Chapter 58: Bone Shield Mini Version
On Sunday, he once again found himself alone for spell practice.
Since the girl who disliked Dark Magic wasn't there, Ethan cut loose and brought out all the Dark Magic spells he hadn't practiced much, ready to show off.
Aside from Confringo, which he could already cast wordlessly, he had learned and mastered the other five simple spells. Now he was working toward mastering a defensive Dark Magic spell called Bone Shield.
When cast, the spell would summon a huge shield made of white bone to block incoming spells.
It was the only defensive spell among the five advanced Dark Magic spells.
Of course, there weren't many defensive spells in the non-Dark Magic repertoire either.
The most commonly used was the Shield Charm, devastating in the hands of a master but useless in the hands of a novice.
There was also an advanced defensive spell called Protego Horribilis, but thanks to their incompetent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, few Hogwarts students could cast it.
He couldn't cast it yet either, so he focused on practicing the Shield Charm. Sometimes he even asked Hermione to hit him with weaker spells for target practice.
That was why he had made Bone Shield his second priority.
"Bone Shield! Bone Shield!" He chanted continuously, visualizing a transparent shield adorned with non-human skulls and thick bones appearing in front of him.
As his visualization grew more detailed and his confidence solidified, the impulse in his heart grew stronger, as though he could cast the spell successfully at any moment.
Sure enough, he succeeded on the next attempt, but the result didn't quite match his imagination.
Looking at the shield floating in the air, exactly as he had imagined but only the size of his palm, he complained, "This is a Bone Shield? It's a bone buckler! It's too small; besides protecting my heart, what else can it cover?"
He let the Bone Shield hover over his heart and continued casting. Soon, a dozen palm-sized Bone Shields floated in front of him.
"There are pros and cons to this. Casting is simple, but controlling them is difficult. Still, if one shield breaks, I only need to cast the spell once to replace it, rather than replacing the whole thing."
He commanded one shield to float further away and hit it with Confringo.
"Hmm? Quite sturdy." The shield was tougher than he'd expected. Bombarded by a fireball roughly its own size, it didn't shatter; only a few cracks appeared. Moreover, he sensed that he could repair it by channeling more magic into it.
Following his instincts, he channeled magic continuously into the cracked shield through his wand.
The shield not only repaired itself but kept growing until it reached the size of a cartwheel before stopping.
Unfortunately, this kind of buff required preparation to use. In a real fight, no one was going to give you time to prepare like that.
After practicing the Bone Shield spell for a while, he gave it a rest for now. The coverage was too small, and it wasn't practical enough for actual combat. He was better off mastering the Shield Charm.
During the break, he asked Hagrid, "Do you want me to make your Little Gray darker? Turn it pure black, like Little Black?"
"No need. If it turned black, it wouldn't be Little Gray anymore." Hagrid shook his shaggy head, rejecting the offer.
Ethan didn't bring it up again, slowly eating a Rock Cake as he drank his black tea.
Before leaving, he specifically asked Hagrid for a large bag of the hard pastries, planning to bring them back for Crabbe and Goyle to test their teeth on. Moreover, Rock Cakes lasted forever and could be kept in the dormitory as emergency rations, saving him from starving on days when hunger struck but he was too lazy to trek to the kitchen.
Crabbe and Goyle, having learned their lesson by now, were much more cautious about anything he brought back, refusing to be the guinea pigs no matter what.
It wasn't until he demonstrated how to eat one himself that the two decided the food had a unique flavor.
With some prodding from the three, Draco skeptically sampled a small piece.
"Do you really think it's delicious?" he asked. He suspected that either his taste buds were broken or that the three of them were.
"You really didn't taste a very unique flavor?" Ethan asked seriously.
Draco wasn't sure. He quickly shoved another piece of Rock Cake into his mouth. "Is there really a special flavor?"
"No, it's just quite chewy." Ethan shrugged.
Draco spat out the cake disdainfully. "Tch. Just this stuff? My dog wouldn't eat it!"
"You're saying we're dogs! No, you're saying we're worse than dogs! Apologize!" Ethan pretended to get angry, yanking up the sleeves of his wizard robes.
Draco was stunned. He froze on the spot, wanting to apologize but unable to swallow his pride.
Seeing that his joke had caused awkwardness, he stepped in to suggest, "You should run now and the three of us will chase you."
"Oh, oh." Draco snapped out of his daze and ran out of the dormitory in a panic.
Goyle and Crabbe obediently put down the Rock Cakes and made to follow, but Ethan stopped them.
"Let him run for a while. He always speaks without thinking; he'll suffer sooner or later. Let him go. You two eat yours."
After he'd rested enough, Ethan left the dormitory for the library. Seeing him emerge, Draco, who was hiding in the common room, quickly shifted position to avoid being seen.
Unexpectedly, Ethan didn't even look at him and walked straight out of the dungeons.
Draco returned to the dormitory full of questions. After hearing from the two of them, he felt a little angry inside, like he'd been made a fool of, but then began to wonder if he'd actually done something wrong.
Ethan's focus this time was Weather Charms. He found that as his magical strength grew day by day, this kind of magic with a wide range of power was ideally suited to him.
Based on his experience using the Snow-Making Spell last time, if he used this kind of weather magic, he should be able to fully capitalize on his superior magical strength.
But there were very few Weather Charms in the Hogwarts library. Aside from the Snow-Making Spell Hermione had stumbled upon, the general collection only had a Rain-Making Spell and a Thunderstorm Spell (or similar atmospheric charms).
He copied these two spells down, preparing to try them at night.
That night, Ethan returned to the dormitory excitedly, his hair not yet completely dry.
He had misjudged the power of the Rain-Making Spell and Thunderstorm Spell he cast earlier, and got himself caught in the downpour.
Fortunately, he used the Impervius Charm quickly, or he'd have been soaked through.
Hogwarts was a castle of magic, with tall towers and ancient buildings. At the beginning, every student had to undergo the Sorting Ceremony.
Ethan walked forward, and a wooden hat with two holes was placed on his head. A moment later, the Sorting Hat spoke.
"Interesting," it said, its mysterious voice echoing in Ethan's mind. "Ethan, a mind full of curiosity, but also..."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ethan interrupted, looking up at the hat with narrowed eyes.
"Hmm, quite sharp-tongued. You have some interesting memories in your mind. You also seem to have a particularly profound sense of sadness."
"That's none of your business."
You carry the weight of two lifetimes. It would be a shame to hide such talents under a bushel. But since you don't want that, I won't mention the secret in your mind to anyone in this Great Hall.
The Sorting Hat fell silent for a moment, clearly deep in thought.
"Your intellectual curiosity is exceptional, and your desire to uncover the truth is genuine. Ravenclaw would be an excellent choice for you. But..."
Ethan felt an uncomfortable sensation as the Sorting Hat delved into his mind again.
"You also have ambition and cunning. Slytherin would appreciate those qualities."
"I'm not interested in Slytherin," Ethan said flatly.
"Ravenclaw it is, then."
The Sorting Hat announced to the Great Hall, "Ravenclaw!"
There was a round of applause. Ethan removed the hat and placed it back on the stool, then returned to his seat. His expression remained unchanged, but deep down, he felt a faint sense of relief.
In his previous life, he had never experienced this kind of ceremony. He had been neglected and abused by his adoptive family, with no friends and no future. He had died alone in a hospital bed.
This time, everything was different.
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