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Chapter 150: The More I Learn, the More I Don't Know
2022-07-14 Author: I'm Just a Pigeon
‘This feeling of being unable to intervene is really not pleasant at all—’
Casually holding Dumbledore's Gift in his hand, William began to take stock of his weaknesses and the areas where he could quickly improve.
Although William knew full well that even with a period of training, he wouldn't have been able to make a much greater contribution to the recent situation—‘But I can't just keep on like this, completely unable to get involved with the secrets of the Castle, can I?’
With his life on the line, William certainly didn't want to be as unprepared as he was now when that curse eventually acted up.
‘Research concerning magical items has to be prioritized. I might even have to give up learning how to perform appraisal on their effects and focus solely on detecting the presence of a curse.’
‘Right, the protection for my memory must also be strengthened—it doesn't matter if I can't recognize an Accelerated Memory, but at the very least, my memories can't be read so easily. I remember Veritaserum has a similar effect; I can focus on training to identify Veritaserum.’
‘But isn't that stuff colorless and odorless? Or should I just maintain control over my own beverages?’
His mind swirled with all sorts of chaotic plans, which he constantly revised as he started walking toward his office.
"Hey, William!"
Adams called out from a distance.
"Hi, Adams. Finished with your work in the Greenhouse?"
"Yeah, that's right," Adams said, quickening his pace to approach, a secretive look on his face. "William, have you heard? Ravenclaw's Diadem has been found!"
*My dear Adams, is there oxygen on Mars? Can you cast spells there normally?*
However, Adams clearly didn't understand the look in William's eyes. He mumbled in a low voice, "You have no idea how disappointed those students looked during my class this morning—every single one of them was hoping to get the Diadem to pass the exam!"
"I hear the Diadem is with Dumbledore right now. I wonder when we'll get a chance to see it—I bet Singeade will get to see it soon. He's a master at alchemy, so Dumbledore will definitely... wait, William, what's that in your hand?"
The chattering Adams suddenly gasped, pointing at the object in William's left hand, at a loss for words.
‘What is it?’
William glanced down at his hand and froze as well.
It was the item Dumbledore had given him: a small, messy handful of feathers. They weren't even uniform—some were long, some short, with fine downy feathers mixed in. It was obvious their original owner hadn't preened them carefully.
"Good heavens, William, what did you do!"
Adams expressed his shock in a tiny, yet extremely urgent, voice.
"You should know what this is!"
"Of course I know. I just never expected... it to be this."
William's reply was completely off-topic—he was simply too astonished.
Only at this moment did he truly understand just how precious the Diadem that Helena Ravenclaw had so casually given away was—so precious that he couldn't even begin to imagine its value.
What Dumbledore had given him was a whole handful of phoenix feathers, fresh and rippling with magic.
Several potion recipes that required it as an ingredient immediately popped into William's mind—without exception, they were all the kind that needed more than half a year of brewing.
Another thing these potions had in common was that drinking them felt like drinking liquid gold.
Not to mention, among this handful of feathers were a few tail feathers—that was a top-tier ingredient for a wand. If William remembered correctly, the old professor had mentioned his own wand had a Phoenix Feather Wand Core. (Note: Official lore.)
This handful of phoenix feathers alone was a top-tier ingredient William would never have dared to dream of before. And for such an ingredient to be given away so easily by Dumbledore—just how precious was the Diadem that Dumbledore held in such high regard?
"You know, Adams," William asked Adams foolishly, and continued without waiting for a reply, "I once heard a joke, about an emperor who used a golden hoe to farm..."
"What emperor! Snap out of it, William—why did you pluck Fawkes's feathers?"
"Pluck feathers?" William was a bit confused. "Why would I pluck feathers?"
"Dumbledore's phoenix—you've taken this joke too far! Even if it's molting, you can't bully it like that!"
"I didn't! Dumbledore gave these to me," William said, shaking his head in denial. He wouldn't take the blame for this.
"Gave them to you?" Adams paused for a moment, then slapped his forehead. "Of course, why didn't I think of that! I can use the excuse of needing phoenix feathers for a potion to go see the Diadem!"
"See you later, William," Adams said with an excited expression. "If you're missing any ingredients for a potion, come find me. I have most of the herbs for potions over at my place. I'm off to ask about the Diadem. See you at lunch!"
Adams left without a backward glance.
William stood frozen in place, the phoenix feathers in his hand suddenly losing their initial impact.
‘Have I been underestimating the professor's welfare all this time?’
Since starting at the school, William had been putting in effort toward the goal of being a good professor, and until now, he felt he had been doing quite well.
But at this very moment, he realized that perhaps he hadn't been doing well enough.
‘If it weren't for that curse, someone like me, who's practically a magical newcomer and has no certificate, probably wouldn't have even passed the initial interview, right?’
‘You need to work harder, William. Stop being so lackadaisical, thinking you can get by with sheer volume of practice problems. You need to redouble your effort on your coursework!’
---
‘Hmm, this schedule should work.’
After pondering for nearly an hour, William finally drew up a new plan.
‘Thank goodness for Professor Lockhart. Otherwise, with courses for all seven years, I'm afraid I would have been exposed long ago. How could I possibly maintain my strength while teaching at the same time!’
William once again thanked his colleague in his heart—for sharing the curse, sharing the teaching duties, and sharing the complaints about classes (if it weren't for Professor Lockhart's truly terrible teaching strength, the Sixth and Seventh Year students wouldn't be so happy in class).
‘The only downside is that the shared curse is more likely to target me, but I would have had to bear it even if Professor Lockhart hadn't come.’ After comforting himself with this thought, William began to tidy up his papers, preparing to head to the Great Hall.
"Professor William, are you there?"
A rather eager voice came from outside the door, causing William to involuntarily swallow all his complaints—speak of the devil, it was Professor Lockhart!
"Please come in, Professor Lockhart."
"That's wonderful," the door swung open, revealing a set of pearly white teeth and a distinctive smile to William.
Professor Lockhart, who had just entered, wore an eager expression, but his eyes were darting all over the place, giving William a bad feeling.
*Don't tell me he's here about the Diadem too?*
Professor Lockhart was a model Ravenclaw graduate, and a Great Adventurer to boot—with those two things combined, did this mean another trip to Dumbledore's office?
‘I'll refuse if I can. Getting lectured by Professor Snape at least teaches you something. Professor Lockhart does have substance, but he doesn't show it at all when he's not writing a book. I haven't even had lunch yet; I can't listen to him boast for the entire afternoon!’
PS: Taking a chapter off. It's easy to get writer's block when I reach a transitional chapter.
(end of chapter)
2022-07-14 Author: I'm Just a Pigeon
‘This feeling of being unable to intervene is really not pleasant at all—’
Casually holding Dumbledore's Gift in his hand, William began to take stock of his weaknesses and the areas where he could quickly improve.
Although William knew full well that even with a period of training, he wouldn't have been able to make a much greater contribution to the recent situation—‘But I can't just keep on like this, completely unable to get involved with the secrets of the Castle, can I?’
With his life on the line, William certainly didn't want to be as unprepared as he was now when that curse eventually acted up.
‘Research concerning magical items has to be prioritized. I might even have to give up learning how to perform appraisal on their effects and focus solely on detecting the presence of a curse.’
‘Right, the protection for my memory must also be strengthened—it doesn't matter if I can't recognize an Accelerated Memory, but at the very least, my memories can't be read so easily. I remember Veritaserum has a similar effect; I can focus on training to identify Veritaserum.’
‘But isn't that stuff colorless and odorless? Or should I just maintain control over my own beverages?’
His mind swirled with all sorts of chaotic plans, which he constantly revised as he started walking toward his office.
"Hey, William!"
Adams called out from a distance.
"Hi, Adams. Finished with your work in the Greenhouse?"
"Yeah, that's right," Adams said, quickening his pace to approach, a secretive look on his face. "William, have you heard? Ravenclaw's Diadem has been found!"
*My dear Adams, is there oxygen on Mars? Can you cast spells there normally?*
However, Adams clearly didn't understand the look in William's eyes. He mumbled in a low voice, "You have no idea how disappointed those students looked during my class this morning—every single one of them was hoping to get the Diadem to pass the exam!"
"I hear the Diadem is with Dumbledore right now. I wonder when we'll get a chance to see it—I bet Singeade will get to see it soon. He's a master at alchemy, so Dumbledore will definitely... wait, William, what's that in your hand?"
The chattering Adams suddenly gasped, pointing at the object in William's left hand, at a loss for words.
‘What is it?’
William glanced down at his hand and froze as well.
It was the item Dumbledore had given him: a small, messy handful of feathers. They weren't even uniform—some were long, some short, with fine downy feathers mixed in. It was obvious their original owner hadn't preened them carefully.
"Good heavens, William, what did you do!"
Adams expressed his shock in a tiny, yet extremely urgent, voice.
"You should know what this is!"
"Of course I know. I just never expected... it to be this."
William's reply was completely off-topic—he was simply too astonished.
Only at this moment did he truly understand just how precious the Diadem that Helena Ravenclaw had so casually given away was—so precious that he couldn't even begin to imagine its value.
What Dumbledore had given him was a whole handful of phoenix feathers, fresh and rippling with magic.
Several potion recipes that required it as an ingredient immediately popped into William's mind—without exception, they were all the kind that needed more than half a year of brewing.
Another thing these potions had in common was that drinking them felt like drinking liquid gold.
Not to mention, among this handful of feathers were a few tail feathers—that was a top-tier ingredient for a wand. If William remembered correctly, the old professor had mentioned his own wand had a Phoenix Feather Wand Core. (Note: Official lore.)
This handful of phoenix feathers alone was a top-tier ingredient William would never have dared to dream of before. And for such an ingredient to be given away so easily by Dumbledore—just how precious was the Diadem that Dumbledore held in such high regard?
"You know, Adams," William asked Adams foolishly, and continued without waiting for a reply, "I once heard a joke, about an emperor who used a golden hoe to farm..."
"What emperor! Snap out of it, William—why did you pluck Fawkes's feathers?"
"Pluck feathers?" William was a bit confused. "Why would I pluck feathers?"
"Dumbledore's phoenix—you've taken this joke too far! Even if it's molting, you can't bully it like that!"
"I didn't! Dumbledore gave these to me," William said, shaking his head in denial. He wouldn't take the blame for this.
"Gave them to you?" Adams paused for a moment, then slapped his forehead. "Of course, why didn't I think of that! I can use the excuse of needing phoenix feathers for a potion to go see the Diadem!"
"See you later, William," Adams said with an excited expression. "If you're missing any ingredients for a potion, come find me. I have most of the herbs for potions over at my place. I'm off to ask about the Diadem. See you at lunch!"
Adams left without a backward glance.
William stood frozen in place, the phoenix feathers in his hand suddenly losing their initial impact.
‘Have I been underestimating the professor's welfare all this time?’
Since starting at the school, William had been putting in effort toward the goal of being a good professor, and until now, he felt he had been doing quite well.
But at this very moment, he realized that perhaps he hadn't been doing well enough.
‘If it weren't for that curse, someone like me, who's practically a magical newcomer and has no certificate, probably wouldn't have even passed the initial interview, right?’
‘You need to work harder, William. Stop being so lackadaisical, thinking you can get by with sheer volume of practice problems. You need to redouble your effort on your coursework!’
---
‘Hmm, this schedule should work.’
After pondering for nearly an hour, William finally drew up a new plan.
‘Thank goodness for Professor Lockhart. Otherwise, with courses for all seven years, I'm afraid I would have been exposed long ago. How could I possibly maintain my strength while teaching at the same time!’
William once again thanked his colleague in his heart—for sharing the curse, sharing the teaching duties, and sharing the complaints about classes (if it weren't for Professor Lockhart's truly terrible teaching strength, the Sixth and Seventh Year students wouldn't be so happy in class).
‘The only downside is that the shared curse is more likely to target me, but I would have had to bear it even if Professor Lockhart hadn't come.’ After comforting himself with this thought, William began to tidy up his papers, preparing to head to the Great Hall.
"Professor William, are you there?"
A rather eager voice came from outside the door, causing William to involuntarily swallow all his complaints—speak of the devil, it was Professor Lockhart!
"Please come in, Professor Lockhart."
"That's wonderful," the door swung open, revealing a set of pearly white teeth and a distinctive smile to William.
Professor Lockhart, who had just entered, wore an eager expression, but his eyes were darting all over the place, giving William a bad feeling.
*Don't tell me he's here about the Diadem too?*
Professor Lockhart was a model Ravenclaw graduate, and a Great Adventurer to boot—with those two things combined, did this mean another trip to Dumbledore's office?
‘I'll refuse if I can. Getting lectured by Professor Snape at least teaches you something. Professor Lockhart does have substance, but he doesn't show it at all when he's not writing a book. I haven't even had lunch yet; I can't listen to him boast for the entire afternoon!’
PS: Taking a chapter off. It's easy to get writer's block when I reach a transitional chapter.
(end of chapter)
