Chapter 696: Fabrication - (2) |
"In fifteen minutes," Madam Bones said nervously, "we'll activate the portkey on you. If you successfully land on the moon, you can cancel it. The portkey works both ways."
Felix nodded. The atmosphere grew solemn; everyone knew it was time. Felix glanced at them before vanishing from their sight. Everyone understood a significant magical experiment was underway.
And they could only wait in Hogwarts' courtyard for the outcome.
"It's not his usual style. If he's truly prepared, by the time he announces the results, he might have visited the moon several times already. But clearly, today's his first attempt." Hermione commented.
"Muggle negotiations are imminent," Madam Bones hesitated.
"We have to trust Felix; he's created many wonders," Professor McGonagall reassured in a hushed tone.
...
In the high sky.
Felix drifted, casting a glance behind him; thick clouds obscured his view. He double-checked his magic then leaped deeper. When he opened his eyes, he found himself amidst the vast, starry sky.
Unsurprised, Felix responded mentally, having known beforehand. He tentatively moved his limbs and carefully sensed his body, "It's cold, windy, and something's wearing down my magical barrier, probably cosmic rays... but it's manageable, hasn't reached my skin."
Another trump card emerged, one of Felix's sources of confidence.
His doppelgänger magic.
Different from the illusions typical wizards conjured, Felix split into two entities. As long as the magic persisted, they could be seen as two separate beings. Felix transformed one entity into a projection from his thoughts, just as he once turned a potted Mandrake in the school greenhouse into rudimentary lines.
In case of trouble, when conventional magic failed to help him survive in space, or even ancient runes proved ineffective, he could "sacrifice" one body, freely traverse space, and, in the final moment, reveal the projection hidden in the Room of Requirement and cancel the doppelgänger magic for substitution.
The magical wonder was evident.
Felix began his journey in the boundless starry sky, repeatedly casting Disillusionment Charms. Unlike instantaneous disappearance and reappearance in combat, it took some time for each casting during travel, perhaps just a few seconds, but when accumulated two or three hundred times, it added up.
About ten minutes passed. Felix sat in space, Earth becoming a small, patterned black sphere, floating amidst a pale, glowing nebula. The moon was now within reach.
After another half a minute, Felix stood on the moon's surface.
"Feels like being under a floating charm," Felix murmured soundlessly. He didn't rush to explore but instead tested some standard spells in place, their effects remaining mostly unchanged. Then, the blue pin on his chest lit up.
Madam Bones had activated the portkey.
Felix casually extinguished the portkey's light, deep in thought. Subtracting the time spent on testing along the way, he probably took twelve minutes, and once the process became proficient, this time could further compress, likely to around seven or eight minutes.
If his Disillusionment Charm's range were broader, perhaps only three or four minutes... It was undoubtedly good news. Felix began casting magic—a massive Bubble-Head Charm.
But the Bubble-Head Charm shattered as soon as it appeared, like an overturned fishbowl.
"I knew it wouldn't be smooth sailing," Felix muttered, unsurprised, as he flipped through the book of magical texts. Soon enough, a spell resembling the Bubble-Head Charm appeared. It had been two years since the transformation, and Felix felt noticeable progress every now and then, but the ancient magic especially demonstrated remarkable adaptability.
"Perhaps Grindelwald could achieve this too," Felix pondered. Even though they were both grand wizards, their areas of research differed. Grindelwald excelled in handling subtle changes in magic, combining the properties of the Bubble-Head Charm with those of other spells to create habitable environments in space.
After spending some time, a hemispherical magical barrier was complete. He added various protective spells while adjusting the temperature, lighting, pressure... Finally, Felix extracted a large amount of air from the emerald ring, and a temporary shelter was erected.
Felix dispelled the magic on himself, took a deep breath, and the light from the Illumination Charm cast a soft glow.
Slowly closing his eyes, he pretended to be a wizard from centuries ago—it was easy, having visited many famous wizarding sites, and wizards had always had a slow pace of life, with many buildings retaining traces from hundreds, even thousands, of years ago, tracing back to the time of Herpo the Foul.
The light-colored lunar soil was rolled up, dark soil and various small glass particles and rock debris congealed into various shapes, porous clumps of light yellowish-brown rocks burned, melted, and solidified in the flames. After a few minutes, Felix realized that the oxygen was running low.
"...That's normal; ancient wizards couldn't possibly have everything they needed."
Felix carefully examined the loosely constructed ruins in front of him, gaining some insight into building houses on the moon. He took out vegetables from the ring and ground them with lunar soil.
In the end, he held soil mixed with vegetable leaves and two containers he had just crafted—one resembling a flowerpot, the other a plate—with ancient patterns carved on them.
"Now comes the most crucial step."
Felix's expression became solemn as a ball of temporal energy floated out from the ring, enveloping the floating lunar soil and containers... This temporal energy came from the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries, with some leftovers after resolving Miss Granger's long-distance time-traveling loophole. It seemed tailored for the scene before him.
The color of the soil and containers gradually became deep and ancient, and Felix smiled satisfactorily.
"What's fake, what's real? Standing here, I am real."
Recalling the enormous lies he had recently spread, borrowing Grindelwald's special identity counted as one, 'illuminating' Britain due to timing and circumstances only counted as half, but now, this was undoubtedly another complete lie. He was incredibly audacious, aiming to create a piece of history out of thin air.
Felix had no intention of forcibly dividing wizards and non-wizards; it was unrealistic and unnecessary. His idea was to redirect the gaze of wizards (including non-wizards) towards the vast starry sky. If wizards had once lived on the moon, what about even further places? Like Mars?
At least Felix would not stop exploring.
At Hogwarts, everyone waited anxiously. Two hours had passed, and their facial expressions changed from calm to worried, solemn, restless, desperate, until only a glimmer of hope remained.
Harry thought thankfully of Hermione, who continuously reassured the students around him who were just as anxious.
Suddenly, there was a faint sound in the air.
Felix appeared unscathed, smiling faintly as he surveyed the surroundings, flicking away the dust on his clothes, and calmly said, "There was a slight deviation in the return point this time, so I had to—"
A figure rushed over. Initially, he thought to dodge, but upon seeing who it was, he hesitated and stayed put.
It was Hermione. She leaned against his shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Next time, next time, please take me with you," she said, her voice trembling.
Felix's expression froze for a moment.
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