Go, Moony

With a light flick of the wand, the Veil before the floor-to-ceiling window automatically drew open to either side.

Moonlight poured into the room.

Lupin's eyes widened as he stared in terror at the full moon outside. "Don't do this, don't, no!"

The Old Wizard cackled. "Relax."

Before long, thick wolf fur covered Lupin's body. It was as if a restless rabbit had been stuffed into his head, constantly lunging and crashing about.

At last, it became a massive wolf's head.

Suspended halfway in the air, Lupin grew enormous. His feet braced against the floor as he struggled, making the chains rattle violently.

"What a perfect Magical Animagus." The Old Wizard marveled as though he were admiring a work of art.

"Do you know?" He turned toward Anton with the manner of a madman. His bloodshot eyes bulged with excitement. "None of them understand. This is the perfect Magical Animagus, the only magical creature in the world that humans can transform into, a terrifying war machine that can be easily replicated."

"Sectumsempra!" Spell-light flashed.

The light burst against Lupin. Several strands of wolf fur flew through the air, while the exposed skin beneath bore only a slight scrape.

"Look, look."

The Old Wizard clicked his tongue. "How perfect."

"Praise the ancient wizards!" he roared with laughter. "Praise their great achievement for creating the world's only magical creature, the Animagus."

"Praise Democritus Belby. He invented the Wolfsbane Potion and made up for the Werewolf's lack of reason."

"Praise Alex Fiennes. I will improve this magic so that people can transform into Werewolves anytime, anywhere."

Amid the Werewolf's howls, the Old Wizard shouted like a madman.

He waved his wand at Anton. "Quick, drink the Eye of the Wizard potion you prepared."

Anton fell silent for a moment, then finally lifted the vial and drained it in one gulp.

Waves of icy coldness washed through his brain. Suddenly, he blinked in confusion.

He discovered that he had gained another eye!

In his vision, the Old Wizard became a humanoid block of light, grayish-brown mixed with threads of dark green. Those dark green filaments resembled cracks. If he looked closely, he could vaguely make out three strange patterns.

They looked exactly like the runes in the pattern on his wrist!

Looking down, beneath the uneven, long-neglected wooden floorboards, strange patterns formed from grayish-brown blocks and dark green threads gleamed with the light of a magic array.

When he looked up, countless pale blue lines filled Lupin's body, surging and twisting like ocean tides.

The sensation was incredibly strange.

And every additional thing he observed made his head feel as though it were about to split apart under the weight of all that information.

The discomfort made him nauseous, and he dry-heaved repeatedly.

"Ha ha~" The Old Wizard let out a hysterical laugh. "The potion I developed is amazing, isn't it?"

"Quick, cast the Soul Transfer Curse on this Werewolf."

The Old Wizard excitedly handed the Old Wand to Anton, the fervor in his eyes scorching him.

Anton merely looked at him calmly. "Teacher, if this potion is so amazing, why don't you drink it yourself?"

From Anton's experience, asking a question when the Old Wizard was anxious either got him blasted away by a vicious curse, or made the Old Wizard answer immediately without thinking.

He bet that the Old Wizard needed him now and would not dare kill him.

"The Eye of the Wizard potion requires a very strong physique. My body is already so weak that I can barely maintain my balance." The Old Wizard looked anxiously at Anton. "My body can no longer bear even a single drop of potion."

"Quick, my precious Apprentice. Cast the Soul Transfer Curse on this Werewolf, and let us enter the final stage of this great experiment."

"Is that so?" Anton smiled faintly.

He waved his wand at Lupin. "Soul Departure!"

Spell-light flickered.

An invisible force linked him to the Werewolf.

"Yes, yes, that's it." The Old Wizard anxiously picked up a sheet of notes, upon which a strange pattern had been drawn with dark green potion.

"Quick, close your eyes. Use your Eye of the Wizard to look inside your body, then tell me what these missing lines are!"

Under the combined effects of the Soul Transfer Curse and the potion, Anton felt as though the entire world were shaking violently.

An overwhelming panic clawed at him. Lines moved madly everywhere, dazzling him until he wanted to vomit.

Perhaps his repeated experiences with the Cruciatus Curse allowed him to gradually endure it.

He stared fixedly at the surging scene within his body and finally saw them: dark green fissures, like lines, expanding and contracting strangely with the overall flow.

A miraculous and exquisite pattern.

At last, as though a tightly stretched rubber band had reached its limit, he was yanked back by a tremendous force.

He gasped, breathing hard as though he had been suffocating for a very long time.

Or rather, it really had been a long time. He stared blankly at the sunlight outside the window and at Lupin, who had returned to human form.

It was already noon, yet he felt as though only a few minutes had passed!

"Quick!" The Old Wizard anxiously placed a sheet of parchment before him. "While you still remember, help me complete the pattern!"

This parchment had clearly been recorded on many times before. The ink was different colors in several places.

Anton pressed his lips together, took the quill, and carefully filled in the missing parts.

"Ha ha, perfect, perfect!" The Old Wizard marveled at the connected strokes, then frowned at one of the lines. "No, that's wrong. Why does this connect here? What does this mean?"

Because I deliberately drew that one wrong! Anton chuckled inwardly as he watched the Old Wizard's expression.

Such an ambiguous line must be giving him a headache. He would definitely agonize over it, wouldn't he?

After two months of observation, Anton knew this Dark Wizard far too well.

He was a lunatic who would stop at nothing for magical research. When he encountered a problem he could not understand, he could even stand there blankly for an entire day.

And at such a moment—

Anton quietly picked up the vial behind him. He had deliberately placed it there after drinking the potion, specifically so the Old Wizard would not notice it.

Because—

There was still a small mouthful of potion left inside.

He watched the old man, who had fallen into a daze, head tilted back, eyes unfocused, muttering under his breath.

Heh heh.

I finally found my chance!

His body was already too frail to withstand even a drop of potion, was it?

Look, I happen to have some in my hand!

"No, no." The Old Wizard was still muttering when he suddenly felt something icy enter his mouth. "Glug glug."

Most of it spilled out as he choked, but he still swallowed quite a bit.

His eyes widened as he stared in disbelief at the vial in Anton's hand. "You!"

Anton smiled faintly. His other hand had long been raised into the air, and he suddenly grabbed the Old Wizard's wand and tore it away.

He rolled across the floor and reached the iron frame beside the Werewolf.

"No! No!" Dark green cracks appeared across the Old Wizard's body. "No!"

The cracks grew larger. A streak of light even extended straight up from beneath his collar, splitting his head in two.

And yet, he still did not die.

"You actually made me drink potion! You damned idiot! Ah~"

He let out a shrill roar, louder even than Anton's cries when he was tortured. "Give me back my wand!"

The Old Wizard waved his fingers fiercely.

A flash of spell-light shot toward him.

Damn!

Wandless Casting!

It was so fast that it was nearly impossible to dodge!

Anton staggered and fell to the ground, but his eyes lit up. "The Cruciatus Curse?"

And it was a much weaker Cruciatus Curse than usual?

He was far too familiar with that thing. Over the past two months, he had been hit by it every few days. This body was practically intimate with the sensation of the Cruciatus Curse.

Gritting his teeth, he climbed to his feet and shoved the Old Wizard's wand into Lupin's hand.

Lupin stared at the scene in shock. With a gentle wave of the wand, every chain around him fell away.

He waved the wand again and deflected the Cruciatus Curse the Old Wizard had fired.

Then he turned with a smile toward Anton, who was sitting on the floor. "My name is Lupin."