Chapter 207: The Mind-Form Manifestation Charm
For the next while, Lockhart became very busy.
He needed to study the two forms—"magical" and "non-magical"—of the Marauder's Cats. This research branched into two areas. One was magical creature breeding, which often led him to bring the students to Hagrid for lessons.
The other was spell research, which required him to look for materials in the library and sometimes consult with Professor McGonagall and Grindelwald. Ultimately, he would always go back to his star student, Tom Riddle, for help with his research.
It seemed everyone had something to keep them busy.
Snape was completely absorbed in his research on the Wolfsbane Potion, trying to fulfill his sense of responsibility and atone for the past by finding a way to heal Neville's parents, who had been ravaged by war.
Professor Kettleburn was busy expanding the "adventure" grounds, hoping to create more scenarios. He poured all his enthusiasm into the project, and some of his ideas seemed to have won over Grindelwald, who now, as a wizard who had experienced true adventures, began to lend a hand.
It was funny to see. Grindelwald, who had initially mocked the "playing house" game, was now starting to get invested in it. Lupin also had his own things to do. He was helping Hagrid search deep in the Forbidden Forest for the werewolf cubs that had been driven from their territory by the Acromantulas. He was so dedicated that he was often nowhere to be found.
Of course, Lupin would also sometimes lecture the students in the Duelling Club. His knowledge of Dark creatures was different from Lockhart's, and he could always bring a new perspective and new ideas to the class.
Time slipped away, and a month had passed in the blink of an eye.
The biggest change at Hogwarts during this month was the arrival of a large number of Dementors. Professor McGonagall was beside herself with frustration, believing that the Ministry of Magic had discovered Grindelwald's presence and was using the pretext of capturing Sirius Black and protecting the students to keep an eye on him.
Could they?
They didn't have the ability to.
Grindelwald's Transfiguration was so incredible that he was able to leave for half a day over a weekend, and no one even noticed he was gone. Only Lockhart realized that Grindelwald had a new haircut, was wearing the latest style of wizarding robes, and had a different wand in his hand. He then understood that the old wizard had secretly slipped away.
Thankfully, Grindelwald hadn't done anything else. Everything seemed to have passed by peacefully as everyone became engrossed in the wonders of magic.
And then, one day, the quiet and interesting life took a dramatic turn.
Snape found Lockhart with a grim expression. "A few days ago was the full moon. I brewed the Wolfsbane Potion for Professor Lupin..."
Lockhart chuckled, not taking it seriously and continuing to flip through his magical notes. "I know, he's a werewolf, Severus. I know a lot of people's secrets."
He also knew that during the full moon, Snape had finally gotten to substitute for a few Defence Against the Dark Arts classes he had always wanted to teach, though the students' reviews were not very good. Old Snape's D.A.D.A. class was as unpopular as his Potions class.
"No, you don't!"
Snape scoffed, placing a ceramic pot on the table. Inside was a mixture of dirt, wild grass, and crushed stones. "He didn't drink it! He secretly threw it away!"
Lockhart froze for a moment. He stood up and looked at the soil, then back at Snape. "Are you sure?"
Snape's eyes narrowed. "I wouldn't mistake the potion, even if it has been in the dirt for several days!"
He picked up some of the dirt and smelled it. "The scent of a fresh potion is very distinct, even when it's naturally decomposing. This is undoubtedly a Wolfsbane Potion brewed in the last few days. I am absolutely certain that no one else at Hogwarts has brewed a Wolfsbane Potion during this time."
The Wolfsbane Potion was an extremely effective suppressant for lycanthropy. If a wizard drank it a week before the full moon, they would still transform into a werewolf, but they would remain rational and keep their human thoughts, preventing them from being driven by a savage, animalistic instinct to attack others.
Such an effective potion was a blessing for the werewolf community, but very few werewolves actually benefited from it. This was because the ingredients were too expensive and difficult to find. Werewolves, who were already on the fringes of society, simply couldn't afford the potion. They would usually just lock themselves in a cage to avoid harming others and those they cared about, and wait a few days for the ordeal to pass.
Therefore, even though Damocles Belby, the inventor of the Wolfsbane Potion, had generously released the recipe and continuously improved upon it, getting a dose of the potion was still extremely difficult. There were no ready-made potions on the market; they had to be custom-ordered. During this tense time, with Dementors, Aurors, and the school authorities watching closely, anyone bringing a Wolfsbane Potion into the school would surely be caught.
So Snape was very certain that the potion he had found dumped in the dirt was the one he had brewed for Lupin.
The question, then, was this:
Why didn't Lupin drink the Wolfsbane Potion? Why did he throw it away?
"What do you think?" Lockhart asked, a thoughtful look on his face.
"There's one possibility," Snape said, drawing out the words. His gaze was filled with a murderous intent he hadn't shown since he started trying to embrace life and make up for his past mistakes after brewing the Regret Potion. His eyes were filled with a vicious glint.
"The Remus Lupin we see every day is not the real one. Someone could be disguised as him using Polyjuice Potion!"
Don't be fooled by the fact that Hermione Granger brewed the Polyjuice Potion in her second year and think it's a simple potion. It's not. It's an extremely advanced potion with incredibly powerful effects.
Lockhart remembered clearly that Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as Mad-Eye Moody, had taught at the school for an entire year and successfully fooled Dumbledore and the other professors, as well as the Aurors who were his colleagues. No one saw through him, not even Dumbledore, or else Cedric wouldn't have died, and Harry Potter wouldn't have almost been killed by Voldemort.
"Now that we have our suspicions, is there a way to verify it?" Lockhart wasn't very knowledgeable in this area.
"Yes. The thief-trapping waterfall in the Gringotts vaults is a common way to deal with Polyjuice Potion," Snape explained. "If you pass through the waterfall, the transformation from the Polyjuice Potion will be nullified."
But this was goblin magic, and no one even knew whether it was the goblins' magic or a magical creation of theirs. The details of this were a closely guarded secret to most wizards, who had no way of learning about it.
"I could brew a potion specifically to detect Polyjuice Potion—" Snape said, feeling a bit vexed. "—but that would take at least a month."
"A month?" Lockhart snorted. "Wouldn't it be easier to just watch him closely during the next full moon?"
"By the way, do you think the Human-Form Reversion Charm would work in this situation?" He didn't understand the underlying mechanics of the Polyjuice Potion, so it was difficult to determine if this method would be effective.
Snape scoffed. "If you're going to cast a spell directly on Lupin, you might as well go all the way and use your unique Obliviate Charm to look at his memories and figure out if he is the real Lupin."
That would be too much.
Lockhart rubbed his chin. "I need the right opportunity!"
Honestly, he didn't really want to do anything to Lupin. He felt a sense of sympathy and goodwill towards Lupin, a pitiful man tormented by a tragic fate. More importantly, ever since he had freed Grindelwald from Nurmengard, he had subtly felt a change in his relationship with Dumbledore. It might have started even earlier, after a certain night when he had come into contact with Voldemort, and the aurors were almost immediately ambushed when he handed over Karkaroff.
Old Dumbledore had a new, scrutinizing look in his eyes.
Lockhart suspected that it wasn't a matter of him watching Grindelwald, but rather Grindelwald watching him. Some things were better left unsaid. It was best for everyone to maintain a facade of peace. Acting against Lupin, one of the most ambiguously placed members of the Order of the Phoenix, would undoubtedly lead to bad consequences.
Snape, the old schemer, clearly had the same concerns. Headmaster Dumbledore was different from before, and he was becoming more and more difficult to read. No one could ignore the will of a wizard who was at the very top of his field in both power and influence.
So, it was better not to get his own hands dirty.
Lockhart quickly set his sights on someone who might be willing to take action.
"Lurking right under my nose?" Grindelwald's eyes narrowed. He felt that such a blatant act was a great insult to him. But he wasn't one to be easily provoked. He looked at Lockhart suspiciously and sneered, "Young man, if you were better at hiding the look of expectation in your eyes, I might not mind being your pawn this one time."
"How can you accuse me!" Lockhart exclaimed, annoyed. "I'm telling you about a problem that has arisen at the school while Professor Dumbledore has been away!"
Grindelwald didn't buy it. "Even if he is an impostor, I couldn't care less."
He threw the ball back into Lockhart's court.
However, Grindelwald did tell Lockhart about a spell that could counter the physical changes caused by Polyjuice Potion.
The Mind-Form Manifestation Charm.
He wasn't willing to teach Lockhart from scratch. Instead, he told him to go to the library and check out books on the spell to teach himself. Then, once he had learned something, Grindelwald would provide the key pointers for improvement.
This was a Dark Arts spell, a form of war magic that even Durmstrang wouldn't teach. The title of the book that recorded the spell was telling enough: Rip Open the Chest, Let Me Have a Good Look.
Lockhart had only read a few pages when he realized that Grindelwald's recommendation was definitely not without ulterior motives. The book was an ancient magical text that explored the relationship between a wizard's soul, blood, and body.
In a more primitive wizarding society, there was a time when wizards were obsessed with a fascinating subject: immortality. This book was one of the achievements of that era. Of course, it wasn't as famous as Horcruxes, because it never really produced any effective results, only a collection of theories and derivative spells.
The content of the book wasn't difficult for Lockhart. After Tom had contributed all his memories and ideas about the exploration of life, Lockhart was already quite advanced in this area.
The book explored the existence of life, starting with the physical body's ability to live. It argued that "a person's appearance, posture, and physical details are related to their experiences, thoughts, and will." In Lockhart's words, "the face is a reflection of the heart."
So, could one's outward appearance be used to glimpse the state of a wizard's soul?
The answer was no. People have never been able to truly see a person's soul from their appearance. At most, they can only see the state of the mind in motion.
So the book devised a very interesting spell: forcing the soul to express itself on the body. Simply put, it made the true form of the soul manifest on the physical body.
This was an ancient magic that was very close to modern Transfiguration. It was classified as a Dark Art not just because few people understood it, but also because of its deeply offensive nature. Casting a spell on someone to strip them of their clothes was already a great humiliation, let alone stripping their soul bare and exposing everything about it.
Lockhart frowned as he finished the book, thinking it would have been better to just use Obliviate. But Grindelwald, the devil that he was, had recommended a spell that was perfectly suited to Lockhart's magical path, making his hands itch to try it.
Should I try it?
Lockhart was tempted.
So...
Bellatrix, get to work!
Let's see what interesting effects this magic has that would make Grindelwald recommend it so enthusiastically.
Of course, Tom could also be of some help. Lockhart knew full well that little Tom would definitely have his own unique insights into this kind of magic.
So, he'd have to consult with Tom first to better understand the spell before using it on Bellatrix.
......................
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