Chapter 19 The Embarrassing Patronus

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Maca walked over and patted the exposed thick roots of the Whomping Willow, and the tree immediately trembled and moved aside, revealing a deep, dark hole.

It was a sloping cave, large enough for one person to lie down and slide in. Maca frowned, holding his suitcase in his arms, and then jumped into the hole.

The slope wasn't very long, and soon Maca found himself in a tunnel where he had to stoop to move forward.

The tunnel was devoid of light, pitch black all around. Maca, covering his head after bumping into the ceiling, fumbled and pulled out his wand, but halfway through, he hesitated and ultimately put it back.

The Ministry of Magic had left traces on every finished wand, so underage wizards under the age of 17 would be immediately detected if they used magic outside of school. Especially in a sparsely populated area like this, it would draw attention. It was best not to use it, even though he should still be within the range of Hogwarts at the moment.

He took out a small glass bottle from the inner pocket of his outer robe and shook it vigorously, producing a sound of gravel colliding.

In the darkness, a soft glow appeared and gradually brightened. If you looked closely into the bottle, you would see a peculiar light mist emanating from it, growing thicker and denser.

"When I earn enough money, I'll definitely buy a convenient portable waist bag," Maca said, weighing his outer robe, filled with various bottles and jars, making it feel heavy.

Inside were potions, semi-finished products, and even just materials, but without exception, they were all practical little items.

"...Or maybe I'll make one myself." He couldn't bear to part with his moneybag after all.

As he walked with his head down, pondering various things, he soon felt the tunnel gradually sloping upward. Before long, a vague light appeared ahead.

Maca pulled out the stopper of the glowing bottle he had been carrying, and with a soft "pop," the light mist inside spread out in the tunnel and dissipated in no time.

The light mist in the bottle was gone, leaving only a small amount of fine black sand at the bottom. Maca put the stopper back in.

Many potions and even simple materials could produce effects similar to spells, and some were even more powerful, but with a very low threshold for use.

Of course, you had to prepare in advance and carry them with you at all times. But the flaws couldn't hide the gem, which was one of the reasons why potions were so expensive.

As time passed, many potion recipes were shattered by the wheel of history, left in the eras they once flourished. But a new generation of potion masters was working hard on them, whether it was recovering the recipes or attempting innovation, keeping potions in a prominent position in the wizarding world.

"...So, I won't agree unless it's 200 Galleons."

In a corner of the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade village, a small wizard wrapped in a worn hooded cloak made of gray felt spoke calmly in a vague Western countryside accent.

His hoarse voice sounded like his vocal cords had been scraped with a file, making people involuntarily frown.

Across from him, a wizard wrapped his exposed skin in numerous bandages, speaking in an equally unsettling, hoarse voice, bargaining with him. The voice made one suspect that he had a mouthful of ancient phlegm.

"No! Cough, cough, this potion is a new product, and... cough... I can't sell it in my shop until I see its

.

On a quiet night, Maca stood inside the spacious room provided by the Room of Requirement.

Yes, after a long search and recollection, he finally found the location of this place - it was on the eighth floor of the castle, across from the tapestry of "The giant clubbing Fluffy the three-headed dog."

God knows how many times he had wandered back and forth like a fool in front of countless paintings, tapestries, and statues just to find the exact spot!

"Expecto Patronum!"

Maca stood upright in the center of the room, holding his wand straight in front of him like a sword. He focused all his energy and attention on the tip of the wand, and as the pure silver-white light grew brighter, it detached itself from Maca's wand.

For all the practice he had done with the Patronus Charm, he could only reach this point. It could even be said that he was able to produce this hopeful and lifelike silver-white mist from his wand on his first attempt at practicing the charm.

But with each practice, while the mist became denser, he still couldn't summon his own Patronus.

This led Maca to re-examine the basic theory of the spell.

He once again consulted numerous books but didn't find anything particularly insightful. The theories of this spell were mostly vague, mentioning the need for the user to concentrate on happy and beautiful things. In short, it required positive emotions.

Helpless, Maca had to focus on the various instances where the Patronus Charm had successfully saved loved ones.

Finally, perseverance paid off. The numerous instances of using the Patronus Charm to save loved ones gave him a new breakthrough. He discovered that the moment when the user, in a desperate situation, wished to protect a specific person, was when the spell truly manifested its power!

"...Patronus."

Maca recalled the scene of seeing Luna for the first time in the graveyard.

In the sunset, the girl's golden hair emitted a faint halo. She stood in front of the cold tombstone, silently gazing at her deceased mother. In the entire gray-toned scene, her figure was the only thing that stood out.

Under the starry sky, when Maca instinctively avoided the topic of her mother, she calmly told him that it was indeed a sad story, but one must learn to face it.

Before parting ways, Maca could only remember her pair of silver-gray eyes. In those hazy and dreamy eyes, there was a hidden longing for him, her friend, and the anticipation of seeing each other again.

As Maca reminisced, the dense silver-white mist swirling around his body surged up and transformed into a translucent silver eagle that circled around him.

Maca looked at the enormous eagle in front of him, his face showing a mix of embarrassment.

"...How am I going to face Professor Sprout from now on?"

Among the four houses at Hogwarts, the eagle was the symbol of Ravenclaw, representing justice, sharpness, severity, foresight, and superiority.

When the Sorting Hat was assigning Maca to a house, it first considered Ravenclaw, although for unknown reasons it ultimately placed him in Hufflepuff. But undoubtedly, it indicated a deep connection between Maca and Ravenclaw.

At this moment, his Patronus, a majestic eagle, apart from being associated with the emotions of "protecting Luna with hope," probably had something to do with that.

"Anyway, let's go to sleep!"

Maca waved his wand, dispelling the Patronus Charm, and then left the Room of Requirement with a complicated feeling in his heart.

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