Chapter 30: Disguise Charm

The Gryffindor common room was crowded with students chatting on the sofas in the afternoon.

Since the seating in the common room was limited and it was too crowded and noisy, Albert had no intention of staying there. He pinned the first-year students' class schedule on the bulletin board, returned his camera and photos to the dormitory, and headed directly to the library on the fifth floor of the castle.

There were no other students in the library, as expected. Even Ravenclaw students rarely set foot in the library before the official start of classes.

The only person in the library was Madam Irma Pince, the librarian. She sat alone behind the counter, quietly reading a book. Only when Albert approached the counter did Madam Pince look up, seemingly surprised that someone would come to the library at this time.

"Excuse me, ma'am. I'm looking for some books on spells. Do you know where they are shelved?" Albert asked softly.

In fact, Albert could find them himself, but the library had quite a collection of books, and it would be time-consuming and tedious to search on his own. Asking the librarian directly was the fastest way.

Madam Pince glanced at Albert and raised her hand, pointing to a row of wooden bookshelves. "Section C, fifth shelf."

Albert followed the direction of her finger and, after thanking her, walked towards the bookshelves in section C. His gaze paused at the rope leading to the Restricted Section, then he continued walking. There were quite a few books on spells on the fifth shelf.

As Albert brushed his fingers over the book spines, his fingers unexpectedly paused because two tasks appeared on his panel.

Bookworm:

As someone who loves reading, how could you miss the largest magical library in Britain?

Read 100 books with a thickness of 1 inch each.

Reward: Randomly acquire proficiency in 3 spells and raise them to Level 3.

Progress: 0/100

Forbidden Magic Zone:

Hogwarts' Restricted Section holds many secrets. As someone who loves magic, how could you miss it? If you can borrow a few books from there and study them carefully, it will help improve your magical skills.

Successfully persuade five professors to allow you to borrow five books from the Restricted Section.

Reward: Increase skill level by 1.

Progress: 0/5

By the way, both of these tasks are quite challenging!

Reading a hundred books is not easy, especially if they're 1 inch thick. It's like asking him to read a hundred bricks. You could literally get crushed by them.

Completing this task will take quite a long time, maybe even three years if he's lucky. Thank Merlin for his protection.

The second task is even trickier. It's not easy to obtain borrowing slips from the professors for the Restricted Section.

Moreover, he needs to obtain separate slips from five different professors, which makes it even more challenging.

In Albert's imagination, the easiest professor to approach for this task might be Gilderoy Lockhart.

However, the difficulty is high, but the rewards are substantial. Increasing the skill level by 1 is much more powerful than skill points.

But it's not the time to consider these tasks. Albert pushes aside these distractions and randomly selects a spell book. The book is titled "Selected Spells of the 18th Century."

He flips through the table of contents and counts. It lists thirty-three spells, each one detailing the inventor, how to properly use the incantation, and the significance of its creation...

After scanning the table of contents, Albert loses interest in this book. He didn't find the Disguise Charm listed.

Although the other spells are impressive, they are not currently useful for Albert. Learning these magic requires a significant amount of time and energy or tapping into his stored experience pool.

Although there is still a considerable amount of experience in his pool, Albert doesn't want to use it now.

He puts the book "Selected Spells of the 18th Century" back on the shelf and selects another one, "Achievements in Spells." It's a book that introduces various spells, and Albert finds information about the Disguise Charm inside.

Unfortunately, the book doesn't provide instructions on how to cast the Disguise Charm; it only mentions some attempts with the spell.

However, from the provided information, Albert discovers relevant records of the Disguise Charm in "Selected Spells of the 19th Century."

This is undoubtedly good news.

Albert took the book "Selected Spells of the 19th Century" and sat at a desk in the library. He opened the book and started reading attentively.

The inspiration for the Disguise Charm came from chameleons. The incantation allows a person to blend into their surroundings and achieve an invisibility effect.

Skilled wizards can use the Disguise Charm without being easily detected, but if performed poorly, it's hard to fool others. The body won't blend into the environment, creating a sense of awkwardness.

As Albert was engrossed in reading about the Disguise Charm, he noticed that someone had pulled out the chair next to him. He looked up and saw the Ravenclaw girl he had encountered in the Great Hall earlier that morning.

Seemingly aware of Albert's gaze, the girl also looked up, nodded slightly at Albert, and then refocused her attention on her book.

"Indeed, she's a Ravenclaw," Albert murmured quietly. He continued reading the notes on the Disguise Charm, preparing to find a place to practice.

The next step was to find the counter-charm for the Disguise Charm.

Although the Disguise Charm's duration isn't too long, it's not a good idea to wait for the effect to wear off on its own without knowing how to release it.

There were no relevant records at the end of the incantation, but Albert found the Revealing Charm in "Achievements in Spells."

Albert took the book "Selected Spells of the 19th Century" and went to Madam Pince to complete the borrowing process. He also picked up a stone outside the castle to use as a target for practice. He wasn't foolish enough to cast an unfamiliar spell on himself.

Just as Albert was contemplating where to practice magic, the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan appeared in the entrance hall, panting for breath.

"Where were you guys at noon?" Albert looked at the three of them and asked.

"Fifth floor, mirrors," George replied, gasping for air, making his words barely understandable.

"Where does that passage lead?" Albert inquired.

"To the outside of the castle. We went to Hogsmeade Village," Fred's face beamed with excitement. On their very first day at Hogwarts, they had discovered a secret passage that led outside the school.

Albert raised an eyebrow and said, "So... you guys were playing in Hogsmeade for a few hours?"

"No, the passage is quite long. We walked for at least an hour," Fred explained.

"You guys... are impressive!" Albert managed to squeeze out these words, but walking for an hour would be an ordeal for him.

After all, as a self-proclaimed slacker, why would he go through the trouble of sneaking into secret passages when he could sit on a couch and read a book? Plus, it took two hours round trip.

"What's that in your hand?" Albert raised the book he was holding. "I borrowed it from the library."

"You found that spell," Fred realized what Albert was referring to.

"Yeah, I found it," Albert admired Fred's quick wit. "But mastering this spell is quite challenging. If you guys want to learn it, be prepared for some mental effort."

(End of this chapter)