In the following period, Dudley focused on thoroughly examining the area where the attack had occurred but unfortunately still found nothing of significance.
However, after this incident, no similar events occurred in the school, and quite a few people began to think that the previous attack might have been a lie deliberately spread by Harry and Dudley to gain power, since only these two had been present when it happened.
Of course, most people who held this sceptical attitude were Slytherin students, who had never gotten along with Gryffindor's lions to begin with, and even less so after this controversial incident.
Regarding these people's doubts, Dudley didn't bother to explain anything.
Time would prove he was right.
After more or less handling his investigative affairs, Dudley began teaching the three of them as promised.
At eight o'clock in the evening, in an abandoned classroom deep underground, Dudley was conducting his secret lessons.
"Harry, your pronunciation is wrong," Dudley corrected Harry's pronunciation of Hermes and guided them in using this ancient language to cast magic.
"Reparo," Hermione chanted the incantation at a damaged chair on the other side of the room.
Her pronunciation was already very standard. What she needed to focus on was how to use this spiritual language to mobilise the magic power within her body and thus cast spells effectively.
Whoosh.
After Hermione's words concluded, the damaged chair immediately returned to its original state, looking like a completely new piece of furniture.
"Excellent! Hermione, your learning talent is truly the most impressive I've ever seen," Dudley couldn't help but praise with genuine admiration.
They had only been taking these secret classes for a few days, yet Hermione had already successfully cast magic using Hermes, much faster than Harry and Ron.
"It's because you teach so well," Hermione smiled modestly.
"Harry, we need to work considerably harder," Ron couldn't help saying with obvious determination.
"Absolutely," Harry nodded with serious commitment.
The two of them actually weren't lacking in natural talent, just not as focused as Hermione.
Seeing themselves fall behind Hermione again, both felt somewhat anxious about their progress.
"So what we need to do next is silently recite Hermes in our hearts without making any sound while casting spells," Dudley explained.
"Silent spells are originally quite difficult to cast, but if you replace the original incantations with Hermes in your mind, the difficulty of casting becomes much more manageable."
"Hermione, you can try it now."
"Alright, I'll attempt it," Hermione said, taking a deep breath and looking with firm determination at the shabby chair before her.
After several tense moments, the chair trembled slightly and developed a minor crack, then there was no further movement.
"I cast the Severing Charm, but it seems it didn't work properly," Hermione said with obvious disappointment.
"It's perfectly fine, try a few more times. Once you've mastered this language, the difficulty of silent casting will decrease significantly," Dudley said encouragingly.
"Dudley, I'm very curious. Who invented this language called Hermes? Why can it easily mobilise the magic power within the body without needing a wand?" Ron couldn't help asking with obvious fascination.
"That's a secret," Dudley said without evasion.
"Alright then," Ron shook his head with resignation.
They had asked Dudley this question before but received the same mysterious answer as now.
"Whoever invented this language must be an absolute genius," Harry said with obvious awe.
"It couldn't be that you invented this language yourself, could it?" Hermione speculated with growing curiosity.
"Do you think that's actually possible?" Dudley laughed with genuine amusement.
"Well, I was definitely overthinking it," Hermione also felt it was impossible. Such a complex language that could directly mobilise magic power obviously wasn't invented by a twelve-year-old student.
But this also indirectly indicated that Dudley might have been exposed to very profound magic elsewhere.
"Very well, you continue practising," Dudley instructed.
"I need to go patrol the castle."
After Dudley finished speaking, he left the underground classroom to resume his duties.
"Do you think if this Hermes language spread widely, it would cause earth-shaking changes in the magical world?" Ron asked with obvious curiosity.
"Probably not completely. After all, it's only partially simplified. Most people would still need to use wands and recite incantations to cast spells. This language only shows its true value in battle. It doesn't have many advantages in daily life," Harry said after careful consideration.
"Indeed, what Hermes brings us is the ability to cast spells completely unexpectedly. Because we don't need wands and don't need to recite incantations aloud to cast magic, this means enemies can't guard against our attacks and don't know what magic we'll cast, making it impossible for them to cast counter-spells. This is a huge advantage in wizard duels," Hermione analysed with growing excitement.
The more she practised Hermes spellcasting, the more Hermione felt this casting method was an entire era ahead of the current magical world.
It was just obvious that Dudley had no intention of promoting this revolutionary casting method. Otherwise, he could completely establish his own magic school in the future, specialising in teaching people this casting method, and could even rival Hogwarts itself.
The three continued practising Hermes spellcasting with dedicated focus. Around nine o'clock, they packed up their materials and prepared to return to their dormitory.
"Dudley hasn't returned yet. Let's wait for him here," Harry suggested, noting that the corridor outside was completely empty and somewhat ominous.
"Good idea," Ron agreed immediately.
For safety reasons, after finishing their secret practice sessions, they would wait for Dudley to return to Gryffindor Tower together.
"Doesn't meet the requirements, just a little bit short, just a little bit..." Suddenly, a melancholy voice appeared abruptly in the corridor, startling all three of them.
Turning around, they saw a milky white phantom float out from the stone wall, muttering to himself with obvious distress.
"Hello, Nick," the three called out in recognition.
This was Gryffindor's resident ghost, Nearly Headless Nick.
"Hello, hello..." Nick seemed startled as well. He hadn't noticed there were living people here at all.
"What's wrong, Nick? You look deeply troubled," Hermione asked with genuine concern.
"It's nothing particularly important. I... I actually don't want to participate that badly anyway," Nick said with forced indifference.
"The result is always the same every time. I wasn't holding out much hope to begin with."
But the three could clearly see that Nick actually cared very much about whatever this matter was.
The next moment, Nick seemed to give up pretending entirely, his ghostly face showing deep anguish.
"You tell me!" Nick suddenly exploded with frustration. "Does having your neck chopped forty-five times with a blunt axe qualify you to join the Headless Hunt?"
"Well..." the three looked at each other, momentarily unsure how to respond to such an unusual question.
"I think it should definitely qualify," Harry said consolingly.
"You see, even you think so, but they rejected my application once again," Nick said with obvious anger and hurt.
"Only a tiny bit of skin and sinew connecting my neck. This is practically no different from being completely headless, but they..."
Suddenly, Nick stopped mid-sentence, a trace of genuine fear appearing on his translucent face.
"Ahhhh!" Nick screamed and plunged headfirst into the wall, disappearing from sight completely.