"This information is very important to me," Dumbledore said quietly. "Because of it, I've confirmed certain suspicions."
Lucas raised an eyebrow. "What suspicions?"
The old wizard suddenly smiled mysteriously. "Ah, for now, let me keep a few secrets of my own. I'll explain everything later."
Then Dumbledore opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a small glass bottle.
"Oh yes," he added pleasantly, "I picked this up from a Muggle supermarket. It's some sort of cleaning shampoo. Smells quite nice, actually. I imagine the Sorting Hat will appreciate it."
Lucas stared at the bottle for a moment before nodding slowly.
"Alright."
He already understood what was happening.
Dumbledore had completely confirmed that Quirinus Quirrell was the dark wizard who had attempted to break into Gringotts and steal the Philosopher's Stone.
And judging by the Headmaster's reaction, he was clearly preparing something now.
Most likely, the same trap from the original timeline.
Lucas could almost see the gears turning inside Dumbledore's mind. The old man probably intended to use the Philosopher's Stone incident to test Harry—to temper his courage and see whether he truly possessed the strength to face the darkness waiting for him in the future.
Unfortunately for Dumbledore, there was now an unpredictable variable named Lucas Summers standing inside Hogwarts.
And honestly, if Lucas got personally involved, Quirrell would probably die before making it past the first trap.
Dumbledore likely understood that too.
Which meant there was a very real possibility Lucas would eventually get excluded from whatever plan the old wizard was preparing.
Not that Lucas minded particularly.
After leaving the Headmaster's office carrying the Sorting Hat and the expensive Muggle shampoo, Lucas immediately intercepted Fred and George halfway down a corridor.
The twins looked suspiciously excited the moment they saw him.
Lucas lowered his voice dramatically.
"I stole the Sorting Hat," he whispered. "I'm planning to secretly wash it. Interested?"
Fred's eyes widened instantly.
George looked like Christmas had arrived early.
"Lucas Summers," Fred said solemnly, "you are an absolute genius."
"How did you even think of washing the Sorting Hat?" George demanded.
"Imagine Dumbledore's expression," Fred continued eagerly, "when he suddenly discovers the hat looking brand new."
George slapped Lucas's shoulder. "This level of entertainment absolutely requires our participation."
As a result, Lucas barely needed to do anything afterward.
The twins enthusiastically took over the entire operation themselves.
The Sorting Hat didn't expose Lucas's lie either. In fact, it silently praised his cleverness while happily enduring the vigorous cleaning process.
Meanwhile, Charms class arrived later that afternoon.
Professor Flitwick turned out to be an extremely tiny wizard who needed to stand atop a stack of books just to see over his desk.
Lucas strongly suspected the professor had goblin ancestry somewhere in his bloodline.
Honestly, considering Hagrid existed as a half-giant, it wasn't difficult to believe.
At the start of class, Professor Flitwick excitedly began reading names from the register.
The moment he reached Harry Potter's name, he squeaked loudly in delight and nearly fell off his pile of books.
Fortunately, today's lesson focused entirely on theory.
Actual spell practice wouldn't begin until much later, around Halloween, when the students finally started learning the Levitation Charm properly.
Which meant Lucas shamelessly fell asleep again.
This time, however, Hermione and Kassandra had learned from experience.
Neither girl chose seats near the front anymore.
Ever since school started, Lucas seemed permanently exhausted. Kassandra had begun suspecting he snuck out every night for secret adventures.
Every time she asked, however, Lucas always found another excuse.
Technically speaking, she wasn't entirely wrong.
On the very first night after arriving at Hogwarts, Lucas had already begun nighttime explorations alongside Fred and George.
Now that the twins trusted him completely, Lucas finally got to see the legendary Marauder's Map in person.
After borrowing it and studying it carefully, however, he quickly noticed something disappointing.
Quirrell's name appeared completely alone.
There was no sign of Voldemort.
Lucas frowned thoughtfully.
Had Voldemort abandoned Quirrell already because of him?
Honestly, it was possible.
Originally, Quirrell's body had already been severely drained by Voldemort's possession. Then Lucas had nearly beaten the man to death during the Gringotts incident.
If Voldemort tried possessing him again afterward, Quirrell might simply collapse and die on the spot.
That would completely ruin Voldemort's infiltration plans at Hogwarts.
In that case, the Dark Lord may have already attached himself to another person—or perhaps an animal.
Of course, there was another possibility too.
Maybe the Marauder's Map simply couldn't detect Voldemort while he existed in fragmented soul form.
After returning to his dormitory later that night, Lucas even performed a divination regarding Quirrell.
The result told him one thing clearly:
Do not expose Quirrell yet.
As for why, the divination itself remained frustratingly vague.
Unless Lucas went and knocked Quirrell unconscious first before performing another divination face-to-face.
Something similar to what he'd done with Nagini before.
But honestly, if he'd already reached the point of stunning Quirrell unconscious, then there probably wasn't much need for divination anymore.
A few days later, Lucas saw Quirrell again during Defence Against the Dark Arts.
The professor looked terrible.
His complexion was pale, his posture nervous, and his lectures were an absolute disaster. He stammered through the textbook awkwardly while the entire class struggled not to laugh.
Quirrell barely even glanced at Lucas before hurrying away once the lesson ended.
His classes quickly became the biggest joke among the students.
Unfortunately, because Quirrell's body was saturated with Voldemort's lingering aura, even the system couldn't confirm whether the Dark Lord still existed on the back of his head.
Eventually, Lucas temporarily set the matter aside.
He knew Dumbledore had already started moving behind the scenes. If his guesses were correct, Snape was probably monitoring Quirrell constantly by now.
For the moment, remaining still was the smartest choice.
And once Lucas stopped focusing on Quirrell, he immediately devoted himself fully to another task.
The Restricted Section.
Every single night, Lucas sneaked into the forbidden area of the Hogwarts library under the cover of darkness.
Thanks to his mastery of the Disillusionment Charm, this wasn't particularly difficult.
Unfortunately, the price was severe sleep deprivation.
As a result, Lucas spent most daytime classes in a constant daze.
For a long time afterward, History of Magic became his favourite subject at Hogwarts.
Because sleeping during Professor Binns's lectures was unbelievably comfortable.
Still, Lucas firmly believed this painful period would end soon.
His progress through Dark Arts books was absurdly fast.
Perhaps it was because of his +9 Dark Arts mastery talent, but the forbidden books were shockingly easy for him to understand. Compared to studying ordinary magic, reading Dark Arts texts felt almost effortless.
Every night, he could finish at least ten books from the Restricted Section.
At this point, Lucas basically treated Dark Arts books as bedtime stories.
There was only one problem.
The people who wrote those books were clearly all insane.
And unfortunately, reading the twisted thoughts of psychopathic dark wizards right before sleeping occasionally had a negative impact on Lucas's dreams.
....
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