: The DDoS Attack from Hagrid

Chapter 56: The DDoS Attack from Hagrid

Admittedly, Professor Beck did completely impart his trump card, "double casting," to Avada. After removing the tether to his wand during the summer vacation, Avada did indeed squeeze in time to practice, and even succeeded once in the last few days of summer vacation...

Then he realized that this thing was useless to him at this stage.

From an innate perspective, neither the brain nor the mental structure of a normal human being allows for true dual-threaded thinking; that is, the mind can only focus on one thing at a time. So-called "multitasking" is achieved by frequently switching between thought processes. However, spellcasting is a process that cannot be interrupted, so throughout history, no wizard has ever been known to truly cast two different spells simultaneously.

However, Professor Baker, a genius, came along and, from who knows where, he came up with an idea that allowed him to figure out a way to perfectly bypass the mental power mechanism, achieving true "dual-tasking" by exploiting a bug.

However, this also leads to significant limitations and side effects in this method.

First, it is extremely difficult to master; even the slightest mistake can lead to failure. Even Avada Kedavra, who could visually perceive spiritual energy, had to fail countless times before barely succeeding.

Secondly, it consumes an enormous amount of energy—I don't know how Professor Beck managed to get through it, but on the night he successfully cast Avada for the first time, he slept for fifteen hours straight, and he was still dizzy when he woke up the next day.

Then, the combination of the first two drawbacks gives rise to the third drawback: when using double casting, it is basically impossible to use powerful or slightly more profound magic.

This is understandable. A person's mental energy is limited. Just maintaining the state of dual casting will basically exhaust one's mental energy. Where would one find the time to cast another powerful spell?

At Avada's current level, he can only cast two basic spells simultaneously—such as the Petrify and Color Change spells, or the Leg Lock and Levitate spells. If the power level increases even slightly, for example, when casting the Confusion spell, he absolutely cannot be distracted enough to create even a single flicker of light.

Therefore, performing Apparition and Unseen Stretch Charm simultaneously is nothing short of a pipe dream for Avada Kedavra now, and probably extremely difficult for Professor Beck himself as well—according to the notes in the manual, at most he can cast a Stunning Charm with his right hand to exchange energy with someone, and then use his left hand to launch a Disarming Charm at the same time.

"But I always felt that if we could master this combination, it would produce amazing results, and it would be such a waste to give up now."

"I wonder if there are any magical creatures with spatial abilities that I could study. Maybe I'll get some inspiration... But forget about the Niffler. That thing only has a pocket with a 'Seamless Stretch Charm' and has nothing to do with Apparition."

He packed his things dejectedly, left the Room of Requirement, and prepared to go to the library to see if there was any relevant information. Then he ran into Baron at the corner of the stairs on the fifth floor.

"Did you go to the Room of Requirement?" he asked in a low voice as soon as he came up.

How did you know?

"I ran into Hagrid while I was training outside. He asked me to bring you to his place, saying he got hold of some good stuff... After not finding you in the library and the Great Hall, I knew you must have gone to the Room of Requirement. That's why I was on my way to find you."

"Hagrid called me?"

Avada pondered for a moment, unable to recall what Hagrid could have acquired that could be considered "good stuff" at this time of year—the Philosopher's Stone was a closely guarded secret, the Blasttail wouldn't be cultivated for several years, and obtaining a dragon egg wouldn't happen until the end of the semester; it had only been less than a month since the start of the semester...

"Wait, could it be that Voldemort had already figured out the way to exchange dragon eggs for information and had already extracted information about Fluffy's weakness?"

"But that doesn't make sense either. Hagrid and I aren't that close. In the original story, he didn't even dare tell Harry and the others about the dragon egg."

"Want to go take a look together? Something Hagrid calls a good thing must be pretty good... You should be done with your training by now, right?"

Ultimately, he temporarily categorized this matter as a minor subplot not mentioned in the original work.

Of course, if we actually get overrun by Norber dragons after we get there, then things will get really serious.

"Me? Can I go? Hagrid didn't invite me. He seems to have some very stubborn prejudice against Slytherin..."

"Actually, he doesn't think much of Hufflepuff either... Anyway, he sent you to deliver the message, so he's not really unhappy with you, and this is also an opportunity to improve Slytherin's image, right..."

In the end, Baron was taken to Hagrid's cabin by Avadala. When Hagrid opened the door and saw the two of them, he wasn't unhappy at all; on the contrary, he was quite happy to have another guest—and it wasn't just superficial politeness. The half-giant's mental power was even more capable of seeing through things than that of an ordinary person.

"Welcome, Ken! And Baron... Come to think of it, this is your first time here, isn't it? Wait a moment, others are coming soon. Please come in and have a seat. I've prepared some tea and some of my homemade rock cakes..."

Avada's eye twitched almost imperceptibly.

He was finally about to face the hardest substance in the original story—thankfully, Voldemort had fired Hagrid beforehand, so he hadn't seen his rocky crust, otherwise the world might have gained an indestructible Horcrux that would have granted him true immortality…

With a grumbling in his mind, Avada followed Baron into Hagrid's hut.

Then, for the first time in his two lives, he learned that he had trypophobia.

It wasn't that Hagrid's house was decorated in a particularly eclectic style; on the contrary, the interior could almost be described as sparsely furnished: besides a bed, a table and a few chairs, a storage cabinet and a boiler, there was nothing else. Several pieces of dried meat hung from the ceiling, and there was a leather tapestry on the wall.

But in Avada's magical senses, the room appeared completely different:

The cracks in the floorboards were filled with incredibly complex magical structures, and the several cloth bags in the storage cabinet sent chills down his spine at a glance. But the most terrifying thing was the blanket that was laid out on Hagrid's bed, which seemed to be made of scraps of cloth pieced together...

Unicorn hair, Moonfox hair, hippogriff feathers, hair that looked like a Niffler or a raccoon dog, and a whole host of other magical structures he couldn't recognize... From this blanket, he could identify the hair or feathers of at least twenty different magical creatures, including some very valuable magical materials. The sheer number and complexity of these magical structures almost gave Avada a phobia of trypophobia.

He conservatively estimated that two or three such quilts could be exchanged for a Nimbus 2000.

"Please have a seat, I'll go get some rock cakes... Oh, Harry, Ron, you're here too!"

As Hagrid greeted them warmly, a face wearing round glasses and another head with red hair poked their heads in—judging by the time, Hermione Granger had not yet become part of the trio.

"Hagrid, are these two also your friends... Ken Baron?"

Harry greeted Avada naturally, but his gaze toward Baron was somewhat awkward—he couldn't help it; although he had a fairly good impression of Baron, he had been thoroughly disgusted by the Slytherin people these past few days.

"Oh, you're that 'person whose name can't even be mentioned,' and you even cast a color-changing spell on my Banban, which surprised that meddlesome guy to no end..."

Ron also recognized Avada, and he always thought it was really cool that "nobody knew his real name".

"Great, now that everyone's here..."

Hagrid looked quite pleased: "Come with me, I'll show you the new guys who just arrived in the Forbidden Forest today—a whole flock of escape birds!"

(End of this chapter)