0148 The Poisonous Magic

Sirius Black's escape from prison caused a headache for the Ministry of Magic and fear for many wizarding families, but no matter what, the date of Hogwarts' opening, which almost counted as an annual 'event' in the wizarding world, remained unchanged.

As the summer vacation came to an end, Diagon Alley gradually regained its usual bustle, though Bryan, who had rarely left his room since mid-August, could only judge from the noise outside the open window. He could hear the excited chatter of children, the haggling of merchants, and the occasional roar of a magical creature.

Hedwig's cage was still hanging on the window bars, but the cage was empty. This snow-white and clever owl, like its owner, had gone out for a stroll. She enjoyed flying freely in the sky, hunting for mice and delivering letters for Bryan. She was loyal and smart, and knew when to return to her master.

Bryan stared quietly at the frog in Hedwig's cage that had been caught back as a snack, and after his thoughts cleared up a bit, he lowered his head and looked at the several torn research manuscripts spread out on the desk. 

He had gotten this pile of manuscripts from the underground world's trading market last time. According to the boss who sold them, these were the research manuscripts left by an ancient Greek Dark wizard who was regarded as the pioneer in the field of the Dark Arts– Herpo The foul, who invented the Horcrux and the blood curse. Bryan didn't care whether these manuscripts were really left by Herpo, but the content they contained was indeed worth the dozens of galleons he spent.

"–To engrave a curse or a magic into the soul of a living being, as long as the race does not die out, this particular race will be cursed forever. What a terrible magic." 

Bryan squinted his eyes and tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. He felt a chill run down his spine as he read those words. He wondered what kind of twisted mind could come up with such a cruel idea. 

In his memory, there seemed to be indeed a kind of lost curse that had a similar effect - the blood curse. The blood curse would allow the cursed person to have two forms of human and snake that could be switched between each other. It sounded amazing, but it was actually very cruel, because this curse would continuously 'pollute' the magic in the cursed person's blood, and would speed up the pollution as the magic in the body became stronger. Until one day when you could no longer resist, you would lose your human form and memory forever. 

The most desperate thing about this curse was that it would spread like a virus through blood ties. In other words, once a wizard was cursed, then his descendants would suffer this despairing pain generation after generation until this family died out one day. 

Compared to the three unforgivable curses, Bryan thought this blood curse was much more terrible. When he was studying at Hogwarts, Bryan learned about the introduction of the blood curse from a book called "The Most Poisonous Magic" in the restricted section. That book also mentioned Horcruxes in passing, and there was text saying that these two curses were both invented by the Greek Dark wizard Herpo. 

The pile of rotten paper in front of him recorded some experimental records during the creation of this curse, as well as incomplete theoretical foundations. 

Bryan had been studying these manuscripts for some time, and based on the incomplete information on them, he tried to deduce the theoretical structure of the magic, and then get the corresponding spell and casting posture from the complex structure of the spell. 

It was broad daylight, but as Bryan's wand tip drew out mysterious trajectories in the air, the room with open windows gradually darkened, as if a thin veil of shadow seeped out from nowhere and obscured the light in the room. 

The ominous atmosphere that gradually filled the air made the frog in Hedwig's cage uneasy. It stood up on its legs and leaned on the iron cage, making noisy croaks. It sensed something dangerous was about to happen. 

Bryan stared at the frog in the cage with a cold expression. Unconsciously, his illusion magic that covered his eyes had been broken by his continuously surging magic. Those eyes that were like pure purple gems showed a palpable malice. The frog that couldn't move floated up uncontrollably, as if it was being pulled by an invisible force. Even though it only had a shallow self-awareness, its two bulging eyes showed clear fear, as if it knew it was doomed. It tried to struggle, but it was useless. It was trapped in a nightmare that it could not escape. 

The green color on the frog's skin gradually turned gray-white in the twisted space that enveloped its body, and melted like wax liquid and disappeared completely. 

It was as if its life was being drained away by some invisible force, leaving behind only a hollow shell. Where the frog used to be, there appeared a vague frog outline that emitted a faint white glow. It looked like a ghost. 

'Soul.'

Underneath his powerful and evil magic power, Bryan's handsome face showed an indescribable majesty. He moved his wand slowly and gently. Strands of black gas spewed out from his wand tip. 

They were like the breath of death, cold and sinister. As soon as those snake-like twisting black gas appeared in the room, the slightly dim air began to vibrate slightly. If it weren't for some defensive spells that Bryan had set up beforehand, then I'm afraid everyone in The Leaky Cauldron would have been affected! 

They would have felt a chill in their bones, a sense of dread in their hearts, and a loss of hope in their minds. As the closest one to the black gas, the frog soul undoubtedly suffered the most. The white outline trembled so fast that it almost left a trail in the air. 

It felt an unbearable pain, as if its soul was being torn apart by thousands of sharp blades. Seeing this situation, Bryan's movements became even more gentle. His wand-holding hand was gentle as if he was stroking his lover's cheek. Oh, no, he didn't have a lover, like he was stroking glittering galleons. 

Under his control, those black gas that twisted their bodies like snakes gradually stretched out their tentacles to the white soul, slowly and steadily. They were like greedy parasites, trying to devour the soul of the frog and turn it into a cursed seed. 

Bang! 

A dull roar sounded in the room. The breeze that came face to face carried countless dreamy light spots like fireflies, making Bryan squint his eyes subconsciously. He raised his arm to shield his face from the sudden explosion of light. 

He failed. 

Bryan waved his hand to disperse the scattered frog soul light spots. He had a flash of insight in his heart, but his expression didn't show much disappointment. 

He was used to failure, and he knew that success was not easy to come by. Experimental research and spell deduction were like this. Failure was normal, success was accidental. As long as he could find a perfect way, he wouldn't get nothing. 

Bryan waved his wand to clean up the pus on Hedwig's cage, then leaned back on the chair and picked up the manuscripts that were hard to identify and studied them. From time to time, he flipped through the runes that looked like hieroglyphs and checked if there were any translation errors. 

He had spent a lot of time and effort on deciphering these ancient texts, but he still felt that there were some gaps in his understanding. On one corner of the desk was a stack of new parchment papers filled with formulas. That was the process of Bryan's complete deduction of the spell structure during this period of time. After the manuscript didn't give him any more inspiration, Bryan reached for his draft paper and checked his deduction process himself, but he still didn't find any problems. 

This was strange! 

Bryan closed his eyes and thought about it in his mind. 

He recalled every step of his experiment, every detail of his spell casting, every reaction of his target. He tried to find out where he went wrong, what he missed, what he overlooked. According to the content recorded on these manuscripts he got, if the magic was successfully cast, then he would get a cursed frog soul, and this soul would be a curse seed. When he wanted to curse someone someday, there would be another spell that would forcibly embed this curse seed into the cursed person's soul. 

In this way, the curse would be successful, and the cursed person and his descendants would face a living hell. They would turn into frogs at most before they were thirty years old. 

The creator of this curse didn't think about how to lift it at all during the creation process. So unless they stopped reproducing, the pain would be passed on for generations. 

'Why did it fail?' 

Bryan was still pondering this question, but footsteps in the corridor interrupted his thinking process. Before the visitor knocked on the door, Bryan had already eliminated all the 'evidence of crime', and when he got up, he casually brushed his eyes and 'restored' the color of his eyes. 

He didn't want anyone to see his true eye color, which was a sign of his immense magic power. He had cast an illusion spell on himself long ago, changing his eyes from purple to brown. He had to be careful not to expose his secrets, especially in the wizarding world. 

I need a quiet place where I won't be disturbed for my experiments and research. 

As he walked towards the wooden door, Bryan suddenly remembered the magical room on the seventh floor of Hogwarts Castle. That was really a good place for experiments and research. It was called the Room of Requirement, and it could transform into anything the user needed. Bryan had discovered it by accident when he was a student, and he had used it many times for his private studies. 

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Author's Note: These things related to spell and spell theories is all mostly based on HP forum and fan-made theories.

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