HR Chapter 136 Clash And Peril Part 1

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The hatching of the phoenix egg had finally shown some progress. This was certainly a stroke of good fortune for Ian.

However, what irked him was that the phoenix egg was drawing life essence from the dragon egg and the others at a maddeningly slow pace. Though its appetite was clearly immense, the amount of "life essence" it could absorb at once seemed frustratingly meagre.

"If you don't hatch tonight, I swear I'll turn you into a Sunday roast!" Ian decided it was time to apply a bit of pressure on the little creature nestled within the phoenix egg.

Of course, he wasn't daft enough to actually consider cooking the thing.

Even Magical Creatures in the Cauldron wouldn't dare suggest such a recipe, and whether it was coincidence or not, the egg's absorption rate did seem to quicken slightly after his threat.

It was primarily drawing life from the dragon egg; the other magical creature eggs offered less vibrant energy, as most beasts tend to lie dormant before hatching.

Still, a half-blood dragon was a dragon all the same.

While keeping a close eye on the phoenix egg, Ian took out a stack of notes and began cross-referencing them with the teachings of Professor Morgan.

His Potions expertise was nearing level five, close to unlocking some rare and exceptional talent.

"This ingredient is tucked away in the Amortentia formula… there's something rather final about it, as if it touches on one of magic's ultimate mysteries." The deeper Ian delved, the more he realised that Professor Morgan's knowledge was anything but ordinary.

Sometimes, Ian genuinely couldn't make heads or tails of these elder wizards.

The older they were, the more cryptic they seemed to become— Dumbledore and Grindelwald could easily earn first-place trophies in the League of Cryptic Codgers.

Just like the previous time loop.

Now, looking back on it, Ian increasingly sensed that something about the two of them didn't quite add up. It was as though they'd been pulling strings behind the curtain while keeping him blissfully unaware.

"And the whole business with Professor Ronnie Ehrlich remains unsolved..." Ian remained intrigued by the strange runes etched upon Professor Ehrlich and the curious methods both Dumbledores had used to confront him.

What sort of magic could unravel a condition where someone lingered between life and death? Could it be a reworked version of Finite Incantatem? Ian suspected all those questions had faded into nothingness, swallowed up when the time loop collapsed.

At present—

Only he remembered fragments of that strange loop, and there was no one left to ask. The mystery of Professor Ronnie Ehrlich had become yet another unresolved tale, left to drift into obscurity.

[Through tireless study, Potions proficiency increased by +3]

[Through tireless study, Potions proficiency increased by +2]

[Through tireless study, Potions proficiency increased by +3]

...

Time ticked by, second after second.

Ian leaned against the wall beside his desk, a posture that left him comfortably sprawled. Aside from catching the occasional glimpse of a lazy fish in the enchanted aquarium, he was quite at ease.

He was the only one in the dormitory at the moment, after all, so there was no need to concern himself with appearances.

The coming two weeks of the Christmas holidays would likely unfold in much the same manner.

Even if he ended up doing something embarrassingly daft while alone, his two dorm-mates wouldn't be any the wiser once they returned.

"I still need to get my hands on a few more ingredients. This potion formula that stirs up desire… Why do I get the feeling it might be repurposed to awaken dormant magical ability? Could it be… that even Filch, poor Squib that he is, could be helped?"

"Even if it did work, Filch would still have to be ruled out. As a Squib, he clearly wouldn't have the coin to afford anything I've brewed." Ian moved with the decisiveness expected of someone who got things done.

He gently placed the phoenix egg, which was still drawing life essence from the dragon egg and its companions, into the box he had earlier enchanted with an Expansion Charm. Cradling the box, he left the Ravenclaw common room without delay.

"If it weren't for the fact I'm worried stuffing it into my enchanted money pouch might disrupt the little one's hatching, I'd not be hauling it about like this." With a flick of his wand, Ian cast the Levitation Charm and guided the wooden box smoothly along beside him.

He dashed through the corridor and made his way straight to the Room of Requirement on the floor below.

"Process these for me." Ian summoned his trusty assistant, the Dementor, and set it to work through the night. His pouch, enchanted to hold far more than it should (not unlike the famed bag of Beedle the Bard), coughed up a pile of potion ingredients onto the floor.

Thanks to several successful raids on Professor Snape's private stores during the loops, Ian had gathered one of the finest ingredient collections in all of Hogwarts. More than enough for repeat potion-crafting attempts.

After all, no sensible witch or wizard expected their first brew to go off without a hitch.

Glug glug glug glug~

Soon enough—

Mist began to swirl gently within the cauldron.

In truth, Ian had mentally prepared himself for a few failures, but not for this— dozens of unsuccessful batches straight off the bat was thoroughly disheartening.

Not only did he fail repeatedly, but his Potions proficiency had barely crept upwards at all.

"My brewing's solid, but the colour's off, and the scent is... questionable. Is it down to the ingredients, then?"

Ian frowned, glancing at several of the rarer items on his worktable. There weren't many left from the earlier loops, and those he'd gathered in later cycles had clearly deteriorated in quality.

If he truly wished to test whether his magic-awakening potion was viable, he couldn't rely on the poorer stock from the tail-end of the loop. Some things, after all, were leagues apart in magical potency.

The slightly dodgy ingredients were best sold off in Knockturn Alley.

"If I peddled this stuff in Knockturn Alley, I'd probably be crowned 'Most Honourable Trader of the Year.'" Packing away the subpar materials, Ian dashed from the Room of Requirement with renewed energy.

First stop— the library. He hoped to scour the archives for viable substitutes to make up for what he lacked. The corridor was eerily quiet; not even a prowling cat in sight.

The library doors were shut fast as usual.

But these days, Madam Pince's strict schedule posed little threat to the more enterprising young witches and wizards. That didn't mean Ian could simply blast the lock open— his Unlocking Charm wasn't nearly that good.

Thankfully, his time spent repeating the loop hadn't been solely devoted to spellwork.

"I've also become quite the expert in boldness—without getting caught, of course!" Ian first checked Madam Pince's whereabouts. At present, she was in the hospital wing, keeping Filch company.

Apparently, Filch had been on the receiving end of a rather harsh punishment from Professor Sinistra and couldn't handle being alone in the aftermath. Merlin knew how those two had managed to convince Madam Pomfrey to let them bunk together so late at night.

With both their names appearing together in the infirmary log, it was either a sign that Filch's injuries weren't all that severe or that Madam Pomfrey's healing skills were every bit as formidable as rumoured.

Perhaps it was a bit of both.

"Romance in twilight years… Merlin's beard, how does one even begin to judge that?" Ian drew his wand and pointed it squarely at a section of the wall, preparing to use a spell he'd perfected over countless loops.

"Confringo!"

The moment the spell left his lips, a loud blast tore a hole through the library wall.

This particular spot had been discovered through repeated trial and error.

It neither triggered the protective enchantments woven into Hogwarts nor caused damage to any of the books inside.

Ian sometimes wondered if the Founders had intentionally left this little quirk behind for students who were more inclined to brute force than finesse when it came to unlocking spells.

"Well, I found it, didn't I?" Once inside, he immediately turned and mended the wall with a practiced flick. His Exploding and Mending Charms were both nearing level four by now.

Suffice it to say—

During the loop, Ian had managed to blast apart nearly every hidden corner of Hogwarts. He was especially fond of using the final moments of each loop to carry out wild, rule-breaking experiments he could never dare attempt under normal circumstances.

"Lumos!"

A pale glow bloomed from his wand, casting eerie shadows between the tall, silent shelves of the library. Under that soft light, the tightly packed books appeared solemn, veiled in mystery.

(To Be Continued…)