Dumbledore stood before his desk, a look of pained regret flashing across his face. On his shoulder, Fawkes the phoenix was looking down, angrily tugging at his long white beard...
This was because, before leaving, Victor Wick had temporarily borrowed his Mirror of Erised and taken some phoenix blood.
No wonder Fawkes was so upset. Dumbledore was the one who provoked the man, so why was the bird the one who had to bleed for the compensation?
Victor Wick returned to his office and sat in his chair, sighing heavily.
Even when Lucky came over to play, he couldn't muster any spirit...
However, although he had been forcibly manipulated by Dumbledore tonight, he hadn't come away empty-handed.
First, there was the phoenix blood...
After hacking into the massive server that was Hogwarts, Victor learned that Dumbledore could actually Apparate anywhere within the school thanks to the phoenix.
This was an extraordinary ability!
So, taking advantage of the fact that Dumbledore was in the wrong, he had the headmaster demonstrate the phoenix's teleportation ability on the spot, then naturally took a small vial of phoenix blood...
Victor had long considered the possibility of successfully Apparating within an Anti-Apparition Charm's range.
At the time, he had turned his attention to house-elves.
Although the Dark Lord held a contemptuous attitude toward such creatures, Victor had noticed their unique nature.
They could even use their race's form of Apparition to travel freely through the Dark Lord's headquarters, despite the Anti-Apparition Charms he had personally set!
However, after studying house-elf Apparition magic, Victor found it difficult to replicate directly.
The principle was similar to the creation of the Philosopher's Stone...
Even if Victor had decoded the 'recipe,' he couldn't implement it due to material issues.
This was because the magic of house-elves was quite different from that of wizards and was far too thin.
Only their race's unique biological structure allowed them to freely use their innate Apparition magic.
To forcibly apply this method to a wizard, the amount of magical power required was simply too immense.
According to Victor's estimates, to successfully teleport within an area covered by an Anti-Apparition Charm, he would have to consume the entire blood supply of a house-elf every single time!
This was clearly not a cost-effective move...
Thus, he had ended up brewing only a few bottles of Teleportation Potions for self-defense and called it a day. However, during that period, the elves in the Death Eaters' households had been quite weak for a long time.
But the phoenix was different; its magic was naturally compatible with wizards, which was why their tail feathers were commonly used as wand cores.
At least for now, Victor had never heard of anyone using house-elf materials as a wand core.
Victor perked up, pulled out his keyboard, then opened his operating system and carefully connected to the Hogwarts server...
With the help of the operating system and the massive computing power of the entire Hogwarts server, Victor's progress in cracking this innate phoenix magic was lightning fast!
By the time the first morning breeze wafted through the window, Victor had completely perfected this Apparition magic.
However... to Victor's regret, while wizards could use this phoenix-style Apparition, it required one drop of phoenix blood for every use...
This cost was actually somewhat expensive. However, it was far more cost-effective than sacrificing a house-elf's life.
As long as he kept a small vial of phoenix blood on him, this magic could become one of his life-saving trump cards.
If he turned the phoenix blood into Teleportation Potions, it would be even more efficient, though using the blood directly would yield better results!
Rubbing his eyes, Victor squinted at the gloomy weather outside the window.
'Damn British weather...'
Victor stood up and poured himself a cup of deathly bitter coffee.
At this moment, a magnificent mirror stood next to his projection mirror—it was the Mirror of Erised that Dumbledore had sent over via house-elves the previous night...
Since the fake Philosopher's Stone wasn't ready yet, the mirror was just sitting idle at Dumbledore's place anyway.
Victor turned his head to look at the mirror.
In the mirror, he was surrounded by his former friends.
Of course, many of these friends were either dead or, for the remaining ones, he had long since unilaterally cut ties and ceased all contact.
"Mirror magic... mirror magic..." Victor sipped the bitter coffee, a bold idea suddenly rising in his mind.
Harry was feeling very miserable right now.
Because he discovered that his Potions professor seemed to have a serious problem with him!
Besides staring at him with looks of hatred since the start of term, now... the man was making things difficult for him again!
"Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Seeing Harry called upon, Malfoy and his two lackeys began snickering behind their hands.
Harry glanced at them before meeting Snape's gaze.
Snape's eyes were cold and empty... though they were as black as Hagrid's, they lacked even a spark of the warmth found in the giant's eyes...
'This Professor Snape hates me,' Harry thought.
Ron was now just as stunned as Harry, while Hermione had her hand raised high in the air, but... Snape seemed to ignore her completely.
Seeing Harry daze for so long without answering, a contemptuous sneer touched the corner of Snape's mouth.
However, before he could press his advantage further.
Harry shrugged and spoke up, "Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death."
The sarcastic remarks Snape had prepared were choked back in his throat, a flash of surprise appearing in his eyes.
His brow furrowed as he continued, "If I told you to find me a bezoar, where would you look?"
"I would look in the stomach of a goat... a bezoar is a stone taken from a goat's stomach, and it has powerful antitoxin properties." Harry continued to answer calmly.
'Is he kidding?' Professor Wick had told him that to become a powerful wizard, diligence was indispensable!
So, during that rare quiet summer, he had memorized the entire book, 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi'!
Snape was stunned for another moment, then his face went cold. "I only asked you where to find a bezoar, not its use! One point from Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindor students stared at Snape in total disbelief.
Harry's eyes widened. He was now absolutely certain that Professor Snape was indeed targeting him!
He really couldn't understand it—where had he ever offended this man?
"Potter! Let's try another. What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape continued his assault.
"They are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite..." Harry looked at Snape irritably. "Professor, are there any more questions? Or should I recite the entire 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi' for you?"
The Gryffindors burst into laughter, but they were silenced in an instant by Snape's cold gaze...
"Arrogance! Talking back to a professor! Five points from Gryffindor, Potter!"
Harry's face darkened... How could he lose points even when he answered every question correctly? In any other professor's class, these would have earned him points!
'Why does Professor Snape hate me so much? It's not like my dad stole his wife or something!'
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