Julian split off from the girls after that, since he was heading to the library and they were not. It was a lazy day for most of the student body, and that included the usually driven types. Even the famously studious Ravenclaws, who were normally glued to books, seemed to be relaxing for once instead of frantically devouring pages.
There were still a handful of exceptions, students like Julian who spent their free time studying anyway. Hermione, for instance, was buried beneath yet another unstable tower of books that, as far as Julian could tell, had little real use to her at the moment.
He ignored her entirely and turned his attention to the shelves, beginning the slow and tedious process of hunting for anything related to glamour spells.
It turned out to be a chore all on its own.
...
Julian deliberately stayed away from the "ancient" section of the library. Any texts on illusion in that corner were unlikely to be helpful for what he needed right now.
That was not to say he had no intention of ever reading them. He fully planned to return to the older works later. For the ring, however, modern spellwork and practical applications would serve him better than vague archaic theory.
After an hour of combing through rows of shelves and cross checking titles, he finally managed to gather ten different books dealing with illusions.
He sat down with the first one, a clearly introductory volume titled "A Beginner's Guide to Glamour" by Susan Corven. Unless the author had chosen the title for a cruel joke, it was aimed at novices.
Illusions, as the opening of the book explained, turned out to be an incredibly broad branch of magic.
According to the introduction, all illusions fell into seven basic subcategories: touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight, instinct, and combination. Every illusion, no matter how advanced or twisted, could be sorted into one of those types. If a spell affected more than one sense or area at once, it fell under the final group.
The most famous example of a combination illusion given was the Disillusionment Charm. It manipulated sight by rendering the caster nearly transparent, and instinct by nudging the observer's mind to simply overlook the small flaws and irregularities in the effect.
Julian skimmed quickly through the rest of the book. It shifted from explanation to page after page of example spells, categorized neatly under each heading.
The majority of them did not interest him.
Most looked well suited for harmless pranks or minor trickery, and while he could think of a few creative uses, he doubted he would ever truly need a spell that made flatulence smell like roses.
Once he finished extracting anything useful, he set that book aside and moved to the next one.
This second text, written unsurprisingly by another witch, focused entirely on false beauty charms. Subtle changes to hair, eyes, skin, teeth, posture, and more. It was in some ways impressive, but for his current purpose, nearly useless. He skimmed it rapidly and set it down as well.
...
The third book he opened made him wonder how Dumbledore had not already locked it away in the restricted section.
Its title was "The Art of Terror: An Illusionist's Guide," and it lived up to its ominous name. The contents were a detailed exploration of fear based illusions, designed specifically to horrify, torment, and break the minds of those subjected to them.
If anything deserved to be called a dark manual for illusionists, this was it.
Julian found himself torn between disgust and admiration. The spells inside were vile, but the author's understanding of their mechanics and structure was impressive.
There was even a fully fledged curse whose effects reminded him very strongly of Scarecrow's fear toxin from the Batman comics. It induced hallucinations and panic attacks, twisting the victim's perception into a nightmare.
The only reason he even recognized the resemblance was because, as he understood it, the memories related to his personal life and the unique, unshared differences between his old world and this one had been erased. Everything else remained.
Apparently, comic books were consistent across both Earths. D.C. and Marvel existed here as well, their stories largely unchanged.
It still amazed him how similar the two worlds were, despite the existence of active, institutionalized magic in this one and its absence in his previous life.
He did not let himself get lost in that line of thought, however, and forced his focus back to the open book in front of him.
...
Julian committed several of the fear based illusion spells to memory, including the curse.
He had no intention of using them lightly, but fear was a potent weapon. In the right circumstances and used with care, it made for an excellent defensive tool.
After finishing that text, he moved on to the next two. Both turned out to be only marginally more useful than the first couple he had read. They dealt mainly with small scale illusion spells that were minor, but not completely worthless.
One example was a "candle" charm that made the caster perceive a single hovering candle wherever they directed the magic. The peculiar thing was that, despite not creating actual light, it somehow enabled the caster to read in the dark as if the page were lit.
Julian shook his head at that one and mentally labeled it under the usual explanation: magic.
...
The sixth book in his stack was essentially a prankster's treasure chest. Page after page of illusions tailored for mischief, embarrassment, and creative chaos.
He might or might not have copied a few of those spells down for potential use later.
The last book he opened bore the title "A Practical Compendium of Illusion" by Quintin Fern. True to its name, the text focused primarily on practical, applicable illusion magic. It even contained the Disillusionment Charm, and more importantly, laid out the deeper principles that tied the various enchantments together.
This volume, more than any of the others, gave Julian a substantial push forward in his understanding of illusion magic.
It explained that all illusions fundamentally worked by tampering with the information being sent to a person's brain before it was fully processed.
That was why properly cast illusions still functioned on Occlumens. The mind could be trained to resist external influence and intrusion, but if the data being fed into it was altered before conscious awareness, there was nothing for those mental defenses to easily push back against.