Chapter 57 - Ancient Runes.

[Chapter Size: 4100 Words.]

Third Person POV

Hogwarts.

...

...

Severus left the Defense Against the Dark Arts class accompanied by Xenophilius.

"Hey, you really impressed us back there," said the Ravenclaw boy with a smile on his face.

"I didn't do anything special, just a few tricks I learned..." Severus replied casually.

After Severus, the last student, the professor simply remained at his desk, jotting down every student's strengths and weaknesses.

At the same time, Severus had earned a true flood of points, around seventy all at once, showing the entire class that his spellcasting was on another level.

"Are you sure?" Xenophilius asked.

Severus shrugged. "It was nothing." Then he smiled, and Xenophilius smiled back as well.

He truly didn't think that demonstrating a few spells to impress a sixth-year class and even a professor was anything extraordinary. Compared to the real dangers and creatures that existed beyond these walls, that barely served as preparation for facing real enemies.

For someone who had fought between life and death for entire decades in his previous life, it all worked the same way as his swordsmanship.

He always had to be prepared: a sharp sword, proper training, refined footwork, and precise movements with sharp reflexes were essential for survival. In this world, the difference was that he needed to keep his spells ready at all times.

The problem was that he needed to duel someone truly experienced. He wanted to keep learning and developing his abilities.

The Marauders would even be an option. After all, they certainly wouldn't leave him alone and would eventually try to get revenge. But honestly, they were far too weak. What challenge could a bunch of teenagers possibly offer? He had already managed to deal with all of them using nothing but telekinesis and his own fists.

The best option would be Dumbledore himself, to find out what level he was truly at compared to the headmaster. However, that certainly wouldn't be possible unless he provoked him again. And honestly, he had no idea what would happen if the two of them really fought. He wouldn't be able to hold back during a real duel, and the old wizard would certainly notice. Besides, if he managed to defeat him, Dumbledore would probably begin monitoring his every move. Severus could even understand that concern. If the headmaster already feared that he might return to Voldemort's side, just imagine if he discovered that Severus was someone even more powerful than the headmaster himself...

According to Xenophilius, his magical power was already greater than Dumbledore's. The only problem was his wand, which still couldn't withstand his full potential.

In any case, the best option to begin training in dueling would be Flitwick. He would ask the professor if he would be willing to face him, since he was known as a world dueling champion.

In any case, the next class...

Severus wasn't even sure whether he would still have the extracurricular lesson, since he had spoken with the professor the previous day and had received no response other than the music teacher's verbal approval.

While Xenophilius continued commenting on the class in an amused manner, a seventh-year Slytherin prefect appeared in front of them. Severus remembered that her name was Berta Rowle. He looked up and noticed her lips pressed tightly together before turning his attention back to the paper she was holding.

"Professor Slughorn asked me to give you this," she said, seeming to carry out the task with obvious reluctance.

Severus took the paper and looked it over. It contained the responses regarding the classes he wanted to take.

"That's great. I'm heading to Ancient Runes."

"Ancient Runes? Really? I was going to ask if you were taking it too. Can we go together?" Xenophilius asked excitedly.

"Sure. Why not?" The seventh-year student looked at Xenophilius with obvious disdain, but Severus didn't care and walked past her without saying anything else.

"Have you ever heard of an animal that steals gold? I was thinking about that," Xenophilius began talking about a completely random subject.

He certainly had some rather eccentric ideas. Severus kept looking straight ahead, but he continued listening all the same. "I was thinking that if I could buy one, maybe I could become rich," he said. "From what I know, they're attracted to gold, precious stones, silver, and other forms of wealth."

"Yeah, I know what Nifflers are... But they basically steal things, and there are people who use them for exactly that. That's a crime," Severus replied.

Xenophilius seemed to think for a few moments. "I think you're right. I guess that's not the best way to get rich," he said.

Severus felt like laughing. That boy really had the most outrageous ideas imaginable.

"Maybe I'll start a newspaper someday. I heard it makes a lot of money," Xenophilius commented.

"That sounds more honest," Severus replied casually.

"Yes, yes! I think I really will start a newspaper. One bigger than the Daily Prophet. It'll talk about everything, without any censorship. You know the Daily Prophet is full of censorship, right?" he asked.

Severus simply kept walking as the two of them climbed toward the Astronomy Tower, where they would be using one of the classrooms.

"I'm telling you, they hide information about... you know who," Xenophilius said, lowering his voice for the last part.

"Voldemort," Severus replied.

Xenophilius immediately gestured for him to be quiet. "Don't say his name! It's taboo!"

"I don't care about that taboo," Severus replied with a shrug.

The boy was clearly impressed by that attitude. "You're not afraid of him?"

"And why would I be? He's just a madman. I intend to deal with him one way or another when the time is right."

Xenophilius couldn't even respond before Severus had already entered the classroom.

There were students from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Extracurricular classes, starting from the third year onward, mixed students from all four houses.

That would certainly work in his favor, since he had attended Ancient Runes only until his third year before giving it up.

Lupin was there, as was McDonald. Beside them were two other friends from Lily's year. Marlene was sitting right behind them with Dorcas Meadowes, while Lily was talking to a Ravenclaw student. The two were quite close, and if Severus searched through his memories, they used to talk a lot. But Severus had never stayed near Lily when she was with others.

And from the look the Ravenclaw girl gave him while talking to Lily, he could imagine what they were discussing—the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Severus paid little attention to Lily or her Gryffindor friends. As soon as he found a seat, he opened his Ancient Runes book. This time, he had studied extensively during the holidays. Even though he hadn't joined that class during his fourth and fifth years, he had still reviewed the material on his own.

He knew that, once again, the students' eyes were all on him, especially those who hadn't been in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class and had only heard the rumors about what had happened the previous night.

"We're popular," Xenophilius commented beside him.

"Don't pay any attention to them," Severus replied with a shrug, without looking up from his book.

The professor entered at that moment. Her name was Edith Ravenshaw. She had short blonde hair and wore rather practical clothes for the time: an elegant overcoat, one hand in her pocket and the other holding her wand.

"Hello, everyone. It seems this is our first class of the year," she said, looking at the sixth-year students before turning her attention toward the back of the room. "Ah, I must say... Mr. Snape."

Severus finally closed his book to look at her.

"Professor Slughorn asked that you attend this class. As the other professors kept commenting on your excellent performance in their lessons, I became quite curious and wanted to see you here as well. Since you took my class in your third year but, for some reason, dropped it..."

Severus simply gave a slight nod.

"And I must admit..." The professor broke into an amused smile. "It's the first time I've ever seen someone, let alone a student, tell the headmaster to fuck off and still live to tell the tale." She laughed, genuinely finding it amusing. Most of the students looked at the professor in surprise, shocked that she had used such crude language.

Lupin was still injured. His face remained covered in bruises, yet he couldn't stop casting intense looks at Severus, who completely ignored him, offering only a faint smile to the professor. At least someone seemed to find the whole situation amusing.

"And I also felt a bit of a tremor in the castle a little while ago. A ghost told me you were responsible. Is that true?" she asked curiously.

The tremor certainly hadn't shaken all of Hogwarts, but it must have caught the attention of some of the people who were near the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"He blew up a dummy, Professor," replied one of the Ravenclaw girls before Severus could say anything.

"We were told to cast spells on the dummy. I simply did my part," Severus replied with a shrug.

"He completely disintegrated the dummy and even blew up part of the wall!" the girl insisted.

Apparently, that girl really enjoyed spreading gossip. Severus didn't care much. Under other circumstances, he probably would have simply ignored the gossip-loving student while the others continued staring at him with astonished expressions.

"It was nothing," Severus replied, though his tone was more amused.

The professor seemed to like the answer. "Well... just don't try blowing up my classroom too," she said with a smile, giving Severus a playful wink.

She certainly had a much more easygoing personality. Severus imagined that his former self would have liked that professor as well. It was a shame he hadn't continued taking that subject during his first time at Hogwarts.

The professor turned around and clapped her hands.

"Well then, let's begin. I know that, with the exception of Mr. Snape, all of you are on the proper timeline for this subject. But I won't go easy on you either," she said, pointing at Severus.

"You don't have to. I reread all the fourth- and fifth-year material, and I've also studied this year's content," Severus replied calmly.

"Excellent. Then ask if you have any questions."

"Let's begin on page twelve."

At last, all the students turned their attention to her, no longer looking toward the back of the room as the professor began explaining several unique rune combinations.

Severus picked up a set of runes and began drawing. He was able to split his mind between listening to the professor's explanation and marking every rune he recognized. Before he had even finished, he was already writing down different runes, the equivalents of the ancient runes from the other world.

In truth, he was even more proficient with runes than with elemental magic itself. After all, he had invented countless magical artifacts in the other world and developed virtually all of a kingdom's magical technology.

He had created faster ships, airships, and energy storage crystals. He had developed equipment capable of making people's lives far easier. There were artifacts that kept food frozen, safely produced fire for cooking, and even generated clean water, provided their crystals were recharged with magical energy.

Throughout his life, he had created hundreds of different combinations. He had even gone so far as to develop magical weapons, but he had never allowed that kind of research to continue. Once, a group of arcane scholars had tried to carry out a secret project to improve that type of weaponry. Jon Arctic immediately banished them and ordered that they all be imprisoned.

The research was far too dangerous and could create weapons capable of causing large-scale destruction, especially during the kingdom's first century, when there were still forces interested in destroying Arctic and everything it represented to the world.

Severus continued making his notes. The professor noticed and decided to test him, assuming he wasn't paying attention.

He didn't even look up from the paper. As he continued drawing and marking the equivalent runes, he answered every one of the professor's questions correctly.

The entire classroom fell silent.

Unlike Professor McGonagall, she didn't become irritated. In fact, she seemed pleased to realize that Severus knew all the answers. So she continued the lesson as usual, while other volunteers raised their hands to answer and earn a few points. Severus simply didn't care about that.

Xenophilius didn't seem to be paying much attention to the lesson either. He was far more occupied watching Severus with a certain fascination, as though he were observing an artist creating a masterpiece while carefully drawing each rune.

Severus began filling page after page, even creating combinations and examples that didn't exist in the textbook. He made comparisons between the runes from his former world and those of this world.

At one point, he managed to replace an entire sequence with another combination that was far more efficient, making the resulting spell even more powerful.

"All right, now we're going to perform the same task from the O.W.L.s that you had at the end of your fifth year. I want you to apply the rune combination we learned today. It creates a small shield. What you need to do is draw it inside a circle on the paper, channel magic into it with your wand, and then try knocking over a light object to verify that the shield is created," the professor explained.

The students immediately began working on the assignment. Severus finally looked up for the first time, observing the task. The professor looked at him for a few moments, while he merely gave her a slight smile, indicating that everything was fine. She nodded, and soon the students began filling out their papers.

The object couldn't be too heavy. It was only a simple exercise to start the year, so an eraser or even a feather was enough to verify whether the shield activated. Anything heavier would end up breaking the rune, since it was only an introductory type of rune intended for beginning sixth-year students.

It wasn't anything particularly complex, but it already represented a level of execution they hadn't seen in either their third or fourth year. Something similar had only appeared on the final O.W.L. exam, allowing them to finally begin studying the more advanced runes.

"The second rune is a little crooked. You should fix it," Severus pointed out while looking at Xenophilius's work.

The boy looked at the drawing and smiled. "Ah, thanks," he replied sincerely, beginning to redraw the runes.

Severus finished his own, but kept staring at the combination for a few moments. It was a suitable configuration for creating a very fragile shield. But... what if he could improve it?

He quickly began erasing a few markings, searching for equivalent symbols within that world's runic alphabet. He could simply use the runes from the other world, but that would be far too complex in this context. So he searched for the closest existing symbols and began remarking the entire combination.

Instead of the shield rune, he used a rune equivalent to force, repulsion, and impact resistance. The idea was not to create a barrier, but to produce an impact that would push any object away, generating an opposing force instead of a simple fragile shield. The only issue was that it required much more magical power, something that was generally the work of a professional, but he could accomplish it thanks to his experience...

Meanwhile, several students began throwing small objects at the runes they had drawn on the paper. A bluish circle appeared before them, causing feathers and erasers to bounce away. The students became quite excited to see the enchantment working.

Severus, in turn, placed his own hand over the rune. An opposing force immediately tried to push it away, and his hand was thrown back by the counterforce... He liked the result and tested it once more. He clenched his fist and threw a punch.

The impact startled Xenophilius, making him jump. Some nearby students also turned to look at him.

Severus looked at his own fist and felt satisfied. But that alone wasn't enough of a test. It had repelled him with far greater force than the ones at the other desks.

Xenophilius didn't pay much attention to Severus. He tossed his feather against his own runic combination, and it worked.

Just as he was about to say that he had succeeded, he saw Severus lifting something that made him choke.

The next instant, an explosion like the toll of a great bell echoed through the room with tremendous force. The entire classroom immediately turned toward the back.

Even the professor's eyes widened as she stopped helping a few students who had failed to perform the combination correctly.

"Mr. Snape!" the professor exclaimed when she saw Severus holding a massive steel sword in his hands. After striking the shield with all his strength, the resulting crash had echoed so loudly throughout the classroom that every student immediately looked at him.

Severus lowered the sword and looked at the professor. It was such a large blade that it should have been classified as a two-handed weapon. He was fortunate that he had already begun strengthening his body.

Xenophilius could hardly believe what he was seeing. He hadn't even noticed when the sword had appeared out of nowhere and had only seen Severus bring it down against his runes in the next instant.

"I'm sorry, Professor. I was only trying to test the shield created by my combination."

Her eyes widened. "What do you mean? You were using that thing! Where did you get that sword, Mr. Snape!?"

"I Transfigured it, that's all..." Severus replied. "It was my feather."

The professor remained stunned for a few moments before shaking her head. "What exactly were you doing? Let me see."

Setting aside the other students, she walked over to him.

"You'd better step back. It has a stronger reaction force than I expected," Severus warned Xenophilius.

As soon as he stepped back a few paces, Severus raised the sword once more before the eyes of the entire class and struck the paper with all his strength.

The instant the blade was about to strike the runes, a transparent, faintly whitish barrier appeared before it, completely blocking the impact and throwing it backward as the sound of a bell rang out from the collision.

CLANG!

The crash was even louder than before. The sword was violently repelled, but the shield remained completely intact.

"That's not the rune I asked for," the professor said as she stepped closer to examine the symbols that had been drawn.

"Well... I just made a few changes. Instead of creating a fixed shield, I created a force to counter the impact. It seems to have worked better than a simple shield," Severus explained modestly.

After all, if even a feather was capable of breaking the shields created by the other students, this new combination could withstand the force of a man delivering a blow with a two-handed sword, an impact equivalent to hundreds of kilograms concentrated into a single point.

"Where did you learn to do this?" the professor asked, completely stunned.

Severus shrugged. "I simply replaced the combination with a more efficient one. I just used logic in a different way with a touch of my own magic..."

She remained staring at the runes.

No ordinary shield could be created that way. Combinations of that level were normally developed only by true masters of runes. Otherwise, practically every wizard would walk around wearing a necklace capable of automatically conjuring shields. But those necklaces were extremely expensive for a reason...

If a combination like that were perfected and applied around an entire house, for example, even protective enchantments would become far more powerful.

"Did you just create this?" she asked again in disbelief.

Severus nodded. "It's not difficult. I just used a different line of reasoning, like I said."

"Incredible... You just created a combination capable of withstanding a force of that magnitude. These runes—you replaced the central shield rune and used one based on repulsion... Clever, very clever! For that, I'm awarding you thirty points. And I'd also like to ask for this combination so I can study it as a personal favor," she said excitedly.

Severus had already completely memorized that combination, so he had no problem with it. "Be my guest." He picked up the paper with the circle of runes and handed it to the professor.

She broke into a broad smile. "Excellent, Mr. Severus. I'll give you another twenty points for being so generous."

Many students let out groans of disbelief. Severus had just earned another fifty points.

"Wow... You earned one hundred and twenty points today!" Xenophilius commented, while the professor practically walked around the classroom with excitement.

"All right, continue your work. I'll be studying Mr. Snape's unique combination for now," she said as she returned to her desk.

She didn't even seem interested in continuing to help the other students. She was completely fascinated by what she had just received.

Severus merely gave a slight shrug and opened his book again, ignoring all the stares around him. Xenophilius chuckled softly but ended up following Severus's example and returned to studying as well.

In truth, Severus wasn't particularly impressed by it. For someone who had destroyed virtually the entire Ministry's magical monitoring system using nothing but a few unique runes on his wand, creating a shield of that level was no great feat. Even using this world's runes, he had merely applied the logic he had learned in the other world, taking advantage of the new possibilities that this magic offered.

The class ended some time later.

As he walked alongside Xenophilius, listening to the boy enthusiastically ramble about dozens of different theories, Severus came across Lily standing near the exit corridor. She looked as though she was about to say something, but Severus barely spared her a glance of acknowledgment before continuing on his way.

That alone was enough to make her close her mouth. Whatever she had intended to say after everything that had happened yesterday, that morning, and during the classes, Severus knew it would only be a waste of time.

He continued with Xenophilius to the Great Hall. The boy then headed toward the Ravenclaw table, while Severus walked over and sat beside Heloise.

She smiled when she saw him. "I was worried. I thought you might have been expelled."

"Not yet," Severus replied. "But I still haven't received any punishment for what happened yesterday."

Heloise let out a sigh of relief. "I was really afraid of that. The first-year students spent the entire day making fun of the situation. Even that seventh-year girl came to talk to me."

"Berta Rowle, I saw her... Maybe seeing me is the reason she's wearing that ass-face expression," Severus commented.

Heloise's eyes widened for a moment, completely caught off guard by the profanity. Then she burst into laughter. "Hahahaha!"

"Don't say that anymore! What kind of language is that?" she said between laughs, unable to contain herself.

Severus merely raised an eyebrow, but the girl kept laughing, even drawing the attention of the Slytherin table.

"Don't make me compare Berta Rowle's angry face to the appearance of an anal orifice..."

Severus shrugged.

Soon, the Hufflepuff girls came over to call him. They also wanted to know every detail about the gossip spreading throughout the school and about his confrontation with the headmaster.

Severus followed them out of the Great Hall. Even Xenophilius showed up, accompanied by a fifth-year Gryffindor girl.

"This is Pandora. She's a friend of mine," he introduced her.

Severus simply gave a slight nod, and the others did the same.

He also didn't understand how the group had grown so large in just two days. There were students from the first, fifth, sixth, and seventh years, wearing robes of every color: red, yellow, blue, and green.

They all left the hall together under the curious gazes of some students and the gossip of many others.

That afternoon, Severus would have Care of Magical Creatures. It was a subject he was genuinely excited about. He would finally have the opportunity to deal with something he mastered even more than most other fields of magic.

Animals.

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