Chapter 125: Magic Book? Soul-Receptacle Codex

When Silven returned to the Gryffindor common room, it was nearly curfew.

But the room was still crowded; everyone seemed to be waiting for something, and as Silven walked in through the passage, he immediately drew everyone's attention.

"Silven, where have you been?" Fred sprang to his feet excitedly. "The performance was a huge success—a brilliant fireworks show, even the professors were thoroughly entertained."

"But since you weren't there, some people don't believe we were destroying the Chamber."

"Were you?" Silven asked absently.

"Of course not," Fred and George exchanged a glance and laughed. "We already said—it was just a brilliant fireworks show."

"Exactly. They didn't get it wrong," Silven said. "And as for those who believe I'm the Heir of Slytherin, their thoughts don't matter at all—no explanation is needed."

"Anyway, I'm saying now that the Chamber's problem is solved. If they don't believe me, they can go check the Chamber themselves."

As he spoke, Silven tried to sidestep the wall of bodies formed by Fred and George.

"Hey, what's that?"

At that moment, Hermione suddenly noticed something floating above Silven's shoulder.

"Looks like a book," Harry said. "But why use the Levitation Charm for such a tiny book?"

As they spoke, the book with its black cover seemed startled—it leapt from Silven's left shoulder to his right, then opened itself, pages flipping with a crisp rustling sound.

"Oh, that's cool…"

Fred and George were instantly captivated; they had never thought a book floating in front of someone could look so stylish.

Especially when the pages had just flipped—it had held their gaze completely.

It would be even better if the book could be replaced with a Golden Snitch. A wizard walking ahead, the Golden Snitch circling around him—the image alone was thrilling to imagine.

"George, I just thought of a great idea," Fred said thoughtfully.

"Funny—I just thought of the same thing," George said. "Maybe we're thinking the same thing."

"Definitely."

"So what's your answer?"

"Of course the same as yours." The two spoke words no one else understood, then in the next instant, they both placed their hands on Silven's shoulders.

"Let's collaborate, Silven."

"I bet this thing could sweep through Hogwarts."

"Or just tell us how to make it…"

"We'll trade you the Marauder's Map," George offered a price that made Silven's heart leap—but unfortunately, they truly couldn't make it, not even he himself could replicate it a second time.

【Soul-Receptacle Codex】

【Soul-Receptacle, Undying Wraith, Seven and Three-Fifths Inches】

【Status: Activated】

【Trait: Magic Following: Use your own magic to draw the Soul-Receptacle Codex to any position within five feet of the user.】

【Trait: Magic Sensing: Detect abnormal magic in the surroundings and issue a warning.】

【Trait: Magic Recording: Write magical runes on blank pages; turning the page automatically triggers the corresponding spell (requires draining user's magic).】

【Trait: Magic Backlash: Consume a spell and etch it onto a blank page; turning the page automatically triggers that spell (requires draining user's magic).】

【Current blank pages available: 7/8】

Yes, this was a wand—or you could call it a magic book.

Because it was completely unlike a traditional wand, offering the user no enhancement or reduction whatsoever.

Even a troll wand, a rare type, had a thirty-percent boost to defensive magic—but this book had none.

But did that matter?

Silven thought it didn't matter at all; compared to the book's advantages, this flaw was negligible.

Silven was desperate to test this new device.

He glanced around, then fixed his gaze on Harry.

"I need to speak with you. Come with me now."

"Can it wait…? Knight to H3," Harry said. "This game's almost over."

"I'll help you," Silven said.

Before Harry could grasp what he meant, Silven extended a finger and snapped hard at Ron's "King."

"That's cheating! Cheating!"

The King cursed as it tumbled to the ground, splitting in two; the other pieces shattered instantly.

"Brilliant!" Harry's pieces cheered. "Good job, mate—you should've played like this all along."

"Hey…" Ron glared up angrily.

"Sorry—I'll buy you a butterbeer next time," Silven said, then grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him upstairs to the dormitory.

"What's wrong?" Harry looked at Silven, confused—he noticed the silvery Invisibility Cloak in his hand. "You can keep the Invisibility Cloak a few more days. No rush to return it."

"No, I don't need it anymore," Silven said. "Have you learned the Disarming Charm?"

"What?"

"The Disarming Charm," Silven repeated. "The one Professor Flitwick taught us in the Dueling Club."

"Oh, I guess I've learned it," Harry said uncertainly.

He could knock the wands out of Ron's and Hermione's hands, but he hadn't tried on others—he wasn't sure if that counted as mastering it.

"Good," Silven stepped back a few paces and stood by the window. "Now use the Disarming Charm on me."

"Now?" Harry shook his head. "Practicing spells in the dormitory isn't a good idea, and it's so late—can't we find an empty classroom tomorrow morning?"

"We could even bring Ron and Hermione along."

"No, this isn't practice," Silven explained. "Do it now—this is important."

This...

Looking at Silven's serious expression, Harry didn't understand, but still nodded and took out his wand.

"Be careful." He gave a warning, then pointed his wand at Silven. "Expelliarmus!"

A dazzling red light flashed, and Harry suddenly realized in horror that Silven wasn't holding a wand.

What happens when you use the Disarming Charm on someone without a wand?

The moment that thought surfaced in Harry's mind, the red light had already reached Silven.

Yet the next second, a book appeared between Silven and the Disarming Charm.

A black cover... Harry remembered, this was the book that had been flying around Silven earlier like a Golden Snitch.

Then after that, the Disarming Charm was eaten by the opened book.

Yes, eaten.

Harry watched helplessly as his spell struck a blank page, then vanished in an instant, just like a stone thrown into the Black Lake.

"Th-this... what just happened?" Harry said incoherently.

That can't be right — even if his Disarming Charm was terrible, it shouldn't have scattered just from hitting a book.

Harry, still in shock, didn't notice that after the Disarming Charm vanished, a complex symbol had appeared out of thin air on the previously blank page.

It was a symbol made of magical runes, glowing with a faint red light.

"Careful, Harry!"

Hearing Silven's voice, Harry jolted awake and saw that the book had been opened again, with one page emitting a familiar red light.

Wasn't this the Disarming Charm he had just used?

The thought had barely formed when the red light struck him in the stomach; his wand flew from his hand, and he couldn't help doubling over, panting heavily.

But Harry didn't care about that. Struggling to stand, he asked, "What exactly happened? That book..."

"That's not a book, it's a wand," Silven said.

"A wand?" Harry couldn't help frowning. "But it's clearly a book — I saw it."

"Mm, it's hard to explain in a word or two," Silven said, handing Harry's wand back to him. "You can try again."

This time Harry didn't hesitate; taking the wand, he immediately pointed it at Silven.

"Expelliarmus!"

Still the familiar red light, still the opened page.

But this time Harry saw it clearly — that book "ate" his spell and bounced it right back.

The wand flew from his hand a second time, caught by Silven.

"Again?"

"Sure." Harry wanted to see what was going on too, and agreed almost without hesitation.

It wasn't until nearly half an hour later — after Harry had been hit by his own Disarming Charm so many times he could barely lift his arms — that he finally realized he seemed to have been tricked.

"That book of yours is a Magical item enchanted with the Shield Charm, right?" he said with conviction.

Able to reflect spells — wasn't that exactly the effect of the Shield Charm?

Silven only smiled this time, without explaining.

With Harry's help, he had also roughly figured out a few things about this Horcrux Codex.

First, he could use the connection of magical power to actively control the codex, similar to using the Levitation Charm to manipulate objects. In addition, it could also move on its own in front of a spell through magical perception.

For now, the response was faster through magical perception, though he didn't know whether, when facing multiple spells at once, it would prioritize blocking the most powerful one.

He could find a chance to test that later.

Besides that, this absorption of others' spells was one-time use — once used up, the page would turn blank again, and the magical power consumed wasn't small either.

Silven roughly calculated that absorbing a Disarming Charm and then casting it back was roughly equivalent to him using one and a half Disarming Charms himself.

That was normal too — after all, this thing was also a wand, and using a spell naturally required magical power; moreover, if he calculated carefully, he still came out half a spell ahead.

Oh, and one more important point — it didn't conflict with Silvermane at all, and could be used entirely as an extra accessory.

This discovery left Silven immensely excited.

If one had to name a flaw, it was that eight blank pages were far too few — completely insufficient.

It was probably a problem with the wand core.

Silven looked at the unrepaired crack at the back of the diary, and had never felt such a longing to collect other Horcruxes.

But that was all for the future.

Silven walked over to Harry and pulled him up.

"Can you keep what just happened secret — not tell anyone?"

"What about Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Same thing," Silven said. "But when the time is right, I'll tell them."

"This... alright, I promise." Harry nodded.

He personally thought it was no big deal — a Magical item with Shield Charm abilities should be about the same as his Invisibility Cloak, right?

But since Silven wanted to keep it secret, he just wouldn't tell anyone; he'd just have to come up with some excuse to deal with Ron.

Seeing Harry agree, Silven also breathed a slight sigh of relief. He had no choice — if he didn't test the Horcrux Codex's effects, he definitely wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

But in the common study hall there were only those few people. Fred and George had left for other matters, Hermione was a girl, and the others weren't exactly familiar.

That left only Harry and Ron, and relatively speaking, Harry was clearly the more reliable one.

(End of chapter)