The slacker professor at Hogwarts

Chapter 91 A Lonely Cry of Despair

Werewolves are absolutely a unique species in the Wizarding World.

Werewolves are included in Newt Scamander's book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them".

In fact, in the departmental divisions of the Ministry of Magic in various countries, werewolves are all under the jurisdiction of the Department of Magical Creatures Control; the only difference is that each department has different subordinate offices that are specifically responsible for this.

But here's the interesting part.

In the view of potionists and historians of magic, the problem of werewolves falls under the category of "wizard sickness," a condition known as "wolfification." The most famous result of this research is the wolfsbane potion invented by Damocles Belby.

In the realm of spells, the werewolf problem falls under the category of "wizards being cursed." There are many similar cases, such as the blood cursed orcs (Nagini), which are permanent curses that affect their bloodline and offspring, and the birth of new magical creature species due to the curse. There are actually quite a few records of this in wizarding history.

In the realm of Transfiguration, the problem of werewolves falls under the category of "magical accidents by wizards," where human transformations are completely irreversible due to unforeseen events. The most compelling evidence is that the Transfiguration reversion spell, the "Restore Human Form Charm," is effective against werewolves.

However, to black magic biologists and astronomers, werewolves are the quintessential black magic creatures.

It falls into the category of being involved in most mainstream fields, but from a very strict academic perspective, it doesn't seem to qualify as any of them.

Magic doesn't actually have such strict classifications; the various disciplines are full of blurry boundaries. But the werewolf is a unique case, capable of revealing problems from any angle.

Lockhart is currently studying werewolves from the perspective of "dark magic creature defense".

From this perspective, he simply doesn't have the ability to improve the "Restore Human Form Charm" or invent a more potent potion formula than Wolfsbane Potion.

In the eyes of experts on dark magic creatures, werewolves possess very standard characteristics of dark magic creatures.

That's the phenomenon.

Werewolves only truly exist on the night of a full moon; after that day, they disappear.

The infectiousness of the wolfsbane in the body also has such a unique characteristic: the infectiousness of werewolf wizards disappears on nights other than full moons, leaving only the characteristic that even if infected, they will only like to eat bloody food.

But that's not a big problem. Not to mention wizards, even Muggles in Europe can accept meat that's medium-rare or medium-well.

In the field of Defense Against the Dark Arts, this phenomenon of various states, such as life characteristics and contagiousness, brought about by the passage of time and changes in the cosmos are called "phase phenomena" or "phase non-existence".

The most common example of this phenomenon in the wizarding world is that castles are haunted only at midnight, and no trace can be found during the day when you try to investigate them.

This is the most difficult part of studying werewolves.

Because the lunar cycle only lasts one day a month.

However, Lockhart has now made a unique discovery—the magic of werewolf wizards is different from that of ordinary wizards. This difference is subtle, just a feeling.

Honestly, if it weren't for experiencing the process of "from nothing to something," the ever-increasing details of "feeling the chaotic nature of magic, the wand's blessing and harmony with the world, the forest's darling's enlightenment, and the amplification of telepathic communication," the unique understanding of magic by a spiritual wizard, and the analysis of the different magical states of those dozen or so powerful wizards in my mind...

With such a wealth of accumulated knowledge, he couldn't possibly perceive this subtle difference.

It was so eye-catching in Lockhart's eyes.

Unlike the harmonious state of humans and nature embodied in the 'Forest Darlings', the magical properties of the 'Werewolves' seem to carry a faint yet extremely intense wildness and restless vitality.

No, that's not right!

This is clearly too superficial.

Not in-depth enough!

If one cannot accurately grasp the essential characteristics of dark magic creatures, it will be difficult to find targeted solutions.

He quickly gathered all the information about werewolves in his mind, searching for details he had previously overlooked.

Werewolves almost exclusively target humans and pose little threat to other animals.

Werewolves can also attack and infect Muggles, but they tend to target wizards more often because of the different smell.

With no target to attack and no animals around, a werewolf will desperately attack itself.

When you transform into a werewolf, you can't think straight, but you'll remember everything afterwards.

Passion and impulse overwhelm reason, attempting to use irresistible forces to change others into their kind, leading to self-destruction without companionship.

This is-

"A lonely, desperate cry?"

Lockhart sat up abruptly, pondering the possibilities of this interpretation.

If you figure this out correctly, it would be really interesting; it's a completely different approach from the farmer in the "sack case."

The farmer hid from the world, but eventually shed the sack cover, donned a bright red robe, and blended into the world with his false identity.

Werewolves yearn to integrate into the world, wanting more people to become like them, and eventually shedding all their claws and fur to blend into the world as a "pseudonym" wizard.

This is a completely opposite line of thinking to current research on werewolves. It is generally believed that werewolves are wizards who then transform into werewolves on the night of a full moon. But what if werewolves were originally werewolves, and only disguised themselves as wizards on nights other than full moons?

The study of Defense Against the Dark Arts has never been about tracing the origins of things, but rather about exploring the phenomena.

Then we interpret the actual situation based on the phenomena, rather than explaining the actual situation.

Thinking from this perspective, the werewolves' solution seems to emerge as follows: they need to identify themselves as werewolves, and then decide to abandon their identities and completely integrate into the world as humans.

That sounds very sad.

A werewolf wandered into the human world, searching hopefully for its kind, but found nothing. It could only cruelly bite off its own nails, pluck its own fur, and break its own teeth. Even though it still looked strange, it finally gained some recognition from others.

Isn't this kind of life journey a true reflection of many people's lives?

Lockhart snorted and began searching his memory for relevant cases.

It really does.

However, it's not that certain.

That was Remus Lupin.

He met Nymphadora Tonks, fled in fear because he thought he was a werewolf, and eventually longed for the approval of others and finally integrated after hearing that their child Teddy did not show any signs of being a werewolf.

Or rather, Teddy did not inherit any werewolf characteristics, only those from his mother.

This is gratifying to many, but from the werewolf's perspective, it is undeniably a tragedy.

Because the werewolf, after disguising himself as a wizard, was ultimately not a wizard, and left nothing behind.

So, can we use this angle to solve it?

Lockhart pondered the key point carefully, frowning slightly, feeling that he probably needed to experience the werewolf's transformed state himself to understand.

Truly experience the feeling of magic boiling over.

But the night of the full moon is probably still a long way off.

The second night of the Christmas holiday, there were still more than ten days until the next full moon.

However, things changed in such an interesting and subtle way.

Lockhart soon felt a very unique restlessness, which was the emotional change caused by the automatic boiling of magic power in his body.

Or, from the perspective of black magic defense, it is a sign that magical power is beginning to distort and erode the mind.

He gulped down the black tea until he finished the whole pot, but he still felt an inexplicable thirst and restlessness.

He clearly realized something, walked to the wall opposite the fireplace, pulled back the thick, opaque curtains, looked up, and was shocked to see the moon rapidly changing from a crescent to a full moon.

This is-

The passage of time was affected by that dark magic creature phenomenon!

Lockhart suddenly realized why Hermione and the others looked a few years older—this was the process of the dark magic creature digesting them. When they all died of old age here, losing their mental and life forces, their spirits aged and vitality waned, that would be the situation where it completely devoured them.

interesting!

A slight smile played on his lips. He was just worried that you wouldn't move forward. Anything that doesn't stagnate is full of possibilities.

His mouth stretched wider and wider as a sharp pain quickly swept through his body. He felt an itching sensation all over his body, his head began to swell, and his spine was stretched and strained by a powerful force.

My fingers suddenly grew longer and thicker as if being pulled forcefully, covered in thick black wolf fur, and my fingertips began to become sharp.

Not here!

Not here!

The children are still here!

He cried out in his heart, hoping to transform in a different place, but such a transformation was completely out of control. He felt his mind was being rapidly filled with all sorts of restless emotions, making it difficult to think about anything else.

Ok.

Sorry, Draco, Ron, you might be out of the game.

He sighed, and then, taking advantage of the last sliver of his ability to think, began to carefully experience the entire transformation process.

Sure enough—this is the process by which dark magic corrupts the mind; a standard assessment of the dark magic defense domain.

This can't be wrong.

Finally, he completely lost all his cognitive abilities.

But it's not like what everyone describes, where the werewolf completely loses consciousness when he transforms. He keenly senses that his consciousness is actually completely filled with intense wildness and restlessness.

He knew that beneath the surface of wildness and restlessness lay a desperate cry for loneliness and a strong resentment at not being recognized.

He slowly turned his massive, human-sized body around and looked at the two young wizards, his wolf eyes filled with urgency.

He was eager to immediately turn these two wizards into his own kind.

I'm so lonely.

Become a werewolf and keep me company.

Once you become a werewolf, you will all understand me and agree with me, because we are the same kind of people.

Draco quickly realized something was wrong.

He could vaguely smell a distinctive animal scent, somewhat like that of a pet cat or dog. His mother disliked this smell, which prevented him from ever keeping any animals as a child.

He initially thought the firewood thrown into the fireplace was dirty, so he used fire tongs to stir it, only to find that the fire had gone out sometime earlier.

Then he saw a terrible shadow appear before him in the moonlight, its enormous body covering him and slowly moving toward the fireplace and the wall.

There's a monster!

It's getting closer!