Memory

When Strong Hartman groggily awoke, he found himself tied to an old, worn-out chair. Of course, if that were all, he might have just yelled angrily, "You bastards, let me go!"

Yes, this usually happens when the scoundrels at Hogwarts have targeted their Durmstrang students again, and you've become the lone, unfortunate lamb chosen.

However, it seems that he was not knocked unconscious by the students of Hogwarts.

Before him was a terrifyingly large mouth, covered with sharp teeth. Transparent saliva slowly dripped from the tips of the teeth, and precious fragments could be vaguely seen between the teeth.

That's... that's the brain?!

Strong Hartman was horrified to discover that the remnants in that enormous mouth appeared to be brain matter!

This discovery nearly terrified him; he couldn't imagine what the previous "lucky one" had gone through.

"You're awake? The surgery was a success—" a sinister voice, neither clearly male nor female, rang out.

The surgery was a success?! Strong Hartman's eyes widened in surprise. He hurriedly looked down at his lower body, trying to see if he had lost any important parts.

However, apart from the heaviness and confusion after losing consciousness, he didn't seem to notice anything wrong with his body.

Strong Hartman licked his dry, chapped lips and said tremblingly, "I... I'm just a student, I don't know anything, and I have no money..."

The voice in the shadows chuckled sinisterly, "Strong Hartman —sir, are you trying to prove to me that you're worthless? If that's the case..."

The enormous mouth in front of Strong Hartman slowly approached.

The stench assaulted Strong Hartman's nostrils, making his scalp tingle and causing him to scream frantically, "No! No! Sir! I'll do anything for you!"

"Sir? How dare you assume my gender?"

"Madam! Madam!"

"I already told you, how dare you..."

"My lord, my lord!" Strong Hartman was on the verge of collapse.

The person in the shadows slowed down Big Mouth's advance, then said slowly and deliberately, "Come on, tell me about your situation. Remember, tell the truth."

Strong Hartman swallowed hard, stammering, "I... I'm Strong Hartman, born in New Zealand, seventeen years old, a sixth-year student at Durmstrang Institute —my parents sell excavators in Germany, earning about 60,000 euros a year... My grandfather was a wizard, my grandmother was a Squib, and both my maternal grandparents were wizards, but for some reason, neither of my parents has any Magic Talent..."

Strong Hartman dared not hide anything and told everyone about his family situation, even revealing the age of the neighbor's female dog and how many puppies she had in her previous pregnancy.

He feared that the other party was just testing his honesty, so he dared not utter a single lie.

The voice in the shadows seemed quite satisfied with his performance. After listening to his story, it said casually, "Come on, tell me about your campus life. Ha, I love stories about young people."

Strong Hartman's throat bobbed. Young man, the other party is an old, immortal wizard?

However, he didn't dare to think too much about it and confessed everything, "I shouldn't have been studying at Durmstrang, but my parents are doing business in Germany, and I went to stay with them for a while during the summer vacation. That's when people from Durmstrang came to my door... I had excellent grades in school, and I've always been among the top students since first grade... My friends at Durmstrang include Reinhardt Nott, Isama Tretto, Leon Schneider..."

Listening to the other party's account, Sean, who had been hiding in the shadows and altered his voice with magic, pursed his lips. This guy was more honest than he had imagined, saying whatever came to mind. Apart from sounding a bit shocking, it saved Sean a lot of effort in questioning him.

From Strong Hartman's description, Sean also gained a general understanding of Durmstrang. This magic academy, hidden in the northernmost part of the Europe continent, has very few people outside Durmstrang who know much about it because of its strict admission requirements and the recent shortage of students.

Sean also tried to find out more about Durmstrang, but unfortunately, whether they were recent graduates or wizards who had been to Durmstrang, these people rarely stayed in the vicinity of England Durmstrang, and when he did encounter one or two, they were as slippery as rabbits.

The last Durmstrang wizard Sean encountered was Max Dawson, who infiltrated Hogwarts and ultimately self-destructed.

While thinking and listening to the other person speak, Sean also formed a rough mental diagram of Durmstrang's overall structure. According to the other person's description, Durmstrang's four-story castle was not as large as Hogwarts, but it had a more spacious area; it lacked sunlight in winter, while in summer, students often flew outdoors, over lakes and mountains.

Interestingly, when Grindelwald was a student, he carved the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on a wall in Durmstrang, and the symbol still exists today, even being imitated by some students who are unaware of its significance.

However, probably because Newmontgard had taken away many students from Durmstrang, anyone who imitated Grindelwald's symbol would be severely punished by Karkaroff. Despite this, there were still quite a few troublemakers who were secretly doing such things.

Strong Hartman swallowed hard. His mouth was dry from talking, and he didn't know why the other person wanted to hear such detailed information, but he didn't dare to pause unless told to stop.

"... This is roughly my life in Durmstrang. The situation in Durmstrang hasn't changed much over the years—oh, and there's one more thing, which is the biggest change in Durmstrang in recent years."

He glanced tentatively into the shadows, but hearing no sound, he continued, "Starting from my third year, some of the dormitories were left unused. I heard that someone was conducting Dark Arts experiments there, making a mess of the dormitories. The headmaster sealed off that area and sent a group of senior students to prevent anyone else from approaching that area."

Sean frowned. Strong Hartman's description reminded him of what Max Dawson had once said. When he first met Max Dawson, the man was injured. According to him, he had returned to Durmstrang to retrieve some personal belongings and was obstructed and beaten by upperclassmen. Max Dawson also mentioned that his former dormitory room had become a place he didn't recognize.

This is a noteworthy point: perhaps that place was transformed by Durmstrang's people into some kind of prison or laboratory area, which further proves that Durmstrang and the Returners did indeed have some shady dealings...

Strong Hartman spilled everything he could say, then lowered his head bitterly, wondering if he was now considered a traitor to Durmstrang.

After all, Professor Karkaroff had made it clear that no one was allowed to disclose any specific information about Durmstrang to outsiders.

Sean calmly asked, "How many people does Durmstrang have now?"

Strong Hartman recalled for a moment and said, "My memory of the numbers isn't very accurate. I only know that there are about eighty students in my current sixth grade, and the number of students in other grades is probably less. The number of new students from last year and this year combined is only about sixty..."

So few? Sean frowned. He was also involved in Durmstrang's loss of students, but he didn't expect that their lower grades only had an average of about thirty students per grade.

It's important to know that because there was no First Wizarding World War caused by Grindelwald, and Voldemort did not bring about a Dark Age, the overall number of wizards has increased. Durmstrang's enrollment area was not affected at all; on the contrary, it benefited from the population dividend. Although Newmontgard took away a lot of people, it shouldn't be this small, right?

Wait, that's not right. Because of the disappearance of time the previous year, all the universities started recruiting students in early 1995. At that time, when Sean asked Lupin to help Hogwarts recruit students, he encountered a lot of problems in the early stages - the other three schools beat Hogwarts to the punch and preemptively took the students that belonged to Hogwarts.

Although Sean later pulled a fast one, taking away most of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang's original students, Durmstrang should have received some students as well, so how come they only have so few left...?

There's definitely something fishy going on here...

Sean noted this down and continued, "Among the second-year students, do you know a student named Lonte Lloyd?"

Lonte Lloyd is the child of the couple affected by the magic of "Sloth". He should be a second-year student at Durmstrang now. Regardless of their circumstances, Lonte Lloyd must have something special about him.

Upon hearing the name, Strong Hartman immediately nodded. "I know him, a second-year boy, that kid..."

His expression turned strange. "That kid is a bit odd, very dull. Although he has good grades, he is not popular and always has a blank expression. I know him because he almost killed his classmate, which caused quite a stir at the time."

Tell me about it.

"When that child first enrolled, because he came from the Muggle Family, he was tricked by some freshmen from the Wizarding Family. He heard that he was tricked into going to a restricted area, and as a result, he was severely reprimanded by the professor as soon as he enrolled. After the detention ended, the child went to find those freshmen who tricked him. I don't know the specifics, but I heard that those freshmen were cursed with a very serious curse and spent several months in the Hospital Wing before they recovered."

"This incident caused quite a stir at the time, and other people were also wondering why a freshman from the Muggle Family who had just enrolled would have such a powerful curse. But after that, no one dared to mess with him, and of course, no one wanted to be his friend."

A powerful curse? Sean narrowed his eyes, suspecting that Lonte Lloyd might have stumbled upon the Sloth.

Does that mean that the essence of [Sloth] is currently in Durmstrang?

Sean continued, "What kind of magic array is surrounding the large ship you are currently living on?"

He knew Durmstrang's ship had a magic circle? Strong Hartman pondered inwardly, but still answered honestly, "I don't know what kind of magic it is. I only know that non- Durmstrang are forbidden from entering. I heard from older students that the last time the Triwizard Cup went to Newmontgard, there was no such magic on the ship— Professor Karkaroff said that the situation is tense now and we need more protection."

What is the specific structure inside the large ship?

"It has four floors in total, similar to the structure of Durmstrang's castle. There is Undetectable Extension Charm inside, so the space is much larger than it looks from the outside. I live in the dormitory area on the lowest floor inside the ship. From the inside out, it is from seventh grade to first grade. However, only two first graders came. They are now living with the second graders."

After saying a lot, Strong Hartman added one last thing, "There are also restricted areas inside the ship. That place was supposed to be a dormitory or something, right? I'm not really sure, but Professor Karkaroff doesn't allow anyone to go near it."

The same restricted area? Sean licked his lips; he was very interested in that place.

Finally, he casually asked, "Are there a few students who seem a little different from usual?"

Strong Hartman thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No... I don't have many social connections. The person I know best, Reinhardt, is still in the hospital..."

Sean asked a few more questions before standing up, "Thank you for your help, Mr. Hartman."

Strong Hartman's eyes widened in fear. This man... he wasn't planning to kill him to silence him, was he?!

"My lord, you... you can't do this!"

The gasp lasted only a moment before he fainted again.

Sean took out his wand and gently tapped it on the other person's temple, immediately beginning to weave memories.

It wasn't that the other party had mastered Occlumency, but rather that older students naturally have abundant Magic Power Source, Legilimency to leave traces. If Durmstrang's team had someone skilled in this area, there was a high probability that his act of forcibly reading the other party's memories would be discovered. After all, his Legilimency were still far inferior to those of figures like Dumbledore and Slytherin.

The same principle applies to Veritaserum; Potions residue is easily detected.

Only by Memory Weaving can Sean be confident in himself. He has been studying the Memory Charm Notebook he obtained in another Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin.

Moreover, memories are rarely targeted for examination—as long as your fabricated memories are well-crafted.

Once everything was done, Sean gave Strong Hartman a beating and then threw him into the dark, shadowy hallway outside.

A moment later, Strong Hartman slowly woke up. He felt the pain in his body, and when he recalled the experience of being beaten by the group of Hogwarts students, he almost gritted his teeth.