The Primordial Dragon faded slowly—too slowly—its starlight lingering in the room like a sigh that refused to die.
Even when it vanished entirely, the Draconis common room remained bright, humming with leftover magic.
Lady Draconis stood before Cassius, expression soft in a way that made something warm twist in his chest.
"To think," she murmured, "that this level of soul—and will—rested within you all this time."
He wasn't sure what to do with that.
Praise from a ghost was one thing.
Praise from her, an ancient draconic spirit tied to his very lineage, was different.
The girls hovered behind him—silent, wide-eyed, varying degrees of awe, fear, and "my boyfriend is a terrifying magical anomaly."
Cassius cleared his throat.
"…Lady Draconis?"
Her eyes flicked to him gently. "Yes, child?"
He hesitated.
Because the girls were absolutely listening.
Because he could already feel their intentions radiating off them.
"Is it…" He glanced back at them.
Hermione tilted her head—encouraging.
Daphne smirked like she'd already read his mind.
Ginny mouthed: Ask. It.
Astoria added a tiny thumbs-up.
Cho straightened eagerly.
Luna looked serene, but her eyes sparkled like she already knew the answer.
Cassius sighed.
"Is it possible," he began carefully, "to change someone's Patronus? Not just shifting form from emotion, but—"
He met Lady Draconis's eyes.
"Can a witch or wizard change their Patronus into a magical creature? Intentionally?"
The room went still.
Hermione inhaled sharply.
Daphne froze.
Ginny looked like she'd been waiting for this moment since birth.
Astoria literally wriggled.
Cho leaned forward slightly.
Luna's smile widened.
Lady Draconis blinked… then laughed softly.
"Oh, Cassius. You truly have no idea how deeply you echo the wizards of ancient ages."
She drifted closer, robes whispering with stardust.
"In the earliest eras of magic," she said, "magical creature Patronuses were not special—they were common."
The girls gasped.
Cassius felt a jolt of shock.
His dragon… wasn't unheard of?
Lady Draconis continued:
"The world was steeped in ambient mana. Rivers shimmered with raw arcana. Forests breathed magic. Even the air carried power strong enough to nourish the soul."
She raised her hand, ethereal fingers outlining a constellation in midair.
"Wizards bathed in mana-rich environments daily. Their bodies adapted. Their souls aligned with forces far more ancient than mere earthly beasts."
Hermione stepped forward slightly. "So… magical Patronuses were a product of the environment?"
"Yes," Lady Draconis nodded. "One wizard of ancient Greece, Heraklion the Radiant, summoned a Patronus in the form of a Giant fifty feet tall. Another—a witch of the Aztec empire—summoned a feathered serpent whose wings spanned an entire temple courtyard, i believe it was later believed to be one of their gods."
"Bloody hell…" Ginny whispered.
"So it is possible?" Cassius pressed.
"In theory?" Lady Draconis said with a small smile. "Yes. If one bathes long enough in sufficiently dense ambient magic, the soul may evolve. Recalibrate. Attune itself to something more ancient. More powerful."
Daphne crossed her arms thoughtfully. "So we just need… a magic bath."
Lady Draconis blinked. "…That is an alarmingly accurate simplification."
Hermione, predictably, was already theorizing.
"So if ambient magic could be artificially restored—"
Cassius didnt react.
At least—not outwardly.
But inside?
Inside, something clicked.
Something cold.
Something brilliant.
Something Nyx.
Artificially restoring ambient magic… or simulating an ancient mana environment…
He could do that.
Just not as Cassius.
And definitely not under Hogwarts.
"Hypothetically," he said, keeping his voice light, "if someone wanted to replicate a mana-rich field, how would they start?"
Lady Draconis studied him.
Long.
Slow.
Knowing.
"Theoretically," she said carefully, "You would need to access one of the leylines that produce magical power for the earth to begin with. Either that or you could flood the earth with numerous magical creatures forcing the balance to be readdressed as the present environmental mana has waned thanks to the overhunting of these magical creatures."
Cassius's mind raced at the options.
It was known the earth had leylines dating back to the very foundations of magic, but at the earths surface shifted about thanks to the tectonic plates these leylines likewise shifted and changed.
In more recent times, the lines themselves had grown sparser.
This could be seen from the magical creatures, not just because of their lack of numbers due to human hunting, but also their reduction in size.
Fossil records showed in previous ages showed that life on earth was capable of supporting truly gigantic forms.
But this was not just because of the climate, but because the leylines of the earth could be said to have been fully open, bathing the earth in potent concentrated magical power.
But with the breakup of pangea and the seperating of the lands, this magic power began to fluctuate and fade, eventually draining away until these massive lifeform could no longer support themselves resulting in their mass extinction.
What came next was a rapid decline of the planet itself as not just animal but even plant life needed to adapt to the changing climate and environment across the earth.
When things finally started to stabilize the reduction of power allowed for the rise of new magical creatures, being born from the marine life, avian, reptilian, and mammillian life that managed to adapt and survive the changing times.
At this point came the rise of the first human magicians, who thanks to the swelling of other magical creatures were able to use the produced mana in the air, becoming gods in their own rights, ruling over the lands, and early humans extending their natural lives while honing their craft.
Cassius thinking on this looked to the future, creating a high density mana location would not feesibly be possible right now, not like he could just whip out a magic jacuzzi afterall.
But in the future... using his might on both the magical and muggle sides, he could enforce magical animal breeding programs to return the magical beings numbers to what they were former.
Enhancing the magical plantlife as well to recycle mana in their air in efforts to enrich it.
Though this plan would be something that would overall take decades to accomplish though i that time perhaps through science mana could be artificially made to be released into the earths atmosphere to further enrich the planet rather than using it like a battery and only endlessly draining the power within until none remained.