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Dudley properly buried the old wizard and used alchemy to build a gravestone.
Sitzel Hamel. That was the old wizard's name.
On the way back, Dudley flipped through that notebook. What it recorded were trivial matters from after the old wizard lost his memory.
The content had no real continuity. Most of it was fragmented. Some sentences were not even coherent.
Dudley did not know whether this was because the old man had aged and his memory had declined, or whether it was an aftereffect of the Memory Charm. He personally leaned toward the latter.
Because these were the contents of the notebook's latter half.
The first half of the notebook was completely different, whether in handwriting or content.
It was the life's work of this wizard named Hamel.
Research on werewolves.
At first, Dudley had only planned to glance through it briefly, but he soon became absorbed.
There was not much content, but every bit of it was practical. There was not the slightest nonsense.
A moment later, Dudley raised his head and gazed out over the endless sea, letting out a long breath.
This old wizard was absolutely a master in werewolf research.
He had spent more than half his life on it.
If the contents were released, they would absolutely cause a sensation.
According to this old wizard's research, he had discovered that although werewolves and vampires were both Dark creatures, they were fundamentally different. Vampires changed from humans into another kind of creature. They once belonged to humanity, but now belonged to magical creatures. They were the living dead.
Once a person became a vampire, their habits changed completely. Things they once liked would become things they disliked, and things they once disliked might become things they enjoyed.
Werewolves were different. They were not a transformation of species. They were still human, except that whenever the full moon came, they were forced to become beasts called werewolves. Hamel believed this was something similar to a curse, spread through biting. The transformation on the night of the full moon was called by Hamel the outbreak of the curse.
Since it was a curse, it could be lifted. Hamel had continued researching precisely in order to lift this curse.
This was a very novel theory.
Before transforming, werewolves were still human in essence. Vampires were different. They no longer belonged to humanity at all. Although they looked very similar, they could already be called humanoid creatures like Veela.
Once a werewolf transformed, most of them would lose reason and become true beasts.
This also fully matched the definition of a curse.
Hamel's research seemed to open a door to a new world for Dudley. Many things suddenly became clear.
In order to find a method to lift this curse, Hamel had conducted much deeper research. He traveled around the world for the sake of carrying out more experiments.
The notebook recorded some of Hamel's experimental data.
Finally, when he was in his sixties, Hamel created an extremely complicated spell.
This spell specifically targeted werewolves.
One had to know, even the famous Wolfsbane Potion could only let a werewolf keep their reason. It could not turn them from a werewolf back into a human.
But the spell Hamel left behind was different.
It could actually suppress a transformed werewolf, and even temporarily restore their reason and human form.
Yes, temporarily.
Because Hamel's research had not yet been completed.
Not long after testing this spell and successfully turning a werewolf back into a human, he encountered Lockhart and told him his story.
Unfortunately, Lockhart was not interested in Hamel's research, but he was interested in his experience.
And so he stole that experience.
'If Hamel were still alive and had successfully created the complete spell, it would absolutely have been a tremendous good thing for the wizarding world, and for those wizards suffering because of werewolf identity.'
Lockhart truly had committed monstrous crimes.
Dudley carefully put away the notebook, while his dislike of his former useless professor deepened even further.
Ten books, ten wizards. Apart from the two he had found, the remaining seven were almost all dead. Even the two he had found had been living very poorly.
Because of him, the magical world had lost ten excellent wizards.
Stealing other people's memories and then ignoring whether they lived or died was not much different from those Dark wizards who slaughtered innocents.
What ten years in Azkaban? It would be best if he never got out for the rest of his life.
If Dudley had the chance, he would definitely complete this spell.
Although the unfinished spell Hamel left behind was complicated, that was relative. As a top student, Dudley learned it very quickly. Before he even reached home, he had grasped most of it.
For the rest, he needed the cooperation of a real transformed werewolf before he could know the effect.
The first thing Dudley did after returning to England was contact St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and send the two old wizards he had found there. With enough Galleons smoothing the way, Dudley directly hired the best Healers in St. Mungo's.
He had originally thought professional matters should be handled by professionals. Unexpectedly, St. Mungo's best Healers told Dudley they could only do their best, and they could not say how long it would take for the memories to recover.
Dudley asked them how confident they were.
Their answer was ten percent.
Less confident than he was.
Thinking about it, it made sense. In the original course of events, Lockhart, who had been struck by his own Memory Charm, stayed in St. Mungo's until Harry graduated and still did not recover his memory.
What ability did they have to treat these two old wizards, who had also been struck by Memory Charms?
Rather than looking for them, it was more reliable to look for Professor Snape.
Every Potions master was an excellent Healer. Of course, also an excellent poisoner.
Dudley did not have too much confidence alone, so he needed a Potions master to assist him.
Snape was the best person.
"Follow me, Hocus, Pocus. Don't get lost."
Dudley brought the two old wizards out from the St. Mungo's Healers. He planned to settle them first before going to find Snape.
Because he did not know the names of these two old wizards, Dudley gave them two temporary aliases.
As for their true names, that could wait until they recovered their memories.
Perhaps the two had been frightened by hunger, or perhaps it was something else. Although they no longer had their past memories, they listened to Dudley very obediently.
"Where is Neville?" After Dudley came out, he discovered one person was missing and asked Hermione.
Hermione hesitated for a moment, then pointed toward a corner ahead. "Neville said he had something to take care of... but I saw him go into another ward."
She asked Dudley with some worry, "Does Neville have family staying here?"
Dudley paused. He did not hide it. "Yes. Neville's parents. They are two very respectable wizards."
"Hermione and I will go over and take a look. Harry, you and Malfoy watch Hocus and Pocus. Don't let them run around."
He could also take a look at whether there was any way to deal with the Longbottoms' condition.
The skill level of St. Mungo's Healers was hardly worth mentioning.
Dudley and Hermione walked together toward the ward around the corner and slowly pushed open the door marked Ward 49 of St. Mungo's.
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