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Before he knew it, Halloween Eve had arrived.
With the runaway success of The Dragonlance Chronicles, Dudley no longer had to worry about money for quite a while.
Even so, he still needed to go to the Forbidden Forest. During that time, Dudley had already gone in more than twenty times. He had already mapped out nearly half the range of the magical plants and creatures in the forest, and there were many rare materials that simply could not be bought anywhere outside.
For example, acromantula venom. Not only was the stuff expensive, worth more than a hundred Galleons for a single pint, but more importantly, outside the Forbidden Forest, there was simply nowhere to buy it. It was the kind of thing that had a listed price, but nothing available to buy.
The main reason was that acromantulas were simply too dangerous. An ordinary wizard alone might be able to deal with one, but finding one acromantula meant finding an entire group. Carnivorous, highly intelligent, extremely aggressive, and capable of reproducing quickly, those were their defining traits. Their eggs were classified as Class A Non-Trade Goods, and up to now, the wizarding world still had no way to domesticate that species.
It was an extremely dangerous creature.
But there were so many of them in the Forbidden Forest that, within their territory, it was practically impossible not to run into one.
When Dudley and the members of the training group returned to the castle, they caught the sweet, tempting smell of roasted pumpkin drifting through the corridor.
Roasted pumpkin really did taste excellent, especially the ones grown by Hagrid. Not only were they enormous, they were even sweeter than the ones normally sold in the market.
If he had to sum them up in one sentence, they were simply first-rate.
Wizards also celebrated Halloween, just in a different way from ordinary people. There was no rule of "trick or treat" there.
Dudley heard students passing by saying that Dumbledore had hired a skeleton band, so it sounded like he was planning to make the celebration a lively one.
Come to think of it, this was the first holiday Dudley had spent at Hogwarts.
It would have been even better if there had not been Charms class.
Ever since Dudley had used a "lighting charm" to imitate Lumos once, Professor Flitwick had started paying special attention to him, believing that Dudley had considerable talent for Charms.
More than once, he had even expressed during class that he wanted Dudley transferred to Ravenclaw.
But every time, he was refused.
And so, in every class, he inevitably kept a close eye on Dudley's progress in Charms.
"The lesson in Charms today is making objects float," said Professor Flitwick, lightly waving the wand in his hand. "The Levitation Charm is an extremely useful spell. It can save you a great deal of effort."
The books, the quills, practically everything on the table began floating one after another under Professor Flitwick's spell.
First, Flitwick demonstrated it once by himself. Then he started letting the students try it on their own. Unfortunately, without exception, they all failed.
Dudley did not try.
He simply stared at the feather, as if he had thought of something.
"A swish and a flick, remember, a swish and a flick. And pronouncing the incantation correctly is also very important. Never forget the wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself lying on the floor with a buffalo standing on his chest."
Pronunciation was very important, especially for first-years coming into contact with that spell for the first time.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
Professor Flitwick pronounced the spell once again, and the feather slowly rose into the air along with the words of the incantation.
In truth, for first-years, the Levitation Charm was still quite difficult. You could say it was one of the hardest first-year charms.
Many of them failed. In most cases, absolutely nothing happened. Some even managed to set their own hats on fire.
Everyone knew what Hermione was like. She had a terrible habit: she spoke with extreme bluntness.
Without saying anything else, she began unloading criticism on the student who had been paired with her. Yes, that same big guy who had nearly set Harry's hat on fire.
Seamus.
"Your pronunciation, your gestures, and your movements are all wrong!"
"There's no way you'll cast the spell properly like that."
"You talk like you know everything, so why don't you do it yourself!"
Perhaps because he was already used to being paired with Neville, Seamus shot back immediately, clearly irritated.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
The first to pronounce the spell correctly, unsurprisingly, was Hermione.
With a light flick of her wand, the feather on the desk began to wobble up into the air.
"Perfect! One point to Gryffindor!"
Professor Flitwick cried out, pointing at the feather in the air.
At that moment, taking advantage of the fact that Professor Flitwick was focused on Hermione, Dudley slowly took off his scarf, grabbed the feather on the desk, and began rubbing it frantically until it stuck to the desk. Then he picked up the wand and started rubbing it with the scarf in the same way, until he heard a faint crackling sound in the air.
The scarf around his neck was made of wool.
Then...
"Wingardium Leviosa."
The same tone as Hermione, the same standard movement, an imitation so perfectly precise it could not have been any more exact.
Of course, that was ignoring Dudley's massive build.
That feather really did "fly."
"Oh, my goodness."
Professor Flitwick let out a shrill cry, pointing in Dudley's direction.
"Look, Dursley did even better. I think he has already grasped the essence of the Levitation Charm. If he raises it just a little higher, he will have completely mastered this spell."
"It's hard to imagine that a student could master it so perfectly on the very first try."
Seeing how worked up Professor Flitwick was, Dudley actually began to suspect he might faint from excitement.
"Two points to Slytherin."
He got two points with incredible ease.
Dudley shrugged, as if all of it were the most natural thing in the world.
The little Slytherins nodded silently.
'As expected of Dursley. He beat Malfoy, chats and laughs with Carrow, and even mastered the Levitation Charm that easily.'
So the question was: Did Dudley really know how to use the Levitation Charm?
The answer was...
Not a chance.
He simply did not know the Levitation Charm at all.
But he could still make the feather "fly."
It was very easy. Even without knowing any magic at all, it was still possible to do that.
Because this was science.
The secret was in that wool scarf. Dudley rubbed the scarf against the feather, causing the wool to lose electrons and become positively charged, while the feather gained electrons and became negatively charged, sticking to the surface of the desk.
When he rubbed the wool scarf against the wand, the wand also became negatively charged, while the scarf became positively charged. That faint crackling sound was precisely the noise produced by the neutralization between positive and negative charges.
Because the feather and the wand carried the same kind of charge, they repelled each other, creating an upward repulsive force on the feather and making it float in the air.
At first glance, it looked as though the Levitation Charm had worked.
In reality, it was just a very simple physical phenomenon.
Or rather, something like the electrostatic octopus effect.
Dudley cast a speechless glance at the students around him, all of them staring at him with admiration.
Poor kids. They were suffering from a lack of scientific education.
He did not know magic.
But he understood science.
"Dudley, you're amazing!"
Only Hermione looked at Dudley with a hint of amusement and said that.
Obviously, she had noticed his little trick, but she did not expose him.
Do not forget, Hermione was also a genius student, the kind who was always at the top of her year at her primary school in Oxford. A simple physical phenomenon was far from difficult for her.
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