Chapter 404: Tip of the Iceberg

"If you are curious, I can explain it briefly," Snape says, switching topics with a calm demeanor. "Blood Magic means using one's own blood as a casting material to enhance the power of a spell. For us, because we have such a concrete carrier as blood, we can pose a sufficient threat to Kamen Riders. This is the logic of the entire project."

"Ah yes, you mentioned before that Rider armor can only be immune to pure magic power. If actual matter is mixed in, he cannot completely ignore it," Harry echoes thoughtfully. "So how is your progress now?"

"The amount of blood required for a single casting is too much, we are still improving it," Snape says calmly. "Because a wizard's fresh blood is inferior to a vampire's Hades Blood in effect, but the dosage must be more cautious, we are still constantly trying and exploring."

"Hades Blood?" Harry curiously grabs this term he has never heard of.

"It's the blood on a vampire's body," Snape explains. "Their blood does not flow, so it appears as a dull red-black. We just call it Hades Blood for now."

"Do vampires have blood too? Then why do they still need to suck fresh blood?" Harry only then realizes that he has never really understood vampires. All courses and books tell him that it is enough to remember that vampires fear sunlight and garlic; there is no need to care about their habits, culture, or even whether they have thoughts.

"Next time you can have a good chat with Mia," Snape glances at the clock on the wall. "But now I'm afraid I have other things to do."

Harry, kicked out of the Headmaster's office, returns to the pile of homework. He and Ron are both a bit restless, but they try hard to suppress their restless thoughts and barely finish the homework, which wasn't much to begin with.

When they finally breathe a sigh of relief, holding their books and preparing to leave the library to go to the Great Hall for dinner, coincidentally, they run into Hermione, who is rushing over, at the library entrance.

Ron freezes instantly. He stares at her deeply with an unusually complex look. This gaze is so deep that Hermione slows her pace unconsciously and finally stops in front of them.

"Ron? Do you... have something to find me for?" she asks cautiously.

"Nothing special to say to you," Ron says hesitantly. "I'm worried about other things."

"It's okay, Hermione, you go do your thing," Harry says, smoothing things over, his hand pulling Ron's clothes behind his back.

"Oh, okay," Hermione shakes her head, then walks straight into the library.

Harry can understand her; Hermione probably won't have time to consider emotional problems this year. But he doesn't quite understand Ron. Since seeing the Mirror of Erised last time, Ron's train of thought has been stuck in a dead end.

Harry finds it hard to tell him that he sought outside help, fearing it would deflate Ron. So, he remembers the conversation with Snape earlier, finds another pretext, and changes the subject: "By the way, I got some shocking news from Snape..."

Confirming that interest is flashing in Ron's eyes, Harry whispers in a low voice: "That Mia, she is a vampire, and the wine-red pupils are her true color."

"Ah!" Ron widens his eyes in surprise. "Does Snape know this? Oh right, he should know, this is probably what he told you..."

"I'm planning to find an opportunity to talk to Mia privately," Harry's eyes shift. "Maybe I can learn some information about the Moon Rider."

"Right, a vampire," Ron nods in agreement. "We really need this information."

Harry certainly doesn't expect to learn about the Moon Rider from Mia alone. He meets with Sirius again on Wednesday, because according to the reply, he has already contacted Greglio and probably obtained some information.

"In some legends, the Moon Rider is a power belonging to the vampire royal family, but the vampire royal family has disappeared," Sirius tells Harry and Lupin in a conference room in Gilneas about the information he collected. "In fact, the reason the royal family disappeared is also because most ordinary vampires were unwilling to support them. Greglio told me privately that one of his ancestors participated in the revolutionary action to overthrow the royal family, and also participated in the encirclement and suppression of the Moon Rider—"

"Wait," Harry suddenly feels something is wrong. "An ancestor? When was that?"

"Hundreds of years ago, the 1700s," Sirius says dismissively, then continues. "It is precisely because he knew the power of the Moon Rider that he was committed to finding a power capable of rivaling the Moon Rider."

"Then why did he have to be an enemy of the Moon Rider?" Lupin asks.

"Because he was hostile, even hateful, toward the royal family. One very important point is that the royal family forbade vampires from associating with human wizards. Of course, the royal family had other corrupt and degenerate aspects, and the oppression of ordinary vampires was also inexhaustible, but this point was what Greglio hated the most."

"In the early years, some ancestors of the Hill family tried to contact wizards. They naively thought that the Moon Rider was just a weapon for vampires to suppress their own people, and that this armor had no advantage in front of a wizard's magic... Of course, now it seems that even among wizards, it is very difficult for us to deal with the Moon Rider."

"Greglio believes that the current Moon Rider is likely not of the pure royal family, but a descendant of a branch. His royal bloodline should not be pure, because according to records, the Moon Rider of that year was black and red, and the armor style was much more ferocious. However, although his bloodline may not be pure enough, his thinking might be quite old-fashioned."

"Greglio guesses that the disappearance of the Moon Rider was not because it was lost with the demise of the royal family, but was sealed away by a branch family that did not agree with the royal family's philosophy. Precisely because of the special significance of the Moon Rider, for families that do not want vampires to be ruled by the royal family again, they would absolutely never use the Moon Rider belt, because once used, this power means the return of the royal family—no matter what the user's original intention is, after all, for hundreds of years, the Moon Rider has been a symbol of vampire royal power."

"And the current Moon Rider, since he chose to pick up the Moon Rider belt again, probably means he is prepared to re-establish rule as a royal family member. As for why he wants to go to Hogwarts first, Greglio has three guesses: one is that he learned from records that there is some weapon, or treasure, hidden at Hogwarts, so he must want to get it; second is that he has no confidence in suppressing all opposition forces, so he is prepared to lie low and improve his strength first, and Hogwarts not only has a large amount of wizard knowledge, but also Kamen Riders who can spar with the Moon Rider; the third possibility might be more outrageous, which is that he suspects Hogwarts has one of his enemies, and this hatred is so deep that he would rather not rush to restore the monarchy, but complete the revenge first—or it might not necessarily be an enemy, but a lover? Or some promise? In short, it is something more important than restoring the monarchy, but Greglio can only think of hatred." After saying all this, Sirius leans back in his chair, quietly waiting for Harry and Lupin to digest it all.

"Since there is a direction, we should be able to easily test the true purpose of the Moon Rider," Lupin says, rubbing his chin. "Of course, from Harry's recollection, I think the second reason is the most likely, so regarding this point, we can start preparing to set a trap..."

"I'm a bit worried," Harry doesn't agree, but shakes his head. "I don't think Greglio's statement can be fully trusted, because there is a very important doubt, which is that according to his story, the Moon Rider appeared a long time ago. But Zhang Qiu said that the Rider system was invented by her uncle. Even if she used the statement of many years ago, I think it shouldn't be hundreds of years ago... I'll go verify it first."

What makes Harry feel even more uneasy is that when Greglio proposed the third conjecture, he felt it was hinting at Mia. Everything this year makes Harry feel like he has returned to his first year. Therefore, if there is really some love-hate relationship between the current Moon Rider and Mia, then he is even more suspicious of whether this is someone's arrangement, some kind of hero role-playing game... Although Harry doesn't object, cooperating with them to train Ron is one thing, and Harry wanting to know the truth himself is another. He thinks he has this right.

With this complex mood, Harry returns to school. Zhang Qiu is also very surprised after hearing Greglio's story, and she can't wait to spread out the letter paper and start writing. This makes Harry feel a little better; at least Zhang Qiu didn't hide it from him, she doesn't know more than he does.

Not waiting until Saturday, on Friday night, when Harry is preparing to start training with the team, he sees Mia in the stands of the stadium. Rather than training restlessly, he thinks, it's better to solve the Moon Rider matter first.

"Ron, you take them to practice the formation and positioning simply, I'll go talk to Mia," Harry says.

"I'll go too, is that okay?" Ron looks even more restless.

"Then—" Harry hesitates for a moment, it seems there's no need to refuse. "Ginny, you come organize the training."

They come to the stands, and then walk with Mia to a relatively remote corner. Harry originally wanted to use Transfiguration to turn a few chairs out, but Mia sits on the grass very naturally.

"Severus told me you are very interested in Hades Blood?"

The topic she uses to break the ice will probably bore Ron to sleep, Harry thinks with some amusement. ===== CHAPTER 405 =====