In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 26: Teacher

"So that different way of casting spells from the norm means that the magic is not affecting the outside world, but rather ourselves?"

Jon looked at the ring, the diamond-shaped blue gem set in the middle, glistening in the sunlight.

Slughorn was also looking at the ring in Jon's hand, his gaze revealing reminiscence.

"I have lived a long time, but I devoted most of my life to potions and to socialising, without engaging in the study of the nature of magic. This ring and all the points I have mentioned earlier is the legacy of a friend of mine, Adrian Fawkes, who spent his life searching for a way for wizards to change themselves, and the end result was this ring."

Jon carefully recalled the name for a moment, to be sure that no wizard with that name existed in his memory of the original story, the only thing that seemed to ring a bell was the Last Name Fawkes, which seemed to be the name of Dumbledore's phoenix.

But the wizarding community was so broad that there were undoubtedly more capable wizards beyond those who had appeared in the original stories, and it wasn't surprising that Jon hadn't heard of that name.

Even after Slughorn had explained it to him sufficiently, Jon still had quite a few doubts about the ring itself.

"But if we follow what you said Professor, why did it choose me, when that Mr Fawkes you mentioned created it, even if he had passed away and couldn't use it personally, you could use it no?"

"It's not as simple as you think, Jon."

Slughorn looked up to the sky, a hint of remorse showing on his face for some reason.

"There has never been a shortage of brilliant people throughout the ages, and my old friend is certainly not the only one who could think of conducting magical research in this direction, a direction in which basically no one has succeeded. The only thing that seemed to have succeeded was in fact very evil, more unforgivable than the Unforgivable Curse. The ring you are holding is nigh the most perfect result that has ever been achieved, but not everyone can use it now."

"For a wizard's magic to produce a change in the outside world, it takes 'will' to grasp it, and the stronger the 'will', the more tremendous and complete the change produced. The 'will' required to cause an essential change to the wizard himself with magic is even stronger to the point of incalculable proportions. This ring is only a medium like a wand; it is the wizard's own magic and 'will' that really counts. Of course, the medium is important, but like I keep saying, if either the magic or the 'will' is absent, then the magic simply isn't even possible to perform."

"Ever since I got this ring from Adrian, I've been meaning to help him find someone qualified to use his creation, but it's been almost twenty years now, the wizarding world has undergone a great change, and I've met thousands of wizards carrying this ring, but not even one of them is qualified to be its master."

He turned his head to look at Jon.

"I was all prepared to give up, Jon, I have more important things to do, but your presence has taken me somewhat by surprise. I learned a few things about you from Lily yesterday after you left, you are very clever and have an excellent talent for magic, which I was able to verify even more today. The fact that you've only been exposed to magic for less than two weeks, and you know so much about it is also a testament to your hard work, and most crucially you're also someone who values feelings, and generally people like that don't end up being all that bad even when they become villains. I would prefer this masterpiece not to be recorded in the history of magic than to make another mistake, and only after confirming all this, I have made up my mind to give you a chance to choose. Will you learn from me this method of casting spells that can produce changes to yourself?"

There was a great deal of information in this statement made by Slughorn.

Jon understood what he was talking about when he spoke of an item that was even more unforgivable than the Unforgivable Curse, one that would essentially change the wizard himself, and through the entirety of the original story, only the Horcrux that Voldemort used for his immortality was capable of such an outcome.

The existence of the Horcrux was revealed to Voldemort by this old man in front of him, something that he has always regretted, hence his earlier comment about "making another mistake".

To be honest, with Jon's current knowledge of magic and the level of spells he had, he could not understand what effect might produce by magic that would change the wizard himself completely.

But what he could understand was that such an opportunity would be rare, very rare, and he already had a strong sense of crisis in his mind right now because of his own lack of strength.

He could roughly guess that the reason he could be able to possess such qualifications was most likely due to the fact that he had crossed over, otherwise there would be no way to explain why he could be special when no one else could.

For Jon, who wanted to strengthen himself, Slughorn's words today were as timely as coal sent in the middle of the chilling winter, so he simply had no reason to refuse as he had nothing to lose.

Jon met Slughorn's eyes, his gaze turned serious, and his tone was firm.

"I want to learn, Professor."

Slughorn smiled at his answer, no matter how many times he looked at that chubby face, it still gave him the impression that he was looking at a smiling walrus.

"I actually prefer the title Teacher to Professor." (*what term should I use - teacher or mentor or sensei or master*)

"So, teacher, what should I do to proceed with our studies next?" Jon asked with some eagerness, after establishing a closer teacher-student relationship than that of a professor and student in school.

Only now Slughorn could see an expression that matched that of an eleven-year-old on Jon's face.

"Don't be impatient, first of all, you haven't learnt a single spell yet, I need to teach you a few more things to prepare you before the actual teaching takes place and the learning begins."

Puzzlement crossed Jon's face.

"What do I need to learn first?"

He spoke quietly.

"Occlumency."

After fixing an agreement with Slughorn that he would go to his office every day after dinner to begin his studies, Jon left the roof of the wagon.

As soon as he had returned to the wagon, he saw Filch on the long corridor with a grim look on his face, admonishing the students.

At this time he happened to bump into Neville and the group, who had come out of the common room, and he couldn't help but ask curiously.

"What's going on? Why is Filch so angry."

Neville and the rest shook their heads in confusion and waited for a while to find out what had happened by hearing around from the upperclassmen.

It turned out that Filch had discovered that someone had broken into a room without a signboard and the permission of any professor.

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[Author:]

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