You can't master magic overnight. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
So, Owen decided to put the Patronus Charm on the back burner for a bit. Instead, he refocused on refining his wandless magic and diving deeper into Transfiguration theory.
Until he got a wand, Professor McGonagall had strictly forbidden him from actually casting Transfiguration spells.
His days remained packed, but once he settled into a rhythm, Owen found he actually had some free time again. He didn't waste it. He marched straight back to his spot next to Madam Pince and resumed devouring theoretical knowledge.
He finished the entire third-year curriculum and immediately started on the fourth.
But after just two weeks, Owen put the books down. He realized that the curriculum from years one through four was fundamentally similar. The only real difficulty lay in the application.
It started with simple, harmless spells like the Lighting Charm and Levitation Charm, or turning a matchstick into a needle. The difficulty ramped up slowly. For Owen, none of this was particularly hard—even without a wand.
However, starting from the fifth-year curriculum, the depth changed drastically. Transfiguration began to cover living-to-inanimate transformations (and vice versa), and Charms started incorporating Ancient Runes.
Owen memorized every incantation in the textbooks and practiced them during his morning runs. But Ancient Runes? You can't practice that on the fly. You have to sit down and study it properly.
So, the young wizard started burning through quills, notebooks, and parchment at an alarming rate.
Rote memorization was easy for Owen—he'd never struggled with it in his past life either. There were only a few hundred runes to learn. The only side effect was that he now walked down the corridors constantly tracing runic symbols in the air with his fingers.
To an outsider, he looked... slightly unhinged.
Some people like to stand out and show off their unique personalities. Others hate those people and feel a compulsive urge to knock them down a peg.
And so, once again, someone blocked the young wizard's path.
Owen stared at the group for a moment, then tilted his head.
"Mr. Rowle, Mr. Yaxley, and Mr. Travers. What happened? Why are you covering your heads with black cloth? Are you injured?"
The ambushers froze. One of them looked at Owen in disbelief. "We're covered up like this, and you still recognize us?"
Owen chuckled softly and pointed. "You're wearing Slytherin robes, and given your heights... it's really not that hard to figure out."
"I... You..."
The three tore the black cloth off their faces and glared at Owen maliciously. "Fine. Since you know it's us, there's no point hiding. Mr. Corlett, you know why we're looking for you, right?"
"I do."
His Occlumency still needed work, but his Legilimency was coming along nicely. Plus, these three weren't exactly hiding their hostility.
Owen spread his hands. "I don't grade your homework anymore. The decision to make you redo your assignments came directly from Professor Snape. It was entirely his call."
Ever since Dumbledore spoke to the staff, the professors had stopped giving Owen grading duties. That freed up a lot of time—enough for him to spend thirty minutes memorizing and understanding a single Ancient Rune.
But he didn't have thirty minutes to waste on this nonsense.
"Ventus."
Three small tornadoes erupted, instantly trapping the three upper-year Slytherins. They were swept up into the air, spinning helplessly.
Owen walked away without looking back. It wasn't really a spell, just a creative application of raw magic guided by runic theory. He knew how to cast it, but as for how to cancel it... well, he hadn't figured that part out yet.
Based on the amount of magic he put into it, they'd probably come down in about ten minutes.
Right after Owen left, a few other students walked by. Seeing three people trapped inside mini-tornadoes, they gasped. The smart ones ran to get a professor. The not-so-smart ones hid behind pillars to watch the show.
Professor Flitwick arrived. The moment he saw the tornadoes, he knew exactly who was responsible. And because he knew, he was a little annoyed.
"Finite Incantatem!"
The tornadoes dissipated, dropping the three students to the floor. But the incident wasn't over. Without hesitation, Flitwick deducted ten points from Slytherin. Then he had the three dizzy wizards sent to the Hospital Wing.
Madam Pomfrey, upon hearing what happened, carefully selected three of the foulest-tasting potions in her inventory—stuff with a reputation among students for being absolutely vile—and poured it down their throats.
---
Owen's popularity was something the students couldn't quite comprehend.
Even though he had only been there for one summer, everyone at Hogwarts liked him—from the Headmaster and professors to the staff, ghosts, and portraits. His inexplicable charm was so strong that even Peeves didn't prank him.
Deep in the ocean of magical knowledge, Owen didn't care what others thought of him. He had a new target.
After dipping his toes into Ancient Runes, he discovered Alchemy—a subject that could actually make money. He dove in headfirst and couldn't pull himself out.
Alchemy was a third-year elective. This created a time conflict because Alchemy was harder than he expected, and the professor who taught it didn't live at Hogwarts—she only came in for classes.
Being an elective meant the classes overlapped with other core subjects. Since Owen couldn't split himself in two, he was forced to grind through dry theoretical texts on his own. But even self-study took a massive amount of time.
"Not enough time?"
Professor McGonagall looked at the young wizard in surprise. Seeing the pure determination in his dark eyes, she suddenly smiled.
"Oh, dear. You have plenty of time. You don't need to learn everything all at once. You can take it step by step."
Owen paused, then nodded slowly as realization dawned on him. She was right. He was being too impatient. Compared to a normal student, he had so much time. He had just overbooked himself.
He just needed to reorganize his schedule. Time could always be found if you looked for it.
And so...
04:00 AM: Wake up.
04:00 - 05:00: Morning training (Recite spells, practice wandless magic, boxing).
05:00 - 06:00: Greenhouses (Herbology study).
06:10 - 06:20: Breakfast.
06:30 - 08:30: Ancient Runes study.
09:00 - Lunch: Attend classes (Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, etc.).
Lunch - Dinner: Attend classes (Potions, History of Magic, etc.).