A Stunning Performance (Please Bookmark and Recommend~)

You bastard!

Noah cursed inwardly without end. This really was one hell of a bastard!

Voldemort had practically set Noah up to be screwed to death with that move!

Whether he meant to or not, Noah found what he said impossible to accept.

Join him?

With him being like this?

And he had said it right in front of Noah's friends and Professor McGonagall?

Who the fuck did he think he was, Orochimaru?

Noah was so angry he almost laughed, but he quickly calmed down.

Whether this guy meant it sincerely or deliberately, Noah had decided to teach him a proper lesson!

A wandering soul—no matter how powerful you had been in life, you were now nothing more than one of the dead.

And Noah did have ways of dealing with the dead. The Patronus Charm from Defence Against the Dark Arts was one good option.

But Noah had no intention of using it. If this had been Voldemort's complete soul, he might have chosen that approach.

But this thing was only a fragment of a soul, pathetically weak, so Noah had other ways to deal with it.

Having thought it through, a faint smile appeared on Noah's previously stiff face. "Oh? And what can I get?"

"Anything, anything you can imagine!" Voldemort's voice remained terrifying, but it seemed to carry a hint of temptation. "Power, authority, or endless knowledge! As long as you are willing, all of it can be yours in the future!"

"Noah." Hermione looked at Noah nervously. She was truly worried that he would make the wrong choice.

Professor McGonagall, Harry, and Ron felt much the same, though Professor McGonagall remained fairly calm while Harry and Ron looked agitated.

They had already drawn their wands. If Noah agreed, they intended to attack—though they knew it probably would not do a damn thing.

The three Ravenclaws and Ernie, however, showed no reaction. Though Ernie frowned slightly, he knew Noah well enough not to think Noah would believe Voldemort's nonsense.

Kate and the other two did not take it seriously at all. They knew perfectly well how much Noah despised Slytherin's way of doing things. So what if the offer was tempting?

They had never been on the same path. No matter how he tempted them, it was all pointless.

Still, they remained alert, because they had all noticed that Voldemort's words seemed to contain some kind of magic. They had no choice but to be careful.

"Is that so? It certainly sounds tempting." Noah slowly stepped out from Professor McGonagall's side and faced the wisp of black smoke. "But you seem to have forgotten something."

"Oh? What would that be?"

"I'm Muggle-born, you idiot!"

Noah could no longer be bothered to hide his expression. He openly displayed every bit of his displeasure.

You bastard! You set me up and still expect me to smile at you?

"Your damned idea looks like pure dog shit to me! You want me to join you? You're no different from a stupid mule! Have you been dead so long that your brain has turned entirely into ocean sunfish eggs in the Atlantic Ocean? Or do you think you're some kind of African honey badger?"

Noah spoke at an astonishing pace, not giving Voldemort any chance to retort!

Professor McGonagall, Kate, and the others were utterly stunned by Noah. He was actually cursing the legendary Dark Lord right to his face?

Man, you were seriously cool!

What they had not expected was that Noah drew his wand immediately after finishing his tirade.

As though Noah knew Voldemort would attack, the human-shaped mass of black smoke lunged straight at him the instant he pulled out his wand!

But what left them gaping was Noah's incredible casting speed. Before the black smoke could reach them, Noah acted before Professor McGonagall could!

"Bright as Day!"

As Noah poured his magic into the spell, dazzling yet gentle sunlight-like radiance instantly flooded the entire room, and the mass of black smoke immediately let out a scream!

That hoarse, piercing howl seemed to come from hell itself, making everyone's scalp tingle.

But the sound soon grew quieter and quieter until it gradually faded away.

Only a charred stench still lingered in the air, along with Quirrell, who remained sprawled in a pool of blood some distance away.

"That was roughly what happened."

Noah and the others stood obediently in Dumbledore's office. Facing the aged old man before them, each of them was as well-behaved as a cat.

Even Harry and Ron, both from Gryffindor, were being extraordinarily obedient, despite the gentle expression on the old man's face.

It was already the day after the incident. Yesterday, after Noah had taken down Quirrell and burned Voldemort's soul fragment to nothing, Professor McGonagall had finally snapped out of her daze and sent them all back to their rooms.

After warning them not to wander around again, she immediately summoned all the professors for a meeting—and sent Quirrell to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries in the process.

The moment Professor Dumbledore appeared early this morning, she could not wait to drag Noah and the others over.

With no other choice, they could only explain exactly what had happened. Noah in particular had to explain in detail how, with the magic of a first-year student, he had taken down Professor Quirrell and Voldemort's soul fragment!

So Noah frankly recounted how he had shattered Quirrell's mental state, then how, after Quirrell chose to flee because he believed Dumbledore was about to arrive, Noah had ambushed him. He had only just finished telling the entire story.

"Professor Dumbledore, we swear that everything happened exactly as Noah said."

Seeing Professor Dumbledore remain silent, Kate and the others grew a little anxious. After exchanging glances, Kate stood up despite his nerves to testify for Noah.

They were truly worried that Professor Dumbledore might misunderstand and that Noah would suffer for it.

"Of course I believe what Mr. Phileas has said. Children, there is no need to get worked up."

Dumbledore came back to himself with a smile. He had indeed been a little distracted just now.

It was not because he did not believe Noah. On the contrary, he had watched the whole thing—how could he possibly not believe him?

Even if he had not seen it, would he not believe Professor McGonagall? She had already reported everything to him last night.

The reason he had been distracted was entirely because Noah's performance had stunned him!

Harry had already told him that he had sought Noah and the others out with Ron, and had repeated Noah's analysis to them.

Combined with Noah's performance when facing Quirrell and Voldemort's soul fragment, Dumbledore truly felt that if there really was such a thing as The Boy Who Lived, then it had to be Noah!

Intelligent, calm, knowledgeable, possessed of unshakable will, and unwilling to submit to darkness because of danger or fear!

In Dumbledore's eyes, even adult wizards might not possess all of these qualities, yet every one of them had appeared in a first-year student!

How could Dumbledore not wonder whether this world truly had such a thing as The Boy Who Lived?

But Dumbledore soon no longer needed to dwell on it. Whether or not such a person existed, Noah was a qualified and outstanding student—one whom even Dumbledore could not help favoring!

It seems I really need to cultivate him properly—and protect him well, too!

Thanks to reader Big Baldy Only Eats Meat for the reward, thank you~