Hogwarts 1991

Chapter 446 Experiments
After Dumbledore finished speaking, the prison fell into an oppressive silence.

Only... Bellatrix gasped as hard as a bellows on the ground.

Both Snape and Moody stared at McGuffin with extreme fear.

They never thought that the effect of this spell would be like this.

——Change people's thinking.

This is even more threatening than [Imperial Soul Curse].

Moody swallowed, he touched the flagon, but finally did not pick it up.

The Death Eater's panting became more and more rapid, it (she) writhed its limbs on the ground, and the expression on its face became more and more painful.

"Lupine, give that guy some fresh fish..." Moody broke the silence, he shouted towards the lantern, and then asked Dumbledore, "Then, are you going to interrogate anyone else? Using this spell?"

"See if anyone else has any clues? But the McGuffin won't be needed later."

"Severus, you can use [Teritaserum]. If it doesn't work, let McGuffin use this spell." Dumbledore said calmly.

McGuffin saw outside the glass shield—'Giant' Lupine moved his eyes away and walked not far from the room.

He summoned the old house-elf again... said something, and it wasn't long before he got a basket from the... reappearing elf.

When the basket was transferred to the crystal ball cell, McGuffin knew that it was a basket of fish with a strong fishy smell.

"My—my—"

The fishy smell stimulated Bellatrix to act immediately, she (it) fell on all fours, and pounced like a beast, trying to snatch the thing from Moody.

"boom!"

Moody waved his wand expressionlessly, slammed it to the other side, and threw the fish to the beast that had completely lost its mind.

She (it) jumped up like that, lying on the ground, holding the fish meat with both hands... her mouth was split to an unbelievable degree, and then she tore at the fish meat with big mouthfuls... The minced meat and fish bones were thrown all over the ground.

McGuffin felt a little uncomfortable, but it wasn't because he sympathized with the Death Eaters, but because he remembered his current situation, which was not much better than this witch who had gone completely mad.

It is also possible that he could be reduced to such a beast.

Now the [Blood Curse] on him can still be suppressed by [Unicorn Mixture] and [Phoenix Tears]...

But it was obvious that the degree of erosion was getting closer to the critical point...everything reminded him that the curse must be lifted as soon as possible.

As for using the active [Blood Curse] and [Half Snake Transformation] to improve his strength, he doesn't even want to mention it now.

Snape watched the Death Eater turn into this appearance, frowned and asked Moody, "Didn't you take any measures...to prevent the symptoms of [Ghoulization] on her from getting worse?"

"If this goes on like this, fish meat can no longer satisfy her, and she will crave human flesh!"

Moody snorted, shifted his gaze from McGuffin to Snape's face, and said sharply, "You have to know that no one cares about a Death Eater, let alone the [(Ghoul) Wendigo] curse... This change is irreversible, just like [Luophobia]... You should know better than me, Snape!"

"Even to curb this kind of change, it will cost a lot of resources... And today you can see that the current Azkaban has no extra money to do this kind of thing... By the way, to describe it with a sentence that Fudge often says now-we can't waste taxpayers' Galleons."

"Of course, if you want to pay for it yourself for the sake of your former colleagues... anyway, I have no objection, as long as you have Fudge's consent..."

Facing Moody's bitter...and even some malicious temptations, Snape turned his attention to Dumbledore.

"Professor, we should keep Bellatrix sane... at least until we find all the [Horcruxes]."

"Well, indeed! After today is over, you can start to configure the relevant potions. I will talk to Fudge about it." Dumbledore said.

"All [Horcruxes]? Merlin! Could it be that there are more than one or two [Horcruxes]?" Moody exclaimed, looking at the three of them.

Dumbledore nodded, he looked at Bellatrix with a 'crazy look' over there thoughtfully.

"Moody, can what happened today be kept secret?"

"Er—well, okay! I'll keep it a secret, and even if Fudge asks...he won't tell, but even if he knows, that coward will just deny everything, and he doesn't want to admit the possibility of the Dark Lord coming back..."

"...Plural [horcruxes], this is a lot of fun."

Moody took out the jug and drank it in big gulps. His face was flushed, and he seemed very excited about the news he just learned.

McGuffin felt that Moody even wanted to fight 'these evils' himself.

But before Moody opened his mouth to express this meaning to Dumbledore,
just saw——

"Forget it all!"

Dumbledore pointed his wand at the Death Eater and called out the spell.

Suddenly, Bellatrix froze in place, her figure swayed, and the tight, elongated... face that looked like a house elf suddenly loosened.

A dazed, indifferent expression appeared on her face. After about a quarter of an hour, she sniffed her nose again, sniffing around in a daze... Then she saw the half-bitten fresh fish in her hand, and immediately began to bite again.

"Her situation..." Moody asked hesitantly, but McGuffin understood that Moody was questioning whether Dumbledore's memory erasure was too much.

"Just in case, just in case." Dumbledore said calmly to Moody.

"Okay, let's get out of here and see what the other Death Eaters know?" said Dumbledore.

After that, they were transferred to other prisons through the magic lantern, and interrogated the remaining Death Eaters one by one... Trevor, Dolohov...

Some of them kept their mouths stubborn; some made up things; some revealed everything they knew a little bit, and wanted to negotiate terms with Dumbledore so that they would be released...

Most of the time, though, Dumbledore's Instinct would easily know everything he wanted to know, and even if it didn't... Snape would pull out Veritaserum.

(A small bottle of clear liquid, he used this thing more than once to threaten McGuffin and Harry, which is also one of the biggest motivations for McGuffin to improve [Occlumency].)
He just opened the mouths of those Death Eaters and poured two or three drops of the potion, and most of the Death Eaters knew everything... and told them everything they knew.

Only when encountering Death Eaters who are highly skilled in [Occlumency]... diehards who are completely loyal to the Dark Lord, will McGuffin use the spell of [Soul Shifting Phantom] to get it done.

Even with Dumbledore and Moody's agreement, McGuffin tried the second half of the spell.

He drove a very simple idea deep into the Death Eater's mind.

One is very simple, Death Eaters have... very natural thoughts.

--kill.

Dolohov seemed to have only such ideas in his head-torturing Muggles, discriminating against half-blood wizards, and all kinds of killing ideas.

"I'm going to kill you, kill you!"

So, when the spell of [Moving Soul Phantom] ended, Dolokhov began to be knocked down again and again like a madman, and then got up again, just like that with bare hands, wanting to attack them without a long memory.

"Okay, Professor, if it's over... let's get out of here!"

Moody said with unusual indifference.

After receiving Dumbledore's response, he swung his wand, knocked Dolohov unconscious, and turned on the lantern, letting the light envelope everyone.

Still that strange feeling, they got out of the crystal prison like turning into smoke...

After a moment of distraction, McGuffin found that there was no longer... that blinding light, and Lupine's body (in his eyes) had returned to its original size... no longer a giant.

After returning to the office of the warden of Azkaban, which is also the main cell of the Death Eaters,

Moody, Snape finally asked about what had just happened.

"What's going on? So what's going on?"

Moody and the two of them surrounded McGuffin and asked sharply about the scene that just happened in the cell.

Why is Dolokhov going mad!

"That's not the [Imperius Curse]... I can see it! That was his original idea, how could you drive a person crazy in a short period of time?" Moody pressed the little wizard.

After seeing that scene, he was extremely wary of this little wizard.

This kind of change of mind cannot be dispelled by other magic, which is far more troublesome than the [Imperius Curse]. He now somewhat believes that this thing is inspired by the [Curse of Theseus].

"I...that was just his original thought. I just amplified the thoughts in the Death Eater's mind. I can guarantee that this curse is not as evil and powerful as you imagined." McGuffin quickly explained.

If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have implanted that idea. It would be better to implant it directly into Dolohov—Voldemort loves him the most, this idea.

As soon as McGuffin panicked, he began to think wildly.

"Don't worry, Moody," Dumbledore reassured.

"Dumbledore, he went to the same school as so many little wizards... and Harry often gets together..."

Snape implied that it was possible for the MacGuffin to modify the cognition of Harry or other young wizards and manipulate their minds.

"...Otherwise, let's just let McGuffin pass the [OWLs] and [NEWTs] certificates... just let this guy graduate early. Anyway, his strength has already surpassed most of the students. He just needs to take a little tutoring in other courses and theory." Snape made a feasible suggestion.

Moody nodded slightly, a rare agreement between him and Snape.

McGuffin glared at the two guys... If he hadn't had the [Blood Curse] on him, and that idiot [Voldemort] was chasing him, he would have stayed away from this muddy water.

"Wait! Severus!"

Dumbledore walked while talking, and he led several people to another corner of the room, where there were two tables and chairs, which were the desks of Lupine and Moody, and there were plaques with their names on them.

He flicked his wand lightly, two chairs trotted out automatically, and three other chairs were copied in front of several people.

"Sit down! After walking for so long, and interrogating those Death Eaters...you should be tired too, aren't you?"

Indeed, McGuffin felt very tired right now.

Several people complied, and after they sat on the chairs, they continued to look at the McGuffin.

Even Lupine stared at him in surprise after learning the details from Moody.

Dumbledore sat in a chair and continued the topic just now,

"Albert! Professor Snape is right. You have seen what happened just now... Abuse of this spell is extremely dangerous. I have warned you just now, but now I have to say it again. You must use it with caution, Albert!!"

"Not just with caution, Professor!" Snape interjected.

"Professor Dumbledore, I will not use this spell without your permission. Even if I use it in an emergency...I will report to you."

Seeing that it was about to turn into a rally against himself, McGuffin quickly made a promise.

And he hastily brought up the subject,

"Professor... We just got clues about [Horcrux] from Bellatrix just now, and the point is still very unclear. Is there no other way to find clues related to [Horcrux]?"

Dumbledore looked at McGuffin meaningfully, but the old bee didn't hold on to the previous topic, but instead started talking with McGuffin.

"McGuffin, wizards like Voldemort don't trust anyone."

"Judging from Mr. Lucius Malfoy's performance, he himself didn't know that the diary in his hand was the soul fragment of the Dark Lord, and it was a [Horcrux].... Otherwise, he wouldn't have the guts to throw it around,...and the information we just learned from Bellatrix also proves this point."

"I guess, Bellatrix didn't know that the thing Voldemort asked him to keep was [Horcrux]."

"And the treasure house deep underground in Gringotts she mentioned should refer to the treasure house of their family Lestrange." Dumbledore said.

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's go find that thing and destroy it." Moody yelled.

"We can't break into Gringotts just like this, those goblins will not give us the treasure house of the Lestrange family easily!" Lupine said gently.

"Potion Potion! Maybe we can pretend..."

McGuffin made a silly proposition on purpose.

"You're so clever! Who are you pretending to be? All the Lestranges are here... how do you let them escape?" Snape laughed.

"Let's not mention this. For the time being, that thing is still safe..."

"The most important thing is... We must find out how many [Horcruxes] Voldemort made?"

"Only after all [Horcruxes] are destroyed can Voldemort be permanently destroyed."

Dumbledore muttered to himself, "I personally tend to have at least three or more..."

(End of this chapter)