Hogwarts: Starting with full Unforgivable Curses

“Suppose this snowball is a shield made using alchemy,” he said, pointing to the snowball. “Next, using this ‘shield’ as the core, cast the Ironclad Charm on it. What effect do you think will occur?”

He paused, then continued, "Based on my calculations, casting this spell will transform the Ironclad Charm from an invisible barrier into a tangible protective structure, and the material will be similar to an 'alchemical shield.' The specific effect will be roughly like this—"

"Armor protection!"

Dylan whispered the spell, pressed the tip of his wand against the snowball, and then gently swiped it downwards.

A pale blue magical light surged from the tip of the staff, enveloping the entire snowball. A few seconds later, the light dissipated, and a round shield, similar in color to the snowball, appeared before him.

This shield not only matches the color of the snowball, but its surface texture also has the rough feel of accumulated snow, as if it were sculpted directly from ice and snow.

Upon seeing this, Hibiscus instinctively took a deep breath, her eyes widening involuntarily with surprise. Although she knew Dylan was very talented in magic, she hadn't expected him to be able to transform the ideas in his paper into actual spellcasting so quickly, and even demonstrate the innovative effects on the spot.

“Sorry, since this demonstration uses snow as a makeshift material, the effect is rather rough.” Dylan said, raising his wand and gently stabbing it at the shield. The tip of the wand easily pierced the shield, and the snow fell down. “After all, it’s just ordinary snow, without any real alchemical purification and reinforcement, so its strength is naturally much weaker. If proper alchemical materials were used, the protective effect would be much better.”

"That's already quite outstanding." Furong came back to her senses, her tone carrying a hint of forced composure, but the surprise in her eyes hadn't completely faded.

She seemed to want to continue the topic, and quickly added, "Dylan, did you see any similar magical practice methods in the Hogwarts library before? I'd like to find some more information to study them in more depth."

“No, not really.” Dylan shook his head slightly and said frankly, “It’s probably because I like to ponder the principles of magic, so when I encounter a spell, I always subconsciously try to break it down from multiple angles and try different ways of using it. This time, it was a combination method that came to me by chance.”

Seeing that Dylan and Fleur had completely gotten into the conversation about magic, Anthony, who was not far away, quickly pulled Chris and Terry back a few steps to avoid disturbing their discussion.

"Do you guys remember?" He blinked and lowered his voice, "The initial topic was invitations to the Christmas ball, how did it all turn into a magic seminar?"

“Who cares about ball invitations now?” Terry shrugged helplessly, his tone tinged with a hint of teasing. “Only Dylan could talk about everything from dance invitations to alchemical innovations—indeed, in his eyes, magic is always more attractive than balls.”

After Defense Against the Dark Arts, the next class is Protecting Magical Creatures.

The course on protecting magical creatures has always been primarily based on outdoor practical activities.

Students are required to take care of various magical creatures themselves, making each class a fresh and exciting experience.

As soon as Dylan and Harry stepped into the hunting grounds, a warm feeling washed over them.

Unlike the cold wind outside, the air inside the hunting grounds carried the warmth of the campfire, instantly allowing people to shed the constraints of their heavy coats.

Looking around, a dozen or so campfires were scattered in the center of the hunting ground, with orange-red flames leaping around, and several fire lizards curled up in each fire.

Their bodies gleam with a warm golden luster, and their scales reflect a shimmering light in the firelight. Occasionally, a gentle flick of their tails will stir up a small cluster of sparks, but they will not ignite the surrounding firewood.

Not far away, Hagrid was standing by the fence carrying a wicker basket. Seeing the students coming in one after another, he immediately waved his large, fan-like hand and shouted in a gruff voice, "Come in quickly! Today's class is not easy, so pay attention!"

Dylan remembered that they had encountered salamanders last school year.

The task at the time was to collect dry oak branches to keep the campfire burning and thus keep the salamanders alive, as these creatures would become listless once they were removed from the heat source.

Today, Hagrid is clearly going to increase the difficulty: "Before, we just kept them active, but today we have to go a step further and extract blood from the fire lizards. This blood is an important material, so we have to be gentle and not hurt them."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hagrid beckoned to Dylan: "Dylan, come here. I'll teach you how to soothe them first. You can demonstrate the blood-drawing procedure so everyone can see the standard movements."

Dylan stepped forward and watched as Hagrid extended his rough palm and gently placed it on the back of a salamander. The salamander, which had been slightly agitated, instantly calmed down, and even the luster of its scales softened.

"You have to touch them in the direction their scales grow, don't use too much force, make them feel safe," Hagrid explained, gesturing for Dylan to take the specially made silver lancet.

Following the instructions, Dylan gently pricked the base of the salamander's tail, and clear blood flowed into the glass bottle through the syringe. The salamander did not struggle at all during the entire process.

During the demonstration, Dylan could clearly feel that many girls around him were looking at him.

The gaze was intensely hot, more scorching than the campfire beside him, causing him to instinctively quicken his movements.

After the demonstration, Hagrid distributed the glass bottles from the basket to each student and divided them into groups of five, requiring each person to draw blood by hand.

Dylan, carrying his own glass bottle, walked with Harry and the others to a campfire near the fence. Just as they put their things down, a girl wearing a Hufflepuff yellow and black school uniform came over.

The girl clutched the hem of her dress, her cheeks slightly flushed. After hesitating for a few seconds, she finally spoke: "Dylan, um... the Christmas ball, would you like to come with me?"

Dylan was already used to such invitations. He smiled politely and said, "I'm sorry, I'm still considering my dance partner. Thank you."

The girl's eyes dimmed instantly. She said, "It's okay," and then slowly left with her head down.

As soon as she left, her roommates immediately surrounded her, making jokes all at once.

Just then, Harry suddenly changed the subject, staring curiously at Dylan: "By the way, Dylan, you said you wanted to invite someone, could it be Luna? I've seen you two getting quite close."

Upon hearing this, the others immediately fell silent, all turning to look at Dylan with barely concealed curiosity in their eyes.

Dylan tilted his head: "Among the girls I know, she's probably the only one who's free, or maybe it's Ginny?"

"I think Ginny is pretty good."

Meanwhile, other groups in the hunting grounds had completed their blood-collecting tasks. All everyone needed to do was keep the campfire burning to ensure the fire lizards wouldn't lose their vitality due to the drop in temperature.

The students gathered in small groups to chat.

Dylan blinked as he listened to the others chatting.

Christmas dances have so many deeper meanings?

Shouldn't I be more careful about extending invitations?
Should we prepare some small gifts in advance?
Or should we first confirm if Ginny has anyone else who wants to come along? Hagrid had just finished collecting all the glass bottles containing salamander blood when the school bell rang.

Harry stood up, turned around, and warmed his back against the campfire.

When I was squatting on the ground to collect blood, my back got covered in snow, which has now dried.

Harry looked around and suddenly realized someone was missing: "Hey? Where's Dylan? I just saw him packing up his tools, how did he disappear in the blink of an eye?"

Dylan asked around and found out that Ginny's last class in the morning was herbalism, so he rushed over.

Not long after, Ginny stepped out of the greenhouse.

Her eyes lit up when she saw Dylan.

"Brother Dylan! What brings you here? Did something happen?" she asked.

"Ginny, I need a dance partner for the Christmas ball. Would you be willing to come with me?"

“Hmm…” Ginny blinked, seemingly understanding his meaning instantly. Her originally fair cheeks flushed red at a visible speed, even the tips of her ears turned pink, and the corners of her mouth quietly turned up.

"Of course!"

By mid-December, the weather in the Scottish Highlands had finally stabilized, though mostly overcast skies.

Most of the time, the sky is covered by thick clouds, a hazy gray, and today is no exception.

Only when a gust of wind whips up the clouds, causing them to churn across the sky, can a few rays of golden sunlight peek through the gaps, briefly illuminating the spire of Hogwarts Castle and the snow-covered ground, bringing a fleeting warmth.

Instead of returning to the castle as usual, Dylan walked slowly along the outer wall of the castle towards the Forbidden Forest behind it.

He walked slowly, his gaze occasionally sweeping over the bushes and snow along the roadside.

The fresh air carried the chill unique to winter, and as a gentle breeze blew by, fine snowflakes immediately began to fall from the sky.

The snowflakes, like light feathers, slowly fell from the clouds, forming a flowing "stage" in the invisible sky. Some snowflakes intertwined and swept densely over the stone walls of the castle, while others drifted alone, leisurely flying towards the Forbidden Forest, as if performing a silent dance.

When he has free time lately, he likes to take walks around, which helps him relax.

Since Professor McGonagall announced the Christmas Ball, Hogwarts Castle has been more than twice as lively as it has been in previous years.

In the corridors and restaurants, students could be seen in groups of three or five discussing the dance, and even the noise during breaks was louder than usual.

The most obvious change is among the girls.

In the past, people usually went in twos and threes, but now small groups of five, six or even seven or eight people often appear, moving around the campus in groups.

This scene put a lot of pressure on many boys. Whenever a boy wanted to invite a girl to dance, he would feel the collective scrutiny from the group of girls as soon as he got close. Those probing and teasing looks made many boys who had mustered up their courage instantly back down and could only awkwardly make excuses to leave.

Besides the large number of girls, a string of rumors about the dance also emerged on campus.

Some say that Dumbledore ordered thousands of barrels of mead from the tavern in Diagon Alley to make the ball more lively, enough for the entire school to drink until the New Year; others have even told vivid stories about it.

Dumbledore ordered an astonishing amount of sweets. According to what he called "reliable information from the staff of Honeydukes," the Honeydukes warehouse was almost emptied of chocolate frogs, licorice wands, and sizzling honey candies in preparation for the ball, and even the sour popcorn, which was not usually easy to sell, was almost gone.

However, these rumors were quickly debunked by Hufflepuff's students.

Several Hufflepuff students who were responsible for assisting the kitchen in preparing ingredients revealed in a conversation with their classmates that they had specifically asked the house-elves in the kitchen and also confirmed with the owner of Honeydukes that most of the rumors were false, and the only purpose was to exaggerate the extravagance of the Christmas ball and persuade more students who originally planned to go home to change their minds and stay at school.

After all, the more people stay on campus, the higher the chances of finding a dance partner.

That noon, the atmosphere in the restaurant was more lively than usual.

At the Ravenclaw table, Michael Corner saw Anthony Goldstein walk back dejectedly and immediately approached him, asking anxiously, "How did it go, Anthony? Did you manage to talk to Linnie? Did you get the invitation?"

Anthony walked to his seat, rubbed his hair in frustration, and sighed heavily: "It failed. She had already agreed to be someone else's dance partner."

"Who is her dance partner?" Michael pressed, a hint of speculation in his eyes. "Could it be Andrew Kirk from Gryffindor? I've seen them together in the library before."

"You!" Anthony jerked his head up, glaring at Michael, his hand already in his pocket, pulling out his wand, the tip pointing at Michael, his tone filled with anger, "You knew about this all along? Why didn't you tell me beforehand?"

"Put your wand down! Let me explain!" Michael quickly raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, his voice urgent as he tried to explain, "I only found out this morning! I heard it from Justin of Hufflepuff—Zakaris Smith told Andrew that Linnie was looking for a dance partner, and Andrew rushed to invite her. As for Linnie wanting a dance partner, I only heard it from Zacharys; I had no idea he had told anyone else!"

“Zakaris?” Anthony frowned, raising an eyebrow with a hint of doubt. He stood up and looked towards the Hufflepuff table, as if confirming something. “You mean that Zacharias Smith who’s always asking for information?”

“Yes! That’s him!” Michael nodded quickly.

On the Gryffindor side, the people around Dylan were also constantly discussing it.

George pressed Dylan, "Dylan, even though you've found a dance partner, things shouldn't be like this, right? It's only been a few days, why hasn't anyone invited you yet? This is so strange!"

He paused, his tone full of confusion: "You completed the first event of the Triwizard Tournament all by yourself. Whether it's courage or magical strength, you're better than many people. You should have had a few girls invite you to the ball. How could you be so quiet like this?"

Just as Dylan was about to explain, a girl's voice suddenly came from beside him: "Fred, do you know if Dylan is free right now? I have something I want to talk to him about."

Upon hearing this, George's eyes widened in surprise. He glanced at Dylan beside him, then rubbed his eyes vigorously to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. His mouth gaped open, wide enough to fit an egg, as he looked at the girl in astonishment. He had just been saying no one was looking for Dylan, and now someone had come knocking on his door. (End of Chapter)