Chapter 28: 28: Fire Dragon and Alchemy
After returning, the first thing John did was to make himself a new set of amulets.
Fortunately, he was prepared this time; otherwise, Quirrell's cunning would have gotten the best of him.
...
Saturday.
John obtained more materials from Hagrid, and he had a new idea this time.
"The unicorn horn is already starting to change."
Staring at the foul-smelling horn, John frowned.
This unicorn was killed and its horn was sawed off, so the curse on the horn is not small.
He originally wanted to make the unicorn horn into an amulet, but now it seems that it won't work.
Grinding the horn into powder, John discovered that the curse within it was extremely potent. Perhaps it could be used as a dark magic tool.
On his way back, John also visited Hagrid's hut.
Hagrid was almost in tears; tonight, his Norbert was going to be sent away.
After John arrived, looking at Norbert who had grown several times, he also felt that this approach was very sensible.
If they waited any longer, Norbert would probably grow to the size of this house.
"John, this is the dragon blood I promised you. I hope you will treat it well."
Seeing the dragon blood reminded him of someone, Hagrid handed John a bottle of dragon blood.
"I promise," John said as he took it. The dragon blood was still warm.
'I think it should be the characteristics of dragons. Even with such a palm-sized bottle, Hagrid really had the heart to do it.'
Seeing Norbert so lively, it appeared that this bottle of blood wasn't difficult for him to obtain.
After parting with Hagrid, John went to the Room of Requirement for some testing.
Combining the dragon blood with the blast-ended skrewt, he successfully inscribed the first rune.
Touching the amulet that was successfully enchanted, John was a little excited.
After so many days of anxiety, he finally got some reward.
As for the plan to send Norbert away that night, John chose not to participate. After all, he had an agreement with Malfoy and didn't want to make things difficult for himself.
...
Gryffindor students woke up early in the morning just to find that their points hourglass had lost 150 points, leaving them completely stunned, as they had been hopeful of defeating Slytherin.
Upon investigation, they discovered that their savior, Harry Potter, along with Hermione and Neville, had been caught wandering the school at night.
This instantly turned the three from heroes to the most disliked individuals.
On the other hand, Mr. Malfoy, who had also caused his house to lose 20 points, received entirely different treatment. His feat of trading a small loss for a big gain successfully thwarted Gryffindor's chance for a comeback.
"Harry Potter, our hero, Slytherin will be grateful for your help," Malfoy led the team to taunt, making Harry clench his pen, wishing he could punch that smug face.
John felt that it was best to avoid such blatant provocations. While Hermione and the others were also penalized, Harry bore the brunt of the backlash due to his fame.
John could only say that fame is a double-edged sword; it brings convenience but also high expectations.
The sight of the savior being bested by Slytherin students....
Clearly, Harry had not met other Gryffindor's expectations.
They could only bury themselves in their studies, hoping to forget the pain through learning.
...
"Damn Snape, he always meddles!" Quirrell's face was dark as he had been threatened by Snape once again.
This former Death Eater had now become an annoying thorn. With the Dark Lord weakening again, they needed another trip to the Forbidden Forest.
John was found once more.
Keeping a calm facade, he hid the amulet under his sleeve, his expression conflicted as if considering whether to continue learning from Quirrell.
Seeing John's hesitation, Quirrell grew impatient.
"Perhaps he needs to kill a pure life to truly become a Death Eater."
Using the Imperius Curse to control John, Quirrell intended to make him kill a unicorn this time.
He led John towards the Forbidden Forest.
Quirrell did not notice the gleam in John's eyes. John subtly made a hand signal as they passed through a corridor.
A hidden bird and a dog in the corridor each headed off in different directions.
'Want to control me? Let's see how many lives you have!' John was not one to be easily manipulated. While he couldn't end Voldemort's life, he could certainly cause him trouble.
The death of a unicorn would surely catch the professors' attention. Whether Quirrell would meet his end early was another question.
With a cold glint in his eyes, a brief smile flickered across John's face before disappearing.
...
In the Forbidden Forest, poor Harry, Hermione, and Neville were being punished by patrolling the forest.
Even Draco, who had initially been full of bravado, was now pale.
He didn't want to end up dead in the Forbidden Forest, and he was certain Hagrid held a grudge against him for reporting the fire-breathing dragon.
Draco even suspected Hagrid might take the opportunity to feed him to the werewolves.
In reality, he wasn't entirely wrong. Hagrid had little patience for the boy who had reported him.
"Going in there is for servants, not students!" Draco protested loudly.
Hagrid retorted irritably, "That's how it is at Hogwarts. You have to do something useful, or you'll get kicked out!"
Afterward, Hagrid looked at the other three nervous kids and whispered, "The Forbidden Forest is very dangerous. You need to be careful. John isn't feeling well today; otherwise, you might feel less anxious with a friend here."
"John is sick?" Hermione asked, concerned about her friend.
Hagrid pondered for a moment before replying, "I don't know for sure. Maybe he got hurt while experimenting with alchemy."
Hagrid's words were reassuring, but his eyes glanced over at Fang. Fang was chewing on some dog food, which someone must have just given him.
Hagrid led the four students to patrol the Forbidden Forest. At the edge of the forest, they discovered unicorn blood.
"This is the third one," Hagrid said heavily, reflecting on the discovery of a new dead unicorn last week.
To cover more ground, they split into two teams. Draco, still convinced that Hagrid was out to get him, refused to stay with Hagrid, so he and Neville were paired with Fang.
As they continued with heavy hearts, Hagrid's team hadn't gone far before they saw red sparks, a distress signal.
Upon arriving, they found it was Draco playing a prank on Neville, causing him to send up the sparks.
Fed up, Hagrid had Harry switch places with Neville. Although it was a bit unfair to Harry, this arrangement would prevent further bullying.
Harry was nervous. The Forbidden Forest at night was full of dangers.
...
John arrived at the Forbidden Forest, with Quirrell cloaking himself to stay hidden.
They were chasing a unicorn, its ethereal form continuously dodging their attacks.
"John, finish it!" Quirrell ordered.
John raised his wand and cast a spell. A burst of white light flew out but missed, hitting the ground in front of the unicorn and kicking up a cloud of dust, allowing it to escape quickly.
"Damn it, you fool!" Quirrell couldn't help but curse.
This was the fourth time. Apart from the initial weak Stupefy spell that barely affected the unicorn, all subsequent attacks had failed.
If Quirrell didn't know that John was under his Imperius Curse, he would have thought John was sabotaging him on purpose.
In truth, John was indeed trying to sabotage. He glanced at the now exhausted unicorn, feeling increasingly anxious.
"Did Basil fail to deliver the message, or did the professors not believe me?" John's heart sank, realizing the dire situation.
He had sent Basil and Tom to deliver messages to several professors, hoping they would help stop Quirrell.
But it seemed as if the messages had vanished without a trace. Seeing the unicorn getting closer, John's internal struggle intensified.
'Would I really have to kill the unicorn?'
"I'll help you!" As Quirrell struck the unicorn again, its blood began to flow.
"Now!" Quirrell's breathing became more labored. "Seize the opportunity!" He shouted.
John stepped forward at Quirrell's command, pointing his wand at the unicorn.
He saw the human-like sorrow in the unicorn's eyes and pressed his lips together.
Quirrell continued to urge him, "Hurry up, use your most familiar spell to kill it!"
Quirrell's body was incredibly weak. Without drinking the unicorn's blood, he would die, as Voldemort was continuously draining his life force.
If it weren't for wanting to recruit this young Death Eater, he would have already killed the unicorn.
John seemed to make up his mind, and flames erupted from his wand.
"Fiendfyre!"
The fire burst forth uncontrollably, igniting the surrounding grass and trees and spreading rapidly.
"Idiot!"
Quirrell hadn't expected John to be foolish enough to use Fiendfyre. In his fury, he blasted John away and rushed toward the unicorn.
The Fiendfyre ignited everything except the unicorn.
Quirrell, needing the unicorn to sustain his life, ignored everything else and moved in to drink its blood.
At that moment, a red light shot towards him, and he quickly dodged.
The professors had arrived!
_______
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