Dawn continued flipping through the pages, yellowed and heavy with age.

The title of the third manuscript was — [Transformation: The Concept of Flesh Transplantation].

This was the exact piece he had been searching for from the beginning—the deleted experimental section from [Flesh and Flesh].

And after Dawn finished reading through it—

His first impression of Celeste was that this man was far crazier than the authors of the previous two manuscripts—and also much more intelligent.

Although Celeste had proposed a theory about different types of magic and believed organ transplantation could be a solution, he didn’t use himself as the subject of verification. Instead, he sneakily attacked a stranger—a wizard—to use him as experimental material.

The experimental process was recorded in the manuscript like this:

“After some communication, this poor wizard told me his name was Cassie Carter, a Muggle-born wizard, 18 years old, just graduated from Hogwarts.”

“When I think about it, I really feel jealous.”

“He was just beginning his life, and yet he could use the achievement of magical creature transfiguration as a starting point.”

“What a lucky kid.”

“As I responded to his begging, promising to release him soon, I used the Memory Charm and the Imperius Curse to erase his resistance.”

“Yes, I didn’t rush to start the experiment. I believed that in order to ensure smooth progress, the subject needed to be more cooperative.”

“So, after a month of effort, I finally got myself an obedient ‘son.'”

“At the same time—”

“In August of 1550, through a friend in the smuggling business, I managed to obtain a Thestral from abroad.”

“I believe this will be my best choice.”

Dawn held back his judgment on Celeste’s methods and was just about to turn the page, when suddenly, a faint cat’s meow echoed in the corridor outside.

Mrs. Norris?

Frowning, Dawn extinguished the Lumos charm and sat silently in the darkness.

Soon after, Filch’s heavy footsteps echoed from beyond the library, but he didn’t seem to notice anything unusual, merely hurrying past.

Shaking his head, Dawn recast the lighting spell and continued reading.

“December 7th, 1550. The first experiment begins.”

“After putting Cassie to sleep, I used a small knife to peel the skin off his left arm, then covered the squirming flesh and pale fat with the dried, leathery skin of the Thestral.”

“Using a potion called ‘Active Binder,’ I successfully grafted the Thestral’s skin onto Cassie.”

“Then I woke him up.”

“Upon realizing the change, Cassie fell into a panic.”

“I can’t say I was surprised. After all, he’s too young—only 18—and doesn’t understand the greatness of what he’s part of.”

“So I had to wait until he calmed down before asking about his feelings… ah, how I regret not studying Legilimency more thoroughly beforehand.”

“…”

“January 10th, 1551. Cassie finally accepted his new condition.”

“He told me that aside from feeling strange to the touch, the new skin didn’t affect him much.”

“I had him cast spells he already knew. Compared to before the transplant, there was no noticeable difference.”

“Also, attempts to transform him into a Thestral still failed.”

“Well, although disappointing, it wasn’t unexpected.”

“After all, just one layer of skin is too little. I believe if I continue transplanting, the day of transformation will surely come!”

“…”

“February 15th, 1551. The second experiment begins.”

“This time, I replaced nearly all of Cassie’s skin and even removed one of his eyes.”

“But strangely, when he awoke, he kept screaming in pain, and the transplanted eye and skin began to rot.”

“I fed him all kinds of healing potions, but they only offered temporary relief…”

“Damn it!”

“Why is this happening?!”

…Obviously due to rejection.

Dawn rubbed his chin.

Even human-to-human organ transplants aren’t always successful—how could such crude cross-species experiments be any better?

“April 17th, 1551. I searched through all of my family’s archives and finally found a solution in a witch’s notes from the Witch Hunt era!”

“Suppress Resonance—a spell to inhibit magical resonance!”

“I don’t know why this spell works for organ transplants, but after applying it, I discovered the notes were absolutely right.”

At this point, Dawn felt a pang of reflection.

Though the Witch Hunt was a dark scar in wizarding history, it would be unfair to ignore that wizards in that era inflicted just as much harm on Muggles.

The bizarre spells that exist today were born from countless Muggle deaths.

Even legends or horror fairy tales from the Muggle world often have real origins.

Take ‘Black Annis’, for example—a witch from Leicestershire folklore said to dwell in a cliffside cave, who captured children with iron claws, skinned them, and hung their hides on trees to dry.

Dawn had read about her at age nine in a book. She wasn’t fiction—she had truly existed during the Witch Hunt period, as a dark witch.

Reining in his thoughts, Dawn committed the Suppress Resonance spell to memory.

Truth be told, although he had told Dumbledore during their midnight conversation that the wizarding world hadn’t changed in centuries, on further thought, that wasn’t quite fair.

In canon, Damocles invented the Wolfsbane Potion in the 1970s, and Snape created Sectumsempra while still in school.

So yes, there were occasional innovations in potions and spellcraft.

But in terms of dark magic and studies of the body and soul, today’s magical world really was falling behind the Witch Hunt era.

Not that it could be helped—the times were different.

Voldemort’s lifetime kill count probably didn’t even match the casualties from a single magical experiment back then.

“…”

“June 7th, 1551. The fifth experiment ends in failure.”

“I implanted a Thestral’s liver, lungs, stomach into Cassie’s body… but even after all that, he was still able to cast his own spells, and transformation into a magical creature failed again.”

“How could this be?!”

“Could my theory be wrong?”

“That magical creatures only have limited abilities, and that wizards can’t become magical creatures… has nothing to do with types of magic?!”

“No! I don’t believe that!”

“I must not have done enough yet!”

“…”

Dawn stared at the manuscript’s cold text, feeling Celeste’s anxiety and desperation bleeding through the black ink.

Still—

All the experimental results up to this point confirmed that Dawn had been right: wizards and magical creatures shared the same kind of magical power.

Celeste’s claim about “different types of magic” was completely baseless.

So then—

Why did Celeste, in [Flesh and Flesh], declare that his theory was “likely correct”?

And what were the strange changes that occurred in the experimental subject?

With these two questions in mind, Dawn read on.

“…”

“May 4th, 1552. I succeeded!”

________________

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