HP: The Boy who saw Magic

As Kevin and his roommates approached the door to the auditorium, they heard hurried footsteps behind them.

"Kevin!"

Cedric walked over quickly, his face flushed with excitement, followed by the Weasley twins, both of whom wore identical, mischievous smiles.

"You will never believe it—we just had Defense Against the Dark Arts class! The new professor, Victor Eisenberg," Cedric's eyes lit up, "Merlin, his class is incredible!"

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "So, what did this new professor do to get you all so excited?"

"He let us practice in the first class!" Cedric lowered his voice, as if sharing an incredible secret. "Not theory, not chanting spells, but facing magical creatures directly!"

Fred the Red Hat grinned. "The kind of little monster that likes to hide in the ruins of battlefields and smash people's skulls with iron rods."

"He transformed an empty classroom into a dark ruin environment, put the red hats in it, and asked us to work in groups to catch them," George added. "Of course, he told us about their weaknesses in advance, such as fear of light and silver, but when we really faced them, they were really fierce."

Kevin's gray-blue eyes narrowed slightly. This teaching method was indeed bold and even a little dangerous, but it had to be admitted that it was much more effective than rote memorization.

"How did you catch it?" Wesley asked impatiently.

"Cedric used 'Lumos' to blind it," Fred patted Cedric's shoulder, "and then George used Transfiguration to create a silver chain to tie it up."

"It's not that simple," Cedric smiled modestly. "It almost bit Fred's finger."

"Luckily I reacted quickly," Fred waved his hand proudly. "Otherwise I'd have to ask Madam Pomfrey for a new finger."

Kevin was thoughtful. Professor Victor's teaching style was completely different from what he had expected. Instead of teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts theory by rote, he let students face actual combat threats.

"You guys are going to take his class this afternoon, right?" George winked at Kevin. "Be prepared—he's not the kind of professor who'll let you get away with it easily."

"His questions are extremely difficult," Fred lowered his voice. "I heard that even the Hufflepuff prefect was left speechless by his questions in the senior grades."

Kevin nodded, but a hint of anticipation rose in his heart. The professor's style made him vaguely sense something unusual.

When Kevin and his friends arrived at the fourth floor, they found many first-year students standing at the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, hesitant to go in.

Just as Kevin and the others were about to investigate, the classroom door slid open silently, and a gust of air mixed with the smell of herbs and metal blew out. The noisy students suddenly became quiet, and Professor Victor Eisenberg stood at the podium with his back to them.

"Come in." His voice was deep and clear, with a hint of a German accent. "Find your place and don't waste time."

Kevin noticed that the classroom had been rearranged. The desks and chairs were gone, replaced by a circle of tiered seats surrounding the central open space. On the walls hung specimens of various magical creatures, from the common red hat to the rare hinky punk, each preserved with a perfect spell.

The most eye-catching thing was a huge iron cabinet at the back of the classroom, engraved with ancient runes. In Kevin's True Eye, those runes emitted faint magical fluctuations.

"Welcome to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class." Professor Victor turned around, his voice low and with a faint German accent. "I'm Professor Eisenberg. The name of this class is 'Defense Against the Dark Arts,' but you will soon find that the premise of defense is… understanding."

His eyes slowly swept across the classroom, pausing for a moment when they passed Kevin.

"Today, we won't be learning spells or flipping through textbooks." He walked to the podium, tapping the tabletop with his fingertips. "Let's talk about… the nature of magic."

The whole class was silent.

Victor suddenly raised his hand, and a copper Knut appeared out of thin air at his fingertips, slowly spinning.

"Can someone tell me?" His voice was very soft, but it made everyone hold their breath. "Why does magic exist?"

The classroom remained silent. Fabian hesitated and raised his hand. "Professor, magic is a natural force that wizards channel through spells and will."

Victor shook his head slightly, and the copper Knut disappeared with a "pop."

"A textbook answer, Mr. Bryan." His tone was flat, but his eyes seemed to see through the banality of the response. "But what I want to ask is, why can 'you' use magic?"

Fabian froze, clearly not expecting this question.

Victor's eyes fell on Kevin again.

"You." He raised his chin slightly, indicating Kevin. "Answer me."

Kevin was startled, and the whole class focused their attention on him.

Victor did not urge him, but just looked at him quietly, his eyes seeming to pierce his soul.

"I…" Kevin hesitated for a moment, and finally decided to answer honestly. "I'm not sure. In my opinion, magic requires not only spells and willpower, but also imagination."

"Not sure, imagination," he repeated softly, the corners of his mouth slightly raised. "Very good."

"At least you didn't give me the drivel from the textbook." Victor walked over to Kevin's seat and looked down at him. "Magic isn't 'just because it exists,' and it doesn't just require spells, willpower, and imagination. It has a price."

He suddenly raised his hand, and a wisp of silver magic emerged from his fingertips, winding around his fingers like a snake.

"Magic requires 'understanding,' 'sacrifice,' and even 'pain,'" his voice was almost a whisper, so that only Kevin could hear. "And you seem to understand this better than anyone else."

Kevin felt a chill, as if something had seen through him.

Victor took a step back and regained his professorial dignity.

"Today's assignment," he turned and walked towards the podium, "is to write an essay on the topic: 'If magic were a living being, what would it want?' No less than ten inches."

The whole class groaned.

"Oh, right." He seemed to suddenly remember something and turned to look at Kevin. "You stay after class."

For a moment, Kevin's heart skipped a beat.

After this intriguing question and answer session, the professor used Transfiguration to demonstrate the dark magic creatures from the textbook one by one, causing everyone to exclaim in surprise.

Class ended soon, and the classroom emptied, leaving only Kevin and Professor Victor.

Victor did not speak immediately, but took out a tattered notebook from his robe and flipped through a few pages.

Victor closed his notebook and looked up at him. "Do you know why I kept you?"

Kevin shook his head.

Victor nodded slightly. "It's okay, you will know soon."

As he spoke, he took out a silver rune stone from his sleeve and placed it on the table.

"Pick it up," he ordered.

Kevin hesitated for a moment, observing the rune stone with the Eye of Truth. He could only see a layer of silver magic wrapped around it. Then he gritted his teeth, reached out, and touched the rune stone. The stone instantly lit up with a faint light, and strange runes emerged.

Seeing this, a hint of satisfaction flashed in Victor's eyes.

"Interesting." He whispered, "It seems Nico was right about the guy."

Kevin was startled. "Nicolas Flamel?"

Victor didn't explain. He just took back the rune stone and turned to the door.

"Next Wednesday night at 8 o'clock, my office on the third floor." He said without turning his head. "Bring your curiosity… and a little courage."

The door closed silently, leaving Kevin standing alone in the empty classroom, his heart pounding.

Walking out of the classroom, Kevin found his three roommates waiting for him in the hallway. Ernesto crossed his arms. "So, why did the professor leave you alone?"

"He gave me an extracurricular reading." Kevin answered casually, but his heart was already stirring. Professor Victor obviously had a special interest in him—and why was Nicolas Flamel mentioned? There must be some reason behind this.

"I knew it!" Wesley jumped up excitedly. "It seems you've gained the special attention of another professor!"

Fabian pushed his glasses up, thinking. "But our class seems to be different from what Weasley and his friends said. Our class had neither textbook content nor practical operations like theirs."

"But what he said about the nature of magic is very interesting," Ernesto replied.

"Don't think too much about it for now. Let's go to the library first and see how to solve Professor Victor's homework!" Kevin interrupted the conversation and turned the topic to the homework left in class.

The four boys walked towards the library, discussing the topic of their homework. Kevin's hands rubbed unconsciously, his gray-blue eyes flashing with thought, and he thought of the parchment scroll that had not yet been unwrapped.

But it didn't matter. The meeting next Wednesday night might reveal some answers.

___________

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