Chapter 98
Soren and Dino returned to the camp.
As soon as the Gringrass sisters saw Soren's pale face, they knew that his trip had yielded no results.
"Soren," Daphne mustered her courage and walked up to Soren, pulling him into her embrace, "Please don't do this, okay? You still have us. Together, we can definitely rescue Meredith."
Astoria bit her lip and obediently leaned against Soren's back, wrapping her arms around him quietly. "Soren, I'm here too. I will work hard to study, and I won't be a burden to you anymore..." Her voice even carried a hint of tears.
"Daphne... Tori..." Soren felt a pang of pity. "I'm not blaming you; I only hate myself for not being more decisive back then... I should have used forbidden spells against them..."
A cold light flickered in Soren's eyes. Lockhart was already dead, and the other two black-cloaked men were also dead, but the clues had not been completely severed. Among the three who escaped, he already had a suspect in mind regarding the woman, just waiting for confirmation.
Next time, he wouldn't hold back. He would make the Shadow of the Dragon regret provoking him and show it his fury!
Uncertain of how much time passed, Gareth returned to the camp with a weary expression.
The Ministry of Magic had already filed a report on this matter, turned over to the Auror office for investigation. Gareth also promised to mobilize all the power of his family to conduct an investigation, after all, Meredith could be considered his daughter. However, he did not hold optimistic hopes for the investigation results; the organization Shadow of the Dragon was indeed too low-key and mysterious. Gareth had not heard of this organization before.
Morgadon, the Gringrass family's steward, had served the family for twenty years, and Gareth never imagined he would be a traitor.
Thinking back to the past, given his trust in Morgadon, Gareth had confided in him, leading Morgadon to know many family secrets, which now troubled Gareth greatly.
According to Gareth, Morgadon was a young man he had saved many years ago by chance, who then stayed to repay the favor by serving the Gringrass family. For the past twenty years, he had been diligent and loyal, which earned Gareth's complete trust.
If Gareth's encounter with Morgadon was not a coincidence, it would represent a terrifying fact: the power of the Shadow of the Dragon was far larger than imagined, and its arrangements were more longstanding than one could think. It was likely that not just the Gringrass family, but many famous wizarding families had already been infiltrated by this organization. This was no mere paranoid fantasy. The other two deceased were figures of certain status from well-known wizarding families.
This enemy, who had never appeared in the original story, was even more troublesome than expected, perhaps even more so than Voldemort.
However, the biggest question was, why did they want to kidnap Meredith?
Meredith's family had no apparent interests to be gained—after attaching themselves to the Gringrass family, Gareth had visited Shafik's ancestral home, where there was almost nothing of value left, not even a secret chamber. As the last descendant, if there were a secret chamber, she would certainly know about it, and given their understanding of her, the likelihood of Meredith deceiving them was extremely slim.
"Unless..." Gareth and Soren simultaneously thought of a terrifying hypothesis.
Daphne said anxiously, "Unless what?"
Gareth and Soren exchanged glances, and it was finally Soren who spoke. "What is most valuable about Meredith has never been family heirlooms, inherited magic, or precious spell-books—" Soren swallowed hard, feeling frightened by his speculation, "What she holds most dear is herself!"
"I don't understand—" Daphne shook her head. "She's just a moderately talented little witch. In terms of talent, she can't compare to true geniuses, like you, Soren. They covet her for her body?" Daphne said with an expression of disbelief.
"Yes, for her body," Soren explained, "but not in the way you think; To be precise, it's for the bloodline in her!" "Bloodline?"
Gareth sighed, "Soren, I usually pamper them too much, and I've never mentioned anything about the wizarding bloodline to them..."
Soren said lightly, "It's okay, telling them now is the same. A wizard's power actually comes from our bloodline; the bloodline determines whether we can learn magic and also determines our talent and potential. This is the reason why pure-blood families consider themselves noble..."
"But... didn't you say that among the many qualities of a person, character, talent, will, and choices are more important than blood?" Daphne asked.
"That's true. That's because Muggle-born wizards also have the power of blood, even though pure-blood families deliberately conceal this fact—so-called Muggle-born wizards actually come from pure wizarding families just like us, but in a certain generation, they produced a squib, leading to a disruption. However, the power of blood still lies dormant, waiting for a certain moment in a descendant to be reactivated."
Soren continued, "Bloodline determines our talent and potential, but not our limits. What truly determines our magical limit is the strength of our soul and the strength of our mental power. These two factors determine how strong our magic can be and how powerful the spells we can cast are. For the same spell, the power released by a great mage and ours is vastly different due to the difference in magical power. Of course, spellcasting technique and emotional enhancement also can't be neglected."
Not only did Daphne and Astoria feel their worldview refreshed, but even Gareth was listening with great interest. He never expected that Soren understood the essence of bloodlines and magical power to such a degree, even more profound than himself.
"Let's talk about Maredith," Soren's heart ached, but he still spoke expressionlessly, "The latent powers within every wizard's bloodline are different. For example, look at the Weasley family—"
"Ah," Daphne said, "You know about their bloodline power too?"
"Not really," Soren shook his head, "There is a profound knowledge in Muggle science called genetics. According to genetics, red hair is actually a recessive gene, so it's—how to put it—not very scientific for an entire family to have red hair."
"Their red hair," Soren's eyes were full of confidence, "is likely a manifestation of some special magical power in their bodies. Their family's magical power affects their hair color—"
"That's an interesting point," Gareth agreed, "I never thought about how magic could affect appearance before."
Soren continued, "From my observations, the Weasleys' magical power is likely 'innovation.' Look at how Arthur Weasley was able to transform a Muggle car into that shape; it's a form of innovation. I heard that his deceased brother, Bill, was also an eccentric person good at creating various surprises."
"Their eldest son, William Weasley, is known for his eccentric fashion, and the Weasley twins invented a bunch of strange little gadgets at school. Every member of their family probably has a different talent for innovation."
Daphne gazed into Soren's eyes and asked, "So... Soren, does your eye also awaken some kind of bloodline power?"
These were the people Soren trusted most, and he had no intention of hiding this from them; in fact, he couldn't hide it as he had already shown them the abnormality in his eyes twice, so he nodded.
"Taking the Weasley family and myself as examples, you should realize that different family bloodlines correspond to different talents. Therefore, we can speculate that Maredith's bloodline must also have its unique aspects..."
"In summary, I believe that the organization 'Shadow of the Dragon' has been lurking for so long and must have great ambitions—being able to expose their existence just to capture Meredith indicates that she holds a significant position in their plans. I believe that—she should not be harmed in the short term, so we need to seize the moment to increase our own strength as much as possible..."
Soren was still not very satisfied with his own strength. His magical power remained at the level of an upperclassman. Although during this battle he managed to counter six adult wizards using diverse and intricate attacking methods combined with precise tactical applications, it was because he had taken advantage of surprise.
After this battle, many of his cards were exposed. The next time he encounters a similar situation, as long as the opponent is on guard, he certainly won't be so relaxed.
Soren looked at Dino and asked in a deep voice, "Dino, now that your master's life is uncertain, what are your plans?"
Dino wore a puzzled expression, his eyes lost all sparkle, appearing no different from a standing corpse in the eyes of others. Having lost his master, who was his support, and given up the habit of obediently following his commands, he looked hopeless, as if he had lost the meaning of life, unsure of what to do. He didn't know how to respond to Soren's question, only lowering his head and remaining silent.
"In that case, follow me! I promise you, I will never give up on saving your master, no matter what!" Soren's eyes shone with determination, "I need more help. Are you willing to assist me, Dino?"
Dino seemed to regain his lost spirit. He looked up, gazing at Soren's unwavering eyes. For some reason, a small flame called "hope" was ignited in his heart. He widened his eyes and nodded vigorously, "Yes! Young Master Malfoy, from today on, Dino will be your most loyal servant! As long as you give a command, Dino would not hesitate to sacrifice myself to fulfill it for you."
After swearing the master-servant contract, Dino felt warmth in his chest, as if he had broken free from shackles and was reborn, filled with fighting spirit. He felt that being able to follow Soren was the greatest reward from heaven. He would give his heart and life to this new master to express his loyalty. He had completely surrendered to Soren, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
["Servant" Dino acquired!]
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