The Vatican.
A burst of fire flared into existence.
Having finished recruiting his new followers, Dawn returned to his secret little house.
Thinking back on everyone he had coerced so far, he still believed Horace Slughorn had provided him with the greatest value.
The old Potions Master had enthusiastically supplied him with potions, including Felix Felicis.
Even this secure hideout owed its safety to the Fidelius Charm Slughorn had cast.
Mentally ranking his "tools" according to usefulness, Dawn pulled out a chair and sat back down at his desk.
He gathered the sheets of parchment covered with dense, intricate diagrams.
These were the records of the trait patterns he had been studying over the past several days.
Idly spinning a quill between his fingers, Dawn sighed and rubbed his aching forehead.
Systematically organizing the trait patterns was an enormous undertaking.
After so many days of work, his progress remained painfully slow.
It wasn't simply because there were countless patterns.
More importantly, most spells altered entire clusters of patterns simultaneously, making it nearly impossible to isolate the function of a single symbol.
Even when Dawn manually modified them one at a time, the differences were often so subtle that he couldn't identify exactly what had changed.
In short...
It was mind-numbingly tedious work.
Still...
It wasn't entirely without rewards.
Combined with everything he had experienced over the past two school years, he had managed to roughly classify many of the patterns.
Some belonged to the physical body.
Others related to the soul.
And then...
During an experiment aimed at expanding the capacity of one of his enchanted wallets, he had accidentally identified a pattern connected to space itself.
It took the form of a constantly rotating cube.
He discovered that whenever the Undetectable Extension Charm was cast upon an object, the cube gradually sprouted additional edges, becoming smoother and rounder.
The larger the expanded space...
The more edges appeared.
Dawn suspected that if he examined Newt Scamander's enchanted suitcase, its corresponding pattern would probably have become something very close to a sphere.
Picking up his quill, he carefully sketched the rotating cube once more.
Then he looked toward the solid stone wall before him.
After a brief moment of thought, he infused magic into it, altering one of its displayed patterns into that rotating cube.
He reached out.
The moment his fingertips touched the wall...
They passed straight through it.
As he leaned forward, even his forearm disappeared into the solid stone.
This was the practical application he had discovered after understanding that particular trait pattern.
The ordinary Undetectable Extension Charm expanded an existing space.
It could only be cast upon containers such as houses, bags, or trunks.
But now...
Dawn could forcibly create space inside something that had been completely solid from the beginning.
Suddenly...
He paused.
Wait.
The more he described it...
The more this resembled Secret Power from Pokémon—the move used to create Secret Bases.
His expression turned oddly amused.
After Nicolas Flamel had apparently drawn inspiration from Doraemon to create a magical version of the Anywhere Door...
Was he now about to start designing spells based on Pokémon?
Although...
Thinking about it carefully...
Many abilities from the Pokémon world would actually translate remarkably well into magic.
His thoughts drifted for a while.
A moment later, he shook his head.
Enough nonsense.
There was a more important question.
How could he explain a spell like this in terms that ordinary wizards could understand?
After all...
His goal in inventing spells was to build prestige.
Other wizards couldn't directly observe or manipulate trait patterns as he could.
If nobody understood the spell's underlying principles...
Its impact would be greatly diminished.
After considering the problem, Dawn stood up and walked toward the bookshelf in the corner.
Among his steadily growing collection, he pulled out a rather thin volume.
How to Create a Spell?
He vaguely remembered organizing it earlier.
Judging by the author's name, however, it wasn't written personally by Flamel.
Standing where he was, Dawn flipped through the book.
It wasn't particularly long.
Since it focused mostly on concepts rather than detailed instruction, he finished reading it quickly.
According to the book...
In the earliest days of recorded magical history... Wizards cast spells using nothing but their own will.
Magic responded directly to consciousness, without any structured framework.
However...
That method was notoriously unstable.
Many witches and wizards only displayed magical abilities during accidental bursts of uncontrolled power.
The rest of the time...
They were scarcely different from Muggles.
This continued for countless generations.
Until...
Several thousand years ago...
Runes suddenly appeared.
No one knew where they had originated.
But wizards discovered that these mysterious symbols could carry magical power.
That discovery triggered the first great revolution in spellcasting.
Instead of relying on unreliable willpower alone... They began constructing magical circuits using interconnected runes.
Casting spells remained difficult.
But compared to relying solely on intent... Far more wizards could perform magic successfully.
Moreover...
Rune-based spells possessed astonishing power.
Some spellcasters witnessed by Muggles were even worshipped as gods, becoming the source of ancient legends.
Dawn found that perfectly reasonable.
After all... Runes channeled natural magic. Greater power was only to be expected.
Then came...
The invention of wands.
Followed by modern incantations.
Spellcasting shifted away from harnessing natural magic and instead focused on a wizard's own magical reserves.
The difficulty of casting fell dramatically once again.
Following that revolution... Magic ceased to be the exclusive domain of extraordinary geniuses.
Even mediocre wizards could master a handful of spells with sufficient practice.
Naturally...
There was a price.
Spell power declined drastically.
By the present era... Most magical development focused primarily on convenient household spells.
Dawn skimmed over this historical overview without much interest.
His attention centered on the latter half of the book.
[There are generally two approaches to creating an entirely new spell.
The first method begins with runes.
Construct a magical circuit capable of producing your desired effect. Then simplify that circuit into a modern spell.
The advantage of this method is stability.
Almost any imaginable magical effect can theoretically be achieved through the appropriate magical circuit.
The disadvantage... is that it requires deep knowledge of runes.
The more unusual the intended effect, the more difficult and time-consuming the construction becomes.]
Dawn rubbed his chin.
He remembered Severus Snape inventing spells like Levicorpus and Sectumsempra while still a student.
Surely...
Snape hadn't relied on this first method.
He continued reading.
[The second approach begins directly with a wizard's thoughts and consciousness.
Magic is fundamentally driven by belief. It responds to a wizard's will and fulfills what they genuinely desire.
If you sincerely believe a spell can exist... You can bring it into existence.
Of course...
Completely believing in a spell born solely from your imagination is extremely difficult.
That is why supporting tools become necessary.
Specifically... Incantations. And wand movements.
Visualize the spell's intended effect. Condense that image. Express it in Latin.
Use those words as your incantation. Then design a wand movement suited to the spell.
Protective magic may involve drawing circles around oneself. Summoning magic may involve raising the wand overhead.
But above all... Before beginning... Give your spell a suitable name.
Once you've completed these steps... And your confidence becomes absolute... The spell will be born.
Compared with rune-based creation, this method dramatically reduces both difficulty and development time.
However...
It demands a deeper understanding of magic itself.vAnd even complete confidence does not guarantee success.
So if you fail... Accept it calmly.]
Dawn raised an eyebrow.
The second method matched his own understanding of magic perfectly.
Incantations and wand movements existed merely to reinforce a wizard's belief.
They weren't fundamentally necessary.
Once mastery was achieved... They could be discarded.
After memorizing both approaches, Dawn leaned against the bookshelf.
Only one final section remained.
He continued reading.
[Although spell creation is one of the greatest tests of magical talent... There are shortcuts.
For beginners... I recommend modular creation.
For example... Combine the Fire-Freezing Charm with the Water-Repelling Charm.
Create a spell that protects against both fire and water.
Since both parent spells already exist... It becomes much easier to believe in the new spell.
Afterward... You may attempt similar spell creation.
For instance...
Since Fire-Freezing and Water-Repelling Charms already exist... Creating a Wind-Repelling Charm becomes considerably easier.
Proceed steadily... Step by step... And I firmly believe that one day...
Wizards may even create spells capable of reversing death... Or changing the past.]
Reverse death...
Change the past...
Dawn gently shook his head.
Given the existence of natural magic and collective consciousness...
Neither feat would be remotely easy.
His successful Fantastic Beast transformation had only been possible thanks to the Fountain of Good Fortune.
Even then...
He had unknowingly attracted the attention of the world's correction mechanism.
Still...
None of that truly discouraged him.
No matter how difficult the path... He believed he would solve every one of those problems eventually.
Snap.
The book closed.
After returning it to the shelf, Dawn decided to stop thinking so far ahead.
For now...
He would focus on the task before him.
Returning to his desk, he gathered the scattered parchments and stared at the tetrahedral pattern that represented space.
If he wished to create a spell capable of carving space inside solid matter... The second method was obviously his only realistic choice.
His knowledge of runes simply wasn't good enough.
Taking out a fresh sheet of parchment... He first wrote the spell's name.
Secret Space Charm.
Next came the incantation.
He translated the intended effect into Latin.
°Creatio Regio°
Finally...
He designed the wand movement.
Simple.
Draw a circle before the target. The size of the circle would correspond to the size of the space being created.
In less than ten minutes... His new spell had taken shape.
Dawn drew his wand. This time he deliberately ignored the underlying trait patterns.
Instead...
He simply traced a circle toward another section of the wall.
°Creatio Regio°
The wall rippled almost imperceptibly.
He lowered his wand. Then reached forward.
Just as expected...
Although the wall appeared completely unchanged... A hidden chamber now existed inside it.
Dawn calmly withdrew his hand.
Of course it worked. Failure had never been a possibility.
He had already achieved the effect through another method. His confidence in the spell was absolute.
The incantation and wand movement existed solely so that other wizards could believe in it as well.
At that moment...
Another thought suddenly occurred to him.
He remembered his earlier attempts at transforming into Fantastic Beasts.
Back then...
Even after his trait layer had changed because of the Fountain of Good Fortune...
He still had to manually alter every individual pattern.
He couldn't transform instantly the way ordinary spells functioned.
Yet...
This Secret Space Charm also modified trait patterns... And accomplished the entire transformation in an instant.
Could his earlier failure simply have been because he hadn't created a proper spell?
After hesitating briefly... Dawn pulled over another blank sheet.
He wrote:
[Fantastic Transformation Charm]
[Its incantation became: Magical Transformation]
Then he designed an appropriate wand movement.
Unfortunately... After repeated attempts... Nothing changed.
He still couldn't transform directly into a Fantastic Beast through the spell.
"Perhaps... It's related to natural magic." He murmured thoughtfully. "Or perhaps it has something to do with my altered trait layer."
His fingers tapped lightly against the table.
Unable to find an answer...
He temporarily set the question aside and returned his attention to the trait-pattern records.
At that moment...
He suddenly realized something.
If he wanted to accelerate his research... It was probably time to make another trip to Egypt.
His favorite source of experimental materials.
"...There's still so much to do."
Shaking his head, Dawn swallowed a restorative potion.
He placed Ravenclaw's Diadem upon his head. Then buried himself once more in research.
Time passed swiftly.
Day gave way to night. Night yielded to dawn.
The following morning arrived as scheduled.
Britain.
Owls spread their wings across the pale morning sky.
One after another...
They delivered the day's edition of the Daily Prophet to wizarding households throughout the country.
For British wizards... It was a perfectly ordinary morning.
Until they unfolded the newspaper.
To everyone's surprise... The front-page headline was no longer about Dumbledore's failures.
Instead...
Rita Skeeter had published an article examining an old case from an entirely unexpected angle.
"Hogwarts' Recent Incidents Reviewed: Was This Student the Greatest Victim of Them All?"
The enormous headline dominated the center of the front page.
Almost everyone found their eyes drawn toward it.
[By now, everyone is aware of the recent turmoil at Hogwarts.
Under the leadership of the great Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, the school has suffered the gravest tragedy in its entire history.
Out of respect for the victims' families..
I will not repeat those heartbreaking events.
Nevertheless...
It is undeniable that the school long regarded as Britain's safest place has completely lost that reputation.
I do not wish to place every ounce of blame upon Headmaster Dumbledore. But his failure of oversight cannot be disputed.
And that made me wonder...
Have there been other cases in the past where similar failures concealed the truth?
As it happens... The answer is yes.
Do you remember the attack on the Boy Who Lived during last Halloween? The incident that shocked all of Britain?
At the time... Countless newspapers identified Dawn Richter as the culprit.
However...
After conducting an extensive investigation... I uncovered the greatest inconsistency in the case.
The attacker employed a powerful spell known as Sectumsempra.
That spell was created personally by Hogwarts' current Potions professor, Severus Snape.
Very few people know it.
It is therefore almost impossible that a first-year student like Dawn Richter could have learned it.
So...
Although much evidence has been lost over time... I cannot help asking one question.
Is it possible...
That Dawn Richter was never the attacker? That he was framed?]
Reading this, Dawn raised an eyebrow.
He flipped through several additional pages. More articles continued along similar lines.
Some revealed that Murphy Avery had also known Sectumsempra.
Others suggested that the person who later published death notices under Dawn Richter's name might not have been Dawn himself...
But someone impersonating him.
Dawn nodded in satisfaction.
Whether or not this had been Fudge's idea... The approach was clever.
Rather than bluntly declaring him innocent... They first planted seeds of doubt.
Throughout history...
Once debate begins... Even the most unbelievable arguments inevitably find supporters.
Afterward...
A few carefully chosen pieces of ambiguous evidence would naturally shift public opinion.
Closing the newspaper, Dawn felt genuinely pleased.
Those three had done an excellent job.
His trip to Britain to retrieve a copy of the Daily Prophet had clearly been worthwhile.
"I'll leave the rest to them."
He murmured quietly.
He had no intention of wasting too much energy on reputation management.
Calculating the timeline...
If everything proceeded smoothly...
Within a few months... He would be able to walk openly through Britain under his own name.
When that day came...
Perhaps he could have Fudge organize a public conference to unveil his newly invented spells.
One that included a personal invitation sent directly to Dumbledore.
The thought curved Dawn's lips into an amused smile.
Although he had sworn to devote himself entirely to magical research...
For exceptionally talented wizards...
Emotion often outweighed reason.
Without even realizing it... His mischievous side had quietly begun resurfacing once again.
___________
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