Chapter 853: Chapter 720: Professor Babbling’s Warning
It has been over a week since Dumbledore last left the Headmaster’s Office, and during this period, he returned to give Harry a lesson, only to disappear again.
As for the content of their class, Kael wasn’t clear, though he could somewhat guess... It would just be another candid conversation with Harry.
The content might be about the Order of Phoenix, or it could be about Soul Artifacts... After all, when Harry hadn’t learned Occlumency some time ago, many things were kept from him, which Harry had been quite upset about.
This class, to put it plainly, was to help him untangle his knots, and how much to achieve depended on what Dumbledore wanted Harry to know.
But that’s not Kael’s concern.
On Wednesday afternoon, after the Ancient Runes Class, Kael, holding a parchment filled with Magic Text Formula, found Professor Babbling who was about to make a getaway.
Yes... a getaway.
Since the first class of the academic year when Kael asked a few questions about the arrangement of Magic Text Talismans, Professor Babbling hadn’t been keen to see this student.
It’s not because she feared being stumped and losing face; Professor Babbling’s knowledge of ancient magic texts was possibly higher than Dumbledore’s, and Kael’s questions were nothing to her.
Professor Babbling simply didn’t want to work overtime; under usual circumstances, she’d leave the moment class ended, never wasting a minute.
But answering Kael’s questions wouldn’t be a matter of a minute; even half an hour would be considered brief.
Unfortunately, Kael was sitting by the door, and Apparition couldn’t be used inside the castle, so her on-time departure plan failed as soon as she stepped out of the classroom.
Professor Babbling glanced briefly at the parchment Kael handed her, and her face immediately fell.
"Original Magic Text..." She almost said instinctively, "What are you looking at this useless stuff for? Wasting time?"
"Ah?" Kael blinked. He had contemplated many possibilities, but never expected Professor Babbling to say this, and judging by her tone, she wasn’t speaking offhandedly; she genuinely thought Kael was wasting his time.
"It’s like this." Professor Babbling explained, "To Rowena Ravenclaw and those medieval scholars, Original Magic Text had significant shortcomings. I don’t recommend wasting your time on this." freēwēbnovel.com
"What do you mean?" Kael still didn’t quite understand.
"It’s like this..." Professor Babbling, uncharacteristically patient, said, "So-called Original Magic Text, to put it plainly, is just a kind of magical writing concocted by ancient wizards themselves.
"But because of the constraints of the era, these writings weren’t effectively unified and structured. In other words, they were too chaotic. If you don’t understand its correct meaning, even the slightest error could lead to the collapse of the Magic Text Talisman.
"Precisely because of this, the great Rowena Ravenclaw gathered all the scholars of the time to jointly unify and organize the Original Magic Text, compiling it into volumes, which is the content we now learn."
Professor Babbling gave Kael a meaningful look as she said this, "I recall saying something to a student over fifty years ago; now I say this to you...
"Some things are eliminated naturally for a reason. Don’t excessively pursue so-called power, because as you immerse in triumph, often more terrifying things come unnoticed, dragging you into the abyss of magic."
Seeing Professor Babbling’s light gray eyes, Kael instinctively took a step back and scratched his head.
"Sorry Professor, it’s because I read something written in Original Magic Text that I thought of learning this."
"Oh?" Professor Babbling raised an eyebrow, "At least documents over thirteen hundred years old aren’t common... Yet there’s equally no need to specifically learn it."
She grabbed a nearby thick book in an instant, then tossed it to Kael.
"This is the Original Magic Text reference table; you can cross-reference it yourself. There’s no need to waste time specifically learning.
"Let me be clear, even if you insist, I won’t waste time teaching you... No one should think of occupying my time, not even Dumbledore!"
Professor Babbling’s patience was nearly exhausted at this point. As Kael browsed through the reference table, she left the classroom without looking back.
By the time Kael reacted and tried to chase after her, the corridor was already empty.
Kael sighed, Professor Babbling didn’t have an office, or rather, she never went to her office; in this situation, unless it’s the next class, no one could find her, emphasizing her policy of never running overtime.
Standing in the empty corridor, Kael again thought about her prior words.
Fifty years ago, she reminded a student. Who was that person, Tom Riddle?
From the timeline it matches exactly, and more importantly, Riddle was also quite knowledgeable in magic texts — something Kael personally knew.
But since Professor Babbling didn’t want to elaborate, Kael couldn’t ask.
He glanced at the book in his hand, then carelessly shoved it into his box.
At least this trip yielded something; he realized there’s entirely no need to delve into the seemingly mysterious but practically discarded Original Magic Text, saving him considerable time.
After Kael left the corridor, the already vanished Professor Babbling suddenly appeared at the classroom door again.