Chapter 107: Bloodline Magic

Chapter 107: Bloodline Magic

"Oh, really? Is this cosmetic so amazing?" Umbridge accepted Lockhart's gift, her politeness a touch exaggerated, her smile even brighter than Lockhart's.

Her almost obsequious manner stunned Dumbledore, Fudge, and Scrimgeour, who were standing at the door.

Fudge stared at his trusted subordinate in disbelief, looking at Dumbledore with an expression of "this is too ridiculous, isn't it?" his face full of existential doubt. "Dolores (Umbridge) is also his fan?"

Dumbledore clearly struggled to maintain his composure but had to uphold his image as an important figure. He merely smiled and said, "We can never truly understand a person, can we?"

Indeed!

Auror Head Scrimgeour, standing nearby, agreed wholeheartedly. His typically arrogant female boss, who usually looked at her subordinates as if they owed her a fortune in Galleons, was now fawning over a handsome peacock. Her barely concealed subservience not only shattered his worldview but also burned his eyes!

As the few of them walked in, Umbridge had even started actively asking Lockhart if he wanted to oversee leadership positions in the practical departments under the "Beast Consulting Office."

She even enthusiastically introduced options to Lockhart, "How about the Centaur Liaison Office? You'd have to deal with centaur tribes. You know, those diviners can often acquire treasures from other wizards, like magical artifacts and such."

"Or perhaps the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau wouldn't be bad. Heads of various dragon reserves would come to curry favor; it's a good opportunity to expand your network. Only significant figures can afford to run dragon reserves—"

"Speaking of which, the House-Elf Relocation Office... yes, that office might be more suitable—"

The more she spoke, the more outlandish she became. Fudge, unable to bear it any longer, strode in. "Hey, Dolores, the House-Elf Relocation Office's direct superior department is the 'Being Office,' which is on the same level as the 'Beast Office.'"

As he spoke, Dumbledore quietly remarked, "That arrangement sounds good."

"Oh, I mean—" Fudge instantly changed his tune. "The Beast Office and the Being Office are always like this, right? Cross-management. It's time for the Beast Office to also establish a 'House-Elf Relocation Office'!"

He did leave some leeway, not letting Lockhart take on the subordinate department of the 'Being Office,' but rather intending for Lockhart to establish a new one.

This seemed to be the norm for his interactions with Dumbledore: obeying, but not completely obeying, like a child with his own ideas facing a strict father.

Thus, Lockhart's position at the Ministry of Magic was thoroughly confirmed.

He would join the "Beast Consulting Office" and independently lead a "House-Elf Relocation Office."

Hmm, it was also quite a professional match.

The academic classification of house-elves had always been in the ambiguous area between dark magical creatures and fantastic beasts.

House-elves...

Lockhart remembered Dobby, the house-elf who, despite being in the Malfoy family, was loyal to Harry Potter, the Malfoys' enemy.

But he quickly dismissed the thought. This brief half-day experience at the Ministry brought back memories of his past life as a corporate drone. Even a promotion and raise didn't excite him much.

Or, one could say, there was no magic here.

He loved magic, pursued magic, embodied magic; a mere Ministry position wasn't enough to attract him.

Hmm, he'd just come back when it was time to collect his salary. Free money was still pretty sweet.

Lockhart was more focused on Dumbledore in front of him. This Dumbledore now seemed to be the real one, not an illusion created by a Confundus Charm.

Had the matter been resolved?

Back in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts, Dumbledore confirmed his suspicion. He placed a golden cup on his desk, then wearily took off his half-moon spectacles and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

It was clearly no easy feat to find such a small item in Gringotts' vault, which had all sorts of bizarre magical protections, and to do so without anyone knowing.

"You said there were six, but only told me five. Now I've found one."

Dumbledore's expression was somewhat complex. "The crucial point is that he also knows you told me this information, so I'm not sure if he'll create other, more hidden Horcruxes."

This was the crux of the problem.

Lockhart had to admit that blindly telling Dumbledore this information had ultimately changed the future. Would Voldemort still make Nagini his Horcrux now?

It seemed uncertain.

Even more uncertain was whether Voldemort would create other Horcruxes, because even if he believed in the number "seven," he might still consider creating an extra one, unaware that Harry Potter was one of his Horcruxes.

Things had become complicated.

"Is there any way to use this existing one to find the other Horcruxes?" Lockhart looked at Dumbledore with some anticipation.

Dumbledore shook his head. He pulled out some documents from a shelf and placed them on the table, along with a thick, heavy book titled Secrets of the Darkest Art. He gestured, "All the information I could find is here. My answer is no."

Seeing Lockhart curiously leafing through the book, he clapped his hands, conjuring two hot drinks. He cleared his throat and casually remarked, "Ancient wizards had an old adage—'Love can make a soul eternal.' Throughout history, there have been different interpretations."

"From a magical perspective, the existence of 'love' can allow life to persist in this world. The same principle can extend to various other areas: hate, pain, responsibility, regret, obsession, and everything else can achieve this."

Lockhart expressed his confusion as to why these topics were suddenly being brought up.

"Love—" Dumbledore opened his palm and wiggled a finger. "It's just one part of life; it can make life eternal."

Understood.

Lockhart exclaimed in amazement, "Is this the basis of Horcruxes?!!!"

Dumbledore nodded, gesturing to the portraits of past headmasters hanging on the surrounding walls. The people in the portraits were moving. "Actually, the most common ones are them."

Is magic difficult?

For Dumbledore, it truly wasn't.

He explained the most fundamental method of Horcruxes in just a few concise sentences: fixing a part of life, thus making life eternal.

"In principle, it doesn't matter how many pieces a soul is shattered into. As long as there's a small part of it, it's enough to sustain the soul's complete appearance in the real world."

Lockhart couldn't help but recall Lily Evans. Her love, through magic, protected Harry, allowing her to reappear in the real world at appropriate times. The encounter in this adventure was one example; Lily's appearance when Harry and Voldemort's spells clashed in the original story was another.

Dumbledore, with his oddly ringed finger, tapped the book Secrets of the Darkest Art. "The reason the Horcrux is such a dangerous Dark art is precisely because it is too successful, causing the wizard using it to lose reverence for life, for 'humanity'—an existence with birth, old age, sickness, death, and inherent limitations. They even cease to care about others, society, nature, and everything else, caring only about themselves, ultimately losing their sociality completely."

"When humanity is lost, bestiality will take over the mind. Dark magic can easily erode the will, ultimately turning a person into a beast."

Indeed, Voldemort's face underwent a terrifying serpentine transformation, appearing as if he had no nose.

Dumbledore then handed over another book, titled The Tales of Beedle the Bard. "There's a story in there called 'The Wizard and the Hopping Pot'."

"It tells of a wizard who cut out his own heart and locked it in a chest, thus becoming impervious to emotional disturbance. Even the death of his family couldn't affect him. Because of this, he seemed very successful and lived a wealthy life. But when he met the girl he loved, and to prove his inner self, he opened the chest only to find that his heart, long isolated from the world, had grown fur and was filled with dark power."

"Love—such a beautiful thing—can also bring terrible harm when locked away and hidden in a precious place."

Dumbledore's eyes were deep. "It can easily turn into hatred."

Lockhart's eyes lit up. "I understand!"

"You mean to say!" He excitedly pointed to the golden cup on the table. "We can modify this Horcrux, thereby affecting his life state?"

"???" Dumbledore looked at Lockhart blankly.

Was that what he meant?

Could Horcrux Dark magic actually be interpreted from that angle?

He thoughtfully looked at the golden cup on the table. He had originally planned to wait for the phoenix, which had just been reborn from the ashes in the bowl, to grow up, and then use its fangs to shatter it.

Modifying the Horcrux to affect Tom's life state?

Would that even work?

He didn't know, but Lockhart felt it was worth trying.

Of course, modifying the golden cup would require much more advanced spellcasting and alchemy skills, which he couldn't handle.

But the other Horcrux, Tom in the diary, was exactly within his area of expertise!

Should he find an opportunity to try?

Anyway, there was still plenty of time left in the Christmas holidays.

But when he returned to his office with the materials he borrowed from Dumbledore, he found Snape had been waiting for him for who knew how long.

Snape looked worried, evidently, Voldemort's renewed activity had affected his state of mind.

"Do you know why everyone calls him the Dark Lord, but doesn't call Gellert Grindelwald the Dark Lord?"

Snape posed a question.

Lockhart put away the materials, pondering. "Because his methods are more vicious, cruel, and without bottom lines?"

"Yes!" Snape's expression was strange as he mentioned this. "The First Wizarding War brought great pain to many. In that era, any wizard who dared to defy or even oppose the Dark Lord would invariably worry about one thing: that Death Eaters would burst into their homes and ruthlessly slaughter their family!"

Terroristic threats, in the magical society, were clearly so effective.

"After I decided to betray him, I began to guard against this happening. So I cast an ancient spell that made it so no one could find my relatives."

Snape's expression was very serious. "I think you'll need it too!"

Lockhart was startled. He sometimes subconsciously overlooked his original self's relatives. Now that he had provoked Voldemort, who knew if he would be retaliated against in this way.

"Is this magic difficult?" he quickly asked.

"No, it's much simpler than the Patronus Charm. It doesn't require the caster to be in a certain state of mind; only a blood relation is enough," Snape explained. "It's a bloodline magic."

Lockhart gasped. "Harry Potter?"

Silence—

After a long silence, Snape exhaled slowly. "Yes, the magic Lily cast on the child. I taught her."

What a painful thing it was. He found this miraculous magic in the library, shared it with Lily, and ultimately, Lily died because of it.

So this Lockhart fellow really deserved to die. Every other day he made him mention Lily, Lily, Lily. If he mentioned her a few more times, he felt like he would become desensitized.

Snape glared at Lockhart irritably. "Want to learn it?"

"Yes!" Lockhart nodded frantically. No matter what, he had enjoyed many of his original self's benefits, and he couldn't let their parents and relatives be harmed because of him.

"This magic—"

Snape's lips curled slightly. "Strictly speaking, it's actually a Dark Art. It's recorded in a book in the Restricted Section titled The Enamored Captive."

"During that time, I was particularly fascinated by powerful Dark Arts. After finding this spell, it completely opened up a new world of magic for me—it turned out that so-called vicious Dark Arts could actually be done in the name of love."

Teaching Lily Dark Arts, what an interesting prospect. But he later never had the chance to explain to Lily that this magic was actually Dark Arts, nor could he use it to explain that Dark Arts weren't all bad.

Because Lily married. She married Potter.

"In the name of love, severing part or all of a blood relative's sociality, making it so that some or all people in the world can no longer connect with the cursed person—that is the true nature of this magic."

Snape's gaze was deep. "Ancient wizards' concept of blood relation wasn't strictly about consanguinity. Lily's bloodline magic didn't just affect blood relatives; it also affected Harry's uncle Vernon, who had no blood relation to Lily or Harry whatsoever."

"The book The Enamored Captive records that the witch completely severed the sociality of her lover and another witch, causing that witch to never find her lover again, even if they stood face to face, they would be unseen."

"Lily, at the time, cast the spell against the Dark Lord and all his followers, ensuring that Harry, under the protection of blood, could not be found by these people."

"And I, at the time, cast the spell on my parents and relatives, targeting all wizards, ensuring that all wizards would stay completely away from them."

"How exactly you operate it depends on you."

"But I must warn you, you must do this quickly. Since they arranged for the werewolf to attack us and the students, they might attack your family, or even kidnap them to threaten you."

...

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