Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 165 Artificial Creatures

These terrifying creatures, which were at the top of the food chain on Earth before the complete rise of wizards, are absolute villains and the most ferocious big bosses in all wizard and Muggle legends!

Moreover, the six fire dragons that the wizard families sent earlier were known for their ferocity and brutality, even among fire dragons.

As Vaughn climbed down the ladder beside the oak tree, he heard several werewolves howling and wailing.

A Hungarian wood wasp that was originally restrained by a huge chain somehow broke free from the chain on one of its front claws and the bit on its mouth.

Its thorns stood on end, and its freed front paw scratched and slapped at the nearby werewolf cage.

Vaughn clearly saw that one of the iron cages that was closest to him had been completely flattened by the immense force provided by the dragon's huge size, and sticky flesh and blood were "squeezed" out from the deformed grille.

The werewolf inside was obviously dead.

Several werewolves nearby cried and screamed in terror, but what could they do against a fire dragon that was at least 15 feet tall?
Even if they had their wands, let alone now that they've been confiscated, they might not be a match for the fire dragon!
So, when they saw Vaughn walking towards them from afar...

Just two days ago, this group of guys were terrified of Vaughn, secretly cursing him and wishing him dead, but now they were shouting for him as if they had seen a savior:
"Help! Mr. Weasley, please help us!"

"Merlin, this is wonderful! Mr. Weasley is back! We're saved!"

Several werewolves wept with joy, and some even shouted:
"Kill it! Kill that damned lizard, it murdered your lab rat!"

Then, they were muted by Vaughn...

Noisy!

The werewolves' unusual behavior and the fluctuations in magic alerted the Hungarian thorn bee that had broken free of its restraints; its head, neck, and tail were vibrating rapidly with dense, high-frequency thorns.

Turn around slowly.

His menacing, vertical pupils suddenly narrowed to slits the moment he saw Vaughn.

Then, the monster, which had been furiously attacking the werewolf just a moment ago, cowered back a few steps, growling as it slowly crouched down.

It was afraid, it was giving in...

Dragons are not just fools who only know how to destroy and kill; they are actually very intelligent and social creatures. Within their groups, they will obey the stronger individuals.

This socialized behavior also extends to interactions with people outside the ethnic group.

As long as they feel fear!
The Hungarian wood wasp's fear was clearly rooted in the corpses of three dead dragons not far away—

Those are three types of dragons in the fire dragon race that are almost as ferocious as the Hungarian wood bee.

The closest one to the tree bee was a rather ferocious-looking fire dragon, larger than the tree bee, at least 30 feet long, with huge, shimmering golden horns on its head.

Romanian horned dinosaur.

It is the only fire dragon that doesn't breathe fire much, but instead prefers to use its horns to pierce enemies or prey.

Beside it lay another dragon corpse, which appeared much smaller in comparison. It was completely dissected from its mouth to its neck and then to its chest cavity, with all sorts of organs fully exposed and some inexplicable liquid leaking from its internal organs.

Wherever it went, the grass withered.

It is the Peruvian venomous fanged dragon, the kind of dragon that infected the wizard with dragonpox (or some strange wizard who did something strange and intimate with it, causing the dragonpox outbreak).

To the side lay the last, more thoroughly disintegrated dragon corpse, its shape indistinguishable. A ghostly blue flame hovered above the mass of rotting flesh, radiating intense light and scorching heat.

Swedish short-nosed dragon!
Three dragon corpses are the best deterrent!
Vaughn glanced at the tree bee that had retreated, quieted down again, and even buried its head in its wings, but ignored it and instead called on the system.

[Host: Vaughn Weasley]

[Magic Scale: 594 (500 for an ordinary adult wizard)]

【天赋：魔咒学8、黑魔法6、变形术8、魔药学10、草药学6、炼金术6、占卜学2 (满值为10)】

【魔咒：大脑封闭术LV5(MAX)、铁甲咒LV5(MAX)、缴械咒LV5(MAX)、飞走咒LV5（MAX）……摄神取念LV3(21/32)、幻身咒LV3（11/16）、神锋无影LV3（6/24）、幻影移（显）形LV3（9/24）……】

【诅咒：复生咒LV1（1/4）、枯萎咒LV1（0/4）……觉醒咒LV0（1/3）、岁月咒LV2（7/24）……】

Ancient Magic: Soul Stealing Charm LV0 (1/4)

[Alchemy Level 0 (5/20)]

[Potions: "Vaughn Beauty" series, "Vaughn Hair" series, Wolfsbane Potion, etc....]

【Reputation Points: 20】

Side Quest 3: Research all the magic of the fire dragons and figure out their basic principles (in progress)

【Progress: 3/10】

[Reward: 100 Magic Scales, Spell Development Module]

"The progress is a bit slow..."

Looking at the mission information at the end of the panel, Vaughn frowned slightly.

Snapped!
Vaughn snapped his fingers, and the three dragon corpses of different shapes floated over from afar.

Beside the lab bench behind him, a stack of parchment flew to Vaughn's face and spread out in front of him, rustling as it was turned over.

The data recorded on it was derived from the analysis of the three-headed dragon.

Vaughn's complaint about the slow pace wasn't because he was slow himself—the experimental method he designed when researching werewolves, while demanding high levels of magical skill and a large amount of Muggle equipment, had the advantage of being repeatable.

In other words, by summarizing a relatively universal solution from just one or two or three materials, this solution can be applied to other materials.

Moreover, Vaughn also broke down the entire experimental process.

Experiments that attempt to completely replicate a living organism have a high error rate. After all, even within the same species, there are differences in the body, such as the direction of blood vessels and organ variations.

However, Vaughn innovatively used a modular approach, breaking down the human body into different "systems." For parts with low variability between individuals, approximate values ​​can be used to train a general solution that can be automatically processed.

For example, skin, loose connective tissue, bones, and some internal organs, while other easily variable parts such as blood vessels and lymph nodes rely on artificial correction.

This meant that Vaughn's experimental progress was not actually slow. Apart from the first fire dragon, which was dissected little by little as a reference material, the remaining two dragons were largely processed by the automation of the modules.

Fire dragons are very interesting.

It wasn't until he actually started researching that Vaughn observed that the similarities between different fire dragons were very similar. Although they belonged to different groups, it seemed that all fire dragons had a very strong tendency towards similarity in their body tissue structure.

The six fire dragons he currently possesses have scales and skins that are all roughly the same in composition and structure.

The most common organ displacement and other variations in humans seem to occur very rarely in fire dragons. Even among different species of fire dragons, the organs only differ in size, with very few changes in shape.

Given this similarity, the reason Vaughn felt it was slow was because the differences in the aspects that magic could influence among the fire dragons were extremely large!
The rustling of the parchment suddenly stopped, revealing several dissected diagrams recorded with an automatic quill pen.

Romanian longhornosaur, Swedish short-snout saurus, Peruvian venomous fang saurus...

While these three types of dragons share a high degree of similarity in other parts, their unique features have developed completely different characteristics, enough to warrant their own separate names.

The horns of a longhorned dinosaur.

The venom of the Venomous Fang Dragon.

There's also the unique flames of the short-nosed dragon, and the way it breathes fire from its nose.

This kind of anomaly can no longer be considered a mutation; it's more like these dragons are developing in different directions purposefully, following some strange guidance.

"The variation of life should not be purposeful; it is even meaningless. What makes variation purposeful and meaningful is natural selection..."

Vaughn murmured softly.

This passage is a fundamental concept in Muggle modern evolutionary theory: in the development of life, variation accompanies every life. It is random in itself, and there may only be one individual until "natural selection" allows it to survive and reproduce.

If we could conduct a study on the differentiation of fire dragons, we could almost certainly say that the 10 existing branches of fire dragons must have originated from one or more mutations long ago.

Then the problem is coming...

Why did this mutation persist and even branch out?
According to Muggle evolution theory, what kind of natural selection did Longhornosaurus, Venomosaurus, Short-nosed Sauropoda, and other fire-breathing dragons face to differentiate into so many unique directions?

To put it more simply, according to evolutionary theory, there is the concept of convergent evolution among organisms, meaning that predators and predators evolve together and "progress" together.

What exactly is it that forces the fire dragons to improve together?

First, we can rule out the role of fire dragon as a "predator" because, from the perspective of the current natural world, fire dragon itself is the most powerful predator, with a very diverse diet. They prey on almost all kinds of creatures and there is no specific prey that can force them to evolve in a similar way.

Therefore, only one possibility remains.

During the evolution of modern fire dragons, there was a very long period in which they were in a "prey" position, with one or more creatures being their natural enemies!
The dragons that have horns, unique flames, and potent venom today are all differentiated to fight off their natural enemies.

Yes, this is a world with magic. Simply applying Muggle theories may not be appropriate, but then again, since magic is an objective phenomenon, it must also follow objective laws.

Just like the evolution of life, no magical evolution in nature can appear out of thin air.

So what Vaughn is curious about is, what else could possibly be the natural enemy of a fire dragon?
In the natural world today, powerful and magical creatures like the phoenix are virtually impossible, because their habitats are not strongly correlated, and there is no basis for convergent evolution between fire dragons and them.

Wizards are also unlikely; the timescale is too small. The magical world has clear historical records showing that wizards only reached the top of the food chain more than 2000 years ago. More than 2000 years is obviously not enough to support the evolution of life.

unless……

Vaughn looked into the distance at the tree bees that had quieted down and were secretly watching him like kittens, snorting ingratiatingly.

"...Unless, you are not creatures of this world at all, but a species that 'migrated' from another world?"

An idea popped into Vaughn's mind.

This is not a far-fetched explanation.

Rather, it was a question he had considered after entering the "ether" with Dumbledore at the beginning of the year and learning about the relevant knowledge of the ether.

Ether is another form of the universe, distinct from the clear-cut reality, where there are no concepts of time or space.

In theory, we can encounter the ether in the past, present, and future, including Earth, Mars, and even more distant extraterrestrial planets.

Therefore, it seems not impossible that at some point in ancient times, some fire dragons migrated to Earth via the ether.

In fact, this scope could be expanded even further.

How did magic originate on Earth? Is it also related to ether?

Could it be... from another world as well?

"You're thinking a bit too far ahead!"

Vaughn shook his head, pulling his wandering thoughts back.

Seemingly sensing his renewed attention, the tree wasp wagged its tail and gently brought its enormous head closer, a deep, rumbling sound rolling through its thick neck.

Vaughn thought of fruit tea.

He reached out and touched the hard stinger on the tree bee's head. It narrowed its vertical pupils, and its 5-6 ton body flipped over with a thud, exposing its belly.

Vaughn chuckled:

"Cunning guy!"

……

"The heart is the part of the dragon with the highest homogeneity. Unlike humans, where it is difficult to observe the storage and operation of magic, dragons have a large amount of magic in their blood. Their powerful hearts pump large amounts of blood to deliver nutrients to their bodies, which are at least 25 feet long, while also being responsible for inducing the generation and delivery of magic."

"Through dissection and in vivo testing, it has been found that the hearts of the four types of fire dragons possess a unique structure compared to other organisms (mainly humans). When the heart muscle contracts and stretches, it secretes a substance surrounded by cloud-like electron-dense clusters. Current observations indicate that this substance can induce the fire dragon's blood to produce a large amount of magical power..."

"Due to limitations in experimental equipment, the detailed mechanism by which the fire dragon's magic power is generated is not yet clear..."

"Similar to the generation of magic, the application of magic by fire dragons is also biological. Take the Swedish short-nosed dragon as an example; it has evolved a complete set of magical organs, from its lungs to its throat to its nasal cavity. These organs are surrounded by abundant blood vessels, and large amounts of magically rich blood gather and circulate within them… Blood circulation is fundamental to the fire dragon's ability to perform magic!" "At the same time, it also possesses certain ritualistic functions. The magical organs of the Swedish short-nosed dragon exhibit an astonishingly complex structure. According to live magical testing, the trajectory of blood circulation within these organs displays a ritualistic quality similar to a wizard waving a wand…"

The quill pen stopped recording here, and Vaughn looked at the magical organ "disassembled" from the Swedish short-nosed dragon on the experimental table in front of him—something that looked like a cluster of nerves.

……

When Lupin came down the ladder from the oak tree, he saw a ferocious fire dragon lying on the ground like a puppy, its belly exposed, cuddling with Vaughn.

His lips twitched a few times as he looked at the tree wasp, then at the dissected longhornosaur, short-nosed saurus, and venomous fang saurus not far away, and a Ukrainian iron-belly saurus that looked very fresh, as if it had only been dead for a short time.

He suddenly understood why the tree wasp was so obsequious.

"Remus, what's the matter?"

Vaughn stroked the tree bee's belly and greeted him.

Lupin, disregarding the shock of the absurd scene before him, replied, "Mr. Chairman, the Royal Mary has arrived in Boston."

"After we disembark, there are two things I need you to attend to. First, Mr. Akimbad is preparing to hold a press conference at his hotel this evening, and the Federation delegation has informed me that you have agreed to attend..."

In the suite area corridor, Lupin, carrying a suitcase, followed closely behind Vaughn, reporting to him as he went.

Vaughn nodded: "Yes, I did promise dear Babajid. By the way, you'll be with me then."

"Yes."

Lu Ping replied that it was his duty to accompany the chairman.

However, this raises a question.

After a moment's hesitation, Lupin tentatively asked, "What about Dolores Umbridge? According to the rules, she should also represent the Ministry of Magic and accompany you."

"what……"

To be honest, Vaughn was momentarily stunned before realizing who he was talking about: "How many days have passed since she turned into a toad?"

"Seven days, Mr. Chairman!"

Lupin answered, turning to look behind him. Among the many wealthy Muggles, also surrounded by their retinues and preparing to disembark, were two oddly dressed, conspicuous fellows.

It was Kingsley and Nymphadora.

When Lupin arrived at Vaughn's suite, he encountered two men who were lying in ambush outside the suite, seemingly hoping to "coincidentally" run into Vaughn while disembarking.

They simply couldn't wait any longer!
Especially Kingsley.

Seven days is not a long time, but during those seven days, Kingsley endured tremendous pressure, the source of which, needless to say, was the respected, fragile, and sensitive Mr. Fudge!
In fact, Kingsley originally wanted to cover up the fact that Umbridge had turned into a toad. He even made a special instruction to the other members of the Auror squad, just in case the news got back and the minister got angry and caused trouble.

But he overestimated his prestige.

John Dexter, a seemingly brainless man who only knew how to throw tantrums, secretly relayed the message back to England that very day.

No one knows when Mr. Delix joined Cornelius Fudge's side, perhaps it was through this opportunity to secretly pass messages?

In any case, the day after the incident, the Auror squad on the Royal Mary received a reprimand letter personally written by Fudge.

In his letter, Fudge hurled insults at every Auror except for Drax!

Of course, things don't end there.

Kingsley also overestimated Fudge's character (although he had tried his best to underestimate him)!
Who turned Umbridge into a toad?

Vaughan Weasley!
So, does Mr. Fudge have the ability to cause trouble for Vaughn Weasley?
Anyone who works at the Ministry of Magic knows that the Minister doesn't have that ability... including Fudge himself!
The question is, will Fudge, who has no way to confront the culprit, swallow this insult?
How can it be!

The Minister of Magic, if he can't handle Vaughn Weasley, can't he handle an Auror?
So he chose to take his anger out on others!
During those seven days, the Shackle family's businesses suffered a major setback, with several apothecaries located in Knockturn Alley and other wizarding enclaves being investigated by the Office for the Prohibition of Misuse of Magic.

Some businesses located in Muggle communities were even shut down by the Reversal of Chance Events team because a few wizards happened to be causing trouble.

The related reports even made it into The Daily Prophet, and naturally, no one mentioned why only the Shackle family's businesses had such a troubled fate.

Just two days ago, at the press conference announcing the Ministry of Magic's "Investigation of Dark Magic Items" decree, Fudge, when asked about the matter by a reporter, stated righteously that under the circumstances of the decree's introduction, it was imperative to investigate whether the shops involved had committed any illegal acts, and that there would be no leniency!

That day, Kingsley felt powerless for the first time as he looked at the newspaper.

It must be pointed out that not all of the 28 Sacred Tribes possess sufficient political and economic power to protect themselves.

The Gaunt family, who didn't even have the money to repair their ancestral home 40 years ago, is the most obvious example.

Similarly, although the Shakel family is also one of the 28 clans, the family's power is extremely weak. In fact, as an old pure-blood family, their connections in the magic world are quite ordinary.

If something like this happened to the Malfoy family, no matter how incompetent Lucius Malfoy was, he could still get a bunch of family members to stand up for him because of his family's connections.

The Shakel family could not do something like that.

In the crowd, Kingsley Shackler stood on tiptoe, watching Lupin and Vaughn's every move with anticipation.

This was almost his last hope. He had originally planned to find Vaughn directly and try to persuade him to turn Umbridge back to normal based on the relationship he had built up over the past period. The difference between the magic expiring and being released by Vaughn himself through his persuasion was completely different.

Only the latter can prove his efforts and then quell the minister's anger!
The former will only further enrage Fudge!
But Lupin stopped him. Compared to Kingsley, Lupin, who had spent a long time with Vaughn, understood his master's temperament better.

Although Vaughn may appear cold at times, he actually rarely takes drastic measures to punish others.

Once Vaughn takes action personally, it usually means that he has lost patience with one or more people.

Vaughn is terrifying when he loses patience.

About a month ago, the dark wizards in St. Ives who hid in a small building and died of old age under the curse of time were the most typical examples!
Apart from that, Vaughn's few attempts were mostly against Fudge and Umbridge.

One can imagine how much he resented these two men, how disgusted he was that even though Fudge was the Minister of Magic, he was still thrown out of the Wizengamot Chamber by Vaughn, and how disgusted he was that Umbridge, a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic, was turned into a toad by Vaughn's wand before he could even finish speaking.

Lupin believed that this was still the result of Vaughn's restraint; if it weren't for the Ministry of Magic's involvement, Fudge and Umbridge might have "disappeared" long ago!

Under these circumstances, Kingsley wanted to ask Vaughn to remove the Transfiguration Curse... It wasn't that Lupin looked down on him, but he genuinely felt that Kingsley probably didn't have that much influence.

He had some acquaintance with Kingsley during the Wizarding Wars more than a decade ago (this was also Kingsley's survival strategy in the wizarding world—to have a wide circle of friends), and couldn't bear to see him incur Vaughn's disdain because of this, so he helped test the waters.

Lupin noticed Kingsley's expectant expression in the crowd.

Vaughn noticed it too.

He patted Lupin's arm with a half-smile: "Remus, when did you become a lobbyist?"

Although he was exposed, Lupin was actually relieved—at least Vaughn hadn't explicitly rejected him.

"Did Kingsley ask you to test my attitude?"

"No, Mr. Chairman, he would prefer to speak with you in person. I stopped him, but I promised to ask you about your attitude for him."

"Because of your past relationship?"

"Yes!"

"I do not believe."

Vaughn glanced at Kingsley, then at Lupin, a sly smile on his face that sent chills down Lupin's spine.

He always felt that Vaughn wasn't looking at Kingsley, but rather at Nymphadora Tonks, who was idly chewing gum next to Kingsley, her hair color changing constantly!

The name that flashed precisely into his mind made Lu Ping's face tighten and his ears burn. He tried to keep a straight face and said, "Whether you believe it or not, it's the truth... And what's your answer?"

As they spoke, the two followed the crowd out of the upper building and onto the deck.

A moist sea breeze blew in my face, but unlike the past few days, today's sea breeze had a fresher, earthy scent, like the grass after a rainstorm. After being away from land for seven days, the aroma was distinctly captured by my sense of smell.

Stepping out of the rather dimly lit upper building, the bright morning sunlight seemed a bit dazzling. Vaughn squinted for a moment to adjust.

When his vision returned, a city with a distinctly English feel came into view.

The brick-built dock, and rows of Victorian buildings, also made of brick and stone and painted in a blood-red hue, made Vaughn almost think he had arrived in a coastal city in England at first glance.

Clearly, he wasn't the only one with this impression.

"This looks a lot like England, doesn't it? When I first saw it, I thought the ship had been sailing around the British Isles for days and then brought us back to the North Sea!"

The deep, resonant voice told Vaughn who it was without him even turning around.

Akinbad!

The old wizard walked up to Vaughn, stretched lazily towards the sunlit city in the distance, and chuckled, "I can't wait to get back on land. After seven days, I've almost forgotten what it feels like to walk on mud... Child, come for a walk with me?"

Seemingly worried that Vaughn might make an excuse, he paused and added, "There are some things I need to discuss with you. Please rest assured, the promise we made last time will not change. Your people can go and meet up with the Federation delegation now."

Vaughn thought for a moment, then agreed and turned to Lupin, instructing him, "Remus, gather everyone and go with the Federation... take those Aurors with you, and tell Kingsley that I will see him after dinner and give him a chance to persuade me."

"Yes, Mr. Chairman."

Lupin's tone became lighter as he hurried away, heading towards Kingsley first.

Watching his retreating figure disappear into the distance, Akinbad casually asked, "Is it because of that witch you turned into a toad? To be honest, in my long political career, such idiots are extremely rare—trying to humiliate her own country's delegation by adjusting their accommodations. Does she think politics is like children throwing tantrums?"

Vaughn shrugged. How could a normal person possibly understand the brain circuits of an abstract being?

He didn't want to talk about these tiresome things anymore: "What do you want to communicate?"

Akinbad readily agreed, saying, "There's a lot to tell you. First, I need to inform you that I've decided to start my investigation in Boston, covering the entire New England region (the northeastern corner of the United States, named after its colonial past when it was under English influence). I'll arrive in New York in 10 days. In other words, the time I've agreed to grant you asylum is limited to these 10 days."

That's right.

The Federation cannot stand in the way of the WAC delegation indefinitely; after all, they still need to normalize relations with the North American homegrown powers.

Compared to the announced period of asylum, Vaughn was more interested in the direction of the investigation in Akinbad: "The Federation has decided to investigate the Purifiers first?"

Vaughn said this because the early European settlers in New England were Puritans who fled England.

These Puritans belonged to the extreme conservatives, and the emergence of the Puritans was closely related to the harsh religious laws they enacted and the series of witch hunts they launched.

The famous Salem witch trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts, in the New England region!
That is also the birthplace of the First Salem.

Upon hearing Vaughn's keen observation of the key point, Akinbad's dark face broke into a slight smile, which then turned serious again.

He nodded. "Yes, that's one of the things I wanted to discuss with you... Mr. Weasley, what are your thoughts on the Purifiers?"

Vaughn didn't answer; he knew Akinbad wasn't really asking him.

Sure enough, Akinbad continued, "When we read the memories together that night, I believe you understood what I meant: those Purifiers were not wizards!"

"In the past few days, I sent the memories back to the Federation headquarters. The headquarters summoned a large number of memory magicians and Muggle research scholars to analyze the scenes, characters, clothing, etc. The conclusion was that those purgers were very likely related to the Muggle government in North America!"

As he spoke, Akinbad kept an eye on Vaughn's expression.

As soon as he finished speaking, seeing that he didn't show any surprise, Akinbad's eyes flashed with understanding: "It seems you already knew."

Vaughn smiled and admitted, "That's right, they are indeed related to Muggles. I confirmed this suspicion late that night."

"So, I presume you are also aware of what the Muggles call biotechnology? Genetic engineering?"

Vaughn nodded and smiled, “The Muggle research scholar you found is quite reliable. Most wizards probably haven’t even heard of these phrases, let alone made the connection.”

"..."

Upon hearing Vaughn's approval, Akinbad's lips trembled, and his already serious face became even more terrifying.

He remained silent for a long while, and only after the two of them had descended the gangway did he speak, his voice somewhat hoarse:
"So, my feeling that day was right. They were creatures like fairies, elves, or even dragons and unicorns...? Man-made magical creatures?"

(End of this chapter)