Chapter 127: Horcruxes and the Animagus

After the Christmas holiday, Malfoy was taken away by his father again — supposedly he'd broken his leg falling down the stairs at night — and the incident became the latest gossip at Hogwarts, with Malfoy being laughed at for several days.

At breakfast that morning, Harry and the others were still chatting about it, and every time it came up everyone burst out laughing.

Neville laughed along, then glanced up at the enchanted ceiling.

"The post should be here any minute. I bet Gran will send a few things I forgot to bring."

Silven had just taken a bite of toast when, sure enough, he heard a ruckus overhead — over a hundred owls swept in, dropping letters and parcels into the crowd.

A large grey parcel fell from the sky and landed with a heavy thud on the Gryffindor table, sending every plate around it flying, with milk and pumpkin juice splashing everywhere.

"What happened?" Harry asked, pumpkin juice still dripping from the half-slice of toast in his hand.

His jug had just been knocked over, and the half-full pumpkin juice inside had splashed all over him.

"Sorry — that's my parcel," Silven said, quickly lifting the thing off the table.

"Galian Ollivander…" Harry, who had been drying his hair, suddenly noticed an extra letter on his plate — and the sender's name was one he didn't recognise at all.

Wait — Ollivander…

"Silven, this one's probably for you too," Harry said, handing the letter over. "It got knocked over to me just now."

"That's right," Silven said, casually opening the letter for a glance. "It's from my father."

"What did he send you?" Ron asked curiously.

Silven opened the parcel. Inside was a very large brown flowerpot, filled with soil.

"They sent you a potted plant?" Ron stared in disbelief at the slender stem with green leaves poking out of the pot. "By owl? A potted plant?"

"Ron, this is no ordinary plant!" Hermione said.

"I don't see anything special about it," Ron said, running a hand over the leaves and sniffing the purple flower at the very top.

It looked exactly like an ordinary plant — much the same as the ones growing around the vegetable patch at the Burrow.

"It's a Mandrake," Neville suddenly said from the side.

Hermione, who had just opened her mouth, closed it again and shot Ron an exasperated look. "Sometimes I really wonder if you've ever attended a Herbology class. We covered this three months ago."

"No way," Ron said. "I remember Mandrake leaves don't look like that at all. You lot aren't fooling me."

"What Professor Sprout showed us was a young Mandrake," Neville explained. "When a Mandrake matures, its leaves get smaller and it grows purple flowers."

"Silven, is this really from your father?" His tone was full of disbelief.

This plant wasn't exactly common — and more importantly, the cry of a mature Mandrake was lethal…

More people thought of the same thing. The next second, everyone around Silven had fled, all standing at a safer distance as though afraid the Mandrake root might burst out of the soil at any moment.

"Don't be so tense," Silven said, caught between laughter and tears. "You don't think I'm going to pull it out, do you?"

Hearing that, a few people cautiously came back over.

Hermione was at the very front, but you could tell she was still a little afraid.

Even if Silven wouldn't pull it out on purpose, what if it fell on the ground and shattered…

In a sense, this plant was even more terrifying than a dragon — at least with a dragon you could try to run.

"Relax, it's really fine," Silven said, and at the same time gripped a few of the slender stems and yanked hard upward.

"Ah!" Hermione let out an involuntary scream that nearly pierced Harry's eardrums.

But after the scream she realised the Mandrake hadn't moved an inch, and even the soil in the pot was still exactly as it had been.

"The flowerpot has been enchanted," Silven explained. "The Mandrake root inside can't be pulled out, and the pot itself has a Reinforcing Charm on it — even if you threw it down from fifty feet it wouldn't shatter. Don't worry."

Only then did the crowd breathe a sigh of relief, and immediately they crowded back around Silven.

"So it really is a Mandrake…"

"The genuine article," Silven said.

"But your parents — why would they send you this?" Neville didn't quite understand.

Mandrakes were valuable, sure, but they were too dangerous for everyday cultivation — and this one was already mature.

"Oh, that? Probably because it looks nice," Silven said vaguely, brushing it off.

In fact, he wanted to begin Animagus transformation, and for that he needed fresh Mandrake leaves.

He'd originally planned to find some in the school greenhouse, but for some reason Professor Sprout had hidden all the Mandrakes away — he hadn't even found a handful of soil, let alone any leaves.

Buying them wouldn't work either. Magical Me had mentioned that for Animagus transformation, it was best to use freshly picked leaves.

And sending them from Diagon Alley would take at least half a day at the fastest.

With no other choice, Silven had written to his parents, lying that he'd taken an interest in Herbology and wanted to keep a Mandrake to observe up close every day.

His parents were both wizards who studied magical plants, so getting hold of a Mandrake was ridiculously easy for them.

Although they hadn't suspected Silven's excuse, they'd still taken the necessary precautions and enchanted the flowerpot.

Not only could the Mandrake not be pulled out, the pot itself was sturdy enough that under normal circumstances it simply couldn't be damaged — unless one used an extremely powerful spell.

All of this was written in the letter.

As far as Galian and Lila were concerned, this was already perfectly safe.

Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine that Silven wanted to learn Animagus transformation — who on earth would try to learn Animagus transformation in their second year?

After breakfast, Silven carried the Mandrake back to the dormitory, casually plucked off a leaf, washed it clean, and put it in his mouth.

The first step in learning Animagus transformation: on the day of the full moon, hold a leaf in your mouth — neither swallow nor spit it out — and keep it there until the next full moon.

And as luck would have it, today was the full moon.

If it had only arrived tomorrow, he'd have had to wait a whole month before trying. At this point Silven was feeling quite relieved.

But by evening, he'd said something to Harry and accidentally chewed the leaf to bits.

A bitter, astringent taste instantly filled his mouth, and even the fried pork cutlets stopped smelling appetising.

However, Silven suddenly realised that today wasn't over yet, so this full moon should still count, right?

So once he was back in the dormitory, he swapped in a fresh leaf for himself.

fried pork cutlets

……

The next morning, Hermione looked at the listless Silven and asked, "What's wrong with you? Did you not rest well last night?"

"I rested very well." Silven sighed. That was precisely the problem… When he woke up in the morning, the moment he opened his eyes, he saw the leaf that was supposed to be in his mouth lying on the pillow.

Clearly, after falling asleep he felt uncomfortable and had unconsciously spat it out.

There was nothing to be done about it now; he could only wait for the next full moon. However, during this period Silven planned to practice more, so he didn't throw that leaf away either, and instead continued holding it in his mouth.

The feeling was truly awkward — whether eating or speaking, it was uncomfortable. Moreover, after one Transfiguration class ended, Professor McGonagall immediately noticed the problem.

Noticing that Silven's speech had become slurred, she keenly realized that Silven had already begun attempting Animagus transformation.

So after class, she kept Silven back alone and asked directly, "Where did you get the Mandrake from!"

Pomona, after being reminded by her several times, had already put the nearly mature Mandrakes into Greenhouse Nine, which was not open to students. Silven shouldn't have been able to find them.

"I — I bought it." Silven pressed his lips together, almost swallowing the leaf again.

"You —" Professor McGonagall looked at him angrily. "How dare you? You've only been reading about it for a few months and you already dare to attempt Animagus transformation. Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?"

"It's only… preparation work… Professor." Silven shook his head, spat the leaf out, and said, "I won't attempt the transformation this early. I'm just completing the necessary preparation work first."

"I've read Today's Transfiguration. It says many wizards spend a great deal of time on the first step. A wizard named Balthazar spent twenty years without succeeding."

Professor McGonagall's mouth twitched. She hadn't expected Silven to know even this.

Balthazar — an American wizard, a senior Transfiguration master, on par with her, yet incapable of Animagus transformation.

Because no matter what, he could never keep the Mandrake leaf in his mouth until the next full moon. He was stuck on the first step for twenty years.

And not only Balthazar — Dumbledore was the same.

The legendary white wizard, Albus Dumbledore, who had once served as Hogwarts' Transfiguration professor, could not perform Animagus transformation.

It sounds like a joke, but it's true — because he would always chew up the Mandrake leaf in his mouth during meals. For five years, it had always been like that.

However, this was a secret. Apart from Professor McGonagall, no one knew. Everyone simply assumed Dumbledore didn't need to learn this spell.

"I just want to complete the preparation work first," Silven said. "When the time comes to attempt it, I can proceed directly, without wasting any extra time."

"For a normal wizard… hmm, for most wizards, reaching this step actually isn't difficult," Professor McGonagall said. "Most people succeed within half a year. Why must you be in such a hurry?"

Silven merely smiled.

Previously, he truly wasn't in a hurry — until he inadvertently crafted the Horcrux Codex, along with its 【Magic Follows】 property.

As everyone knows, after Animagus transformation one cannot use a wand; even a senior Transfiguration master like Professor McGonagall cannot do so. But what if one didn't need to hold a wand?

Even if a wizard transforms into an animal, magical power cannot simply vanish into thin air, and 【Magic Follows】 can actively draw magical power from Silven.

Perhaps he could thereby become the first wizard to use a wand in animal form… If that animal were small enough in size, the enemy wouldn't even be able to fight back.

……

(End of this chapter)