Chapter 101: The Peeking Fiend's Eye, Magical Pathways
In the Room of Requirement's classroom.
"Ron, raise your wrist higher. Five centimeters, that's right. Hold your wand level... Good work, Harry. You're quite skilled at Defense Against the Dark Arts. Cast slower, and release the spell when you finish the incantation. Hermione, as expected of you. You're learning quickly. No issues. Just keep practicing."
Leonardo watched the three students perform the Disarming Charm, correcting each of them in turn.
Every time they released the spell, he studied them: their movements, their wands, and most importantly, their magical pathways.
Two tiny vortices rotated slowly in the center of Leonardo's pupils, pure black, their color bleeding faintly outward and deepening his already dark green eyes to an almost black shade.
Following the method of the Peeking Fiend's Eye, Leonardo had completed the transformation of his irises.
Now, from his perspective, Harry, Ron, and Hermione's magical pathways were completely visible.
Every time they cast a spell, the flow and circulation of their magical energy was crystal clear.
By simply adjusting their motions and pronunciation timing, then observing their magical pathways, he could provide much finer guidance.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, making the vortices in his pupils rotate faster.
Interesting. Even using the same spell, different people's magical energy flows differently.
The differences weren't dramatic, but they existed. The overall patterns were similar.
Beyond the flow of magical energy, the magical pathways within the wizards themselves were also unique.
Leonardo carefully compared his three friends' magical pathways.
In his current vision, magical pathways resembled a large tree with roots, a trunk, branches, and even fruit-like clusters.
Everyone was a wizard, so the basic structure was essentially the same. They all had what they should have.
But in the details, the differences multiplied.
For instance, Harry's magical pathway contained the most fruit-like clusters, but most were dull in color. Only a few glowed brightly.
Hermione's magical pathway had the fewest clusters but many fine branches spreading outward.
Ron's clusters and branches were balanced, but his trunk was notably thick.
This was Leonardo's first time observing someone else with the Peeking Fiend's Eye, and he wasn't yet familiar with how magical pathway characteristics corresponded to magical abilities.
The Weasley family's magic books did mention magical pathways. But this didn't match up.
The images he was observing were clearly different from what those books described.
Leonardo didn't think the Peeking Fiend's Eye or Weasley's knowledge was wrong, just that the observation methods differed. The Weasley family's knowledge leaned toward mastering and developing one's own magical pathway to improve casting ability. They used magical energy to sense the self through a unique method.
But nothing like using the Peeking Fiend's Eye, which showed images this clearly and vividly.
No rush. He'd observe more people, compare notes, and eventually find the pattern.
Hogwarts had plenty of wizards anyway: a wide age range. Newly awakened first-years, students in their growth phase, mature and even elderly teachers. The sample size would be vast.
For now, Leonardo focused on observing the three students, comparing their current magical performance to their future growth in the original story. Yes, roughly speaking, the number of clusters is probably related to magical capacity. The number and thickness of branches might relate to casting precision.
After all, early on, Hermione's magical ability was definitely superior to Harry's. Both had zero magical exposure before starting school. Hermione's learning ability was part of it, but starting mid-series, Harry's magical level skyrocketed.
The most likely explanation was the difference in total magical capacity, possibly including magical output efficiency.
Wizards' magic grew with age, and growth rate and ceiling varied increasingly.
After memorizing the three students' magical pathways, Leonardo concentrated his attention inward, beginning to "observe" himself.
This was one clever application of the Peeking Fiend's Eye: seeing himself from a third-person perspective, observing his full condition to better adjust his spell-casting precision.
Observing his own magical pathway...
Though Leonardo had looked at it when first acquiring the Peeking Fiend's Eye, he still found it strange.
Similar to Harry and the others' magical pathways being tree-shaped, his was too.
But the sheer number of fruit-like clusters connected to it, the sheer fineness of the branches, it was staggeringly complex.
Based on Leonardo's theory, if these represented magical capacity and casting precision, that made sense. After all, his magic and various magical talents were quite high.
But what troubled Leonardo most was the root and trunk region.
Harry and the others' roots were fixed, just like real tree roots.
His, however...
They moved like tentacles, soft and bending, writhing and waving as if greeting him.
And higher up, on the trunk's surface, countless things were arranged chaotically.
Eyes?
They were all ghostly, without eyelashes.
What disturbed Leonardo most was that when using the Peeking Fiend's Eye to observe his internal magical pathway, all these eyes would fix their gaze on him at once.
Even if he changed direction, the eyes followed.
After trying several times, Leonardo fell into thought.
Looking at his magical pathway... he seemed...
Not very human.
"Leonardo, did your eye color change?" Hermione asked, studying his eyes with confusion.
The three had finished their practice.
Leonardo blinked, returning to awareness. The vortices in his eyes had vanished, returned to his normal dark green.
"Probably the light."
Seeing Leonardo's eyes were normal again, Hermione suspected she'd been mistaken.
"Ron, I need a favor from you."
Hearing this, Ron immediately puffed out his chest. "No problem, what is it?"
"Can I borrow Scabbers for a while?"
Ron scratched his head, confused. "Sure, I guess, but Scabbers likes to sleep a lot. He eats a ton and isn't very interesting."
With that, Ron fished Scabbers from his pocket. The balding old rat was indeed fast asleep.
Leonardo smiled slightly. "It's fine. I just want to try raising a pet."
"Oh, by the way, you don't have a pet yet, do you, Leonardo?"
Leonardo didn't commit either way, simply reaching out to take Scabbers from Ron and placing him directly into a small green flask.
"Leonardo, if you're thinking about getting a pet, I saw this really cute cat at the Magical Menagerie last time. It's a ginger Persian cat."
Hearing Hermione's description, Leonardo's memory clicked. He recalled it.
Well, cute?
True, ginger Persian, but that face looked like it had crashed into a wall.
Or maybe he was misremembering. Perhaps it wasn't the same cat Hermione meant.