Chapter 96.The Spread of Dark Magic
Slytherin had welcomed many new students this year.
Lynn didn't recognize many, only noting Draco Malfoy, who sat somewhat restless next to the Bloody Barrow, and his two henchmen.
Other names like Pansy Parkinson sounded vaguely familiar.
The annual opening banquet was always lavish, and Lynn was eating grilled sausages while chatting with the new Slytherin prefect.
Charles Horner, who had become the male prefect of Slytherin this year, was someone Lynn had known since helping Snape with potion-making materials.
They sometimes helped each other in Snape's office, and their relationship was fairly good.
"If I borrow books from the restricted section of the library, will Professor Snape help me?" Lynn asked.
Charles hesitated for a moment before answering honestly.
"I'm not entirely sure about that either. You know, our Headmaster is a bit eccentric. If you could get his approval, maybe he'd help. But, well, nobody's ever tried that before."
After Professor Fawkes left, Lynn lost a powerful backer among the professors. Although he already had a considerable amount of information about dark magic, Hogwarts was an ancient school with a library full of imaginative ideas and theories about various forms of magic, which would greatly benefit Lynn's own learning.
So, he was thinking of immediately spending a month in solitary confinement in Snape's office every day, hoping to eventually use Snape's name to get by.
This year's freshman dinner was much livelier than usual, especially in Gryffindor, where Harry Potter was constantly surrounded by people.
Lynn glanced at Malfoy at his table, who kept glancing at Harry; the spoiled young master's face was full of jealousy and resentment.
He boasted to the Slytherin freshmen around him about how expensive his family's sterling silver cutlery was, and how Hogwarts was using cutlery donated by his father.
Unfortunately, apart from his followers, the freshmen weren't interested in his words.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, the food disappeared from their plates.
Dumbledore, as in previous years, introduced the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
"This semester, Professor Quirrell will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts."
He said the same things he always did, but then added an extra sentence at the end.
"Finally, I must tell you all, anyone who does not wish to suffer an accident and die a painful death should not enter the right-hand corridor on the fourth floor."
Some young wizards laughed, but only a few people did.
Most people understood that Dumbledore was serious.
But he deliberately didn't tell the students what was there, which made many of his students feel uneasy. Their headmaster usually explained why he forbade them to go to certain places, such as the Forbidden Forest being home to dangerous beasts—something everyone knew.
This time, however, it seemed he was deliberately keeping them in suspense, enticing the most daring to explore.
Lynn silently pursed his lips.
Dumbledore's bait was too obvious.
After the dinner, Hogwarts school life officially began.
After school started, Lynn never actively sought out Harry Potter; he was incredibly busy and simply didn't have the time.
Even while eating, he would hold a magic book, reading while stuffing beef pies into his mouth.
"What on earth are you studying all day?"
Ian and Cedric were utterly puzzled. If it were just regular second-year courses, Lynn wouldn't be studying to this extent.
Lynn put down the pure black-covered notebook he was holding, picked up a glass of pumpkin juice, and swallowed the food in his mouth.
"I can't tell you yet, but you'll find out later."
He was actually studying Professor Fox's research on the spread of dark magic.
The magical knowledge involved was quite profound, and even with his high talent, Lynn, who had only been exposed to magic for a year, still struggled to learn it due to his weak foundation.
He could only work for Snape in his office at night, finding various excuses to get him to sign the borrowing slips in the restricted section.
Although Snape would always mock him, saying things like, "Bellock, being all talk and no action isn't a good habit; this advanced knowledge will only turn your brain into mush,"
he would still sign his name on the slips while saying this.
Lynn would always listen with a grin, then sneak away a few mandrake leaves or a few ghast moth pupae before leaving.
Snape would just glare at him but wouldn't say anything.
Lynn was getting anxious.
He was trying to quickly master Professor Fox's technique for spreading dark magic so he could squeeze in time to learn other spells.
Because so much time had passed, he only had a general idea of how the original story unfolded.
He was waiting for a time, or an opportunity.
He only remembered that this opportunity was after the Halloween party, which meant he only had a little over two months to master at least two advanced dark spells, and if he was lucky, he could also add an advanced transfiguration spell—Animagus.
Regarding Animagus, on the first day of school, he had taken a mandrake from Professor Snape's office, and following the steps Kira had written for him to transmigrate into Animagus, Lynn held the leaf under his tongue on a full moon night.
This position had to be maintained for a month, and he could only continue to the next step when the next full moon arrived.
Because time was tight, Lynn used almost every spare moment to study.
After a day of exploration, he had begun to understand the notes left by Professor Fox.
The so-called "dark magic diffusion" is essentially a secondary weakening of enhanced dark magic.
It sacrifices strength to transform a single-target spell into a diffuse, area-of-effect (AoE) spell.
Take the Killing Curse as an example; its effect is certain death for those afflicted, with no way to undo it.
This is why Harry Potter is known as the Boy Who Lived—he is the only person in history to have survived the Killing Curse.
After being diffused, the Killing Curse becomes an area-of-effect spell, spreading outwards from the ground, centered on the caster, with a deadly streak extending in all directions. The distance of the spread depends on the spell's strength.
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(End of Chapter)