Qiu Zhang covered her mouth and laughed.
Anyone who was a little further away wouldn't know what Ethan was talking about at this moment.
"Ethan, if you don't want to register as an Animagus, you should clarify your speech before speaking outside. Otherwise, don't speak if you can help it."
"The way you are now, others will definitely notice, especially Professor McGonagall."
Penelope offered her suggestion.
Many Animagi are illegal and don't want their form to be discovered, as it's a magic that can save their lives in critical moments.
For example, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. If these two's Animagus forms were made public, everything would be reversed.
"Okay!"
Ethan naturally had no intention of making it public. It seemed he needed to be a bit more aloof from now on.
Chapter 167: Failed Experiment
Arriving at the workbench.
In the past, Ravenclaw's secret chamber was used only by Ravenclaw himself, and everything was open.
But now, Ethan had isolated this place.
Speaking of which, what would a Boggart turn into if it encountered a Dementor?
Ethan believed this question was worth experimenting with.
He took out a wooden box about thirty centimeters long from a dragon hide pouch. This contained the Boggart. These guys liked dark, narrow places, and this was the best way to transport them.
Then, he opened a corner of Nibelungen and pulled out a Dementor he had just caught tonight.
The Dementor, pulled out, looked at Ethan in a daze, then quickly shrank into a ball and retreated towards the corner of the wall.
When they, more than a dozen unlucky guys, went in just now, they chatted with the forty or so old brothers inside and knew what fate awaited them.
They didn't expect that the first one to be picked out would be himself.
Ethan glanced at it and casually cast a banishing charm.
He wasn't learning the Patronus Charm, so he didn't need their cooperation at all. Besides, they would inevitably struggle during the experiment later, so controlling them now was the best choice.
The Dementor, which had shrunk into a ball in the corner, immediately straightened up and floated not far in front of Ethan, reaching out its dry, hideous hand to place it on the round handle of the box.
Click!
The box was opened, and Ethan could clearly see that the Boggart was now a cloud of black mist, constantly tumbling in the box.
The whole process lasted for several seconds, which was longer than the time needed for things that Transfiguration students were afraid of.
Finally, in a burst of twisting and wriggling, the Boggart completed its transformation, becoming Ethan's appearance.
It was just that the appearance was black and a bit blurry.
Seeing this situation, Ethan was silent.
If he remembered correctly, this was only their first meeting. He had never had any interaction with this Dementor before, and he had only cast a banishing charm on it. Now, the thing it feared most was himself?
Also, what was the reason for the Boggart to become like this?
According to what he had seen in class last time, the thing it turned into was the idea deep in one's heart. As long as your understanding of it was clear enough, the Boggart's transformation would be no different from the real thing.
Now, there were only two possibilities.
First, the Boggart's inner exploration of magical creatures was not enough, so it didn't imitate well.
Second, it was the Dementor's problem. It didn't have a clear understanding of Ethan. Its thinking or mind was relatively chaotic, or the Dementor's perspective was different from humans. In their eyes, Ethan was this appearance.
Ethan casually cast a Boggart Banishing Charm to send this blurry version of himself back into the box, and then drove the Dementor aside.
Then, he stood in front of the box and used Occlumency.
Before, during the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Ethan hadn't experimented like this. After all, if he succeeded and the Boggart couldn't turn into something Ethan feared, Lupin would definitely suspect that Ethan had used some other means.
After all, Lupin's strength and knowledge were not bad. With a little reasoning, he could guess the general result.
If Lupin knew, Dumbledore would basically know as well.
Learning Occlumency at Hogwarts, who was he trying to defend against?
He opened the box, but the Boggart didn't come out immediately. Ethan looked down.
This thing didn't even have a form now.
The whole process lasted for more than three minutes, but the Boggart still hadn't completed its transformation.
It seemed that Occlumency was still useful against Boggarts.
However, the Boggart Banishing Charm was still the first choice for dealing with Boggarts, just because it was the simplest.
After using Occlumency to construct a false image in his mind, Ethan came to the Boggart again.
This was a more advanced application of Occlumency, which could construct a defense while setting up a false idea to mislead the Legilimens using Legilimency.
Not many people could do this, but Snape definitely could. As a golden undercover agent, if he couldn't even do this, he definitely wouldn't gain Voldemort's trust.
This time, after Ethan constructed a false image of fear in his mind, the Boggart quickly responded.
Waist-length golden curly hair, dark green pupils, delicate face, Hogwarts standard wizard robes, it was Cassandra today.
"Riddikulus!"
With a bang, Cassandra's wizard robes were replaced with a princess dress, bubble socks, and small leather shoes, and even her hair was styled into pigtails.
But no matter how you looked at it, it was a bit awkward. It was better to be normal.
He withdrew the false image of fear constructed in his mind, and the Boggart returned to its original state.
The Banishing Charm was cast, and the Boggart that was hit waited aside.
Ethan pulled out a goblin from a box.
With a gentle tap of his finger, a faint green light flashed, and the goblin, which had just been pulled out, lay down peacefully.
Ethan placed his hand on its head and extracted a soul full of transparency. At this moment, its eyes were still a bit dazed, and it was clear that this soul was now in a chaotic state.
This time, he didn't cast a curse to turn it into a spirit of Helheim.
Instead, he used a spell recorded in Ravenclaw's handbook, which specifically acted on the soul.
Killing life, taking out its soul, and using it as a knife, the greater the target's soul strength, the longer the duration of this soul knife, and vice versa, it would collapse as soon as it was formed.
Its main function is to cut souls; it can cut one's own soul or the souls of others.
It is an essential spell for conducting soul experiments.
Setting aside the knife shimmering with a dim blue light, according to Ravenclaw's notes, a goblin-soul-made knife can last for half an hour.
Under the effect of the Banishing Charm, the Dementor unwillingly lay down on the workbench.
What is needed now is to extract the pure soul, which can be done with the Banishing Charm. Without harming the life, the soul can be extracted, of course, this requires the other party not to resist.
Increasing the magical power of the Banishing Charm, the controlled Dementor's body suddenly shook violently, and beneath that dilapidated body, a transparent scene caused a trance in Ethan.
Continuing to increase the magic output, the Dementor's body is now constantly shaking, and even using the Banishing Charm cannot calm it down. This is more like a physical instinct.
I didn't expect the connection between the Dementor's body and soul to be so tight, much stronger than a goblin.
Magical creatures like Dementors and Boggarts, although they are spiritual beings, are similar to things like Peeves. They are not pure souls, but a combination of emotions, magic, souls, and other messy things.
Just like the spiritual body made by the ancient magic of Helheim, it is an aggregate of soul, life, and magic. A pure soul cannot exist in this world for long...
Except for Voldemort's remnant soul, because he has Horcruxes as anchors.
As Ethan's magic continued to increase, the Dementor's body seemed to be torn in half. If Ethan wanted to use a knife, it would definitely be better to start with a pure soul.
Suddenly, the Dementor's mouth emitted a sound like fingernails scratching glass, which was quite harsh and noisy.
Amidst this noise, the Dementor's body stopped shaking, and its entire body turned into a wisp of black smoke and dissipated on the workbench, leaving absolutely nothing behind.
"Dead?"
Ethan was a little incredulous. He couldn't extract the pure soul of this thing.
For other normal creatures, their bodies remain after their souls are extracted, and their souls will not disappear in a short time.
But spiritual beings are like this, which Ethan really didn't expect. He hadn't done any experiments in this area before.
It seems that the connection between the Dementor's soul and the substances that make up its body is deeper than he thought.
Taking out a piece of parchment, Ethan recorded everything about this experiment.
If Dementors don't work, what about Boggarts?
Will they also disappear with their bodies and souls at the moment when their souls are forcibly extracted, just like Dementors?
Thinking of this, Ethan's malicious gaze fell on the Boggart placed aside.
Following the experimental process just now, he applied it to the Boggart one by one. Unsurprisingly, the Boggart also turned into black smoke and disappeared completely.
Sure enough, these experiments on souls are not so easy to do.
He was stuck right at the first step.
But this experiment was still not over. Ethan opened Nibelungen again and released a soul body made by the ancient magic Helheim.
Anyway, Ethan is not short of experimental subjects in terms of quantity.
Ethan found that the density between the body and soul of the soul body made by Helheim was even higher.
If the connection between the Dementor and the Boggart is glue, then this is welded on with electric welding.
After a long tug-of-war, Ethan finally pulled the soul out.
After the soul appeared this time, the body of the spiritual body did not dissipate, but just lay there expressionlessly, as if it were dead.
Next, Ethan studied this soul body to see what was different from a normal soul.
It took almost an hour, during which he made two more goblin soul knives, and almost dissected the soul completely.
Overall, there is not much difference from the soul of a normal person, but it is extremely fragile, just like the soul is divided into two. One part maintains the stability of the body, and the other part is now pulled out by Ethan, which may only be a part of the original soul.
More importantly, after Ethan pulled it out, it won't go back.
About an hour later, the shell of the spiritual body made by Helheim also began to turn into blue light spots and dissipate.
Ethan guessed that this may be because it contained life force.
The birth of Boggarts and Dementors did not involve life, so the soul is their main body. The moment the soul leaves the body, the body is gone.
As for the spiritual body made by Helheim, even if the soul is extracted, the shell still has life force to maintain it, but without the harmony of the soul, the life force cannot be maintained for too long.
Chapter 168: The Impact of the Dementor's Disappearance
Dumbledore, who received a letter from the Ministry of Magic, painfully covered his forehead in the headmaster's office.
Seventeen Dementors disappeared overnight yesterday, and now they want me to go for a talk.
But this thing really wasn't done by me!
If I wanted to, let alone seventeen, I could kill all the Dementors outside Hogwarts in one night.
But the Ministry of Magic's letter has arrived, and I have to go.
After letting out a long sigh, Dumbledore stood up and glanced at Fawkes on the bird stand.
Amidst a burst of bird calls, Fawkes swooped down, his claws firmly grasping Dumbledore's shoulders, and then a burst of fire appeared.
Dumbledore reappeared, and was now inside the Ministry of Magic.
Greeting the wizards coming and going along the way, Dumbledore went straight to Fudge's office.
Bang! Bang!
Hearing the knock, a middle-aged fat woman in a pink dress opened the door from the inside and welcomed Dumbledore in.
Then the pink toad retreated very perceptively and closed the office door.
She is not as arrogant as she will be later.
"Cornelius, I didn't have anything to do with the disappearance of the Dementors."
Sitting in the chair, Dumbledore looked at Fudge, who was pot-bellied opposite him, with a very serious and earnest expression.
