Several months have passed since the start of the new term, and the Christmas break was about to start.
From the memories obtained, it was almost certain that Voldemort had created seven Horcruxes, including his main body.
Currently, Leo is in the headmaster's office with Harry Potter.
"From Horace's memory, Voldemort has created six Horcruxes. Two of them have already been destroyed, leaving four. I showed Harry the memory, and from its content, it's almost certain that many of them are derived from the founders of Hogwarts. The locations where they are hidden are currently being searched... And there is a Horcrux that he didn't anticipate."
"Another one? What on earth..."
"It's you, Harry."
"Me...? What do you mean!?"
"On the night that determined your fate, a part of Voldemort's soul, who had lost his physical body, entered your body. You once said that you saw from inside his snake when it attacked Arthur Weasley. I believe that snake, Nagini, is the last Horcrux. And the interference of Voldemort's soul inside you probably showed you that scene. In other words, you are a Horcrux that Voldemort doesn't know about. Leo's 'Eye' also proves that."
"So, there's his soul inside me...? So, do I have to die...?"
"Of course not. That's why I called Leo today. Leo, I'm counting on you."
"I understand. Then Potter, don't resist."
"What are you doing to do....!?"
When Leo casts a spell, Harry is restrained and cannot move.
Leo touches near Harry's heart. That hand passes through the clothes, skin, and invades the body.
Harry, who can't even change his expression, resists as much as he can with his gaze, but Leo moves his arm as if searching for something without caring.
"Is this it? okay"
In the hand that was pulled out, a small black something was held. Leo observed it for a while, but he seemed to lose interest and made it disappear without a trace.
"The procedure is complete. Now Harry Potter is no longer a Horcrux, and the connection with Voldemort has been completely cut off."
The magic is released, and Harry feels that something has disappeared from within him.
"Well done, Leo. Harry, now you don't have to die. All we have to do is destroy the remaining Horcruxes and kill the main body to completely wipe him out. That's when you'll be needed."
"Me...? Not Taylor?"
"If the prophecy is correct. Well, that's it for today's special lesson."
Harry and Leo leave the headmaster's office.
Just before leaving, Leo stops.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, I have a question."
"Yes?"
"What are the hostile magical creatures that are siding with the dark forces? Please tell me the scale and situation if possible. I'll take that as the price for Harry Potter's treatment."
"Is that okay? I thought you would ask for something else.
...Currently, the magical creatures known to be cooperating with the dark side are mainly three: Dementors, werewolves, and giants. There are also trolls and dragons that can be used as forces. There are rumors of Acromantulas, Griffins, Cockatrices, and Manticores, but they are unconfirmed.
"Do you know where they are located?"
"Dementors have already abandoned Azkaban and are being sighted all over England. Azkaban can now be considered a stronghold of the dark side.
Werewolves and others are scattered and do not stay in one place. As Death Eaters are often seen in the mountains where the giants live, they are currently cooperating, but we expect that they will not invade in earnest. We have sent Hagrid to persuade them, but the hope is slim."
"Hmm... Giants, huh? Well, that's just right. Thank you for the information. Excuse me."
As Dumbledore watches Leo leave, he is convinced. Something is going to happen.
(Is he going to experiment with magical creatures...? What is he planning to do with the giants?)
Even though he knew it was futile to predict Leonard Taylor's actions, he thought at most he would use them as experimental subjects.
He never expected that such a thing would happen, and that it would turn out like that.
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A week later, in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts.
In front of Albus Dumbledore is a man with a nearly three-meter-tall figure.
It's Rubeus Hagrid, the former keeper of the forest at Hogwarts.
He had been arrested and imprisoned in Azkaban five years ago for illegally possessing a dragon, but he had escaped last year along with a mass escape of Death Eaters. His wounds had healed and he was on his way to persuade the giant tribe. He was filled with ambition before he left because it was a mission that only he, a half-giant, could do.
What about his current state?
He sits hugging his legs to the floor, covering his face with his hands.
His breathing is killed as if to avoid being found by something.
Even those who know Hagrid would not be able to judge that he is the person in his current state.
He had been so for two or three days after returning from his mission that he did not come out of his room in the Order of the Phoenix.
Today, he was finally able to talk about his mission with Dumbledore.
"So, Hagrid, what happened? How did the negotiations with the giant tribe go, was there something that scared you so much, I want you to tell me everything."
Dumbledore says gently.
But when he heard that, Hagrid started shaking as if he had received a death sentence.
He tries to suppress the shaking by hugging his body tightly, but the shaking does not stop, but rather increases. His teeth make a clattering noise, and his eyes are wide open, so he is not normal at all.
Dumbledore quickly makes him drink a calming potion. The shaking stopped a bit, perhaps because of the effect.
But he still didn't try to talk.
Dumbledore patiently waited.
About an hour later, Hagrid muttered a word.
"...I saw...hell... It's...no good."
"What did you say...?"
When he asked back, Hagrid stood up and started talking fast.
"It's hell, it's a devil! It...it's not supposed to be there! It's no good. Scary, scary, scary! The giant tribe is extinct! Men, women, children, all! Professor Dumbledore, it's no good! I'm going to be killed, destroyed! I've always loved all living things, even dragons, people say they're dangerous, but I thought they were lovely! I was wrong! It's terrifying! That big one killed them all, all, all! Professor, please help me! I met his eyes. He was looking at me. Am I going to die like this? What should I... I don't want to anymore, I hate living things... Scary. Ah, ahhhh..."
Hagrid, who was crouching down holding his head.
Dumbledore was surprised, but immediately put Hagrid to sleep and extracted the memory from his mission until now.
This was because he judged that Hagrid's mind would not last in this state, and he needed to know the accurate information.
After entrusting Hagrid to Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore checks Hagrid's memory with the sieve of sorrow.
Dumbledore, who landed in the memory.
Hagrid is climbing a mountain. He is probably heading to the giant tribe's settlement.
After a while, he began to see a huge figure about ten meters away. At the same time, he could see the figure of a normal-sized human.
He checks the situation with the magical tool for distant viewing that was handed to him.
"Death Eaters...!"
The normal-sized humans were wearing robes and masks. They were definitely Death Eaters.
Hagrid decided to observe the situation by finding a place to look down on the settlement from a high place and advancing a different route. He had been strictly ordered by Dumbledore to watch the situation without making contact rashly if there were Death Eaters.
What Hagrid saw was a situation far from his imagination.
"What the hell is that!? What's going on!?"
Sure enough, it was a giant tribe's settlement.
There were about a hundred of them, all of them adult males.
But that was clearly not normal.
They should be giants, as their name suggests. Not such a monster-like thing.
Hagrid and Dumbledore, who are watching the memory, continue to observe the settlement while being confused.
Then they felt another sense of discomfort.
The giant tribe is supposed to be warlike and killing each other is a daily occurrence.
Despite that, they are quiet except for eating. Their eyes are vacant and they don't feel conscious, as if they are brainwashed by something. There is also a particularly large building. It is probably their base, as Death Eaters frequently come and go. Furthermore, there are no women or children of the giant tribe.
Everything is abnormal and creepy. But he couldn't return without any results.
Hagrid waited for a Death Eater to become alone from the settlement.
Luckily, he was able to find a man who was alone right away.
He succeeded in kidnapping him without giving him a chance to use magic.
"Hey! Wake up!"
"Huh, where am I...? What the...! Damn it! The control guy is slacking off!"
"Tell me! What are you doing here, what are those giants!"
"Huh? ...You're not one of the giants here. You're small... Ah, I remember, you're Hagrid who was guarding the Hogwarts forest, right? What about the knight's mission or whatever, you've worked hard! Who's going to talk!"
Hagrid forcibly makes the man drink Veritaserum. The man immediately starts talking about the secrets of the giant settlement.
"This is our experimental facility. Our glorious lord saw value in the power and vitality of the giant race. It was easy to deceive the stupid giants by telling them that we would give them power.
They are now our combat dolls who listen to our orders. We are modifying them with many magical creatures and potions. A lot of them have died, but we are seeing results. Our lord is pleased!
And if they decrease, we just need to increase them. The females are livestock only for producing children. The born children are immediately adjusted to be more powerful, more obedient, and to produce more children! Their lifespan has become quite short, but they are just disposable tools anyway. With this force, we can take control of the wizarding world at once!"
Even without asking, the man continues to talk about the disgusting research content.
Even if he tells him to stop, the words he doesn't want to hear continue to overflow from his mouth due to the effect of drinking too much Veritaserum.
"You, you're not human! What do you think the giants, the lives are! Stop it right now!"
"The one who's not human is you, right? The giants, who are barbaric and lowly, should be honored to become the power of our lord. All existences other than pure-blood wizards are defiled! They should be ruled by us, the superior ones!"
Hagrid was terrified to think that people could do such things if their values were so different.
The man is knocked out again and Hagrid tries to hurry down the mountain. He will take the man with him as a source of information
As it is now, negotiation is out of the question, let alone that the product of that madness will rush into the British wizarding world.
"I have to inform Professor Dumbledore quickly...!"
Hagrid thought that this giant settlement was a hellish place invaded by madness.
As a matter of fact, no sane mind could do such a thing.
They toy with creatures that, while not human, are almost human in form, transforming them into grotesque forms and treating them like guinea pigs.
It was a brutal act. Even the Death Eaters are human, but either everyone working here has had their mental tags removed by Voldemort or they are fanatical followers of Voldemort.
There was no conscience left in this hell.
And in that hell... a demon that blows even that away has landed.
It was sudden.
A gust of wind strong enough to blow away the giants' dwellings rages.
It's unthinkable for a mountain where the settlement is. Naturally, the Death Eaters think of an enemy attack and shift to a defensive posture. The giants also wake up and prepare for the enemy's attack.
But all of that was meaningless.
Something huge falls from the sky.
It was a dragon. At least it looked like a creature.
Even a normal dragon would be a threat, but if it's a single entity, it doesn't apply to the enhanced and modified giants.
But that's different. Its size easily exceeds fifty meters. A jet-black scale armor that covers the whole body. Ominous horns. Thick and powerful limbs. Wings that fly the huge body.
The Death Eaters, who saw it, ran away immediately.
They forget to disappear with magic, abandon the control of the giants, and the thought of being punished by the emperor for running away disappears from their heads, and they just run with all their might following their instincts. Every single cell, from the depths of the soul, orders to run away.
The dragon that landed didn't even look at such tiny humans, but was looking at the deformed giants who were attacking because the control was released.
"Come."
The giant strikes, moves agilely like a beast and bites, flies with wings and slashes with claws. Sprays venom.
The dragon just stood there. As if standing at the top of this world, without a scratch on its scales.
The giant's strong arm, claws, fangs, poison, everything was meaningless.
"...Is that all? Huh... Disappointing."
From the moment the dragon started moving, it became a one-sided slaughter.
Swing your arm casually. The giant scatters while scattering its organs.
Slash with claws. The giant is sliced.
Lightning bursts from the horns. The giant dies charred.
Black flames are emitted from the mouth. The giant evaporates.
The hundreds of giants were annihilated within a few minutes.
Finally, it flew into the sky and blew up the settlement itself with a black beam of light emitted from its whole body.
All that was left was a crater that was destroyed over several kilometers.
Hagrid had witnessed the massacre.
Being half magical creature, he felt more fear than a normal human.
He knew he had to run, but he was so scared that his legs wouldn't move.
He could only watch the dragon demon landing in the center of the crater, shaking with fear.
And then their eyes met. He was sure of it, even though they were more than five kilometers apart. The dragon had noticed him.
He tried to run, but he was so scared he couldn't move. The next moment, the dragon was right in front of him.
"...Survivor. Small."
The next moment, something appeared next to the dragon's face.
It was a child. At least, it looked like one.
"Master. This is boring."
"Ha... I told you to leave some, didn't I? If they go extinct, we can't study them."
"Right. There's a survivor over there."
"Hm? Oh, Hagrid...was it? He's a half-giant, so he's not a target. And he's on our side, so you can ignore him."
The child looked at him. He felt as if his soul was being seen through.
He couldn't accept it as a human being, the one who was called the master by the dragon.
He was scared of the dragon, but he was even more scared of the child.
"Master. I have become stronger. I think it's time for a challenge again."
"Eh... It's a hassle. But it's a promise, isn't it? Go ahead."
The dragon unleashed a murderous intent towards the tiny child that was completely different from before.
Hagrid fainted at that point, and when he woke up, he was at the foot of the mountain. There was a roar coming from deep in the mountains.
He didn't know how he got back to England, to the Order of the Phoenix, from there.
But he remembered the fear he felt at that time very vividly.
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Dumbledore, who returned from the sieve of sorrow, was pale.
He had not seen it directly, but had only seen it through someone else's memory, but it was clear that the dragon was not something that could be controlled by human hands.
The modification of the giant tribe by the dark forces is also a threat, but the dragon is beyond comparison.
And its master, Hagrid didn't seem to remember, but it was definitely Leonard Taylor.
He didn't know when he had created such a thing, but he swore strongly and strongly in his heart that he must avoid hostility at all costs.
---
Removal of Harry's Horcrux.
The number of magical creatures siding with the dark is increasing more than in the original.
Werewolves are all barbaric guys who don't want to return to being human.
The giant tribe has gone extinct!
Hagrid's brother, Grawp, died before Hagrid arrived.
So Hagrid doesn't know he had a brother. In that sense, he was lucky.
Hagrid, who is not entirely human, was more afraid of the dragon and Leo than a normal person.
The bow is considering various strategies against Leonard Taylor.
They have been researching and developing various magic and potions, experimenting with magical creatures, and so on.
The modification of the giant was one of them. If it had been deployed as a force as it was, Hogwarts would have fallen immediately.
You can leave it to your imagination what happened to the giant tribe.
The image is something like An〇rella.
By the way, all the Death Eaters were blown away by the last beam, so they were wiped out. The only survivor was captured by Hagrid, so the bow side doesn't know why the giants were wiped out.
The dragon that appeared this time is a modified version of the dragon that Leo captured in the competition.
I plan to write more about its appearance and performance next time.
So, stay tuned for the next chapter.