Everyone Was Looking Forward to It

"Wow, is this a dragon?"

After entering the laboratory, they were hit by a strong stench of blood. But when Charles saw the source of that smell, his expression changed at once.

A dragon—an actual dragon!

The dragon was pitch-black. Even though it was already dead, Charles could still clearly sense the dangerous aura it gave off.

"Yes. It’s a Hungarian Peak Dragon, one of the most dangerous dragon species in the world." Noah nodded. "This is an adult dragon. It’s about ninety-one feet long and weighs around twenty-eight tons, roughly equivalent to seven or eight African elephants."

Charles nodded along. He knew that although the thing was heavy, weight was not really a problem for wizards.

If magic could solve it, it was not a problem—just like the saying in the Muggle world: if money could solve it, it was not a problem.

"To be honest, I’ve read some material about dragons in books." Charles looked at the dragon and sighed. "The books said they were bloodthirsty and greedy, extremely cunning, and highly resistant to magic. I really don’t understand why they became livestock."

"Did you read Lockhart and the Dragons He Met?" Noah scratched his head and asked curiously.

"No, it was a very old book. By the way, who is Lockhart?" Charles was equally puzzled.

"A fraud. No need to care about him. He should be in Azkaban now, right? Let me think… a very old book, then it should be Kaimian Sweet’s Report on Dragon Research, right?"

"That’s right, that’s the one!"

"I’m sorry to tell you that many things in that book were just speculation. Dragons are indeed greedy and bloodthirsty, and they have high resistance to magic, but they aren’t particularly cunning.

Mr. Sweet’s book was speculation based on myths, legends, and real dragons. Modern dragons aren’t very intelligent. You can understand it as them having degenerated, or perhaps as the legends having misled people."

"Is that so?"

Charles fell silent for a moment, while Noah paid him no mind.

The dragons in this world were indeed as Noah had said, but Noah felt that the first explanation was more reasonable.

No one knew how the first dragon had appeared, nor did anyone know how long these dragons had existed.

So it was hard to say that dragons had not originally been aliens who left descendants on Earth before departing, while those left behind gradually degenerated into what they were today.

This world was truly highly complex. Why did high-dimensional and low-dimensional universes intertwine with one another? Why were there all kinds of civilizations and life in other star systems?

If dragons really were fucking aliens, then everything made sense.

Otherwise, how could Noah’s system give him such detailed information about dragons?

As Noah’s research deepened, he increasingly felt that the people of the York Magical Association could not possibly have developed such a complete theory about dragon evolution—or degeneration.

The system might be powerful and incredible, but it could not create things out of thin air, could it?

"Fine. Whether it’s a story made up by others or whether it degenerated, it’s all the same to me."

Charles quickly recovered and smiled. "I have to say, this thing is a work of art. Every part of its body is practically a weapon. It’s really hard to imagine how it evolved."

"If you like it, I can buy one and give it to you. But I’d advise you to get a small one, or a dead one. Otherwise, it’ll be a lot of trouble."

Noah smiled. Since Charles liked it, he could give him one to mess around with.

"Forget it. The Ministry of Magic doesn’t allow dragons to be kept in the city, even if I live in the suburbs." Charles’s eyes lit up, but after thinking for a moment, he still shook his head. "Once we’re done researching it, just give it to me."

"No problem." Noah glanced back at it and nodded directly.

This was easy enough. Even if Charles wanted a dragon skeleton, it would not be a problem.

After all, such things really meant nothing to Noah. He had already disposed of several dragon corpses.

To keep things fresh and active, Noah could not possibly keep researching only the few dragons he had bought at the beginning.

Noah quickly picked up his previous experimental report and handed it over. Charles accepted it with a smile.

However, he did not open it immediately. Instead, he placed it on his lap, then looked up at Noah with a smile on his face.

"What is it?" Noah felt a little uncomfortable under Charles’s gaze, so he spoke first.

"By the way, the movie about you is about to be released. Aren’t you going to watch it?" Charles asked with a smile as he looked at Noah’s bewildered expression.

"Huh? It’s about to be released?" Noah touched his nose. He truly had no idea.

"Yes. It’s been in preparation for nearly two years. How could it not be released?" Charles was a little baffled as well. "Don’t tell me you forgot?"

Noah touched his nose. He really had forgotten.

Come to think of it, it had been over a year, nearly two years, since Noah, Charles, and Dumbledore had discussed making the movie.

During this period, Noah had completely turned into a shut-in. Apart from going to the Ministry of Magic and Charles’s laboratory when necessary, he spent every day shuttling between Kamar-Taj and the laboratory.

Time seemed to have truly frozen for Noah. Ever since he had merged with Captain Marvel Carol’s bloodline—about nine years ago, perhaps—his body had grown exceptionally slowly.

Especially in recent years, Noah’s appearance had barely changed at all.

With his demanding research work and his physical changes having become so slow they were practically frozen, Noah naturally became less and less aware of time.

Of course, there was another important reason: Ms. Heifen.

Several years ago, Ms. Heifen had already used magic to stop herself from changing in any way. She even looked younger now.

Using magic to preserve one’s appearance was not particularly difficult, and it was entirely a matter of personal choice.

For example, Professor McGonagall did not like such artificial tricks. Whatever age she was, that was the age she looked.

Of course, they would not interfere with anyone using magic to alter their appearance either. Those were private matters, and no one else had the right to question them.

"Well, it looks like you really did forget. Go out and take a walk more often. Staying cooped up in the laboratory all day isn’t a good thing." Seeing Noah’s embarrassed expression, Charles knew he had guessed correctly.

"Don’t worry, it’s only been like this recently. In the future, I’ll definitely recruit more magical researchers. One round of research is enough to make me miserable. I don’t want to have to do everything myself forever." Noah spread his hands.

Indeed, Noah felt that this kind of research work did not suit him at all. He preferred quietly holding a book with a cup of coffee, chatting with his friends or Ms. Heifen.

Or he could take Wong to places where magical creatures appeared and do a little hunting.

As for the movie Noah and Charles had made, it was essentially the story of Noah’s time at Hogwarts.

Originally, Noah had wanted to create a version of the original world based on "What if The Ancient One had not chosen me?" or "What if this world had no Noah Finneal?"

Unfortunately, the moment he proposed that idea, Dumbledore rejected it. Even Charles and the Hogwarts professors who had come to discuss it rejected it as well.

Clearly, that plan did not suit the current magical world, nor was it suitable to show something like "Pureblood theory won" again, even if Voldemort still died in the end.

After much discussion, Dumbledore and the others ultimately agreed to make a movie about Noah’s time at Hogwarts.

There would be three films, telling the story of Noah’s three years at Hogwarts. Although the number of installments could not compare to what Noah had expected, they could at least keep them going for several years, couldn’t they?

Noah even felt that, if necessary, they could make movies about Newt’s story.

After all, there were plenty of curious people, and Noah himself wanted to know what the third Fantastic Beasts film would be like. He had no idea how many times he had asked Nagini, but the lazy snake always said she simply could not remember.

Nagini had been with Noah for many years now, but her presence had always been weak. Or rather, even when she was alone with Noah, she rarely changed back.

In her own words, she was still working hard to merge with this body, especially after learning magic.

Noah was quite speechless about such a long period of integration and growth.

But it did not matter. According to Noah’s observations, her condition was steadily improving.

Noah had never expected her to end up like this, but on reflection, it seemed perfectly normal.

Because of her bloodline curse, she had completely turned into a snake, and she had remained in snake form for more than twice as long as she had remained human.

Now that she had to adapt to her body again, it was naturally no simple matter. Especially because Noah’s influence had led her to learn magic, the process naturally took even longer.

Shaking his head, Noah put these messy thoughts aside and asked, "All right. When exactly?"

"It’ll be released in about a month."

Charles smiled. "I heard that all the little ones in the British magical world have gone crazy with excitement. In their eyes, you’re their idol. They’ve all heard about your stories at Hogwarts, but they’ve never seen them presented on the big screen like this before."

"Is that so? I just hope it doesn’t perform too badly, or I won’t have the money to keep researching." Noah shrugged and smiled indifferently.

Using his own story to make money was actually rather interesting when he thought about it.

But Dumbledore and the others had put a great deal of effort into it. They had specifically hired performers and carefully watched films from the Muggle world to study the actors’ performances.

They had also specifically consulted Noah, Evan and the others who had shared a dormitory with Noah, and even Hermione and Ernie had not escaped questioning.

During filming, they had even gone to Hogwarts specifically to shoot scenes. Who knew how many young wizards had served as extras? Even Dumbledore had personally gone back there.

It was easy to imagine just how much those little ones were looking forward to the film.