"Ghoul's Kiss."
Sean spoke the incantation as the magical frameworks formed smoothly at the tip of his wand, just as they had when Blanco cast the spell earlier.
A streak of dark red light shot forward and struck the training dummy.
A coin-sized charred mark appeared on the dummy's body, the wood scorched black.
"Two hours of practice… and finally my first success," Sean exhaled, sitting down to rest for a moment.
At this learning speed, he could probably master all the Dark Magic taught by Ouroboros within a year.
However, judging from the speed and stability of his magical framework construction, he still lagged behind Blanco, who had practiced these spells for years.
If the two of them cast Ghoul's Kiss against each other, Sean's magical structure would likely collapse under Blanco's attack almost instantly.
Sean rubbed his stomach.
After such long practice, he was getting hungry.
Although the Room of Requirement could provide almost anything, according to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, food could not be created out of nothing.
Fortunately, Sean had stuffed an apple into his robe pocket during lunch.
He wiped it off and took a large bite.
Just as he began chewing, he suddenly heard a sound somewhere in the room—
Something like metal clattering to the ground.
Sean frowned.
Did one of my spells knock something loose earlier?
Maybe something fell from the piles of junk.
Curious, he followed the sound.
At the base of a heap of discarded objects, he spotted a few silver plates and forks, along with an exquisite crown set with blue gemstones.
Sean instinctively bent down to pick it up.
Suddenly, a strange thought filled his mind.
This crown suits you perfectly.
If you wear it, you will gain supreme honor and power—like a king.
Sean's hand slowly moved closer to the crown.
Just as his fingertips were about to touch it—
His Magic vision activated automatically.
The sight snapped him awake instantly.
Sean stumbled backward five full steps, cold sweat covering his back.
Through the Magic vision, the crown appeared enveloped in black mist.
Within the darkness lurked the faint outline of a hideous face with no nose.
"Voldemort…"
Sean's voice trembled slightly.
"I almost fell for it. That was terrifying."
One of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Horcruxes possessed the ability to tempt people's hearts and amplify their inner darkness.
Sean wasn't sure whether practicing Dark Magic had attracted the Horcrux's attention—or whether the Horcrux had deliberately targeted him.
Either way, it seemed to have slipped out from the pile of junk just to draw his attention.
Sean's thoughts were far more complex than those of ordinary students.
He had more ambitions, more desires.
That was exactly the type of person a Horcrux could easily manipulate.
The more desires someone had, the easier it was for the Horcrux to control them.
Sean was absolutely certain he could not touch the crown.
If he did, he might very well lose himself completely.
Earlier, he had considered using the crown to attract Dumbledore's attention.
Now he realized how naive that idea had been.
"Imagine going to the headmaster's office and saying:"
'Professor, I accidentally entered the Room of Requirement, accidentally found a crown, and accidentally discovered it's one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.'
"Dumbledore would immediately perform Legilimency on me."
Sean shook his head.
"What am I even thinking?"
"Dumbledore is powerful enough that he still needed Harry to destroy the Horcruxes."
"What business do I have interfering?"
He slapped his cheeks lightly to clear his mind.
"Voldemort can be handled by Dumbledore and Harry."
"I'll just focus on learning magic—and making sure I survive Bellatrix's revenge someday."
Sean cast a Levitation Charm on the pile of junk.
The scattered objects slowly drifted down, gradually burying the crown again beneath the debris.
"Are my desires really that strong?" Sean muttered.
"The Horcrux didn't try to tempt Tonks or Joseph."
Sean left the Room of Requirement.
Until the crown was removed someday, he decided he would never enter the room again.
Sean suddenly felt extremely exhausted.
Even more tired than after practicing Ghoul's Kiss earlier.
At this moment, casting even a simple Levitation Charm would probably be difficult.
When he returned to his dormitory, he collapsed onto his bed.
From 3:30 in the afternoon all the way until 9:00 at night, he slept heavily.
When he finally opened his eyes, his head felt groggy.
He glanced at the clock.
"It's already this late?"
Starving, Sean knocked on Cassius's dormitory door.
Cassius opened it and raised an eyebrow.
"Sean? Where were you all afternoon? I couldn't find you anywhere."
"I was sleeping," Sean said.
"Just woke up now. Do you have any food? I missed dinner."
Sean remembered that Cassius liked keeping snacks in his room. His roommate Graham was also quite the foodie.
"Sure. Hold on."
Cassius rummaged through his bedside cabinet and produced:
Two butter-honey cakes,
Two apples,
One cherry pudding,
And two chocolate bars he borrowed from Graham.
"Is that enough?" Cassius asked.
"More than enough. Thanks."
Sean needed the food to restore his energy.
After all, at 10:30 tonight, he had an important appointment with Keith.
"What's wrong with me today?" Sean muttered while washing his face with cold water.
"I only practiced for two hours. That shouldn't have exhausted me like this."
Luckily, after resting so long, his magical power had mostly recovered.
It would be more than enough to deal with Keith.
After curfew, Hogwarts became silent.
Sean arrived at the second-floor girls' bathroom precisely on time, with the Marauder's Map in hand.
The bathroom was normally abandoned.
Fifty years ago, a student named Myrtle had died there. Now only her ghost wandered the place occasionally.
Before entering, Sean checked the Marauder's Map.
Two names appeared inside the bathroom:
Keith Brent
Borisav Jovic
Sean's expression darkened.
"So Keith's accomplice isn't a student…"
"It's Professor Jovic."
Keith had escaped the storage room far too quickly the night before.
Sean's Body-Bind Curse should have lasted longer than a few minutes.
The only explanation was that someone had removed the curse for him.
Sean folded the Marauder's Map and looked down the corridor.
"Here he comes," Sean murmured.
A tall shadow approached quickly.
The long black hair swayed like curtains as he walked.
Snape.
Snape glanced at Sean.
Sean said confidently:
"Professor, this time you'll see that I wasn't lying."
Snape pushed open the bathroom door.
Inside, Keith saw someone enter and immediately cast a spell.
"Stupefy!"
Snape flicked his wand without even speaking.
"Protego."
The defensive charm appeared instantly and reflected the spell straight back.
Keith was hit by his own Stunning Spell and collapsed unconscious.
"Protego," Sean thought to himself.
"A very useful defensive spell. Remember that."
Thankfully, he had activated his Magic vision in advance and clearly observed the magical framework of the Shield Charm.
Jovic looked stunned.
"H-how are you here, Professor Snape?" he stammered.
Snape's cold eyes fixed on him like a snake.
"That is precisely what I should be asking you, Professor Jovic."
"Why are you here with Brent?"
Jovic quickly explained:
"Brent told me Sean provoked him and challenged him to a duel here. I came to stop them."
Snape's gaze became even colder.
"You've done a fine job stopping them."
"The moment someone entered, Brent immediately cast a spell."
Snape stepped closer to Jovic, his voice low and dangerous.
"Borisav… abandon your foolish ideas."
"I warn you—do not let Brent cause trouble for Grylls again."
"And you—behave yourself."
"I will be watching you."
Snape continued walking slowly toward him.
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