Chapter 21: Clone Problems

After having his breakfast, Edward went on to prepare for the first day of class. Since he was so engrossed with his research most of the summer, he was quite behind in his preparations.

After making sure that all the materials needed for his Alchemy class were prepared, he then focused on the books for the class. Lucky for him, he had already written the textbook, just needed to print the book itself.

Afterward, Edward went to meet with Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall. She handed him a list of all the students that have already signed up for his class.

This list was quite extensive. Although Edward guessed that his class would be popular based on the stunt that he did yesterday, he did not think that it would be this popular.

Moreover, a lot of the people who signed up are muggle-born wizards. It seemed that yesterday's speech did have quite an impact on them.

"It seems that I have to print out more books and get more materials. Luckily, I am not the one paying for all the resources that will be wasted in all the trial and errors these students will go through," muttered Edward to himself after seeing the long list.

Unfortunately for him, Professor McGonagall overheard him and gave him a strict stare. Edward was then a little embarrassed as Minerva, as the Deputy Headmistress, will be the one worrying about the finances of the school.

As for Dumbledore himself, he seemed to leave everything in the control of McGonagall--unless something happens that she judged she could not decide or take the responsibility for.

Well, if it was up to Edward, she would be the Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And it is not just because she is already in charge of the entire school.

After handling all the things required for his class, Edward went for a slight tour of the castle. After being gone for five years, he still missed many parts of it. Afterward, he went to visit Hagrid.

Back in school, Edward and Hagrid have been very close friends. At first, he approached him to get access to all the resources of the Forbidden Forest. But soon enough, he became quite close with the half-giant due to his gentle and naïve nature.

Their friendship reached a peak after he taught Hagrid his invented spell, "Nature Voice", which allowed him to communicate with magical animals. For Hagrid--who loves magical animals more than anything else--this spell was more precious than any amount of Galleons.

By the time Edward finished talking with Hagrid, it was already nighttime. So, he went to the Forbidden Forest at the same spot that he met Snape last night. Then, the two of them apparated to a very secret building in the muggle world.

The room was full of scientists of different ages, gender, and ethnicity. At first, these people were surprised by Edward and Snape's sudden appearance, then they soon calmed down as they are used to these people's mode of suddenly appearing.

Then, many of them saluted Edward; this was both because he was the boss behind this operation, and also because of his vast knowledge.

The majority of these scientists are some of the smartest people in the world, so they have their pride. Even if Edward forced them to work together, it did not mean that they would respect him.

However, all of this changed when they realized that Edward was as if not more knowledgeable than them--especially in the field of Anatomy and Biology.

As a person who aspires to travel across countless universes and dimensions, Edward knew the importance of Science. So, with his perfect memory and high IQ, he studied many fields.

Not to mention that sometimes, looking at things from a scientific point of view can help his magic research. Adding to that, many of the spells he created are either based on scientific principles or inspired by scientific ideas.

After arriving in this secret research lab, Edward was escorted to a specific room. There were three people naked and floating in a very large glass tube with green liquids in it.

Of these three people, two were women and one was a man. The first two people were Edward's parents: Edgar Bones and his wife, Johana Bones.

"AN: I could not find the name of Edgar's wife, so I chose a name for her.)

As for the last woman, of course, it was Harry Potter's mother, Lily Potter. To be precise, they were clones of them.

After looking at the calm and peaceful look on these clones, Edward asked the Chief Scientist in charge of this particular project:

"What is the problem with them?"

"According to our findings, none of these clones can live for more than a year before dying," replied a white hair old man.

"Is it due to gene collapse?" asked Edward with a frown on his face.

"Yes, sir."

Edward nodded with a pensive look on his face. Snape approached him with his usual somber look, "Do you have a solution?"