Hogwarts, i am Dementor

Good news: Alexia was the first synthetic creature harmonized in this laboratory, so it witnessed the entire experiment that led to Cohen's creation. 

"Will you also call me 'big brother'?" 

Cohen, who was flipping through the books on the shelf, asked curiously. 

[?] 

Since Alexia only had the whites of its eyes showing, it looked like it was constantly rolling them. 

Though it couldn't understand, it had to fulfill Cohen's request—Alexia continued explaining its origins. 

[I was hatched from a unicorn foal's corpse soaked in liquefied curses.] 

"Wait a second—what's a liquefied curse?" Cohen asked. "Forgive me, they don't teach this in Hogwarts textbooks." 

[I don't know, I've never seen it—you can find it in the fourth book on the third row of the shelf. I heard those people discussing it.] 

Alexia bent its legs and lay on the ground, its pitch-black mane seeming to swallow even the firelight. 

Its entire life had been spent in that cage. From the moment of its birth, it carried the inherited knowledge of unicorns, but because it was born from a curse, it couldn't wield any of the holy magic they possessed. 

Following Alexia's directions, Cohen pulled out the sticky book from the shelf. 

"Scourgify." 

Cohen cleaned off the grime, revealing the book's cover: *Secrets of the Darkest Art*. 

It was a handwritten copy—Cohen knew why. The original, penned by Owle Bullock, was a unique manuscript held by Dumbledore. 

The book contained detailed instructions on creating Horcruxes, but Cohen had no need for that. 

Some people would give anything to tear their souls apart, while others were desperately trying to piece theirs back together—Cohen had no intention of splitting his soul again. 

The latter half of the book was almost entirely the work of a single individual named "Herpo the Foul." 

Herpo was one of the most powerful and influential dark wizards in history. He was the first to create a Horcrux, invented numerous sinister curses, and even discovered that "incubating a toad's egg could hatch a Basilisk"—as one of the earliest Parselmouths, Basilisks couldn't resist his commands. 

And here was the section about the "Liquefied Curse." 

It was a liquid form of magic condensed in an alchemical vessel from a mixture of various curse spells. Since most advanced curses carried an "uncontrollable" chaotic nature, these liquids didn't exist in a stable, harmonious state. Instead, they were constantly entangled, fighting each other—like a magical version of raising venomous insects to see which survives. 

Normal creatures that came into contact with this solution would die within ten seconds, ravaged by a multitude of completely different curses. Herpo the Foul had once tested the liquefied curse on dozens of wizards—"They seemed to enter a chaotic state of transformation, at times swelling into rotting, bloated masses of flesh, and at others shriveling into desiccated, bony husks…" 

But certain noble beings wouldn't be killed by this mixture of curses. Instead, they would be reborn from it in an entirely new form. 

Take phoenixes, for example—though Herpo never managed to capture one, so there were no records of that. 

Or… unicorns. 

Unicorns naturally had an extraordinary tolerance for curses. "A unicorn's blood carries the curse of rebirth—drink it, and you'll be reborn, but your soul will also become half-dead for slaughtering a pure, gentle life." 

However, the magic in their pure horns could heal curses, so the curse in their blood didn't affect them. 

When a recently deceased unicorn foal was immersed in the liquefied curse, it would rot—but the rot wasn't the end. The liquefied curse would replace its flesh and blood, giving birth to a new entity. 

Herpo called it a "Nightmare," believing it better embodied the concept of a "creature of nightmares" than a Thestral. 

"What were the people in this lab trying to do? Fuse all the known, most evil creatures in the world together to create the 'most evil being in history'?" 

Cohen found it absurd, especially since this experiment predated Voldemort's fall—surely Voldemort wouldn't have wanted to create something even he couldn't control, right? 

"Would someone give them a 'Most Evil Guinness World Record' for this?" 

[Those people never said. They just buried themselves in their research, occasionally discussing progress and setbacks. Even the test subjects were referred to by code names instead of species.] 

Alexia yawned, which made it seem a little less eerie. 

"Can't you invade their minds?" 

Cohen had assumed Alexia might have some mind-reading ability—after all, it could project its voice directly into his head. 

But Alexia shook its head. 

It was probably like a radio signal tower: it could send signals out but couldn't receive anything back through them. 

[You can hear my voice only because we share blood.] 

[They used my bones and blood to create you, maybe along with some other creatures. I remember them calling you…] 

Alexia pondered. 

[The Man in the Bottle (Homunculus).] 

"There should be experiment logs or something here—surely we could find the other components—" Cohen planned to keep searching. 

[You don't need to waste your time.] 

Alexia interrupted. 

[The important, valuable stuff has already been stolen.] 

"?" 

Cohen tensed. 

"Stolen? By who?" 

[I remember it was a short, chubby man. He'd had dealings with the researchers before—wait…] 

Alexia tried to recall the name he'd been called. 

[It was something like… Mundungus, Mundungus Fletcher.] 

"…" 

Cohen knew this guy. 

Or rather, he was a little surprised, but not entirely. 

Mundungus was a notorious thief—in the original story, he'd stolen heaps of stuff and was constantly smuggling and selling stolen goods. 

It was a mix of "Holy crap, it's you!" and "But if it's you, it kinda makes sense." 

[Not long after the explosion sounded from above, I remember,] 

Alexia added. 

[He came down, took a bunch of books, logs, alchemical tools, potions… and left. Even though I banged on the cage to get him to let me out, he didn't look back. It was like he'd made up his mind about something…] 

"I think he was just a coward," Cohen corrected. "If it was him…" 

Then recovering those materials would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Still, Cohen had come looking for these things out of curiosity, so he wasn't in a rush. 

"Forget it, let's call it a day here." 

Cohen sighed. 

Though Mundungus, that thief, had surely sold off all the loot by now, Cohen would find him and give him a beating someday. 

No reason—just pure spite. 

Cohen moved all the books from the shelf into his pouch, along with the rune-metal cage. After casting an Extension Charm, the pouch could open wide enough to fit it all. 

As for the empty flasks and junk instruments on the table, Cohen left them behind—Hogwarts had plenty of those already. 

"Earl, stop sleeping, let's go!" 

(End of Chapter)