Chapter 582: Wampus Cat (Edited)

As soon as Fish finished the spell, he felt the difference between the spell and the others.

In this case, the difference was not in the nature of the spell itself or anything else, but in what Fish felt as he cast it.

The moment Legeremancy was activated, Fish felt an unexplainable change in the wand in his hand, if he wanted to compare it, it was probably a feeling similar to "excitement", "happiness" and "joy".

Also, it was a bit like the special reaction Fish had when he first held the wand when he bought it.

As Fish was puzzled by the strange sensations coming from his wand, he cast Legeremancy on Draco.

A surge of apprehension ran through Draco's body, interrupting Fish's thoughts.

When Fish turned his attention back to Draco, Fish "saw" confused and fragmented images flashing through Fish's mind so fast that Fish couldn't even react to them, but the content remained clear in his mind.

"How interesting nya!"

(?ω?)

Fish kept looking into Draco's eyes with great interest.

Draco's eyes were dull, but the expression on his face was changing as the memories shifted.

Snape frowned as Draco's reaction to Fish's mind-altering thoughts seemed to be completely irresistible, which was clearly not normal....

Although Draco had only been learning Occlumency from Snape for a few days, it had to be said that he was very talented at it, and even in the face of Snape's Legeremancy, Draco was able to break free in a heartbeat, and Snape was having more and more trouble reading his memories.

Snape had expected that even if Fish had managed to use Legeremancy, Draco would have been able to resist, and even if he hadn't, he would have been able to break free in a heartbeat... he hadn't expected this kind of helplessness by any means.

"Fish, stop!"

Snape took the floor to stop Fish from further interfering with Draco's memories.

One was to try to preserve some privacy for his godson, and the other was because it was mentally taxing for the recipient to be on the mind for long periods of time.

"What is it, Severus?"

(?ω?)

Fish dutifully stopped the spell and looked at Snape curiously.

"You need to give Draco a break." Professor Snape pointed at Draco.

By this time Draco had recovered from his daze, and was breathing heavily, and growing paler.

"Ah, sorry!" Fish apologized to Malfoy.

"No... it's okay..." Malfoy waved his hand, breathlessly, "It's me... I'm not good enough... to resist you, your.... spell..."

After slowing down for a moment, he looked at Professor Snape to the side and asked hesitantly, "Professor, why do I feel that... Fish's spells are better... than yours?"

Snape's frown never relaxed and, after a moment's hesitation, he turned to Fish and said, "Fish, use Legeremancy on me."

Fish, who was in the mood for excitement, didn't refuse, stared straight into Snape's eyes and raised his wand....

But before Fish could say the incantation and brandish his wand, a wave of magic spontaneously shot out from the tip of his wand, and then Fish felt the emotions pouring out of Snape, like dead water.

"Huh?"

"Nya?"

(⊙ω⊙)

It felt exactly the same as when Fish had successfully performed Legeremancy before.

"Did you just... cast a silent spell?"

Snape's eyes widened, and Fish could even read a hint of surprise in him...

That meant Snape had just had a moment of emotional turmoil, a rare occurrence for a master of Occlumency.

"Fish doesn't know nya either..."

(?ω?)

In fact, Fish was also surprised and confused.

It wasn't that Fish hadn't mastered how to cast spells silently or even without a wand, but only after practicing for a while had he managed to master them, and that definitely didn't include the Legeremancy he had just learned today.

Besides...

He hadn't intended to cast a silent spell, either....

"Stop First." Snape told Fish to stop, and then asked, "Did you notice anything special when you cast Legeremancy twice a moment ago?"

"Yes," Fish replied without hesitation, "Fish's wand became 'alive' when he was casting the nya spell!"."

(ΦωΦ)つ━

Fish raised his wand towards Snape.

"The wand?"

The answer came as a bit of a surprise to Snape, who had thought Fish had awakened another innate spell.

To be sure, he handed his wand to Fish and said, "You will use my wand to perform another Legeremancy."

Fish did so, and this time it didn't automatically cast silently, and though the spell was still working, Snape could clearly feel that this time he was able to resist it with ease....

Was it really the wand?

So Snape continued, "So what's so special about your wand?"

"It doesn't seem to be anything special..."

(?ω?)

After a moment of recollection, Fish replied, "Probably just a different wand core? Garrick said it was a wand he made when he was younger, with a Wampus cat hair core swapped in from the Cherokee."

Mr. Ollivander had come to Hogwarts to examine Fish's wand during the Triwizard Tournament the year before, so his memory of his wand was still pretty clear.

As for the magical effect... which Ollivander had only seen three times, it wasn't something worth mentioning to Fish, so he simply ignored it.

"A Wampus Cat?" Snape frowned again, "Seems to be a magical animal only found in North America, I'm not familiar with them..."

"Fish hasn't seen them either nya, if only Newt was here, he would know..... correct nya!"

∑(ΦДΦ)

Fish said, clapping his hands suddenly and reaching into his magic pocket. "Fish has a copy of the latest edition of Newt's 'Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them', it features Wampus nya Cat!".

He pulled out a fresh copy of 'Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them' and turned quickly to the Wampus Cat page: the illustration showed a cougar-like feline, with a tail the length of its body and six legs.

Fish had already seen the Wampus Cat illustration, but had not read the text that appeared on it....

"Look nya..." said Fish, carefully reading the words in the book for the first time: "It can walk upright.... Fish can also... run faster than an arrow.... Is that very impressive nya? Ah! There it is."

He pointed to a line in it, and read excitedly, "Wampus Cat's yellow eyes are said to have the power to hypnotize and Legeremence nya!".

Snape's expression was slightly odd, if the material of the wand core could so obviously and forcefully enhance the power of the corresponding spell, then Ollivander would not have preferred to use only three wand cores back and forth.

But other than that, there was nothing else associated with Fish's wand, so that seemed to be the only explanation, ruling out all other possibilities.

And that was exactly what happened.

Although, as Snape had wondered, under normal circumstances the wand's effect on one or more spells would not be so exaggerated, Fish had never been the norm.

The heart of nature that Fish had swallowed was the one that most readily resonated with this natural magical creation, which was why it had increased Fish's power for Legeremancy.

Of course, Fish didn't know or care about this....

Anyway, it's not as good as Fish's claws!