Chapter 170: Encountering Lupin?
Waking up the next day, Dylan saw a note on the dining table.
His parents were back.
"They finally remembered to come home."
Dylan walked over, intending to read the note.
He thought it was from his parents, reminding him that breakfast was in the fridge.
But…
Son, your mom and I got back too late and didn't have time to make food. Can you make some for us and put it in the fridge? Then you can go about your business. We'll eat when we wake up.
"…?"
Dylan pouted.
He couldn't believe it!
Fortunately, without other wizards' scrutiny, his use of magic wouldn't attract any attention even though he had signed that so-called off-campus assurance.
Therefore, Dylan had already planned to get up and make some fresh food for himself.
So, he just conveniently cooked for his parents too.
In the kitchen, the fridge still had plenty of ingredients.
Dylan didn't even need to do it himself.
Yesterday, he had gained ten max-level household spells, several of which were food spells.
Using Quick Peel, Slice Charm, Heat Pot Oil Charm, and Quick Fry Charm, Dylan prepared a rather lavish meal in mere moments.
He didn't use Deep Fry Charm.
Because eating such greasy food first thing in the morning wasn't ideal.
Dylan devoured his portion in a flash.
Sitting at the table, he unhurriedly flipped his palm, producing a bottle of Obsidian Restorative Potion.
This was the highest-grade, best-quality, and most effective potion he had developed.
Pulling out the cork, Dylan dripped a few drops into the remaining, portioned meals for his parents.
Then he casually picked up a spoon, stirred a few times, allowing the restorative potion to mix thoroughly with the food.
"At their age, still staying out so late every day, it really makes one worry."
Dylan muttered as he stirred.
When it was done, he got up again to the kitchen and grabbed a roll of cling film.
He skillfully sealed the plates containing the food.
Then he opened the fridge and placed the wrapped plates inside.
He also tidied up the contents of the fridge, making it easy for his parents to see the food he had prepared as soon as they opened it.
After doing all this, Dylan casually used a Scouring Charm to clean the plates he had used and put them back in the cupboard.
Only then did he leave the house.
Dylan wanted to try out the Killing Curse's teleportation effect. After some thought, he put on the Shadow Ring before leaving the house.
Even his wand's effect was set to colorless.
Dylan raised his wand, and an invisible magical force shot out, carrying a hidden deathly howl, speeding upwards.
Just then, Dylan's mind surged with thought.
Suddenly, the magic around him fluctuated violently.
Space subtly quivered.
Dylan vanished from his original spot.
When he reappeared, he was already high in the air, behind the flying trajectory of the Killing Curse.
The fierce wind billowed his robes, making them snap loudly.
The Killing Curse continued to fly into the distance, but it was also gradually dissipating.
Before he could even steady himself, gravity took over.
Dylan began to fall rapidly.
However, he showed no panic, his gaze steady. As he fell, Dylan adjusted his posture.
His right hand gripped his wand, and he forcefully swung his arm, shooting another Killing Curse at a 45-degree angle towards the distance.
The moment the Killing Curse flew far away, Dylan's magic erupted again, and imperceptible ripples spread through the air around him.
Dylan flashed again.
He had traversed a significant distance horizontally once more.
"Hmm, it could be used for a surprise attack during a fight, but using it for travel would be foolish."
Dylan continued to fall, the wind whistling in his ears, the ground approaching at an alarming speed.
But the next instant, an invisible and transparent ripple, without warning, appeared around Dylan, enveloping him, and his descent was instantly arrested.
His rapidly falling body simply hovered steadily in mid-air, his hair fluttering wildly in the wind, his coattails still swaying due to inertia.
"But in a duel, even if I could suddenly close the distance, what then? Why would a wizard fight at close range? Unless I got the Sword of Gryffindor."
Dylan pouted.
He directly used the Flying Charm, rushing towards his manor in Herefordshire.
Of course, that manor should now be called Hawkwood Manor.
Upon arriving at the location.
Dylan observed for a moment.
His manor covered a full eighty-two acres, roughly three hundred thousand square meters.
It could be described as quite expansive.
"Now this is a manor!"
The entire county of Herefordshire has an approximate area of 538,782 acres.
His manor conveniently took up a small fraction.
Dylan hovered directly above the center of the manor.
He wasn't in a hurry to thoroughly inspect the manor's structure.
Instead, he waved his wand, intending to envelop the entire manor with the Fidelius Charm.
A skilled, mature wizard can designate themselves as the Secret-Keeper while casting the Fidelius Charm.
As long as Dylan could successfully cast the spell, he could hide secrets related to the manor's location in his own soul.
Thereby protecting the manor with the Fidelius Charm.
"Swish!"
The wand swiftly waved in Dylan's hand, invisible light bursting from its tip, unseen transparent magic surging forth, undetectable by others.
Dylan took a deep breath, his lips moving rapidly, muttering incantations, syllables enunciating from between his teeth, his wand dancing in his hand.
The calm air rippled, space became viscous, as if unseen spiderwebs pulled and twisted.
With Dylan as the center, invisible magic spread out, gradually outlining a massive and complex magic circle.
Threads of the spell permeated it, attempting to envelop the entire manor.
Though invisible to the naked eye, a palpable oppressive aura permeated the air, and the magical fluctuations caused the surrounding flowers, plants, and trees to tremble slightly.
As the incantation reached a crucial point, Dylan subtly frowned.
He felt the spell's execution was not smooth.
As expected, just as the spell was about to cover the entire manor, the invisible magic circle suddenly vibrated violently.
Pop~
A faint, almost imperceptible sound rang out.
Magic rapidly dissipated.
"Even a near max-level Fidelius Charm can't cover a manor this large?"
Dylan pouted.
It seemed that turning an eighty-two-acre manor into a secret, hidden deep within one's soul, was not an easy task.
Either Dylan would have to wait until he maxed out his proficiency in the Fidelius Charm, which might give him a chance.
Or he'd have to see if he could achieve it after he came of age, when his magic in all aspects reached a higher peak.
After some thought, although Dylan couldn't directly envelop the entire manor with a single Fidelius Charm and turn it into a secret, this didn't mean he couldn't do it in parts.
Dylan went to the villa area of the manor and pointed his wand.
Immediately, magic shot out, quickly covering the villa and the nearby Quidditch pitch.
Dylan, as the Secret-Keeper, turned this specific area into a secret, burying it within his soul.
As for the other areas, the manor itself connected to mountains and plains, and this large portion was his territory, furthermore, it had a Muggle-Repelling Charm on it.
Ordinary Muggles couldn't approach here.
And other wizards if Dylan didn't plan to do anything strange in that part of the territory
Even if wizards passed by, they wouldn't notice anything.
After all, the main area that had the potential to expose this as a wizarding manor, he had already hidden.
Other parts, for now, didn't need much attention.
He also didn't need to directly encompass an entire mountain or plain.
"When I have time, I'll go find old Dumbledore to learn some more spells, like the Anti-Apparition Charm."
In fact, Dylan hadn't even learned Apparition yet.
He hadn't found any records of this spell in any books.
It seemed that to learn it, he might only be able to learn from the professors.
However, he had already probed the professors' opinions before.
Even though his current strength was considerable, the professors were still hesitant about teaching him Apparition.
After all, the dangers of this spell meant that even adult wizards might not be able to master it.
Even a slight mistake could lead to physical disintegration.
That was a very serious consequence.
Therefore, Professor McGonagall had told him that the Apparition spell—
It certainly had to be taught.
But it had to be taught rhythmically, with foresight.
Not that they wouldn't teach it, but they would teach it slowly, gradually, with order and regulation, transitioning from high-quantity teaching to high-quality teaching, promoting developmental teaching, combining it with practical situations and long-term goals.
Teaching wasn't just teaching casually, but teaching after careful consideration, with planning and st eps, and teaching for sustainable strategic development.
Although she didn't say it exactly like that, that was roughly the gist of it.
Dylan couldn't help but marvel; Professor McGonagall also had quite the foresight.
Taking off the Shadow Ring and dispelling his invisibility, Dylan steadily walked through the mansion.
Although the goblins had the duty of managing the manor, they wouldn't clean it frequently.
After all, Gringotts managed so many properties; if they were to clean every one daily, even if they sent out all their staff, they might not finish.
So, although this mansion was luxurious, it had accumulated some dust.
There weren't many stains, though it was indeed as the old goblin had said, they had thoroughly cleaned the entire villa.
Dylan's wand gently waved in his hand, invisible magic flowing out with its trajectory.
Dylan used the Scouring Charm to peel off the thin layer of dust from the walls. In no time, both the floor tiles and walls were restored to brightness and cleanliness, shining like mirrors.
As Dylan walked, magic flowed from his body, surging everywhere, and the entire villa was thoroughly cleaned from inside out.
The once slightly old and dim house was now completely revitalized, every corner radiating freshness and brightness, gleaming under the sunlight.
"It seems there's still a difference between the max-level spells I've mastered by grinding proficiency myself and the truly max-level spells rewarded by the system. Both are 'max-level,' but the degree of 'max-level' isn't exactly the same."
For Scourgify, Dylan had already maxed out his proficiency from frequent use.
However, even so, the system still rewarded him with a max-level Scourgify.
And after claiming the reward, Dylan clearly felt that even though his proficiency was already maxed, there was still a gap from the true max level.
And his understanding of the seemingly ordinary Scourgify spell had also deepened.
This made Dylan think of another possibility.
"Could it be that 'max-level' isn't the true endpoint?"
In fact, this possibility wasn't non-existent.
After all, a spell that has reached max-level can still have characteristics added, thereby giving it new abilities.
So can it still be considered max-level then?
And even if all characteristics are maxed, is that the true max-level?
Dylan had actually pondered this question before.
When truly understood, the essence isn't complex.
Because when a spell reaches max-level, and that spell undergoes some changes, whether in effect or the spell itself it's different from before.
Then it can naturally be equated to another type of spell.
This viewpoint isn't difficult to understand.
In other words, even if he has mastered a max-level Scourgify, he can still expand upon this spell.
Whether through Spell Refinement, granting new characteristics.
Or by adding his own understanding to this spell based on his considerations, causing it to change—which is what Professor McGonagall once taught him as "secondary spell shaping."
Even tertiary, quaternary…
Then a spell that has already achieved max-level could even, after becoming a new spell, reach proficiency level one again. This is something that is likely to happen.
Dylan's mind simply pondered this for a moment before he temporarily dismissed it.
He looked at the existing murals on the manor walls, left by the previous owner.
They were just ordinary paintings, serving merely as decoration, with nothing particularly special about them.
Dylan walked through a corridor, looked back, and suddenly an idea popped into his mind.
"Why don't I also turn my manor into a Hogwarts!"
Of course of course!
By "Hogwarts," Dylan didn't mean turning his manor into a school.
Rather, he meant turning his manor into a magical manor.
Generally speaking, the portraits in Hogwarts are mostly able to move—unlike these ordinary paintings.
Furthermore, the portraits in Hogwarts can even retain the wizard's own thoughts and ideas, wisdom, and insights, allowing them to communicate and interact with people outside the portrait.
Dylan also wanted to create a few such portraits.
This kind of thing had a similar principle to Horcruxes.
But the only difference was that portraits didn't require a wizard to split their soul and certainly didn't require first sacrificing an innocent, tragically deceased soul.
To create such human portraits, a wizard only needed to use magical spells and special techniques to imbue specific memories or personality traits into the portrait, and allow the portrait to capture and store this information.
In this way, the figures or scenes in the portrait would acquire a certain spirituality and dynamic effect.
The more effort and magic a powerful wizard invested in the portrait, the more the resulting portrait would resemble the wizard themselves.
The wisdom of the characters in the portrait would also be higher.
If it were a portrait created by old Dumbledore, as long as he put in the effort, the final masterpiece would surely be like the portraits in the Hogwarts headmaster's office.
They could even use the same magic as the wizard themselves!
"I should write a letter to the professors. I hope they can make the portraits before school starts though I'm not in a hurry to put them in my manor."
After this idea occurred to Dylan, he was almost certain that this matter had to be implemented.
However, Dylan wasn't particularly anxious about when the professors would be able to create them for him.
"I hope Professor Snape doesn't add his venomous remarks when making the portrait. He can't even argue with me in person."
Dylan chuckled softly, "And if he can't win an argument in person, let alone a portrait, what if the Professor Snape in the portrait gets so angry he never shows his face? Who would I chat with then?"
Dylan hummed a tune, and on the way, he also briefly tidied up the Quidditch pitch.
Afterward, he didn't linger in the mansion but instead flew back into the air.
"This manor, hmm, there's no need to plant too much right now. It can serve as my pet space backup station."
Once the various plants and animals in the manor matured, they could be directly harvested into his pet space.
This way, he could maintain both.
No matter what, even if he spent a full million Galleons to enable the space's self-circulation, which means self-sufficiency between ecosystems, allowing the space to rapidly nurture creatures, Dylan still felt it wasn't enough.
However, limited by the space's not-yet-vast size, Dylan wasn't in a hurry to enrich the variety of creatures.
He would let everything happen gradually.
After inspecting his Hawkwood Manor.
It was still early. Dylan took a detour to a nearby safe house.
A small, dilapidated house in a purely wizarding settlement.
He once again applied the Fidelius Charm here, turning it into a secret and hiding it.
Dylan didn't even bother to tidy up and simply left.
Dylan didn't intend to live in such a place.
Therefore, there was no need to clean it, it was merely meant to serve as a safe house for Dylan to hide or transfer through in emergencies.
Having dealt with this safe house.
Dylan leisurely returned home.
It was roughly early evening.
The Hawkwood couple hadn't gone out.
Instead, they had prepared a table full of food for Dylan.
"Finally remembered I'm their son."
Dylan ate, chatted with his parents for a bit, and even gave them some wizarding trinkets.
Like Every Flavor Beans with booger and earwax flavors, and vomit flavor.
As Dylan walked to his room, just before closing the door, he finally heard his parents, who had been laughing sweetly moments before, let out a series of—
"Blech!" "Ugh~!"
The smile didn't disappear, it just transferred to Dylan's face.
He quietly closed his bedroom door.
"I hope you two enjoy those candies, Mom and Dad."
—Among them were even some bizarre sweets specifically developed by the Weasley twins.
They had specially given them to Dylan before he left school.
Dylan, of course, couldn't bring himself to eat them all alone.
Wouldn't that be a blatant act of selfishness?
As a thoughtful and kind son, of course, he had to let his parents try wizarding sweets and candies too!
This was called "sharing is caring!"
"Oh, my goodness, could there be another child in this world as filial as I am?"
"No, wait, maybe there is Hermione even treated her parents to an Obliviate Charm."
"That's also quite 'grand-filial piety,' brilliantly compensating for her Muggle parents' lack of experience with spells."
Dylan understood Hermione's thinking very well and was willing to applaud her.
Over the next few days, Dylan began to deal with the other safe houses he had "swindled" from the old goblin, one by one.
Besides applying the Fidelius Charm to these properties, Portkeys also had to be created.
However, Dylan had no intention of submitting an application for Portkey creation to the Ministry of Magic's Key Office.
Although creating Portkeys without approval was a violation, the Ministry of Magic had no effective means to detect whether unauthorized Portkeys had been made.
Just like Barty Crouch Jr.
His act of turning the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey was not detected or pursued by the Ministry of Magic beforehand.
Therefore, for privately made Portkeys to be discovered, it would either require someone to report it.
Or, there would be some issue during the use of the Portkey.
For example, Muggles being accidentally transported elsewhere, or the use of the Portkey attracting Muggle attention, thus drawing the Ministry of Magic's attention.
In such cases, the Ministry of Magic might launch an investigation.
But for Dylan, this was not a difficult problem to solve.
With a Fidelius Charm, it was already not easy to discover his safe house.
Not to mention, he would never use a Portkey in his true form.
"When I have properties on other continents, and I make Portkeys for all of them, won't I essentially have a Anywhere Door?"
Dylan successfully placed the Fidelius Charm on three of the five properties.
However, when he arrived at another property, the most dilapidated one.
Dylan was surprised to discover that there was someone else in his house!
Before entering any of his houses, Dylan would always perform divination first.
Not that he was afraid of death; it was just always good to be cautious.
He had successfully set up the spells in the previous properties.
But this time, before entering, during the divination, he saw himself entering the house and suddenly encountering someone huddled in a corner.
The two immediately started fighting.
The result, of course, was Dylan casting an Imperius Curse, successfully controlling the other person, and discovering who this wandering wizard was…
Remus Lupin, who was about to become his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in his third year!
Wearing the Shadow Ring, Dylan looked with a complex expression at the house, which was located in a secluded area.
The stone walls of the house were severely weathered, and wild grasses grew haphazardly in many of the stone cracks, swaying weakly in the wind.
The roof tiles were broken and incomplete; sunlight could even pass unhindered through those gaps, shining directly into the house.
A few windows hung crookedly on their frames, one of them reduced to a lonely half, looking somewhat like a hollow eye, gazing out at the desolation and back at him.
Dylan hesitated for a moment but decided not to disturb Professor Lupin, who, due to his werewolf identity, struggled to find paid work and was forced to wander, barely making ends meet with odd jobs.
Regardless, this guy was going to be his Defense Against the Dark Arts professor next semester.
Meaning they were bound to meet at school.
So if Dylan burst into the house now, should he just kill him or drive him out?
Should he erase the other person's memory?
Would it affect old Dumbledore's ability to find him and recruit him as a Hogwarts professor?
These were all very troublesome matters.
Dylan was someone who preferred to avoid trouble.
Instead of causing so much trouble, it would be better to just leave now. When the next holiday came, and Lupin had already become his professor and could live at Hogwarts, Dylan could then turn this property into a safe house.
It wouldn't affect anything.
"Old Dumbledore, old Dumbledore, do you know how much I've sacrificed for you to find a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor? You can just secretly be delighted!"
Dylan silently retreated.
"I wonder if there's a chance to get Professor Lupin to help me with some research."
Just as Dylan was gradually moving away, a head slowly emerged from the window, which had only half a pane left.
His hair was slightly disheveled, his eyes showed traces of long-term fatigue, and his old robe hung loosely on him.
It was Remus John Lupin.
He frowned slightly, his gaze carrying a hint of doubt, staring out the window, seemingly having sensed a slight anomaly.
However, as he looked out, all he saw was wild grass swaying in the wind and the lonely, silent wilderness.
Lupin scanned the area carefully once more. After confirming he found nothing, he slowly withdrew.
After leaving that dilapidated safe house, Dylan didn't immediately go to the last one.
Instead, he returned home.
He spent a somewhat uneventful month with his parents.
Until July 31st.
Only then did Dylan go to his last safe house.
This property of his was located in a Muggle community in Surrey, England.
The specific address was Number 9, Wisteria Walk, Little Whinging.
A place very close to Number 4, Privet Drive.
After simply setting up the safe house and applying the Fidelius Charm, Dylan clapped his hands.
"I should have made that old goblin get me another property. Then this one could be designated as Cave 7."
It was well known that the number seven was considered the most magical number.
Voldemort, by creating Horcruxes, had split his soul into seven pieces.
Even "Tom Riddle" and "Lord Voldemort" combined had seven syllables.
And in the elements of magic, many spells are composed of seven letters.
Even magical potions like Polyjuice Potion had seven ingredients.
Dylan's developed Obsidian Restorative Potion, after much selection, had a finalized, optimal formula also consisting of seven ingredients.
So, it had to be said, the number seven certainly had some significance.
If Dylan could use this safe house as Cave 7 for hiding, perhaps it could even trigger some lucky events.
"However, Harry is Voldemort's sixth Horcrux, and this is my last safe house, also Cave 6. And it's near Harry's house. In a way, it's not my arrangement, but destined to be such a coincidence."
How could this not be considered a stroke of luck?
Dylan clicked his tongue.
"Speaking of which, it's 1993 now. Next year, Nagini will also be turned into a Horcrux by Voldemort, and her whereabouts are unknown for now."
Dylan still wanted to research whether Nagini, affected by the blood curse and gradually devolving into an animal form, losing human memory and consciousness, could possibly be reverted through some means.
"But Nagini will appear in next year's plot, so I'll wait until then."
....
For 70 advanced chapters:
Get advanced chapters ahead of everyone else.
👉 Join now: patreon.com/Chaos_God