Horcruxes, a Dark Arts product created by the despicable ancient Greek Wizard Herpo the Foul, are capable of storing fragments of the creator’s soul, and were uniquely eerie creations pioneered by Herpo the Foul in order to achieve immortality.
In Eastern Huaxia, similar items were artifact spirits.
Legend had it that the most magical artifact spirit was a conscious “spirit” that automatically emerged after forging a weapon containing magic, while another way to generate an artifact spirit was human sacrifice.
— Excerpt from “Herpo the Foul’s Magical Creations — Horcruxes”
Will reviewed the books involving Dark Arts he had read at home, almost knowing this book by heart.
However, because this book was common goods purchased from Knockturn Alley, it did not detail the creation process of Horcruxes, only providing a simple analysis of them.
Judging from Voldemort’s performance, Will deduced that Horcruxes would affect the creator’s mind and wisdom, since this involved splitting the soul.
While Will’s thoughts drifted to Horcruxes, on the Quidditch pitch, Harry had already been dragged high into the air by his rapidly shaking broomstick.
Almost everyone’s gaze was attracted to Harry, with only Will’s mind wandering afar.
Perhaps he was the only one who knew that Dumbledore would not let The Savior he was raising die in such a ridiculous campus Quidditch match.
Moreover, when Hermione knocked down Quirrell, who was chanting a jinx, Harry’s broomstick gradually quieted down, and shortly after, Harry swiftly ended the match.
Slytherin suffered a crushing defeat, and a wave of dissatisfied boos broke out from the Slytherin spectator stands, with the likes of Malfoy even beginning to hurl vulgar abuses.
Will was glad that the match ended so quickly.
He shoved the book into his book chest and took the lead in pulling a slightly gloomy Sylvia away from the Quidditch pitch.
As the two walked, Sylvia kept muttering, “I can’t believe we actually lost to Gryffindor. You know Slytherin hasn’t lost for seven years!”
Will had no such collective sense of honor at all; he simply didn’t care about any House Cup.
“If you are in a bad mood, why don’t we take a walk by the Black Lake,” Will suggested.
Then Will and Sylvia sat by the Black Lake for an entire afternoon.
Will lit a bonfire, and the two roasted fish by the fire.
During this time, a small episode occurred: he attempted to use Transfiguration to conjure a small wooden cabin to block the cold wind, but obviously his Transfiguration skills were not yet proficient enough.
In the end, the two managed to throw up three dirt walls under a tree to block out the chilly wind.
And just as the two were roasting fish by the Black Lake, inside Hagrid’s hut in the Forbidden Forest, four young wizards were teaming up to torture Hagrid (or being tortured by Hagrid’s rock cakes).
Yes, Neville had come to Hagrid’s hut along with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Several people were holding rock cakes at a loss.
Harry felt that these were much harder than their usual dinner plates, and sometimes he couldn’t help but suspect that Hagrid had baked them using actual stone powder.
“The Longbottom boy, you look much sturdier than Harry,” Hagrid patted Neville on the back with his palm, which was larger than a cattail-leaf fan, making Neville feel as though his spine was about to snap.
“It was really dangerous just now, wasn’t it, Harry? What madness got into your broomstick? I’ll go pour you a cup of hot tea to calm your nerves.”
Neville rubbed his back, “Hagrid is really strong, isn’t he?” This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
Ron nodded in deep sympathy, having once been patted like that himself back then.
Neville was rummaging through his pockets, wanting to take Trevor out to get some fresh air, but after searching all over, he couldn’t find Trevor.
He helplessly spread his hands: “It ran away again.”
Ron reminded Neville: “Then you’d better go look for it quickly. Right next to us is the Forbidden Forest. If Trevor runs into the Forbidden Forest, you might never find it again.”
Then Neville drew his wand: “Accio Trevor!”
A grayish-black toad floated up from the edge of the grass in Hagrid’s yard, flying toward Neville inside the house.
Ron and Harry were somewhat surprised; they knew Neville had learned Accio, but they didn’t know Neville could use it so proficiently.
“Thanks to Will for teaching me Accio,” Neville grabbed Trevor firmly, preparing to shove him back into his pocket.
Far away by the Black Lake roasting fish, Will suddenly received a prompt.
[ Someone feels grateful to you, Charisma experience + 1 ]
“I really don’t know why you would choose a toad as a pet. I thought no young wizard would bring a toad to Hogwarts,” Ron dangled the rat Scabbers by its tail, placing it next to the rock cakes.
Scabbers rolled over, closed its eyes, and continued to sleep, completely ignoring the rock cakes.
At this time, Hagrid carried the tea to the table and stared at the toad in Neville’s hand: “What a cute little fellow. You know, toads are a Wizard’s good friends.”
“Why?” Harry asked.
To be honest, he didn’t particularly like toads either; this creature was truly somewhat hard to accept.
By comparison, his owl Hedwig was simply adorable.
“Toads can help young wizards test Potions. When they drink Potions containing toxins, they can metabolize them through their skin without causing too much damage; furthermore, toads can produce Potions of different colors depending on the different toxins and toxicities of the Potions they drink.” Hagrid rattled off a long string of words in one breath.
Finally, as if he had thought of something else, he added: “Oh right, Harry, your mother liked toads very much. Her Potions Class grades were exceptionally good, and she often used toads to test Potions.”
Harry thought of what Aunt Petunia had said, “Since that damned sister of mine was one, how could you possibly not be? Oh, she just received the same letter and then disappeared… went into that school… every time she came back for the holidays, her pockets were stuffed full of toad eggs, turning teacups into mice. I was the only one who saw right through her—an absolute monster! But my parents couldn’t see it clearly, going on about Lily this and Lily that all day long, thrilled to have a witch in the family!”
He felt a bit uncomfortable, his expression turning somewhat unnatural, and he took a sip of the hot tea Hagrid had poured.
Ron saw Harry’s expression, but thought Harry was still shaken by the Quidditch incident: “Don’t be afraid, Harry, we’ve already figured out the Quidditch matter.”
“It was done by Snape,” Ron described the scene to Harry, “Hermione and I saw it, and Neville saw it too. He was casting a spell on your broomstick, muttering under his breath, and staring dead at you the whole time.”
“Nonsense,” Hagrid was pouring them tea, “Why would Snape do such a thing?” Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged glances, not knowing how to tell him, so Harry decided to tell the truth.
“I discovered some things about him,” he said to Hagrid, “On the eve of Halloween, he wanted to get past that three-headed large dog; it bit him. We think he wanted to steal the thing the large dog is guarding.”
“That’s not right, Harry, Snape wasn’t injured on the eve of Halloween.
You remember, he was right behind Professor McGonagall at the time,” Hermione corrected, “It must have been these past few days.” Get faster updates on g.com.
Hagrid set the teapot down heavily and looked at the few of them in bewilderment.
“How do you all know about Fluffy with the three heads?”
“Fluffy with the three heads?”
“Yeah—it’s mine—bought from a Greek fellow I met at a pub last year—I lent it to Dumbledore to guard—” Hagrid accidentally let it slip, but quickly realized his mistake.
“What?” Harry asked eagerly.
“That’s it, don’t ask anymore,” Hagrid said roughly, “That is top-secret number one, understand?”
“But Snape wants to steal it.”
“Nonsense,” Hagrid said again, “Snape is a teacher at Hogwarts; he wouldn’t do such a thing.”
“Then why did he want to kill Harry?” Ron retorted loudly.
He already harbored a deep hatred for Snape to begin with—of course, he didn’t even know why he hated Snape himself.
“I’m telling you, you’re wrong!” Hagrid said irritably, “I don’t know why Harry’s broomstick behaved like that, but Snape would never want to kill a student! Now, you three listen to me—you are meddling in things that have nothing to do with you. This is very dangerous. Forget about that large dog, forget about what it’s guarding; this is between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel—”
As it turned out, Hagrid was not good at keeping secrets.
“Aha!” Harry said, “So it also involves a person named Nicolas Flamel, right?” Hagrid was furious; he was angry with himself for failing to keep a secret, one that Dumbledore had told him to guard.
In the end, this gathering broke up on bad terms, and it was the first time Hagrid had such a major conflict with Harry.
The group left Hagrid’s hut.
Along the way, Ron kept kicking gravel stones as if they were Snape’s head, until he almost kicked a sharp piece of gravel that could have cut his boots.
As for Hermione, she kept recalling the books she had read, searching for “Nicolas Flamel.”
Suddenly, several people spotted two figures walking toward the castle not far away: they were Will and Sylvia.
“Will should know,” Hermione clapped her hands, “How could I have forgotten to ask him?”
Then she walked briskly in that direction, calling out to the two as she went.
“Oh, dear,” Ron muttered.
Ever since Will took down the Troll on Halloween, he had always been somewhat reluctant to deal with Will.
On one hand, it was because he had spoken quite a lot of ill of Will in front of Harry and Hermione; on the other hand, it was because he had been drenched halfway by Will’s water-clearing spell and had spent several days lying in the Hospital Wing.
But nowadays, figuring out who Nicolas Flamel was remained the key issue.
“It’s you guys. Is there something you need?” Will and Sylvia had just eaten several roasted fish and gained two points of cooking experience, so they were in a good mood right now.
“Do you know Nicolas Flamel?” Hermione got straight to the point.
Will’s reply made the expressions of several people light up with joy.
“Of course I do.”