Chapter 49: Alchemy: From Beginner to Giving Up
Before Ethan could even begin his plan to bribe Snape, Hermione dragged him off to study Alchemy.
Ethan asked in bewilderment, "Why did you suddenly decide to study this?"
"I want to figure out what I'm good at, so I'm trying a bit of everything. Since you don't have anything better to do right now, why don't you study Alchemy with me? You might have a talent for it too."
Hermione's explanation sounded reasonable enough, but in truth, she found studying Alchemy alone boring, so she'd dragged him along to keep her company.
Ethan couldn't openly discuss his Dark Magic research with Hermione, so from her perspective, he was just wasting time.
"Alright, alright," Ethan agreed. He was curious about Alchemy too, but he'd been too busy studying spells to look into it. This seemed like a good opportunity.
He'd always wanted to enchant a piece of clothing to float so he could use it for nighttime travel once he learned the Disillusionment Charm.
He'd asked Professor Flitwick about it. While the Levitation Charm could make clothes float, and, by extension, people, nobody actually used it for various reasons.
So he planned to create an alchemical suit to maximize the Levitation Charm's effectiveness. Then, invisible thanks to the Disillusionment Charm and floating thanks to the suit, he could drift silently from the corridor to the Restricted Section to study some forbidden magic.
However, Alchemy was a complex discipline. Before the wizarding world's subjects were so clearly divided, it had been a broad category encompassing many modern fields.
Modern Alchemy was inextricably linked to Ancient Runes, spellcasting, and Potions. It even connected to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Additionally, learning Alchemy required understanding various alchemical materials.
Therefore, Hogwarts only offered the course after Sixth Year, with high academic requirements in the prerequisite subjects.
Over summer vacation, Ethan had bought several books on runes, including Magic Phonetic Chart, Runes Dictionary, and Advanced Rune Translation, wondering if he might pursue Alchemy.
However, to a novice wizard with no background knowledge, these books were incomprehensible gibberish. He couldn't see any practical application for them at the time, so he simply flipped through them and set them aside.
Now that he was actually going to study Alchemy, he had to dig out those books, gathering dust under his bed.
Of course, they first had to finish the basic introductory books on Alchemy from the library.
They should be reading books like The Origin of Alchemy and An Introduction to Alchemy.
They each held a thick book, their brows furrowed as they read.
This was just a theoretical text that didn't even cover practical Alchemy, yet it already contained technical terms they couldn't understand. If someone had handed them a more advanced book, they probably would have cried.
After finally struggling through all the obscure, incomprehensible sentences, he finished The Origin of Alchemy. Putting the book down, he tried to recall what he'd read.
Actually, there wasn't anything particularly important. It just explained the origins, development, and branches of alchemy. Some of the terminology seemed quite technical, but it was outdated. You'd only encounter it in ancient alchemical texts.
After digesting the information, he had a clear picture. He glanced at Hermione, who was still frowning over her reading. He didn't disturb her, instead, getting to work on the parchment, organizing the knowledge base required for alchemy.
"What is this?" Hermione asked curiously, having finally finished leafing through the book. She looked at the diagrams on the parchment.
He explained carefully, "These are the basics that alchemy requires, such as runes and spells. The spells are further divided into categories like defense and offense..."
By the time he finished organizing everything, he had already mentally written off this complex, fascinating subject.
The knowledge required was too extensive. Mastering magical runes alone would take ages before they could be put to use. However, if a specific alchemical item had steps that didn't require additional knowledge, then it might be worth attempting.
He was ready to give up, but he wanted Hermione to stick with it and master alchemy so she could help him if the need arose.
Hermione frowned at the daunting amount of knowledge.
"Can I really learn this?" Even as a top student, the question nagged at her.
Seeing her expression, Ethan was afraid she would give up, so he quickly encouraged her. "Don't be fooled by how complicated these things are. You don't have to learn them all at the beginning."
"When you're starting out, you can copy existing alchemical items, analyzing the spells, runes, materials, and other components they used. Later, when you begin creating your own, you can fill in the gaps and shore up your weak points."
This approach came from experience. Just like with design work in his past life, he definitely hadn't excelled at first. So what had he done?
He learned from others. The more he studied existing work, the better he understood what worked and what didn't. Then, drawing from similar pieces and supplementing his theoretical knowledge, he could create his own work based on his aesthetic sense.
Of course, simply copying wasn't the way forward. He'd merely be a replicator, not a designer.
"Really? Then you can come with me," Hermione thought he had a point, but she still didn't quite believe him.
He waved his hand dismissively. "No, no, no, you do it. I plan to study spells and potions, subjects that are both vast and profound. I really don't have the time."
Whether he'd waved his hand too broadly or raised his voice too much in refusal, Mrs. Pince came over to their table.
"No noise allowed in the library! If this happens again, all of you get out!"
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, Mrs. Pince," Ethan whispered hastily, and Hermione murmured her own apology.
They switched to passing notes, but writing was never as quick or convenient as speaking, so they didn't accomplish much before the library closed.
"It's not that late. Come on, tell me the real reason you won't study Alchemy. Are you planning to study Dark Magic?" Hermione had cornered him in an abandoned classroom.
"No, I just think I'm better suited to spells and potions." Ethan felt a twinge of guilt that she'd seen through his excuse.
Hermione clearly didn't believe him. "Really? You really shouldn't study Dark Magic. You know, people who go down that path never come to a good end. Most of them wind up in Azkaban."
"Don't worry, I just want to master spells."
Even though he swore up and down, Hermione didn't really believe him.
But without any evidence, all she could do was warn, "I'll be keeping an eye on you."
Back in his dorm, Ethan was in a bind. He wondered if he should put some distance between himself and Hermione; she was getting a bit too controlling.
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