A Terrifying Guess

Upon hearing Sean's words, the other professors' expressions became slightly strange.

How come this kid is so resourceful?

However, this wasn't their first time dealing with Sean, so they naturally didn't think of Sean as a mere child. In the professors' eyes, he was already a powerful and trustworthy wizard.

So, without further ado, Professor McGonagall led the group together, and then Sean began to explain his plan in detail.

"We should eliminate the factors that are detrimental to us, and to do that, it is clearly best to wait for the two groups of imprisoned young wizards to reunite, and the opportunity is obvious—"

Professor Flitwick slammed his fist down hard. "After the Triwizard Tournament ends..."

Sean nodded. "That's right. Instead of thinking about how not to alert the enemy or how to distract them, we should just do it right the first time. Of course, if we don't take any action, they might find it strange, since they noticed me when I was scouting the situation."

"Therefore, during this waiting period, we need to make all the preparations for attacking Durmstrang while pretending to spy on the enemy's situation. However, please do not show up when spying. I will take care of it slowly. After all, we know about the evil deeds of Durmstrang, but the enemy does not know about them."

After discussing some details, the impromptu meeting that evening came to an end. However, even though the decision had been made to storm Durmstrang, many professors were still resentful that Durmstrang had dared to do such a thing.

Sean then used his access to the Room of Requirement to send the professors back to their offices. Before they left, the professors reminded each other not to let Durmstrang's people discover anything amiss because of their anger, and that everything should proceed as usual until they took action.

"Child, you should get some rest too. I need to send a message to Albus tomorrow to come back. Good heavens, this is serious." Professor McGonagall said this as she left.

Sean nodded. "Of course, Professor, best of luck—"

He originally intended to say "Sweet dreams" as usual, but Professor McGonagall, upon learning of this matter, clearly couldn't have any sweet dreams, so Sean could only temporarily change it to "Get some rest."

After closing the door to Professor McGonagall 'Professor's Office, only one person remained in the Room of Requirement —the ever-gloomy-faced old bat, Snape.

When Sean was alone with Snape, he was basically being lectured, so there wasn't much to chat about. After seeing Professor McGonagall off, he immediately used his access privileges to open the wooden door to Snape's office on the basement floor.

The large bat behind him remained silent until the wooden door opened. He glanced at Sean before stepping out.

"Get some rest, Professor." After saying this quickly, Sean was about to close the door when Snape, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.

"Mr. Wallerup."

It's the middle of the night, everyone's tired, there's no need to...

Sean's brow twitched, then he poked his head out of the wooden door and said with an awkward smile, "Professor?"

Snape stood in front of the medicine shelf next to his desk. He opened a small drawer, and the crystal bottles clinked together.

This place is no longer the same as when Sean first came here. It's not exactly bright, but it's definitely not gloomy either.

The glass jars containing all sorts of strange herbs and gruesome corpses had long been moved away, and Snape had put them somewhere. The herb racks and shelves had been replaced with beige wood instead of dark gray wood, and several comfortable-looking velvet armchairs had appeared in the room. They weren't the old-fashioned purplish-red, but rather a vibrant and youthful lake blue and a warm and cozy milky white—in any case, they didn't match Snape's style at all.

However, Sean wasn't so careless as to plop down in the chair; he was afraid Snape would poison him.

The clinking of bottles subsided, Snape turned around, calmly handing over several bottles of Potions.

Ugh, payday again...

Sean breathed a sigh of relief, took the bottles of Potions, and glanced at them as usual. He then discovered that the Potions were all types he had never seen before, and most importantly, there was only one bottle of each type.

There were four bottles of Potions of different heights and sizes, and obviously there were no pairs of the same type of Potions.

Well, this time there's no travel expense...

However, Sean didn't have any particular thoughts. He was just a gofer. Not to mention that he was paid every time, a single Potions made by Snape was enough for him to run errands for a whole semester.

"Understood, Professor. I'll be going now. Goodbye." Sean said goodbye, indicating that he understood, and prepared to close the door and leave.

Unexpectedly, Snape called out to him again, "Mr. Wallop, you're not even going to learn how to use Potions you've never seen before? Your Pride will get you killed sooner or later!"

This time it was Sean's turn to be puzzled. Although Snape's attitude towards him was not good, he was really good to Daisy. If it was Potions the other party had not used before, he would definitely provide instructions for use. Was it because he hadn't had time to write the instructions for these few bottles?

Snape glanced at Sean with annoyance and said stiffly, "These Potions are for you."

"For me?" Sean was shocked.

The old bat wants to silence us?!

Seeing his expression, Snape became even more furious and said with a sinister look, "Stop making that stupid face... These Potions were all hard-won; some of the raw materials even cost more than the Potions themselves—"

Before Sean could say anything more, he said directly, "The light Potions is Trace Remover. Apply three drops to the tip of your wand, your wrist, and your ankle each time. It can completely eliminate your magical fluctuations, and no one can find you through the remaining magical traces, including Dumbledore. After using it, remember to mark the crystal bottle with a marking charm, otherwise you won't be able to find the Potions yourself, even if it's right under your nose."

"The crimson Potions is Boiling Poison; just one drop can kill ten people. But if you use Vaporization Spell to turn it into a gaseous Potions and mix in twenty grams of Moonstone Powder, it will become a powerful Draught of Living Death. You will lose your breath and heartbeat for five whole hours, and at the same time, you will appear to have died a gruesome death from poisoning. This bottle of Potions can be used for poisoning many times, but it is only enough for two times to fake death. You can decide for yourself how to use it. Also, I don't need to explain in detail the precautions for handling Highly Poisonous Potion, do I?"

"The transparent Potions is Magic Power Enhancer. Its effect is simple and obvious. Take three standard silver spoonfuls, and it will increase your Magic Power Source by half for the next 24 hours. Note that the larger your Magic Power Source, the lower the effect. For someone Dumbledore, the increase may only be a quarter. The side effect is that after the effect ends, your Magic Power Source will shrink to one-third, and you will be extremely thirsty and sensitive to heat. Also, there should be at least 15 calendar days between doses."

"The last bottle, the pure black one—" Snape paused, and it was clear even the old bat was somewhat pained, "... the Hardening Potion. One of its ingredients has vanished from this world. Its effect is as the name of the Potions suggests: fortitude. It's only enough for one dose, drunk in one gulp. It will provide you with a full forty-eight hours of fortitude, including increased defense, increased effectiveness of Defensive Spell, increased resistance to Illusion Magic, and a stable mind. It can even stabilize your soul—this Potions was used to save lives in the Middle Ages; the soul of a dying person could be stabilized within a corpse for forty-eight hours, while also permanently increasing the strength of the soul."

After hearing Snape's explanation, Sean was completely stunned.

These four Potions were all top-quality products. Not only had Sean never brewed any of them, but he had never even heard of them before. The last one, in particular, was a simple-looking and unassuming Hardening Potion effect—a truly top-tier Potions.

Furthermore, the four Potions Snape gave us had diverse effects, and whether used in combination or individually, they could be used in almost any situation.

This is incredibly valuable...

Snape gave him a cold look. "You only need to do one thing, and that is to survive, do you understand, Mr. Wallerup?"

Sean blinked. "Of course, Professor, but I..."

Before he could finish speaking, Snape rudely interrupted him, "I asked you, did you understand?"

"I understand..."

Snape waved his hand, indicating that he could get out of his office.

Sean paused for a moment, then finally said, "Thank you, Professor, good night," and gently closed the wooden door.

After Sean left, Snape sat heavily in the velvet armchair, his back still straight, without leaning against the soft, comfortable cushions.

"Foolish..." he muttered to himself, then snorted coldly.

The next day, when Sean told Hermione and the others about what he had seen on the Durmstrang ship, unsurprisingly, Hermione was furious. She hated such illegal behavior and had a compassionate nature towards the weak; she was practically ready to confront that bastard Karkaroff on the spot.

She had previously maintained a certain degree of respect for the headmaster of a School of Magic, addressing him as Mr. Karkaroff (she did not acknowledge him as a professor because Durmstrang's teaching was worthless in her eyes), but now she wished she could call him a "stupid, despicable, and shameless old scoundrel."

However, Hermione remained calm and, after listening to Sean's plan, said that he was right and that they absolutely could not alert the enemy now.

Kind-hearted Daisy also covered her mouth in horror and then remained silent until Stephanie noticed her unusual behavior.

Sean and Hermione also gathered around, thinking that Daisy would surely have a deeper empathy for the young wizard in such a tragic situation.

However, Little White Flower bit her lip and told Sean something.

"Sean, Obscurus ..."

Sean's pupils suddenly contracted.

Obscurus...

Obscurus!

The Obscurus power that attacked Daisy at the bottom of the Black Lake, the source of that dark power...

Obscurus!

Young wizards, in an attempt to escape their doom, suppress their magical powers. However, lacking guidance, they fail to learn how to harness and control their power, thus giving rise to parasites— the Obscurus, dark magical forces.

The Obscurus appears in young wizards. These poor children often live in an extremely repressive environment and consciously suppress their magical powers due to various external factors...

In the historical records of wizarding, there are no cases of Obscurial living past the age of 10. There are three current exceptions: Aurelius Dumbledore, Ariana Dumbledore, and Daisy, who is currently in the picture. Sean belongs to a more special symbiotic partnership.

In ancient times, before wizards had to hide themselves, and were hunted by Muggle, Obscurial were far more common. However, as the Magical World and Muggle worlds separated, children were no longer forced to hide their true selves in their own world, and the number of Obscurial gradually decreased.

In fact, according to Seraphine Pickere, then president of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, the Obscurus had completely disappeared in the America before 1926.

What is now certain is that the Returners must have mastered some kind of power to use the Obscurus. After all, they possess the Silent Mouth, which completely counters the Obscurus, and can even utilize the magic of Sin to some extent.

So, if the Returners were to acquire and utilize a few Obscurus, that was something Sean could have anticipated.

Because there are so few Obscurial survive past the age of ten, Sean didn't immediately make the connection, but now that Daisy has reminded him, he suddenly realizes this fact.

Aren't those imprisoned children in Durmstrang experiencing exactly what the Obscurial are experiencing?

The oppressive, terrifying environment, even abuse... they were aware of the existence of magic, but powerful wizards had countless ways to make them suppress it...

The Returners possess various terrifying and unknown magical abilities...

Sean suddenly stood up. He didn't know if his guess was accurate, but his intuition told him that the other party was deliberately cultivating Obscurus...

Using living, innocent, lively children who yearn to learn magic, we nurture one Obscurus another!

Even the usually composed Stephanie couldn't maintain her composure; she frowned and pressed her lips tightly together.

"These bastards!" Hermione clenched her fists.

Sean took a deep breath. "If they really are breeding Obscurus... then we can't act rashly. Not only might we fail to save those children, but it could also cause a large group of Obscurus to go berserk."

The others also fell silent. They were fully aware of the destructive power of the Obscurus. The Obscurus could not distinguish between friend and foe; it only saw everything that could be destroyed.

Hermione sat down dejectedly and said sullenly, "Sean, I think you went a little too easy on him that day..."

Sean licked his lips. "I also think it only takes a month in the hospital... but this is also our opportunity."

"Before the plan begins, I need to figure out exactly how they cultivate and utilize Obscurus."

Sacrifice a book