HP: The Duelist of Hogwarts - 469

Chapter 469: The Gathering

Sean reconstructed Borel’s family, reshaping both their memories and their appearances.

The rest was for Gavin to worry about.

Sean left Bulstrode Manor. As he was leaving, he saw a group of Bulstrode elite wizards entering the estate to purge the remnants of Borel’s faction. Looking at those unfamiliar faces, Sean curled his lip slightly. Gavin really did have hidden strength. Of the entire Bulstrode family, Borel had probably been the one with the fewest schemes.

After leaving Bulstrode Manor, Sean went to the Black Hat Pub in Knockturn Alley. By now, it had become the public-facing base of operations for Sean and his faction.

The moment Sean stepped into the Black Hat Pub, everyone seated inside stood and saluted him.

“All right, enough. I do not care for that sort of thing. Sit down, all of you.”

Sean had called this gathering, so everyone under his command had come.

Taking the central seat, Sean turned towards the person sitting not far from him. She looked unfamiliar, yet stunning, a tall blonde woman in her thirties with a voluptuous figure.

“Marlow,” Sean said, “at least next time we meet, could you show up looking like yourself?”

“Master, I…”

Watching Marlow fidget in embarrassment, Sean might have found it pleasing to the eye if this truly were a beautiful woman. Unfortunately, he knew perfectly well this was Marlow wearing Polyjuice Potion. The more gorgeous and seductive the disguise, the more uncomfortable it felt.

Sean turned away and waved his hand repeatedly.

“Forget it. Forget it. As long as I know it is you, that is enough.”

Marlow immediately smiled. “Thank you, Master. I knew you were the best.”

Sean shivered, then looked to the rest and changed the subject at once.

“All right. We are here for two reasons. First, to arrange our next moves. Second, for everyone’s safety and for smoother operations going forward, I will place my magical mark upon you all: the Ouroboros Pentagram.”

At those words, expressions varied, but most were excited. Marlow, in that elegant, mature-woman form, even looked shy and thrilled at the same time. Sean very nearly drew his wand and gave him an Avada Kedavra.

Yes, Sean had finally mastered the Killing Curse.

No, that was not quite accurate. Sean had learned the Killing Curse long ago, but at the time it was only LV0 and its power was low. Now, however, Sean’s Killing Curse had reached LV4. He had gained it during the great battle at the Ministry, when the system judged Sean and Voldemort to have fought to a draw, allowing Sean to extract one of Voldemort’s abilities and obtain an LV4 Killing Curse.

Even Voldemort’s Killing Curse was only LV4.

And an LV4 Killing Curse was already peerless in the wizarding world.

By Sean’s estimate, almost no one in this world could train the Killing Curse to LV5 or higher. Perhaps the one locked away in Nurmengard might surpass Voldemort in that spell. Beyond that, the chance of anyone exceeding Voldemort in the modern wizarding world was close to zero.

As for why the Killing Curse was so difficult to advance…

To give a simple comparison, most spells required 50 to 100 experience points to go from LV1 to LV2. The Killing Curse required 200, perhaps even 300.

And that gap only grew at higher levels.

Take the Disarming Charm as an example. For most spells, the experience required to go from LV4 to LV5 was moderate. Let that value be 10,000 for simplicity. For the Killing Curse, the experience required to go from LV4 to LV5 would be an appalling 500,000.

A fifty-fold difference.

Even Voldemort, after spending so many years, had only trained the Killing Curse to LV4. He still had a long way to go to LV5.

Back to the point.

Sean looked at everyone and said directly, “Show me the place where you want the Ouroboros Pentagram branded.”

At once, Marlow, who regarded Sean as his only master, and Barrett, who worshipped Sean like a god, both pulled back their sleeves, exposing their right arm and left arm respectively. Jennifer then tugged her collar aside, revealing the right side of her collarbone and a glimpse of pale skin beneath.

The others chose different spots, but most bared their arms. It could not be helped. The Death Eaters had conditioned people to associate a branded mark with an arm.

Sean raised his wand. Silver-green threads of light burst from its tip like fireworks, drifting down in delicate strands towards the places they had exposed.

A mild prickling pain spread as the silver-green threads bloomed across their skin, embroidering the pattern of the Ouroboros Pentagram as if stitched into flesh.

A few breaths later, the mark on each person was complete. At the same time, the function of the Ouroboros Pentagram surfaced in each of their minds.

In simple terms, it had three uses.

The first was location. Sean and the others could sense each other’s positions. At critical moments, they could Apparate directly to the marked person. Because the mark provided a fixed anchor, it could also bypass certain kinds of magical interference to a degree.

The second was surveillance. There was no need to explain that one.

The third was shielding. Anyone branded with the Ouroboros Pentagram gained considerable resistance against memory modification, Legilimency, and Veritaserum.

Naturally, that third function came from Sean’s research into alchemy.

With the branding complete, Sean looked at Jennifer.

“How is the Flint family situation?” he asked.

“Most of the Flint family have been arrested by Aurors and are awaiting trial,” Jennifer replied. “Those with lighter charges will have their wands snapped and be expelled from the wizarding world. Those with heavier charges will be sent to Azkaban.

“But some escaped the Aurors and formally joined Voldemort’s side as Death Eaters.”

Sean looked at Jennifer, his blood-related cousin, and smiled slightly.

“Your family really did not think much of me,” he said. “They only sent you to infiltrate my faction.”

Jennifer’s expression stiffened for a moment, then she smiled.

“That is only because their judgment is poor,” she said. “In truth, others had the chance to choose you as well, but only I stood on your side in the end. If they have met this fate, they have no one to blame but themselves.”