Anton believed that all magical theories had a basis in reality—unless they were complete nonsense.
Albus Dumbledore was the greatest wizard of the century. There was no reason for him to make things up, so Old Dumbledore's theories of magic had to correspond to something real in the world.
Even if Dumbledore was describing the countless possible states that could exist simultaneously and overlap during Transfiguration, there had to be traces of them somewhere in the Magical World.
That had always been Anton's approach to studying magic.
He started with a theoretical hypothesis, then looked for evidence to confirm whether it was correct.
And then Anton had actually found something.
A familiar creature indeed—a Dark Magic Creature called a Boggart.
"First of all, when it's not in front of anyone, nobody knows what it looks like!" Anton said excitedly, looking at everyone.
Lupin nodded. "That's right. A Boggart is like a mirror reflecting the mind of whoever encounters it. It only takes on a definite form when someone faces it."
Professor Snape wasn't about to be outdone. He showed off his knowledge of Defence Against the Dark Arts. "A Boggart that no one is directly observing resembles the 'nothingness' Professor Dumbledore described. It can't be detected by Life Detection magic."
Boggarts were an interesting kind of Dark Magic Creature. Sometimes people saw a cat chasing a mouse, when in fact the cat might have been a Boggart. The mouse had simply stumbled across it and triggered its fear.
"Next, a Boggart reflects the observer's deepest fears, and we all know there's an interesting connection between the mind, the soul, and Bloodline!" Anton's eyes lit up. He clapped his hands excitedly. "We can adjust a Boggart to make it reflect certain traits of someone's Bloodline!"
"The method would be to use