Chapter 124: Madam Pince is Quite Beautiful
Morning light flowed like honey onto the diamond-shaped panes of the Gryffindor Tower windows, the golden dust on Dylan's eyelashes fluttering down as he opened his eyes.
Weekend, a perfect time to rest.
Dylan had slept soundly last night. After a moment of drowsiness, he became fully awake, his spirits excellent.
"Excellent, feels like today will be another day full of energy."
As he pulled back the goose down quilt embroidered with the lion crest, the copper rings of the bed curtains rubbed against the fabric, making clear tinkling sounds.
"Scourgify!"
The silver-white vortex erupting from the tip of his wand swept away the wrinkles in the bedding, and incidentally brushed away the dust from the surface of Harry's Sneakoscope—its mirror reflecting Ron's open-mouthed, drooling sleeping face.
After getting out of bed, Dylan cast a cleaning charm to tidy the bedding, then cast another one on himself.
Looking at Harry and Ron still sound asleep, Dylan casually took out a book signed by Lockhart, the gold-lettered title Voyages with Vampires dazzlingly bright in the morning sun.
"Riiiip"
Casually tearing off the signed page, Dylan gently circled the printed text in the middle with his wand.
"Morpho Metab!"
Lockhart's signature was on the flyleaf, which also contained the book title and other information. Lockhart's name was just below the original author's name.
However, to make it larger, he had occupied almost all the blank space in the lower half of the page.
But this was exactly what Dylan wanted.
He only needed to remove the printed text on the book.
As the light at the tip of his wand flickered, the original printed words on the page Dylan had torn off gradually twisted and changed until they floated to the very top, forming a short line.
"Sectumsempra!"
Dylan's wand made another gentle flick.
In the next moment, the printed text forced to the top of the page by the spell, along with the topmost part of the paper, neatly severed.
Dylan began to write the application by hand.
—If you're going to do something, do it properly.
Although Dylan could have directly changed the printed words into his own handwriting.
But in the end, directly submitting something achieved by magic to others meant they could also use magic to detect traces of magic.
Dylan didn't think everyone else was an idiot.
Anyway, it was just a matter of writing, Dylan didn't find it troublesome.
Before long, a borrowing application form for the Restricted Section appeared before him.
—Complete with Professor Lockhart's enlarged autograph.
Having done all this, Dylan carefully folded the application form, put it in his pocket, adjusted his robes again, and prepared to head to the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library.
But before he could leave, suddenly, the door of their dormitory was violently knocked.
"Knock knock knock!" The oak door trembled.
Dylan looked over, raised an eyebrow, and with a flick of his wand, the dormitory door slowly opened.
The person who came was Wood.
Wood's gloves left half-moon-shaped sweat marks on the door panel.
"Harry! We agreed to meet for training—" The Quidditch captain's words stopped abruptly, the dew-dampened hem of his robes sweeping across the bronze scales by the door, the brass weighing pans spinning on the ground with a buzzing sound.
Dylan noticed the blades of grass stuck in Wood's curly hair—he had obviously been waiting at the pitch for a long time.
And Wood, who was standing at the door, immediately lost his flamboyant aura upon seeing Dylan.
"Good, good morning~"
Since Wood's somewhat impatient knocking hadn't woken him up, Dylan didn't think much of it.
He nodded to the other boy. "What's wrong?"
Wood blinked and scratched his head a little embarrassedly. "Sorry, did I disturb your sleep?"
"I came to find Harry. I told him yesterday that we'd train early, but he hasn't shown up yet—so I came to take a look."
Dylan looked down at his clothes—he had already packed everything up.
"You didn't come early, so you obviously didn't disturb me."
Wood gave an awkward smile. "That's good, that's good."
Dylan walked towards the door, and Wood quickly made way for him.
As Dylan passed Wood, he glanced back at the still-sleeping Harry and said to him, "Suit yourself."
Having said that, he went straight to his destination after eating breakfast.
The library managed by Madam Pince was filled with the mixed scent of aged parchment and magical perfume.
As Dylan stepped in with the morning light, the magical hourglass hanging from the oak beam just finished dropping its hundredth crystal grain.
The library was silent at this time.
Because it was a weekend morning, although there were people reading, it wasn't crowded. The rustling sound of turning pages could be heard from time to time.
Madam Pince had just finished dusting The Origins of Medieval Malignancy with a peacock feather duster inlaid with amethyst and was walking towards her seat.
The gold-lettered demon reliefs on the spines of the books collectively held their breath as she passed.
Dylan locked onto his target, walked past the bookshelves filled with books, and went straight to Madam Pince.
Madam Pince slowly sat down behind the counter.
She looked slightly thin, but her complexion was fair, her gaze sharp, with a scattering of freckles on her face.
Every gesture exuded elegance.
Even in her old age, her back was still straight, and she wore a uniquely styled black hat. The towering crown and exaggerated brim made her look quite stern.
Her black attire, with fluffy black feathers adorning the neckline, unexpectedly gave her the air of a serious vulture.
—Overall, it was clear that she was actually a beautiful woman. She must have been quite stunning in her youth, and of course, she still was now, just with a few more wrinkles and an increasingly sharp and cold temperament.
Seeing Dylan approach, Madam Pince looked the young wizard up and down.
This wasn't Dylan's first time dealing with Madam Pince.
It was just that in his first year, he had a lot of knowledge to catch up on—his foundation in magical knowledge was still too shallow at that time.
Therefore, he hadn't had any thoughts of touching the various forbidden books in the Restricted Section back then.
This allowed him to become somewhat familiar to Madam Pince, but there wasn't much interaction between them.
However, after a whole year of study, he had laid some groundwork for himself.
Combined with the fact that he happened to get a professor's signature so easily—and it was only valid for this year.
Dylan naturally wouldn't think about whether reading the contents of the forbidden books now would be too early for him.
Even if he couldn't use that knowledge now, reading it through and storing it in his brain was also a good thing.
"Good morning, Madam Pince, I would like to apply to enter the Restricted Section."
Dylan's voice was very low.
The library had quite a few rules and regulations, and students not speaking loudly was one of them.
—As for asking the teachers and the librarian themselves?
Rules weren't made for the people who made the rules.
If the librarian wasn't allowed to raise their voice, how could the librarian stop those who violated the rules?
"Application form."
"I know."
Dylan placed the application form he had prepared in advance in front of Madam Pince. "This is the professor's signature, please take a look."
Madam Pince paused, took the application form, frowned slightly, and then her gaze swept back and forth between the signature and Dylan's face, a hint of doubt in her sharp eyes.
Her fingers lightly tapped the table, making crisp sounds.
Dylan just stood silently aside, a smile on his lips, quietly waiting for Madam Pince's review.
"Professor Lockhart actually signed this for you..." she muttered softly, her mind recalling the series of exaggerated and bizarre performances Lockhart had put on since the start of the school year, just a few days ago.
Then she thought, if it was Lockhart—this didn't seem incomprehensible either.
As the librarian of Hogwarts, she possessed an intellect as if all the knowledge of the entire library had settled upon her.
—She had read countless books.
Lockhart's stories, to her, were like someone not very knowledgeable frantically showing off their pitiful insights.
But it was precisely because she was the librarian that her job was to maintain the rules of the library.
Having a professor's signature allowed entry into the Restricted Section, and this was also one of the rules.
Although Madam Pince didn't understand why a young wizard would also be allowed into the Restricted Section by a professor, wasn't he afraid that some of the knowledge within would taint the young wizard's mind?
However, she, who always adhered to the rules, would only follow the rules.
Her withered, eagle-claw-like fingers picked up the application form, and the obsidian pendant on her chest suddenly glowed red—it was an alchemical artifact for detecting forgery magic.
Madam Pince wasn't a talkative person either. After repeatedly verifying the authenticity of the signature on the application form, she finally put the form down, raised her head, and looked at Dylan.
"Alright, the signature is genuine. Go in, but remember, the books in there are very dangerous. Don't be blinded by some seemingly beautiful knowledge."
Madam Pince's voice was low and cold, with a texture like sandpaper rubbing against wood, her speech not fast, but every word clear.
Dylan heard the concern in her tone and nodded seriously at her.
"Thank you for your reminder, I will be careful."
Dylan was finally let in.
After entering the Restricted Section, the light here was not as bright as outside, but rather somewhat dim.
Spiderweb-like shadows hung from the ceiling, cast by the muted magical candlelight flickering on bronze candlesticks.
Dylan still felt it was too dark; it wasn't good for his eyes.
"Lumos Solem!"
Dylan's boots stepped on the flagstone floor, and the warm yellow halo emanating from the tip of his wand illuminated the surroundings.
Ancient and mysterious books were placed on the tall bookshelves all around, a musty atmosphere pervading—the books here were quite old.
Dylan reached out and randomly took down a book. The cover felt rough and slightly damp to the touch. With a bit of anticipation, he opened the pages, his eyes quickly scanning the text.
However, after a few simple flips, Dylan couldn't help but frown slightly.
"Elementary Shadow Curse? Such a stupid method."
The shadow curse recorded in this book couldn't even be cast directly with a spell; it required the aid of a ritual to complete.
And this ritual, in Dylan's opinion, was quite troublesome—
It required lighting a black candle in a dark corner at midnight on a full moon, holding a raven feather, and chanting the incantation "Methos Umbra."
The effect of this curse was to shroud the target in shadows and last for several minutes.
During this time, the target's vision would become blurred, and their movements would be sluggish.
Dylan pursed his lips.
"This is not as good as a Petrificus Totalus or an Impedimenta."
Dylan casually stuffed the book back and picked up another one, where he saw a curse called the Wicked Wind Charm.
—Collect three handfuls of withered grass from a graveyard, drip in the tears of a pregnant vixen, wrap it in bat wings, light it on a stormy night, and after chanting the incantation, you could summon a wicked wind.
The wicked wind would blow towards the target, making them unsteady and fall to the ground...
"Were the inventors of these spells on expired Felix Felicis? Shadow Curse... do you even need to clap your hands like in a kindergarten song while casting it for it to have any effect?"
Dylan's lips twitched, and he had an urge to burn the book directly with Fiendfyre.
He had originally held high expectations for the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library, but the two books he had opened in succession directly shattered his beautiful fantasies about ancient knowledge.
Dylan even suspected if the so-called forbidden books placed here were simply too outdated to teach students, so they were just stuffed here to gather dust.
"Why put such rubbish books here?"
Dylan sighed.
And that Wicked Wind Charm, using a bunch of inexplicable materials, with casting steps as cumbersome as an old woman's foot bindings.
Putting aside whether the person would have already been beaten into a pulp by the time they finished the ritual.
Even if the ritual was completed, it only summoned a wicked wind to make someone unsteady and fall.
—Good heavens, was the inventor's brain stepped on by a troll?
Dylan now understood why Voldemort, every time he secretly sneaked into the Restricted Section, would think about leaving the school quickly to go study dark magic all over the world.
—Some of the dark magic recorded here was truly substandard.
Of course, perhaps this was a bit of a generalization.
After all, these were just the forbidden books near the entrance, so it was acceptable for the content to be shallow and idiotic.
"Hopefully, the forbidden books further in will give me some surprises."
Dylan sighed, but he could also understand.
He shouldn't have thought of the forbidden books as too mystical—they were just content unsuitable for most students to learn.
The rituals recorded in these forbidden books, although complicated and with unsatisfactory results, were still considered normal, not requiring the mobilization of too many negative emotions like casting dark magic.
It was just that there were still many negative opinions in the forbidden books, and this part was naturally unsuitable for students to read.
And just taking out the rituals separately was unnecessary to teach students, so these books were sealed away.
They weren't profound at all.
Some ancient rituals even looked cruel and shocking, but in reality, they were just relics in the long river of magical development.
Apart from being used as a reference when studying ancient magic history, they were basically useless in practical magic application, purely things that looked good but were not useful.
Dylan walked back and forth in the Restricted Section, constantly pulling books off the shelves and quickly flipping through them.
Almost at a glance, he could determine whether the content of a book was worth his time.
As soon as he confirmed that it wasn't necessary to read, Dylan would immediately put the book back and then look at the next one.
"The Soul Dimensional Folding Theory?" Dylan held a book, his steps slightly paused. "Finally, something real."
His gaze lingered on the "Dimensional Travel" chapter in this book.
A full hour or two passed.
Although Dylan hadn't finished browsing the entire Restricted Section, he had piled a few books in his arms.
They were—
Cursed Magical Artifacts and Mysterious Relics
The Origin of Ancient Magic and the Analysis of Ultimate Spells
A Comprehensive Understanding of the Soul and Forbidden Manipulation
The first book, about cursed magical artifacts, Dylan had roughly browsed. It detailed various cursed magical items.
Although many methods seemed less useful in the present day, they still had some reference value.
Moreover, the things in it might not be much in the wizarding world, but if placed in the Muggle world, they could be considered bombshells.
And some cursed items might currently be circulating in the Muggle world, with many Muggles unknowingly falling victim during transactions.
Dylan thought that his parents were now at least in business, so he still planned to learn more about cursed objects.
As for the second book, about the origin of ancient magic and the analysis of ultimate spells, it explained the origin of magic from another level, which Dylan found quite interesting.
And it also contained some real ancient magic, filled with the darkness and evil of the Middle Ages.
This couldn't be found in the outer library at all, and Dylan planned to study it.
As for the third book, A Comprehensive Understanding of the Soul, the name was flamboyant, and the content could only be considered passable.
Dylan read the table of contents. This book roughly talked about the forms of existence and dimensional connections of the soul. The focus was that this book also mentioned the theory of the soul traveling between different magical dimensions.
Dylan himself possessed a max-level dark magic spell—Parasitic Possession.
The level involved in this spell was related to the soul.
In addition, Ghost Voice, Spiritual Severance, and even Soul Extraction and Legilimency were all spells related to the soul.
Dylan's understanding of the soul was profound due to his max-level spells, but the true mysteries of the soul couldn't be understood just because he mastered a few spells.
And what connection did longevity have with the soul? This was also something Dylan wanted to explore.
Therefore, whenever he found books written about the soul, Dylan would always take a look.
However, after browsing the Restricted Section for most of the day, he hadn't seen any books on collecting souls.
Even if there were, they all talked about things that were too superficial, completely lacking any value or substance.
Only this one book did Dylan think could bring him some new knowledge.
After searching for most of the day, he finally found these three books.
It seemed few, but Dylan felt quite satisfied and turned to leave the Restricted Section to register with Madam Pince.
"These are the books I would like to borrow."
Madam Pince's action of wiping the silver register suddenly paused, the raven feather brooch on her chest slightly trembled.
As Dylan stacked the three books onto the counter one by one, the librarian's withered fingers brushed over the alchemical array on the cover of The Origin of Ancient Magic. The serpentine patterns there seemed to be oozing fine blood droplets, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to be just an illusion.
"Seven-day return."
Madam Pince picked up a silver-plated quill, and when the tip dipped into the inkwell, it brought up a string of purplish mucus—it was anti-forgery ink specially made with the juice of sleeping draught beans.
As she entered the titles of these three books into the leather-bound register, the gold-lettering scorched the parchment, emitting a pungent odor similar to burnt hair.
"Alright, Madam, thank you for your accommodation."
(End of chapter)
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