Chapter 272: Snake! Snake!
Lockhart had never thought he could solve every problem in the world on his own, so he had to find some helpers. The first person he went to was Professor Kettleburn.
This old professor loved adventure too much. When he heard about something so interesting, there was no way he could sit still. He joined Lockhart, and they started this adventure again.
Unfortunately, they failed again.
"It's the power of the elves!" Professor Kettleburn was very clear about this conjecture when he, Lockhart, and Madam Mary were discussing and summarizing their findings. As an academic master known as "the encyclopedia Kettleburn," he had a very clear understanding of nature based on his systematic analysis.
"It's easy to turn a human into a natural animal. I can do that myself—" The old professor stroked his fake hand through his beard, frowning and pondering. "But turning a human into a natural elf... that's too strange."
Lockhart asked, "Is there a difference between the two?"
The old professor clearly had his own understanding of Transfiguration. "Many people would call 'turning someone into an animal' a 'Transfiguration curse' and 'turning yourself into an animal' an 'Animagus.' But in my opinion, they all fall under the category of Conjugation."
He gestured. "Conjugation is about converting a living being's position in nature, from a person to an animal, or even an object. So you'll find that no matter how you transfigure them, the resulting object or creature cannot have magical powers. Because magical items and magical creatures are supernatural. This is the limitation of Transfiguration itself, and it's written in Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration."
Thinking about this and the elves' ability to infinitely self-replicate, he had a clear answer. "Transfiguration cannot create food out of thin air, but it can make food more abundant, turning a single grain of flour into a cartful of flour. This means that for the '0 to 1' stage, other magic must be at work, and then Transfiguration takes over for the '1 to infinity' effect."
This meant it was a two-stage magical effect. Once they had a clear direction, it was simple. Lockhart and the other two adjusted their approach and tried a third adventure the next day. And they failed again. This was because whether it was the first or second stage they identified, the Reviving Charm had no effect on the "little people."
Two days passed, and Lupin returned to school. His main job was still the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. The werewolf community was temporarily left in the hands of his father, Lyall. It's worth mentioning that with the help of the Ministry of Magic's Undersecretary Umbridge, Lyall has now been successfully promoted to the Head of the Werewolf Registry Office, responsible for all werewolf affairs within the jurisdiction of the British Ministry of Magic.
The fact that Ministry officials were the real decision-makers, while not ideal to talk about, was the norm in the wizarding world, for example, Arthur Weasley. This was because the total wizarding population was not that large, and the wizards truly suited for a certain professional field were always the same few. With his father's help, Lupin could finally take a break from this matter and return to school.
And so, he joined Lockhart and the others' adventure team. Lupin also had his own understanding of Transfiguration. He was the exception that Professor Kettleburn mentioned: a wizard becoming a werewolf was precisely the process of a magical creature becoming a magical creature.
Lupin couldn't articulate a structured theory like Lockhart or Professor Kettleburn, but he had an extremely rich experience and deep thoughts on Transfiguration. From an intuitive perspective, he believed there should be three stages, and they weren't in a specific order.
"Life cannot be duplicated with a duplicating spell; otherwise, there would be hundreds of wizarding armies, especially with master wizards duplicating themselves. One person would be enough to rule the world."
"I feel that the Muggle must have been in a state of being an 'object' at some point, and then the object was duplicated in large quantities. The duplicates were then restored by Transfiguration to become living magical beings, what you all call elves."
This explanation was initially accepted by everyone, but at this stage, it still didn't solve the problem. Lockhart and the others tried a few more adventures and finally decided to involve the young wizards from the Dueling Club. After all, they had determined that this adventure, at least at this stage, was not dangerous. Even if the young wizards weren't as powerful as they were, they all had their own perspectives and might come up with the answer.
As expected, after analyzing the adventure, some different ideas were proposed.
"Of course, magical creatures can be duplicated! Life can be duplicated too!" Ron Weasley said with a look of "What's so strange about that?" He then held the Matagot cat and placed it on the table, gesturing with both hands.
"The wall!" Hermione excitedly raised her hand. Seeing that Ron had spoken directly, she quickly jumped in to answer. "The wall where the Muggle sailor was split into pieces and smeared all over it must have been part of the magic!"
The Matagot cat's self-duplication. The wall was also a part of the magic.
Lockhart's eyes lit up. He exchanged glances with Professor Kettleburn and Lupin, and they all clearly realized the usefulness of these two conjectures.
"Good, anything else?" he asked.
Harry raised his hand. "Professor, when we were fighting those organ monsters just now, I noticed that they weren't working together. No matter how many times the Matagot cat and the Matagot cat split, their fighting was always in sync, more like a left hand and right hand working together. They were fighting on their own, as if they were commanded by different minds. And the minds of these organ monsters were very simple."
This was a new perspective. From a fighting point of view, Harry's focus was on this.
"Excellent," Lockhart praised and asked the others, "Any other observations?"
Draco, who was on the side, seemed a little hesitant. He looked at Harry being praised by the professor and by everyone's exaggerated reactions, feeling a bit resentful, but he also seemed to be struggling with whether to say the answer he had thought of. But he finally did, because Harry gave him a smug look, as if to say, "Draco, you're so lame."
This was an unbearable insult. He also raised his hand.
"Professor, actually—"
He hesitated for a moment, then bit the bullet and said, "I think I know what the spell that turns a person into pieces is."
Lockhart raised an eyebrow and looked at him.
"The Parting Curse, also known as the Severing Charm, is a Dark Arts spell. It's—"
Before Draco could finish, Hermione sneered and stood up. She looked at him with pride. "I think Malfoy didn't read his books properly. This is from the textbook! The Severing Charm is not a Dark Arts spell; it's a normal charm for cutting."
Hermione spoke very quickly. "Although it can also be used to sever a person, the severed part won't have its own thoughts! It will only be controlled by a mind again after an anti-curse is cast on it. Also! The book Potions and Demonic Sins mentions that medieval wizards tried to cut off human body parts and different magical creature body parts in an attempt to read their so-called 'muscle memory,' but they all failed. It was proven that when a muscle loses its connection with the mind, it can't store memories!"
Hmm... On this point, Lockhart had a different idea. Muscle memory was stored in the muscles. When he transmigrated, he relied on muscle memory to imitate the original body's handwriting; it didn't require the original body's mind.
Draco just sneered at Hermione's statement. He looked at her with a defiant expression and said with a smile, "That's because you can only read books that are part of modern magic. But I can read books on ancient witchcraft."
Hermione was stunned for a moment, pursed her lips, and said nothing.
"The Severing Charm, Sectumsempra, was originally a Dark Arts spell. It was a common spell used by witches to dismember magical ingredients for their cauldron potions. In the past, babies were even a type of magical ingredient. There was also a potion-making philosophy called 'In Its Original State,' which believed that potion ingredients should not only retain their blood but also their common accessories and clothes because that would preserve their soul essence.
"Sectumsempra is one such spell. It can preserve the original state of the material to the greatest extent. The modern Severing Charm is a modification. Besides changing the original ancient Egyptian incantation to the current one, the spell-casting gesture was also changed, which is why it doesn't seem so evil."
Draco looked around at his classmates, especially those from ancient wizarding families. "You've all heard the bedtime story 'The Witch Who Knocked on the Door at Midnight,' right? In the story, the evil witch rips the heart out of a Muggle's body, and the Muggle without a heart tries to find his heart back. The spell that preserved the soul essence of the heart, the 'in its original state' and 'live organ harvesting' magic, is the Severing Charm."
"Damn it!" Professor Kettleburn exclaimed. "I should have thought of that. I'm getting old; I actually forgot about this."
Lockhart was surprised and looked at him. "You know about it too?"
Professor Kettleburn nodded. "They used to teach this spell at Hogwarts decades ago, but then a terrible crime involving this spell's use on a Muggle happened in Italy. The International Confederation of Wizards' Educational Management Organization demanded that the Ministries of Magic in each country prohibit the spread of this spell and have all major magical schools stop teaching it."
With that, he lowered his voice mysteriously. "In fact, this spell is still being used in many wizarding hospitals, but they are using it to save lives. Everyone has chosen to support it."
In other words, Professor Kettleburn also understood. Lockhart decided to ask him about it after the discussion to see what the spell was really like.
"Then—" He gestured for Hermione and Draco to sit down and looked at the others. "Anything else?"
Of course. Everyone had their own ideas. It turned out that every one of these young wizards was excellent, especially after Professor Lockhart developed their potential according to their own characteristics. They were all gradually walking down their own magical paths.
George and Fred, Luna... Percy... Cedric... There were so many; every one of them was. Even the dopey Crabbe raised his hand. This was strange. Although Lockhart wouldn't discriminate against his first apprentice, he knew that thinking was not an easy thing for Crabbe. He was actually looking forward to what answer Crabbe, who usually only repeated what others or books had said, would have.
"Just now, George and Fred said that the Animation Charm can't give animated objects magical power, so they can't cast spells. That's not entirely true—" He saw everyone looking at him and shrunk his neck. His voice became even less confident. "When I—when I was practicing the Soul Bonfire, I found that the appearance of magic doesn't have to have a soul or emotions or anything—it might come from someone else's—"
"!!!"
This answer truly surprised Lockhart. He thoughtfully mulled over the sentence, and his brain quickly retrieved memories to quickly confirm this idea.
"The appearance of magic doesn't necessarily come from one's own soul, magical bloodline, memory, feeling, emotion, or will—"
"It can also come from someone else's?"
Wow. Lockhart suddenly had a fresh new feeling about magic. This discovery, when combined with his research on memory, time, and magical bloodlines, could even lead to a very unique conjecture: the magical bloodline on that Muggle was actually that of the Dark wizard who tortured him?
Emotional resonance?
Memory resonance?
Soul essence resonance?
Soul resonance?
Lockhart was very clear about one very, very vivid case that could prove all of this: himself! He had digested other people's memories, digested other people's fairy-tale adventures, and then turned from a Muggle into a wizard! He was very clear that it was not as simple as just resonance. The most crucial step back then was Severus's help, who had concocted the potion Naughty Brain Potion!
So, what was the key point Severus had mentioned back then? (Chapter 67) He said that magic was the expression of self-will, and if you lose yourself, you will also lose your magic! From this perspective, was the Muggle a copy of the Dark wizard's magical bloodline, and then because he was severed, he lost his soul and his self, turning into a strange-looking organ monster with no magical ability but with magical characteristics?
Was that it?
Lockhart gently stroked the wand in his hand, lost in thought. As he thought, he suddenly had an inspiration. He gently flicked his wand and walked out of the stone house, stopping in front of a large tree. He stood there without moving for a long time.
Lupin, Professor Kettleburn, and all the young wizards followed him out, curiously watching Professor Lockhart, wondering what he was going to do. Only Crabbe instinctively pulled out his wand and stood behind Lockhart. The light and shadow of a two-colored flame appeared at his feet, and he looked around vigilantly, guarding against anything that might disturb the professor.
In a corner of the crowd, Professor Kettleburn looked at the scene with emotion and whispered to Lupin, "Crabbe isn't very smart or very outstanding, but I always feel that with a student who is so loyal to him, Gilderoy's teaching hasn't been in vain."
He had a right to feel that way. He had been teaching for a lifetime and was now nearly a hundred years old. How many students like Crabbe had he had? Well, none. At most, he had a network of people who were in it for mutual benefit. These people would admire him, help him, and stand up for him, but they wouldn't risk their lives for him.
Crabbe would. Professor Kettleburn was so envious.
Lupin smiled. "That's Gilderoy's personal charisma."
The charismatic Gilderoy in front of them finally moved. He assumed a very serious basic spell-casting posture and gently waved his wand, making a hissing sound. Parseltongue! The members of the Dueling Club all understood Parseltongue. Although some of them weren't very good at it, even Goyle could understand what the professor was saying.
It was very simple. "Snake!—Snake!—Snake!—"
He suddenly lifted his wand. Whoosh. The large tree suddenly shook and trembled. It looked as if it had been eroded by a terrible Dark Arts spell. Its bark began to wither and crack as if a hundred years had passed. The leaves on the branches withered and fell, turning into a rain of leaves. Not just the leaves, but the branches also began to wither and fall, one after another, hitting the ground with a thud, scaring the young wizards who all backed away.
Finally, the trunk of the large tree, which was about the width of an adult's hug, was completely bare, with only a twisting main trunk left. It looked like it was about to wither. But it also looked so vibrant. As it swayed and twisted, it looked more and more full of life.
Crack!
The range of the tree's swaying became larger and larger. Finally, it hit the ground like a whip. The huge booming sound made everyone exclaim in surprise. It soon whipped up again, twisting and swaying towards the sky. Little by little, it turned into a giant snake.
"Snake!" the young wizards exclaimed.
The scene in front of them was even a little creepy because the giant snake was only half a snake, as if it had been grafted onto the tree trunk. From the ground up to two meters, it was still a wooden tree trunk, and above that, it gradually changed, and a giant snake of the same thickness grew out of it. The giant snake twisted its body, its huge snake head looking down at the young wizards. It flicked its tongue and hissed.
Hiss, hiss, hiss~ (Hello, young wizards!)
"!!!" Everyone around was stunned.
In the distance, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, who were attracted by the huge commotion, also looked at the scene in awe.
"What is this, a new Whomping Willow?" Professor McGonagall started to get a headache thinking about how to prevent the young wizards from bothering this terrifying thing, or rather, this terrifying creature, in the future.
"Everyone has their own Transfiguration, don't they?" Dumbledore looked at the scene with a smile, feeling very pleased.