Chapter 270: Introduction to Alchemy
After Transfiguration class ended, it was already noon.
"George, shall we go to the Great Hall for lunch together?"
A young Slytherin witch from the same year extended an invitation for lunch to George, but he smiled and declined:
"No, I'm going to see Professor Snape to ask about some magical questions."
With his current popularity, he frequently received various invitations from the young witches at school.
It was normal—teenagers at that age were just beginning to experience romantic feelings. In his previous life, he had a crush at that age too, though he hadn't been as bold and courageous as these young witches.
So, in order not to delay these young witches or let them harbor unrealistic fantasies, George always firmly declined such invitations.
If you know someone likes you, but you clearly don't like them back, the best course of action isn't to hesitate out of fear of hurting them, but to reject them decisively and directly. That's the most appropriate way to handle it.
At that age, it's unrealistic to expect firm commitments in relationships. After being rejected, they'll naturally fall for someone else after a while.
But sometimes, when faced with particularly persistent young witches, rejection doesn't work.
For example, if he made an excuse about having something to do, the other party would ask what it was and then follow him around, insisting on coming along—basically, just clinging on relentlessly.
At times like this, Professor Snape came in handy. Just saying he was going to consult Professor Snape about magic would scare off most young witches.
It wasn't just students from other houses—Slytherins themselves were deeply afraid of their Head of House.
"Ah, then... forget it."
Sure enough, upon hearing that George was going to ask Snape about magic, the young witch's expression changed instantly.
Yesterday, during Potions class, she had used the wrong ingredients and got half-scolded to death by Snape. Now, just the thought of him made her tremble.
Because George had answered rather loudly, the other young witches nearby who had also been thinking of inviting him to lunch heard it and immediately stopped in their tracks.
George packed away his spellbook, turned, and left the classroom. Then he found a quiet place and turned the Time-Turner, returning to five hours earlier.
When turning the Time-Turner, it was essential to find a spot with few people and make sure he hadn't been there five hours ago.
Otherwise, suddenly appearing would startle others, and if his past self saw his current self, it would cause a temporal disturbance that could cause serious harm to him—and others as well.
After turning the Time-Turner five times, George felt the world around him rewind rapidly like countless fast-forwarding slides. In the blink of an eye, he was back five hours earlier.
"Amazing time magic!"
Even though he'd experienced it many times, George couldn't help but marvel each time.
Unfortunately, time magic was extremely difficult. Even after consulting Dumbledore, he still struggled to get started.
The main issue was that there were too few references on time magic, and the knowledge was not systematic. Even Dumbledore wasn't particularly skilled in this field and often left George to figure things out on his own.
He had considered trying to find time magic references in other worlds, hoping that comparisons might reduce the difficulty of learning.
But that was clearly not an easy task.
In the Marvel universe, there was the Time Stone, and the Ancient One was a master of time magic. However, George had no intention of approaching the Ancient One right now.
He had too many secrets. Until he had enough strength to rival the Ancient One, he didn't want to get entangled with her.
Behind the Ancient One were the Vishanti and Eternity—beings far beyond his current comprehension.
In the world of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, neither the Book of Merlin nor the Book of Morgana contained any records of time magic. That world seemed to have no research on it at all.
In the Fairy Tail world, he had found clues about time magic, but it was classified as a Lost Magic—the Arc of Time.
Lost Magic referred to spells that had already vanished, so naturally, they no longer existed.
In Academy City, he had only just begun interacting with magicians. In Shirley's memories, there were no mentions of time magic.
He wondered whether any of the 103,000 grimoires inside Index's mind included a book on time magic.
In Middle-earth, Finrod had never mentioned time magic either.
So for now, he had to set aside time magic. His main focus was currently on studying alchemy, which he had just started learning.
Hogwarts didn't offer a dedicated alchemy class, but that didn't matter—Hogwarts had one of the greatest alchemists, second only to Nicolas Flamel: Dumbledore.
In addition to being extremely skilled in Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts, Dumbledore had many achievements in other fields, including alchemy. He had mastered most forms of alchemy known to the world.
He even invented the Deluminator that could extinguish Muggle electric lights.
Don't underestimate the small Deluminator. The magical and alchemical knowledge behind it was profound.
Muggle electric lights weren't candles or oil lamps—they were devices that operated with electric current.
When Dumbledore activated the Deluminator, it didn't break the light—it absorbed the light itself. No matter how much power was supplied or how the light was operated, it would not shine again unless the Deluminator returned the light.
Upon deeper reflection, this already represented a manipulation of fundamental rules.
If the Deluminator's function were amplified, it could suppress all light, absorb all light—even take away the sun's light, plunging the entire world into darkness.
Therefore, Dumbledore's alchemy was undoubtedly at the pinnacle of the wizarding world.
Today, George planned to seek out Dumbledore and begin learning how to create Portkeys.
Because he felt that, for now, this was the most practical magical tool for him across various worlds.
His Apparition could only take him to places he had visited before. If he hadn't been somewhere, he had to fly there—and even that had distance limitations. It also wasn't convenient when bringing others along.
While he could store people in his spatial box, sometimes he didn't want others to know that he possessed one.
But Portkeys were different. They were like spatial teleportation gates. Once a location was set, long-distance transportation could be carried out—and in large numbers.
He didn't even need to be present. He could give someone a Portkey, and they could use it to teleport.
Two people with two Portkeys—no matter where one ended up, the other could appear using the Portkey.
In the Marvel world, he could place one in each city and later instantly appear in any city on Earth.
In Middle-earth, he could use Portkeys to transport large numbers of Light Elf soldiers, reinforce battlefields, swarm enemies, and even launch ambushes.
(End of Chapter)