Chapter 178: The Light Charm and the Leap Attack
In the Headmistress's office at Beauxbatons, there were no portraits of past Headmasters, only decorations and oil paintings that symbolized the personal taste of the current incumbent. It was a far cry from Dumbledore's office.
In front of Madame Maxime was a large, round table, bare save for a few simple decorations. All documents were filed away in cabinets to the side, and all instruments were tucked neatly beneath them.
The four of them sat at the table. The dynamic was simple: Ryan spoke, Nicolas Flamel critiqued, Perenelle praised, and Madame Maxime was completely baffled.
"I believe," Madame Maxime said, "you have convinced me." After struggling to comprehend the gist of Ryan's research, she felt like a complete Muggle. She had never known, nor could she have imagined, that true masters were researching magic at this level. In her youth, she too had been a prodigy, praised by all, but her life as a Headmistress had forced her to abandon her own advanced magical exploration.
Now, her level of magical knowledge might only be enough to sit at the same table as Ryan. But in terms of pioneering magical thought... she could only sit at the table with Harry. After all, Harry was still busy pondering who was stronger: Dumbledore or a meteor.
"You need a group of Squibs," she summarized, her head buzzing, "to help you verify... to see if the emotional magical disturbance that appears in Muggles also exists in them? And to test if Squibs can utilize this simplified magic?"
"But," she questioned, "isn't the very reason young wizards are identified by their families because they have accidental magic when they're emotional as children?"
Even though she was stunned by the grand scale of Ryan's proposal, she retained the healthy skepticism required of a magical researcher. "They are called Squibs precisely because they cannot channel magic. What is the point of experimenting on them?"
"I don't believe using childhood expressions of magic is a very accurate measure," Ryan said. "Madame Maxime, think about it. What kind of emotions does a child's tantrum stimulate? That's just the basic, instinctual spectrum of joy, anger, and fear. For example, a student at Hogwarts... his family was convinced he was a Squib because he showed no talent. It wasn't until his uncle threw him out of a high window that the student's magic finally burst forth in terror, allowing him to float in the air."
He looked at Madame Maxime. "How intense can a child's emotions truly be? Take Harry, for instance. He told me he once made a pane of glass vanish in a fit of rage, letting a snake out to scare his cousin. A child's anger... forgive my arrogance, but in my own empathy-link, the 'rage' I sensed from Harry was trivial."
Ryan had often used empathy charms to study emotions, and the anger he'd felt from Harry was nothing compared to the killing intent he'd sensed from the Voldemort fragment. The former was a soft marshmallow; the latter was forged steel.
A marshmallow's worth of anger let Harry vanish a pane of glass. But what if it were steel? Could steel-like rage have allowed Harry to vanish the entire reptile house?
"So you think the stimulus for young wizards is insufficient? And that many 'Squibs' might actually be able to cast magic?" Maxime asked, catching his drift.
"The experiment has two goals," Ryan said. "First, to test the Squibs. Second, to prove the relationship between emotion and magic. The first is the phenomenon; the second is the foundation."
"If it's truly as you say, and their emotion is just insufficient, what kind of stimulus would be needed to get someone we've classified as a Squib to reach that emotional peak?" Maxime felt this was the real hurdle. Extreme emotion puts a heavy load on the body; you couldn't just push someone to the brink of death for an experiment.
"Oh, I have that covered," Ryan said. "This is thanks to a new wand I developed in cooperation with Mr. Ollivander." He reached into his ring and pulled out a large, one-meter-long metal staff, slamming it onto the floor with a heavy THUD. The teacups on the round table rattled from the impact.
"That... is a wand?" Madame Maxime asked, hesitant. She would have readily accepted it if he'd called it an iron bar, but a wand?
Ryan swung the staff, making it whistle through the air as he performed a few flourishing moves. He then turned to the stunned Headmistress and a face-palming Nicolas Flamel. "Oh, my esteemed Professor, Madame Flamel, and Madame Maxime, as we all know, a truly powerful wizard only needs to learn one spell, like a Light Charm. They put all their other skill points into Strength, Stamina, Charge, Leap Attack, and Weapon Mastery..."
Maxime, Nicolas, and Perenelle: "..."
"Just kidding," Ryan said. "This new type of wand has spells inscribed in it. Anyone holding it can cast those spells. A Squib, who has suffered for decades, scorned by the wizarding world, tormented day and night... the moment they discover they have the chance to cast a spell, their emotions will undoubtedly hit their peak."
It was the agony of unattainable desire. The more you yearned for something, the more you tossed and turned, the more you suffered—the more you would appreciate it when it was finally within reach, and the more that fulfillment would fuel your emotions. Decades of accumulated frustration would become the fiercest tinder, igniting a Squib's will to use magic.
"I imagine," Ryan said, "if observed on a spiritual and mental level, that moment will be as brilliant and blazing as the sun."
He handed the staff over.
Madame Maxime inspected the spells inscribed in the metal and then, channeling her own magic, gave it a try. "...This is a Light Charm?"
"Ollivander... he actually made this kind of wand?" As the two wizards who had the longest-standing friendship with the Ollivander family, Nicolas and Perenelle had known many generations of them. They knew the Ollivanders were masters dedicated to traditional wandcraft.
"Times are changing," Ryan said. "Having an extra skill is never a bad thing." Ollivander now commands two different wandmaking arts. He has far more options than before. He really should be thanking me.
Madame Maxime confirmed several times that the staff could, in fact, normally channel magic. "I will contact some Squibs," she said, her decision made. "I will have them come to Beauxbatons, and we will conduct the experiment here at the school."
"That would be a great help, Madame Maxime."
Madame Maxime was a woman of action. Having confirmed her role, she wasted no time, inviting Nicolas, Perenelle, and Ryan to the banquet hall, where she would host them. At the same time, she began writing letters—some to Squibs she knew, others to friends at the French Ministry, asking them to help gather subjects.
In the Banquet Hall.
Nicolas Flamel took his seat, his tone suddenly stern. "You didn't tell her the whole story, Ryan. You didn't tell that young woman about the dangers, or the countermeasures."
~~~
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