Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 268 Choice

Harry rode on Ferrenze's back and burst out of a thicket, where he saw Tom lying on the ground.

He immediately climbed down from the centaur's back, who then looked around warily for a moment, bow and arrow in hand, before finally saying, "He's gone. How's the boy?"

Tom looked utterly miserable; it was as if he had fallen from a great height, his arm and one leg twisted at a terrible angle, appearing as if they were broken.

Fortunately, Tom does not appear to have been killed.

Ferrenze walked over, glanced at Tom's wound, grabbed a few leaves from his backpack, and handed them to Harry. "Straighten his limbs first, then chew them up and apply them to his wound."

The wound was horrible, but it wasn't bleeding much, and when Harry applied the herbs to Tom's wound, they didn't do much good.

Tom looked at the wound on his arm, which was almost exposed to the bone, and didn't feel any particular pain. The feeling was even closer to the association he had when he saw someone else's wound.

really……

"What should we do? These leaves don't seem to be of any use..." Harry said in a panic.

"These are white dictamnus leaves; they should be able to heal wounds..." Ferenze looked somewhat puzzled. "Perhaps it's because the enemy's spell was too powerful..."

No, it's not because of the leaves.

The problem is with my body.

Dictamnus dasycarpus leaves are used to treat living people; they cannot repair my body.

repair……

By the way, the Healing Spell might be useful.

After being attacked by the troll, Professor Murphy used a healing spell on him, and it seemed to work well.

"Take me to Professor Murphy..." Tom said.

Harry tore a piece of cloth from his robe and temporarily wrapped it around Tom's arms and legs. Then he lifted Tom onto the centaur's back, sat behind him, and supported him. Ferrenze then led them back.

"Boy, did you see that person's face?"

Tom shook his head. "No, he was completely wrapped in a cloak."

"You already guessed his name, yet you still rushed out. That was incredibly reckless," the centaur said. "He might have killed you. You're lucky you only suffered minor injuries."

"Tom, why are you chasing Voldemort?" Harry asked.

Shortly after Cho Chang sent the signal, Harry, Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione arrived at the location. They saw the unicorn's corpse and then heard Cho Chang anxiously tell Hagrid that Tom had gone after the killer of the unicorn, and that the killer was likely Voldemort.

Harry rushed out without much thought, just as he would when facing a troll threat; he felt he had to do something.

But unlike that time, this time he was still filled with doubts.

"I just think, maybe it would be good if we could catch him," Tom said.

Harry fell silent; he felt Tom was lying.

He said this in the same tone he used when he told the professor that he was testing his strength when facing the troll.

But Harry knew that Tom was not an impulsive person at all; he was always very calm, and it was impossible for him to rush out so recklessly when he knew that the other party was much stronger than him.

So, is it for the Philosopher's Stone?

To "survive"?

……

They eventually took Tom to the school hospital, but Tom refused to let Mrs. Pomfrey treat him, insisting that they go and ask Professor Murphy for help first.

So Murphy met his student in a private hospital room.

"Broken bones and torn tendons?" Murphy listened to Tom's description of the magic, then looked at Tom's wounds. "Yes, a terrible dark magic. If not treated in time, it could leave you with a lifelong disability."

He didn't ask Tom why he wouldn't let Mrs. Pomfrey treat him, nor did he ask why he was asked to come over.

He first cleaned Tom's wounds of clothing scraps, bloodstains, dirt, and other filth. Then he rinsed the wounds several times with wound cleaner. Finally, he straightened Tom's arms and legs into proper positions and chanted a healing spell: "Restored to its original state!"

Sure enough, the wound was restored by the healing spell, just like shattered porcelain. The bones returned to their original positions, the torn muscles reconnected, and finally, even the skin was covered back up as if it had been stitched up.

"Professor, isn't this spell used to repair objects?" Tom asked. "Why can you use it to heal me?"

"What's the big difference between objects and the human body?" Murphy said. "From a Muggle anatomical perspective, these external injuries can all be considered a kind of mechanical damage."

"You can think of the human body as a sophisticated machine, imagine bones as some kind of stone, and tendons, muscles, blood vessels, nerves, etc. as some kind of ropes or pipes. If it breaks, you just glue it back together; if it breaks, you just sew it up."

"That's how Muggle surgeries are done."

"Other spells don't seem to have any effect on my wounds..." Tom said, almost asking the question, but he hesitated when the words came out.

He was a little afraid of how Professor Murphy would react if she knew he was actually a zombie.

"The Repairing Charm works differently from other healing spells or potions," Murphy said. "Most healing spells repair tissue by promoting cell differentiation, while the Repairing Charm is more like restoring the damaged parts to their original state as much as possible."

"Your body's regenerative abilities seem to be a bit weak, so other spells aren't very effective."

Murphy knew this because his body could no longer withstand ordinary healing spells and potions. The "surgical" treatment method using restorative spells was originally developed by him to deal with his own injuries.

Murphy seemed unaware of the true abnormality in his body.

This made Tom feel relieved, but also somewhat bitter.

"Alright," Murphy checked Tom's arms and legs, "come on, wave your hands and kick your legs."

Tom tried waving his hand and moving his feet, and it seemed that nothing had changed.

It doesn't hurt or itch...

This reminded him of Voldemort's theory that perhaps pain and other sensations were the result of certain spells influencing the soul, and that he didn't actually have these sensations.

He was like a repaired bicycle or clock, simply functioning like a machine with the support of magic.

"Professor, are people and objects really no different?" he asked.

Murphy looked at Tom and understood that the kid was once again experiencing an identity crisis.

His decision to rush out and confront Voldemort was indeed unexpected by Murphy, but it was still part of his overall plan. In fact, it might even be an opportunity to exploit, perhaps allowing him to obtain the recipe for the resurrection potion from Voldemort.

Now, all he has to do is play the role of a "mentor" according to the plan.

"Tom, what do you think is the most important quality in a person?"

Tom looked up at Murphy, bewildered. "I...I don't know, Professor."

"Well, different people have different answers to this question. But for me, the answer is perhaps: choice," Murphy said.

"Humans are nothing more than animals, life forms, objects... We are similar to all things in many ways. Therefore, I can use spells to repair objects to repair the human body. Humans, like animals, need to eat and reproduce, and have the same instincts of seeking advantage and avoiding harm."

"But we do have something unique that makes us human."

"In my view, this thing is the ability to make choices proactively."

"Animals can seek advantage and avoid harm, and can choose fruit to satisfy their hunger between fruit and stones, but this is not the choice I am talking about. When it makes this choice, it relies on its own instinct, and it is driven by the power of evolution over millions of years. It neither knows that it is fruit, nor does it know that it is 'itself' that is choosing fruit."

"This choice is not yet a concept; it is unaware that it has made a choice."

"But people can."

"People can be aware of their own behavior, can be aware of the consequences of these behavior, and make their own choices based on this understanding."

"In life, people face many choices, and to a certain extent, it is these choices that shape each individual. A person who cannot make independent choices when faced with disagreements is nothing more than a walking corpse, a puppet manipulated by fate."

"But even a prisoner, a blind man, a dying man whose limbs are paralyzed, is free to a certain extent as long as he can still control his own will. He can break free from the control of fate and become himself."

"That certainty after making a choice is the essence of being human."

"I don't think you have any major problems," Murphy patted his shoulder. "After resting for half a day, you should be able to recover."

Before leaving the ward, Murphy seemed to remember something.

"By the way, if you have any questions, you can always ask me for help."

(End of this chapter)