NOVEL NEXT 19. Questions and Reports
Getting to his feet, Dan sighed heavily and cast an invisibility spell on himself with a wave of his hand. Luna left the library a couple of hours ago to make it to the classes before the bell. The monster boy was left alone, exploring the secrets of magic, especially Curses, Rituals and Transfiguration. For him, these three branches of magic were the best bet on returning to human form.
'This body could easily have been cursed by the Wanderer. So, to return to my normal appearance, I will either have to sacrifice a baby or find a way to transfigure myself back.' Dan's back cracked pleasantly, causing another idea to pop into his head. 'If I'm not a human, but something else entirely, can my Animagus form be human? Something worse than a human? Can a Wizard have a female Animagus form? Is it possible to get someone pregnant while transformed? And who has enough balls to ask McGonagall all this?'
Rituals were his best bet on returning to human form and for a good reason. The magic of Rituals, as well as the Ritualists themselves, were highly valuable and highly dangerous, both for themselves and for everyone around them. This branch was based on the sacrificial part of magic, where Ritualists invoked the older laws of Magic in order to achieve something.
There was no information about Rituals at Hogwarts at all. Well, that wasn't exactly true: there was no useful information about Rituals. Of course, there were books that talked about the theory behind what Rituals are and how such magic works, but if you want to see an instruction manual or something similar? You'll have to look for a Master Ritualist. And considering that in Britain, Rituals have been recognized as illegal, then you will have to look outside the ICW countries.
Also, Dan's gaze was caught by Alchemy, which was considered a permanent and stronger version of Potion Making. Dan had no idea how good he could be at Alchemy, but he wasn't going to back down without even trying.
Letting out a sigh – along with a couple of purple sparks from his mouth – Dan took all his things, put the Mantis in his pocket so that the little guy was also invisible, and went to the exit of the library. Only before he could exit his section, he stumbled upon a problematic situation. Two teenagers – Slytherins, judging by the color of their robes – were blocking his way to the exit.
A white-haired boy who looked somewhat like a ferret, was standing near a bookshelf and leafing through a thick book. The girl next to him was black-haired and looked more like a pug. A cute one, yes, but still a pug.
After looking at the guy for a couple more seconds, Dan finally decided that it was Malfoy Jr. and his girlfriend. He didn't even try to remember her name; it was too much trouble.
"– Black was sighted on the way to Romania? What's the point of fleeing Britain if all of the ICW and even Muggles are looking for him?" The girl was whispering loudly, before taking a breath to calm herself. "Do you think the Ministry will remove the Dementors from Hogwarts now?"
The boy only grunted something incomprehensible in response, but that didn't stop the girl. She sighed, trying to lean on the thin arm of the guy, looking for at least some emotional support from him.
"I hope so. These things are… wrong. How could your father agree to their presence? Isn't he one of the members of the School Board?"
The ferret's face twitched in annoyance, but he restrained himself from an instant response.
"… Not anymore, thanks to Potter."
"Oh, Draco!"
Dan was sure that next she would offer the blond to comfort him, so the monster-boy turned around and went to look for another way out. The last thing he needed was to overhear more of their flirting.
Although rather, it was more like a case of one-side puppy love. Just by watching these two for a couple of minutes, Dan was able to understand that Draco wasn't interested. But even despite the drama, he was able to learn something useful today.
The possibility that the Dementors would be removed from Hogwarts was good, Dan thought that they'll be gone within a week. Now that it was known that Black was heading far away from Scotland; keeping Azkaban's guards here was just stupid.
Dodging a younger looking boy with a camera on the way out of the library, Dan walked towards the Transfiguration classroom, he had a lot of questions, and Minerva had all the answer.
Well, most of them.
"Never in my long life have I heard about the existence of anything along the lines of a human Animagus form, nor can I say a lot about the ability of magical creatures to transform permanently into a human. Of course, illusions and temporary Transfigurations are present as a defense against hostile being – one just has to look at Changelings to see an example – but to have a permanent human form and have enough intelligence to live among our kind as one of us… Well, I think you'll be the first of your race, Mr. Khromov." Minerva said, looking sternly at Dan.
"As for the question of the gender of a Wix and the gender of their form, it is quite delicate. We can say with certainty that there were Animagi whose forms did not correspond to their primary sex, but few people talk about it. And no, Mr. Khromov, I do not know if it is possible to get pregnant during coitus in animal form. Frankly, I do not want to know."
Dan nodded wisely, completely ignoring the disappointment in Minerva's voice. Even if this information was useless, he still learned something new today.
"Let's go back a bit," Dan suggested, "you said that a human-human Animagi do not exist. Animals to human transformations are never fare well, and making a fresh body out of random materials isn't going to work…" He hummed in though. "Right, where can I read research on Human Transfiguration from all sorts of stuff?"
He got a harsh glare in response, along with a permission slip to access the Forbidden Section in the library. All in all, it was worth it.
A family of three lived in a grandiose castle, the beauty of which was only a couple of steps away from Hogwarts itself. Father, mother and son, all bore the surname Malfoy, two did it with pride and one out of a sense of duty. If someone found out about this, they immediately assumed that Narcissa Malfoy, in the maiden name of Black, was the odd one out, but this was not the case.
Lucius Malfoy was a tall, statuesque man with almost silver hair and pale skin. He was the successor of the Pureblooded Malfoy family and wore his name with pride, but it was not always so. He didn't like to be reminded about the early years of his life, only sometimes seeing them in nightmares.
But now, sitting at a table made of dark wood, Lucius pondered and planned the future of his family, sometimes glancing at his forearm, where the black mark of the Dark Lord Voldemort was burned forever. It was getting darker. The change in color was almost unnoticeable, but the evidence was there. Voldemort was gaining his strength back, preparing for his inevitable return.
Fortunately, his return wasn't Lucius' problem today.
Last year was a failure for him: the Muggle protection act, advanced by Weasley, was accepted by the Wizingamot, and with it five years of work flew right into the bin.
"And the hypocrite had a garage full of enchanted muggle trash." Lucius snorted and looked down at the parchment that lay on the table. Now was not the time to think about the past.
Walden Macnair recently sent him some very interesting news. Colonies of Acromantula began to grow at an alarming rate, zombies and skeletons popped out of pyramids and long-abandoned tombs to walk into the light. Neutral creatures began to attack wizards at the first opportunity, and already aggressive ones went feral.
The Werewolves and Vampires began to feel a little stronger. Yes, the changes were almost imperceptible, but no one could deny that they existed.
Dark creatures were acting strange and it was happening all over the world.
He had not yet considered the appearance of strange monstrous plants that could walk and explode next to unassuming wizards. Even the madman Lovegood would not dare to write about such a creature.
Also, he couldn't even deny the possibility of other new creatures appearing.
The reason for the strange behavior of the Dark Creatures and the appearance of completely new ones was not clear, but most likely it was a sign. If Lucius had been naiver, he would have thought that this was a sign of his Master's return, but it was something else. Something bigger.
'It can be quite profitable. It's worth sending a couple of people to collect spider carcasses and their silk. It's hard to get anything useful from zombies and skeletons, but if they all go to the surface, it means they left their guard posts empty. I'm far from the first to realize this, but I'll send a couple of professionals to follow the results of the researchers. If we're lucky, we'll be able to take a couple of tombs for ourselves. Macnair would want a cut for his troubles, of course.'
Lucius wasn't stupid, he couldn't allow himself to think that he was the first to get his hands on this information. He was only one of the first and that was enough.
The less-than-legal informants worked faster than the same reporters and usually knew much more than the idiots from the newspapers. That's why the Dark Side had so much money in circulation. They were among the first to receive real news.
If only ordinary people knew everything that a Pureblood Lord knows… Well, the world would look much more chaotic and violent than it was now.
Pretty soon, he finished with the Lord's work and was finally able to leave his gloomy office, leaving all unpleasant thoughts in the same place. After all, work and personal life should not overlap often.
But one treacherous thought refused to leave his mind. It stuck to his skull like a jellyfish, twisting tentacles around his head and burning, constantly reminding him of its existence.
'These monsters didn't come into the light for no reason. Something forced them out… Or someone.'
Lucius didn't sleep that night.