Chapter 129
Chapter 129
When the potion entered his mouth, the pain Suer had imagined did not arrive.
On the contrary, it was extraordinarily comfortable. His entire body felt enveloped in warm currents of water, and Suer miraculously “saw” the potion that had entered him.
He became an observer.
The instant he swallowed it, the potion “swam” into his body. Then, as it travelled down his long oesophagus, it underwent a wondrous change — the blood-red liquid became a mass of threads that swiftly passed through his blood vessels and charged straight towards their target.
The somewhat insubstantial heart that had long existed within Suer.
This was the first time Suer had seen his second heart. It floated indistinctly above and behind his primary heart.
The blood-red threads had already wrapped tightly around it, countless strands trailing down to connect with Suer’s original heart.
Thump…
Thump-thump…
The two hearts, beating at different rhythms, gradually synchronised.
Then something caught Suer completely unprepared. The instant the two hearts fell perfectly into rhythm, the insubstantial heart exploded like a bomb — BOOM…
The book had said absolutely nothing about anything like this…
Suer panicked for a moment.
What happened next left him no time to wonder why the heart had exploded, because the cloud of red mist produced by the blast was travelling directly upwards.
Everything he had just seen occurred in a mere instant. Then an intense pain swept over him.
Suer’s vision went dark, and his whole body collapsed weakly to the ground.
“Ah…” He clenched his teeth, a low groan escaping him.
This was a little pain? Damn that author. Just wait. Once he returned, he would find the author’s name. Even if the author had become a ghost, Suer would drag that ghost out and give it seventeen or eighteen lashes.
The red mist reached his mind, then swiftly and miraculously took the shape of an animal. This, it seemed, was his Animagus form.
Suer strained to see it clearly, but the red mist was far too dense to penetrate.
The pain intensified. His robes became like ropes binding him tightly, and he could even feel them trying to burrow into his skin.
“Whine…” Hidden in the shadows, Fang noticed something was wrong with Suer. He anxiously turned in circles and whimpered in a low voice. In his eyes, Suer appeared to be in serious trouble.
Then Fang approached Suer, whined anxiously several times and ran away without looking back.
Suer did not notice Fang leave. Even if he had, the pain surging in like the tide, each wave higher than the last, would have prevented him from speaking.
The highest level of labour pain could only respectfully acknowledge defeat before this.
It felt as though all 206 bones in his body were being brutally smashed by an invisible hammer. If they had all shattered at once, that might have been bearable; at least he would immediately have lost consciousness.
But now they were being smashed one by one, beginning with his limbs, followed by his ribs, then his spine, and finally his skull.
Afterwards, a pair of invisible hands joined in and began kneading.
“Ah…” Suer finally lost control. He rolled across the grass, groaning in agony, his cries carrying far through the quiet undergrowth.
At the same time, his skin began shrinking unnaturally. Two small ears grew atop his head, and black-and-white fur gradually emerged. His robes contracted inwards along with his hands and feet, while bright silver claws sprang one by one from the ends of all four limbs.
The pain intensified yet again. Suer desperately wished he could faint, but he could not. He had to remain sufficiently conscious to ensure that the entire Animagus transformation stayed under his control.
Otherwise, there would be no telling what he might become. Perhaps a monster neither human nor ghost, or perhaps he would lose his reason entirely and live here as an ordinary animal until, one day, a carnivorous magical creature swallowed him in a single crunchy bite.
The red mist in his mind gradually dissipated — no, merging was more accurate. It was melting into the animal silhouette, becoming flesh and blood.
The faster the red mist vanished, the clearer Suer’s Animagus form became.
The entire transformation lasted one minute, or perhaps a very long time.
The pain surged like a tide, crashing violently into the depths of his soul, then gradually withdrew as gently as the receding sea. It still hurt terribly, but at least Suer could now see what animal his Animagus form was.
A black-and-white — badger.
“A badger?” Suer froze for a moment. Considering that he was a Hufflepuff student, it was rather fitting…
No one could control what animal their Animagus form would be. No one could see the shape of the other self hidden within their mind.
What a pity. He had hoped he might become an owl or some other winged creature.
Still, a badger was not bad. It was fast, had sharp claws, and could climb trees and dig burrows. Apart from being unable to fly, it was not entirely without merits.
It was certainly much better than becoming a chicken. Ah, yes, one of the eight Animagi registered with the Ministry of Magic was a chicken.
That wizard was deeply ashamed of it.
When all the pain finally faded, Suer knew that his Animagus transformation had succeeded.
He raised a paw and flexed it curiously.
Suddenly becoming an animal felt rather unfamiliar at first. Moreover, after the transformation, the dark and secluded woods appeared as bright as day to his eyes.
Of course. Some badgers were nocturnal.
Suer simply did not know what species of badger he was. He looked at the back of one paw, where white and black markings crossed and extended upwards, but could not tell what kind of badger he had become.
He would look it up later.
Suer stretched his body in place. Er, the posture looked exactly like Crookshanks stretching.
“Huh? Where’s Fang?” Only then did Suer realise that Fang had disappeared at some point.
He did not find Fang, but he did see his wand and Fawkes’s feather lying quietly together. He had no idea when the red-and-gold feather had fallen out.
“I should change back first.” Suer pictured his original form. His body lengthened in response to his will, his limbs extended, and his robes reappeared.
The transformation had been agonising, but returning to human form was effortless. It was as though the excruciating pain had never existed.
Only…
The book had not mentioned that a wizard’s first Animagus transformation would completely drain their magic. Perhaps the author had never imagined that a second-year wizard would dare attempt it.
Weakness washed over Suer. He picked up his wand, struggled to stand straight and tucked the phoenix feather he had collected into his pocket.
At some point, the rain had stopped. Moonlight tore through the layered storm clouds and strained to shine down.
Suer leant against a tree trunk and took several breaths. The cool, damp air cleared his mind a little.
Looking at the sorry state of his robes, covered in leaves and mud, he tried to clean himself with a Cleaning Charm.
But his depleted magical reserves would not allow him to cast even a single spell, and warned him with a stab of pain in his soul.
At this rate, he probably could not even cast Lumos.
A wry smile appeared on Suer’s face. He worked out the direction and began retracing his route. As for the missing Fang, the dog had probably been frightened away by Suer’s appearance during the transformation, and Suer did not worry about him.
When it came to familiarity with the Forbidden Forest, Fang was far more qualified to speak than Suer.
The urgent task was to leave the woods as quickly as possible. In his present state, Suer probably could not defeat even a Puffskein.
Not long after Suer disappeared, however…
Uninvited visitors arrived in the clearing.
Then a dense, unbroken succession of clicks filled the air…