Dorset.
In the Scamander household.
"This really is Nagini?" Newt stared at the tiny, unconscious snake placed before him.
"Yes, I've examined her. It is indeed Nagini. She was subdued by one of my students, who then used Transfiguration to shrink her to this size," Dumbledore said with a nod.
Newt glanced at the dark green scale in his hand—it was the same one Dumbledore had picked up in that sewers some time ago.
Given his years of experience with magical creatures, he could easily imagine how massive a snake would have to be to shed a scale this size.
And now, that same massive snake had been reduced to something so small by Transfiguration.
"Your student is quite remarkable... I actually thought you had handled it yourself," Newt said with admiration.
"Haha.. That student is... a little special. Let's not talk about him for now. What we need to consider is how to properly deal with her," Dumbledore replied, gazing at Nagini with concern.
"Nagini is a Maledictus. Even though she's now fully transformed into a beast... we still can't just leave her like this," Newt said firmly, lifting his head with determination in his eyes.
Dumbledore nodded, but then added, "The Transfiguration used to shrink her likely won't last for very long... are you confident you can handle her?"
The shrunken Nagini wasn't particularly dangerous in her current state, but once the Transfiguration wore off and she returned to her original size, she would become extremely dangerous.
Newt said, "Let's try waking her up first. I need to see what her temperament is like now before I can come up with a plan. Don't worry, I have plenty of experience handling dangerous magical creatures."
Suddenly, Nagini stirred on the table.
Newt quickly asked, "Ah? Has the Transfiguration worn off?"
Dumbledore took a closer look and replied, "No, I believe the Stunner I cast afterwards has simply worn off."
At that moment, the small Nagini had fully awakened.
She raised her snake head, looked over her tiny body in confusion, and then glanced around the room.
Upon seeing Newt and Dumbledore, she suddenly became agitated.
"Hiss hiss hiss..."
"She's trying to say something to us…" Newt turned excitedly to Dumbledore. "If I'm not mistaken, Nagini seems to be in a lucid state!"
Dumbledore nodded. "I can understand some of it. She's saying she's conscious right now… Yes, I once studied Parseltongue out of curiosity."
"You truly are a man of vast knowledge, Professor," Newt said admiringly. "Uh, what is she saying now?"
Although Newt was a master of magical creatures and could often infer their intentions from their movements or sounds, accurately translating their words was beyond his ability.
Dumbledore tilted his head to listen more carefully to Nagini's hissing, then turned to grab a piece of parchment and an ink bottle, placing them in front of her.
Upon seeing the ink, Nagini immediately dipped her tail into the bottle and began writing awkwardly on the parchment.
A moment later, both Dumbledore and Newt's expressions lit up with surprise and delight.
"You're saying that by maintaining this current state, you can stay conscious?" Dumbledore asked.
Nagini flicked her tongue and slowly nodded. Then, she resumed writing with her tail.
"Because the beast's body has weakened, the beast's soul has weakened with it, allowing your human consciousness to take control? Ooh… even the soul is weakened? Can Transfiguration really have that kind of effect?" Newt looked at Dumbledore in astonishment.
Dumbledore fell into deep thought. As a master of Transfiguration, he knew very well that normal Transfiguration couldn't achieve such results—certainly not affecting the soul itself.
In other words… was this a trait of Ancient Magic?
Wade had used a Transfiguration spell enhanced by Ancient Magic to shrink Nagini to such a degree.
Otherwise, even if Wade were a Transfiguration prodigy, it would've been impossible for him to reduce her size so drastically.
In other words, when augmented by Ancient Magic, a Transfiguration spell used on a person or creature could significantly weaken all of their attributes—including both physical and soul-related aspects.
Nagini's condition as a Maledictus was essentially akin to having two souls within one body: her original human soul and a beast soul born of the curse.
As she aged, the beast soul grew stronger. Once it surpassed the strength of her human soul, she lost the ability to return to human form.
But now, when the beast soul was in control of her body, Wade had struck with an Ancient Magic-infused Transfiguration spell.
That single spell had weakened not only her physical attributes, but also the beast soul's spiritual strength. As a result, her human soul—normally the weaker one—was now stronger, which allowed Nagini to regain consciousness while in this reduced form.
As Dumbledore pieced it all together, a rare smile spread across his face.
"Perhaps we've finally found a way to temporarily suppress the effects of the Maledictus curse…"
Newt asked curiously, "Just with Transfiguration?"
"No, ordinary Transfiguration probably won't work," Dumbledore replied with a smile.
"There's such a thing as non-ordinary Transfiguration?" Newt raised an eyebrow.
"Yes… very much so. I'll explain it to you another time. For now, since we've found a way, I'll be taking Nagini with me." Dumbledore stood up.
Newt nodded. "Alright then. Just write to me later. Right now, helping her comes first."
Dumbledore gave a nod in return, then picked up the cage and opened its little door. "Please, come inside. I've found a way to temporarily suppress the blood curse."
Nagini nodded with surprising calm and slowly slithered into the cage.
Dumbledore closed the cage door and was about to leave when a barn owl swooped in through the window.
The owl landed on the table, looked straight at Dumbledore, and dropped the letter it had been carrying.
Dumbledore picked up the envelope and instantly recognized Wade's familiar handwriting.
A small smile touched his face as he opened the letter and began to read.
"Ah… so he wants to look up some records—and he's curious about that senior student's name, too…"
Dumbledore stopped mid-sentence.
"Eh..?"
The smile on his face faded, replaced by a look of confusion and uncertainty.
…
At the Hog's Head Inn, Wade put down his quill, picked up the parchment, and gently blew the ink dry. Then he tapped it lightly with his wand.
In the next second, the parchment transformed into a butterfly. The butterfly fluttered into the air, circled Wade's head once, then flew out the window and toward the attic.
Tom, lying in bed, caught sight of Wade's flashy display of Transfiguration and turned away in disdain.
But the sudden movement tugged at his injuries, making him wince and grit his teeth from the pain.
As it turned out, recklessly trying to fight Wade without enough strength came with consequences.
Now, not only was he sore all over, but he'd also been banned from reading any spellbooks for the entire day…
A total loss.
Tom could only lie there silently, reflecting on the mistakes that led to his defeat and imagining ways to one day beat Wade.
A while later, a parchment crane folded from a similar sheet fluttered down from the attic and landed in front of Wade. It unfolded itself automatically.
There was a single line written on the paper:
[I'll keep your secret. Also, thank you for saving me… and for saving Nagini. By the way—lovely Transfiguration! —Aurelius]
"Nice!" Wade cheerfully burned the note, then turned his head toward Tom.
"You've been reflecting for quite a while. Realized your mistake yet?"
"…Yes," Tom replied grudgingly.
"And what was your mistake?"
"You're a bloody bully!"
"Servants shouldn't talk back to their master…"
Just as Wade continued to tease Tom, a long-lost voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully preventing Nagini's descent into darkness, allowing those who would have perished by her hand in the future to escape their fate!
Ding! Congratulations to the host for earning 5,000 merit points!
Wade: F-five thousand!?
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(Note: The explanation about temporarily suppressing the effects of Nagini's Maledictus curse in this chapter is purely made-up lore (fanon). Um.. Please don't crucify me if you disagree…ƪ(- _ -)ʃ)
Read two weeks ahead at P^treon: Captain69
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