From Azkaban To Hogwarts

"Voodoo doll?"

When Ron explained to his two friends in an extremely serious manner that he neither planned to make straw dolls nor use this gimmick to create some lucky dolls to defraud other students of their money, the two looked at a table of ugly and unique witches. Poison Doll generates numerous associations.

"Is this thing related to the curse?"

Harry grabbed it casually, then retracted his hand as if he remembered something, then put on the dragon leather gloves, then sighed and picked up another one.

"I don't feel the smell of dark magic - Ron, can it be taken apart?"

"Because it's not done yet."

Ron's face blushed slightly - in fact, he planned to share this matter with Harry after he succeeded. He always felt a little embarrassed showing his unsuccessful works to his friends, "But if you want to open it, you can It’s up to you.”

After all, they were all failed semi-finished products that needed to be destroyed. He didn't care how much Harry had to dismantle them.

"No matter how you look at it, it's just ordinary grass..."

Harry carefully tore off a voodoo doll and looked at the stuffing inside - there was only grass and a little bit of string, it looked like a Muggle work.

He thought for a moment, picked up the wand, and softly chanted a test spell.

'It seems like a weak reaction - is it true? ’

He tried again, trying to chop it up with magic, but he also felt some resistance. It couldn't be separated as easily as ordinary grass.

Harry thoughtfully put down the shapeless voodoo doll that was being tossed in his hand, and then stretched out his hand directly towards Ron's latest work, "Can this also be destroyed?"

"Sure, whatever - it's also a failure."

Ron spread his hands indifferently. Even if his pockets were empty, he would not think that the things on the table were valuable. With these raw materials, even their family was very wealthy - as long as they were careful not to be caught by those guys in the garden. Bit your finger, you can get as much of this stuff as you want.

"Well," Harry unceremoniously picked up the wand and started cutting - it was a bit difficult, as if what he was trying to cut was not dried grass, but some magical material.

"You're almost there, Ron?"

Harry put down the cut straw man with a very happy tone - although he didn't know why he didn't learn these things, but judging from the test just now, Ron seemed to have learned an interesting magic, and he was very familiar with it. interested.

"Ah, it's almost done. I guess one more day of practice will be enough."

Ron muttered as he took out the information Professor William gave him from his schoolbag and shared it with his two partners.

"According to the information, I'm almost successful, but now I don't know what it can do - the professor said it is the foundation of curses and spellcasting, but..."

He poked at his failed product, "Such an ugly thing..."

"Don't worry and study," Harry grinned. "The professor asked me to run every day at the beginning. I couldn't understand it at that time, but later it turned out that the professor was right."

He happily explained to Ron, then thought of Hermione, turned around, and found that Hermione was struggling to read the information, her face full of tangles.

"Hermione?"

"ah?"

Hermione came back to her senses, "It shouldn't be, how could it be like this? How could it still be like this?"

She shook her head - there was no way, her theoretical system was bigger than Harry and Ron combined, but it was all based on the wand casting system. Because of this, it was more difficult for her to accept this completely new system that was close to black magic.

She is not like Harry, who has an understanding of this kind of battle-related magic that is far beyond the perception of others, nor is she like Ron, who is almost a blank sheet of paper and extremely easy to draw. He is the slowest to understand in a partial way.

"It's normal, right... Using voodoo dolls is just like - um, hand gestures to cast spells, and using other methods to release magic?"

As Harry spoke, he pointed at Ron's product with his left hand, made it fly, completed a series of incoherent movements in the air, and then placed it on the table.

"That's it, it's just that the gestures are replaced by voodoo dolls, or the wand is replaced by voodoo dolls - the process of making it should be similar to the process we are familiar with wands, and then we can easily cast spells with it. That should be it, right?”

Harry pulled a voodoo doll and said, "Didn't the professor say that before it reaches a certain level, all the magic for casting spells comes from wizards, whether it's wands, gestures, spells, or even gestures?" Whether you are casting magic without a wand, it is just a means to achieve magic."

Harry felt that what he said was clear enough and understood enough, but both Ron and Hermione opened their mouths wide and looked at him with strange eyes.

"Is there something wrong with what I said?"

"The professor never said that!"

Hermione said categorically - she could swear that she had never heard such a statement in class, it was too ridiculous.

"You told me, right?"

Harry felt a little guilty when Hermione stared at him. To be honest, he was shaken.

So, he looked at Ron, intending to seek confirmation from Ron.

"Sounds powerful, but..." Ron looked at Harry, "So, it is - that's it, isn't the voodoo doll very powerful..."

"You should be able to...since the professor taught you this..."

Harry was also a little unsure, "How about we try to make it first?"

——

"It should be finished, right?"

Ron looked at the little clown in his hand, feeling a little unsure.

Harry's proposal was unanimously agreed upon by the three, and the three simply tried to make this ugly straw doll together - both Harry and Hermione were somewhat interested in this new thing.

More importantly, both Harry and Hermione had some free time - they completed their homework quickly, leaving the two of them with a little more time to explore what they liked.

But to their surprise, it was Harry who knitted the best.

It's not that Harry succeeded at once - but when it comes to knitting, Harry is actually much more dexterous than the other two. Behind Harry is Ron, who has tried many times, and Hermione, who is clumsy. It's simply terrible...

In other words, Hermione's made-up doll has defied the concept of ugliness.

If Ron hadn't been the first to tell them that he was done after knitting five, Harry would have even planned to slow down a bit and make the dolls he knitted even uglier...

He thought about the reason - this thing was somewhat similar to some of the tasks he had done at the Dursleys, and after arriving at Hogwarts, due to Snape's care and some special things, he was in confinement In which he consolidated his skills.

Ron was almost there. He came from a magical family and was a bit clumsy when in solitary confinement.

As for Hermione - it was hard for Harry to imagine that a top student like Hermione would play knitting games, and her family would not let her complete those miscellaneous tasks. As for Hogwarts, even Snape would It's impossible to confine Hermione...

All things considered, Hermione's knitting was completely normal.

But he doesn't need to be relieved now, Ron's successful voodoo doll has attracted everyone's attention.

"It looks a lot smaller than ordinary knitting."

Harry put down the unsuccessful products he had made and gathered around to watch - to be honest, he wanted to test it himself now. It would be best to take it apart and see how this voodoo doll would look after shrinking a circle. There won't be any changes.

But this one won't work now - it took Ron a long time to make one, and if Harry dismantled it, Ron would be so angry that he wouldn't talk to him for at least three or four days.

"Try again, do another one, Ron!"

So, Harry encouraged Ron - this thing is not dangerous anyway, and another destructive experiment can be justified.

"no problem!"

Ron was very motivated after making his first voodoo doll. He immediately picked up a small pile of grass and rope and started weaving.

Harry and Hermione gave up trying and began to watch Ron's manufacturing process.

Ten minutes later, Ron carefully tied the last rope - and then failed.

The sudden failure made the three of them dumbfounded at the same time.

"Think again carefully, Ron," Harry quickly encouraged Ron, "Maybe there is something wrong there - this may be a delicate job!"

The third attempt soon began, and after Ron tried to reflect on his success, he carefully knitted the voodoo doll.

Thirteen minutes later, Ron's face looked a little ugly.

Harry and Hermione were also a little nervous - mainly because of Ron.

Harry was a little worried, because he knew that Ron had some minor problems, and he knew very well that when Ron became nervous, he would...

Sure enough - what happened next was like a nightmare. Ron stopped knitting carefully and completed his fourth attempt in just seven minutes.

But it didn't work, leaving Ron to start the fifth time without saying a word.

Then came the deadpan sixth time.

The seventh time his face turned red.

And - "I've had enough! It was an accident, I couldn't do it!"

Ron gave up on himself and threw the half-finished voodoo doll on the table, and then tied the final rope in a mess.

"I knew it! I-"

He complained, then his eyes widened - this time the messy production actually worked.

Harry and Hermione originally wanted to persuade him, but they were all stunned by the sudden success.

"how come?"

Ron looked at his hand, and then at the voodoo doll that had shrunk in size. No matter how you looked at it, it was a success. He was dumbfounded - how could it be successful?

"Did I drop it the first time I made it?"

Ron looked at Harry and then at Hermione, with confusion on his face - but there was no answer to this question, the other two were trying to do their own, and no one knew what was going on.

"How about we smash it again this time?"

Ron looked at Harry and Hermione, and repeated the last steps in confusion. Before the last step, he threw the voodoo doll out and then tied it up - this time he succeeded again.

"Is it just going to fall?"

Ron looked at Harry and Hermione stupidly, and then while talking, he tried to make it again - failed.

Failure, still failure...

But after three successful examples, Ron was no longer anxious. After failing several times in a row, he tried not to fall again, and this time he miraculously succeeded again.

The three of them were collectively dumbfounded - what's going on?

——

"Good afternoon, professor."

Harry took the lead and knocked on the door of William's office - he had been training with Moody this semester, and this was the first time he came to William's office.

After waiting for a while, Harry passed William's daily test as usual and appeared in William's office at the same time as Ron and Hermione.

"Good afternoon, Harry, and you too, Hermione, and Ron."

William nodded, asked them to sit down, and then took out snacks, "Did you encounter any problems?"

“That’s it—Professor, that voodoo doll.”

Harry spoke first, but got stuck - the two of them didn't actually have permission to study.

"Voodoo doll, um." William looked at Harry and then at the bag held in Ron's hand, "Ron, have you finished making the first voodoo doll?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Very good, a little faster than I thought. You do have extraordinary talent in this area."

As William said this, he put on gloves to protect himself, and took the voodoo doll handed over by Ron.

"Eh - so many? Your success rate seems to be very high."

William saw the four voodoo dolls, "Generally speaking, for a novice, even if all the steps are correct, it will take about seven to ten times to succeed."

"That should be what this lesson is about - what voodoo dolls mean to wizards."

As he explained, he pointed at Ron's finished product, "As far as the system I understand, no one will use voodoo dolls made by others, because during the weaving process, the wizard's magic will affect the doll." The straw man makes it more suitable for his own use, but this is only preliminary processing. If you want to preserve it well or even increase its power, you need ritual effects."

"professor…"

Harry waited until William had finished speaking before interjecting and asking, "Can we listen too?"

"Listen, listen - but I don't recommend that you and Hermione get involved in too much related content." William looked at Harry, "You are much busier than you think this semester, and you probably don't have much time to interact."

"As for Hermione," William turned around, "Although I know it won't be too difficult for you to learn this, I still want to say that I have planned to talk to you about future development from the first week of school. ——It’s just that I don’t think it’s time yet.”

"But since we met today, let's talk about it."

William opened a small package of preserved fruits himself, "In my opinion, Hermione, you'd better give up studying in the library this semester and instead review the textbooks for grades one to five in a more solid way."

This opinion frightened all three of them. However, before William could explain, a cooing sound came from the window sill.

The huge owl walked into the window sill, then flapped its wings and stood on the middle table, completely blocking the three people's sight, and then proudly stretched out a leg towards William.

William unwrapped the note and unfolded it. It was Hagrid's message.

[The storm is ready, come to the Forbidden Forest. 】

He shook his head, stood up and turned his head to avoid the owl blocking his field of vision, "Let's end today's conversation. I will explain it to you later - just the day after tomorrow. I expect Ron should finish the voodoo doll the day after tomorrow." maded."