#176 - Section 176

After about ten seconds, the blood-red flames wriggled and transformed into a middle-aged man, roughly six-foot-three in height.

If there was any similarity to his previous form, it was the same bald head, still devoid of a single strand of hair, and an equally fierce countenance.

The first impression he gave was that he was not a good person.

Aside from that, his eyebrows and beard were black, and he was at least eight inches taller.

Perhaps this was the despicable Herpo in his middle age.

And in a rather eye-searing display, he wasn't wearing any clothes; Ethan immediately tossed him a wizard's robe.

Ethan's wizard's robe was a bit small for him, but he managed to squeeze into it.

After all, Ethan was only fourteen years old and about six feet tall.

"How do you feel?"

While Ethan was assessing him, the despicable Herpo was also adjusting to the changes in his body. "Not bad, but there's still a gap compared to when I was alive, mainly in terms of magical power. Perhaps this is due to a deviation in the soul."

After carefully sensing the state of various parts of his body, the despicable Herpo slowly spoke.

He also knew that it was unlikely he could return to his original state; reaching this level was already good enough, sufficient!

"So, are you now a complete person with life?"

Ethan wasn't quite sure about his current state. First of all, he couldn't detect his heartbeat.

At this close distance, Ethan's senses were quite acute, but now, with the despicable Herpo standing in front of him, if he closed his eyes and Herpo didn't move, he would seem like a dead person with a magical reaction.

Ethan couldn't sense any vital signs of a living person on him.

However, even so, Ethan felt that his soul was still in his grasp.

This had been planted when he was still a Horcrux fragment, specifically designed for him.

It mainly utilized the Banishing Charm and incorporated some characteristics of Helheim and the wights' mark.

If, after being resurrected, he escaped his control, he would have been collected just now; he would never have the idea of letting him out without being sure of controlling him.

"Somewhere between a living person and a dead person!"

"The soul and body are both alive; I can sense that, but there's no need for any living needs. Everything is provided by magic."

The despicable Herpo pondered for a moment before speaking his feelings.

There was no heartbeat, and bodily organs like the stomach and lungs weren't working, but the body was indeed alive because he could sense the life force within it.

As the most brilliant dark wizard of an era, without a doubt,

the despicable Herpo had a very deep understanding of the wizarding human body and soul; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to touch his own soul to create such a dark magic as a Horcrux.

And the research on basilisks also illustrated his understanding of life and magic.

So, at this moment, after the despicable Herpo circulated magic throughout his body, he could discover various problems on his body.

As for the soul, it did have vitality, completely different from its state as a Horcrux. This was the reaction of the soul and body being closely linked together after being integrated.

Except for being a little weaker than a normal person, there wasn't much difference.

Combining all of this, the despicable Herpo concluded that he was in a state between a living person and a dead person.

After hearing this, Ethan also sized up the despicable Herpo thoughtfully, not expecting him to be in such a state.

So, was this resurrection spell a success or a failure?

Little Tom, after being resurrected, was completely a person, with all the characteristics of a living person.

But with the despicable Herpo, the result was such a semi-finished product, constantly needing magic to maintain activity.

And there was an extremely important question.

"Can your magic recover on its own, or do you need to replenish it from the outside world?"

In his previous Horcrux fragment form, after replenishing his magic and life force, he could also move freely and possessed considerable combat power.

However, once it was exhausted, he would become an idiot, so he wasn't very useful, and Ethan had always left him in Nibelungen.

Now, if he still needed to constantly replenish magic from the outside world, then he really resurrected into loneliness.

"It should be able to recover on its own."

The despicable Herpo wasn't too sure about this.

The reason for saying this was also based on past experience.

As long as the body still possessed magic, it had vitality, and with vitality, it could recover magic; this was a perfect cycle.

Therefore, one couldn't exhaust all the magic at once.

But whether it was true or not, he had to experiment to find out.

Ethan immediately tossed him a wand and then pulled him into Nibelungen to test it.

Ethan had obtained hundreds of these wands on Crete, and he didn't have the mind to let the despicable Herpo choose a suitable one.

Just make do with it; anyway, if the resurrection was good, he would make one himself.

Ethan, who had discussed a lot of magical knowledge with him, knew that his wands were all made by himself, and the core material of the last one was the basilisk's horn.

If the resurrection wasn't ideal and he still had to rely on external magic replenishment, then he would continue to stay in Nibelungen, and he wouldn't need a wand.

Finding an open space, the despicable Herpo directly used the large-scale magic Fire Shield Charm.

After stopping the Fire Shield Charm, he carefully sensed it and then concluded that his magic could recover on its own.

Ethan immediately pulled him out. Although the resurrection wasn't very ideal, it could still be used.

Chapter 221: Quidditch World Cup Venue

Time quickly came to the eve of the Quidditch World Cup, with only a few days left before the start of the competition.

Quidditch enthusiasts from all over the world had already begun to gather at the competition venue.

Ethan was also preparing to set off in advance, not because he was so passionate about Quidditch.

After all, Cho Chang, who liked Quidditch the most, had returned to China. Ethan and the others were mostly going with the attitude of watching the excitement.

Due to the Quidditch World Cup, the duration of the matches was quite long, so almost all the wizards who went to watch set up tents on the grounds outside the stadium.

Seats for the matches could be purchased with Galleons, but the space outside was up for grabs, except for the rest areas for the various national teams.

Other spectators had to find their own spots, and although there were distinctions between pure-blood nobles, half-bloods, and Muggle-born wizards,

with so many wizards from different countries, there were quite a few pure-blood nobles with status, so arriving late was naturally not an option.

Ethan had a certain status but it wasn't really suitable to reveal it, especially since he was just a student, so it was better to go and grab a spot himself.

Moreover, the Delacour family had already arrived two days ago.

Fleur and Gabrielle were already urging Ethan to come over quickly via Wizarding Wireless Network.

After crawling out from under Penelope and Nagini, Ethan quickly washed up.

Then, he yanked open the curtains, and the outside was already bright.

The glaring sunlight shone directly in.

The entire house was equipped with various enchantments, keeping it warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

The windows were naturally also specially made; Ethan had modified them with alchemy, allowing sunlight to shine in, and from the inside, everything looked normal, just like regular glass.

But from the outside, one couldn't see the inside, only a layer of mist.

Of course, this was already protected by multiple layers of enchantments, including the Fidelius Charm, so outsiders couldn't discover it at all.

Even those who knew the secret couldn't see the inside from the outside.

"Wake up, we're going to the Quidditch World Cup venue later."

Today, there was no time for them to sleep in.

They had to leave quickly.

"What time is it?"

Raising her hand to shield her eyes from the morning sun, Penelope asked Ethan groggily.

"It's past seven, time to get up!"

Ethan still remembered the first time Penelope stayed overnight at his house, back in the Muggle villa in London.

Penelope woke up much earlier than him; by the time Ethan got up, Penelope was already stretching in the courtyard.

"Mm!"

Penelope sat up directly, then stretched languidly, exposing her ample bosom directly in front of Ethan.

Nagini, without any reservation, also threw back the covers and went to the wardrobe to find new clothes.

Those two headlights were really white and reflective, quite dazzling, but even so, Ethan still endured the discomfort in his eyes and forcibly stared at them.

This instantly aroused Ethan's interest, but unfortunately, time didn't permit it, so he could only feast his eyes.

Penelope also noticed Ethan's situation and deliberately glanced at Ethan's little brother.

After confirming that it was saluting her, she deliberately walked back and forth in front of Ethan, choosing suitable clothes.

As for yesterday's outfit, it had already become fragments lying on the ground, having lost its function.

Unless using the Repairing Charm, but Ethan didn't lack this little bit of money at all, having already purchased enough various clothes that suited Ethan's preferences from Tailor's.

Counting from the day Hogwarts broke up for the holidays, changing one set a day would be enough to last until the start of school.

By the time Penelope and Nagini had changed clothes and finished washing up, it was already past eight o'clock.

Fortunately, they didn't use Muggle cosmetics much, but rather used various wizarding potions, emphasizing simplicity, convenience, and speed, otherwise, it was estimated that they would have to wait another half hour or more.

The two women who walked out of the room with Ethan had completely shed the laziness and fatigue of just waking up, and both looked radiant.

This was also thanks to the effect of the Magic Blood potion, which provided considerable help to the two women's physical strength and recovery ability.

According to past experience, when they were still weak, they probably wouldn't get up until noon, and even if they did, they wouldn't want to move, after all, everything was swollen, what else could they do but rest?

Now, after a night's sleep, they would basically recover.

It was just that due to the excessive consumption, the required sleep time would also be a little longer.

When they arrived at the dining room, there were still several breakfasts laid out on the table, especially Ethan's portion, which was really frighteningly large.

As for the other seats, the tableware had already been cleared away.

Obviously, they had not chosen to wait for Ethan to eat together today.

After eating breakfast with Penelope and the others, they went directly to the living room.

Cassandra and the others had been sitting here for quite some time, and besides her, Hermione was also here.

As for Luna, she had messaged Ethan, originally wanting to go with Ethan to watch the Quidditch World Cup.

But her dad, due to the recent considerable sales of "The Quibbler", as the editor, Xenophilius Lovegood, had received a considerable bonus.

For this bonus, Luna's dad's choice was not to take Luna to see some Quidditch World Cup, but to look for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.

They believed that Crumple-Horned Snorkacks were shy, friendly creatures that hated light and heat and liked cold, damp places.

So they speculated that there might be traces of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks on the Scandinavian Peninsula.

The first stop of this trip was Norway, and they had already set off a few days ago.

Ethan remembered that in the original book, Luna and her dad did have a plot to go looking for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, but didn't they fail to go?

And it wasn't something that happened this year.

Although puzzled, and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks didn't exist, Ethan didn't say much, it was good as long as the father and daughter believed it.

As for Hermione, she had also arrived last night using a Portkey and rested at Ethan's place overnight.

Regarding this, Ethan didn't know how Hermione had convinced her parents to be able to go out and play with male classmates during the summer vacation, and for a considerable amount of time.

Seeing Ethan and Penelope and the others come over, Cassandra and Hermione didn't show any expression.

In the past, Cassandra would still express her dissatisfaction, but after too many times, she had become accustomed to it.

Moreover, expressing her dissatisfaction every time, according to the strategy her mother had given her, might provoke Ethan's dislike.