Hogwarts: Lacus doesn't want to be a witch who destroys nations.

Lux had an exceptionally fulfilling month, as if she had returned to her past life, drinking tropical-flavored drinks and burning the midnight oil during finals week in college, except this time she was facing magic.

I was dragged out of bed by my roommate Anna Weasley in the early morning, and I drifted off to the Great Hall to eat bread, still half asleep. As soon as class ended, I was invited to Professor Slughorn's private potions workshop by a house-elf.

On Tuesdays and Saturdays, after concocting the wolfsbane potion, they would rush to the secret meeting point behind the tapestry to undergo Occlumency training under Professor Flitwick's guidance.

Sometimes Lux would accept Tom's invitation to attend his nighttime gatherings, which were less like gatherings and more like a nascent power circle.

Tom is no longer the reclusive boy who needs to control snakes to distinguish himself; he has learned to attract followers with knowledge, charm, and just the right amount of pure-blood superiority.

Lux plays a subtle role; she's like a guest professor who occasionally offers guidance to students struggling with basic spells.

Lux's teaching style is as free-spirited and even somewhat unconventional as she is.

For example, she would tell a Hufflepuff student struggling with the Levitation Charm: "Don't keep thinking about what the book says about flicking your wrist. It's all meaningless nonsense. Just imagine that feather is your most hated slug, and you want it to stay far away from you, the farther the better!"

The effect was surprisingly good; the feather flew up to the ceiling with a "whoosh" and was almost not retrieved.

Tom usually just watches quietly from the sidelines, never interfering with Lux's teaching. Their relationship is currently maintaining a delicate balance.

Finally, on the third day before the full moon, a strange and complex fragrance filled Slughorn's private potion workshop.

The air was filled with the distinctive sweet and pungent smell of dragon blood, mingled with the cold, mineral scent of moonstone powder.

Lux was completely focused, following the last and most crucial step of the recipe: after placing the harpy egg in, she used a whalebone stirring rod to gently stir the liquid in the crucible at an extremely slow frequency.

This is the final step in the formation of the wolfsbane potion. Any fluctuation in magic or tremor of the wrist could turn nearly ten days of effort into a pot of expensive green foam.

Slughorn stood to the side, so nervous that he even held his breath. His chubby face was filled with anticipation and fervor, and his usually smiling little eyes were wide open, staring intently at the liquid in the crucible, as if witnessing the birth of a miracle.

For the past two weeks, Lux and he have been working together to create this groundbreaking wolfsbane potion. Although Slughorn could complete the steps himself, he always chose to teach Lux how to make the potion and write a qualified paper, acting as a teacher.

"Now, stir one last three-quarters of a turn clockwise. Be precise, and turn the heat down a little... Yes! Lux, watch closely, this color change indicates the initial stabilization of the medicine!"

A pot of wolfsbane medicine was quietly presented before the two of them, and a clear, slightly bitter herbal aroma rose gently.

"We did it!" Slughorn practically roared, his voice trembling with excitement. He lunged forward, almost pressing his face against the cauldron. "Merlin's beard! Lux! My child! We did it! The color! The smell! Perfect! Textbook perfect!"

He patted Lux's shoulder excitedly, so hard that she winced. Lux breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at Slughorn's face, which was flushed with joy, but her mind was on something else: "I should find a werewolf to test the potion's effects. I wonder how Vera has been doing lately."

Slughorn clearly shared her thoughts, rubbing his hands excitedly as he paced back and forth in the workshop: "Verify! We must verify its effectiveness immediately! A real werewolf! We need one... Oh, Merlin, this won't be easy, werewolves don't reveal their identities willingly..."

“Professor,” Lux began, “I know a werewolf.” She paused, then added, “Her name is Vera, and she’s recovering at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Injuries. We can go visit her.”

"Oh, it was around Christmas, wasn't it? I heard a lot about it from Dumbledore. Let's go."

Slughorn's drive for action is astonishing, fueled by academic passion and a desire for recognition.

Almost the instant Lux made her suggestion, he had the elves extinguish the flames in the workshop, carefully divided the precious potion into several crystal bottles, and then pulled Lux ​​straight to the fireplace in his office.

Green flames roared up, accompanied by a familiar, dizzying sensation. The two burst out of the spinning fireplace and stepped onto the pristine, yet always bustling, marble floor of St. Mungo's Hospital.

Fifth floor of St. Mungo's Hospital, Curse Damage Department.

As soon as Lux went upstairs, she smelled a faint odor in the air, a mixture of disinfectant and burnt wool. Several therapists in the corridor walked by hurriedly, their faces showing fatigue.

As Lux looked around for Vera's room, a scene from a half-open emergency room caught her attention.

A boy who looked about her age lay on the hospital bed, his skin a horrible, charred black, as if scorched by lava. Several healers surrounded him, their wands flashing with various colors as they tried to stabilize his vital signs.

"Merlin's beard..." Professor Slughorn murmured, his brow furrowed.

A nurse, looking tired but moving nimbly, happened to walk by. Lux couldn't help but step forward and ask in a low voice, "Excuse me, nurse, what's wrong with that patient? He looks badly injured."

The nurse stopped, sighed, and lowered her voice: "Poor child, a fourth-year student at Hogwarts. I heard he made a bet with his friends to swim in the school's large lake, but somehow he encountered something sinister and suddenly burst into flames in the water. The flames were incredibly strange; even the lake water couldn't extinguish them. He was pulled out like this. He's still in critical condition, with deep burns all over his body and internal organ damage..."

A great lake? Flames? Lux's heart skipped a beat. There were indeed many dangerous creatures lurking at the bottom of the lakes at Hogwarts, but those that could spew flames that even water couldn't extinguish? She didn't recall any of them.

Could they be those mermaids?

Professor Slughorn also wore a grave expression: "An inextinguishable flame... that sounds rather unusual. Hopefully, he can pull through."

The nurse nodded and hurried off to her work. Lux suppressed her doubts and shrugged, "There are a lot of strange things in the lake, probably some unrecorded magical creature. Let's go find Vera first."

Professor Slughorn was clearly more concerned about his potion and immediately nodded: "Yes, business comes first."