Good news: Ari was the first synthetic lifeform synthesized in this lab, so it witnessed the entire experiment that led to Cohen's birth.
"You can call me 'big brother' too?"
Cohen asked curiously, browsing the books on the shelf.
[?]
Because it only had the whites of its eyes, Ari looked like it was constantly rolling its eyes.
Although it didn't understand, it had to finish Cohen's request—Ari continued explaining its origins.
[I hatched from a stillborn unicorn fetus soaked in a liquefaction curse.]
"Wait—what's a liquefaction curse?" Cohen asked. "Please forgive me, Hogwarts textbooks don't teach this."
[I don't know, I've never seen it—you can find it in the fourth book on the third shelf; I heard people discussing it.]
Ari bent over and lay on the ground, its jet-black mane seemingly capable of consuming even firelight.
It had spent its entire life in that cage. From birth, it possessed the inherited knowledge of unicorns, but because it was born under a curse, it couldn't unleash those holy spells.
Following Ari's directions, Cohen pulled out the sticky book.
"Ready to go."
Cohen brushed off the grime. The book's cover read "Secrets of the Darkest Art. "
It was a handwritten copy—Cohen knew why, because the original copy by author Oller Block was with Dumbledore.
It contained detailed instructions on how to make Horcruxes, but Cohen didn't need it.
Some people were desperately trying to tear their souls apart, while others were struggling to piece them back together—Cohen wasn't about to split his own soul apart again.
The latter half of the book was almost entirely the work of one person—whose name was "Helper the Despicable."
Helper was one of the most powerful and influential dark wizards known in history, the first to create Horcruxes, invent many evil curses, and even the first wizard to discover that "incubating eggs with toads could hatch basilisks"—and because he was one of the earliest Parseltongues, basilisks couldn't resist his commands.
This section contains information about the "Liquefy Curse."
It's a liquid magic formed by condensing numerous mixed curses within an alchemical vessel. Because most high-level curses possess an "uncontrollable" chaotic nature, these liquids aren't in a stable, blended state, but rather constantly intertwined and battling each other—like a cursed version of venomous insects.
Normal creatures, upon contact with this solution, will be corroded and killed within ten seconds by numerous completely different curses. The despicable Helbo once experimented with the Liquefy Curse on dozens of wizards—"They seemed to enter a chaotic, transformative state, sometimes swelling into rotting, swollen blobs of flesh, sometimes shrinking into withered, skeletal corpses…".
However, some noble life forms are not killed by this mixed curse but are reborn from it in entirely new forms.
For example, the phoenix—but Helbo never captured a phoenix, so there are no records of it.
Or, for example… the unicorn.
They are inherently highly tolerant of curses. "The blood of a unicorn carries the curse of resurrection; drinking it will grant you new life, but your soul will also be left half-dead from the slaughter of pure, fragile lives."
However, the magic on their pure unicorn horns heals the curse, so the curse in their blood doesn't affect them.
Immersing a recently deceased unicorn hatchling in liquid curse will cause it to rot, but rotting isn't the end. The liquid curse will replace its flesh and blood, giving birth to a new individual.
Helbo named it "Nightmare" because he felt it fit the definition of a "nightmare creature" better than the skeletal horse.
"What are the people in this lab trying to do? Fuse all the known, most evil creatures in the world together and create the 'most evil creature in history'?"
Cohen found it somewhat absurd, especially since this experiment was conducted before Voldemort's downfall—Voldemort certainly didn't want to create something he couldn't control, right?
"Would anyone give them a 'Guinness World Record for the Most Evil Person in History'?"
[Those people never said that; they just bury themselves in their research, occasionally exchanging information about the progress and difficulties of their experiments, and even using code names instead of race names for their test subjects.]
Ari yawned, which made her seem less creepy.
"Can't you hack into their minds?"
Cohen assumed Ari had some kind of mind-reading ability—after all, she could project her voice directly into Cohen's mind.
But Alysse shook her head.
This was probably like a radio station; it could only transmit signals, not retrieve them.
[You can hear my voice only because we're related by blood.]
[They created you with my blood and bones, and maybe some other creatures too. I remember they called you that…]
Alysse pondered.
[Homunculus]
"There should be some experimental logs or something here; we'll definitely find other components—" Cohen decided to continue searching.
[You don't need to waste your time anymore]
Alysse reminded him.
[The important, precious things have been stolen.]
"?"
Cohen asked alertly.
"Stolen? By whom?"
[I remember a short, somewhat fat man who had made deals with those researchers—wait…]
Alysse recalled the name that person had been called.
[It seems to be… Mundungus, Mundungus Fletcher.]
"…"
Cohen remembered this person.
Or rather, it was somewhat unexpected, but not entirely.
Mundungus was a seasoned thief—in the original story, he had stolen a lot of things and frequently smuggled and sold stolen goods.
There was a "Holy crap, it's you?" feeling, but if it was you, it actually made sense.
[It was shortly after the explosion up there, I remember]
Ari added.
[He came down, took a lot of books, journals, alchemy tools, potions… and left. Even though I was banging on the cage trying to get him to let me out, he just walked away without looking back, like he'd made up his mind…]
"I think he's just a coward," Cohen corrected. "If it's him…"
that would mean finding those materials would be like finding a needle in a haystack—but Cohen was looking for these things out of curiosity, so he wasn't in a hurry.
"Forget it, let's stop here for now,"
Cohen sighed.
Although that thief Mundungus had definitely sold all the loot, Cohen was going to find him and beat him up sooner or later.
No reason, just pure malice.
Cohen moved all the books on the shelf into his pocket, and then the rune metal cage—this pocket could open very wide after using the Unseen Stretching Charm.
As for the empty flasks and discarded equipment on the table, Cohen didn't take them; Hogwarts had those things.
"Earl, wake up, let's go!"
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(End of Chapter)