Upon seeing this introduction, Devereux couldn't wait to begin meditating right on the spot.
After all, this was a method that could enhance his magical strength!
During his previous battle with Snape, he had keenly felt that, as a minor, both his magical strength and reserves were significantly inferior to those of an adult wizard. This had left him feeling somewhat insecure.
After all, once he was inside the safest school in Britain, he would occasionally have to wrestle basilisks and tear apart dragons. If he ran out of mana halfway through a fight, it would be all over!
Yet this Zen Meditation Method could perfectly solve his problems! Devereux immediately walked further into the train, wanting to find a quiet place to test out this Wisdom of the Sages and see how effective it was.
However, there were already a great many people inside the carriages by now. Quite a few compartments were completely full, and the environment was extremely noisy—hardly the quiet setting required for meditation.
Devereux checked every single compartment, only to find the same situation everywhere. He had no choice but to regretfully put the matter on hold for the moment; there was truly no rush for this exact moment anyway.
Since that was the case, Devereux decided to look for a sparsely populated compartment to get through this long journey.
As luck would have it, he happened to spot two red-haired boys struggling to help another boy with his trunk.
Yes, it was none other than Harry Potter! And the ones helping him were none of other than the Weasley twins.
Seeing that all three of them were struggling somewhat, Devereux stepped forward.
"Hey! Hold on a second, this should make it a bit easier."
With that, Devereux drew his wand and tapped it lightly against Harry's luggage. Instantly, the three boys carrying the trunk felt the heavy box become several times lighter. Even Harry, the skinniest among them, was able to lift it with ease.
Working together, the three of them hoisted the trunk up onto the luggage rack in one go.
"Goodness! Was that a Levitation Charm?"
"That's brilliant! You must still be a first-year, yet you can cast spells so smoothly!"
The Weasley twins looked at Devereux with eyes full of utter amazement! The other students nearby who witnessed the scene also wore expressions of shock.
Although the Levitation Charm was considered a relatively basic spell, quite a few students in that grade still couldn't execute it perfectly even by the time of the final exams.
Wait... a spell?
The twins exchanged glances, then cried out in loud astonishment!
"You just used a Non-Verbal Spell!?"
Devereux offered a modest smile.
"Yes, it's just the simplest of spells."
After going through a brief moment of linguistic dysfunction and frantic gesturing, the twins immediately crowded around him.
"Blimey, Merlin's beard! If we could learn that too, there'd be so many things we could pull off!"
"Yeah, yeah! That... um... well, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I'm Fred, and this is George. If you're willing, would you teach us?"
As he spoke, Fred leaned in close to Devereux's ear, looking terribly mysterious.
"We won't make you teach us for nothing. Once we get to school, we can tell you about a whole bunch of school secrets! We didn't quite manage to check out the tower side last year, but pretty much all the secrets around the Great Hall, we know inside and out!"
"That's right! We guarantee you won't find a third person in the school who knows it as well as we do!"
The twins bumped fists together as they spoke.
Devereux rolled his eyes, a smile playing on his lips.
"Alright, but only if you take me on a tour of at least part of it first, and then I'll teach you."
After all, for Devereux, something like a Non-Verbal Spell was really just a matter of seeing it once. Being able to have these two mischief-makers show him around Hogwarts might even allow him to get his hands on treasures like the Marauder's Map from them in the future.
Why not?
"Woohoo!"
The twins threw their arms up in celebration, then immediately huddled together in whispered consultation, as though they were already plotting how to use Non-Verbal Spells for pranks later on.
Devereux turned his gaze toward Harry, who was standing there somewhat at a loss. Clearly, all that talk they had just exchanged about spells, non-verbal magic, and the secrets of Hogwarts Castle sounded completely foreign to him. Unable to chime in, he naturally felt a bit awkward.
Devereux stepped forward and threw an arm around Harry's shoulders.
"Come on, Harry, let's go find a place to sit."
Harry had been standing frozen in place, but at Devereux's words, he nodded hastily—indeed, the train was about to depart anyway. He turned, intending to head back into the compartment they had originally occupied.
"Harry? Could it be... are you *that* Harry?"
Hearing Devereux speak Harry's name, the twins' whispering abruptly stopped.
Having already been through this sort of scene many times, Harry naturally brushed aside the hair on his forehead to reveal the lightning-bolt scar.
The twins stared in utter stupefaction when they saw it. It was also Devereux's first time seeing the real Harry's scar; it looked considerably more ferocious than the one he had seen in the movies from his past life. Devereux even felt an impulse to reach out and touch the scar, but considering Harry's feelings, he held back.
In truth, Devereux had always been curious: why on earth did the Avada Kedavra leave behind a lightning-bolt-shaped scar? The original books didn't seem to mention it much.
After showing them the scar, the twins whooped and dashed out of the compartment, seemingly impatient to share the news with their family.
Devereux watched them go, then took a seat inside the compartment with Harry.
Devereux had already added two purple traits from each of the twins into his trait shopping cart, intending to load them once he arrived at Hogwarts to see what they did.
Their respective traits were:
【Explorer (Purple)】
【Prank Inventor (Purple)】
To be fair, the effects of both traits were quite good. Under normal circumstances, possessing a purple trait meant a person could reach an exceptionally outstanding level in that field. A blue trait indicated the potential to reach an upper-middle-class level, while a gold trait meant someone was born to be a leader in that domain. Anyone holding a red trait was basically someone blessed with great fortune, merging to a certain degree with the fundamental rules of that field.
Take the trait Potion Prodigy, for instance. Devereux felt it was simply too overpowered. Although his foundational knowledge was still quite weak, purely in terms of potion-brewing skill, he might actually surpass Snape to a certain extent!
Of course, that was just an intuition; Devereux hadn't actually tested it, nor did he quite dare to.
Regardless, the Weasley twins were undeniably immensely talented individuals. No wonder they could become industry leaders in prank goods at such a tender age.
"Devereux, I can't believe you know so many spells!" Harry said, sitting across from Devereux with a somewhat dejected expression. "Sigh, I grew up in a Muggle family, so I hardly know any magic at all. If there's any sort of test when we arrive at school, I'm done for."
Hearing Harry's words, Devereux couldn't help but smile. Just as he was about to say something to encourage Harry, the compartment door was knocked upon.
A red-haired boy with freckles standing outside asked, "Mind if I sit here? I'm Ron Weasley."