The good news was that Ali had been the first successful synthetic organism created inside this laboratory.
Which also meant she had witnessed the entire experiment that eventually resulted in Ethan's birth.
"So technically," Ethan said while browsing through the shelves nearby, "you could also call me big brother?"
[?]
Since only the whites of her eyes were visible, Ali permanently looked as though she was rolling them.
Still, because of the Unbreakable Vow, she continued explaining her origins obediently despite clearly wanting to bite him.
[I hatched from the corpse of a stillborn unicorn foal submerged in liquefied curses.]
Ethan immediately paused.
"Wait. What exactly is a liquefied curse?"
That definitely was not part of the Hogwarts curriculum.
[I never saw the process directly.] Ali lowered her head onto the floor. [But the researchers discussed it often. Third shelf. Fourth book.]
The black unicorn curled her legs beneath herself beside the fire.
Her dark mane seemed capable of swallowing the flames themselves.
Ali had spent her entire life inside that cage.
From birth, she inherited all the instinctive knowledge of unicorns. Unfortunately, because she herself had been born through curses, she could never properly use the holy magic normal unicorns possessed.
Ethan walked over to the indicated shelf and pulled free a sticky black book.
"Scourgify."
Dust and grime vanished instantly.
The title slowly appeared beneath the dirt.
Secrets of the Darkest Art.
"A handwritten copy…"
Ethan immediately understood why.
The only original copy of this infamous book belonged to Dumbledore personally.
Inside were detailed explanations regarding Horcruxes, soul division, and countless forbidden curses.
Completely useless for Ethan.
Some people spent their entire lives desperately tearing their souls apart.
Meanwhile Ethan was trying to glue his own back together.
No chance in hell was he voluntarily splitting it again.
The latter half of the book mostly focused on the research of Herpo the Foul.
One of history's most dangerous Dark wizards.
The first creator of Horcruxes.
Inventor of numerous horrifying curses.
And the original creator of the basilisk through dark magical breeding experiments.
Because Herpo had been a Parselmouth, basilisks naturally obeyed him completely.
And there—
Ethan finally found the section discussing liquefied curses.
The concept was absurd.
Multiple advanced curses were condensed together inside alchemical containers until they formed unstable magical liquid. Since high-level Dark Magic naturally possessed chaotic properties, the curses constantly devoured and corrupted one another within the mixture.
Essentially—
A magical version of poisonous insect breeding rituals.
Normal creatures died within seconds after touching the substance. Their bodies twisted uncontrollably between incompatible curse effects.
One victim's flesh expanded into swollen masses before collapsing inward into dried skeletal remains.
Another dissolved from the inside out.
A third transformed repeatedly between incompatible physical states until death finally ended the process.
Herpo apparently found all of this fascinating.
But certain "noble creatures" reacted differently.
Instead of dying, they transformed.
Phoenixes were listed first.
Unfortunately, Herpo never successfully captured one for experimentation.
Then came unicorns.
"The blood of unicorns contains the curse of rebirth," Ethan read aloud quietly. "Those who consume it survive, but their souls become permanently damaged due to violating pure life itself."
However, the holy magic within unicorn horns naturally purified curses before they could fully affect the creatures themselves.
Unless—
The unicorn died first.
According to the book, if a freshly dead unicorn foal was submerged inside liquefied curses, the body initially rotted away.
But eventually the curses themselves replaced the flesh.
A new creature emerged.
Herpo named these creatures:
Nightmares.
Apparently he believed they deserved the title far more than ordinary Thestrals.
Ethan slowly closed the book.
"What exactly were the researchers here trying to create?"
He genuinely sounded impressed.
"Did they gather every horrifying magical creature in existence and decide to combine them into the ultimate evil lifeform?"
This entire laboratory sounded insane.
Especially because these experiments occurred before Voldemort's fall.
Surely even Voldemort would hesitate before creating something impossible to control.
"Were they hoping to win some kind of Magical Guinness World Record for Most Evil Creation?"
[They rarely discussed goals directly.] Ali yawned lazily. [They focused only on experiments. Progress. Failures. Improvements.]
The yawn somehow made her slightly less terrifying.
[They also used code names for subjects instead of real species names.]
"Can't you read minds?" Ethan asked curiously.
Ali clearly possessed some kind of psychic communication ability.
After all, she could project thoughts directly into his head.
But the black unicorn shook her head slowly.
[It works more like broadcasting signals.] she explained. [I can transmit thoughts outward. I cannot read thoughts back.]
Then her gaze settled directly on Ethan.
[You hear me clearly because we share blood.]
The room suddenly became quieter.
[They created you from my blood and bones… and from several other creatures as well.]
Ali frowned slightly while recalling the old conversations.
[I remember the researchers calling you something specific.]
She paused.
[Homunculus.]
Ethan remained silent for several seconds.
Then he reopened his bag.
"There should still be experimental journals somewhere," he muttered. "Maybe records explaining what else they used to create me."
[There's no point searching.]
Ali's voice interrupted him calmly.
[The important materials were stolen years ago.]
Ethan's head snapped up immediately.
"Stolen?"
His eyes narrowed.
"By who?"
Ali thought carefully.
[I remember a short man. Slightly overweight. He used to make deals with the researchers before the explosion upstairs.]
Her white eyes shifted slightly.
[His name was… Mundungus. Mundungus Fletcher.]
"…Of course it was."
Ethan instantly remembered him.
Honestly, this revelation somehow felt both completely unexpected and perfectly reasonable at the same time.
Mundungus Fletcher stealing illegal magical artefacts from cursed ruins was perhaps the least surprising thing imaginable.
[Not long after the manor exploded,] Ali continued, [he entered this basement and stole many books, journals, alchemy tools, potions…]
Her voice grew colder.
[I hit the cage repeatedly trying to get his attention. I wanted him to free me.]
"But he ran away instead," Ethan finished.
Ali lowered her head slightly.
[He ignored me completely.]
"I think he was just terrified," Ethan corrected casually. "If it really was Mundungus…"
Recovering the stolen research now would be almost impossible.
The man had undoubtedly sold everything years ago.
Still—
Ethan was not especially upset.
He came here mostly out of curiosity anyway.
Besides, he fully intended to locate Mundungus eventually and beat him unconscious on principle alone.
No deeper reason required.
Pure malice was enough.
"Forget it," Ethan sighed.
"For now, this is already more information than I expected."
He began systematically stuffing every valuable book from the shelves into his expanded handbag. Afterward, he shrank the rune-metal cage and packed that away too.
The empty potion flasks and damaged instruments remained untouched.
Hogwarts already possessed better equipment.
Finally, Ethan turned toward the ceiling where the Count had somehow fallen asleep upside down on a railing.
"Wake up," he called. "We're leaving."
....
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