Ethan had already guessed it.
Harry finding the Mirror of Erised was practically guaranteed the moment Dumbledore became involved.
That old man genuinely enjoyed playing dangerous psychological games with eleven-year-olds.
"An elderly British headmaster secretly luring children into abandoned classrooms at night…" Ethan muttered under his breath. "No matter how you phrase it, it sounds incredibly suspicious."
"Huh?" Harry blinked. "What are you talking about?"
Then his expression brightened again immediately.
"But that's not important right now! Ethan—you have to listen to this—I saw my parents last night!"
Compared to Dumbledore, Ethan honestly did not feel much morally superior after killing two people yesterday.
Still—
Hearing Harry say that actually made him feel strangely relieved.
"At least somebody's family situation improved," he sighed.
"What?"
"I said continue."
Harry lowered his voice instantly despite the common room still being almost empty this early in the morning.
"I saw them in a mirror. My mum and dad."
Ethan already knew exactly what mirror Harry meant.
"Mirrors show reflections, Harry," he replied calmly. "If you suddenly look handsome in one, that doesn't mean reality changed."
[Sin Points +1]
[Note: The evil Dementor continues emotionally bullying the Saviour.]
Harry frowned immediately.
"But I've never seen my parents before. Maybe it wasn't just a reflection."
He sounded desperate to believe it.
"Maybe the mirror shows the future?"
For several seconds, Ethan remained silent.
Normally he would have shattered Harry's fantasy immediately.
But after yesterday's encounter with Herbert…
Three full seconds of emotional growth had apparently softened him slightly.
"Will you come with me tonight?" Harry asked eagerly. "Maybe you'll see Mr and Mrs Norton too…"
"Aren't you worried about getting caught?" Ethan asked knowingly. "Night wandering costs fifty points. Gryffindor barely has any left."
"Oh! I forgot to tell you!"
Harry immediately pulled something silvery from inside his robes.
An Invisibility Cloak.
The moment Ethan saw it, his envy became completely genuine.
If he possessed that cloak, stealth assassinations would become absurdly easy.
Just imagine it—
Appear silently behind someone.
Apparate directly into range.
Grab their face.
Consume their soul before they realised what happened.
Though honestly, Ethan had never actually used a Dementor's Kiss properly through mouth contact before.
That sounded revolting.
Most Dementors targeted lips instinctively.
Ethan apparently did not share that biological preference.
Probably because of all the additional experimental modifications.
"…An Invisibility Cloak," Ethan repeated softly.
"Cool, right?"
Very cool.
Potentially life-changingly cool.
"Fine," Ethan agreed eventually. "I'll come tonight."
Naturally, he mainly wanted to study the Mirror of Erised personally.
After all, if he understood the mirror properly beforehand, stealing the Philosopher's Stone later would become significantly easier.
Ideally, Harry would retrieve the Stone first before Ethan secretly intercepted it afterward.
That way:
Good ending achieved — Voldemort fails.
Evil ending achieved — Harry loses the Stone.
If both sides suffered equally, then technically nobody lost.
Clearly another major contribution toward peace in wizarding Britain.
The system should honestly award him ten thousand points for this level of balance.
Besides, Ethan had zero concern regarding Quirrell himself anymore.
Possession by Voldemort had already weakened the man's soul significantly. Ethan could probably devour Quirrell outright if necessary.
And Voldemort's Killing Curse posed little threat to him anyway.
At this stage, the only real challenge involved quietly keeping the Philosopher's Stone afterward without attracting Dumbledore's attention.
After Ethan agreed to join him, Harry visibly relaxed.
Maybe somewhere deep inside, Harry hoped Ethan seeing his parents too would somehow prove the mirror's visions could become real.
Logically, that made no sense.
Ethan's adoptive parents were perfectly alive.
But excessive hope made people irrational.
As Dumbledore himself once said:
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."
According to Ron, Harry spent the entire day wandering around distractedly without properly eating lunch or dinner.
Ethan, meanwhile, had more important things to do.
He still needed to review the books stolen from Burke Manor properly.
And investigate the abilities inherited from Ali's bloodline.
The black unicorn still slept heavily beneath the fake moon inside the Room of Requirement.
So Ethan curled himself comfortably into an armchair nearby and opened one of the older books from the collection.
The Origin of Evil Life.
Interesting title.
The book appeared heavily damaged and partially incomplete, but two sections had been specifically circled repeatedly by previous researchers.
The first concerned Dementors.
According to the text, Dementors represented one of the wizarding world's most troublesome Dark creatures precisely because they lacked proper physical existence.
They could not truly die.
Only be repelled.
Even worse, their attacks directly targeted souls and emotions, making them nearly impossible to defend against except through extremely advanced magic.
The Patronus Charm remained the most effective countermeasure.
Even most Aurors failed to produce physical Patronuses consistently.
Then Ethan noticed several handwritten notes arguing violently across the margins.
[As non-existent entities, Dementors are unsuitable as supplementary materials for the Man in the Bottle project. Recommend removal.]
That statement had been aggressively crossed out in red ink.
Apparently the researchers argued constantly rather than following one single leader.
[Rejected. Dementors should serve as the project foundation itself. Their soul-devouring properties and near-immortality are irreplaceable.]
Then the arguments became increasingly ridiculous.
Researcher 1: [Why not use both a basilisk and phoenix instead?]
Researcher 2: [The only known phoenix in Britain belongs to Dumbledore. Feel free to steal it yourself.]
Researcher 1: […You want me to fight Dumbledore personally?]
The remaining discussion devolved into nonsense afterward.
Still, the final results were clear.
Dementors became the experimental base.
Roughly sixty percent of Ethan's composition likely originated from Dementor material alone.
Humans, Nightmares, and the two remaining unknown bloodlines probably accounted for roughly ten percent each.
"…Would normal Dementors call me a mudblood?" Ethan asked suspiciously.
"And then you'd murder them for being racist," the Count replied while stealing Ethan's sweets nearby. "Nothing about you surprises me anymore."
Ignoring him, Ethan turned toward the second marked section.
Nightmares.
The same species Ali belonged to.
The book described them as Herpo the Foul's attempt at corrupting holiness itself.
Unicorns represented purity.
Nightmares represented purity dragged screaming into hell through liquid curses.
Ethan narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Something about this wording feels wrong…"
"What wording?" the Count asked instantly while scooting closer with alarming enthusiasm.
"Don't worry about it."
Ethan shoved the owl aside before continuing.
Despite the dramatic name, Nightmares actually possessed no dream-related abilities whatsoever.
The title merely reflected Herpo's terrible personality.
Aside from sharing a vaguely unicorn-like appearance, Nightmares possessed almost nothing in common with true unicorns.
No holy healing magic.
No purity.
No blessings.
Only curses.
Nightmares functioned as living curse generators.
They could launch devastating curse magic directly through their silver horns or physically inject curses into targets through direct contact.
Even their blood itself consisted of liquid curse material.
Though fortunately it evaporated rapidly outside the body.
Ethan immediately tested this theory.
Using a knife, he sliced a small cut across his palm.
Then he watched silently as his blood transformed into drifting black curse smoke before evaporating into the air.
"…Oh."
That was concerning.
Incredibly concerning.
Everyone who spent time around him over the last ten years had apparently been unbelievably lucky.
If Ethan suffered serious injuries accidentally, nearby people might genuinely die just from exposure.
[Ding! Special Ability Unlocked: Liquid Curse (1/10)]
The system notification appeared immediately afterward.
The incomplete mastery percentage implied his blood had not fully transformed yet.
Which raised an even more horrifying question.
If his blood itself carried curses…
Then what about every other bodily fluid?
Ethan slowly inhaled.
"…That's actually terrifying."
If this remained unsolved long-term, his future romantic prospects would become catastrophic.
Thankfully he was only eleven.
Plenty of time before that became a practical concern.
Still, based on the evaporation speed, weaponising his blood would require direct application onto someone's skin.
Preferably their face.
Shaking away those deeply unpleasant thoughts, Ethan continued reading.
Interestingly, Nightmares could infiltrate ordinary unicorn herds perfectly because unicorns themselves failed to recognise the curses within Nightmare blood.
Apparently unicorns were extremely tolerant creatures.
Still, Ethan had absolutely no intention of releasing Ali into the Forbidden Forest.
Maybe other unicorns could not tell the difference.
Hagrid absolutely could.
A giant black unicorn with empty white eyes looked horrifying even by magical standards.
Between the two identified bloodlines, Ethan had now confirmed several inherited abilities:
From Dementors:
Soul devouring.
Emotion absorption.
Near immortality in soul form.
From Nightmares:
Natural curse affinity.
Weaponised blood.
Extremely dangerous physical attacks.
Unfortunately, none of the remaining books mentioned Ethan's final two unknown bloodlines whatsoever.
Most focused purely on alchemical theory and magical instruments.
Which meant retrieving the original experimental reports from Mundungus Fletcher remained necessary eventually.
"…Looks like I'll need to have a proper conversation with Mundungus during the holidays."
After spending the entire day studying inside the Room of Requirement, Ethan finally returned to Gryffindor Tower that evening.
Harry already waited nervously beside the fire.
The Invisibility Cloak easily concealed both boys once night fell.
Step one of the operation succeeded perfectly.
Unfortunately—
Step two failed immediately.
Because Harry Potter had completely forgotten how to find the classroom containing the Mirror of Erised.
....
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