Chapter 162: Article, Potion, Snape's Tears
Ethan nodded, pulling out a photo he had prepared in advance to show Flitwick the spell's effect firsthand.
Looking at the familiar shop name in the photograph, Flitwick quickly recognized the scene.
"This is a photo from your family's Wizarding Cards shop opening, isn't it? I read about it in the paper on opening day."
Ethan thought, *Advertising in the Daily Prophet for several days straight certainly wasn't a waste. Even the professor knows about our shop.*
Looking at the projection in front of him, Flitwick exclaimed, "Truly an amazing spell! It's like being there in person."
The professor watched as Ethan adjusted the projection's size, cycling through a scaled-down version, the original, and an enlarged version.
Finally, Ethan froze the projection at roughly the size of the actual scene, setting it to loop.
The short professor said, "This spell is truly unique. Nothing else comes close."
As a Charms master, Professor Flitwick was familiar with most publicly known spells in the world, but he had never seen a spell like this projection charm or any with similar effects.
Naturally, Ethan had invented this spell specifically for the Wizarding Cards, since no existing spell met his needs.
He had scoured the library for every spell he could find and pored over all the available magazines and journals. He found only a handful of spells and principles related to light and shadow, but none came close to achieving the effect he wanted.
Ultimately, Ethan developed this projection spell by drawing on the principles behind spells like the Engorgement Charm, the Shrinking Charm, and the Disillusionment Charm.
Ethan suspected the reason no one had explored this area was that wizards already had moving photographs and magical portraits, so they had never considered projection technology.
Furthermore, Ethan had drawn inspiration from holographic projection to devise the spell.
The professor reached out, passing his hand through the spectral image of the building. "Your spell has a vast array of applications. Projecting a detailed photograph is like entering a memory in a Pensieve.
"What's more, projecting a magical portrait would achieve something even a Pensieve cannot."
Ethan, of course, knew what a Pensieve was. There was one in Dumbledore's office. He wanted one for himself, intending to extract his memories so he could review future events and cross-reference them.
But crafting such an item seemed extremely complicated and difficult. Cyril had contacted many people and finally managed to find a seller, but the provenance of this Pensieve was problematic.
Consequently, the item had been confiscated in America. The seller was trying to find a way to get it out of the country, but a conservative estimate suggested it would still take a few months.
Based on what Ethan knew and what Professor Flitwick had mentioned, magic and magical items capable of reproducing scenes like his Projection Spell, excluding Voldemort's diary, generally fell into two categories.
The first was Legilimency, the act of penetrating deep into a person's mind to read their thoughts.
When Snape used Legilimency while teaching Harry Occlumency, the Shield Charm backfired, exposing his painful memories and demonstrating the effects of this ability.
Moreover, Ethan suspected that the method Voldemort's diary used to pull people into his memories was a reverse application of Legilimency.
The other method was the Pensieve. This involved extracting a person's memory, turning it into memory strands, and placing them in the basin. This allowed people to enter the memory and experience the scenes from a bystander's perspective.
Pensieves, however, were also highly sophisticated. Even though they recorded memories from the owner's first-person perspective, they allowed anyone entering to see the owner and observe events from an outsider's point of view.
If he'd had a Pensieve, Ethan would certainly have researched how this was accomplished.
Still, both of these methods were far too difficult for the average wizard to master.
Legilimency was an exceptionally difficult advanced spell to learn. It was hard to say whether there were even ten wizards in the entire British wizarding world who could actually use it.
Pensieves were equally rare and precious. Cyril had gone to great lengths and paid a fortune to acquire one. It was the kind of magical artifact most people could never hope to own.
But whether it was Legilimency or a Pensieve, these forms of magic and magical objects all dealt with memory. They remained fundamentally different from the Projection Spell.
That was why Professor Flitwick considered the Projection Spell to be truly unique.
Like all spells, though, it wasn't without its flaws.
The main drawback Ethan had discovered so far was that it could only project wizarding photographs and portraits. It couldn't process Muggle photographs at all.
He'd tried it at home, attempting to project photographs of his parents' deceased relatives so the family could see them in three dimensions. But repeated attempts yielded nothing.
Still, these were minor shortcomings. Ethan believed that once the spell was published, others would take up the research.
If some Charms master out there had a Muggle relative who hadn't left behind a wizarding photograph, this limitation would be resolved sooner or later.
Of course, once the spell appeared in a magazine, more flaws would undoubtedly be discovered. Eventually, new variations would emerge to address these issues, much like what happened with Scourgify and Tergeo.
So far, this was the only flaw anyone had found, yet the Projection Spell had plenty going for it. For instance, when applied to Wizarding Cards, it created animated chess pieces. And after Ethan taught the spell to Cyril, the older man frequently used it to project portraits of Ethan's maternal grandmother and paternal grandparents, chatting with the images as though they were still alive.
When Ethan returned to Shafiq Manor for the Christmas holidays, he reunited with his family in just this way.
The only catch was that they couldn't physically touch him.
Back then, Ethan and Cyril had sat on the sofa while three projected figures occupied conjured chairs across from them. The group chatted away happily.
After inventing the spell, Ethan had considered teaching it to Snape but could never come up with a good excuse. Now he planned to let Snape learn about it on the pretense of showing off once the magazine was published.
After Ethan walked Professor Flitwick through several more practical applications, the professor saw the spell in a much more favorable light.
The short professor looked over the parchment Ethan had handed him. "Very good! With just a few formatting adjustments, this is ready for publication."
Under Professor Flitwick's guidance, Ethan revised his article right there in the office.
Time was limited, though. By the time curfew rolled around, Ethan still hadn't finished, so he arranged to come back the following evening.
Before leaving, Ethan asked, "Professor, if I submit this in the next couple of days, when might it see print? Would you mind asking for me?"
"Not at all. I'll write to the publisher tonight to ask when it can be released," Professor Flitwick answered promptly.
When Ethan returned to the office the following night, the professor had a response for him.
"If I send it over, it can be published next week.
"They happen to be short one article at the moment. Once I described the projection spell to them, they were quite interested."
"Next week? That works."
Ethan considered the timeline. Based on Algie's progress, matters in Africa should be settled by the time the article was published next week. Furthermore, even if some countries hadn't finished their promotional rollouts, copying the design would take time. This would give Algie enough of a window to complete his own promotions.
Before curfew, Ethan finished revising the article. After Professor Flitwick reviewed and approved it, he sent it to the publisher on Ethan's behalf.
The days passed quickly, and soon it was Saturday. Ethan had Potions class in Snape's office.
During a break from brewing potions, Ethan feigned an urge to show off. "Professor, I'm about to have a spell published in Challenges in Charming magazine."
Snape was quick to mock him. "Oh? Then why haven't you published any Potions achievements in The Practical Potioneer? You've studied under me for so long, yet you have no original thoughts or discoveries?"
Ethan thought for a moment before responding with Snape's own words from their first Potions class. "Isn't it because Potions is such a subtle and exact art? One small mistake can have serious consequences. I still have much to learn."
Snape glanced at him but said nothing.
Ethan continued, "I've named this spell Adams' Projection Spell. It projects images from magical photos or portraits. The effect is lifelike, reproducing the scene as though it were happening right before your eyes."
Snape's fingers, which had been tapping against the table, suddenly stilled.
Ethan understood immediately. Snape had recognized the potential of this spell.
"Show me." Although Snape remained expressionless, the sudden stillness of his fingers betrayed his interest.
"I don't have any photos on me right now, Professor." Ethan feigned distress. He had deliberately left the photos from the shop opening in his bag so it wouldn't seem as though he had staged this encounter long ago.
Snape waved his wand, and a Potions book flew over. With a sharp rip, he tore off the cover featuring the author's photograph.
"Use this."
"Yes, Professor."
Ethan picked up the cover from the table and examined it. It showed a photo of a man from the waist up.
The man sat in a chair with red velvet upholstery and yellow wooden armrests, facing the reader, stroking his chin with a smile.
Ethan cast the spell, projecting the man's half-length image. The projection moved exactly as it did on the cover.
"Pity there's no way to project something solid. Your hand passes right through it." Ethan was genuinely disappointed. If he could project a physical form, even just an empty shell, this spell could be called one of the greatest magical inventions of the century.
Snape stared intently at the man's portrait until Ethan canceled the spell.
"Very good." Snape looked at Ethan, finally managing to force the words out.
"When does the magazine come out?"
"Next week."
"Mm." Snape just nodded. He didn't ask Ethan to demonstrate it a few more times to learn it, as Ethan had expected.
Snape, however, was not as indifferent as he seemed. During the next Potions lesson, his distraction caused him to make two mistakes in a row.
"Professor?" Ethan spoke up to warn him when Snape became distracted for the third time and nearly added an ingredient at the wrong moment.
"Today's class ends here. You are all dismissed." Realizing he wasn't himself, Snape promptly ended the lesson.
Ethan, who had intended to demonstrate the Projection Spell to Snape, was left dumbfounded. Back in the dormitory, he gathered some potion ingredients and headed for the Room of Requirement.
As expected, the Weasley twins were already inside.
"Get in here, quick. Someone's coming up the stairs." The door swung open, and Fred pulled Ethan inside.
"Why does it reek of smoke? Did the experiment fail again?" Sunlight streamed in from the high window, illuminating the smoke particles drifting through the room.
"No, it was a success. It's the firework we've been working on. It's just a shame you missed it." George's mask was still stained with scorch marks.
"Really? Before declaring success, perhaps you should wipe the soot off your face first." Ethan didn't believe a word of it. Fred looked just as disheveled, his protective mask sporting a few fresh scorch marks.
George removed his mask and offered a sheepish smile.
"You two carry on. I'm going to go refine some potions."
Ethan had long suspected the twins would be here. Since the Room of Requirement couldn't provide ideal conditions, he'd brought along his own cauldron and a portable flame.
He retrieved the necessary ingredients for this attempt from his bag, along with a set of scales.
Ethan set up the cauldron and added morning dew to bring it to a boil. He then turned his attention to preparing the remaining ingredients.
Chopping, grinding, crushing, and squeezing. After a meticulous series of steps, Ethan lined up the prepared ingredients.
Donning his dragon-hide protective gear, Ethan began brewing the potion in earnest.
The potion gurgled, bubbles rising steadily from the mixture. Ethan stepped back quickly.
Just as he expected, the bubbles swelled rapidly. Moments later, the potion erupted, splattering across the floor.
He raised his wand to extinguish the flames. Once the potion had settled, he siphoned a small amount into a vial as a sample before cleaning up.
He didn't immediately start on the next batch. Instead, he fetched the recipe and brewing instructions, sat down to one side, and began summarizing the lessons learned from this attempt.
He must have added too much Basilisk venom, throwing off the ratio with the unicorn blood and causing the potion to fail. Ethan jotted this theory on a fresh piece of parchment and modified the new recipe once more.
After brewing the potion over and over, constantly tweaking the recipe, Ethan finally produced the first vial of the final potion as night fell.
The brewing process went exactly as expected, and the final result matched his theory perfectly. It was a clear, emerald green potion.
"Success at last. That was far from easy," Ethan exclaimed, decanting the cauldron's contents into several vials and swirling one bottle.
Once Ethan finished reading the books he'd retrieved from the Ravenclaw vault, he had drafted no fewer than ten different potion recipes, each with a specific function in mind.
However, after such a long period of experimentation, he had successfully brewed only three of them.
Some recipes ended in failure no matter how he tweaked them.
Excluding the original recipes whose outcomes were already known, he still had over twenty new recipes from the refinement process that remained to be brewed.
*Back then, Snape was testing so many different potions at once, all variations on several base recipes.* Ethan recalled the days from last semester when he had helped Snape prepare ingredients while developing new medicines.
*I still don't know what those potions were for.* Ethan had successfully brewed the recipes he'd noted down, but he'd never quite understood their purpose.
Ethan remembered this professor. After driving him away, using the information he had revealed, Ethan went straight to Professor Flitwick and learned Adams' Projection Spell directly from him.
After practicing several times, Snape took out a photo he had treasured for many years.
The scene from the photo projected before him:
[On the green grass, a tall tree grew in full bloom. Pink petals fell constantly.
Sitting under the tree was a dark-red-haired girl, waving to someone outside the photo with a smile.]
Although Snape often took out this photo to look at it, recalling the scene, and had borrowed Dumbledore's Pensieve many times to watch the memory, he was still heartbroken.
"I will definitely resurrect you, Lily!" Snape held the photo to his chest with both hands. Looking at the pile of potions on the table, tears streamed down endlessly.
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