a great alchemist like Nicolas Flamel, you don’t actually need to study ancient times too deeply. Magic text.”
Lucio interjected, “Alchemy itself contains a series of knowledge such as material transformation, magic rituals, elemental symbols, etc., which is huge enough, and for alchemy, material transformation is the most important and core part.”
He placed a special crucible on a flat stone slab, threw a few pieces of metal of different colors into it, and picked up a few test tubes to drop liquids of different colors into it.
“The main pursuit of alchemists is not to create magic items. It is just a way to earn gold Galleons and arm themselves.”
He picked up the crucible with pliers, moved the crucible away, picked up a piece of ore, and quickly drew a very beautiful but very regular pattern on the stone slab.
“For the use of ancient magic text, in most cases, it is to copy the existing magic text circuit. Therefore, I would say that is the simplest and most rigid part.”
He picked up a few more small crystal bottles and poured some powders of different colors into the patterns on the stone slab.
“Of course, only by being proficient in ancient magic scripts and having the ability to create new magic script circuits can it be possible to create unique and powerful magic items.”
He held the crucible again with the tongs and placed it back in the center of the stone slab.
“alright.”
He stood up and motioned to Scott and the others.
“You’d better stay away.”
Scott and the others stood up and took a few steps back.
Lucio drew out his wand and waved it gently at the slate.
Bang.
The small piles of powder on the slate immediately burned, forming several flames of different colors.
Lucio waved his wand again, and the small flames began to spread along the pattern he drew.
When the flames of different colors met and merged, they turned into pure white and gathered together towards the crucible in the center of the slate.
The white flames burned fiercely, scorching the crucible.
Lucio muttered something in his mouth and waved his wand at the inside of the crucible.
Gurgle.
The metal inside the crucible melted almost immediately, turning into a colorful liquid.
Lucio had a satisfied smile on his face.
“I am really a genius…”
He was just proud for a second, and the liquid in the crucible began to turn black and sparks came out.
“Not good!”
Lucio slapped the side of the workbench and pressed a metal button.
Bang!
The crucible exploded violently, and thick smoke billowed.
But the explosion and the smoke were all locked in the magic barrier that suddenly appeared.
Then…
Bang! Bang! Bang…
The explosions were everywhere, almost making one sound.
“It seems that everyone has failed.” Lucio said with a smile.
