Love Debts Are Hard to Settle
As for Eleanor...
Skylar just thought about it and got a headache.
The reason Eleanor was in such a hurry to find him was simply that she wanted to see him one last time before the end of the term and before she had to leave Hogwarts. She might even take the opportunity to invite him to visit her Hohenheim Manor in Germany during the summer vacation.
Although he had saved Eleanor's life once, the two were ultimately just allies. Moreover, Eleanor had already given him an extremely valuable copy of "The Fifth Element," which, in a sense, repaid the favor of saving his life.
In fact, the alliance between the two has not been long.
However, Skylar already owed the Hohenheim Family a great deal of favors.
First, there are the defensive bracelets provided by Hohenheim to the Sleeping Dragon Society, specifically designed to resist the Imperius Curse. As mentioned earlier, almost every major member of the Sleeping Dragons has one, including the group leaders and deputy group leaders, the Prefect of Slytherin, and Rita, Night Cat, and Eagle Eye who are out gathering intelligence for Skylar.
Skylar knew very well that each defensive bracelet was specially made by an alchemy master, and the craftsmanship alone was worth a fortune, not to mention that almost all of the materials used inside were the finest in the wizarding world, and the Sleeping Dragon Society had taken at least 18 of them.
Then, the current head of the Hohenheim family, Eleanor's father, Kodes von Hohenheim, personally led a team, tirelessly traveling from Germany to the Hebrides for the mission of the Sleeping Dragon Society, to set up Dragon-Sealing Seal around the island where the McFusty Clan's castle was located, increasing Barty Crouch Sr.'s bargaining power.
To be fair, considering the contributions of both allies, Skylar has undoubtedly benefited greatly.
Of course, if Skylar were to share the first half of the Book of Truth with the Hohenheim Family after it was deciphered, it would indeed be enough to offset the favor Skylar owed.
However, before Skylar went to the Death Eaters' gathering alone, Eleanor secretly approached Skylar again and, without explanation, practically lent Skylar her most prized possession—her life-saving alchemical golem—as a gift.
This is a human puppet created using forbidden Human Alchemy; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the most advanced secret technique of the Hohenheim Family.
Skylar had once heard Eleanor mention that the creation of human puppets involved extremely complex alchemy related to Human Transmutation. Not only was it very time-consuming to make, but the chance of failure was also very high. In addition, more than half of the raw materials required were strictly controlled items, making them very difficult to collect. Therefore, over the years, they had only managed to create a hundred human puppets with the full strength of their family.
Eleanor came to Hogwarts on a mission given to her by Walpurgis. Knowing the seriousness of this mission, the family spared no expense for Eleanor, the first in line to inherit the family fortune, and specially allowed her to bring all the puppets in the family's inventory.
The value of these puppets far exceeds the limits that money or knowledge can measure—in all the history Skylar knew, no wizard had ever handed over the most core of their family heritage to an outsider, no matter how important that person was.
As a result, all one hundred alchemical golems were destroyed by Skylar, and the damage was almost irreparable.
This time, Skylar could never repay the favor he owed.
With a sigh, Schelling realized that while he had a headache, he had to face what was coming; avoiding problems was not Skylar style.
Eleanor is someone I absolutely must meet. I need to explain everything that happened to Little Hangleton to her and confess that I damaged the puppet.
No matter what, I must make amends to the other party.
No matter how rare or precious the materials used to create human puppets are, they are still things that exist in this world. With Skylar's current wealth and connections, he can always find a way to obtain them, no matter how difficult it may be. It's just a matter of the price and time required.
"Daphne, you give them my answer. I'll go see them tonight. Hmm—" Skylar thought for a moment and said, "I'll meet with Karkaroff first, and then Eleanor —let's set the meeting place in the Chamber of Secrets!"
With some time before evening, Skylar took the opportunity to chat with Morrie, Cho Chang, and Luna for a few minutes, mainly to learn about the situation of Dragon Wing and Dragon Soul.
The main task for Dragon Wing at this stage is to cultivate Fantastic Beasts and plants that can be used in battle. Skylar has even set aside a special area in his Suitcase Space for them to use as a breeding farm.
While Fantastic Beasts are diverse and powerful, there is a very high barrier to entry for using them as tools of war. Apart from young wizards like Scamander and Luna who have awakened as "Child of Nature," most wizards need to spend a long time interacting with and developing a bond with Fantastic Beasts before they can command them to act according to their own will.
This is a powerful combat style, but it requires a very high initial investment.
Therefore, most young wizards' training focuses on the skills and knowledge of using magical plants in combat.
While magical plants receive far less attention in the original universe than Fantastic Beasts do, this doesn't mean they are less significant.
Don't forget that in 1912, Venusia Quickley, who had served as Minister for Magic for the Auror, died in a horticultural accident involving Mandrake.
In 1985, Professor McGonagall's husband, Elphinstone Urquart, then Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, also died after being accidentally bitten by Venomous Tentacula.
In the seventh book of the original series, Professor Sprout led a group of young wizards to throw Mandrake, Venomous Tentacula, Devil's Snare, and pods of Venomous Tentacula vines from the heights of the castle, which proved to be of great use in the Battle of Hogwarts, buying Harry a lot of time to find the Horcrux.
The biggest advantage of choosing to use magical plants in battle is that, unlike animals, most magical plants lack complete personalities and thoughts, as well as complex and rich emotions, and act entirely on biological instincts. As long as you understand their behavioral patterns, you can make full use of their characteristics to achieve your goals.
Although Luna attends Ravenclaw House, she has been influenced by her father since childhood and has a strong interest in strange and unusual plants and animals. She has her own way of dealing with these dangerous magical plants.
Skylar had even learned from Professor Sprout that Luna's talent in Herbology was in no way inferior to Neville Longbottom, who was a year ahead of her.
Therefore, Skylar had complete confidence in the Dragon Wing Team.
Cho Chang and Morrie were in charge of the Dragon Soul Team. This group did not have specific members; instead, it drew elites from other groups to assist in the research of new spells and Potions.
Since the group was founded, Skylar has provided them with many research directions.
This includes growth-promoting magic that can accelerate plant growth during battle, or growth-promoting Potions that can achieve the same effect by simply pouring them on.
Think about it: while magical plants are powerful, they are not easy to store and carry in actual combat. The Battle of Hogwarts took place in Hogwarts Castle, and Professor Sprout's team's responsibility was simply to use magical plants for defense, and the herbs were all stored in the castle's greenhouse.
If life-inducing magic or Potions could be invented, wouldn't that overcome the aforementioned drawbacks?
When young wizards go out, all they need to do is bring the necessary seeds, throw them out, and then use growth-enhancing magic or Potions to make the magical plants grow to their full potential.
Only in this way can Luna's Dragon Wing Team truly demonstrate its value in actual combat.
As for why the young wizards aren't allowed to carry space-expanding boxes like "Scamander's Suitcase"?
First, the briefcase that had been enchanted with the Undetectable Extension Charm was expensive in itself. Of course, money wasn't a big problem for the wealthy Skylar. The real issue was that magical plants, like Fantastic Beasts, required specific growing environments.
An ordinary space expansion box cannot meet the growing environment requirements of all kinds of bizarre and magical plants—only a complete simulated ecological environment created by Scamander with countless hours and efforts using various geographical and celestial magic can.
This requires more than just magical skill—it demands a deep understanding of the habits of all sorts of magical plants, and the time and effort required are immeasurable.
Morrie and Cho Chang never neglected the tasks assigned by Skylar —the relationship between Morrie and Skylar goes without saying, and Cho Chang was also one of the female classmates who greatly admired Skylar. Since joining the Sleeping Dragon Society, she had always had a strong desire to prove herself to Skylar.
Of course, magical research is not something that can be done simply by having the will; Skylar also understood the principle that sometimes haste makes waste.
Therefore, even though they were all composed of the most academically outstanding members, Skylar did not have high expectations for these underage wizards, so as not to put unnecessary pressure on them.
Just as Skylar had predicted, Morrie frankly revealed their current research progress—although they had made some progress, it would still take a considerable amount of time to realize this research goal in reality.