Chapter 69

I am going to be busy for 2-3 days due to some personal work. So I won't be able to reply to queries as quickly. The updates would be regular though.

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"Ethan, my owl brought your letter back."

Inside the house, Cassandra handed the wax-coated envelope to Ethan. It had arrived after dinner today.

"Thank you!"

Ethan took the envelope.

More than a week ago, Ethan had just helped Hagrid feed the dragon cub and was pondering where Voldemort's dragon cub had come from. He then borrowed an owl from Cassandra to write a letter to Dennis and the others.

Although Hogwarts has owls that are free to use, sending something to Knockturn Alley might not be safe. After all, they are public owls.

However, the Vole family's owl didn't have this issue. It's not unusual for a pure-blood family to have connections with Knockturn Alley.

In the letter, Ethan only asked Dennis one thing: had any wizard recently purchased Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon eggs or dragon cubs from their Thres organization?

The Thres organization has a certain reputation in the world and is not small in scale. Voldemort might have spent money here again. The transaction could also reflect Voldemort's current status.

Ethan opened the envelope.

There wasn't much information in it, and Ethan scanned it quickly.

The Thres organization did sell a fire dragon egg, specifically a Ukrainian Ironbelly. Dennis, of course, did not dare to ask Ethan how he knew about it, so he just provided the answer Ethan asked for.

The Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon egg was sold in Greece, on the Balkan Peninsula, which is next to Albania. The Greek colleagues had obtained the egg for a long time. To maintain its vitality, it needed to be roasted by flames from time to time, which meant it would hatch soon.

But since a hatched dragon is difficult to sell, the organization reduced the flame's temperature to slow the hatching process, yet they still couldn't find a suitable buyer.

Until a man in a hooded wizard robe came and wanted to trade a fire dragon egg for a deadly poisonous python.

Originally, this kind of transaction wasn't allowed, but since the egg was about to hatch and couldn't be left unused, the Greek staff reluctantly agreed to the deal.

The dragon egg was exchanged for a highly venomous python.

The snake is now locked up in Greece, still awaiting a buyer. Information about the snake has been sent to members in other countries, hoping that colleagues elsewhere could help find a buyer.

This is a mutually beneficial matter, with a commission for every transaction.

According to the organization's internal appraisal, this unprecedented magical python is rated about XXXX in danger, with average physical strength, lower than most magical animals of XXXX level, but it has good speed, and its venom can dissolve muscles and is quite lethal.

It can kill with a single bite at vital locations, and wounds at non-vital locations are difficult to heal, hence the XXXX rating.

Despite being an unprecedented species, the snake is still valuable.

Seeing this, Ethan knew who the snake was.

Nagini, Voldemort's final Horcrux, was made after his resurrection.

In the original story, Nagini also bit Snape to death, attacked Arthur Weasley, and was eventually beheaded by Neville with the Gryffindor sword.

Is Voldemort in such dire straits now?

He even sold Nagini for the dragon egg, so what would his last Horcrux be?

This accidentally changed a lot!

But since Nagini has not been made into a Horcrux yet, Ethan was ready to take her down.

A beautiful snake from Indonesia, surviving the wizarding war of that era and still alive, is already quite powerful.

Who wouldn't like such a beautiful and powerful creature, though her identity is a bit complicated? Older wizards like Dumbledore know her, and it would be hard to explain if they saw Nagini in human form.

Besides, restoring Nagini to her human form wouldn't be easy.

This blood curse grows more frequent as she ages, until she completely turns into a snake, losing all her memories and habits as a human.

Blood curses are usually hereditary and specifically target women.

Later, Draco's wife, Astoria Greengrass, was also cursed, but the two blood curses were different.

Astoria didn't turn into a snake but was weak and died in her thirties.

Removing the blood curse must be difficult.

Nagini must have asked Dumbledore for help, but to no avail.

She turned into a snake and wandered into the Albanian forest.

Astoria Greengrass, as a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, eventually married Malfoy.

Despite her high status in the British wizarding world, she still wasn't well treated.

Ethan wasn't sure if it could be cured, but there was still a chance.

After all, Ethan had a system cheat.

Who knows when he might draw the magic or potion that could cure her?

Immediately, Ethan wrote a letter to Dennis, instructing him to secure the snake.

The needed gold galleons could be covered by Bruno's potion and alchemy shop, which had been doing well lately. Polyjuice Potion was still selling well, and combined with Ethan's alchemy products, the shop had quite good business in Knockturn Alley.

If there was still a shortfall, Ethan could provide some funds.

After all, Buraffio's Brain Elixir had been selling consistently, and many students felt they couldn't live without it. For each bottle, Ethan could earn about three gold galleons. Although it wasn't much, it was enough to cover Ethan's expenses.

"Cassandra, send the letter out tomorrow morning, to the same address."

After sealing the letter with wax, Ethan handed it directly to Cassandra.

Cassandra was becoming more and more obedient.

"Yeah!"

Cassandra accepted it immediately without asking about its contents.

Then Ethan began to teach Cassandra how to practice the Fiendfyre.

After practicing for a few days, Cassandra had become skilled at casting the Fiendfyre but was still not good at controlling it.

"Control it with your heart, don't be anxious. Whenever you get anxious, the fire swells up, and you lose control."

Watching the flame coming out of the tip of Cassandra's wand, Ethan reminded her.

Magic is the power of idealism. The deeper your understanding of yourself and the more confident you are, the greater the power you can wield, and the more seamlessly you can use magic.

After hearing Ethan's reminder, Cassandra quickly calmed down, stopped increasing the firepower, and began to control the flame instead.

"Increase the magic power a little, then slowly control it and change its shape."

Seeing that Cassandra's control was improving, Ethan encouraged her.

"Stop, just like now, keep it steady!"

A fireball of about one meter in diameter was just right for a beginner like Cassandra.

After all, not everyone could stack multiple layers of buffs like Ethan and recklessly provoke the Fiendfyre on the first try.

Ethan gave a few more pointers and occasionally demonstrated his Fiendfyre spell until Cassandra could transform it into a somewhat abstract little flame wolf. Then, Ethan left.

"Sister, how is your ancient magic literature?"

Penelope had been specializing in ancient magic literature recently.

On one hand, Penelope chose ancient magic literature as one of her subjects for the O.W.L.s this year.

On the other hand, she wanted to learn Ethan's ancient magic, Mjolnir.

Ethan didn't refuse her. After all, Penelope had agreed to work for Ethan as a maid this summer.

Although this magic was very precious, there was no need to hide it from his own people.

However, there was a prerequisite: Penelope had to understand the corresponding ancient magic words, and then Ethan could teach her how to use Mjolnir.

Teaching ancient magic words was another matter, though. It was purely about comprehension and was very troublesome to teach.

Although each ancient magic word has a fixed meaning, the power they exert depends on the understanding of the caster.

If you can't grasp the meaning of the ancient magic words, even if you're told, it won't be yours, and it could cause a lot of problems.

This is why Hogwarts offers an elective course on ancient magic words, but not many students choose to take it.

Even Hogwarts graduates who have studied ancient magic words often only know the surface meaning. They've memorized the knowledge just to pass the test but can't apply it in practice.

Ancient magic requires a combination and arrangement of these ancient magic words. If you don't understand them thoroughly, you might accidentally hurt yourself.

This is also why ancient magic has largely been lost. Its methods are simple and straightforward, but learning it is anything but easy.

Cassandra also coveted Mjolnir and Gungnir, but she didn't know any ancient magic words, so she could only set it aside for now.

"It feels good. Once I understand it thoroughly, I should be able to try learning it."

Penelope lifted her hair and smiled brightly at Ethan.

Ethan then shared some of his insights and stepped back. Whether it would help her depended on how well Penelope could grasp the knowledge.

Walking to the nearby incubation room, Ethan casually threw a ball of Fiendfyre in. It was a daily task.

For some reason, despite being in charge for so long and roasting it with fire, the egg just wouldn't hatch. Its color was getting darker and darker. It used to reflect light, but now it seemed to absorb all the light around it, like an abyss.

Leaving the incubation room, a pale flame emerged from Ethan's palm. This was a recent result.

Without using a wand, Ethan opened his five fingers and lightly scratched the ground. The pale flame instantly surrounded the ground where it landed, forming ten circles that extended outward.

This was a combination of the Fire Guard and Fiendfyre spells, but the Gubraithian Fire was still a bit off, and Ethan wasn't sure what had gone wrong—it couldn't be integrated.

Ethan didn't know why the black flame of Fire Guard and the orange-red Fiendfyre turned white after combining.

But the temperature of this white flame was higher, and it had the characteristics of both.

Without the "Flame Affinity," Ethan would never have succeeded. The combination of these two powerful black magics was chaotic at the beginning, and flames filled the entire space.

If Ethan hadn't rapidly mastered the Fire Guard spell to its highest level beforehand and had the help of the Flame Affinity trait, he would have been killed on the spot.

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