You Have No Choice

Magic surged within him, like a storm suddenly sweeping over a calm sea.

Anton quickly worked himself up, ready to cast a spell at any moment. He pressed his lips together, hopped down from the oak chair, and calmly watched the Goblin.

The two stared at each other for a while.

Anton's lips curled slightly. "I bring you greetings from my teacher, Alex Fiennes."

Whether the old wizard was an enemy of this Goblin or not, the Goblin had clearly linked Anton to the old wizard. Trying to explain now that he "wasn't his apprentice" would only make him look weak.

In a place like this, the weak only got a Jinx to the face.

Pedro the Goblin let out a cackling laugh and pointed a thick finger at Lupin, who was sitting in the chair beside them. "If I'm not mistaken, this man was hit with your teacher's Cruciatus Curse."

Anton watched his movements warily, wearing a polite smile while his eyes remained cold. "Perhaps he was attacked by another wizard."

"No, no, no." The Goblin wagged a finger. "Every living being has a distinctive scent. Fiennes is a master of the Cruciatus Curse, and his curse is just a little different from those cast by other wizards."

He looked at Anton teasingly. "You brought a wizard your teacher attacked all the way here to see me, little one. You're a naughty boy."

Anton pressed his lips together.

An idea came to him. His eyes filled with conflict and anguish, and he let out a sigh as he looked at Lupin. "I have no choice. He's my uncle. He's my uncle!"

His emotions welled up, and tears glistened in his eye sockets.

He was torn between an unbreakable family bond and his beloved teacher. Caught between them, the poor boy had it so hard.

So hard~~~~

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The Goblin made a sound of admiration, its meaning hard to pin down. "I like how pure you are. At least young wizards haven't all had their hearts completely blackened by terrible Dark Wizards."

The Goblin didn't notice that Mr. Rosier, standing behind him, was watching the two with shrewd eyes that seemed to see right through them. The elegant middle-aged man secretly pulled a face at Anton.

Damn it!

The sudden contrast made Anton think of Mr. Bean, and he nearly broke character and burst out laughing.

Forcing himself to stay immersed in the emotion, Anton tilted his head back to keep his tears from falling and spoke in a hoarse voice. "Mr. Pedro."

He suddenly lowered his head, his expression resolute. Staring fiercely at the Goblin like a man driven to the end of his rope, he declared, "For my uncle, I'd do anything!"

The Goblin sauntered over to Lupin and rolled his eyes. A faint blue glow appeared at his fingertip as he placed it on Lupin's head.

"This is bad."

The Goblin took an exquisite box from a nearby shelf, pulled out a cigar, and offered one to Mr. Rosier before lighting his own.

Against his thick fingers, the cigar looked like a chopstick.

He exhaled a thick cloud of smoke and slipped one hand into his suit pocket. "This is a very difficult treatment. You may have to pay a steep price."

He could heal him!

He was going to heal him!

Anton instantly relaxed, becoming more at ease. "How much?"

"Money?" Pedro the Goblin seemed to find the question especially funny. He laughed heartily, and even Rosier joined in.

Anton blinked, looking confused. "What's the problem?"

As far as he remembered, the Hogwarts school healer could treat even the most serious injuries with ease.

This guy was going to demand an exorbitant price!

Anton immediately figured it out.

He must have overdone his acting just now and made the Goblin think he had Anton over a barrel. Anton didn't have much experience with this kind of scheming. All he could do was reflect on it bit by bit and learn as he went.

The Goblin shook his head. "You see your teacher casually cast the Cruciatus Curse all the time, so you think it's nothing special?"

Anton nodded in agreement.

That wasn't mainly because the old wizard could cast the spell so casually. It was because of Anton's own experience. He had endured the Cruciatus Curse so many times, and the worst it had ever done was knock him unconscious. Once he woke up, he was as good as new.

"The Cruciatus Curse is one of the Three Unforgivable Curses. Do you understand?"

The Goblin watched Anton nod, then let out a cold laugh, revealing thick, yellowish teeth. "No, you don't!"

"There are plenty of spells more vicious than the Cruciatus Curse—more malicious, more damaging, and more powerful. In my several hundred years of life, I've seen more than enough."

"But not one of those spells is classified as an Unforgivable Curse."

Anton quickly searched his memories of the novels and videos he'd seen in his previous life. "Is it because there's no counter-curse?"

Clap!

"Correct!" Pedro the Goblin snapped his fingers.

"No counter-curse means that once you've been struck by an Unforgivable Curse, there's no way to recover through magic. In fact, there's no way to treat it at all."

He exhaled another cloud of smoke and spoke at length. "The Three Unforgivable Curses are the most evil spells ever devised by human wizards."

"They attack the soul, and there's no remedy." His eyes brimmed with scorn. "Do you know why human wizards rule this world?"

"Because they invented the Unforgivable Curses and slaughtered every intelligent being that refused to submit."

"In ancient times, Goblins excelled at crafting intricate alchemical objects. They conquered time and created the Time-Turner. They conquered space and created the Vanishing Cabinet. They mastered countless other fields."

Pedro shrugged, cigar in his mouth, looking utterly helpless.

"Then humans conquered the Goblins with the Unforgivable Curses."

"And now Goblins only know how to mint gold coins."

"The funniest part is this." Pedro sneered. "Human wizards killed off all the intelligent beings, then realized they had no enemies left. So they started slaughtering each other."

"Their magic was cut off as a result. Later wizards had to pick up wands—objects they once thought beneath them—and learn spells that had been weakened and stripped down."

"All that remained of the wisdom of ancient wizards were a few scattered words in books. Far too much magic vanished into the river of history."

"Only the Unforgivable Curses, used to slaughter one another, were preserved intact."

Pedro spoke in a declamatory tone. "That's what the Unforgivable Curses are. They're unforgivable because they can't be cured."

"You've never been to St. Mungo's Hospital, have you? It's packed with patients injured by Unforgivable Curses, and not one of them has ever recovered enough to be discharged."

Anton understood. The Unforgivable Curses were more or less like large-caliber firearms: one shot, and you were left with a hole the size of a bowl. No matter how you treated it, you couldn't put things back the way they were.

But he simply watched the Goblin coldly as he put on his show.

When the Goblin finally finished speaking, Anton merely replied, "But you can treat him. You can just tell me what you need me to do."

He absolutely refused to fall into the Goblin's hands again, as he had with the old wizard.

If the Goblin's demands were too outrageous, he'd fire a spell at him and make a run for it.

"Simple." The Goblin snapped his fingers again. A metallic clanking suddenly came from the wall. Countless gears and mechanisms shifted rapidly, and at last, a bottle no bigger than a human pinky finger flew out.

"Put a drop in your teacher's food." He held the glass bottle between his fingers. The liquid inside looked no different from plain water.

Anton flatly refused. "No. How could I betray my teacher?"

The Goblin cackled maliciously. "You can only choose one: your teacher or your uncle. Believe me, I'm the only one in this world who can cure him."

Anton fell silent. At last, the information in his mind came together. Neville's parents had been driven insane by the Cruciatus Curse, and they were members of the Order of the Phoenix. If the school healer at Hogwarts really could have cured them, how could they have failed to do so?

He hesitated, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at the Goblin, his teeth clenched. "But my teacher is the person I love most!"

The Goblin cackled. "You have no choice."