Helga shook her head at his words. Her intuition told her that dragon blood probably would not be very compatible with her either.
"I'll go find some other kinds of blood that might suit me better. Do as you please."
After leaving those words behind, Helga departed from Rowena's office.
Rhys did not leave. Instead, he stayed behind and waited for Rowena to return.
There was still one very important matter he had yet to settle with her.
Ever since Dumbledore discovered the many uses of dragon blood, it had become an expensive but extremely common potion ingredient. Almost every potion shop sold it.
Rowena easily bought some dragon blood in Hogsmeade.
When she returned to her office, she found Salazar there as well. Helga, however, seemed not to have completed her task yet.
"Salazar, did you manage to get the Basilisk blood? Where's Helga?"
"Neither the Phoenix Fruit nor the Basilisk Fruit was compatible with her, so she went to find other kinds of blood."
Rhys first explained where Helga had gone, then briefly told Rowena how to use the Transformation Fruit Tree.
Following his instructions, Rowena cultivated several Dragon Fruits on the tree.
Then she began testing her compatibility with the three types of fruit.
In truth, even without testing, she already knew that the Phoenix Fruit was probably the best match for her.
"A phoenix? You? Just because phoenixes and eagles can both fly?" Rhys muttered under his breath.
He actually felt that phoenixes were rather incompatible with Rowena.
Sure enough, none of the three kinds of fruit growing on the tree were exceptionally compatible with her.
There was certainly no sign of the fruit dropping directly into her hand the moment she reached out, as had happened with Rhys.
In the end, after weighing her options, Rowena plucked a Phoenix Fruit and ate it.
The instant she swallowed it, Rowena could not help letting out a muffled groan. A fiery sore appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Clearly, she had paid a small price for forcibly consuming the Phoenix Fruit.
Without any need for an incantation or hand gestures, Rowena directly stirred the magic inside her body.
Numerous golden-red phoenix feathers grew across the surface of her body. Her arms and legs rapidly elongated, eventually transforming into two wings hanging at her sides and two slender bird claws.
Looking at the "bird-woman" in front of him, Rhys widened his eyes in surprise.
"Rowena, can you actually fly like a bird?"
"I should be able to?"
Rowena replied without much confidence.
Her lips and jaws had transformed into a beak, making her voice sound rather strange.
Compared with Rhys's transformation, which had merely added a layer of scales over his body, Rowena's changes were far more dramatic.
It was not only her appearance that had changed. Even the bones inside her body had become hollow.
Rowena cautiously spread her wings and flapped them, lifting herself several feet off the ground.
Rhys's expression immediately became extremely complicated, as though he were desperately trying to hold back laughter but was close to failing.
It was not Rhys's fault that his expression slipped.
Rowena's current appearance simply resembled the large roosters Hagrid raised far too much.
Unlike Hagrid's roosters, however, the feathers on Rowena's wings had not been clipped.
So after only a little experimentation, she quickly grasped the trick of flight and could soar through the air like a bird.
The only issue was that Rowena's phoenix form, like other large birds, needed to make use of the wind.
For other wizards who consumed a Phoenix Fruit, that would depend somewhat on luck.
For Rowena, however, it was effortless.
In fact, the first time she successfully took off, she had simply summoned a gust of wind to assist herself.
"Extremely impractical."
After circling in the air for a minute, Rowena landed back on the ground and began criticising the flashy but useless Phoenix Fruit.
"My body feels extremely fragile after transforming into a phoenix. I even need the help of the wind just to take off from the ground. And once my hands turn into wings, ordinary young wizards wouldn't even be able to cast magic... It doesn't seem very practical."
Rhys looked thoughtfully at Rowena's phoenix form.
Since he could inherit the Basilisk's deadly gaze, Rowena's phoenix form should possess some similar ability as well, shouldn't it?
"Can you squeeze out a few tears?"
Faced with Salazar's request, Rowena froze for a moment before saying that might be somewhat difficult.
"It's fine. I'll help you."
Rhys pulled an onion from somewhere and casually sliced it in half.
He waved it in front of Rowena's eyes, and her eyes immediately began watering.
"This works almost as well as a potion."
Rhys casually put the onion away, then held a crystal vial beneath Rowena's eyes and collected several drops of tears.
Rowena: "..."
She understood what Salazar was trying to do, but she was still very displeased.
This sort of role had always been Godric's!
After obtaining the counterfeit phoenix tears, Rhys first took out a small jar of potion that shimmered with blue light.
Then he cut a wound across the back of his hand.
Finally, he poured two drops of the potion into the wound.
Once the potion seeped into the injury, the pain immediately disappeared, replaced by numbness.
The numbness rapidly spread, and within only a few seconds, Rhys had completely lost sensation in the back of his hand.
Seeing that the potion had taken effect, Rhys sprinkled Rowena's tears onto the wound.
A heart-piercing pain immediately erupted from the injury, while wisps of blue smoke began rising from it.
A dozen seconds later, Rhys discovered that the poison he had administered had been suppressed.
The wound had also healed, though a faint layer of blue still lingered over the scar.
"It didn't completely remove the poison. It only suppressed it temporarily, but that's enough."
Rhys was still quite impressed with this weakened version of phoenix tears.
Without the tears, someone poisoned like this would die within minutes.
With them, however, they could buy a great deal of time.
It was enough to save a life.
So the phoenix form was actually more suited to support.
That was Rhys's conclusion.
"The effect is much weaker," Rowena said, clearly dissatisfied.
"Phoenixes can also be reborn from the flames..." Rhys's gaze slowly swept across Rowena.
"Don't even dream about it! I'm absolutely not doing that experiment!"
Rowena rejected him outright and told Salazar to abandon such unrealistic ideas immediately.
"Mm."
Rhys had only mentioned it casually anyway. He had never expected Rowena to agree.
His real purpose came next.
"Rowena, I need a partner for the Yule Ball. I've already decided. It'll be you."
Once Rowena returned to human form, Rhys spoke in a tone that brooked no argument.
Rowena: ???
"Salazar, have you lost your..."
"There are still plenty of fierce battles waiting for me inside the alchemical world. That really puts me in quite a difficult position~"
The corner of Rhys's mouth curled upward as he added the sentence.
His meaning could not have been clearer.
Rowena, you wouldn't want...
Rowena immediately fell silent.
She very much wanted to say, "If it's so difficult, then don't do it."
But the matter had to be done.
So in truth, she had no choice.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI