Chapter 290: Magic of 'Mutual Dependence'
After a while, a click was heard, and a first-floor window opened.
Another moment passed, and the Hakimi emerged, dragging the shotgun in its mouth.
"Good boy!" The Muggle couldn't wait, eagerly taking the gun and caressing it. He gently pried open the window and slipped inside.
He didn't notice the Hakimi trembling in fear behind him, nor did he see a shadow that had silently appeared there.
Lockhart looked down at the Hakimi. "You yearn to save your master's soul? You want to stop him, yet you don't want to disobey his will?"
The Hakimi let out a soft meow.
Lockhart was amused. "It seems you've truly developed a human sense of morality."
The Mada-Gato breed in its previous form would not have this capacity. But as the Hakimi's interaction with humans deepened, it gradually acquired the human 'Three Views' (morality, values, and worldview), evolving from Beast toward Wizard. This process of a Dark Arts Creature beginning to possess 'biologicality' actually skipped over biology and moved directly toward 'humanity.'
There were a few examples of this state in the wizarding world, such as Mrs. Norris, the cat belonging to Hogwarts caretaker Filch. Her behavior was so human-like that some young wizards suspected she was a cursed witch.
"What will you do?" Lockhart was curious.
The Hakimi was restless.
"Go. When you decide to follow your own will a will rich in humanity you begin to move toward becoming a humanoid creature." Lockhart waved his hand.
The Hakimi let out a sigh of relief and quickly scrambled into the house.
Lockhart looked back at Madam Mary. "What are your thoughts?"
Madam Mary shook her head. "Is it really a good idea to equip Muggles with magical creatures? It might only bring evil!"
Lockhart snorted. "No, those are two separate things: Muggles equipped with magical creatures, and whether humans will use magical creatures for good or for ill. Two separate issues." To conflate them and bring in humanity would only turn everything into mush.
He walked toward the house. The wall quickly cracked open with a massive fissure, the sides bulging rapidly as if pulling back a curtain to provide a path for Lockhart. This distortion did not affect the surroundings; as Lockhart and Madam Mary walked in, the crack closed again, showing no trace of a seam or change.
Soon, Lockhart and Madam Mary arrived on the second floor. The Muggle woman was screaming in terror on the bed. The Muggle man held the gun, his face contorted in an excited grin, seemingly enjoying the woman's desperate posture.
The Hakimi pounced, tugging on his trouser leg.
"Damn it, what do you think you're doing?" The Muggle looked down at the Hakimi and cursed.
The Hakimi said nothing, only meowed pleadingly. Its cry was infused with magic, making its desperate plea almost palpable: Please, Master, don't do this, if only for the sake of your own soul.
Unfortunately, it had encountered a person rotten to the core. A truly good person would not have been kept by Lockhart in the Fairy Tale Book for an experiment.
It was kicked away, sent flying a good distance.
The Muggle ignored it, excitedly tearing at his shirt collar as he looked at the woman on the bed, sneering, "Trust me, this is going to be a beautiful night."
The Hakimi quickly darted back and clamped its jaws onto his trouser leg again.
The Muggle grew angry, turning the muzzle of the gun toward the Hakimi and commanding, "Get lost, or I won't be gentle."
The Hakimi hesitated but didn't release its grip.
BANG!
The roar of the shotgun blast instantly tore the Hakimi's body into a rag doll. Life was extinguished.
The Muggle looked down, his eyes hollow. The scene was eerily familiar, like the time in his youth when his mother begged him not to gamble, and in the ensuing fight, the knife in his hand accidentally cost him his mother's life.
A terrible pain quickly spread through his body panic, despair, collapse only to be swiftly overwhelmed by a fierce determination. It was too late to turn back now. He kicked the Hakimi away, turned back to the Muggle woman, and sneered, "There's one bullet left in the barrel. You don't want to be the one who dies next, do you?"
The woman desperately curled into the corner of the bed, her back pressed against the wall, panting. Finally, she broke down, screaming, "Kill me! Just kill me!"
"No, you can die later!" The Muggle laughed hysterically.
Then, he suddenly saw two shadows appear on the wall behind him. Two enormous shadows.
He spun around and saw two enlarged versions of the Hakimi bigger than Siberian tigers now staring at him with rage. The pain, panic, despair, and collapse that he had just fought off surged back, overwhelming his heart. His vision blurred, and he seemed to lose sight of the two Hakimis. When he looked back, the desperate woman on the bed had turned into his mother. And he was holding the gun, pointing it at her.
His mother wept, crying, "Kill me! Just kill me!"
The Muggle felt as if he was dragged back into the nightmare he relived every night. The hand holding the gun began to tremble uncontrollably.
Madam Mary watched the scene curiously. "Why do I sense a magical aura on this Muggle?"
Lockhart nodded. "Yes, I feel it too." The aura of Dark Magic. He was being consumed by Dark Magic.
Lockhart observed everything with interest. "So, the life-infused connection of their co-dependence gave the magical creature and the human a parental-like bond? Using this bond as a medium, the Muggle influenced the Hakimi's mind, leading it toward humanity, and the Hakimi influenced the Wizard, awakening his soul and imparting magical power."
"Unfortunately, this Muggle's soul was already fallen."
"Thus, the scene that should have been an awakening of magical power became an intrusion by Dark Magic power."
"The operating pattern of this power..."
Lockhart observed closely, his eyebrow twitching slightly. "A Patronus? The Soul's Patronus Charm? Ha, how interesting!"
He asked, "How long were they together? I mean, the stage of mutual dependence?"
Madam Mary quickly looked through the experiment notes and replied, "Five years and seven months. They only had each other."
Lockhart snorted. "Almost six years of emotional bond, thrown away for a moment of pleasure? And he shot the poor thing? This person is hopeless."
Madam Mary was disgusted. "He was hopeless the moment he killed his mother!"
Just then, a shot rang out.
BANG!
The second bullet in the shotgun barrel fired. A terrible blast, accompanied by a shower of pellets, shot toward the 'mother' on the bed.
The Muggle laughed hysterically. "Die! Die! Everyone dies!"
Cackling and weeping hysterically, he ran wildly around the room, not at all surprised that the woman on the bed had been torn apart by the blast. He finally spotted an open box of shotgun shells in a drawer. He quickly ripped open the barrel and loaded a shell. Then, he raised the gun, aimed it at the whimpering Hakimi behind him, fired again like a madman, reloaded, fired, reloaded, fired, and finally, with one bullet left, he aimed at his own head and pulled the trigger.
"What was that supposed to be?" Madam Mary waved her wand, not wanting the wretch's blood to stain her dress. "Atonement? Or self-destruction?"
Lockhart spread his hands. "We are forever ignorant of the complexities of human nature; that is the greatest enigma of this world."
Regardless, this Muggle was truly dead. Unless Lockhart was willing to risk resurrecting him, which was impossible.
Madam Mary quickly recorded the experiment notes. Finally, she looked at the Hakimi on the ground, its body covered in wounds, clearly dying. It wasn't splitting itself to revive, but was struggling to crawl toward its dead master. She sighed again.
"Lord Lockhart, I must warn you: promoting Hakimi must be done with caution!"
Lockhart smiled and asked, "It must have some restrictions?"
Madam Mary nodded, then shook her head. "I don't know. Perhaps it should follow Ministry of Magic law, but I know the Ministry's laws are terrible, and should we really limit others' freedom?"
Lockhart agreed profoundly. "Then let's not consider that aspect."
"Huh?" Madam Mary was confused.
"The truth is, many things in the world have an answer, and that answer already lies within one's own heart. It tells you whether such a thing is right or wrong."
"It's different from the world's laws; it can only discipline us, it cannot be used to discipline others."
"Therefore, from a magical perspective, the correct path is the assertion and protection of the Self-Will, restrained by the power of magic."
It wasn't easy to clearly explain the underlying principles to Madam Mary. It involved concepts of the relationship between humanity and nature, the cultivation of mind and nature, conscience, the inherent goodness of sociality, and so on each point could take half a day to discuss.
Lockhart could only give Madam Mary the core idea directly, gesturing with his hands to illustrate a unified whole. "Bloodline Magic whether between parent and child, spouses, master and servant, or others the two form a single entity."
"Then, we introduce the Patronus Charm, so the emergence of magic begins with the direction of spiritual self-protection. While this won't completely restrict the creation of Dark Magic power, it certainly won't result in extreme Dark Magic power."
Madam Mary still didn't understand.
Well, if she didn't grasp the principle or the idea, he could just give her the answer.
"I have invented a contract magic, a contract built on the foundation of the Patronus Charm and Bloodline Magic, to build a bridge between Muggles and Hakimi."
"The interesting part is that a Dark Wizard, or frankly, a fallen soul, cannot form such a contract."
"Because the power of the Patronus Charm is at work."
"The incantation for this spell..." Lockhart looked back at Madam Mary, who was quickly recording his words, and smiled, giving her the answer: "Mutual Dependence."
Madam Mary was awestruck, witnessing the invention of a new spell with great excitement. "Lord Lockhart, you will absolutely become the greatest wizard of this century! I am utterly certain!"
Lockhart laughed heartily, hands on his hips, thoroughly pleased with himself.
He deserved to be proud. I'm amazing!
But amazing or not, some things needed to be done immediately. He drew his wand and cast a spell, quickly healing the Hakimi's wounds and pulling it back from the brink of death and spiritual darkness.
Lockhart looked down at the Hakimi, gesturing with his wand. "If you wish, I can help you forget this experience. Trust me, I will find you a good master."
The Hakimi shook its head, meowing plaintively. Its feelings toward its deceased master were complicated, yet it was also grateful for the encounter. It pleaded to keep the memory, vowing to be a good cat in the future, to serve its new master well, and to help its master avoid corruption. After all, if a Hakimi's master fell, the ensuing magical outburst truly brought death.
"Alright, I respect your choice."
Lockhart looked at Madam Mary. "I don't think we should continue this experiment in the Fairy Tale Book. There are no good people here. Any further experimentation will only harm the Hakimi's soul."
Madam Mary agreed wholeheartedly. She absolutely did not want another incident like the one that just occurred. Moreover, only a person whose soul was not corrupt, or even pure, truly deserved a Hakimi. This was perhaps the wondrous result of Lord Lockhart inventing this contract magic, with the Patronus Charm as its fundamental operator.
This is truly good.