Meanwhile, inside Louis's Reality Marble.
In the calm sea of flowers, a shadow suddenly appeared—an infant dragon about a meter long came tumbling down into the blossoms.
The flower field swayed, petals fluttering as they wrapped around Norbert, who had been recognized as a friendly presence.
The Reality Marble's innate functions—cleansing debuffs, healing injuries, and soothing the mind—immediately gave Norbert a full round of treatment, like an all-inclusive massage.
Forget a Stunning Spell—even the Cruciatus Curse, or wounds from Snape's signature move, Sectumsempra, could be healed here.
Norbert slowly opened his eyes, staring in awe at the dreamlike sea of flowers.
Waking up in a strange but beautiful place, the little dragon's head couldn't comprehend what had happened.
He tilted his head and let out a puzzled, "Awr?"
But the gentle embrace of the flower field, and the constant nourishing energy flowing into his body, quickly put him at ease. He felt no tension at all.
Curiously sniffing here and there, he soon bounded across the sea of blossoms like an excited husky set free.
Yet before he got far, a thick root bulging from the ground tripped him flat.
Norbert scrambled up, furious, and snapped his jaws around the root. But what seemed ordinary was harder than steel—his teeth nearly cracked from that one bite.
Never having suffered such indignity, Norbert immediately opened his mouth and spat a small flame at the root.
The spark, however, couldn't ignite this mysterious root at all. Instead, it irritated the surrounding petals. Vines shot up from the flower sea and, without warning, smacked Norbert hard across the face.
The baby dragon spun in place, dizzy from the blow, before finally regaining his senses.
"Awroooh…" Norbert roared in frustration, but this time he had learned his lesson. Trembling with caution, he dared not provoke those deceptively delicate flowers again.
Still, he noticed that strange tree root hadn't retaliated.
Toward the strong, he bowed and cowered; but when facing the seemingly weak, he struck mercilessly.
Norbert perfectly embodied the saying: bullies the weak, fears the strong.
He lunged at the root again, gnawing and tearing with all his might. Yet no matter how hard he bit, the thing was too tough—even his teeth ached, and he left not a single mark.
Frustrated, Norbert followed the root, wanting to find the strange tree it belonged to. With roots this massive, surely the tree itself must be huge?
But when he finally found the sprout growing at the root's end, his little eyes filled with confusion.
Then that confusion was quickly devoured by a wave of ravenous hunger.
I want to eat it!
Every cell in his body screamed at him to devour the tiny sapling. Though Norbert could faintly sense countless invisible threads connecting the little sprout to everything around it, his young mind couldn't grasp what it meant.
He only knew one thing—he wanted to eat it!
Wagging his tail, his bright red tongue licking around his snout, the primitive urge gnawed at his body and burned in his brain.
Unable to restrain himself any longer, Norbert lunged with mouth wide open, fangs glinting. His tail and small wings flapped in the air, his whole body straining with hunger, rushing toward the tender sapling.
But just as his jaws were about to close around it, something strange happened—
The peaceful sea of flowers suddenly went berserk. Around the roots of the World Tree, all the blossoms withered away, and instead countless emerald-green vines sprouted from the surrounding flower field, wrapping Norbert tightly into a ball.
Then, out of nowhere, a transparent figure appeared. With one swift motion, it smacked the bound Norbert hard across the face.
"This one you absolutely cannot eat!"
The transparent figure issued the warning.
"Awrooooh!" Norbert roared angrily and snapped his jaws toward the figure's hand.
But the figure was lightning fast—his hand withdrew in a blur, and in passing he landed yet another slap across Norbert's face.
"Still stubborn, huh?" the transparent figure chuckled mischievously. "Then let me take your master's place and teach you some discipline—otherwise you'll turn this place into a complete mess."
As he spoke, the figure alternated left and right, giving Norbert's cheeks an even series of resounding smacks.
"Though this isn't really my domain… still…"
After finishing the lesson, the faceless phantom returned to Louis's side.
The Stand's range being rank A was truly outrageous—able to control things effortlessly from half a continent away. That gave Louis even more confidence in his ability to manipulate events later on.
"Alright, that's enough excitement for tonight. About time to sleep." Louis yawned, folded up the Marauder's Map, tossed it into his storage space, then slipped off his ring and dropped it into the Reality Marble.
The Marauder's Map required a wizard's incantation to activate and close. Luckily, when Louis obtained it, Peter Pettigrew had already activated it—otherwise Louis would have had to go through a lot of trouble.
As for the ring—his [Portable Private Space Teleport Point]—Louis always had the habit of removing it before sleep. It was soulbound, and only he could activate it.
Now that his Reality Marble could store items, tossing the ring in there made it even safer.
If not for the hassle of sorting things, Louis would have dumped everything from the ring straight into the Reality Marble.
But before going to bed, he hesitated. Taking the ring back out, he retrieved the Marauder's Map again and opened it.
Professor McGonagall and Filch were still inside the castle, but Dumbledore was not.
At this hour, he must have gone into the Forbidden Forest to keep watch, right?
Suddenly, Louis remembered—the Invisibility Cloak he'd picked up was still lying in his storage space, taken when he swapped positions with his Stand earlier.
"Should I take it out and check it?" Louis muttered, reaching for it.
But just as he was about to retrieve the cloak, he froze. A flood of lights and shadows flashed across his vision.
Every outcome pointed to the same scene—Dumbledore standing before him, questioning his intentions.
Questioning my purpose?
Louis frowned. This must have been his Clairvoyance activating on its own—the Eye of Fate had sensed a major shift in his destiny and triggered automatically.
The Invisibility Cloak has a problem? The moment I take it out, I'll be suspected?
Louis ran through the films and novels in his mind, and then a bold guess struck him.
Dumbledore had left a backdoor—or rather, a detectable mark—on the Invisibility Cloak!
That was why he always seemed to notice Harry when the boy used it, guiding him with seemingly casual words toward hidden truths.
It made sense. There could only be one savior in this world. No matter how much Dumbledore allowed Harry to run free, he would never ignore him. With a marked cloak, Dumbledore could always keep track whenever Harry stirred up trouble!
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