Chapter 19: Reveries About the Magic Book
"Teach you step-by-step how to make a magic book"?
"It's so complicated — and it's written in prose? What the hell. It should be expository! Does Dumbledore not speak human language? Maybe he read too many ancient magic books and got infected..."
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During his daily reading time, Alexander Smith finally found an interesting book. However, like most magical world books, it inherited the same major flaw: it barely spoke in human language.
Even though Alexander's magic knowledge had already reached Level 3 Perfection — nearly touching Level 4 — it was still incredibly difficult to comprehend.
You know, Level 3 is already equivalent to the skill level of an ordinary Auror. Of course, Aurors often master specific Level 4 spells as their core techniques.
This information was something Alexander had painstakingly gathered over the past month during his "coffee research" at the Ministry of Magic.
After nearly an hour of preliminary reading, Alexander roughly understood the main idea:
To create a complete magic book — say, an Invisibility Tome — the following three conditions must be met:
1. Unified Content:
The entire book must revolve around a single magical concept, such as invisibility.
2. Complete Spell Record:
Not just the incantation's words, but also detailed pronunciation, wand movements, and casting methods.
3. Clear Origin:
Who invented it, how it was created, under what circumstances, and what effects it produces after successful casting.
With these three elements, a true Invisibility Magic Book would be born.
This revelation solved one of Alexander's lingering questions:
Why were books like The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 2), Grade 3, and so on, so... lacking?
It's not simply because their knowledge is shallow — it's because they aren't real magic books. Their content is too scattered. Even the Half-Blood Prince's old Potions textbook merely contained spell snippets, not full magic theory.
Only a true magic book — one that met all three conditions — made it easier for wizards to learn deeply.
Looking at Hogwarts' textbooks, except for The Monster Book of Monsters, almost none could be considered real magic books.
It seemed that Hagrid wasn't completely careless — perhaps just too casual.
Of course, if every spell had its own magic book, the cost of textbooks would be astronomical, affordable only to a handful of pureblood families. Plus, many spells are too simple to deserve full books.
Take Shadowless Blade (Shen Feng Wu Ying), for instance — a named variant of the Invisibility phenomenon.
Properly, it should be called the Invisible Venom-Quenching Sword — venom here representing Snape's hatred toward James Potter.
The "cure" to the spell? Regret over his separation from Lily Evans.
In a normal magic book, all of this background would be meticulously recorded to aid understanding.
Ordinary wizards don't have detection skills or enhanced magical perception like Harry Potter. Without detailed context, mastering spells based solely on incantations would be incredibly difficult.
But —
In Alexander's case, while reading the novel and recalling James Potter's cocky show-off moments, the Shadow's Edge spell seemed to come alive.
It purged the memory of James from Alexander's mind with frightening ease, instantly boosting his mastery of the spell to Level 5 — something most wizards would need a lifetime to achieve.
He even felt Snape's regret for Lily burst forth, breaking the curse without needing to learn the spell formally.
This wasn't a myth.
After all, the spell's name itself was magical.
It was a direct counter to James Potter, and Alexander happened to be in Britain — close enough.
If he were at Hogwarts or at James' grave, the effect would have been even faster.
But what's more remarkable was that Alexander didn't even know Lily's last name at that moment. He had no clue that "Lily" was such a common name.
Yet he still easily removed the curse, without even realizing it.
Clearly, it wasn't just about liking someone.
Reflecting on the relationship between Lily and Snape, Alexander couldn't help but sigh.
Snape really had no one to blame but himself.
Originally childhood sweethearts, Snape had been quite proactive at first.
But at age 11, perhaps because he grew up in a Muggle environment, or because his mother hadn't explained Hogwarts properly, he ended up hating his Muggle father and chose Slytherin — his mother's house.
Maybe it was ambition.
Maybe he didn't know how badly Slytherin's reputation had deteriorated, especially during Voldemort's rise.
At that time, Lily was more proactive. Despite Snape hanging out with the future Death Eaters, she didn't give up their "friendship."
Perhaps Snape clung to his Slytherin crowd because of ambition, or because of bullying from James and his group, or because his talents were being courted. Probably all of the above.
Eventually, the infamous "Mudblood" incident in fifth year shattered everything.
Snape called Lily that terrible name in anger and humiliation — and the friendship was irreparably broken.
You can glimpse a lot from that memory.
Back then, even Dumbledore wasn't able to manage Hogwarts as well as he did during Harry's time. Voldemort occupied most of his attention.
Bullying Slytherins had almost become politically correct.
Sirius Black would pick fights with Slytherins when he was bored, and even professors like McGonagall seemed to turn a blind eye.
Even years later, Sirius, despite being suspected of betraying the Potters, was still remembered fondly by his teachers.
Though not entirely blameless —
Even Dumbledore, who tended to idealize James and his friends, once admitted they had gone too far, assigning Lupin as Prefect in hopes he would restrain them. (Spoiler: He didn't. Maybe he was too eager for friendship, being a werewolf.)
After witnessing that memory, even Harry Potter had felt chilled, horrified at how others praised his father for being "just like him."
In anger and shame, he confronted Sirius and Lupin — and both admitted it was true.
It's a pity.
Maybe Harry could have softened towards Snape sooner, if things had gone differently.
But that year, Dumbledore died, and Snape killed him.
Alexander shook his head, returning to his reverie.
After Snape and Lily parted ways, James got smart.
He stopped causing public trouble for Snape, toned down the showing-off, and even when he did retaliate, he made sure Lily wouldn't find out.
It wasn't until seventh year that Lily finally started dating James.
Two years. Two whole years.
Snape couldn't figure it out in two years.
Even if someone had transmigrated into Snape's body, they'd have a good chance to win Lily back.
But Snape was too blinded — indulging in dark magic and Voldemort's promises instead of changing.
In the end, Lily married James.
And Snape, realizing too late, could only seek Dumbledore's help and mourn her loss forever.
If he hadn't been so self-destructive, things could have been different.
Alexander exhaled slowly.
"It seems I'd better also take some time to understand Penelope Clearwater's... thunder points," he muttered to himself.
"Just in case a random thunderbolt strikes one day."
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(End of Chapter)
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