Inside Silver Hand Manor, a corpse floated eerily in the air, suspended by invisible magical forces.
The legendary Auror's expression was deeply troubled as he observed the body. "He was killed by an unknown force unlike anything we've encountered before."
John circled around the vampire's corpse with methodical precision, gently raising his palm to manipulate its position. The body rotated slowly to face downward, revealing its injuries more clearly.
Moving to the front of the corpse, John examined a clean bullet hole penetrating through the back of its skull. His eyes condensed into vertical pupils as he focused his supernatural senses.
At the wound's edge, a familiar yet strangely alien power lingered like an invisible poison. When his palm touched the affected area, a sharp stinging sensation shot through his hand.
John's brow furrowed with deep concern. "How could this be possible?"
"Did you discover something significant, Your Majesty the Wizard King?" the legendary Auror asked with growing anxiety.
"Avada Kedavra," John said grimly.
The legendary Auror exclaimed in shock, his voice rising an octave. "How is that possible? There are no dark magic fluctuations anywhere on his body."
"It's not the real Killing Curse. Do you remember the true effect of Avada Kedavra?" John said with grave seriousness. "It damages the soul directly and brings instant death to any living being."
"This attack is similar in nature but fundamentally different in execution."
The legendary Auror leaned forward intently. "How exactly is it different?"
At the Auror level, he was undoubtedly first-class in combat and investigation. But when it came to advanced magical research and theory, his knowledge was considerably lacking.
John explained with clinical precision, "This attack doesn't just kill, it imbues the very concept of death itself into the target."
"That is to say," John made the corpse rotate again, his penetrating gaze fixed on the bullet hole in the forehead, "this represents a fundamental rule of reality being altered."
"We can call this phenomenon..." John paused dramatically, "God-Slaying magic."
The Killing Curse brought death cleanly, leaving no external injuries, poison, or visible wounds on its victims. It was death in its purest form, sudden and complete, operating according to the fundamental laws of dark magic.
John had once used the Killing Curse to eliminate Killian, who possessed incredibly powerful regenerative healing abilities. But this situation was far stranger. This appeared to be an ordinary bullet, yet it could kill a vampire that should only be vulnerable to silver weapons and specific magical attacks.
This discovery made John think of someone very specific.
"Wait here for a moment."
John's figure disappeared entirely from the room. When he reappeared seconds later, he was holding someone in his arms.
Martha looked completely dazed, having been suddenly grabbed and transported here without warning. She hadn't even had time to react, feeling only her stomach churning violently, as if she'd been thrown into an industrial washing machine.
The legendary Auror saw Martha and was equally puzzled by her presence. "Who is she exactly?"
"Martha Latti," John raised an eyebrow meaningfully, "a former vampire."
"Former vampire?" Hearing this extraordinary designation, the legendary Auror immediately thought of an impossible possibility. His pupils dilated dramatically, his face showing undisguised shock and awe.
"You actually cured the vampire curse?" The legendary Auror gasped in amazement. "If the vampires in the magical realm discovered this breakthrough, they would go absolutely insane with hope."
"Unfortunately, it's not a complete cure," John shook his head with some regret. "Or rather, this was an extremely coincidental occurrence that may not be replicable."
"Even so, it's quite remarkable," the legendary Auror sighed with deep respect. "After you created the revolutionary Wolfsbane Potion and successfully prevented werewolf transformations, vampires have been petitioning annually at the Magic Headquarters, desperately hoping to obtain similar potions to remove their vampire curses."
Vampires in the magical world and ordinary mundane vampires represented completely opposite extremes of existence.
Ordinary vampires typically declared: "I want to rule the world, I want to drink blood, I want immortality!"
Magical vampires usually lamented: "I don't want to be a vampire anymore, I want to end this existence, I want to feel sunlight again."
This stark difference had something to do with one group being educated wizards and the other being Muggles, but it also demonstrated why magical vampires looked down on outside vampires with such disdain.
They had lived far too long, so incredibly long that some vampires had actually committed suicide by deliberately sunbathing.
If John could truly solve the vampire curse problem permanently, countless vampires would be overjoyed to return and transform back into normal wizards.
Martha listened to their conversation with a thoroughly puzzled expression. How did she remember that when John had treated her condition, he hadn't seemed to struggle much at all?
But since John didn't elaborate on the details, she tactfully accepted this version of events.
John had called her over, naturally not to observe the legendary Auror work. Martha saw the floating corpse and was stunned for a moment, then quickly regained her composure.
After all, during this extraordinary time she'd even encountered aliens—why would floating corpses in the sky seem particularly strange?
But after getting closer to examine the body, her expression became somewhat odd and unsettled.
"This scent..." Martha was almost ready to embrace the vampire's corpse and drink from it, her vampiric instincts briefly overwhelming her human rationality.
The legendary Auror grew worried that Martha might suddenly lose control and attack the evidence.
Fortunately, Martha remained fundamentally a normal person with some supernatural abilities rather than a mindless monster.
"It's her," Martha said with absolute certainty. "There's her distinctive scent on this corpse, very faint but unmistakable. She should have appeared near this body recently."
Brilliant light burst from John's eyes. As he had suspected, this strange killing ability was very likely from a visitor from another world. And that mysterious person was also traveling with the woman who possessed anti-magic power.
"Take me to the crime scene immediately," John commanded.
The legendary Auror nodded and extended his arm formally. Martha didn't understand what was happening as John grabbed her shoulder with one hand and the legendary Auror's arm with the other.
He smiled mysteriously at Martha. "This is going to be an international trip. I hope you're prepared for unusual travel methods."
The legendary Auror removed his shoe and threw it casually onto the floor. He pointed his wand at the ordinary-looking shoe and recited an incantation with precise pronunciation.
"Portus!"
The shoe showed no visible difference to the untrained eye, but Martha could sense something had fundamentally changed about it.
The moment the legendary Auror placed his foot back inside the enchanted shoe, a powerful suction force emerged. Martha immediately felt her navel being hooked by an invisible force, pulling her entire body in one specific direction.
All three disappeared from the manor in a swirl of magical energy.
This time, Martha truly experienced what it meant to be trapped inside a tumble dryer. In the magical world, for international and multi-person travel, their first choice wasn't conventional airplanes, but Portkeys, magical transportation devices.
Portus was the advanced spell for creating Portkeys, though very few people possessed the knowledge to cast it properly.
Using the temporary Portkey, the three appeared out of thin air inside the vampire castle. The shoe fell to the stone floor, and the legendary Auror hopped on one foot to put it back on.
Martha's head was spinning violently, wanting to vomit but unable to. The overwhelming bloody smell of this ancient place was an additional burden for Martha, whose senses remained sensitive to blood.
"I remember Dumbledore used this magic before," John observed, looking at the legendary Auror with interest. "You learned all his advanced skills completely."
"Professor Dumbledore taught me extensively during the last two school years," the legendary Auror reminisced fondly. "Padfoot and Moony also provided invaluable guidance and training."
"It seems he treated you as the heir to the Order of the Phoenix," John chuckled approvingly. "That also makes you potentially the strongest Auror in recorded history."
Their mutual praise ended there as they focused on the investigation.
As soon as Martha entered the castle, she could sense the overwhelming bloody smell and the distinctive scent mixed within it.
"She was definitely here, not very long ago. Three days, no wait—four days!" Martha declared with certainty.
Martha moved like a bloodhound following an invisible trail, wandering around the ancient corridors. Every direction she walked was a place the mysterious woman had once passed through.
They came to the massive blood pool, where the Hakki tribe and numerous vampires had been systematically massacred. The scent was strongest in this area of concentrated death.
Walking along the edge of the blood pool, they approached an ornate relief carved into the stone wall.
The legendary Auror raised his wand confidently. "Alohomora!"
Nothing happened where the wand pointed. He frowned with confusion. "Not a secret door?"
John glanced at him with mild amusement. "One thing, I think you still need to study practical problem-solving with Hermione."
The legendary Auror looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
John raised his wand with casual efficiency. "Blasting Curse!"
"Boom!"
The relief was blown to pieces, revealing a sealed passage hidden behind the decorative stonework.
This wasn't a door at all, but it certainly was a secret passage.
The legendary Auror coughed twice, somewhat embarrassed by his oversight.
John ignored his discomfort and walked straight into the revealed passage.
Behind the destroyed relief was the path leading to the treasury. Walking to the end of the narrow corridor, they discovered a room filled with glittering jewels and ancient artifacts.
In the very center, a stone sarcophagus was particularly conspicuous among the treasure.
John tapped it experimentally with his wand and said to the legendary Auror beside him, "Does this look familiar to you?"
The legendary Auror stared at the stone coffin and hesitated thoughtfully. "It's somewhat like..."
"A Pensieve," John finished, reaching out to touch the sarcophagus with reverent care. "This is a Memory Sarcophagus, allowing those who lie inside to re-experience past memories with perfect clarity."
As a master alchemist, John knew these rare magical artifacts like the back of his hand.
He tapped the sarcophagus again. "Someone has recently lain inside this device."
The legendary Auror asked with growing interest, "The people who killed the vampire?"
John raised an eyebrow with determination. "Let's try and see what they experienced."
He climbed over the edge and lay inside the sarcophagus, tapping the coffin wall. "Close the lid carefully, thank you."
The legendary Auror's body stiffened with shock, not expecting "trying" to mean this. If people in the magical realm knew he had personally covered the Wizard King's coffin...
The potential consequences... He took a deep breath and asked Martha to help him. That way it wasn't just him doing it alone.
After more than ten years in the workplace, one learned some essential rules for sharing responsibility.
Martha, who wasn't even a workplace newcomer, naively helped without understanding the implications.
The two worked together to carefully cover the stone coffin. John lay inside and clapped his hands twice. A complex magic circle composed of intricate lines and circles covered the sarcophagus with glowing energy.
He closed his eyes and focused his consciousness.
The interior of the sarcophagus began to change dramatically. John made the magical device trace back the memories experienced by the previous occupant.
Through the mystical connection, he saw...
A car? And a woman traveling together?