“This is amazing,” Alex murmured, scrolling through the lower box like a dispy s. “Every page has everything you o learn or use the spell. And if someone ’t learn it, they just use the book itself to cast it. What a brilliant design.”

  As he flipped through more pages, his excitement grew. The book tained records of powerful dark magid curses, including the Unfivable Curses, Legilimency, Occlumency, and even the plete Slytherin prote charm. “It’s a treasure trove,” Alex said with a grin.

  But theumbled upon a page uhe others. It had no title, just a strange, pulsing ruched across the top. Alex’s curiosity spiked, and he leaned closer.

  "What is this?" Alex’s eyes widened as he stared at the empty spell and record ns. In their pce was a single rune—a special one—formed by intricate, iwining silver and blue lines glowing faintly in the middle of the page. This... this was an a magie!

  Alex had only ever heard of such runes in passing, from Lily and Professor Bohey had described them as extraordinary symbols that appeared on the bones of a magical creatures, within ruins of bygone eras, or in paturally imbued with magit runes were the rawest, purest form of magical expression—unrefined, unaltered, and bursting with tent power.

  Many modern runes, Alex recalled, had been derived from these a symbols. They’d been optimized, parsed, and broken down over turies to make them easier for everyday wizards to use. But that simplification didn’t diminish the potency of the inals. Quite the opposite. A runes carried an overwhelming strength that made them notoriously difficult to trol. Only the most talented wizards dared attempt their usage, often spending years—sometimes decades—studying a single ruo unlock its secrets.

  Some of the most gifted wizards in history had wielded these a runes without needing to destruct them. For Alex, standing face-to-face with such a symbol was like finding a lost piece of history. "Could this be the rune Lucius gave to Julia?" The thought suddenly struck Alex like lightning. He vividly remembered the memory he’d glimpsed through Temple Travers: Lucius had entrusted Julia with safeguarding a mysterious rune.

  Alex leaned closer, scrutinizing the symbol. Its flickering magical aura danced like restless lightning. "This looks like aal rune," he murmured. "Could it be... a lightning rune?"

  Alex’s mind raced as he pared it to what he knew of elemental magic. He’d entered lightning runes before while studying spells. Bu he never go deep.

  The reason was simple: ordinary lightning spells felt ineffit to him. They demanded immense magical power but produced underwhelmis—like trying to boil an o with a dle. Boosting their effectiveness required either relentless practice or exorbitant magical expenditure, her of which appealed to Alex, who preferred effi his pursuits.

  But this rune... this was somethiirely different. A runes didn’t follow the same rules. They were like the differeween ordinary fire and Fmma Antiqua —an a fme spell derived directly from an unaltered ruhe raw, chaotic power of Fmma was infamous for its destructiveness and the difficulty wizards faced in trolling it. "Could this lightning rune be just as powerful?" Alex’s heart raced with excitement as he imagihe possibilities. However, he quickly reined himself iing this rune would require careful preparation. It wasn’t something to rush into blindly.

  After taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Alex forced himself to set aside his eagerness and tinue examining the rest of the magic book. The more he explored its pages, the more he realized something chilling.

  The book’s greatest danger wasn’t the spells it tained. No, many of these spells could be found elsewhere. The real threat y in the usage records meticulously inscribed within its pages. “The Curse on Pox,” Alex muttered as he read aloud the name of a spell. His gaze shifted to Yulia, who immediately stiffened. A spark nition flickered in her eyes, followed by a fsh of panic.

  “You seem nervous, Lady Travers,” Alex said, his voice light but his words sharp as bdes. “The st recorded use of this curse was in 1968, the same year Nobby Leach—the first Muggle-born Minister of Magic—died on pox. Quite the ce, don’t you think?”

  Yulia flinched as though struck. “What are you insinuating? That has nothing to do with me!” she snapped, her voisteady.

  Alex arched an eyebrow, his suspis deepening. “Iiion,” he said, his tone casual but his eyes pierg. “Let’s think about this. Your father, Abraxas Malfoy, also died fron pox. And if I recall correctly, you were married into the Travers family by then. In fact, Sampur Travers was born in 1969, which means you were living with the Traverses during the time this curse was st used.”

  Yulia swallowed hard, her expression faltering. She seemed trapped in memories she didn’t want to revisit. “Let’s hypothesize,” Alex tinued, his voice turning colder. “You lent this magic book to your father. He used the curse to eliminate a political rival, but in doing so, he actally ied himself. In other words, Lady Travers, you ily killed your own father. Does Lucius know?”

  “Shut up!” Yulia’s posure shattered. Her face twisted with rage as she gred at Alex, her usual noble grace giving way to raw fury.

  Alex smirked, unfazed. “Why so defensive? I haven’t even said I’d expose you. I’m just fasated by stories involving crime, spiracies, and tangled family drama.”

  “Have you mocked me enough?! Anyway, you ’t copy this magic book! So, if you’re done making fun of me, just take whatever books you mao copy a out of here!” Yulia’s furious voice echoed in the dim room, her ched fists trembling with frustration.

  Why did every moment with this boy, Alex, feel like ay? They had only ied twice, but eater left her exasperated and on edge. Could he be her nemesis, destio test her patience?

  Alex, unfazed by her outburst, smirked. “Oh? And you’re so sure I ’t copy this magic book? That’s cute,” he teased, his tone dripping with mockery.

  Yulia gritted her teeth, the veins oemples pulsing. “Alex, I’ll admit you’re skilled—you mao find this treasure and evehe seal on it. I didn’t expect that. It’s my fault for letting you get this far. But don’t even think for a sed that you copy it.”

  She took a shaky breath, trying to calm herself. “This isn’t just any ordinary book—it’s an alchemical masterpiece. Its value isn’t in its spells but in its unique stru. So stop wasting your time and leave before you embarrass yourself further!” But Alex wasn’t listening to her warnings. He wasn’t here to debate. He was here to crack the book’s secrets, and nothing she said would ge his mind.