Chapter 409: Queen Project

Adhering to the principle of doing what he said, Harry went to find Snape during lunch break the next day. He was indeed in the office, circling and marking on the calendar. Harry noticed that December 20th was circled with a red circle. He suspected this might be the date of this year's Christmas dance.

"What's the matter, Potter?" Snape didn't turn his head. Judging by his tone, he seemed to be in a good mood.

"I'm here for Neville's matter, Professor," Harry said. "The relic left by Dumbledore to him shows that there is something he needs to do in the Department of Mysteries. I would like to ask if you are willing—"

"I told him, no, of course it's just not recently," Snape explained patiently. "The Department of Mysteries is conducting a very important project, and it's almost at the final stage recently."

"Alright, what project is it?" Harry didn't think much, and opened his mouth following his curiosity.

"Since you asked," Snape revealed a cryptic smile, "I'll tell you... sit down, Potter, sit down."

Harry sat on the soft chair with half-belief.

"This plan was proposed by the vampire leader, Greglio Hill. He named it the Queen Project, letting a blood clan drink the blood of all magical animals, hoping this can help her cultivate powerful physical fitness, reaction ability, and spell resistance, ultimately reaching the point of rivaling Kamen Riders. The theoretical basis of the entire plan is that after vampires suck blood containing magic power, these magic powers will not dissipate, but are stored in their Hades Blood. As the concentration of magic power in Hades Blood increases, their resistance to other magic will also increase. And the characteristics contained in the blood of various magical animals themselves can play a strengthening role."

"And the reason for choosing women is because women's emotional explosive power is stronger. Magic power in Hades Blood shows very strong inertia. Without enough emotions, it is difficult to mobilize. Usually, Blood Magic practitioners are mostly women, which is also based on this reason."

"Sounds quite feasible," Harry followed this train of thought and nodded.

"But a very bad situation appeared. The volunteer, after sucking the blood of magical animals, although passively obtained magic resistance due to the increase in magic concentration, was never able to mobilize the magic power in Hades Blood to strengthen herself. Aiming at this point, technicians analyzed that it was a problem with Hades Blood itself, so they are prepared to let the subject obtain some wizard blood, hoping they can draw from it the characteristics of wizards who can mobilize magic power freely."

"Preliminary success has been achieved in oral experiments, but after reaching a certain dosage, the strengthening reached a ceiling. Greglio believes that intravenous injection should be carried out, which will be more risky, but it is also the most hopeful way to make the Queen obtain power rivaling Kamen Riders. This is what the Department of Mysteries is preparing to do: inject wizard blood into a vampire girl, and gradually increase the dosage within a few days."

"However, the activation degree of magic power has a problem of quantitative change leading to qualitative change, and it is a sudden qualitative change. According to Donna's estimation, even if the subject's initial reaction is okay, the risk of losing control will be greater as the experiment reaches the later stage. She may become an Obscurial at any time due to magic riots."

After listening to Snape's narration of the background, Harry also roughly understood what was going on when Greglio ran to test his words on Halloween. No matter how you look at it, conducting human experiments with risks is wrong. It's no wonder he wanted to trick Harry's support.

"I think you should indeed oppose this matter. Conducting human experiments without any certainty is ignoring life—"

"You got it wrong, Potter," Snape said with a calm expression. "I don't oppose this matter."

"First, the one accepting the experiment is a vampire girl. Strictly speaking, vampires do not have complete human rights as wizards; second, Greglio did not find an innocent victim. He bet his only daughter on this plan; finally, Cruz Hill herself is a volunteer. She also hopes the plan can succeed, thereby helping the vampire tribe gain more equal status in the Wizarding World."

"I am very sorry, and very reluctant, but I think there are not many reasons to stop them," Snape stared straight at Harry. "Do you want to be this reason?"

Harry hesitated, silent. He remembered what Mia had told him, that the vampire tribe had always been in a difficult situation. Any tribe that wants to win status and respect must master some kind of powerful strength—the Queen Project should also be an attempt they made for this race to truly stand in the Wizarding World, not hesitating to take some risks for it.

"If the experiment fails—" Harry asked softly.

"Basically won't. I will lead people to guard the Department of Mysteries on the day of the experiment. Even if it fails, I won't let her threaten others."

"Why do you say 'let her threaten others'?"

"Failing to stimulate magic power is also considered a successful experiment," Snape's tone was very calm. "Failure means magic power is out of control. You should know how great the harm of an Obscurial is, so once it is out of control, the only disposal method is to kill Cruz on the spot."

"That's too cruel to her!" Harry couldn't help but frown.

"She knows the situation herself, and agrees, and even her willingness is very strong," Snape shook his head slightly. "The Hill family is really hard to see through. Knowing that the success rate of the test is not high, they still chose to let Cruz be the first test subject of the Queen Project. Perhaps Greglio is harboring a gambler's mentality, wanting to let his daughter become the first Queen in one fell swoop; or perhaps Cruz intends to lead by example, even if she fails, she wants to use her corpse to pave the way for future generations? It has reached this point, and I indeed have no reason to oppose it."

"Wait," Harry suddenly had an inspiration. "Is our test a must-do? If it's just that the magic power in Hades Blood cannot be mobilized, then wouldn't it be fine to let Cruz practice Blood Magic?"

"That would just be spending a lot of costs, ultimately only increasing Cruz's number of Blood Magic castings. This is meaningless. We don't need an ordinary mage with infinite casting times, but a true, high-end combat power that can rival Kamen Riders. We didn't expect the Ravenclaw student who was infused with the ritual to fight Voldemort, right?"

"However, Professor," Harry said in a heavy tone, "you told me these things, and in your heart, you also hope I can find reasons to oppose it, right?"

"No, I am just explaining to you why Neville Longbottom cannot be allowed to enter the Department of Mysteries recently, and at the same time reminding you that I might not be at school for a long time," Snape said without a trace of emotion.

Snape chose to let it be, and another reason was that they really had no good way to deal with the Rider system that was gradually becoming popular. If Ron had become the strongest at this moment, Harry could really say "stop the plan, we have Kamen Rider Saber, that's enough." But at this moment, he knew he didn't have the qualifications to say this, didn't have the qualifications to stop their adventurous actions.

"Since she is indeed a volunteer," he found a self-comforting excuse weakly, "perhaps sometimes you have to respect other people's choices. After all, there have been many wizards who died because of magic experiments in history."

"It seems you have also made a decision, then we won't discuss this topic anymore," Snape pointed to the calendar. "The date of the test is about between the 10th and 18th, not yet determined. In short, I won't be at school during that time."

"And another thing I want to tell you is that the Magical Congress wants to further develop the exchange student program, including boarding exchanges."

"Ha?" Harry felt the topic suddenly became much easier.

"Last year's Kaslana set this precedent, and the students of Ilvermorny were all envious. They were longing and eagerly looking forward to coming to our Great Britain to learn," Snape's expression carried a hint of pride. "And with Donald's help, this year's plan is initially prepared to receive 15 to 30 exchange students. They will arrive before Christmas, then go to host families to spend the Christmas holiday, and then fully participate in our teaching activities for the second half of the semester."

"Our holiday plan is to start the holiday after the dance on the 20th, return to school on January 19th, and officially start school on the 20th. So exchange students are expected to arrive between the 15th and 18th. At that time, we can only ask McGonagall to receive them, because the matter of the Department of Mysteries is obviously more important," Snape said in a relaxed tone. "By the way, Donald is very enthusiastic about wanting to participate. With his current status and position, he will mostly serve as the person in charge of this event. From a private friendship perspective, if there are no accidents, there will be a student boarding at your house, and Ron too. You can make some preparations in advance."

"Alright," Harry shrugged. Donald having some whimsical ideas is nothing new, but he is slightly curious about whether the list will include Elena, and whether he will send new subordinates to seduce Ron. If Donald helps Ron solve emotional problems, even if it's by cheating or acting, it can at least make Ron's mindset much more stable. Even if his original intention is bad, it is definitely a good thing for the development of Rider power.

Even on the way back, Harry roughly conceived how to secretly block Donald's crooked thoughts about Hermione. Last year they relied on "Hermione likes Harry" to operate once. This year, with the Half-Blood Prince mess in front, playing this trick again might not be bad.

In the following period, Harry chose to let it be regarding Ron's behavior of finding excuses to find Hermione from time to time, and even gave a little encouragement. Although the relationship between the two didn't make much progress, this positive attitude was enough to force Donald to give more chips. ===== CHAPTER 410 =====