"?"
Having witnessed Barty Crouch Jr.'s horrific fate, Adrian turned his attention with puzzlement toward the fellow who had thrown the deadly crystal vial.
Such a powerful item, capable of reducing a human body to skeletal remains in seconds, yet instead of using it as a weapon against them, he had used it on his own people.
This seemingly irrational choice made Adrian inevitably suspect the man might be a mole, a traitor working against the Death Eaters. But soon, as he watched the Death Eater's next actions unfold, he understood the true reason behind the apparent waste of resources.
The remaining Death Eater repeated the trick, clearly following a predetermined protocol.
Two more crystal vials appeared in his hands from within his robes, and he threw them quickly. They traced perfect arcs through the air, landing precisely on his fallen companions' corpses.
With the crisp, almost musical sound of shattering crystal—
"Sizzle—"
A hair-raising corrosive sound echoed through the ruined house, the kind of sound that made skin crawl and stomachs turn. The two corpses began dissolving at a visible rate, flesh bubbling and smoking as the powerful acid consumed everything.
In just a few seconds, their flesh had turned to pungent smoke, leaving only white bones.
"Destroying evidence?" Adrian narrowed his eyes.
His wand remained aimed steadily at the last Death Eater, tracking his every movement. "Seems you're quite afraid of exposing your identities. Interesting."
The Death Eater didn't answer immediately, but his body language showed Adrian had struck close to the truth.
Then, with sudden decisive movement, he reached up and tore off his silver-white mask, revealing an unfamiliar face beneath. It was heavily scarred, with old burns marking one cheek and what looked like claw marks running across his forehead. His eyes held a frenzied gleam.
Adrian searched rapidly through his memory, flipping through mental files of known Dark wizards, Death Eaters, and criminals, but found no information matching this particular person's appearance.
"Hmm?" He turned slightly toward Dumbledore with a genuinely puzzled expression. "Who is this? Do you recognize him?"
Dumbledore shook his head slowly, his expression thoughtful. Perhaps the scarred man before them was just a nobody, someone considered expendable enough to send on a suicide mission.
Seeing their reaction, the nobody revealed a sinister smile that showed broken teeth.
"You don't recognize me, do you? Of course you don't." His voice carried an edge of dark humor. "No matter. You'll remember this moment, though."
Before his words had fully ended, his skin began to wriggle unnaturally, rippling like water disturbed by stones dropped beneath the surface. The movement spread rapidly across his visible flesh.
Adrian's instincts immediately sensed something was wrong: "Get back! Now!"
Dumbledore naturally sensed the building magical energy too.
The two wizards quickly retreated in opposite directions, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the Death Eater.
The Death Eater's body began to swell grotesquely like an overinflated balloon. Green light shone through his cracked skin like a lantern with dark glass, growing brighter with each passing second.
"Long live the Dark Lord!" He shouted with crazed devotion. "Long live Lord Voldemort! Death to his enemies!"
With a thunderous blast that shook what remained of the house's foundations, his body exploded.
But the expected spray of blood and flesh didn't appear at all. Instead, thousands upon thousands of fragments of parchment filled the air like a blizzard of paper, each piece covered in dense, cramped writing that seemed to squirm on the page.
The scene was extremely bizarre, surreal in its strangeness.
A field of ruins where a house once stood. Three sets of white bones scattered among the rubble. Parchment fragments swirling through the air like snow. And two people standing with deeply tense expressions, wands raised defensively.
Adrian reached out cautiously and caught one piece of parchment as it drifted past his face. It read:
"With the remainder of my life~~~with my final breath and dying magic~~~~I curse you~~~you shall have eternal misfortune~~~May every step bring suffering~~~~"
Suddenly, as Adrian's eyes finished reading the words, the writing began to twist and transform. The letters melted, merged, and reformed into a small black snake that seemed to rise from the flat surface of the parchment into three dimensions. The serpent viciously struck at Adrian's exposed fingertip!
"Hiss—" The snake's strike was lightning-fast.
Adrian reacted quickly, his free hand already moving in the gestures for wandless magic. He conjured flames to burn the black snake before it could fully inject whatever venom or curse it carried.
But it was already too late to prevent all damage. A wisp of black energy, barely visible, like smoke made of pure darkness had already seeped through his skin at the point of contact, burrowing into his arm.
"A curse?" Dumbledore's voice was sharp with alarm.
He strode forward quickly, his expression was unusually grave with concern. He grabbed Adrian's arm, and his grip was surprisingly strong.
He yanked up Adrian's sleeve roughly to reveal the affected area, and both stared at what they saw.
A pitch-black mark was crawling beneath the skin like something alive and malicious, visible through the flesh as though the skin had become translucent.
The mark twisted and writhed, gradually forming a ghastly skull pattern. A venomous snake coiled fluidly around the skull, its tongue flickering in and out, creating an image disturbingly similar to the Dark Mark.
"Indeed, it's a curse..." Dumbledore's voice was rarely this heavy with genuine worry. "Very ancient magic... and deeply troublesome. I've only read about this particular curse in the oldest texts."
Adrian's expression grew somber as he processed this confirmation, though part of his mind remained calm.
The moment he had been cursed, the instant that black energy had entered his system, he had instinctively activated the Tree of Wisdom, seeking information about his condition.
The response had appeared immediately in his mind:
[Status: Eternal Misfortune (Curse)]
[Classification: Life-Sacrifice Curse, Ancient Dark Magic]
[Effect: Probabilistic manipulation toward negative outcomes]
And as Dumbledore had just confirmed, this was indeed a curse exceptionally difficult to remove through conventional magical means.
Magic cast at the cost of one's life, its power and persistence were easily imaginable. Such curses were among the most potent in dark magic, requiring equivalent sacrifice to break.
Dumbledore tried various approaches, waving his wand in complex patterns and reciting several counter-curses and cleansing spells in rapid succession.
Golden light washed over Adrian's arm repeatedly, but none of the attempted remedies had any visible effect. The skull and serpent continued their writhing dance beneath his skin, seemingly mocking their efforts.
"It's far more difficult than I imagined," Dumbledore said, pausing to wipe the sweat that had formed on his forehead. "Perhaps we can find a more effective solution in Hogwarts' library. I've heard of this curse before but that was when I was still a student myself, over a century ago."
Adrian's eyes sharpened with determination as he made a decision. He aimed his own wand directly at the curse mark on his forearm, pointing the tip at his own flesh without hesitation. "Impedimenta!"
But this wasn't a standard Impediment Jinx.
Thin silver chains spurted from his wand tip. They didn't simply touch the surface but drilled directly beneath his skin, burrowing into the flesh without leaving visible wounds.
They firmly bound the ghastly skull and serpent pattern, wrapping around the curse with layer upon layer of suppressive magic. The curse mark reacted violently to this interference, struggling and thrashing against the chains like a living creature fighting a trap. But ultimately, it couldn't break free from this special restraint.
"An interesting and innovative approach," Dumbledore observed, raising one eyebrow slightly. "Applying a binding curse directly within the body…..."
"Just temporary suppression," Adrian clarified, flexing his arm experimentally to test the range of motion.
Though the curse mark was now bound, he could still feel it squirming faintly beneath the chains.
"I'll find a way to resolve it permanently later,"
After dealing with the crisis of the curse as best they could, the two surveyed the chaotic scene around them.
"What should we do now?" Adrian asked.
The living witness was dead, reduced to bones by his own allies. The already dead had been further destroyed to prevent identification. All direct leads about what Voldemort was currently plotting, what he had ordered Barty Crouch Jr. to accomplish, had been severed.
"Tom is definitely plotting something," Dumbledore said, his tone grave and thoughtful. "Something important enough that he sent Death Eaters to silence a captured follower rather than risk us learning about it. He's very afraid of us discovering his current situation and plans."
"Indeed," Adrian nodded in agreement.
But even knowing that Voldemort was up to something was ultimately useless without specifics.
As long as he kept hiding, no one could locate him. The current situation was that they were operating in the open, while Voldemort lurked comfortably in the shadows.
Dumbledore walked to Barty Crouch Jr.'s skeletal remains and sighed. "Poor soul."
Then he turned to face Adrian, and said solemnly, "It seems the Order of the Phoenix must begin operations early. Professor Westeros, until everything is settled, I hope you can watch over Harry and protect his life."
"Of course," Adrian replied without hesitation.
This needed no special reminder from Dumbledore.
Moreover, Harry now was no ordinary wizard who could be easily dealt with by common Death Eaters or dark creatures.
After the matter concluded with all the evidence they could gather, Fawkes appeared in a burst of flame. The phoenix brought Dumbledore and Adrian back to Hogwarts.
As for the ruins left behind in London, Dumbledore would personally arrange for a thorough search of the property to avoid missing any potential clues.
That afternoon, Adrian appeared in the library
Perhaps because the professors had assigned heavy amount of homework in recent days, there were quite a few students occupying the library's tables and corners.
Adrian passed through a large section of bookshelves in the main area, crossing the familiar rows with ease, and reached the deepest area of the library—the Restricted Section.
Compared to the bustling general area where students gathered around, the Restricted Section was much quieter.
However, Adrian still spotted a lone student wandering inside the forbidden area, moving between the shelves with cautious steps.
Draco Malfoy.
Malfoy was standing before a bookshelf, browsing the books there.
They appeared to be books about advanced spells and curse-work, judging by the titles Adrian could see.
Of course, any book shelved in the Restricted Section was hardly proper reading material for students.
Normal students needed a professor's permission and signature on an official form to enter the Restricted Section.
Draco Malfoy's permission had undoubtedly come from Snape.
Adrian wasn't bored enough to check others' permissions.
However, just as he passed behind Malfoy—
The book in Malfoy's hands suddenly extended two withered arms from between its pages and grabbed Malfoy's throat!
"Cough, cough!"
His eyes widened in terror, and in his panic, he broke free and threw the book upward.
Adrian reached out and caught the falling book lightly, tucking the two arms back inside.
"Mr. Malfoy," Adrian said with a slight sigh, "any book needs to be treated with appropriate care and respect. I don't suppose you want to anger Madam Pince with damaged library property, do you?"
Malfoy was still clearly in shock; his face had turned pale. His right hand moved unconsciously to his throat, as if he could still feel the terrible sensation of those withered arms choking the life from him.
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