Hogwarts: From Little Wizard to White Lord

Vaughn gave each of them false memories before letting them leave.

Entering the warehouse, Vaughn turned on the light and looked at the seven remaining werewolves in the empty warehouse. He smiled and asked, "Did everyone rest well last night?"

The strong light stimulated his eyes, which had already adapted to the light. A middle-aged man dressed as a homeless man, who was closest to the door, stood up and said with a wry smile:

"Not bad, at least I'm still alive..."

Like several other people around him, he was in a very bad state.

The windbreaker, which had been worn for who knows how long and had faded and frayed edges, had more than ten patches on it, but it was still considered neat.

Ever since Vaughn had used up all of Greyback's other eight lackeys the day before yesterday, and brought the remaining seven stray werewolves here, and gave them limited freedom.

The middle-aged man began to take care of himself carefully, trying to make himself look like a human being, not an animal!

His eyes were no longer as numb as they were at the beginning.

Because, through these days of getting along, he has already understood what Vaughn is doing——

Vaughan never hid anything from them when he chatted with Snape.

He bowed his head slightly. "Greetings, Mr. Weasley."

Following William White, the other wanderers greeted Vaughan one by one, and their eyes lit up like William White's.

Vaughn observed the change in attitude of these homeless people with a smile, "Gentlemen, have you completed the forms I asked you to fill out yesterday?"

"Yes, Mr. Weasley, it's all here."

William brought a stack of forms and handed them to Vaughan with both hands.

The form wasn't complicated; it just required them to fill out their biography and personal information. Vaughn flipped through it casually and said, "Um... Mr. White, are you a Muggle?"

"Yes, five years ago, on a full-moon night, I was attacked and infected by a werewolf on my way home from get off work..." William White said, with pain appearing on his thin face.

"Well, you said on the form that you have a wife and daughter. How long has it been since you visited them?"

"Five years... ever since I transformed for the first time and nearly hurt them..."

The tired middle-aged man's thin shoulders trembled and tears shed.

Vaughn nodded and stopped exposing his scars. He began to look through other people's information, occasionally asking a question.

Soon, all seven people's forms had been reviewed.

Vaughn snapped his fingers, and a silent, wandless fire spell quickly engulfed and burned them.

He paced back and forth in front of them, and the seven people looked at him quietly, with inexplicable light flashing in their eyes.

At one point, Vaughn paused. "Gentlemen, I believe you understand what I am doing. Yes, I am trying to cure werewolves..."

Although they already knew this, these werewolf wanderers still cheered excitedly when they heard Vaughn confirm this fact.

The youngest in the crowd, a 17-year-old werewolf named Little Banar, couldn't help crying out loud.

He had no last name, because he was infected by Greyback when he was very young. The child did not understand his own abnormality and made no preparations. During his first transformation, he bit his parents to death...

The experiences of the other people were similar to that of little Banar. In comparison, William White was actually the luckiest.

After waiting for a moment, until they had vented their emotions, Vaughn continued, "...Of course, this potion, which I have named Wolfsbane Potion, is far from mature. The formula that has been determined so far can only keep you sane when you transform on a full moon night—"

"That's enough, Mr. Weasley."

William White couldn't help but interrupt, his cloudy eyes welling with tears. "We're different from those lunatics in Greyback. Afraid of losing control, afraid of hurting others, we don't dare live among people, we don't dare go near any populated areas."

"For us, as long as we can maintain our sanity, it's enough. At least we don't have to worry about seeing the blood and flesh of innocent people around us when we regain consciousness."

"You are a noble man, and you may have your own aspirations, but for people like us, being able to survive the transformation with sanity is enough."

"..."

Vaughan was speechless for a moment.

Is he noble? At least he himself does not feel that he is noble. A noble person would not develop potions for the sake of fame and fortune, nor would he perform vivisection without scruples in order to develop potions.

However, it is not to be said that he is completely selfish and has no good intentions. At least Vaughan knows that he sympathizes with these homeless people.

Although the attitude may be a bit condescending.

But it was indeed impossible for him to fully empathize with their pain.

However, this conversation gave Vaughn a deeper understanding of the despair of the werewolf wanderers. He had previously dismembered eight of Greyback's lackeys in front of them.

No matter what, it is impossible for a normal person to be called a "noble person".

But in the eyes of these wanderers, Vaughan gave them hope, so his behavior seemed to be subconsciously beautified or forgotten by them.

How desperate must one be to be so urgent!

Feeling he couldn't understand, Vaughn shook off the emotion in his head and nodded to the seven people: "In that case, would you be willing to do me a favor?"

"Please tell me."

"I'll let you go. Go find werewolf wanderers you think are worth saving. The more people, the better. It would be best if there are werewolves transformed by wizards. You can contact me that way then."

As he spoke, he took out a piece of parchment and handed it to William White.

"Have a wizard write on it with his wand, and I will see it."

William White took it with trembling hands. He asked with trepidation and anticipation, "Sir, how can I make those werewolves trust me?"

Vaughan smiled. "You'll see it in the papers after Christmas."

William White left with other werewolves, carrying a mission and hope. Vaughn went to the administrator to return the warehouse. When he walked out of the warehouse area, he saw Snape standing under a tree by the road like a ghost.

In order to restrain the experimental subjects, he had cast a spell in the warehouse before, so of course he could sense the unusual movements.

He looked in the distance at the direction the werewolves had left, frowning slightly: "What do you want to do?"

"Let them contact other werewolves, that's all."

Obviously, Snape didn't think this was "just that". He stared at Vaughan and said, "Do you know who your behavior reminds me of?"

Vaughn spread his hands: "Voldemort?"

"..." Snape took a deep breath and suppressed his inner uneasiness. "Yes, and Fu... Exactly the same as when he asked the Death Eaters to gather the pure-blood families."

"But for different reasons, Professor. I'm just in case."

"What do you mean?"

Vaughn didn't answer him directly, but instead asked, "How do you think I can ensure that werewolves will use the wolfsbane potion if I release it?"

"They can buy..." Snape suddenly choked and realized the problem.

Vaughan sighed. "Yes, Professor. They can't afford it. You've seen how these people live. They live in isolation, like savages. How can they afford to buy potions?"

Chapter 66 Christmas Gift

"And I can't be so generous as to offer to give away all the wolfsbane potions for free. I don't have that much money, nor am I that selfless."

"More importantly, even if I agree to sell the wolfsbane potion for free, no store would be willing to sell it. In that case, for every bottle sold, the store would lose money on storage and operating costs. No one would do such a stupid thing, Professor."

As a potion master, Snape had long forgotten the hardships of making money, and there were always pharmacies chasing him to stuff gold galleons into his pocket.

But that didn't mean he couldn't understand. So when Vaughn said it, he understood. Suppressing the feeling of seeing Voldemort in his heart, Snape was silent for a moment, looked at Vaughn and asked, "What are you going to do?"

Vaughan put his hands in his pockets and paced while saying:

"This kind of thing can't be solved privately. With the current number of werewolves in the magical world, even if you were included, we wouldn't be able to brew that much wolfsbane potion even if we worked ourselves to death. So I plan to make the recipe public, but there are still a lot of problems."

"First, once the formula is made public, how many pharmacists will be willing to take on the task of brewing the potion? Who will recruit them? Or can we expect them to help for free? Secondly, the huge demand for raw materials will inevitably lead to price increases and increased costs. Who will be responsible for regulating this?"

Pausing, Vaughan said calmly, "So, to solve these problems, the entire wizarding community must shoulder the responsibility together. In other words, the Ministry of Magic must be involved... and this is exactly what I'm most worried about."

"Are you afraid the Ministry won't agree?"

"No, I'm afraid they're too willing..." Vaughan shook his head. "This is a political issue, Professor. Who are the werewolves threatening? The wizards and the Statute of Secrecy, both of which are the cornerstones of the Ministry's existence. If the werewolf threat can be resolved, the Ministry of Magic will absolutely be willing to cover the cost of all the wolfsbane potions. Things that can be solved with money are, in their opinion, the easiest things."

"But then what? What do you think the Ministry of Magic will do? Spend a fortune on Galleons and send bottles of potion to werewolves every month?"

"They won't do that! If a fool like Greyback could think of forming a legion out of werewolves, wouldn't the Ministry of Magic think of that?"

"No, they will come up with more tricks. If I were Fudge, I would hold the wolfsbane potion firmly in my hand and use it as bait to lure those werewolves who long to return to normal life. I would ask them to abide by the Werewolf Registration Act, require them to take an oath, and then grant them citizenship. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

"But on the other hand, I will continue to incite ordinary wizards to reject werewolves. After all, the wolfsbane potion only keeps them sane, not cures them. They still have the ability to infect others."

"When the class division is completely complete, when all werewolves register and take the oath, and can no longer return to their previous life of hiding and wandering, they will only be able to snuggle up to Fudge, who holds the wolfsbane potion, or someone in the Ministry of Magic, and become the politicians' knives and vote banks!"

After hearing these words, sweat broke out on Snape's forehead.

Having spent half his life in school, he never imagined that a small bottle of potion would lead to such a terrible situation as Vaughn described.

Although he didn't understand politics, Snape knew that the Ministry of Magic, represented by Fudge, was definitely capable of doing such a thing.

He even thought about it a little deeper.

Who holds the power in the Ministry of Magic? Without a doubt, the pure-blood families!

If a pure-blood family were to control a werewolf, it is almost imaginable what they would do given their personalities and discrimination against Muggle wizards.

The power of a pure-blood family is not something Greyback can match!

Although Snape is a supporter of pure-bloodism, he is not a madman. He knows that if the situation develops like that, if Voldemort is resurrected... the disaster in the wizarding world will probably be more serious than the last wizard war!

At least last time, a large number of wandering werewolves and their offspring were neutral!

That’s right, the offspring of werewolves whose parents are both werewolves are born werewolves. There are several tribes in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts.

They signed a contract with Hogwarts to protect the school, and the school allowed them to live in the Forbidden Forest under the supervision of centaurs, but in recent years they have increasingly hated this life of house arrest.

There are many such tribes in the magical world.

At this moment, a cold wind blew, and Snape, who was immersed in a faint fear, suddenly woke up. He found that his back was covered with cold sweat.

He murmured, "We can't let the Ministry of Magic take the initiative..."

"That's right." Vaughn nodded. "We can't just passively wait for the Ministry of Magic to make a decision on this matter. It would be too late then. I asked them to find other werewolves so that this group could take the initiative."

Vaughan didn't say how to take the initiative, and Snape didn't ask.

The current news has already confused him enough. He suddenly missed Dumbledore. That cunning old man was only suitable for thinking about such dark and strange things.

On the way back, Vaughan looked up at the gloomy sky.

Although the dark clouds are still there, the sun will shine through one day.