Daily News: The Prophet of Hogwarts

Chapter 30 The Stage of Magical Growth

Vio's tone was sarcastic, full of disdain for the "Selwyn family".

In her anger, the snake-like beauty's face surprisingly took on a unique kind of beauty.

Although he used the term "Death Eaters" directly, the place was filled with high-quality wizards from Hogwarts, so it wouldn't cause any hostility or panic.

He didn't continue the conversation about Death Eaters, changing the subject: "Speaking of which, I've always hoped that Ryan could form a small group, and today my wish has finally come true. Here, I'd like to share a quote from the only family I truly respect, the Selwyn family."

He glanced around, his eyes scrutinizing: "Choose the winner!"

The typical Slytherin remark created an awkward silence.

Afterwards, the Weasley twins stepped forward to give a speech, claiming that their original intention was to open a joke shop, and that if Ryan hadn't called on them, they would still be developing joke products!

It's not that developing joke products is bad, but the Adventurers Club offers them a much wider range of possibilities!

Soon, only three first-year wizards remained in the group: Hermione, Harry, and Malfoy.

Hermione began to encourage herself again as she stepped forward: "Hermione Granger, a first-year Gryffindor student, has passed... has passed Lane's test. It's a pleasure to meet everyone at the Adventurers' Club, and I hope to learn together with you all..."

"I also hope to make friends with everyone."

After she finished speaking, she jogged back and sat back down on the stool.

The last two, Harry and Malfoy, exchanged a glance, neither willing to back down, and began to tear and drag at each other.

It gave Ryan the feeling of kindergarten kids fighting over candy.

In the end, the relatively small Harry lost to Malfoy in the contest of brute strength, and Malfoy had to step forward and speak first.

"Draco Malfoy, a first-year Slytherin student, from the Malfoy family," he said, then mustered his courage to look directly at Lane and asked, "I have a question for you, Senior Lane... why did you invite me?"

"Because I see it, because you deserve it," Lane said. "Draco, what you need to do is believe in yourself, not in the Malfoy family."

Because Ryan did indeed have intelligence about him, he spoke with great confidence.

"But..." Malfoy's pale face regained its color.

"But Mr. Lucius was determined to expel me when I was in first grade?" Ryan said.

Malfoy nodded.

“You are you, you are Draco Malfoy. It has nothing to do with Mr. Lucius’s actions,” Lane said. “And believe me, Mr. Lucius is a true Malfoy, even if I don’t agree with his educational methods and outdated and corrupt thinking, there is no doubt that he is a Malfoy.”

Draco Malfoy nodded, seemingly understanding, but he couldn't quite grasp what it meant yet.

Malfoy could only sense that, in Lane's opinion, the conflict he had in his first year was too boring to be worth remembering.

In fact, Ryan was quite fortunate that his opponent was Voldemort, a regional terrorist who had suffered a botched plastic surgery, rather than the world-class "Dark Lord" who had countless followers.

As long as it's not a complete ideological clash, other conflicts are insignificant. At most, they'll give them a warning afterward, making them regret it for a while. Just like the shrewd Malfoys, they are good at making the "right choice."

The real, life-or-death struggle is the clash of ideologies.

Moreover, with Dumbledore at the forefront, there is a great deal of room for maneuver.

Harry stepped forward last, a little nervous. After taking a few deep breaths, he began to thank Hogwarts, the headmaster, Hagrid, all the professors (except Snape), and Ryan.

After expressing his gratitude to everyone he could, he asked the same question Malfoy had just asked: "Senior Ryan, why...why did you invite me?"

"Because of the future I glimpsed." Ryan smiled mysteriously, seemingly revealing profound secrets, but in reality, he was afraid Harry would press him further and wanted to discourage him.

Harry was indeed a good boy; he never embarrassed anyone, and even though he still had many doubts, he didn't ask any more questions.

After everyone had introduced themselves, the few who stood out, such as Vio and Percy, gained more weight in everyone's minds.

"Now that everyone knows each other," Lane said after Harry returned to his seat. "Before tonight, I was thinking about what I should say to everyone at our first gathering."

Actually, he was thinking about how to drop a bombshell on everyone to gain their respect and approval immediately... Lai, the two-faced one, said, "I want to ask everyone if they know about the two important exams for wizards!"

"The OWL exam in fifth grade and the NEWT exam in seventh grade!" Hermione immediately raised her hand to answer.

"Oh, Miss Granger, I don't really want to gain or lose points for anyone in the Adventurers' Club, because everyone here is my friend, Ryan Wales." Ryan smiled at her. "There's no need to be so eager to answer, and there's no need to raise your hand."

Hermione stuck out her tongue playfully.

"As Hermione just said, the two exams are in fifth and seventh year respectively. So, can someone tell me why they're being held in fifth and seventh year, and not at some other time?" Ryan asked.

The wizards from the other three academies exchanged bewildered glances. This was the first time they had encountered such a probing way of thinking. In their view, such matters were predetermined and there was no need to concern themselves with them, much less delve into their origins.

Pablo, the seventh-year Ravenclaw prefect, thought for a moment and then spoke: "I personally experienced those two years, and I remember them very clearly. In the first semester of fifth grade, I suddenly discovered that my own magic was growing rapidly..."

"And now, in seventh grade, I feel the same way. Is that why?"

Upon hearing this, several older students chimed in, claiming that they had experienced similar phenomena themselves.

When I asked the professor or wrote to my parents, I only received the reply that "this is a normal phenomenon".

Ryan clapped: "That's right. The reason for setting up these exams in the fifth and seventh grades is to supervise and monitor the young wizards' control and use of magic during their magical development period."

As he spoke, he conjured the words "Magic Growth Period" in front of him.

"In my research, I call the period of rapid natural growth of a young wizard's magic the Magic Growth Period. Generally, young wizards in their fifth year, or fifteen years old, will experience their first Magic Growth Period."

He conjured up a graph and wrote "First Magical Growth Period" above the horizontal axis marked with fifth grade.

"And seventh grade, I call the second magical growth period."

He continued to mark the graph, while dividing the horizontal axis after the seventh grade into "adult wizards".

"Just take this with a grain of salt. It's just some of my research, one person's opinion, and it can't cover all situations, so there's no need to take notes. Penelope, Hermione, really, there's no need to take notes."

Ryan stopped the diligent student who loved taking notes and continued, "In fifth and seventh grade, magic grows rapidly. I've only observed this phenomenon. As for the specific reasons, I hope to unravel the mystery together with everyone."

At this moment, only a few outstanding senior students showed a thoughtful expression on their faces.

The rest of the club members looked like they'd seen a ghost: "You, Ryan, aren't you good at prophecy? So what if you're a little better at magic? How come you're so knowledgeable about magic? You're leaving us no way out!"

Ryan, who had been defeated by two true geniuses in the Forbidden Forest a few days ago, was enjoying the admiring looks from his classmates as a result of his defeat.

One word: cool!

He connected the graphs: "Except for fifth and seventh grade, the young wizards' magic power is also constantly increasing, but the increase is very, very slow. You can see this graph."

On the graph, the increase in grades one through four is very low, and the slant angle will not exceed 10°.

The curves between fourth and fifth grade, and between sixth and seventh grade, are soaring, with a slant angle of at least 80°.

In terms of numerical proportions, the first-year wizard's growth rate was less than 35 percent compared to his fourth-year self.

The increase in fourth grade compared to fifth grade is no less than 80%.

"Each wizard has a different amount of magic power, and the rate of increase is also different. Let me reiterate, this chart is just my rough estimate," Ryan emphasized.

Because some exceptionally gifted young wizards not only grow their magic power faster than ordinary people, but also have a much higher base magic power than the average young wizard.

"This is how I categorize underage wizards: lower-grade wizards and upper-grade wizards. Specific situations require specific analysis, but in terms of magical power content, this is roughly the case."

"If you want to categorize wizards by their magical proficiency, I suggest looking at the results of the two exams directly. Those results will provide a more accurate assessment of a wizard's level."

He copied and separated this graph and presented it to everyone.

"As you can all see, on the horizontal axis, after the seventh grade, I marked them as adult wizards."

Someone asked, "Senior Ryan, since the level of underage wizards can be measured by their magical power and exam scores, what about adult wizards?"