Harry Potter: From Muggle Cousin to Conceptual Wizard

Chapter 310 The Origin of the Totem Staff! The Half-Blood Prince's Notes!

Dudley picked up the letter that came with the wrapping paper, which explained the origin of the gift.

It turned out that Qiu Zhang noticed that after Dali's battle with the ghost cultivator Mo Xuan, the cane he had always carried with him had disappeared.

So, taking advantage of Christmas, Cho Chang approached the branch class representatives of the four houses in advance and suggested that everyone work together to make a new cane as a Christmas gift to be jointly presented to the Dursley teaching assistant.

This suggestion was approved by the others, and thus this brand-new Four Houses Totem Staff came into being.

The hardwood cane with its painted finish was made by Cedric himself, who asked his father to find the raw materials.

The large emerald at the top was something Draco asked for from his father, the school board chairman.

The four mineral pigments used to fill the totem patterns were found by Percy among the rocks on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

The four sacred beast totems carved on the staff were drawn by the four individuals, and then Qiu Zhang carved and filled them with paint.

Although financial resources and magic were not lacking in this process, the sincerity behind it could not be faked in the slightest.

Dali was very moved.

He had planned to wait until he got his hands on the concept version of the Restoration Charm before repairing his Smetine Staff, so he would keep his hands empty in the meantime.

Unexpectedly, he now has a better alternative.

The four academies' totem walking stick, created for him by outstanding talents from the four academies, has immeasurable symbolic significance.

Although the staff was not a magical item, Dudley believed that the happiness derived from obtaining it was no less than that from acquiring a high-value A-grade magical item.

Dudley leaned on his cane, looked down and examined it, liking it more and more the more he looked at it.

With a gentle tap of the ground, he casually cast a vanishing spell, cleaning up the scattered gift wrappings and instantly making the area neat and tidy.

Then she turned her head to look in her cousin's direction.

Harry has opened the special gift from that special person.

"Cousin! Come quick! It's Snape! He gave me a present!" Harry exclaimed in utter surprise.

Since the direct conflict in class, Snape's attitude towards Harry has become one of estrangement, neither targeting nor being close to him, and he doesn't even talk to him unless necessary.

When Harry was in Potions class, Snape's instructions to him were concise and to the point, without any unnecessary words.

Harry couldn't understand why Snape would give him a Christmas present.

"Let's open it and take a look!" Dali said as he walked over.

He had already used his X-ray vision to see the gift clearly, so he wasn't surprised at this moment.

Upon hearing this, Harry opened the gift from Snape in front of his cousin and three other roommates who had come over to watch the commotion.

Inside was a short note and a slightly worn notebook.

The note read: "As a return gift for my learning of the Tranquility Mantra—Severus Snape."

Upon reading the note, Harry's surprise instantly turned to anger, and he said with great displeasure:

"Cousin, Snape is awful! He failed all four tests from the Sorting Hat, how could he steal our lessons? He's cheating!"

"Alright, Harry, don't get so angry," Dudley said, trying to calm him down. "I never intended to keep the Tranquility Charm a secret, and I allowed the students to spread it according to their own judgment. There's nothing wrong with that."

"But..." Harry was still unhappy.

Dudley reached out and ruffled his cousin's hair, then explained:

"It's just an indirect exchange of magic."

All in all, we all learned the 'Hear Me' and 'Hang Upside Down' spells created by Snape, and I even learned the 'Tongue Tock' spell created by Snape from Dumbledore, so Snape didn't get the upper hand.

Besides, didn't they return the favor? In this matter alone, Snape acted quite generously.

After hearing Dudley's explanation, Harry's expression improved considerably.

He picked up the old notebook and started flipping through it on the spot.

It was discovered that this was primarily a potions notebook, containing recipes for many different potions. Moreover, these recipes were optimized and differed from those in the potions textbook, which perfectly reflected Snape's teaching style.

During his classes, Snape often criticized some students for blindly applying the contents of the Potions textbook without adapting them to the actual situation when brewing potions.

In addition, the notebook also contains four spells and one curse, as well as their corresponding counterspells, all of which were invented by Snape.

The curses are Divine Sharpness Without Shadow, Upside-Down Golden Bell, Deafening and Hearing, and Tongue-Sealing and Throat-Locking. The remaining evil curse is the Toenail Growth Curse.

Harry glanced at it quickly and handed the notebook to Dudley.

Dali took it and looked through it, focusing mainly on the 'Divine Edge Without Shadow' spell.

This is a high-level spell that can emit invisible, sharp blades of energy from a distance, causing physical damage. If it hits a person directly, it will disembowel them and cause them to bleed profusely.

Such a bloody scene is quite shocking for young wizards who rarely see blood, and even for most mediocre wizards.

"Snape is a genius!"

Dali sighed, took out the Knowledge Collection Treasure from his personal space, and placed the notebook on the metal cover of the treasure.

With a slight swirling of magical light, the contents of Snape's notebook were copied into the encyclopedia.

Dudley then returned the notebook to Harry, instructing him to clear his mind and study the contents of the notebook carefully.

Magical knowledge is innocent.

Harry nodded in agreement and put the notebook away.

He didn't pay much attention to the title 'Mixed-Race Prince' marked on the notebook's title page.

This notebook is quite old; Harry thought it was an alias Snape gave himself when he was young and had a delusional phase.

Dudley knew the original story; the 'Half-Blood Prince' was indeed the alias Snape gave himself, but he didn't choose this alias entirely because of his chuunibyou (middle school syndrome).

Snape had an unhappy childhood; his witch mother married a Muggle father who was an alcoholic and abusive.

Snape despised his Muggle father, so he combined the word 'half-blood,' which emphasizes wizarding lineage, with his mother's surname 'Prince,' to create the pseudonym 'Prince Half-Blood.'

The surname 'Prince' actually means 'prince', so 'Prince the half-blood' became 'the half-blood prince'.

Dudley understands that Snape's withdrawn and cold personality stemmed from his difficult family background and tragic childhood.

But understanding is one thing, and grudges are another.

Snape deliberately revealed the prophecy to Voldemort, causing the destruction of many wizarding families and indirectly making Harry an orphan.

This grudge meant that Dudley and Harry could never be friends with Snape.

Even if Harry's parents were resurrected in the future, it wouldn't work;

Even if Aunt Lily were to be resurrected in the future and forgive Snape out of consideration for their past relationship, it wouldn't work;

Even if Uncle James reflects on his past bullying of Snape and chooses to forgive him, it won't work.

Hatred is hatred; gratitude and resentment must be clearly distinguished.