Harry Potter and the Rise of the Ordinary Person - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Restricted Section

They didn’t go looking for the Mirror after that. But from that moment on, Harry had suffered from a series of nightmares. Helpless, Charles could only give him a Dreamless Draught to help him sleep well at night.

“Now you understand that Dumbledore spoke right. That mirror is capable of making you go insane.” Ron spoke to Harry after he had told both him and Charles of his nightmares.

These two kids had already completely forgotten about the mission Hermione had given them two about looking for Nicolas Flamel. But of course, they were completely focused on playing, and Charles wasn’t in the mood to criticize them. All he did was to pour several drops of potion into their pumpkin juice that would make them puke for half an hour in the bathroom and have a putrid smell remain in their mouths for some time.

So after a day, Harry and Ron had almost impatiently declared that they would devote themselves to looking for Nicholas Flamel instead of playing the entire holiday.

Charles’ means could teach even a child!

After planning, the three had finally decided that during the day, they would look through the entire library. And during the night, Charles and Harry would go to the Restricted Section under the Cloak of Invisibility. Ron had been in heavy support for this plan since he would have to do the least amount of work. Harry himself could only agree reluctantly.

At midnight, Charles changed his clothes and lined up his pockets with several handy magical items. Then, opening the first layer to his cupboard with a serious expression, he took out a series of cups, bowls, ladles, and other necessities to life. Charles then took out a toothbrush and twisted off the end of the stick to reveal a finger sized bottle that held a golden liquid inside. Previously, Charles had been able to make some Felix Felicis. Carefully unstoppering it, he drink a small amount of it. A fresh and clear sensation slowly made its way around his body; he felt that he was capable of doing anything and everything….he had confidence in tonight’s plan. After adapting to the sensation, he carefully corked the bottle and placed it back into the shaft of the toothbrush and put it back.

Then he and Harry met up in the common rooms. The two took out their invisibility cloaks and climbed through the portrait hole.

“Who’s there?” The Fat Lady asked. The two said nothing and walked quickly down the corridor.

THe library was pitch-black and very eerie. Taking out a pair of glasses he had prepared earlier, Charles handed it over to Harry before taking out another for himself to wear. Charles had made these items in advance and could let the two see at night clearly. Unfortunately, its effect wasn’t so potent, and would lose effect after three nights. Although Charles had also the Hand of Glory, it was a dark artefact that Charles didn’t want Harry to see.

The restricted section was in the back of the library. Stepping carefully over the rope that separated the two sides, the two boys began to read.

Some of the books here had faded gold letters spelled in languages Charles couldn’t read. Some didn’t have titles. One of the books had a dark stain that looked quite like blood. Charles could feel a weak pulse of magic emanating from it that would be quite eerie in the middle of the night. Charles could use Occlumency to make himself immune to this sensation, but Harry on the other hand had been affected, and thus was quite perturbed.

The amount of Felix Felicis Charles had drunk would last for about two hours around, so he had to hurry. Grabbing Harry and taking him along a row of books, his finger pointed at several books for Harry to look at. He knew–he could just feel it, the majority of the books in the restricted section didn’t have any magic.

Then a sudden thought had hit him, why didn’t he walk into the deepest parts of the restricted section himself? Thus, grabbing his invisibility cloak, Charles quickly made his way down the aisle and to the deepest parts of the section. The books were in shabby conditions, the wood had already lost its color, and there was a layer of dust on each book.

Under the guidance of Felix Felicis, he thought, Why not use the Revealing Charm? Someone could have possibly hidden the more precious books here!

Fishing out his wand, he muttered a quiet, “Aparecium”. In an instant, several books came into view, causing Charles’ eyes to sparkle.

Secrets of the Darkest Art, Moste Potente Potions, Ancient Runes Made Easy, A Guide to Raising Dark Creatures, A Record of Human Experimentation, and several other uncommon books. Each one of these books had been an achievement of the highest order! In comparison, the amount of money Charles had paid with for the books in Borgin and Burkes wasn’t worth the books here!

He wasn’t too hasty. With these books, even without Felix Felicis, there would undoubtedly be some warding charms on there.

But time was still going quickly. Deciding upon Secrets of the Darkest Art, Charles waved his hand and drew several magical runes in midair. With his inner magic and the sixth sense given to him by Felix Felicis, it had only taken a small moment for him to unravel the magic on it. Unravel, not dispel, mind you. The smart would take the book and unravel the magic to read it completely before allowing the magic to recover while the others would forcibly destroy the enchantment and cause it to disappear. The results of the two would be absolutely different, and Charles had to admit if not for Felix Felicis, then he would have most likely done the second option.

Although he had unraveled the enchantment on the book, he had no plans to take the book out. The reason for that was because he knew that even though he was able of opening up the book properly, the moment he brought the book out from the restricted section, an alarm would ring. So with no other option, he cracked open the book and began to read.

Not only did Felix Felicis give Charles a shocking amount of intuition, it had also given the rest of his senses a good boost. With his eidetic memory and quick-reading ability being boosted by the potion, he had grown overwhelmingly strong.

Charles’ current reading speed was nearly ten lines at a single glance. In less than half an hour, he had completely finished reading the thick Secrets of the Darkest Arts. Starting over again, he read the book for a second time, with only a minute to skim it. Then, opening up Moste Potente Potions, he began to read it.

After finishing off the second book, Charles had felt the Felix Felicis start to wear off. Returning the books to their original position and recasting the charms, he made them invisible once more. Then, with Harry, the two of them returned to the Gryffindor common rooms to rest. The timing had been excellent. By the time they returned to the common rooms, the Felix Felicis had finally wore off.

Under the pretense of being too sleepy, Charles returned to his bed. After pulling the velvet red curtains to cover his bed, Charles casted an alarm charm and then several pieces of parchment and a quill to write. At a detailed glance, the stuff Charles was writing was the exact the same content as seen in the Secrets of the Darkest Arts.

As it turns out, in the short amount of time in the restricted section, Charles had decided that since he couldn’t take the books out, instead of reading them thoroughly, he would simply memorize the contents and then write down based on his eidetic memory.

Unfortunately this eidetic memory was only good for a short amount of time. So when he returned to his bed, he had to quickly write out on the parchments as fast as he could so that he could go over it later in a slower manner to study.

Such a method like this is something even Dumbledore wouldn’t suspect! Charles thought. No matter what, Moste Potente Potions and Secrets of the Darkest Art was his!