Hogwarts Castle was slowly awakening under the pale light of an autumn morning. Mist drifted over the towers, seeped through the windows of the great halls, enveloping the estate in a mysterious and unchanging veil. Marius Rosier, sitting on the edge of his bed in the room he shared with two other Slytherin students, silently stared at the flames in the fireplace. His deep and cold gaze seemed to probe beyond the present, beyond the centuries-old stones of this castle.
He had already spent a full week at Hogwarts, but the world he was discovering never ceased to fascinate and irritate him at the same time. Here, magic flowed naturally, almost effortlessly, carried by millennia-old traditions and the complicity between students and professors. But for Marius, this was not enough. The wizarding world was much weaker and more limited than the one he had known. What he possessed within him, in his dark soul, far surpassed these children with their fragile wands.
"They do not yet know what awaits them," he thought, caressing the Golden Ring he wore on his finger, the only visible remnant of his former power. An object he had fashioned in his old world, and which in this one still held a latent power, the source of his future empire.
The morning began with a Charms class in the large teaching room located in the Slytherin tower. Professor Binns, an ethereal and monotonous ghost, recited the dates and names of magical events, but Marius wasn't really listening. His thoughts wandered to older arcana, forgotten spells, and forbidden magic. He had already begun to translate in his mind certain texts he had managed to obtain, texts that no one else at Hogwarts knew.
After class, in the corridors with their cold stone walls, he passed several students. Some looked at him with admiration, others with mistrust. A sturdy, ruddy-faced boy approached him with a slightly mocking smile.
"Hey, Rosier, you don't look easygoing, but you're new, huh? We're Slytherin here. You'll see, it's no joke."
Marius replied with a thin, almost imperceptible smile.
"I know the atmosphere of the houses well."
But the boy shrugged and walked away, intrigued by this silent assurance.
In the Slytherin common room, decorated with green stones and adorned with tapestries where golden serpents seemed to come to life, Marius quickly found his place. He settled into a dark corner, observing his classmates. Some were already heirs to prestigious families, others ambitious seekers of power by any means.
He spotted a few interesting students: Theodore Nott, whose family had a long tradition of conservative wizards, and Millicent Bulstrode, a brute with impressive strength but limited intelligence. Both had exploitable weaknesses.
Far from being a simple teenager, Marius began to use his magic in ways his classmates could not even imagine. Without a wand, with a simple gesture, he made a book levitate on the table. The whispering of the pages drew attention, and he knew how to capture the curiosity of several Slytherins.
"How do you do that without a wand?" asked a girl with straight black hair, her eyes sparkling with envy.
Marius replied in a calm, controlled tone.
"You can do many things if you understand the magical flows. The wand is just a channel, not a limit."
The others remained speechless, fascinated and a little wary.
In the evening, in the dormitory, Marius reflected on the relationships he had already begun to establish, the alliances to be formed. He knew that to establish his power, he had to gain the trust and admiration of key students while sowing division and fear among others.
He also thought about James Potter, that Gryffindor student about whom rumors already spoke of bravery and ardor. A potential obstacle, a threat that he would have to study closely.
"This boy is a bright spot," Marius thought. "He will have to be extinguished... or corrupted."
In the following days, the school routine resumed its course. Classes followed one after another: Potions with Professor Slughorn, where Marius noticed how the master tried to spot talented students, Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts.
In each lesson, Marius strove to learn but also to observe. Most students focused on acquiring basic powers, while he delved into older, more powerful magic.
During a Defense Against the Dark Arts class, he overheard a conversation between a few Gryffindors. James Potter and Sirius Black were enthusiastically discussing a crazy idea: organizing a secret club to train in defensive magic. Marius smiled, not without irony. They already saw themselves as the heroes of the magical world, even though they did not yet understand the depth of the darkness surrounding them.
One night, as the castle slept, Marius slipped out of his dormitory, taking advantage of the silent magic that enveloped the castle to go to the restricted section of the library, a place few students dared to frequent. There, among the dusty parchments and forgotten grimoires, he sought the darkest secrets, the most powerful enchantments.
He found an old manuscript written in ancient runes, describing spells of mental domination and corruption. His eyes gleamed with a sinister light. This would be one of his most precious weapons for manipulating the weak-minded and preparing his future army.
He retreated on tiptoe, leaving behind a breath of shadow in the silent room.
The weeks passed, and Marius gradually established himself as an unavoidable figure in Slytherin. His magic, though hidden, impressed some students who began to gather around him, eager to taste the power he seemed to embody.
But not everything went without opposition. Some professors watched this boy with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. Marius sensed their vigilance and knew he had to proceed with caution, hiding his ambitions under the guise of a diligent and respectful student.
One afternoon, in the Great Hall, as the sun's rays danced colors on the stained glass windows, Marius met James Potter's gaze. Their eyes locked, and a shiver ran through the air.
"You, you are not like the others," James murmured, more to himself than aloud.
Marius replied with an enigmatic smile.
"And you, Gryffindor, you are already too sure of yourself."
It was a silent duel, an unspoken promise that their rivalry was only beginning.
As the days went by, the atmosphere at Hogwarts seemed tinged with a new tension, a play of shadows between light and darkness, an upcoming confrontation that only a few sensed.
Marius Rosier, the reborn Dark Lord, advanced step by step in his conquest. Hogwarts was no longer just a school: it was the ground of his future empire.