Hogwarts: Starting with full Unforgivable Curses

To put it more bluntly, it's like Dylan, at the moment the magic was cast, used the power of time to achieve the effect of continuously casting the Happiness Charm day after day. Only this long-term accumulated magical imprint can break through the limits and ultimately affect living beings in reality.

This association with the influence of time involuntarily reminded him of the discussion he had previously had with Ravenclaw about the evolution of the status of house-elves. The wizarding community's perception of house-elves living in wizarding households has actually been constantly changing over time.

For example, in the early days of Hogwarts, the relationship between house-elves and wizards was relatively peaceful.

Even if they were not considered family members, the wizards treated them relatively gently, at least not as arbitrarily as they would treat slaves.

However, in recent centuries, the status of house-elves has gradually declined, eventually becoming something akin to slavery. Wizards have become increasingly demanding of them, even taking this exploitation for granted.

This shift in perception spread over time and gradually solidified into a common belief throughout the magical world, leading most wizards to accept that house-elves should live this way.

Not only social perception, but magic itself also undergoes similar temporal changes.

For example, the most basic levitation spell, in the early days of magic, could only levitate small, light objects. But as time went on, the spell's effects were continuously strengthened, and now it can easily levitate large furniture or even small carriages, and the weight it can bear is also getting greater and greater.

The evolution of this magical effect is essentially the result of continuous accumulation. Countless wizards' fine-tuning of spells and advancements in magical theory, after being refined over time, ultimately transform into an enhancement of the magic itself.

Dylan continued to delve deeper into this line of thought, and a completely new understanding gradually became clear: memory is an important part of the soul, and soul energy can be materialized into magic through specific spells. The Guardian Charm is the most typical example, using the beautiful memories in the soul as a catalyst to give birth to visible silver creatures.

If that's the case, the collective cognition formed by humans with souls, after long-term accumulation, transforms into memories. Could these memories also be considered a special form of magic?

This idea sparked his interest, and he immediately thought of the evolution of the status of house-elves, which could be explained by the concept of "cognitive memory being transformed into magic."

The wizarding community's understanding of house-elves gradually solidified into a collective memory over time, and these memories converged to form an invisible yet powerful magical force.

The core function of this magic is to shape concepts. It not only makes more and more wizards accept that house-elves should be slaves and regard exploitation as the norm, but it also permeates the consciousness of the house-elves themselves, making them accept this concept and willingly live as slaves, even regarding the master's approval as the highest pursuit.

However, not all wizards were affected by this magic.

A minority like Hermione have always believed that the idea that house-elves are slaves is wrong, and their understanding of treating house-elves equally is quietly gathering into another faint magical force.

Dobby is the embodiment of this power. It breaks free from the constraints of traditional ideas, dares to pursue freedom, and becomes a unique existence among the house-elves.

Unfortunately, there are far too few wizards who hold this progressive view, and this magical power is too weak. So far, among the vast population of house-elves, it seems that only Dobby has truly broken free from the shackles of this concept.

This perspective, which equates to magic, was incredibly insightful, and Dylan's thoughts drifted involuntarily to another, deeper question—the origins of wizards and Muggles.

He had previously discussed with Ravenclaw the idea that after the birth of humanity, individuals sensitive to magical energy would become wizards, while those less sensitive would become Muggles.

However, it now seems that this statement has overlooked a crucial premise: since the birth of this world, there have been traces of magic, that is, the marks left by the gods in legends. These may be the energy fluctuations in mountains and rivers, or the magical logic behind natural phenomena.

The true origin may be this: early humans accidentally discovered these divine marks and developed a strong curiosity and desire to explore the unknown magical power.

This yearning, as a pure emotional energy, is transmitted and converged among countless individuals, ultimately forming a powerful magical force.

It was this power that awakened the human soul's ability to perceive magic, allowing some to be the first to master the methods of using magic, thus giving rise to the wizarding community.

This association is undoubtedly revolutionary, and Dylan is well aware that for most wizards who adhere to traditional beliefs, such an origin story would be difficult to accept.

However, based on his long-term research on the soul, this conjecture is highly logical. In his view, there is no distinction between high and low in human souls, and there is no difference between those who are naturally suited to magic and those who are naturally averse to magic. The only difference is the depth of their exploration of soul energy.

Even without actively exploring the connection between the soul and magic, humans can still achieve remarkable accomplishments in fields such as art and science by leveraging the potential of their own souls, regardless of whether they possess magical abilities.

The very space where the system taught him magic became excellent evidence.

As knowledge and magic became more profound, Dylan realized a crucial issue: the wisdom contained in magic did not come solely from the wizarding community, but encompassed the cognition and memory of all humankind. Whether it was the magical theories of wizards or the scientific discoveries of Muggles, they could all be found in the system space.

This further confirms the view that the human soul has no hierarchy and that cognition converges to form magic.

This stimulating association prompted Dylan to immediately write it down as a direction for further in-depth research.

In his view, the best way to verify this conjecture is to try to artificially create a group of magical creatures. If a completely new group of magical creatures can be created in reality by guiding the collective cognition of mankind, and the corresponding biological light and shadow can be observed, then the logic of cognitive memory being transformed into magic can be directly proven.

In fact, he himself is researching whether it is possible to create a new species. Coincidentally, a special wizard he is currently monitoring may become the key to this experiment.

However, the preparation for this experiment is extremely complex. It requires precise guidance of cognitive direction, control of energy convergence intensity, and design of magical imprints in biological form. Each step needs to be repeatedly debugged and improved before the experiment can be officially launched.

After all, such special wizards are extremely rare, and finding a second similar experimental subject would be extremely difficult, leaving no room for error.

After organizing his experimental notes in the map room, Dylan walked up the castle stairs to the common lounge.

As he passed the second-floor corridor, a cacophony of shouts and screams drifted in through the open window. He instinctively stopped and turned to look out the window. The surface of the Black Lake shimmered, and Durmstrang's iconic magic ship was moored not far from the shore. From this window, he could clearly see the ship's hull as it approached the shore.

At this moment, the magic ship was in a strange swaying motion, sometimes tilting to the left and sometimes violently rocking to the right, with no discernible pattern. The "splashing" sound of the ship hitting the water could be heard continuously, and even the distant lake surface was rippled with turbidity.

Dylan immediately concluded that the ship was not encountering natural wind and waves, but was being attacked by underwater creatures. After all, the force and frequency of the ship's swaying clearly indicated that some creature was continuously hitting or dragging it underwater.

Thinking back to how he had interacted with the light and shadow of Grindelwald and the mermaids using magic just hours before, and even left magical marks, Dylan was instantly intrigued.

Based on his newly derived conclusion that there are energy channels that influence each other between the real world and that world, a thought popped into his mind: could the attack that Durmstrang's magic ship is currently experiencing be a chain reaction triggered by his experiment?
Perhaps the magical influence on those lights and shadows has been transmitted through the energy channels to aquatic creatures in reality, altering their behavior patterns.

To get a better view, Dylan quickly walked through the corridor and circled around to the lake shore from the side door of the castle.

From a different angle, the other side of the magic ship was fully exposed: dozens of Grindylo were gathered below the hull. Their skin was a deep murky green, almost blending into the color of the lake weeds. Their surfaces were covered in slippery slime, and three sharp black horns protruded from their heads. Half of their bodies were submerged in the water, and their forelimbs were gripping the ship's planks tightly, pulling together to one side in an attempt to capsize the ship.

On the deck, a dozen or so students dressed in Durmstrang's dark blue uniforms were holding wands and constantly releasing attack spells. Some shot out orange-red sparks, some waved their wands to release rope-like binding spells, and some tried to trap Grindelwald underwater with a water prison spell.

But each time the magic was about to hit its target, a sharp cry would come from the distant lake, like a command from some kind of creature.

Dylan looked in the direction of the sound and saw more than a dozen mermaids floating on the water about 20 meters away from the large ship.

Their skin is grayish-blue, their scales gleam coldly in the sunlight, and when they open their lips, you can see a mouthful of sharp teeth.

Whenever a Durmstrang student casts a spell, the mermaid will rapidly open and close its mouth to make a sound. Upon hearing the command, Grindelwald reacts immediately, either diving into the water to dodge the magic or pressing himself against the hull to make the attack miss.

The mermaids didn't just give orders; they also launched attacks. Several mermaids bent down and scooped up fist-sized stones or angular shells from the lake bottom, then stretched out their arms and hurled them at the deck. Other mermaids held slender loba worms in their forepaws. These worms had bodies like dried vines with a round, venomous sac at the end, making them quite peculiar.

The mermaid squeezed the venom sac tightly, causing the Loba worm to open its mouthparts and spray out pale green venom. Although most of the venom landed on the edge of the deck, a few drops still splashed onto the ship's side, leaving dark corrosive marks that forced the students to dodge.

In the short few minutes that Dylan observed, the conflict continued to escalate, with a dozen more Durmstrang students rushing out of the cabin. Some joined the attack, while others carried planks from the storage room in an attempt to reinforce the ship's hull, which had been scratched and deformed by Greendillo.

Meanwhile, the Hogwarts students in the castle also began to notice the anomaly at the Black Lake. Many of them ran out of the castle with their books in their hands and gathered along the cobblestone path by the lake, quickly forming a crowd of onlookers. They stood on tiptoe to look into the distance and whispered about the chaotic scene before them.

To quickly find out the cause of the conflict, Dylan knew that asking Hufflepuff students would be the best option. Students from this house were known for their keen observation skills and exceptional knowledge of everyday life both on and off campus.

He scanned the crowd and quickly spotted Ernie McMillan, who was talking to several classmates while pointing at the lake.

Dylan strode over and waved to Ernie: "Ernie, hello. Do you know what's going on at Black Lake? How did Durmstrang's ship get attacked by these creatures?"

Ernie McMillan turned around and saw Dylan. He then recounted what he had just heard: "I just heard from the lake ranger that about half an hour ago, some mermaids surfaced and started singing. Some Durmstrang students found it amusing and threw pebbles into the water, mocking the mermaids' singing as sounding like broken gongs. The mermaids got annoyed and first gave a warning cry, but the students ignored it and continued to jeer. As a result, the mermaids summoned Greendylo and Loba worms, and they started attacking their boat. That's how things escalated."

“But to be honest, it was really strange listening to those mermaids sing just now.” Ernie McMillan scratched his head, his tone carrying a hint of genuine confusion. “It wasn’t exactly pleasant to listen to, but I could vaguely make out a few syllables that sounded like lyrics, but there were also strange cries that sounded like wild beasts roaring in between, making it completely out of tune.”

Dylan added, following his lead, "It must be related to the current environment. It's afternoon now, and most of the water vapor on the surface of the Black Lake has evaporated. Mermaids need enough water vapor as a 'transmission medium' to remain clear. If there isn't enough water vapor, the sound will become distorted, resulting in what you described as a mix of lyrics and strange cries."

“No wonder!” Ernie exclaimed, then added, “It’s probably because the singing was so awful that Durmstrang’s students got impatient and wanted to chase the mermaid back into the water to avoid listening to that strange noise any longer.”

He paused, then frowned and added, "But having been at Hogwarts for so long, I don't recall mermaids ever surfacing to sing on their own initiative, let alone gathering together to sing."

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like it.” A gentle and familiar voice suddenly came from behind.

Dylan and Ernie turned around simultaneously, only to see Headmaster Dumbledore strolling towards them, his white beard gleaming softly. (End of Chapter)