allendalepharm Chapter 326 The Fate of the Werewolves and Bella
Chapter 326 The Fate of the Werewolves and Bella
Chapter 326 The Fate of the Werewolves and Bella
In the second match of the first round of the "Quidditch Duel of the Triwizard Tournament" campus team competition, none of the top players participated.
Dumbledore and Grindelwald went to the Ministry of Magic for a meeting, where the Purifiers' wolfsbane research had deeply crossed the line for the two bigwigs.
As it happened, Lockhart and Voldemort also had to come to the Ministry of Magic, so they took the opportunity to attend the meeting and planned to hear out if there was anything else they didn't know.
"You might say that wolfsbane is a danger—"
"But I must say that wolfsbane is essentially a magical bloodline, and it is the only magical bloodline in the magical world that can be directly transmitted to others."
Voldemort cautiously ventured into the political arena in front of Dumbledore and Grindelwald, exploring potential avenues for further action.
This is what he deserves. In the matter of werewolves and werewolves, there is no wizard in the contemporary wizarding world more authoritative than him, who studies life and magical bloodlines.
As a result, his words easily gained the attention of many bigwigs.
"Wolfsbane is also a magical bloodline?" Lady Melos, one of the most senior members of Hogwarts, clearly did not agree with this statement.
"Yes, and from an academic standpoint alone, it ranks higher than all magical bloodlines!"
Voldemort stroked the serpentine tip of his cane and spoke eloquently, "Even members of ancient pure-blood families who engaged in numerous inbreeding marriages to preserve their magical bloodline could easily become werewolves after being infected with wolfsbane. This is proof of that."
"From this, we can draw at least three conclusions!"
He quickly became the center of attention at the meeting.
"First, pure-blooded magic bloodlines have the potential to resist wolfsbane. We need to further stimulate the innate magical talent in our bloodline, which may be able to suppress the werewolf's reproductive instinct."
"The so-called reproductive instinct of werewolves is the irrational desire to attack and the strong contagiousness that occur on the night of a full moon. This is the main way werewolves reproduce."
"second."
"According to information provided by Gilderoy Lockhart, the spread of wolfsbane among Muggle communities still varies depending on whether magic is present or not."
"If this is true, the biggest impact of the widespread spread of wolfsbane in the Muggle world will be that wolfsbane will completely suppress Muggle magical bloodlines that are one level lower than pure-blooded magical bloodlines with magical talent."
"Simply put, the number of new Muggle wizards will decrease significantly in the future!"
"third."
"Werewolves have a long history in the wizarding world. Even though our society hates and fears wolfskin so much, there is a degree of tolerance for werewolves in every corner of the wizarding society."
"But Muggle society is different!"
"The harm they cause to Muggle society may even be greater than that to wizarding society!"
"The large-scale appearance of Muggle werewolves will not only bring wizards a large number of enemies, but also create a new source of conflict between the Muggle world and the magical world."
The magical world is an older term that encompasses wizards, fairies, dragons, centaurs, giants, Nifflers, and more.
"Throughout the long history of the magical world, wizards conquered these alien magical creatures for the sake of human society as a whole, and then used the Statute of Secrecy to completely separate the two, thus protecting all humans, especially Muggles, from the harm caused by these magical creatures."
"We all know that Muggles are so vulnerable to these magical creatures."
"Therefore, I believe it is necessary for you to inform the Muggle leaders of various countries to ensure they understand the extent of the harm this matter poses, and that they should take it even more seriously than we do!"
Even at his most insane, Voldemort never considered crossing this line.
This means allowing magical creatures to attack Muggle society.
If that were to happen, a whole host of magical creatures—mermaids, centaurs, werewolves, giants, fairies, dragons, Nifflers, and so on—would flood the Muggle world. With him and the Death Eaters holding off the Order of the Phoenix and the magic ministries of various countries, it probably wouldn't be long before they completely changed the world.
But this is no longer a political game; it's creating the end of the world.
After Voldemort finished speaking, he did not say another word.
I sat quietly in the corner.
The meeting room remained eerily quiet, and everyone's expression was somber.
Dumbledore knew that Voldemort had taken the opportunity to slip in some personal opinions, such as that pure-blooded magic bloodlines with innate talent were superior to Muggle magic bloodlines, but refuting these at this point was pointless.
At least one thing is true: we must cooperate with the official forces of Muggle countries to jointly eradicate the Purifiers, this evil organization.
only----
He couldn't help but worry that if Muggles got involved, wouldn't they take the opportunity to hold back their own secrets?
For example, secretly hiding some research materials or even backups of wolfsbane blood?
Perhaps this could also be Voldemort's conspiracy.
Or, to put it another way, a calculated, open strategy.
Instead of spreading rumors about the potential harm and upheaval that Muggles might bring to wizarding society, it would be better to let wizards truly feel the pain firsthand.
At that time —
Voldemort and Grindelwald will likely become politically correct from different perspectives within wizarding society, representing a certain kind of justice.
As the saying goes, times create heroes, and heroes can also create times!
We continuously advance social progress, allowing everyone to harbor a certain chaotic expectation, and then wait for everything to blossom and bear fruit before pushing them back onto the stage.
When top wizarding leaders look to the next few hundred years and decide to wait patiently, they can easily find an opportunity to reclaim their place at the center of the world.
Dumbledore had to admit that a shrewd Voldemort was just another Grindelwald who gave him a headache.
But isn't this also a kind of happiness in the wizarding world?
No matter what happens, there will always be heroes who are suited to the times, leading them to glory.
And this era—
Dumbledore turned his gaze to Gilderoy Lockhart, who was engrossed in studying the data on the Purifier's wolfsbane experiments in the corner.
This young man may be the answer for our time.
"This is so much fun!"
"Do you know how the Purifiers purify that weakened version of wolfsbane?"
Lockhart and Voldemort neither wanted to get involved in this troublesome matter, and after learning what they wanted to know during the meeting, they left immediately.
As Lockhart left the meeting room, he excitedly shared his discovery with Voldemort.
"They captured some werewolves, both Muggle werewolves and wizard werewolves, though of course they didn't realize it."
"They extracted wolf venom from the werewolves on the night of the full moon, and then extracted it again when they reverted to human form at other times."
"It turns out that the difference between wizards and Muggles is that they can express magic."
"The wolf venom extracted from werewolves and, once infected, will cause people to crave raw flesh and blood, and to exhibit some werewolf characteristics."
"But the wolf venom extracted from Muggle werewolves will not have this problem."
"After injecting wolf venom extracted from Muggle werewolves into pigs, they produced a large amount of wolf venom serum, which yielded extremely stable inert wolf venom, which was then subjected to extensive purification."
"This is the most crucial part!"
Voldemort interrupted Lockhart's narration, expressing great confusion, "Pig?"
Due to the influence of British dietary habits and the magical creatures and servants in the wizarding world (such as house-elves and magical creature factories), many wizards actually do not recognize pigs.
They certainly eat pork, but they usually eat bacon, sausages, and black pudding (blood sausage).
Processed products such as white pudding (pork sausage).
Fortunately, Voldemort grew up in a Muggle orphanage and raised pigs himself when he was young, so he wouldn't be puzzled by such a creature that was relatively unfamiliar to wizards.
(Poor wizarding families also raise pigs, like the Weasleys.)
But Voldemort still couldn't understand the reason for injecting wolfsbane into pigs.
When this was mentioned, Lockhart's expression became somewhat strange. "Pigs and humans are extremely similar. From the perspective of protein-coding genes responsible for life activities, more than 90% are homologous, and the amino acid sequence similarity exceeds 85%. This high degree of genetic similarity leads to similarities in physiological structure and organ function, and Muggles often use them as important biological models. You know, pigs are very prolific, much easier to find than chimpanzees, which are more closely related to humans."
Voldemort expressed his disapproval, saying, "Humans are humans, how can they be compared to mindless pigs?"
This is not arrogance.
Faced with the innate abilities brought by magical bloodlines, such as Parseltongue, Phoenix affinity, fire talent, Disguise Magus, and Legilimency—powerful magical abilities that are innate and require no effort—it's hard for wizards not to yearn for a purer magical bloodline.
In their exploration of this field, purebloods engage in incestuous marriages in an attempt to acquire multiple magical talents, while also exploring the possibilities of combining with magical creatures.
This path was equally fruitful, with the giants' formidable magic resistance and the Veela's ultimate allure.
Pigs, of all the many breeds in the world, none possess magic.
In other words.
Wizards can produce offspring even with Nifflers, but it's completely impossible for them to produce offspring with pigs.
Lockhart's attention was quickly diverted. He was mainly too lazy to argue with Voldemort about Muggle genetics. He didn't know much about the in-depth knowledge, and it would be difficult to convince Voldemort with a half-baked understanding.
"Speaking of pure-blood inbreeding, I've never seen a wizard with both Parseltongue and Phoenix Affinity magical talents, have I?"
Lockhart had always wanted to discuss this matter with Voldemort.
Voldemort frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Yes, no."
"Don't you find that strange?"
"Even though everyone intermarries, especially the Black family, which is said to be the oldest, has a long history of intermarriages, we all know that the so-called Holy Twenty-Eight Pure-Blood Families are actually related to each other by blood in this generation."
"In other words, someone like Draco Malfoy should have the Parseltongue bloodline, the phoenix affinity bloodline of Dumbledore, the fire affinity bloodline of Crabbe, and so on."
"But what he showed was, as people have stereotyped, the talent of the Malfoy family."
While the Malfoy bloodline's talents may not be as impressive as Parseltongue or Phoenix Affinity, they are still quite powerful. This is reflected in their exceptionally balanced talent across various fields: Dark Magic, Potions, Flight, Alchemy, etc. They don't have any particularly outstanding specializations, yet they excel in every single one.
Voldemort vaguely sensed what Lockhart was about to say and asked with a headache, "So, your opinion?"
'
"Inbreeding cannot guarantee the continuation of magical talent; it can only produce an occasional genius and a large number of mentally challenged offspring!"
Lockhart stated the conclusion directly: "What truly allows pure-bloods to perpetuate their magical talents lies in maintaining family honor and in their vitality within the broader wizarding and human social groups. We all know that Black is Black, Crabbe is Crabbe, and Dumbledore is Dumbledore—no matter how many marriages they have, they cannot acquire each other's magical talents!"
"They can only display the portion of their magical bloodline talent that aligns with their family's honor; the rest remains untapped!"
really!
It falls under the category of relationship magic again, and it's the same old fairy tale adventure of wizard life, magical life, and social life!
Voldemort, equally unable to accept this argument, said, "Are you saying that a pure-blood and a Muggle, as long as they are still Dumbledore, will still possess phoenix affinity regardless of how many generations have passed since the union or how much their magical bloodline has been diluted?"
"Yes!" Lockhart gestured to the other person again, "For example, you, even with Muggle blood, still easily inherited the Parseltongue and Dark Magic talent from the Slytherin to Gaunt lineage."
"I don't know how you acquired the magical bloodline of the phoenix, but in my opinion, it's probably related to your treating Hogwarts as your home," and Dumbledore being the patriarch of that home!
"No! No!" Voldemort's voice trembled as he denied it, yet a strange unease lingered within him.
He certainly used his own methods, and it had absolutely nothing to do with Lockhart's magical theories.
But if we analyze it according to Lockhart's theory, his current possession of Phoenix Affinity may be the so-called "magical choice wizard," which is simply a denial of his wisdom and research, as if everything was predetermined by fate.
He cannot agree.
They also refused to agree.
"Our discussion ends here!" Voldemort said curtly. "I have no more complaints about your bullshit theories!"
Lockhart pursed his lips, realizing that Snape had said something similar to him.
seemingly----
Although Dumbledore never said it, the learned old wizard always found a way to steer him away from discussing it in his presence.
Grindelwald, however, always liked to go along with what he said and then suddenly veer off-topic into political ideologies.
So is it really difficult for magic masters to have deeper exchanges of magical wisdom?
Everyone has their own magical path to walk.
This path is perhaps destined to be lonely.
Lockhart suddenly understood why the big shots were so eager to enter magic schools—to spread their magical philosophies, create more fellow travelers on the magical path, and perhaps alleviate this feeling of loneliness.
Yes, it's similar to how werewolves spread wolf poison.
They soon arrived at the Department of Mysteries.
Passing through the circular room filled with doors, carrying the magic oil lamp, I entered the Bloodline Hall.
This place is forever shrouded in mist and terrifying winds. In the hazy mist that faintly glows with a reddish light, coffins are placed one after another, containing all sorts of magical creatures.
Voldemort was immediately drawn to this place.
He gazed greedily at each coffin, sensing the rhythmic magical bloodline within the well-preserved corpses.
"The Ministry of Magic isn't entirely useless!"
Voldemort marveled as he stroked the ancient magical runes on the coffin.
"Come on, Bella's inside," Lockhart called out. "You can come here anytime. I'm in charge of the Bloodline Hall, and I think I agree that whatever you research here will be a step forward for the wizarding world, and Dumbledore won't object."
We walked deeper into the coffin.
Soon a small building with lights on appeared here.
Stepping inside, the first floor is more like a temporary dwelling for the "gravekeepers." Going through the trapdoor to the second floor, you can see a large number of bed frames, each covered with a werewolf.
Yes, werewolves.
These werewolves were already here before Lockhart arrived at the Bloodline Hall.
Of course, experiments always come at a cost, and Lockhart later acquired some werewolves from Lyle Lupin.
Right now, three ladies are conducting research here.
Ms. Mary, Tonks, and Bella.
The three gasped in unison as Voldemort appeared.
Lady Mary and Tonks were clearly alarmed. They visibly relaxed when they saw Lockhart come up and quietly distanced themselves from Voldemort, moving closer to Lockhart.
It's as if this is the only way to feel more secure.
Bella, on the other hand, was overjoyed. "Lord Voldemort, I knew you weren't dead!"
Voldemort's expression visibly softened. He looked her up and down, smiling, "You look to be in good shape."
Yes, it's very, very good.
Wearing an elegant silk dress, with her silky hair neatly styled and exuding the classic elegance characteristic of the Black family, she was completely different from the madwoman Lockhart had just brought out of Azkaban!
Of course, this was always Voldemort's impression of Bella.
She went insane during her long imprisonment in Azkaban.
But if you look closely, you'll find that she's a little different.
She possesses a gentle and peaceful quality that comes with the passage of time, and her eyes sparkle with a girlish joy that seems to radiate spirituality.
Voldemort remembered Vincent Crabbe, another pure-blood descendant who had been influenced by Lockhart.
That child also possessed such a clear and spiritual radiance.
Sometimes he had to admit that Lockhart's boastful claim that "I have dedicated my life to fighting the dark magic" probably really had some impressive achievements.
However, just as Lockhart said, Bella still had a deep respect for herself, but a subtle distance had grown between them.
It was a retreat of a soul corrupted by dark magic, an instinctive attraction and obsession with the great dark power.
It is also a correction of the lack of self-will after personality distortion, leading to the fascination and reliance on the powerful and dangerous Voldemort.
This is unfortunate.
They were lucky.
Because Bella is no longer the original Bella, and Voldemort is no longer Voldemort.
"Tom," Voldemort smiled at Bella, "you can call me Tom from now on. I think we should both get to know our true selves and accept our true selves."
Bella felt a lump in her throat, and for some reason, she felt tears welling up in her eyes.
She stared at Voldemort, captivated, for a long time, unwilling to look away.
"Tom————"
She reached out with trembling hands to touch Voldemort's temples, where his hair was now completely white. "You've aged a lot."
Voldemort smiled slightly. "If you saw me before when I was resurrected, you would probably find it even stranger. Now that I am full of life, it may be a good thing."
Even though he knew Bella wouldn't mind his snake-like appearance at all.
"Welcome to a new life in a new era, Bella." He was equally gentle.
"Yes." Bella nodded vigorously. "A new life!"
In the corner, Tonks' expression was quite strange.
She clearly remembered that her aunt, Bella, had taken her husband's surname, but her husband was clearly not Voldemort or Riddle, but Lestrange!
Is this really good?
Sure enough, like leader, like followers.
Severus Snape was similar; he was said to be obsessed with the Savior's mother and fell into a mad obsession.
An elbow gently tapped her arm.
Tonks turned to look and saw Lockhart winking at her, whispering a reminder, "Voldemort possesses powerful Legilimency abilities!"
"!!!" Donx was so scared that he didn't dare to think about anything.
Ultimately, they were older people, and Voldemort and Bella's relationship was more reserved, unlike young people who would be all lovey-dovey.
Voldemort looked at the entire floor full of werewolves with some curiosity and asked in confusion, "Are you studying werewolves?"
'
Bella nodded. "The three of us have been busy with this here the whole time, and we've made so many discoveries!"
As she spoke, she began to describe the most unique characteristics of wolfsbane, "Actually, wolfsbane is not a dark force, it's a mysterious force. Many approaches to studying wolfsbane throughout wizarding history have been wrong!"
When talking about her experience working for Lockhart in the Bloodline Hall after her release from prison, she seemed very fulfilled, constantly recounting her various amazing achievements.
"Tom————"
Would you like to participate?
Bella looked at Voldemort with such longing.
Voldemort was silent for a moment, then turned to look at Lockhart, and finally nodded. "Alright, I'll come over often!"
The Bloodline Hall is indeed a good place.
However, he originally intended for Lockhart to release Bella, but he didn't expect to get himself involved as well.
"She is free. She is free to come and work here, and she is free to leave the Department of Mysteries to go outside and have her own time."
Lockhart made a promise from the side.
"I owe you a favor," Voldemort promised.
"You gave me the most useful magic ever," Lockhart said, pulling the book of magic, *The World Islands*, from his wizard's robe pocket. "It's incredibly useful to me."
Last night he used the potion provided by Voldemort to continue reading; the contents were simply too captivating.
Whenever he came across a record or the author's thoughts, he would stop and ponder for a long time, so much so that he didn't finish reading it all night.
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