Harry Potter: Magic and Guns

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"Hello, friend."

After Harry stepped into the black-and-silver vortex, which formed a black-and-silver projection, a young male voice spoke beside him.

Turning his head, Harry saw a boy in a Hogwarts uniform sitting cross-legged on the ground. In front of him was a grill laden with skewered meat. Though the aroma was missing, the sight of sizzling, oil-dripping meat was tantalizing.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Settilares Scrooge, a seventh-year Hufflepuff student. In two months, I'll graduate. Before leaving Hogwarts, I wanted to leave behind a few things to share. Of course, what I say might not be entirely correct, as I haven't found another like me to verify my research and discoveries. But I hope what I leave behind will be helpful to future friends."

"The ancient wizards feel so distant from us." Setti sighed while turning the skewers. "I wish I could witness the grand and glorious magical world of old. Back then, although magic wasn't as refined as it is today, I know that era belonged to us—to the awakened wizards."

"You probably know what 'awakened' means, right? Even if no one explains it to us, we just know."

"It's fascinating, incredibly fascinating. It's as if this knowledge was ingrained in our minds at birth, slowly unfreezing as we grow. Is this instinct? Or am I the only one like this? It makes me feel more akin to magical creatures. Unlike wizards, they don't need to learn magic—it's innate to them. All they need is to grow."

Setti selected a piece of roasted meat, popped it into his mouth, and bit into it without concern for the heat.

"At first, I didn't feel particularly different from other wizards. Before coming to Hogwarts, I learned from a rogue wizard—my uncle. After my parents abandoned me, he picked me up from a garbage heap and raised me. He told me I was a wizard, not the monster Muggles saw me as."

"Perhaps I caused some commotion when I was born?" Setti grinned. "No matter. The magical world is indeed different from the Muggle one. The fact they didn't throw me into a cesspit to drown was already a mercy. I don't blame them. They're dead anyway—apparently from some plague, according to their neighbors. My uncle took me back to visit when I was ten."

"I first realized I was different during my second month at Hogwarts. If the Fat Friar told you my story, you might know: that day, I entered the Forbidden Forest searching for a Snidget. That's when I encountered those scum—poachers. They had captured Fick, a beautiful blue Snidget. Afraid it would escape, they killed it on the spot, right before my eyes."

"They plucked Fick's feathers, gutted it, and expertly harvested every valuable part. To them, my little friend was nothing more than Galleons delivered on a silver platter."

"But what could I do?"

Setti chewed the meat, his voice muffled. "At the time, I only knew a few basic spells. My uncle, though a wizard, barely had more magic than a Squib. I learned most of my spells only after coming to Hogwarts."

"Maybe I could've disarmed them? And then taken on ten of them alone?"

"Well, that's what I did. Seeing that scene nearly drove me mad. Like some reckless Gryffindor fool, I charged at them and shouted—Expelliarmus!"

Harry watched as Setti swiftly drew a wand-like object, firing at wooden posts in front of the grill. Several were adorned with tightly bound witches and wizards, their eyes filled with terror and despair.

A red spell struck one of them. With a horrifying scream, the person's teeth and limbs were torn away by an invisible force, leaving them as a grotesque, blood-spouting husk.

"My magic seems different, especially when I want to vent and lift my mood. It gets... unusual."

"By the way, don't pity those people in front of you. They're poachers, thieves, murderers—not one of them is innocent. If you think their punishment is too harsh, well, that's too bad. I deem it fitting, and here, I am the law."

"Have you noticed something, friend?"

Setti looked up in Harry's direction. If Harry didn't know this was a magical projection, he might have thought the older wizard was physically present.

"For us—or rather, for me—killing makes me stronger. Perhaps it's not just killing; using the right methods on the right people seems to make my magic grow at an unusual speed."

"I haven't figured out why yet, but I can tell you this: emotions and feelings not only strengthen spells but also empower people like us."

"During the fifteen years I lived with my uncle, we led a cautious life. He was little better than a Squib, and I was a wild child raised by him. I don't know if you've seen the magical world's lowest rung, but I hope you never truly encounter it. Trust me, it's more disgusting than a putrid swamp."

"Sometimes I even envied the Muggle world. At least they have social welfare—food to keep you alive. You can work hard and earn a meager living. In the magical world's lowest tier, such luxuries are unimaginable."

"I endured countless humiliations to survive. But when I came to Hogwarts and the Forbidden Forest, where I could punish scum in ways I saw fit, I felt liberated. My long-suppressed emotions were unleashed, and my magic surged with each act of vengeance."

"I realized I was different—that I wasn't just a wizard. I was an awakened one, capable of wielding magic as powerful as the ancient wizards, akin to the might of gods."

"Because, in a way, we're not entirely human. We're something beyond—gods."

Setti finished his meal, slicing a piece of meat from a beef leg with a small knife. His demeanor lacked arrogance, carrying an almost nonchalant air.

"This isn't about being inherently noble or superior. Don't believe that nonsense. Let me share a secret I discovered while researching curses: those self-proclaimed noble pure-blood wizards? They're mongrels. That's not an insult—it's a fact, like me calling myself a god."

"They're hybrids of beasts, their veins carrying the blood of magical creatures. The more noble and ancient their lineage, the more beastly their heritage."

"My ex-girlfriend was from the Greengrass family. A pure-blood, but a good person. Rarely did she look down on someone like me, born to Muggles. Her family's women suffered from a blood curse. Without medication, they'd gradually transform into animals, starting around thirty until they became beasts entirely."

"She was a pitiful girl. Though family pressure led her to break up with me, I obtained a vial of her blood and uncovered the secret of so-called pure-bloods."

"Let's get back to the main topic: the question of gods."

The sound of flames crackling as meat sizzled echoed again.

"What do you think magic is?"

"Is the fire we summon real fire?"

Sethi raised his gun, gently pulled the trigger, and muttered, "Flames flare," causing a blazing fireball to float above the barrel.

"I'm not sure if you've ever studied spells, but I've spent quite some time exploring them. I've discovered that the fire summoned by magic is not real fire. Although it possesses all the characteristics of fire, it is not truly fire."

He picked up a piece of split wood nearby and ignited it with the fire from his gun. In an instant, the slightly damp wood caught fire and turned into a small torch. As Sethi moved the magic flame away, the fire on the stick burned gently, unlike the fierce blaze before.

"This is real fire, natural fire."

Sethi threw the burning wood into a bucket of water, and with a sizzling sound, the flame was extinguished. He then dropped the magical fire from his gun into the water. The water bubbled and quickly began to boil.

"Magical fire cannot be put out with any non-magical means. At least, while it's burning, whether submerged underwater or enclosed in a sealed container, the flame won't die out unless its magic is exhausted. But if we use other means—like magic itself—"

Sethi stretched his hand out and pulled over a captive tied to a wooden post.

"Intense stimulation causes a wizard's magic to overflow." He snapped the captive's arm with ease, like breaking a twig. A dull scream filled the air, and Harry saw faint blue smoke rising from the captive's body. Harry knew well that the magic of ordinary wizards was always a pale blue.

Another magical flame shot from Sethi's gun, landing on the captive's chest and burning quietly.

But as the fire seared the captive, the agonizing pain caused him to thrash and struggle wildly. His overflowing magic grew stronger, and in just a few seconds, the magical fire, which could burn for a long time, was enveloped by the rising magic and quickly extinguished.

"Magical fire can be extinguished with more magic, of course, or with a spell, which is more efficient. Using magic to put it out is a clumsy method, but it works."

"Wizards' magic can conjure many things, but in essence, what magic creates is imitative, not creative."

"Transfiguration is a perfect example. The things changed by magic are always false because they are imitations, not true changes or creations."

"But we can."

Sethi snapped the neck of the half-dead captive, ending his suffering. Then he looked up, his expression serious.

"Yol (fire)."

He uttered an odd word, and a small flame appeared at his fingertip.

"This is why I believe we are not human, but should be called gods. Although I don't like the term 'god,' and I hate that condescending feeling, what other word can better describe what we do?"

"I can't be 100% sure that this flame is something I created out of nothing, but at least it's real fire—something special, identical to natural fire, not a simulated imitation created by magic."

"It can be extinguished—" Sethi slowly dipped his fingers into the bucket, and the flame was snuffed out by the water.

"It can be controlled by me—" As Sethi continued to pour his dark silver magic into the flame, it grew to the size of his fist and rapidly heated up. He tossed it far away, and the fist-sized flame floated 10 meters above the ground. Its color shifted from orange-red to yellow-white, then to blue, and finally to a strange purple.

The rising temperature caused the air around it to distort, and the grass below it began to blacken, while the soil started to melt and turn red.

As the purple hue faded and the flame slowly turned transparent, the intense heat left a pool of molten lava on the ground. The captives tied to the posts began struggling violently in response to the heat. Their hair and clothes caught fire, the ropes burned away, but before they could escape, they were scorched and turned into human torches, finally reduced to ash.

"In the Muggle world, they say God created the world. But did I just create a flame in this moment?"

The colorless heat source that distorted the air vanished, but the lava pool on the ground still bubbled, leaving behind the unmistakable mark of a fire's power.

"Do those magical scripts, which we can understand without learning, hide the secret of world creation?"

"After I graduate, this will be my lifelong pursuit: to uncover the true meaning of these scripts. I've come of age, and I feel that my growth has reached its peak. Even if I continue to grow stronger, I can no longer gain knowledge passed down through bloodlines."

"Here, I share with you—my companion, my friend—the knowledge I have inherited. I hope that one day, one of us will find all the magical scripts and dare to try—to boldly test if we can create a real world, perform a miracle of creation like a god."

"Yol—Fire, Wuld—Wind, Strun—Storm, Bah—Fury, Qo—Lightning, Mul—Power, Qua—Protection, Slen—Body, Evenaar—Extinction."

"This is all that I have inherited, and I hope you will leave behind what you have inherited as well. For one day, our successors will be able to complete the puzzle and touch the miracles that belong to the gods."

Sethi waved to Harry and pointed ahead. "Behind that wall is my laboratory at Hogwarts, where you'll find a small gift. You might like it."

The magical projection slowly faded, and a black-silver vortex began to spin slowly in the center of the room, awaiting its next visitor.

(End of Chapter)