Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 154 The True Brave

There's a Muggle proverb: "Pick up a sesame seed and lose a watermelon." Rice thinks this saying perfectly describes those who use the Philosopher's Stone to turn lead into gold.

"You can even craft magic stones, how can you still be short of money?" Rice found it unbelievable.

Skilled potion masters and apothecaries can earn money at a rate that depends solely on their conscience.

If he were truly ruthless, Rice could even sell the cure for Astoria to Mr. Henry for a thousand Galleons per injection, and Mr. Henry would have no choice but to pay up, because he was the only one in the entire wizarding world capable of curing Astoria's illness. Turning the Greengrass family's financial situation into that of the Weasleys would be no problem at all.

However, he had just witnessed the process of the stone turning into gold, which confirmed his guess. The potion had transformed the stone into gold, and now Rice suspected that the potion could also transform other things into nourishment for the soul.

Now, it's time to conduct the final experiment, something every potion master is destined to do—testing the potions.

Rice poured the potion from the cauldron in front of him into a goblet, held it in his hand and swirled it slightly, watching the blood-like liquid swirl inside.

After hesitating for two seconds, he drank the potion in one gulp.

Upon tasting it, a strong, bloody taste filled his mouth, making Rice feel as if he had actually drunk a mouthful of blood.

After swallowing the elixir of immortality, Rice felt as if his stomach was on fire. It took a few minutes for the fire to subside, and in its place came a warm current that flowed into his brain.

"It's a protection for the soul." Rice immediately understood how the Philosopher's Stone granted immortality: it formed a protective coating around the soul, preventing it from being eroded by time. As long as the soul remained youthful and untouched by the wear and tear of time, the person would not die.

The problem is that the elixir only protects the soul, not the body. Rice estimates that those who take the elixir of immortality long-term will eventually age to an alarming degree. At that point, life will be worse than death.

Rice rubbed his chin with his fingers, a thoughtful expression on his face: It seems that this method of immortality is not as good as the one he invented.

His interest in reverse-engineering the Philosopher's Stone diminished considerably. In his view, it was simply a matter of using a magic circle to transform other elements into those that nourished the soul; with some research, he could likely replicate it. If all went well, it would take a few years; if not, it might take decades or even centuries.

After cracking the secret of the Philosopher's Stone, Rice was in high spirits and even ran outside the secret room to bring some food for the Daphne sisters—the two of them were now working harder than the other, competing with each other.

Rice saw this as a good thing.

In no time, the three young wizards in the castle who had been recognized by the founder began to study diligently.

Time flies, and soon the night of the full moon will arrive.

The public outcry, which had subsided somewhat, began to boil over again. Wizards in the British magical community were eager to know whether Henry's or Lockhart's Restoration Charm was effective, and whether Lockhart was a fraud.

At this critical juncture, the Ministry of Magic was in a state of panic, like ants on a hot plate.

It's simple: they couldn't find any werewolves willing to participate in this experiment, except for that unlucky guy who had been working at the "Werewolf Support Service" set up by the Ministry of Magic.

Yes, it was an experiment intended to treat werewolves, but they couldn't recruit any werewolf volunteers.

The reason is simple: the discrimination against werewolves in the magical world is extremely severe, and almost no employer would hire a werewolf as an employee. Once a werewolf reveals their identity, they will inevitably receive a termination notice, without exception. However, due to unwritten rules, employers will not publicize the werewolf identity of a dismissed employee—this is to prevent werewolves, driven to desperation after being exposed, from infecting themselves as well; it's a tacit understanding of mutual protection.

The fired werewolf employees can still find work to make a living, and although their lives are a bit impoverished, they can still barely survive.

But the werewolf who participated in the Ministry of Magic's experiment will be different. The experiment was so popular that his werewolf identity will almost certainly spread throughout the magical world, and his future living environment will become extremely harsh.

If the experiment succeeds and he is cured, that might be fine, but if the experiment fails...

That werewolf's already mediocre life was thus destroyed.

It's important to understand that while the Ministry of Magic does offer several positions specifically for werewolves, almost all werewolves prefer to wander rather than become civil servants in the Ministry. The reason is that once employed, they will face lifelong discrimination. Werewolves who hold this position rarely live long, often outliving their wandering counterparts.

This is why the Ministry of Magic has been unable to find volunteers.

Minister Fauci had considered bringing werewolves from Azkaban prison to serve as volunteers, but the proposal was met with overwhelming opposition and protests.

There were so many opponents that Fudge was certain that if he passed the resolution in the morning, he would be kicked out of the Minister of Magic's office in the afternoon.

The reason so many people oppose this is simple: if the werewolves living in the dark corners of the magical world deserve a shred of pity, then the werewolves in Azkaban are undeniably heinous.

The werewolves imprisoned in Azkaban all had a history of intentionally harming people; they were true anti-wizarding members of society. During the First Wizarding War, a large number of werewolves joined Voldemort's ranks and infected other wizards for him, so it is conceivable how much ordinary wizards hated them.

Most Ministry of Magic employees viewed the werewolves in Azkaban as follows: Why haven't the Dementors killed them yet? Treating their werewolfism was utterly absurd to them, which was why Minister Fudge had incurred public wrath.

The lack of werewolf volunteers really worried Fudge, and he finally came up with a desperate solution: placing a missing advertisement in the newspaper.

This move was ridiculed by many. They thought it impossible to recruit anyone, and even Cornelius Fudge himself thought so. To their surprise, someone actually stepped forward.

Remus Lupin knocked on Dumbledore's office door, holding a copy of the Daily Prophet.

When Dumbledore heard that Lupin had decided to volunteer for the experiment to restore the human form charm, a look of shock flashed in Dumbledore's eyes.

"You are a true Gryffindor, but Remus, you should think carefully. You may pay a price you can never repay in this lifetime."

Despite his deep admiration, Dumbledore still tried to dissuade Lupin, knowing full well what he would face after making this move.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

First update delivered, second update coming later.

Fun illustrations for each chapter—Hermione if Harry Potter were 19th-century Russian style.

(End of this chapter)