The moment Herpo saw the heart born from the Runespoor Egg, his attention was seized. His eyelids, just like that heart, began to twitch uncontrollably.
Voldemort's attention was also on that heart. He placed it back into John's chest, then picked up the ladle in the cauldron and poured the potion from the cauldron over John's chest as if watering a seed.
The wound in John's chest healed rapidly, and his body began trembling violently, like chaff in a sieve.
As he shook, scale after scale emerged from his body, spreading across him at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even his face was not spared.
Herpo's brow knotted tightly, and his eyelids were still twitching madly. "You created a Magical creature?"
"Heh..." Voldemort let out a cold sneer, merely sweeping Herpo with the corner of his eye before shaking his head contemptuously. "No. He is a Wizard now."
"Urgh..." John woke again, and the first thing he felt was an unbearable itch covering his entire body.
He instinctively raised a hand to scratch, but his fingertips touched something cold and rigid... scales.
"No!" Terror flashed across his face, and he hurriedly lifted both hands in front of him.
He saw that his hands were covered in fine scales, and at once let out a shrill scream. "What am I... what am I..."
Voldemort had not the slightest patience to explain. He raised his Wand directly and cast the Imperius Curse on John. "Imperio!"
All the terror and struggle faded from John's face, leaving him as indifferent as a puppet on strings.
He obediently accepted the Wand Voldemort handed him and recited the incantation for the Wand-Lighting Charm in standard form. "Lumos Solem!"
The instant his words fell, a small clump of light emerged from the tip of the