Hogwarts: From Squibs to Greatness

Chapter 8 Admission
"All freshmen please stand next to them one-on-one"

It seemed that all the freshmen had arrived, and a rich-looking middle-aged man in luxurious clothes suddenly appeared in the square, holding a golden cane inlaid with various gemstones in his hand.

I don't know if he was dazzled, but John seemed to see the glimmer of light in the huge diamond on the top of the cane the moment the middle-aged man appeared.

Not paying attention to this point, both John and Hal walked quickly to a boy.

After everyone stood beside a young man, the middle-aged man poked his cane heavily on the ground.

The invisible wind surged, and lines of shining white light emerged under their feet, almost covering the entire square.

If you look from above, you can see that this is a huge and complicated magic circle, and John and the others are standing in the center of the magic circle.

"Hold the stone!" The middle-aged man's voice sounded.

Only then did John notice that at some point, the young man beside him stretched out his hand, and the pendant hanging on his finger naturally drooped, and what hung on it was exactly a lapis lazuli polished into a round bead.

Without hesitation, John reached out and grabbed the lapis lazuli.

The moment his skin touched the lapis lazuli, John felt that he was connected with some unknown space.

Sure enough, in the next second, John felt himself levitating suddenly. The sudden weightlessness made John feel a little flustered, but soon the panic disappeared as he got down to earth again.

At this moment, he had already left that square, and stood in a room that was obviously different.

Looking at the various strange symbols and magic circles that radiate from time to time on the wall, as well as the gems embedded on the wall in a certain pattern, and most importantly, the parchment and quill suspended in the center of the room.

John had a vague guess in his mind.

Sure enough, the next second John felt something was wrapped around his neck

Looking back, he saw the young man who withdrew his hand, the lapis lazuli pendant that was in his hand just now was hanging around his neck.

"This is your certificate for entering and exiting the academy in the future, don't lose it." The boy took a half step back, "Sign your name on the parchment and you can officially enroll."

After finishing speaking, the boy disappeared in front of John like a bubble.

Rubbing the lapis lazuli with his fingers, John could clearly feel the magic power flowing in it.

It can only be said that it really deserves to be a magic academy with the support of the royal family, and everyone has a magic item made of gems.

His eyes fell on the parchment and quill suspended in the center of the room: "This should be the school contract that Hal hates in the play."

"And" John looked around, the room he was in was completely enclosed, "Is it only by signing to leave this room? There is no right to choose at all."

Returning his attention to the parchment and quill, he stepped forward and reached out to grab it in his hands.

And the moment he touched the parchment, the obscure and unfamiliar words on it were distorted in his eyes, and he could understand these words suddenly.

John was not surprised either. Since it was a contract that all new students had to sign, it was not surprising that some children might not have received education and could not write.

Be patient and read the contract word by word, because the content of the contract is very short, John read it quickly.

[I voluntarily join the Academy of Magic, and hereby make an oath to accept the king's order unconditionally after graduation]

"It's completely overlord clause! No wonder Hal is so disgusted." John curled his lips in disdain.

But he can cancel the contract when he leaves this world, and he picks up the quill and signs his name without hesitation.

In fact, the moment the pen fell and the ink left traces on the parchment, John felt an invisible force begin to act on him.

"So as long as the ink is written with this quill, the contract will start to be concluded, right? I really can't wait..."

At this moment, John can clearly feel that there is an extra rule in his body: "Keep in mind the promise, keep the oath, break the promise, and seize power with guilt."

As the contract was concluded, the parchment and the quill gradually turned into dots of light and disappeared before their eyes.

At the same time, as the parchment and quill disappeared, the gems and circles on the wall began to light up, and powerful magical power circulated in them.

Under the influence of powerful magic power, the room he was in now began to undergo drastic changes, just like how the room began to expand in the movie when Howl moved.

Under the influence of this force, John himself was suspended from the floor.

In the next moment, exquisite and luxurious furniture appeared in the house out of thin air, and the separate bedroom and bathroom popped out of the wall like exploding balloons.

This sharp change lasted for about a minute, and finally, as a large bed fell to the center of the bedroom, the magical power disappeared, and John fell to the ground again.

Looking around at the changed house, John nodded in satisfaction.

At the same time, he looked down, and saw that the slightly worn shirt and trousers on his body had been replaced by the same sailor suit, cropped trousers, and brown leather shoes as the boy who sent him here.

He didn't even need to look in the mirror to know that his current hairstyle and hair color had also been changed.

"It seems that this magical power will still work on me?"

With a sneer, John didn't care about the changes in his body.

Walk around the dormitory slowly, except for all the living facilities.

His accompanying luggage was placed in the bedroom wardrobe, and the toiletries were neatly placed on the shelf behind the bathroom mirror.

The books needed for study are placed on the bookshelf in the living room, and the parchment that records the study courses is placed on the desk.

At the same time, the door of the room seems to be the same as the magic door of Howl's later, and they all go to different places through transformation, but the difference is that Howl's door is distinguished by color, and there are only four colors.

And this dormitory door directly converts different symbols, which can be observed through the door handle and a window above the door.

According to the content on the parchment, each symbol represents a location. Perhaps because school has not started yet, if the handle is turned to the symbol position, the door will be completely locked and cannot be opened normally.

The door can only be opened smoothly again when it turns to a blank grid, and at this moment outside the door is a not-so-long corridor, with doors evenly and symmetrically distributed on both sides, each door is pasted with a metal plate with their names engraved on it .

At this moment, there were other children who were as curious as him and stuck their heads out to check, but John didn't want to have contact with others for the time being, so he closed the door and went back to the room.

After returning to the room, John thought for a while, walked to the bookshelf, and took down a book called "Detailed Explanation of the Basics of Magic Theory" from it. From the name, he knew that it was a book that briefly introduced magic in this world.

Sitting on a chair with a book in hand, he was going to learn about the magic of this world first.

As the sun sets and the moon rises, the window is gradually shrouded in night, and the wall lights in the room automatically light up.

John closed the book in his hand, and now John had a general impression of the magic in this world.

First of all, the two basic principles of magic in this world
The first principle is conduction. All things influence each other through proximity and contact, conduct their respective characteristics and build connections.

For example, the clothes you wear in your daily life, or the items you use frequently, these are in close contact with you, thus creating a connection.

Powerful magicians can use these items to connect with you, and use them as a medium to launch spells or rituals to achieve damage or protection effects, and this connection can ignore distance to a certain extent.

This explains why Sophie has access to Howl's Castle in the movie.

Perhaps from an emotional point of view, romantically speaking, this means that Hal has Sophie in his heart.

But from a magical point of view, because Sophie and Hal had physical contact when they were in the small town, Sophie was already a medium that could transmit magic at that time.

Therefore, Sophie, who has the attribute of "medium", is regarded as one by the castle that also has this attribute, and Calcifer, who is equivalent to a part of Howl, so that Sophie can enter the castle.

Another example is how Hal asked Maruk to spread rumors that he eats hearts everywhere, in order to prevent those girls who are attracted by his appearance from inadvertently contacting him and becoming an 'intermediary', which would increase the risk of being found by the Witch of the Wild.

The second principle is sympathy, a certain similarity or symbolic connection between all things, that is, same-sex mutual growth.

For example, the primitive shaman would draw a picture of an animal being stabbed before hunting, and through sympathy, it would help ensure the success of the hunt.

Another example is the piece of paper that the Witch of the Wilderness brought into the castle through Sophie in the plot. The painting on it depicts the contract between Howl and Calcifer. Will get the curse of Howl's heart.

"Chasing the fire in the open, shedding tears in the dark, your heart is my thing"

And when Hal took the note, the curse attached to it took advantage of the opportunity to enhance the effect through conduction, and acted on Hal.

At the same time, it also involves the power of language.

In magic, words are powerful, and the very act of speaking by a powerful mage can make things happen, which is why the chanting or chanting of spells aloud is an integral part of magic.

Perhaps powerful magicians like Salliman and Hal can cast magic without chanting, but this does not mean that the power of language has disappeared.

For example, Hal's act of chanting the curse is to strengthen the effect of the curse, which completely closes the loop of the curse.

So she did get Hal's heart in the back.

It can be seen from this that the Witch of the Wilderness is a shrewd and powerful magician. Such a series of methods is really hard to guard against.

However, compared with Salliman, it is still insufficient.

This royal magician can use her powerful magic power to reversely use her connection with the world to cast magic, so as to change her surroundings into an environment that is beneficial to her, or mobilize natural forces to deal with enemies

You can directly summon the Meteor villain to build a magic circle, use its similarity with Calcifer to create sympathy, and use the shadow reflected by the Meteor villain to cast magic, so as to forcibly cut off the contract between Hal and Calcifer and deprive Hal of his magical ability. Effect.

You can also use the shadow produced by the strong light to cast magic. Through the chair that has a conductive connection with the Witch of the Wilderness, you can forcibly strip the magic power from the opponent's body and return it to its original shape.

From the beginning to the end, Howl and the Witch of the Wilderness were crushed against Salliman, which showed that the opponent's magic foundation was solid, his attainment was profound, and his magic power was powerful.

It was also through reading that John learned that his status as a Squib would not prevent him from learning and performing the magic of Howl's world.

In fact, anyone can become a magician through learning, but more often the magic academy will select more talented students.

As for the knowledge of spells, magic circles, rituals, and staffs written in other books, they are all mentioned in the chapter of language in the book, and it seems that they can only be accessed in follow-up studies.

After eating the dinner delivered by the servants of the college, John lay on the bed and looked at the ceiling full of star maps, and with a desire for magic, he gradually fell asleep...

　The principles of magic appear in this chapter, refer to "The Golden Bough" by James George Fraser; "4 Years of Magic" by Chris Gosden; "Black Magic Handbook" by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa

　　
　
(End of this chapter)