Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 95 Red Rose

Perhaps it was the influence of magic, but when Ike came to the oak tree, he could clearly feel a sense of intimacy, dependence, and urgency emanating from it.

With his right hand resting on the tree trunk, Ike silently channeled his magic and slowly closed his eyes.

"Now, tell me, what happened..."

"Oh?"

"nightingale?"

Ike frowned slightly; this was not a good sign.

Before encountering the magical world, the nightingale was merely a pet with a melodious song to Ike. However, in the magical world, it is an extremely rare non-magical animal capable of triggering magical reactions.

This magical reaction is completely unpredictable.

Although most of the time things are peaceful, it's clear that Ike is facing a special kind of nightingale.

According to the feedback from the oak tree, the nightingale has been here for over a month, and its song unconsciously draws in magical energy. It's not just pure magic, but also the oak tree's life force.

"This is... a rose?"

Ike's pupils contracted, explaining why a decades-old oak tree gave him a feeling of impending death. It could be said that about 60% of the oak tree's vitality and magic were concentrated in the rosebud that suddenly appeared on the trunk before him.

Judging from their budding appearance, the day they bloom is not far away.

"A rose?" Julianne looked at the bud that clearly shouldn't be there, puzzled. "Little Ike, how can an oak tree produce a rose?"

"Huh? It's red?"

"It's alright, Julianne's mother." Ike forced a smile. "It won't affect us at all. I'll handle it."

"Alright then, little Ike." Julianne was relieved to hear this. "Then I'll leave it to you."

There was no lie; the birth of the Red Rose would indeed not cause any trouble for the orphanage, but it would itself bring some trouble.

To obtain such a red rose, a nightingale capable of guiding magic must sing tirelessly in a fixed location every night, ensuring that magic and life force converge in one place. If it is not in that fixed location on any given day, the converged magic and life force will disperse when the sun rises the next day.

For animals that rely solely on instinct, this alone is quite difficult, as they lack conscious control over where and when they call out.

Of course, it is possible to artificially control a nightingale to complete this step using the Soul-Stealing Curse, but unfortunately, this action must be done voluntarily by the nightingale.

The newly sprouted flower bud is an extremely rare magical material. If picked and carefully nurtured at this stage, it will bloom into a pure white flower. Consuming it will slowly heal the damage caused by dark magic.

If the buds are not picked, the nightingale will treat them as its own children, watering them with its songs and its heart's blood every night. When the buds mature, they will bloom into blood-red flowers.

This red rose is no longer a sacred object for healing; instead, it becomes something that carries a curse.

Crush the flower and add just a little bit to red wine to make the curse work.

The person who drinks it will immediately fall in love with someone else, and the drinker will not be aware of it at all throughout the entire process.

Unless I can drink wine with red rose powder again.

Yes, it's a rather useless and "evil" curse, but it's also harmless. However, if you want to steal someone's love, it's more effective than a love potion.

After all, the chances of a red rose being born are extremely low, and it is little known to people.

Ike knew it was all thanks to Julianne.

In the orphanage, there is a book called "The Complete Collection of English Fairy Tales," which contains not only world-famous fairy tales such as Peter Pan, the Giant, the Chocolate Factory, and Wonderland, but also many folk tales. One of them, "The Nightingale and the Rose," tells the story of a nightingale who, in order to help a young man win the heart of the girl he loves, chooses to use its own blood and song at midnight to water the most beautiful red rose.

At the end of the story, the boy professed his love to the girl with a red rose watered with the nightingale's blood, but only received her ridicule, causing them to turn against each other. As for the nightingale, it died the moment the red rose bloomed.

The whole story is incredibly melodramatic, and it's one of the most unremarkable melodramas in the "Complete Collection of English Fairy Tales," the kind of story you might easily forget after reading it. But this melodramatic story was recorded in the first draft of Professor Wendick Wenredian's book "Curses and Curses Breaking Spells."

This first draft was included in the forbidden book section. In addition to publicly published curses such as the Leg Locking Curse and its removal, it also contained a large number of bizarre and evil curses such as the Pharaoh's Curse, as well as useless curses like the Red Rose.

It was only after seeing this Ike that I realized that those fairy tales that have been passed down through the ages are not just fairy tales.

If Ike hadn't seen the red rose, it would likely have withered after blooming, turning into spring mud to nourish the oak tree, and the oblivious nightingale would have died without knowing why. But since Ike discovered it, all of this could have been avoided.

The oak tree's vitality and magic will be replenished, and the nightingale will not die.

All you need to do is cast a healing spell on the nightingale and feed it some white sap before the red roses bloom.

Ike, on the other hand, will receive an extremely rare red rose.

Ike has already figured out its uses; all that's left is for it to mature and bloom.

After patting the hardworking oak tree, Ike returned to his room with a sense of relief. He had just thrown his luggage into the room when he rushed out again. He hadn't unpacked yet, so he decided to tidy up, as it would be almost lunchtime by the time he was done.

Ike's return delighted the little ones at the orphanage. After all, he was the only student in many years to be accepted into a London school, and for these children growing up in Gloucester, London was a wonderful place to dream about. Even though they had already been pestered about Ike's experiences in London last year, the little ones were still not satisfied.

The entire lunch break passed by satisfying the curiosity and thirst for knowledge of these little ones, and Ike finally got a chance to catch his breath. Dinner time was for questions from their peers and older siblings who stayed in Gloucester to attend school.

Older people have different focuses when it comes to questions, and naturally, the questions are more difficult. The relentless, back-and-forth questioning reminded Ike of some unpleasant memories.

Fortunately, all the problems ended with the end of dinner, and Ike handled them very well.

After returning to his room and resting for a while, Ike waited until he could faintly hear the melodious chirping of birds outside the window before taking a bottle of white sap and quietly leaving the room.

There's no other way; magic can't be used outside of school, so I can only feed that nightingale more.

The effect is the same on both sides.

(End of this chapter)