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Chapter 1277: Physical Changes
🕑 Added 2024-10-31 04:21:16 +0000 UTCWhile Slughorn's gathering was going on, Evan, Hermione and Elaine returned to their original compartment.
Ron and Luna were not there, and no one knew where they had gone. The three of them continued to enjoy their interrupted lunch.
"This is your dragon's blood," said Evan, taking out a bottle and handing it to Elaine. He also gave Hermione one of the sandwiches he’d bought from the trolley earlier. “These are our sandwiches. They’re a bit basic, but the taste isn’t bad."
By the time they’d said goodbye to Slughorn and returned, the food in the dining trolley had been almost picked out.
“This doesn’t seem new. Are you sure it hasn’t spoiled?” Elaine’s burgundy eyes examined the bottle of dragon blood.
"Dragon blood has a long shelf life. The magic inside guarantees this," said Evan. He opened the bottle of dragon blood, dipped his little finger in it and put it in his mouth to taste it. "Well, it's a little old, but it's not spoiled. You can drink it without worry."
Dragon blood was an important raw material for alchemy and potions. Because it was used so frequently, Evan was quite skilled at identifying it.
Of course, it was all because of Elaine that he could tell the freshness of the blood by its taste.
As mentioned before, this child was a very picky eater and was not so easy to fool.
It was from her that Evan had learned that, surprisingly, dragon blood meant as food could indeed spoil.
This knowledge had unexpectedly come in handy for potions too, as the effectiveness of spoiled dragon blood was significantly reduced.
Hermione looked at the bottle of dragon's blood and curiously dabbed a bit onto her own tongue, tasting nothing but a metallic tang.
"How do you do that?" she asked admiringly. “Tell whether it’s fresh? All I can taste is the tang."
"Try a few more bottles and remember the taste," said Evan. Taking care of a vampire was no simple task.
But something felt strange. When he’d tasted the dragon blood just now, the flavor seemed a bit different from usual.
Evan thought back carefully and realized that he could actually taste other flavors in the blood, rather than just recognizing its sharpness.
Strange, really strange. It seemed that Evan was able to accept blood as food...
Before he could taste it again, Elaine took the bottle of dragon's blood from Hermione and started drinking.
Evan had no idea what other vampires looked like when they fed.
But the way Elaine ate — how to describe it? It gave him the urge to reach over and lick the corners of her mouth.
Even though no one disturbed her, drops of red blood would trickle down the corner of Elaine’s mouth, staining her clothes.
One drop, two drops, three drops...
This was also the main reason why she always got her robes dirty, and Evan was no longer surprised.
Even Hermione had given up trying to persuade Elaine because she knew it was useless and the child could never change this habit.
Blood droplets constantly flowing out, Elaine's cute appearance, and the rustling sounds were to make Evan feel itchy in his heart and want to pounce on Elaine and press her down to wipe the blood from the corners of her mouth. Maybe this was obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Dragon's blood was very expensive and should not be wasted like this.
‘So,’ he thought, ‘just lick Elaine, go up and give a fierce lick to the blood at the corners of her mouth!’
This strange idea suddenly surfaced in Evan’s mind, and he was startled, quickly taking a deep breath. But he couldn’t help licking his lips, the temptation inside him growing stronger. Evan tried not to look at Elaine, focusing instead on the sandwich he’d just bought from the trolley.
Strange, this was not the first time he saw Elaine eating, and he clearly hadn't had such thoughts before.
He didn't have any other strange thoughts about Elaine, so where was this urge to rush over and lick her lips coming from?
Evan raised his head, but this time he didn't dare look at Elaine. Instead, he secretly watched Hermione eating.
His eyes fell on Hermione's rosy lips. To be honest, he wanted to lick her too...
Evan still remembered that Hermione's lips were soft, with a sweet taste, tempting him completely.
It was really terrifying. Evan not only wanted to lick Elaine, but also wanted to pounce on Hermione and lick her. What was happening to him?
Was this… the effect of the new school year?
He had been away from school for too long and had experienced so many dangerous things that he needed time to adjust to this relaxed school atmosphere.
This atmosphere was magical, making people unable to help but pounce on the girls and lick their mouths and kiss them.
Evan tried not to think about anything and felt that he was becoming weird.
He lowered his head again and finished his sandwich in a few bites.
So dry! He should’ve bought a drink to go with it...
"Too dry!" At this moment, Hermione suddenly said, putting down her sandwich.
“You should dip it in some blood; that way, it won’t feel so dry,” Elaine suggested.
"That's an interesting idea, but it's not for me. I'll wait until I go to school tonight to eat. You can have it, Evan,” said Hermione, pushing her sandwich to Evan. “You looked like you didn’t have enough."
Evan took the sandwich and glanced at the bottle of dragon blood in Elaine's hand.
Suddenly, a strong urge arose from the bottom of his heart, and he wanted to drink blood.
"Meow!" A faint cat's cry sounded in Evan's ears and disappeared in an instant.
Evan understood clearly at once that he wanted to lick the corner of Elaine's mouth just now because of the dragon blood trickling down. What he actually wanted was the dragon blood. As for his urge to lick Hermione, it was a lighter continuation of that feeling, along with his affection and love for her — a simple desire for, well...
What he really wanted was dragon blood. Tasting just a bit of it seemed to have triggered some strange changes in his body.
To be more precise, it awakened the beast that resided within him.
After hearing the faint cat's meow by his ear, Evan understood everything.
It was the strange cat from the Ruins of Amun Ra. It had not disappeared at all and was still hiding in his body.
And before at the Burrow, Evan had also felt he’d heard a cat's meow, so Hedwig...
"Yeah, that owl!"
Evan stood up quickly and found Harry's luggage and Hedwig in her cage.
Sure enough, as soon as the owl saw Evan, her amber eyes widened immediately and she bowed slowly, which was very abnormal.
Evan looked down at himself and didn't see anything unusual.
Soon, Hedwig recovered as well, and the cat went into hiding once more.
"Evan, what's wrong?" Hermione asked with concern. "Is there anything wrong?"
"No, I just remembered that I should feed these three little guys," said Evan. He didn't know what was going on yet, and there was no need to say it out loud to make Hermione worry. Hermione came over to help feed Hedwig, Piglet and Crookshanks some food.
Evan sat back down and looked at Elaine and the bottle of dragon blood in her hand, but the urge to lick had vanished.
It was all because of that mysterious cat. That guy could affect Evan’s senses.
This was not a good sign, and this cat obviously had the same taste as vampires...
