Chapter 216
: Age Reduction Agent [2 in 1]
Chapter 216: Age Reduction Agent [Two-in-One]
Harry stood there motionless, mouth open, eyes following the eagle, his brain unable to react for a few moments.
——Isn’t Remus’s Patronus a wolf? How did it become an eagle? Could it be that the Patronus can change…
Until he saw the eagle land on Vader's shoulder and dissipate into silver mist.
"Excellent! Vader, excellent!"
Lupin clapped his hands happily and said, "I have never seen anyone succeed at the first try. No, I have never even heard of it!"
Vader smiled and looked down at his wand, still savoring the feeling he had just had.
The Patronus Charm...what a magical thing.
The spell seemed to bring him back to that time. Even though the patronus had disappeared, the feeling of joy and happiness still lingered in his heart.
Lupin noticed Harry's expression and said immediately:
"Of course, Harry is also excellent. I saw the silver mist on the tip of your wand. This is an outstanding performance."
Harry suddenly felt embarrassed. He unconsciously hid his wand behind him and said enthusiastically:
"That's brilliant, Vader, that's amazing!"
He realized that his praise was like a poor actor reciting a line, so he quickly adjusted himself and said:
"so cool!"
His voice sounded much more real.
"It's so cool that the Patronus is an eagle! That's really cool, Vader!"
Vader also had an unconcealable smile on his face.
On the one hand, the Patronus Charm is successful. On the other hand, both the Animagus and the Patronus are reflections of the wizard's inner strength, so the images of the two are often not much different, or even exactly the same.
He could finally put aside some of his unnecessary worries.
In addition to his joy, Wade was also willing to share his experience of success with Harry.
"It's no different than any other spell, except that you need to summon a happy mood for yourself."
"It's important to be confident and have a firm belief in what makes you happy and why you wave your magic wand," said Vedder.
At his encouragement, Harry raised his wand again.
He searched his brains for happy memories, but his experiences before the age of eleven had nothing to do with happiness.
After entering the school, he felt very happy, but suddenly he realized that there were not many moments of pure happiness.
Harry recalled the first time he rode a broomstick... the first time he caught the Snitch... the winning point for Gryffindor...
"Call the gods to protect you!"
Silver mist spurted out from the tip of his wand, vaguely forming a huge animal.
Harry struggled to hold his wand with both hands, feeling exhausted.
"Faith!" Vader emphasized: "The patronus is not a prop for showing off. You want it to protect something for you. This belief is the source of our strength."
……
After practicing on and off until the evening, even though Harry's Patronus had not yet fully taken shape, it could already be seen that it was an animal that looked like a horse.
It is tall and muscular, and its four hooves and tail can be clearly seen.
Lupin praised Harry again and again, and said that Harry's father James practiced for a whole week to reach Harry's current level.
This made Harry feel a lot better, and he secretly made up his mind to practice more after returning to school.
While Harry was practicing spells, Vader became more familiar with his Patronus. He tried to use the Patronus to send a message to Lupin, and it actually worked.
However, when the distance is far, his magic power cannot sustain such consumption, and the patronus will dissipate halfway, which also means that the patronus cannot be as convenient as a telephone.
Fortunately, delivering messages is only the most insignificant function of the patronus. Its main function is to resist dark magic spells and creatures.
Not only Dementors, other creatures - such as the Acromantula, are also afraid of the Patronus, but wizards generally do not use such advanced magic to deal with them.
……
After dinner, Sirius also came back.
"This is terrible!" He shouted at Lupin as soon as he entered the room: "The more we investigate, the more we find! The official sent by the American Ministry of Magic doesn't care about the missing Muggle students at all..."
"Sirius!" Lupin hurried to stop him.
Sirius also noticed the two little wizards sitting at the dining table.
"Hey, Harry, Wade! How are you doing with your Patronus Charm?" Sirius raised his hand and greeted them.
"So-so." Harry asked hurriedly, "Sirius, did you go to investigate Caryl's disappearance?"
"Of course!"
Sirius, who looked exhausted and had originally planned to change his clothes, did not go upstairs upon hearing this, but simply pulled a chair and sat near the dining table.
"You wouldn't know until you investigate. After you investigate, you realize that this matter is bigger than we thought. At most, one or two Muggle-born students are abducted at Hogwarts every year, but in other countries..."
"Sirius!" said Lupin disapprovingly. "Children don't need to know that!"
"Don't be so rigid, Remus." Sirius waved his hand and said, "Wade and Harry are not ordinary children. They have even seen Voldemort. There is no need to hide this kind of thing."
"..." Lupin had no choice but to remind them: "You can tell them the basic results of the investigation, but don't forget the part that Dumbledore asked you to keep secret."
Sirius's expression flashed a trace of unnaturalness. Obviously, he had forgotten it just now, but he responded with: "Of course, I remember it all!"
Lu Ping: "..."
He gave up the idea of tidying up the room and sat quietly by the side.
Under his gaze, Sirius forgot what he wanted to say for a moment. He thought for a few seconds before speaking, but he talked about a topic that had nothing to do with the missing case.
"Harry's name was on the Hogwarts roll at birth, but Vader..."
He looked at the quiet boy next to him and said:
"It is said that you have never demonstrated your magical power before receiving the acceptance letter. How did Hogwarts know that you have wizarding talent?"
"Yeah, why?" Harry couldn't help asking, and then turned to Wade:
"Is it true that nothing unusual has ever happened to you? Like letting your hair grow out, or suddenly jumping up the chimney on the roof?"
Vader shook his head: "No."
Lupin explained: "This is sometimes the case with young wizards who are calm and have relatively stable magic. Vader has never shown magical powers, which means that there are no problems in his life that require magic to solve, so he is no different from ordinary people."
"But Hogwarts selected him from countless people...how did they do that?" Harry asked curiously.
Wade actually knew the reason, but at this moment, he, like Harry, looked at Sirius who was about to announce the answer.
Sirius grinned and said, "I only recently learned about this - Hogwarts has a Book of Admission and a Pen of Acceptance, and they have existed longer than this castle."
"The Pen of Acceptance will detect all newly born children with magical talents and write their names in the Book of Admission. The Book of Admission will judge the child's talent very strictly to ensure that no Squibs are accidentally admitted."
"The Book of Admission and the Pen of Acceptance have never made a mistake, ensuring that all children with magical talents in this land are recorded, so the number of little wizards taken away from the British Isles is only a very small number."
"But in other magic schools, the way they select students varies."
"Some are through divination or dreams, which can easily lead to errors or omissions;"
"Some magic schools use detection networks similar to the Ministry of Magic. If there are obvious fluctuations in magic, they will rush to investigate quickly. But children like Wade can be easily overlooked."
"There are also some places like Durmstrang, which only accepts young wizards from wizarding families. Even if Muggle children show magical powers, no one will accept them, let alone explain magic to them."
"Dumbledore speculated that the number of missing Muggle wizards there might be the largest, but what did Karkaroff say... What does the disappearance of Muggle wizards have to do with him? He is not willing to cooperate with the investigation at all!"
Sirius became angry as he spoke, and cursed from the bottom of his heart:
"I hope those dark wizards can take Karkaroff away. Even a piece of iron in that position would be more enthusiastic than him..."
"Igor Karkaroff, is the headmaster of Durmstrang."
As Sirius made some meaningless complaints, Lupin explained to the two young wizards.
"If you meet him in the future, be careful. Igor Karkaroff was once a Death Eater, but he betrayed the names of other Death Eaters and was eventually spared."
"So that guy can't be trusted at all. Durmstrang will be doomed if it is handed over to him."
Sirius then said:
"Most of the missing children are like Khalil. They accidentally displayed their powers, and soon after, black-robed wizards came to contact them."
"Under the coaxing and deception of the man in black robes, the family quickly decided to move to a new place, but halfway through, they forgot about their child. And no one knows where the child who was said to have moved has gone."
"Dumbledore contacted all the magic schools - Durmstrang in Northern Europe, Beauxbatons in France, Ilvermorny in the United States, Castrobus in Brazil, the Institute of Magic in Japan, Kodostoriz in Russia..."
"No result. None of them sent more students than scheduled, and they all came with a few less. Several schools and the Ministry of Magic decided to conduct a joint investigation and find out those guys who kidnapped the young wizards!"
Sirius finished the rest of the sentence in one breath, gulped down a glass of water, and then asked, "Knowing this, what do you think of it?"
"Could the missing people have been captured by the government or some big company?" Harry recalled similar TV dramas he had watched and said, "Maybe someone is using underage wizards to conduct cruel experiments."
"It's undesirable, but possible," said Sirius.
"Those guys may be rooted in the Muggle government, or have bribed some high-ranking Muggle officials."
Wade said: "They can get information about those little wizards. They must have a huge intelligence network - there is no one more convenient than the local government."
At that time, the Internet had not yet developed to its later extent, and people did not always carry a camera with them to take pictures of interesting or strange things and post them online at any time.
Therefore, being able to pay attention to these "strange events" in a timely manner should mostly rely on the power of word of mouth.
"It's very likely." Sirius showed an appreciative look: "But we can't determine who the problem is yet, because there are too many Muggles. So the Aurors have made a plan..."
"Dong dong!"
Lupin rapped hard on the table.
Sirius immediately realized that he had said too much and he immediately shut his mouth.
"What plan?" Harry demanded.
"Okay, okay, you should go back to school and sleep!" Sirius began to drive them away rudely: "You still have classes tomorrow, have you forgotten?"
The two had no choice but to go upstairs to the bedroom where the wardrobe was placed. After returning to Hogwarts, Harry was still muttering:
"I don't know what the plan is..."
"...bait?" Wade said suddenly.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Find a wizard to pretend to be an underage Muggle girl, pretend to be a magical riot and make some strange noises, and then see if those people will show up."
Harry was silent for a moment, then asked, "What wizard can pretend to be a little girl before the age of eleven?"
"Have you forgotten about the age-reducing potion?" Vader said, "And the Polyjuice Potion... Magic will always find a way."
……
Several wizards raised their heads together and took a big sip of the strangely colored liquid in the cup.
"How does it feel?" said the young wizard after distributing the potions.
Several wizards were speechless. They soon showed expressions of pain, and their bodies began to shrink like deflated balls.
With a pop, the eyeballs shrank back into the head, followed by the nose, mouth, and ears. The hands and feet suddenly retracted, becoming fat and small, and then the clothes slipped off and were held up like a tent.
A small hand came out from the pile of clothes. It felt around to the left, then to the right, and finally grabbed the wand, then retracted it.
After a while, the magic wand came out again and tapped on the surrounding clothes. The clothes immediately shrank, but also became very inconspicuous.
It seemed like just a moment, and several children appeared on the ground, with expressions of disgust or innocence on their faces. One of them asked blankly: "Are we going to be bait from now on?"
"Looks like it is."
A violet-haired girl said enthusiastically, taking the can of potion and giving one to everyone.
"Wait until the effect of the potion is about to wear off before using it." The Auror in charge of brewing the potion stood nearby and said in a hoarse voice, "Drinking it repeatedly will shrink it back to the embryonic shape."
But looking at how everyone was laughing, it seemed like no one took what he said to heart.
Then they dispersed in all directions.
(End of this chapter)