Hogwarts Raven

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The moon shone brightly, and the stars twinkled in abundance.

In the quiet little cabin, soft moonlight filtered through the half-drawn curtains, dappling the wooden floor with a silvery glow and casting a serene veil over the peaceful night. The air was filled with a faint scent of pine.

Ian sat upright at an oak desk that might have been older than he was. In one hand, he held his elder wood wand, the light at its tip illuminating the forbidden book resting on the desk.

Secrets of the Darkest Art.

This was the "Dark Bible" written by the infamous dark wizard Owle Bullock, whose shadow loomed over many significant events in the late 20th century.

Voldemort, who had plunged the entire wizarding world into panic and fear, had drawn the power he sought from this book, laying the groundwork for the seven-part saga of magic.

Many might only know that Voldemort had learned the method of creating Horcruxes from this book, successfully splitting his soul into seven pieces, which gave him the confidence to face Dumbledore.

However, this book contained more than just the method of creating Horcruxes. It also included other advanced dark magic knowledge. However, due to the limited scope of the original story, those forbidden secrets remained largely unknown.

Now, through a twist of fate, this book, which could land someone in Azkaban with just a glance, lay quietly before Ian. Naturally, he couldn't help but be curious about its contents.

Admittedly, the magic recorded in this book was undoubtedly dangerous. After all, dark magic became forbidden knowledge not just because of its power and potential harm to wizards.

It's worth noting that many powerful spells exist. However, the magic classified as dark often posed a threat not only to its targets but also to the casters themselves. A single misstep could lead to irreversible mental corruption.

It's hard to say that the madness of many of Voldemort's Death Eaters wasn't influenced by their dabbling in dark magic. After all, even their leader had turned himself into a noseless lunatic.

"Grindelwald wouldn't have left such terrifyingly dangerous knowledge for his descendants, would he?" Ian's understanding of the first Dark Lord was limited to the few scattered mentions in the original story.

He had also flipped through his History of Magic textbook, but the information about Dumbledore's nemesis, Grindelwald, was sparse and vague.

The higher-ups in the wizarding world clearly didn't want to discuss this period of history much. However, one thing was clear from the limited records: Grindelwald was not as berserk as Voldemort.

He was a dark wizard— an ambitious schemer, a genocidal maniac, the source of chaos in an era. But even Grindelwald's enemies did not deny his brilliance. Unlike Voldemort, he wasn't dismissed as a dangerous, irrational madman.

This man was far more merciful to his followers than Voldemort. Just this alone made Ian think that Grindelwald probably wouldn't casually expose his descendants to dangerous knowledge.

Of course, letting a child who had just reached Hogwarts admission age come into contact with a book like Secrets of the Darkest Art was still somewhat beyond ordinary people's understanding.

"Knowledge might be poisonous, but knowledge itself is innocent."

After a long internal struggle, Ian finally opened the book with trepidation.

Many dark wizards might spend their entire lives searching for the knowledge casually mentioned in this book. Now, it lay right before his eyes. Such temptation was hard for any wizard to resist.

Ian was no exception. He wasn't interested in soul-splitting magic, but he did want to master the three Unforgivable Curses, as they could serve as a trump card during his potentially dangerous time at Hogwarts.

The noseless one would come eventually. Even if Ian didn't plan to get involved with the Boy Who Lived's fate, being at Hogwarts itself carried inherent risks. Having more means of self-defense would give him some peace of mind.

"Looking at it critically, dialectically. This isn't about embracing darkness. It's like General Kim critically playing Steam, critically driving a Maybach— it's the same logic."

Hypnotizing himself with this thought, Ian moved the wand in his hand closer to Secrets of the Darkest Art.

Compared to the dim oil lamp, the light from the Lumos Charm was more stable and brighter. It also allowed Ian to gain some proficiency before bed, which was why he often chose this method for lighting at night.

The wizarding world did have convenient lighting tools, such as the alchemical artifact known as the Deluminator, which could absorb and produce light. However, such priceless alchemical artifacts were clearly toys for the rich, far beyond the reach of a penniless young wizard like Ian.

Besides, was the Deluminator as useful as the Lumos Charm? It didn't even increase proficiency!

"I'll just look; I won't learn... I'll try to learn as little as possible."

As Ian muttered these words of dubious credibility, he moved the light from his wand closer to the book. The text on the opened pages became clearly visible.

This was a modern compilation. Although many of the dark magics within still bore traces of ancient magic, they ultimately fell under the category of modern spells, making them less complicated and easier to read than runes.

"As expected."

Just by flipping to the first chapter, Ian had already confirmed his earlier guess. The first page of the book had handwritten notes and strict reminders written with a quill.

Not only that but as he continued flipping through, almost every page had ink annotations explaining and warning about the content. The teaching was incredibly detailed, even more so than the original author of Secrets of the Darkest Art.

This was clearly a textbook specially prepared by Grindelwald for his descendants— more valuable than the original.

Just as Ian had imagined, the method of creating Horcruxes was only a small section in Secrets of the Darkest Art, not taking up much space. The author of this book might not have cared much about Horcruxes either. Compared to the knowledge related to Horcruxes, other dark magics made up the bulk of the book's content.

From the first page, step by step, starting with simple and progressing to the difficult and complex, Ian flipped the first page and saw the spell marked with "Simple and not dangerous" and "Most suitable for elder wood wands." He subconsciously began reading intently.

"Bone Resurrection..."

The young wizard, engrossed in his reading, perhaps forgot he was holding a wand. At the same time, he might have underestimated the quality of Grindelwald's annotations and his own talent in certain areas.

[Corpse Control Curse: (Level 1): 2/100]

The panel's update went unnoticed because the flow of magic was perceived with crystal clarity at that moment.

Ian was horrified. He watched as the light at the tip of his wand shifted from a warm white glow to an eerie green, casting a chilling hue over the entire room.

"Crack... Crack... Crack..."

The old floorboards began to shift.

(End of Chapter)