Time slipped by quietly, almost unnoticed.
During this period, Louis went to Hagrid's hut whenever he had spare time—not for anything else, but to build up Norbert's affection.
It worked. By now, Norbert had already learned to obey Louis's commands.
Not just Louis—even Harry, Ron, and Neville, who occasionally came by, could give Norbert simple orders.
But it wasn't the same. They lacked Louis's natural affinity. If they gave commands for too long, Norbert grew restless and impatient.
Still, it was no small feat. Without Louis smoothing things over, Norbert wouldn't have bothered with them at all.
By the time Norbert's tail alone had grown to a full meter, Easter had arrived.
Easter came with a holiday, but Louis didn't go home.
On the surface, he claimed it was because he was worried Harry Potter might secretly send the dragon away during the break, so he stayed behind to keep an eye on things.
In truth, his adoptive parents—the Wilsons—had taken the rare opportunity of Mrs. Wilson's time off and Mr. Wilson's holiday to escape to France for a romantic getaway, leaving Louis "all alone and unloved."
To "make it up to him," they had left him a massive chocolate Easter egg stuffed with toffees, along with an apologetic letter, a week before the holiday.
It took Louis three whole days to finish the egg—sickly sweet!
But he was certain that what students would remember most about this Easter was not the chocolate, but the mountain of homework.
Unlike the easy, relaxing Christmas holiday, Easter came just ten weeks before final exams. To prevent the students from having too much fun and forgetting an entire term's worth of knowledge, the professors had buried them under a suffocating load of assignments.
And during this time, Ron ended up in the hospital wing. The official explanation? …Scabbers bit him.
Louis visited him and made sure to look at the wound. In that moment, he almost wanted to pry open Ron's head to see what was inside.
How could anyone possibly mistake the deep punctures of four sharp canines and rows of serrated teeth marks… for a rat bite?
Madam Pomfrey didn't say much, but the look she gave Ron could only be described as "you absolute idiot."
Of course she had figured it out—her treatment was correct: detoxification first, then bandaging.
Dragon teeth were poisonous. Especially those of a Norwegian Ridgeback like Norbert.
Louis was certain Madam Pomfrey would inform Dumbledore of the truth. But knowing Dumbledore, he would probably turn a blind eye.
What was raising a dragon, really? As long as it wasn't discovered, he wouldn't even care if you kept a basilisk.
One night, Louis got up as usual to do his rounds of "dragon surveillance." But the moment he rose from bed, he noticed something off.
"Malfoy? What are you up to?"
There, sneaking about, was Draco Malfoy.
Ever since Louis had taught him a harsh lesson on the train, Draco had become much more restrained—especially around Louis, where he didn't even dare to speak a word.
"I… I was just going to the lavatory," Draco stammered, body freezing at Louis's voice.
"The lavatory?" Louis gave him a doubtful look, then his expression shifted slightly.
"Oh, well, go on then. It's late—don't miss your sleep."
He said it casually and lay back down on his bed.
So easy to talk to?
Draco's face showed clear surprise. In his eyes, Louis was a powerful, hot-tempered tyrant—just now, when Louis called out to him, Draco had already braced himself for bullying.
Who would've thought the other boy would let him off so easily?
"Ha! Tonight's my lucky night. I'll definitely see Harry Potter and that Weasley get caught!"
Clutched in Draco Malfoy's hand was a letter—Charlie Weasley's reply. It stated that tonight they would be sending Hagrid's dragon away.
This was the perfect chance, a chance to get them discovered by the school and expelled!
Excited, Draco dashed off, not even bothering to call for his two usual lackeys so as not to lose time.
Meanwhile, Louis lay in bed, looking as though he were asleep—but in reality, he had pulled out the Marauder's Map.
On it, the names of Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom were slowly moving toward the Astronomy Tower.
Louis watched for a while, noticing their pace remained steady, and quickly understood their approach.
Norbert was probably being carried, wasn't he?
In the end, Harry and Neville still hadn't managed to get Norbert to behave.
It was time to snatch the dragon. But there was no need for his real body to get involved in something like this.
Yet he couldn't use Dio Brando's face either. A "cross-over" slip in such a small incident could expose the elaborate lies he'd woven.
He decided to just use his own face—more practical, and his powers would remain intact.
The Faceless Phantom materialized, taking Louis's appearance. At the same time, the phantom sigils of the Twelve Talismans flared behind it, transforming into streams of light that merged into its body.
The Faceless Phantom's special ability allowed it to become the Stand User himself, inheriting seventy percent of the Stand User's power!
… … …
At this moment, the Faceless Phantom was essentially a "mini-Louis."
But to Louis's surprise, once the power of the Talismans flowed into that body, the Phantom—which already wore his likeness—began to change further.
Scales sprouted across its skin. Scarlet irises spread across its eyes. Jagged bone spurs pushed from the edges of its face. Its features widened and lengthened, sharp fangs jutting out beyond its lips.
Its limbs stretched, pale green scales spreading across its whole body. Razor-sharp claws replaced its nails.
And worst of all—a long, flexible tail unfurled from its back.
The handsome Louis had been turned into a hideous half-human, half-dragon monster.
"The Twelve Talismans… can actually do this?" Louis muttered in astonishment, staring at the transformed substitute. The feedback told him nothing was wrong—this really was the Faceless Phantom inheriting his form and powers.
No wonder he'd felt so strange when the yin-aspected Philosopher's Stone catalyzed the Talismans. If he hadn't stopped and reversed the process in time, he might have ended up like this—or worse.
"The Holy Master's Twelve Talismans…? If breaking the seal outright makes you a half-dragon beast, then why…? In the original, others mastered the Talismans' power without such a change."
Indeed, in the original story, no such transformation was shown—for example, when Jade Chan absorbed the Twelve Talismans, her appearance didn't change one bit. So what exactly was different here?
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