Chapter 74: Unicorn Blood?
A new week began. Beyond experimenting with new ideas from his organized notes, Ethan spent the rest of his time continuing to learn spells about flying.
Quirrell's face had grown worse and worse, paler and paler since returning from the holidays.
During the first week of school, Quirrell didn't keep him after class. It was unclear whether it was because he could no longer hold on.
After Tuesday's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Ethan stayed voluntarily, partly to ask Quirrell some questions and partly to probe his physical condition.
He was a bit anxious because he hadn't learned the flight magic yet.
This magic was too complex. Just the parts he understood revealed principles of the Levitation Charm, broomsticks, and flying carpets, not to mention knowledge from ancient books Voldemort had dug out from somewhere.
"Professor, are you alright? You look terrible." Ethan genuinely cared about Quirrell's health. He was afraid Quirrell would die halfway through his studies.
"I, I'm fine, jus—just not feeling very well." Quirrell had two conspicuous blushes on his face, looking somewhat eerie on his pale complexion. He was quite moved by Ethan's concern.
"Then rest well. I'll take these materials and study them on my own first, and ask you if I don't understand anything." Ethan finished asking his questions, thoughtfully left a parchment with them written out, then gathered the materials and departed, planning to study them first before requesting explanations later.
After he left, Voldemort on the back of his head spoke somewhat angrily: "Unicorn! Go to the Forbidden Forest, drink unicorn blood!"
Voldemort's voice also became lower.
"Master, I, I'll think about it again."
Quirrell knew about the unicorn's curse. He knew very well that even if he successfully stole the Philosopher's Stone and resurrected Voldemort, there was no way to restore the cursed body. He didn't want to live the rest of his life dragging a half-dead body.
"Fool!" Voldemort was furious, but this time he didn't punish Quirrell because that would accelerate the consumption of the life force of this parasitic vessel vital to his life.
"Ah, ah." Quirrell covered his face and wept.
In the following month, Ethan visited Quirrell frequently. Besides staying after every class to ask various questions, he would also seek help with problems that came up at other times.
Although Quirrell looked bad, he always cheered up to answer him. Even if there was something he didn't know, he would have the answer ready by their next meeting.
"Professor, why don't you go see Madam Pomfrey? Your complexion is getting worse and worse." Finally, after a class in mid-February, Ethan couldn't hold it back anymore.
Lately, Quirrell would lose consciousness halfway through answering, as if suddenly falling into a coma. In just half an hour, he had entered that state twice.
"Fine, I'm fine." Quirrell waved his hand and, not bothering to hide his condition, pulled out a tube of silvery-white liquid and drank it down.
About two or three minutes later, his complexion looked much better, and he no longer crashed so suddenly.
"Take care of yourself." Seeing Quirrell like this, he stopped trying to persuade him. At the same time, he had his suspicions, but they merely circled in his mind, buried deep in his heart.
After Friday's Potions class, he asked Snape, "Professor, besides unicorn blood, are there any other silver potions that can replenish life force?"
Snape looked at him intently. "No. Where did you hear that? It's dangerous for you to think like that.
Unicorn blood is an excellent material for making potions, but only the blood they offer voluntarily can be used to brew potions. Otherwise, wait to be cursed!
By then, what you get will be a half-dead life."
"No, no, I just saw it by chance and didn't really want to do such a thing.
Professor, I have another question. Are there many unicorns who voluntarily offer blood?" Thinking of the many test tubes filled with silver blood in Quirrell's drawer, he wanted to know how long he could last.
Snape raised a finger. "Very few. Only about a quart of curse-free unicorn blood circulates in the world every year. After all, getting these creatures to voluntarily offer blood is not a simple matter."
"Okay, Professor, I understand."
In the afternoon after Care of Magical Creatures class, he asked Professor Kettleburn again if there were any creatures with silver blood besides unicorns.
Kettleburn thought for a moment. "Well, as far as I know, there shouldn't be. Of course, it might be my limited knowledge. In my experience, only unicorns have silver blood."
"Okay, thank you, Professor."
Ethan asked two professors to confirm his guess.
"I remember Quirrell killing unicorns in the Forbidden Forest happened after the dragon was born. Thinking about it now, Quirrell couldn't hold on much longer. What he's been using is store-bought unicorn blood, but when these rare curse-free supplies run out, he'll have to go to the Forbidden Forest to hunt unicorns.
No, I have to speed up. Before Old Voldy reveals his true form, I need to extract his valuable knowledge as quickly as possible, and then break ties completely to avoid being implicated."
After clearing his mind, Ethan hurried to the library, planning to find some books to read, hoping to draw connections and speed up his learning process.
The days of serious study passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it was late February.
"What's going on?" Draco, who had been sleeping, felt something fall on his face.
His eyes still closed tight, he fumbled to grab the thing that felt like cloth, threw it away, rubbed his eyes, and woke up.
"Why is my curtain like this?!" The curtain that should have been intact had shattered into pieces of cloth, with a few scraps still clinging to the metal frame.
As soon as he got out of bed, he saw Ethan floating in the air, surrounded by an invisible current of air blowing around him, his hair flying everywhere.
As for his bed, it had collapsed, and the curtains were shattered even more than Draco's own. The thing that had drifted onto his face just now must have been a piece of the former curtain.
"Ethan! Ethan! Wake up!" He took a slight step forward and felt a pressure, unable to move at all.
The invisible airflow was still spreading, and Ethan wouldn't wake. Draco was helpless. He quickly shook Crabbe and Goyle awake, though they were already buried under pieces of Ethan's curtain and still groggy from sleep.
"You two, watch the door. I'll go find Professor Snape."
Draco, still in his pajamas, didn't spare a thought for the curfew. He bolted from the common room, sprinting toward Snape's office.
========================================