The Struggle Over the Essence of Magic

Chapter 9 The Struggle Over the Essence of Magic

"Class begins! Class begins!"

As dawn broke, the newly arrived Hogwarts students excitedly got up, went to the Great Hall in small groups for breakfast, and after wandering around the chaotic stairwells for a while, finally found the classroom for their first class, Charms. They waved their wands and excitedly flipped through "Standard Spells: Elementary," discussing the various spells recorded within and the theories they couldn't yet understand.

Hufflepuff's Charms class was in Slytherin, but there was only one person in the entire classroom wearing a green undershirt, who was sitting quietly flipping through his textbook.

"Baron?"

As Avada entered the classroom, she immediately spotted the only person sitting in the front row and couldn't help but ask in surprise, "You're up so early too?"

As a time traveler, he was even more excited than the average freshman last night, and his sleep quality was worse. He is still feeling a bit tired.

Good morning, Ken.

Baron greeted him with a smile, "I didn't expect to see you again so soon. Would you like to sit here? It's really hard to get a seat in the front row."

"I couldn't be happier, thank you so much."

Avada thanked him, pulled out a chair, put down his backpack, and sat down next to Baron, pretending to flip through his textbook—he had already thoroughly studied it during the summer vacation.

Gradually, the Slytherin students and the Hufflepuffs who slept better also entered the classroom and sat down in groups according to their respective houses, forming two distinct areas, one yellow and one green. In this way, Avada and Baron became the only boundary between them.

Finally, a short, goblin-like wizard wearing a robe that dragged on the ground walked in, waved his hand to move a stack of books under the podium, and then jumped up so that he could just peek half of his body out from behind the podium.

"Let me introduce myself," he said in a high-pitched voice, "I am Felius Flitwick, the head of Charms class and the head of Ravenclaw School."

"Before class begins, let's take attendance..." He pulled out a piece of parchment, examined the names on it, and frowned slightly.

"Mr. Ken!"

"Here," Avada replied listlessly, drawing sidelong glances and murmurs—Cedric had only warned the Hufflepuffs not to ask his name, but the Slytherins had no idea.

"Mr. Baron Shafik!"

"arrive."

Baron paused for a moment before responding, wondering why his own name had to be prefixed with "Mr."

"Mr. Shabi Nott!"

"arrive."

……

Avada then realized that after reading his own name, Flitwick had added the prefix "Mr." or "Miss" to all the students.

"Great, everyone's here."

After reading the last name, Flitwick put away the parchment with satisfaction, looked around the classroom, and said, "When I walked into the classroom just now, I noticed that most of you were already looking through your textbooks, which is a good habit. So, what are your thoughts on the content of the textbooks?"

Several hands were raised in unison.

"Mr. McNeill," he called on a Slytherin student.

A tall, thin boy stood up and replied proudly, "The spells on them are very simple; I already knew quite a few when I was at home!"

"very good."

Flitwick smiled gently and then pointed to another Hufflepuff girl: "Miss White, how do you feel?"

"It feels...amazing!" she replied shyly. "I never imagined there could be so much wondrous magic in the world, capable of doing so many incredible things!"

A low chuckle came from Slytherin's direction, causing Baron to frown slightly.

Flitwick called on several more students, receiving a variety of responses, before nodding and saying, "It seems everyone has a considerable interest in learning magic. So, let me ask you a different question: Has anyone carefully read the preface of this book?"

For a moment, the classroom fell silent—they were all eleven-year-old children, and faced with the novel magic spells, who had the mind to care about the long and obscure preface?

After a long while, a hand slowly grew out from under the table.

It is Avada.

He had read the preface, which was quite helpful in understanding the magical world. He had originally intended to keep a low profile, but couldn't bear to see the atmosphere that Flitwick had worked so hard to create fall flat, so he reluctantly raised his hand.

"Wow, there really is!"

Flitwick was somewhat surprised: "None of the previous first-year students read the preface... So, Mr. Ken, could you share your thoughts?"

So you did this on purpose?

His face twitched slightly as he stood up, and after a moment, he replied, "The preface is quite profound, and I didn't understand much of it. But I could roughly tell that it discussed the essence of magic, why we can use magic, and some of the latest findings in magical research. As for the various terms mentioned, like 'essence theory' and 'coverage theory,' I didn't understand them at all."

"It's okay if you don't understand it. If everyone could understand everything in a book on their own, what would be the point of having me as a professor?"

Flitwick happily gestured for Avada to sit down: "Two points for Hufflepuff."

"Ken is right. Ever since wizards discovered their extraordinary abilities and distinguished themselves from Muggles, discussions about magic and magical power have never ceased and continue to this day."

His expression turned solemn: "Why is it that wizards can cast spells while Muggles cannot, even though they are both human? Why does the seemingly orderly natural world allow the existence of 'magic,' which disrupts the natural order? And what exactly is the essence of 'magic power'?"

"These questions still have no answers."

"However, as times have progressed and research into the mysteries of magic has deepened, we have eliminated many erroneous fallacies and are getting closer to the truth. For example, there was an ancient 'ontology' that held that magic was a supernatural energy inherent in wizards. But with the discovery of new theories, this claim has been proven wrong. We have at least confirmed that magic permeates nature, and wizards can only influence and manipulate it using certain qualities within themselves."

"So, Professor, what is the mainstream viewpoint explaining magic?"

A Slytherin asked impatiently, without even raising his hand.

There are currently three main viewpoints.

Fritjof didn't blame him, but followed up on his question: "They are 'essence theory,' 'coverage theory,' and 'inherent theory,' which has only emerged in recent decades."

"Essentialism holds that magic is the essence of all matter and energy in the world, and that everything can be transformed into magic and unilaterally influenced by it."

"Covering theory posits that magic is a substance or energy that transcends all physical entities, covering the entire world from a higher dimension and thus influencing all things in the world."

"The theory of innate properties, on the other hand, was inspired by Muggle science at the beginning of this century and quickly gained popularity. It posits that 'magic' does not actually exist in nature, but rather is an inherent property of all matter and energy. Anything can spontaneously produce magical effects without the influence of external forces. Magic is merely the medium that triggers these effects."

Seeing the shocked, confused, or thoughtful expressions on the students' faces in the classroom, Flitwick smiled and stopped explaining, giving them time to think and process the information.

"certainly,"

After a while, he continued, "None of these three theories have absolute, irrefutable evidence. If any one of you here can completely prove or disprove any one of them, then congratulations, you will be remembered throughout the entire magical world, and even Merlin's Order of the Mighty First Class cannot cover one percent of your achievements!"

"I really hope that the great wizard who will go down in history can be born in this classroom."

Seeing the students' increasingly eager eyes, Flitwick knew he had successfully stirred up the atmosphere. He nodded in satisfaction, then took out his wand and tapped the blackboard: "Then, let's take the first step towards this goal, exploring the mysteries of magic!"

"For our first lesson of the new semester, we'll learn the spell 'Levitation Spell'!"

(End of this chapter)