Chapter 506: Busy
Chapter 506: Busy
Katie was discharged from the Hospital Wing the next day. News of her attack at the Three Broomsticks had already spread throughout the school. Unfortunately, in her memory, she was controlled by the Imperius Curse the moment she pushed open the bathroom door. The only thing she could recall was that the person controlling her had a little girl's voice.
"Completely useless information", Liam commented. "Someone who can afford a 1500-Galleon curse necklace can certainly buy Polyjuice Potion. Transforming into a little girl would be hard to arouse suspicion even if seen."
Harry nodded in agreement. He still believed that Malfoy was planning something sinister this year, and Liam's theory about the attack perfectly aligned with his suspicions. "I've been saying all along that Malfoy is a Death Eater now."
"But seriously, we don't need to know who Malfoy is now; we need to figure out what he's up to at the school this year", Liam said, looking at Harry. "So, you were a bit rash before. Now Malfoy is very cautious, and it's extremely difficult to track his recent activities even if we try hard."
When Monday arrived, Headmaster Dumbledore, as usual, asked Harry to continue his lessons in his office. During Herbology the next day, while everyone was dealing with the knobby, aggressive Knot Vines, Harry recounted to Liam and the others the memory Professor Dumbledore had shown him.
"Wow, what a terrifying young Dark Lord", Ron whispered. "But I still don't understand why Dumbledore wants you to see this. I mean, it's interesting, but what's the point?"
"Of course, it has a point", Liam replied. He and Hermione had just extracted a grapefruit-sized, pulsating pod from the remains of a Knot Vine, which looked extremely disgusting. Before he could finish, a voice called out from a distance.
"Excellent work!" Professor Sprout exclaimed, hurrying over to praise Liam and Hermione. She then looked at Harry's group. "You're falling behind. The other students have already started, and some have even managed to get a pod!"
Harry and his group had no choice but to deal with the plants in front of them. Ron had just reached out when a long, thorny vine shot out from above, swinging wildly and even snagging his clothes. Harry, intending to take advantage of the opportunity to grab the pod from the tree hollow, found his elbow caught by the tree's opening. Both of them had to struggle with the plant, pulling and twisting the vines to reduce the pressure on Harry's arm.
"How did you manage that?" Ron shouted to Liam and the others, who were neatly dressed.
"Read the book, Comprehensive Guide to Carnivorous Trees. It says that producing a certain frequency of sound can make these trees calm down for a bit", Liam explained, tapping a tuning fork with his wand. Ron noticed that Liam had carved several runes on the tuning fork. "I prepared in advance while reviewing." With that, Liam and Hermione worked together to extract the sixth pod from the relatively still Knot Vine.
"Alchemists are just cheating—" Ron grumbled, forcefully prying open the tree hollow and finally retrieving their first pod. By this time, Liam and the others had already started squeezing the pods. Hermione's hand appeared with a slender, three-edged dagger. She held the dagger and quickly stabbed, each strike perfectly piercing the pod. Soon, the bowl was filled with writhing, pale green, caterpillar-like lumps.
On the way back to the castle after class, Ron asked Liam, "You didn't finish explaining what you said in class. Why do you think it's meaningful for Harry to see the young Dark Lord's story?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Liam noticed Harry had also come over to listen. After glancing at Harry and the others, Liam said seriously, "The Dark Lord and Harry are lifelong enemies. If Harry wants to defeat that demon, he must be thoroughly prepared. And thoroughly understanding your enemy is an essential part of that preparation."
Liam then looked at Harry, who seemed somewhat unconvinced, and asked, "Harry, what do you know about the Dark Lord? Besides the fact that he's a powerful Dark Magic user and your lifelong enemy, what else did you know before Headmaster Dumbledore started teaching you? For example, the Dark Lord's hobbies, habits, or tone of voice."
"——I'm sorry, I really don't know much about it." After thinking for a moment, Harry's expression turned serious. He realized that he was indeed as ignorant about Voldemort as Liam had pointed out. The sudden realization of his own shortcomings made him feel ashamed, and his face turned bright red.
"Harry, are you okay?" Ron asked, looking worried as Harry's face was as red as if he had a fever.
"I'm fine", Harry waved his hand. "I just feel like I haven't been doing enough. Since I'm going to fight Voldemort, it's unacceptable to know so little about him. From now on, I will take Headmaster Dumbledore's classes more seriously. Voldemort once only heard half of the Prophecy and didn't understand the full situation before trying to kill me. As a result, the Killing Curse backfired and destroyed him. Now, Voldemort has become much more cautious. That's why he had the Death Eaters raid the Ministry of Magic to retrieve the Prophecy Orb. It shows that he is trying to fully understand me before he kills me. If I want to defeat him, I need to truly understand him. I can't let him know everything about me while I know nothing about him."
In the following days, Harry was extremely busy. He needed to integrate the new Gryffindor Quidditch team, while Liam attempted to create a new magical artifact. Although Professor Mcgonagall had taken the necklace, Liam had already figured out the Instant Death Curse with the help of the runes on the box during their journey to Hogwarts. Now, Liam was trying to incorporate this magic into some of his offensive alchemical devices.
However, the first step was to find a counter-curse, otherwise, there was a risk of accidentally harming allies. So, while Harry and Ron were sweating on the Quidditch pitch, Liam and Hermione were busy in the Alchemy Laboratory, working on a defensive magic item to resist the instant death effect.
The night before the first Tournament of the semester, Liam finally completed the new defensive magic item. Of course, this wouldn't have been possible without Hermione's help. After she began to master the Death Law, their analysis of items containing Death Power became much easier.
"Is your new creation effective?" Hermione stood by the Alchemy Table, looking skeptical at the bracelet in Liam's hand. To her, it looked no different from the gold defensive bracelets Liam had made before.
"Of course it is", Liam said proudly. "Although it looks similar to the old ones, I've embedded Mithril runes that counteract the Instant Death Curse. It should work against the level of runes on that necklace. As long as you wear the bracelet, you'll be safe even if you have that necklace around your neck."
"Sounds good", Hermione said, eyeing Liam who was strutting like a proud rooster. "Can you tell me how much it costs?"
"Uh, at least 850 Galleons, because Mithril is really expensive, but other materials can't achieve the same effect", Liam said, a bit embarrassed by the question, so he quickly changed the subject. "Of course, this is an experimental item for our own use, so we chose the best materials. I'll optimize it later."
"That's fine", Hermione nodded. "By the way, can you give me your pair of Deathclaw Puppets?"
Without a word, Liam opened his dimensional gate and retrieved two palm-sized obsidian statues from the emporium, handing them to Hermione. He then asked, "I remember I made you a Troll Puppet too, originally for protection. But we've grown so fast that it's not very useful to us now. I kept it for sentimental reasons. What do you need these for?"
"I want to try using the power of death to rework these things. Maybe I can repurpose them", Hermione said, taking the puppets. "Well, let's go have a good dinner. We've been so busy these past two days that we haven't eaten properly."
(End of Chapter)
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