Harry Potter: The Rise Of Malfoy

Chapter 82

Dumbledore was well aware of Soren's character; it was impossible for him to submit to anyone and become Voldemort's lackey.

Thinking of this, he cast another glance in Soren's direction. Soren, who was chatting with the potions master Horace Slughorn, seemed to sense Dumbledore's gaze and looked over slightly. Dumbledore winked at Soren, revealing a smile that only he could understand.

Although Slughorn was a creator of the Slug Club, his love for enjoyment had kept him away from any activities of the club for a long time. His appearance this time was to get to know Soren and add another collectible to his created Slug Club.

He had patiently waited for this moment for a long time, as many others shared the same intention. He first saw Soren chatting with Amelia and her group, then with old Barty Crouch, followed by Fudge, and then Gilderoy Lockhart...

Finally, he seized the opportunity and approached Soren before anyone else could.

Horace Slughorn, a renowned potions master and a wizard of Dumbledore's era, came from a Sacred 28 pure-blood family, but he was not a core member of the family.

In his youth, he was naive and suffered from the disadvantage of connections—his cousin, who had little magical talent, managed to secure support from several high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Magic and successfully took over as the head of the family.

At that time, he was a dazzling figure known as a potions genius, and losing the position of head of the family was a significant blow to him. This instilled in him an obsession with connections, which was the main reason for creating the Slug Club.

The Slughorn family was marked with a star on Soren's list, so he naturally welcomed Horace's initiative to befriend him.

The two first chatted about campus life and then exchanged insights on potion-making. As expected of a potions master, Horace shared many insights that even someone of Soren's level found immensely beneficial. Before parting, the two seemed to regret not meeting sooner and exchanged contact information, promising to keep in touch.

The award ceremony began.

On the stage, Minister of Magic Fudge delivered a lengthy speech with little substance before handing the stage over to Dumbledore, the Chief warlock of the Wizengamot.

Under the flashing lights of numerous reporters, Soren stepped onto the stage and received the Order of Merlin, Third Class medal from Dumbledore, pinning it to his chest. This was a golden medal with a white ribbon.

All medals of the Order of Merlin are golden, with the rank difference reflected in the color of the ribbon. The ribbon for the First Class medal is green, which Dumbledore wore, said to commemorate Merlin's affiliation with Slytherin House, whose representative color is green.

The Second Class medal has a purple ribbon, while the medal Soren received has a white ribbon, indicating it is a Third Class medal.

Amidst applause, the award ceremony concluded perfectly.

[Order of Merlin, Third Class medal obtained!]

In the days leading up to the award ceremony, through Soren's tireless efforts, he had already finished reading the remaining books in Ravenclaw's library.

In the week following the award ceremony, Soren began his summer vacation plans.

The first priority was to study the Invisibility Cloak. Soren had already deciphered most of its secrets, only needing to find the correct type of chisel. Using the black dragon chisel obtained from Nott, after dozens of attempts, he finally succeeded!

He replicated the invisibility effect of the Invisibility Cloak onto the Merlin's Robe, adding the functions of invisibility and concealment. When used in conjunction with the Disillusionment Charm, under the double invisibility effect, not even Mad-Eye Moody, let alone Dumbledore, would be able to see through it.

[Final form of the Supreme Wizard Robe (Ten functions) completed!]

The second task was to make a trip to Knockturn Alley, where he bought a vanishing cabinet from Borgin and Burkes for one hundred Galleons. After leaving Knockturn Alley, he did not go directly home but instead visited the Bane Manor via the Floo Network.

[Vanishing cabinet obtained! 2x vanishing cabinet link completed!]

Amelia and Susan warmly welcomed him. Susan, who still hadn't mastered the complete Patronus Charm, kept asking Soren for advice, holding onto him and seeking knowledge.

When Amelia learned that Soren could conjure a complete corporeal Patronus, she was stunned.

It should be noted that in the Ministry of Magic, more than half of the wizards do not understand this obscure and rare spell at all, and among the remaining ones, more than half can only cast an incomplete Patronus Charm, which produces a silvery mist. This silvery mist cannot effectively repel Dementors; at most, it can only provide a slight obstruction, giving the wizard precious time to escape.

Soren humbly sought Amelia's guidance on various legal knowledge within the wizarding world. Amelia was equally generous, wholeheartedly providing Soren with various insights and clarifications, rapidly enhancing his knowledge in this area.

The fourth matter was studying the Black family's book of dark magic. However, dark magic books are generally very profound and difficult to understand, and they often contain many traps hidden within the text that can tempt the reader's soul to fall. Even with Soren's talent, his reading speed was not particularly fast.

During his free time, Soren also did not forget to tinker with the alchemy book left to him by Nicolas Flamel. This book was locked with extremely rare alchemical magic, and even with Soren's alchemical skills, he could not unlock it and could only study it slowly over time.

Time quickly moved to a day in mid-July.

Soren felt the tracking spell he cast on Peter Pettigrew respond, sensing unusual magical fluctuations around Peter, and he was almost certain that Peter had successfully found his old master, Voldemort.

Everything Soren had set up on Peter was to capture Voldemort's pet—a giant snake named Nagini.

Nagini was a twelve-foot-long female giant snake, and her venomous fangs were highly toxic. In the magical creature films, Nagini was originally an Asian witch who, due to a blood curse, ultimately transformed into a snake form and was tamed by Voldemort when she wandered in the jungles of Albania.

In the original story, shortly after Voldemort was found by Peter Pettigrew, the latter tricked Bertha Jorkins, who was vacationing in Albania, into meeting Voldemort and killed her. From then on, Nagini became Voldemort's last Horcrux.

There are two benefits to capturing the giant snake Nagini:

First, before Voldemort's resurrection, he survived in a weakened state as a remnant soul. It was only after being found by Peter Pettigrew that Voldemort used the Rudimentary Body Potion to create a crude body container for his remnant soul to inhabit.

Though it was a crude body, it was sufficient for him to cast spells and kill, increasing his danger significantly. The main ingredients of the Rudimentary Body Potion are unicorn blood and Nagini's venom, so capturing Nagini could create trouble for Voldemort and delay his return.

Second, as a known host of the blood curse, Nagini is a sample of extremely high research value. Soren's understanding of blood curses is unmatched in the current world, but he still needed a sample for experiments to validate various theoretical ideas.

Timing was crucial for this endeavor, as not long after, Nagini would become Voldemort's Horcrux. Once Nagini was made into a Horcrux, Soren's research would become complicated due to the added variable of the Horcrux. To avoid prolonged delays, Soren immediately set out after sensing the feedback from the tracking spell on Peter Pettigrew.

As for the downsides? There were some. After Soren captured Nagini, Voldemort would lose the vessel he originally intended to use for creating the sixth Horcrux. If he insisted on making another Horcrux, the last one would become an unknown, causing Soren to lose the benefit of foreseeing the plot.

However, compared to the benefits gained, Soren did not take this too seriously, as the task of eliminating Horcruxes still had the Savior and Dumbledore to rely on.

Soren donned the Merlin's robe, which transformed into a mysterious black cloak at his will, and then took out the "Nameless Mask" he had completed studying. He put the mask on his face, and instantly, he radiated a chilling and fierce aura, as if his own magical power was coated with a protective hue, becoming obscure and eerie.

Even his closest relatives standing in front of him would not be able to recognise him; they would only think that a powerful and formidable dark wizard stood before them.

Soren snapped his fingers, and Dobby appeared beside him. Dobby was taken aback by his current appearance and aura, and was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground, trembling as he said, "Y-you, who are you? W-where is my master?"

Soren's voice was ethereal and hollow, "Dobby... it's me, I am Soren."

"Y-you are the master?" Dobby said, half in disbelief. It was hard for him to accept that his little master, whom he had watched grow up, had suddenly transformed into such a terrifying figure.

Soren's voice seemed to possess an invisible penetrating power. Dobby felt that every word spoken by the person claiming to be his little master was not entering through his ears, but rather resonating directly from his soul.

"This is my secret disguise technique, you must not tell anyone... now take me to the little dwarf star." Dobby's feeling was not wrong; Soren had used soul magic in his voice, allowing his words to reach Dobby's heart directly, making it impossible for Dobby to resist.

At that moment, Dobby's mind was completely taken over by Soren, and his entire spirit and body had fully submitted to Soren, becoming his most loyal servant. This was one of the outcomes of Soren's study of the Black family's ancestral soul magic and "The Abattoir Volume Three."

To prevent Dobby from being recognised, Soren cast a transformation spell on him, turning him into a little sprite with a head resembling a wild boar, and then had Dobby take him through a series of illusions to the Albanian jungle. Their sudden appearance startled both Voldemort and the dwarf star Peter.

Finally, he met the villain from the original story for the first time.

At this moment, Voldemort could barely be considered a humanoid creature. He was curled up in a blanket, and at first glance, one might mistake him for a baby, but there was no such ugly baby in the world. He had no hair, his body was covered in dark red scales, his spine protruded from his back, his fingers were long, and his nails resembled black hooks. His limbs were thin and fragile, his face was flat like a snake's head, and he had a pair of flickering red eyes.

This deformed humanoid creature was the body Voldemort had reshaped using a repulsive body potion.

At this moment, Voldemort was still far from his peak state. He said nothing, but cautiously launched a killing curse at Soren first.

However, Soren was more than 10 meters away from him, and with his agility, he easily dodged the ambush. Soren infused his voice with soul magic and mocked, "Hehehe, poor Dark Lord... so weak, just like a baby... only one follower left, and so weak..."

After casting the killing curse, Voldemort's magical power instantly depleted, and he no longer acted recklessly. He knew he possessed an immortal body, so he did not appear particularly afraid, but cautiously asked, "Who are you? What is your purpose here?"

Soren's cold voice responded, "Who I am is not important. I did not come for you; I only want that snake beside you!"

"That snake is very important to me. What do you want it for?"

"That is none of your concern. I will only ask once, will you give it to me or not?" Soren increased the magical power input into the nameless mask, and his aura became increasingly violent and terrifying.

Voldemort hesitated for a moment but ultimately suppressed the urge to act. Although Nagini's venom was important, it was not irreplaceable; it would just waste more of his time.

He had been trapped in this weak form for too long and did not want to stay a moment longer. However, the dark magical aura radiating from the person in front of him was ruthless and powerful. Even in his peak state, he had no guarantee of victory, let alone in his current state. Moreover, it was clear that the other party was not a kind person, but a dark wizard who would kill without blinking, just like himself.

Unbeknownst to him, Soren's magical power was still at the level of a senior student. The nameless mask merely made him "appear" to possess a powerful dark magic aura; in short, it was a disguise. However, it was enough to intimidate the widely feared Voldemort.

Voldemort reluctantly nodded, and Soren did not waste any more words. He swiftly cast a stunning spell on Nagini, knocked it unconscious, and took it along with Dobby as they vanished into thin air.

["Sample" Nagini captured!]

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