Hogwarts Card System Chapter 259

Chapter 257: Ancient Magic!

“…So, that’s how it is.” George shrugged, and Fred spread his hands.

Before Ted could speak, Ron was already furious: “So, you only remembered us when you ran out of ideas?”

George: “Oh, of course not, my dear brother.”

Fred: “We just came for Ted, didn’t expect you to be here too~”

Ron: “Argh~~~~” The foolish little brother wailed and retreated in defeat.

Ted listened to the twins’ narration and found it quite interesting.

Through their great-great-grandmother’s diary, they found some clues about ancient magic, located beneath the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library.

The Restricted Section was certainly not unfamiliar to them. After being tormented by the Book of Adventure from body to mind to IQ a while ago, they decided to look for the ancient magic that their great-great-grandmother called “very dangerous.”

Speaking of which, these two brothers were truly geniuses. They managed to piece together a lot of information from scattered descriptions and even pinpointed the exact location.

They even went to check yesterday, and it was really there!

But they couldn’t open it!

There was a magical door that they tried all sorts of methods to open, but to no avail. So they decided to come to Ted. If he couldn’t open it either, then the path to ancient magic would probably be blocked.

Although the Weasley family was a bit poor now, that was because they were content with their poverty and also due to their stance.

Their pro-Muggle and pro-Order of the Phoenix stance distanced them from other pure-blood families.

If they were willing to return, pure-blood families would naturally welcome them.

They were descendants of ancient Celts, the original inhabitants of this land, and their red hair was proof.

Ron finally licked his wounds and walked over to examine the diary left by his great-great-grandmother over a hundred years ago.

He muttered to himself, “My great-great-grandmother was a Transfiguration professor? And Deputy Headmistress?!”

He tried to imagine Professor McGonagall as his great-great-grandmother. He immediately shivered!

Ted spent a few minutes thoroughly scanning the old diary, piecing together relevant information.

To be fair, although the old Weasley matriarch tried her best to conceal the relevant information, perhaps the incident left too deep an impression on her, so even much later, she would often mention a phrase or two.

The more she mentioned it, the more information she revealed… Loose lips sink ships!

Ted and the others had already encountered some ancient magic.

Initially, Ted had obtained some information from Ravenclaw’s secret room, but Lady Ravenclaw’s view on ancient magic leaned towards conservatism.

Or rather, she disapproved of teaching or learning ancient magic.

She believed that it was a path that would naturally open up once one’s magical journey reached a certain level.

Those so-called ancient magics were the paths of other wizards; once one stepped onto them, they would never be able to forge their own path.

So, even for the magic she developed herself, she left very little documentation, only some concepts.

Indeed, the profound magic of her era was what is now called ancient magic.

The term “ancient” is, after all, relative. In a few hundred years, Ted and his friends would also become ancient wizards.

And the magic of that era was not very systematic. It was often extremely difficult, and its effects were incredible.

They were all “miniature miracles” developed by each wizard based on their magic and their own will!

In Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets, they also found scattered mentions of ancient magic, but not much specific content, as the place had been ransacked by Voldemort.

If he hadn’t lost the opportunity to re-enter later, probably not even a single piece of paper would have been left behind.

Then there was Gryffindor’s Book of Adventure. Although he never mentioned ancient magic, or even magic at all.

But in his adventures, he demonstrated many unique spells he developed, whose effects and principles were completely different from the modern magic system.

Over a thousand years, magic gradually became standardized, traceable, easier to learn, and more convenient to control, but its power and effects also decreased.

The past situation where every wizard had a different magic system, every region had vastly different magical principles, and every outstanding wizard had their own path, no longer existed.

Of course, this also made it easier for more wizards to master magic.

Mass-market things will always gradually replace niche ones.

…

At night, friends rarely went on a night stroll together.

A group of eight was quite large!

If this were in their first or second year, they would probably never be able to escape Filch’s pursuit.

But now, when Filch walked into an area relatively close to them, he would subconsciously ignore that spot and bypass it directly.

Ted’s psychic ability directly blocked the information about this area in his mind.

As his psychic abilities leveled up, various miraculous effects began to gradually manifest.

The group smoothly arrived at the Restricted Section, opened the magical passage that the twins had spent several nights researching to find, and entered the secret room below.

It was said to be below the Restricted Section, but how far below was uncertain. This was spatial transfer, not a physical downward location.

The place was empty, with only a magical stone door. In the middle of the stone door was a strange symbol resembling a flame or a vertical eye.

George touched the stone door and sighed, “This is the door that blocked our dream of showing off!”

They had originally wanted to learn ancient magic, complete the adventure, and show off to others, but it ended before it even began.

“Alohomora!” Harry immediately cast a spell on the dream-blocking stone door.

But there was no reaction.

“Porta Aperio!” Hermione, seeing this, tried the old version of the opening charm. It should be called a kicking charm!

But the spell hit the stone door without stirring up a single speck of dust.

Since it was a magical door designed to prevent unauthorized wizards from entering, it must have many defenses specifically against wizards. All these opening charms were useless.

Even “Open Sesame” was tried, and the blasting charm!

But it was useless.

Everyone looked at Ted.

Ted had already been thinking that magic probably wouldn’t work.

The door’s magic resistance, achieved through its material, ritual magic, and spellcasting, had reached a terrifying level.

What if they tried a physical breakthrough?

Wizards often forget more direct methods because they rely too much on magic.

Perhaps the wizard who set up this door was the same, perfectly defending against magic, but direct destruction might actually work?

As a result, Ted cut off a stalactite from the ceiling and smashed it against the door, but the door remained motionless, not even leaving a mark.

The defenses were not neglected at all.

Then they could only try something beyond the realm wizards could touch, such as… psionics!

Psionic Penetration!

Psionics not only interfered with the mind but also with reality.

Converting matter into ectoplasm, or ectoplasm into matter, were all within the domain of psionics.

So, Ted used psionics to etherealize the stone wall next to the door, and then directly opened a new door!

How did that saying go?

What defeats you might not be a competitor, but someone from a different field!

Beyond the door was a hall, neatly built but empty, with only a small stone platform. On the platform sat a basin, and a small crystal vial floated above the basin.

“Is that a Pensieve?!” Harry recognized the object.

These things were very rare now; only ancient pure-blood families might have seen them.

Hermione and the Weasleys, for example, had no idea what it was.

Ted carefully took down the crystal vial. Inside was a tiny bit of silver liquid.

“Is it mercury?” Hermione asked.

“No, these are memories. Memories left here.” Ted opened the stopper and poured the silver liquid into the Pensieve. The basin immediately filled up and became clear and reflective.

“Alright, let’s see what the senior who left these memories wanted to say…”

…

Everyone lifted their heads from in front of the Pensieve, feeling a little dazed.

Watching someone else’s memories always came with a slight side effect, perhaps a moment of dizziness.

Harry was the first to speak: “So, it’s really that powerful?!”

The first reaction of the companions was: Ancient magic, terrifying as it is!

These memories were left by the previous guardian, over a hundred years ago. At that time, Dumbledore probably hadn’t even enrolled yet!

The memories recorded a series of events surrounding ancient magic that happened to the memory’s owner, the previous guardian, as a transfer student at the school.

Roughly, ancient magic still had a lineage a few hundred years ago, but because it was extremely difficult and quite powerful, it was only secretly passed down.

As a result, one of the inheritors was a bit too ambitious and caused trouble. He was eventually killed by other guardians.

But before dying, that inheritor had built a secret vault to store a vast power he controlled.

The villain of this story was a descendant of the goblins who originally built the secret vault, an extremist from the goblin revivalist faction.

He learned about this from his ancestors’ notes and naturally believed that since his ancestors built the vault, the power within it should belong to him. He planned to use this power to overthrow wizarding rule and revive the goblins!

At that time, only a few decades had passed since the last large-scale goblin rebellion, and the remnants of the revivalist faction among the goblins were quite powerful.

Both sides fought over the secret vault.

In the memories, the magic released by the transfer student, the previous guardian, was indeed extraordinary, much more powerful than things like Expelliarmus or Stupefy used today.

No wonder Harry was surprised.

(End of Chapter)