Chapter 23: History of Magic
"It turns out to be from Penelope. Didn't we just talk face to face last night? Do you like writing letters that much?" Alexander opened the letter and couldn't help but complain.
In the original novel, Percy and Penelope also kept writing to each other every day. For normal people, there are some things difficult to say in a letter and must be discussed in person. But for Penelope, it was probably easier to express herself through letters.
"Let me see, what are you complaining about this time? History of Magic?" Alexander perked up and quickly wrote a reply.
From Penelope's perspective, the main problem with the History of Magic class was the ghost professor, Cuthbert Binns. His teaching style never changed — he always read directly from the textbook.
He "spoke in a breathy, drawling manner," which made it difficult for anyone to concentrate, and students would often fall into a drowsy state as soon as class began.
But in Alexander's opinion, the bigger problem was actually the textbook itself. He had long wanted to complain, but no one seemed to share his thoughts. In the Smith family, for some reason, there wasn't a single magical painting in the house except for the bathroom. Jack didn't understand the significance of this, so Penelope became the outlet for Alexander's frustrations.
The History of Magic book recorded dry, meaningless facts — endless lists of dates and names — especially regarding events like the Goblin Rebellions.
There was no real exploration of why the rebellions happened, what life was like at the time, how peace was negotiated, or what strategies were used.
If the magical world's history were written with the same narrative richness as Muggle history, even Professor Binns' hypnotic voice wouldn't be enough to bore students like Hermione.
Especially in the area of biographies — it should record the contributions of famous figures such as:
Ignatia Wildsmith, inventor of Floo Powder.
Magenta Comstock, the experimental artist whose moving portraits were the predecessor to magical paintings.
Mungo Bonham, founder of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
Clíodhna, the ingenious Irish druid who first discovered the magical properties of the moondew flower.
Achievements like these deserved focus — unlike oddities such as the eccentric wizard Urquhart Rackharrow, infamous for wearing a jellyfish hat.
Sadly, History of Magic often detailed these weirder figures, making the subject feel both boring and difficult to remember.
For some reason, Alexander felt a deep, instinctive rejection of History of Magic — not just the one written by Bathilda Bagshot (first published by Little Red Book Company in 1947) — but a feeling that seemed ingrained in his very bloodline, passed down from a far earlier era.
To be fair, Bagshot's version had cut out some of the more ridiculous entries like Urquhart. But Alexander still disliked it.
The Smith family had always hated crowds, avoided the limelight, disliked leaving behind portraits, loved alchemy, and possessed a natural tendency to be invisible — traits passed down through generations alongside magic, even more reliably than genes.
Each wizarding family had unique traits:
Ollivanders were obsessed with wands and possessed amazing memories.
Potters were known for messy hair, strong senses, and thin bodies — so much so that they invented special shampoos, ironically causing Snape to refuse shampoo and end up with greasy hair.
Malfoys had white skin, blond hair, and inherited sociability.
Blacks (Blake family) were paradoxical — fiercely loyal to pureblood ideals yet constantly changing beliefs, leading to frequent family tree "prunings" whenever a member's views conflicted with the family's.
Dumbledores were beloved by phoenixes, lived long lives, and excelled at shape-shifting.
Weasleys were optimistic, red-haired, and more capable than they appeared.
Gaunts, Voldemort's ancestors, were stubborn and cruel, known for inbreeding, powerful magical talent, and an obsessive pride in their bloodline. Their downfall was inevitable due to their inability to adapt, extravagance, and decay. In the end, Merope Gaunt eloped with Tom Riddle Sr., leading to Voldemort's birth — though in the Gaunts' eyes, Voldemort didn't even deserve the family name.
All in all, magic transmitted ancestral traits more significantly than genes ever could. A father and son might not share hair color or personality in the Muggle world — but in the magical world, traits endured.
With complicated thoughts swirling in his mind, Alexander finished writing his letter. After asking Jack to send it off, he turned to a new magical experiment.
During his earlier recreation of the Sectumsempra spell, Alexander had used a detection skill to miraculously reproduce a counter-curse.
He realized that the regret Snape felt over Lily Potter's death was the best antidote for the dark magic embedded in the spell.
Alexander wondered: if he imagined Snape and visualized Lily's appearance at the same time, could he trigger the counter-curse simply by calling Lily's name?
He prepared carefully, gathering:
Lily's elementary school graduation photos,
Her pictures from Hogwarts,
And her wedding photos.
It had been difficult tracking down all these photos across both the Muggle and wizarding worlds. (Sadly, photos of young Snape were impossible to find.)
Alexander also considered gifting these photos to Snape once he was old enough to attend Hogwarts — perhaps as a Christmas gift.
Finally, the key point: Lily's full name. "Lily Evans" and "Lily Potter" were recorded, but Alexander regretted not paying more attention in his past life; otherwise, he might have memorized even more details.
Sketching James Potter's appearance in his mind, Alexander raised the White Knight staff. Without chanting a spell, without even consciously thinking about it, a blade of invisible magic shot out from the staff's tip.
Gripping the White Knight like a sword, Alexander swung fiercely at a training dummy.
Slash!
The dummy split cleanly in two — the cut edge shimmering with traces of black magic.
This power was far stronger than any of Alexander's ordinary spells.
Next, he needed to find a way to neutralize the "toxicity" left behind — testing different visualization methods to see what worked best.
"But I'm afraid Snape himself never thought of this method," Alexander chuckled.
(End of Chapter)
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