Lys returned to the small tavern, sipping milk while organizing her thoughts on the arm anatomy diagrams from the past two days.
She realized that she had been making a mistake in her drawings, unconsciously beautifying those patterns.
As a result, the images she produced, though detailed and beautiful, were incorrect. Regarding the bones, her previous ideas of replacing or integrating alchemical materials into the gaps were unrealistic.
If a wizard's magic is abundant, then every drop of blood, every strand of hair nurtures his magic, but external things entering the body do not; they consume.
Essentially, they are different: one produces and nurtures, the other uses and consumes, thus they are inherently contradictory in the flow of magic.
Moreover, as the old professor of magical creatures said, different materials have different speeds of magical flow. Lys imagined if she wanted to use complex spells, she'd have to first perform complex manipulations within herself, which gave her a headache.
Her best option now was to realign and complete the original bones. As for muscles and skin, Lys hesitated, not yet making a decision. Those damages were due to the mixture of potions, bloodlines, werewolves, and the lack of spells, and were irreversible. To completely repair them would be a fool's dream.
Creating artificial fillers would still hinder her flexibility and the nurturing flow of magic.
But if she simply patched it up, it shouldn't be a problem; the exterior might still look a bit hideous, perhaps slightly bulkier than now, but it wouldn't affect the flow of magic.
After some hesitation, Lys decided to prioritize magic and flexibility. After noting her decision and thoughts in her notebook, Lys once again manipulated her quick-quill to draw.
This was a challenging task, requiring extremely fine control of magic. Lys turned red-faced, directing with her left-hand wand, finally managing to draw a complete arm on parchment.
Picking up the parchment and shaking it, this would be her future arm. Feeling something was missing, Lys laid the parchment down again, sketching for a long time until a ring with contrasting light and shadow and a bracelet with engraved spiral patterns appeared vividly on the paper.
After packing her things, checking the time, and braving the increasing snow, Lys went to the apothecary to collect her materials, then headed back to school.
But before Lys could reach the start of the path, she heard a shout, "Oh! Everyone gather! Senior is returning to school!"
Glancing back, a group of children with yellow scarves poured out from the surrounding shops, politely standing behind the little boy.
"Thank you, senior!"
Lys opened her mouth, thinking about the intense and serious house rivalry, wondering if this was appropriate.
However, Lys thought, she wasn't wearing her school robe, scarf, or tie, and with her head down, others couldn't tell she was a Slytherin. Maybe the little boy hadn't heard clearly before?
Lys didn't know what to say, silently raising her wand to widen the snow-cleared path by half a foot, making the return journey more joyful for the little badgers who liked to hold hands.
The snowflakes were as large as an adult's fingertip, visibility was poor beyond a few dozen steps, and Lys silently cast a few water-repelling charms on the children at the back.
On the way back, apart from occasional exclamations, no one spoke. A day out had exhausted everyone's energy.
Halfway there, Crunch poked his head out from the cloak towards Lys, hissing urgently, his tail thumping with such force it nearly flipped the fur cloak off.
Then he wrapped tightly around Lys's neck, motionless. Lys had never seen Crunch so tense, almost instinctively raising her wand to her chest.
"Who's there!" Lys pointed forward against the wind, the large snowflakes shattering silently against the shield charm she cast in front of her.
"Don't be nervous, you're all little wizards from Hogwarts, right? Don't be nervous~"
Hearing the voice, Lys gripped her wand tighter, frowning as she glanced at the tense little badgers behind her, who didn't know what was happening.
The voice was dripping with malicious teasing, how could anyone not be nervous?
"Can we pass now?" Lys didn't ask who the other person was, it was unnecessary and dangerous.
"Oh, of course, wait a moment, let me see, you there, little boy, you're a child of the Black family, aren't you? Oh, you look just like your Auror father. Now come with me, I'm sure your parents would be thrilled to see a whole you, wouldn't they?"
The malice in the voice didn't diminish, and the leading little boy tightly grasped another young wizard, hiding him behind himself, speaking with a trembling voice despite his fear, "We are students of Hogwarts, if we don't return to school, we have to get permission from the headmaster."
"The master said he wants the Black family's allegiance, they're a tough nut to crack. I couldn't help but think of you, a piece of his heart~ Come on, be good, come over here." The distance between them was closing, the dark magic aura growing thicker.
Lys weighed her options; she could fight the person in front of her but couldn't protect the little troublemakers behind her, and there were likely more than one adversary.
Lys took a slight step back, appearing to give a sidelong bow, but in reality, she was shielding the two boys.
"I'm a Slytherin, after graduation, we might even be colleagues, fighting for noble interests together." Seeing the other's satisfied nod, Lys put on the expression that idiot Thomas often had, a mix of disdain and arrogance.
"Doing things for the master, loyalty is a must, but have you considered the master doesn't want to confront Dumbledore head-on yet? If you harm Hogwarts students, wouldn't you be bringing trouble back to the master? So many little wizard witnesses, you can't silence them all, can you?" Seeing the other's stiffened expression, Lys continued to add fuel to the fire.
"Doing things slowly and messing them up are different in nature. The master keeps loyal subordinates but doesn't like loyal fools, right?"
"For the master's cause, for your future, think about it." Lys didn't move, the fur cloak was already heavy, and some little wizard behind her was still nervously tugging, nearly strangling her.
Lys stood against the wind, every hair on end, her nose catching a whiff of stench, the main reason Crunch was so tense—
A werewolf!
"""
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