130- Half-Human, Half-Snake

130- Half-Human, Half-Snake

Pushing Damocles' body aside, Rhys sat down on the chair and began to sort through the fragmented memories he had just glimpsed.

There was no doubt that Damocles was an excellent potioneer, and his clinic was always filled with people seeking his medical expertise and potions.

Once, a monk who claimed to be from the "Secret Order" approached him, asking for a total of seventeen potions, including the highly complex Felix Felicis. In return, the monk offered only a tattered page said to be a remnant of a medieval potions book, on the condition that Damocles swore not to reveal anything about the page or their dealings to anyone else.

The deal seemed quite unequal, but the few scribbled phrases at the beginning of the page piqued Damocles' curiosity enough that he agreed to the transaction. It took him an entire year to gather those seventeen potions.

That torn page was what inspired him to develop the Wolfsbane Potion.

Shortly after the Wolfsbane Potion was completed, Mr. Jamison Henry Greengrass approached him. According to Damocles' plan, if he could cure Astoria, he would do his best to treat her; if not, he would prescribe her a placebo that would improve her physical condition. He figured that if he couldn't cure her, other potioneers and healers wouldn't be able to either, so he might as well make her comfortable.

But whether or not he could cure Astoria, Damocles initially had no intention of making money off the Greengrass family.

His plan was to use the influence of the Greengrass family to promote his Wolfsbane Potion.

Once he became famous, won awards, and reaped the benefits, he would then squeeze money out of Mr. Jamison Greengrass.

This was the conclusion Rhys came to after piecing together the fragments of memory.

'Again, the Secret Order!'

Rhys couldn't help but rub his chin. Stealing divine remains, assisting in the development of the Wolfsbane Potion, and spending "big money" to gather intelligence on the wizarding world—this organization seemed to harbor a strong animosity toward wizards.

Now, the Mystic Order had fully captured Rhys' attention.

He stood up from the chair and began to clean up Damocles' residence.

Despite being a renowned potioneer, Damocles' living quarters were starkly mismatched with his status—he lived in a rather desolate apartment on the outskirts of London.

The exterior walls of the apartment had lost their paint, replaced by various graffiti, and none of the windows in the corridors were intact. The best feature of the building was the doors of the individual apartments, which, though worn and old, still served their purpose.

Who would have thought that a potioneer would live in such a place?

The "boy" Uncle Vernon referred to was, of course, his "dear" nephew, Harry Potter.

Harry was currently locked in a room on the second floor, grounded by Uncle Vernon after an incident where a cake mysteriously floated above the head of one of Vernon's important clients and then dropped onto him.

As a result, Uncle Vernon missed out on a potential path to financial freedom, and Harry was rewarded with a summer of confinement, despite his repeated claims that he wasn't responsible for the incident.

Aunt Petunia huffed in annoyance as she reluctantly went to bring Harry his meal.

However, a simple grounding couldn't prevent Harry from returning to the magical world. A few hours later, a flying car hovered outside the Dursleys' second-floor window, tore off the burglar bars, and whisked Harry away.

Harry spent the rest of his summer at the Weasleys' house, a situation that mirrored Rhys's in some ways, as Rhys spent his summer at the Greengrass Manor.

On the night Rhys visited Damocles's house, Mr. Jamison Greengrass eagerly applied the potion Rhys had given him to his beloved daughter. What he witnessed next was an image he would never forget: a wisp of white mist rose from her forehead and gradually gathered at the head of her bed, taking shape.

To his horror, the mist condensed into a half-human, half-snake creature!

The creature's upper body resembled Astoria's, looking sweet and pitiful, but the girl's legs had been replaced by a snake's tail.

Astoria's manifested soul was not only grotesque in shape, but its overall color was also alarming.

While most of it was white, it was marred by numerous ugly black spots—evidence of the blood curse that was corrupting her soul, continuously expanding and growing stronger.

One day, Astoria's soul would be completely transformed into the shape of a snake.

Just one look and you'll understand how tricky Astoria's current situation is.

Even Rhys was secretly shocked: Astoria's physical condition was worse than he had imagined.

Looking at the appearance of his daughter's soul, Mr. Greengrass was speechless for a long time as if he was under a petrification spell.

It was not until Rhys promised to help find a solution and a magic potion for treatment that he forced a smile and thanked Rhys. But Rhys could see that there was no spark in those once proudful eyes.

_________

Read 12 Chapters ahead at my Patreon!~