Curse

The next morning, Tierra yawned and got up at six as usual.

He usually went to bed early, but last night Harry and Ron had spent half the night discussing the Three-Headed Dog and had dragged Tierra into it.

Because Ron's tiny brain remembered neither the date nor the place; it only remembered that the thick book Tierra had used to hit Malfoy on the Hogwarts Express seemed to be called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The two little brats pestered Tierra all night about the Three-Headed Dog and other magical creatures.

They only displayed an unparalleled thirst for knowledge when it came to making trouble and Quidditch.

And Harry had fully demonstrated the strength of James Potter's genes last night. He had been scared half to death that afternoon, yet the moment he got into bed, he and Ron unanimously decided that seeing that three-headed dog had been an absolutely thrilling adventure. They could hardly wait to experience it again.

Only Tierra roared inwardly like an old father: We were this close to dying yesterday!

Having read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from cover to cover, Tierra knew perfectly well just how vicious Three-Headed Dogs were.

They might act like obedient little puppies when grudgingly submitting to their masters, but once enraged, their thick hides and tough flesh made them magical creatures capable of going toe-to-toe with dragons.

If they had not been so easy to tame, they would have been more than qualified for a 4X classification.

So Hermione's furious outburst after this incident in the original story had been perfectly justified.

Reality was different from the movies. In the movies, he had only thought the Three-Headed Dog was the easiest obstacle to get past, but when he had truly faced those three enormous, blood-filled maws last night, Tierra's calves had started trembling.

Even worse, Harry had told Ron all about the little package that seemed to have been transferred from Gringotts to Hogwarts, so they spent even more time guessing what could possibly require such strict protection.

If Neville and Seamus, their dormmates, had not already been asleep, Tierra suspected this group of little wizards would have held a Philosopher's Stone discussion meeting that night.

"It's either incredibly valuable or incredibly dangerous," Ron guessed.

"Or both," Harry guessed.

"Or I suggest you two get some sleep," Tierra cut in darkly. "Don't forget, we have Potions tomorrow. Do you really think whatever the Three-Headed Dog is guarding is more dangerous than Snape?"

Harry and Ron merely thought for a moment about Snape's dead-man face, as though someone had stolen his wife...

The world instantly became quiet.

When Tierra entered the Great Hall still slightly groggy—

"Morning." The Little Witch, Hermione, was already seated in the Great Hall, holding a copy of A Brief Discussion of Transfiguration.

It seemed she had learned about Tierra turning a notebook into parchment. Faced with Tierra, another Muggle-born who could already perform such delicate Transfiguration, the ever-competitive Hermione was unwilling to fall behind.

She had borrowed A Brief Discussion of Transfiguration from the library yesterday.

But the book was clearly still a little too profound for Hermione. She had not truly taken any of it in; otherwise, she would not have greeted Tierra the instant he appeared, before continuing to pretend to read A Brief Discussion of Transfiguration.

"Good morning." Tierra smiled gently. As usual, he ordered a cup of hot milk, a hard-boiled egg, a small piece of rye bread, and an apple, then began eating unhurriedly.

Today's classes were still quite easy—of course, only for Tierra and Hermione. After breakfast, the two of them could continue reading books unrelated to class. Ever since Snape had separated Tierra and Harry and paired Tierra with the other "know-it-all" in class, Snape never even approached Tierra and Hermione's group during his rounds. Once, Hermione accidentally forgot to add Abyssinian Shrivelfig seeds, causing their potion to emit a foul smell like rotten leather, and Snape still turned a blind eye.

Tierra's only difficulty in Potions was Hermione.

Hermione insisted on following the steps and techniques in the textbook exactly, even though Tierra had more convenient, concise, and modern methods.

They often argued over this during Potions.

Naturally, neither stubborn Hermione nor persistent Tierra could convince the other, so their group often brewed two batches of potion—Tierra and Hermione each clutching a Cauldron and brewing one batch apiece.

Tierra always finished first, and his potion was both faster and better. That left Hermione indignant, convinced Tierra had taken shortcuts, so she wanted to surpass him in other subjects.

But the other little wizards, especially the other Gryffindors, could only miserably preview that afternoon's Potions lesson.

Especially Harry and Ron, the two prime targets of Snape's point deductions.

After all, while studying in the library yesterday, the two of them had played Wizarding Playing Cards for two or three hours straight. They could only cram during this little bit of time before class.

"Hey, Tierra, why can Snake Fetus Grass treat stomachaches?" Harry asked.

"Page twenty-seven," Tierra said without even looking up. "A wizard's stomachache usually isn't caused by eating something indigestible. It's a stress-related... cough, rather, an external manifestation of a curse or disease. Those curses or diseases are the true cause of the stomachache. Compared to a wizard's body, they prefer to parasitize Snake Fetus Grass, so Snake Fetus Grass can resolve most wizard stomachaches."

"But the Snake Fetus Grass must be expelled from the body promptly. So one of the side effects of today's Snake Fetus Grass stomachache remedy, after it is taken, is severe diarrhea," Tierra said.

"Oh, oh, okay." Harry buried his head in the book again.

Tierra had once conducted an experiment using Snake Fetus Grass, Curse Worms, and himself, and discovered that Snake Fetus Grass did indeed absorb curses and diseases, though its effect was limited.

It could indeed attract Curse Worms, but only attract them. It did not make Curse Worms flock to it.

Curse Worms counted as half-living creatures. Even the simplest kinds of Curse Worms, such as the ones Tierra had condensed from cuts, the common flu, and Tobacco Mosaic Virus, possessed the most basic instinctive responses of multicellular organisms.

The slightly more advanced ones, such as HIV Worms, Cancer Worms, and the Curse Worm Tierra had condensed from the Petrification Curse, displayed even more developed neural responses.

He wondered whether, if he encountered even higher-level curses in the future—such as the Killing Curse, Imperius Curse, or Cruciatus Curse—the Curse Worms condensed from those Three Unforgivable Curses would display even higher forms of life.

Wait...

Tierra suddenly remembered something and looked up at Professor Quirrell, who was meekly eating breakfast at the teachers' table.

Speaking of higher-level curses...

He remembered that Voldemort, who was parasitizing Quirrell, had been drinking unicorn blood to prolong his life.

And drinking unicorn blood brought down a terrible curse.

Did Voldemort, parasitizing Quirrell, count as a kind of curse?

Could the curse brought by unicorn blood and Voldemort be extracted by Curse Worms?