The Spider's Anomaly

By the time he returned to the Hufflepuff common room, Jon Hart was carrying three very thick books.

"Jon, Professor Sprout just sent over several specimens. Do you want to come take a look?" Ernie Macmillan, a second-year Hufflepuff student, was leaning against the window. When he saw Jon return, he called out loudly.

"Thanks, Ernie... I'll look at them later!" Jon declined his invitation and headed straight back to his dormitory.

He wrapped the three books in newspaper, one after another... Although Hufflepuff dormitories were single rooms, other students might still enter his room for some reason and discover the books.

After all, the covers of those books looked quite grotesque and were very conspicuous.

On the cover of the first book was the face of an ugly witch. Her eyes were cold and hollow, like pitch-black tunnels with no bottom in sight... The book was titled "Close Your Mind."

After searching through the Library for several days, this was the only book Jon had managed to find on "Occlumency."

"Occlumency" was a form of magic that defended against external mental intrusion. It could close off the mind to resist the invasion and influence of thoughts, and its signature spell was Legilimency... This was also the spell Jon felt he needed to learn most urgently, without question.

Because Legilimency existed, his thoughts were as transparent as glass before either the white wizards led by Dumbledore or the white wizards led by Voldemort. They could see through him at a glance, leaving him nowhere to hide.

As a transmigrator who knew the historical events of the next six years, it was absolutely necessary to keep his identity and secrets from being discovered... Right now, he was only a minor character, and Dumbledore had yet to notice him. But what about the future? What if he caught Dumbledore's attention?

That was why he needed to learn and master Occlumency before Dumbledore noticed his existence.

Then, he turned his attention to the second book.

The cover of the second book depicted a twisted, mangled, bloody head... Its tongue had been tied in knots, the tear tracks beneath its eyes had become streaks of blood, and its nose had been completely turned inside out... The title beneath it had become hard to make out with age.

To be honest, the grotesque image made Jon feel like vomiting, and he quickly wrapped the cover in newspaper.

The spells in this book were all disgusting... It recorded many spells used to torture people. Although they were not Dark magic, they still caused immense harm and had therefore been placed in the Restricted Section...

Tongue-Tying Curse, Ear-Turning Curse, Skinning Curse, and so on; even the names of these spells sounded chilling.

Jon had no interest whatsoever in most of those spells, except for one:

"Eye Blight Curse!"

According to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: "A Basilisk's skin is likely armored like Dragon Hide and can reflect spells cast at it. Only its eyes and mouth are weak points in its defenses."

So the Eye Blight Curse was the only spell Jon could think of that might harm the Basilisk.

Moreover, the Basilisk's eyes were its deadliest weapon. If he could use the Eye Blight Curse to blind it in battle, its strength would undoubtedly be greatly reduced...

This spell was also one Jon intended to focus on practicing during this period.

As for the third book.

Its cover was equally nauseating: many arms sprouted from a witch's head, while someone above her seemed to have been turned inside out...

Its title was written beneath the illustration: "Powerful Potions."

"Powerful Potions" contained many dangerous, controversial, and mysterious potions. Therefore, the Hogwarts Library kept the book in the Restricted Section.

He had borrowed it purely out of interest. As long as he returned it to the Library before Halloween night, it should not have any impact on the plot.

"Jon, want to play Quidditch?" Zacharias Smith knocked on his dormitory door and called out.

"No, thanks!" Jon replied from his bed, a thick book in his hands.

"Quidditch... The more you play, the better you'll get at flying..." Zacharias muttered as he knocked on the door of the neighboring dormitory. "Ernie, let's go play Quidditch now!"

Jon spent the entire afternoon in his room reading the books he had borrowed from the Restricted Section. He could not even be bothered to go out for lunch or dinner... There were plenty of cakes and biscuits he had gotten from the Kitchen over the past two days in his dormitory anyway. Hufflepuff students would never let themselves go hungry.

Occlumency was even more complicated than he had imagined. No wonder The Boy Who Lived, Harry, had "practiced hard" for more than half a year without mastering even the basics. Jon had no idea how long it would take before he could achieve even modest success.

The Eye Blight Curse gave him a pleasant surprise. It was one of the few spells that did not rely on emotion, so he would not face too much difficulty learning it... Still, the spell itself was quite complex and required focused practice for some time.

As for "Powerful Potions," he only looked up the sections on Polyjuice Potion and Veritaserum. The brewing processes for both potions were unbelievably cumbersome, making Jon feel that he should first spend a month or two in Snape's Potions class to familiarize himself with the brewing process before considering them further.

Before he knew it, the entire Saturday had passed.

He glanced at his watch. It was almost midnight.

"Time really flies!" Jon muttered as he prepared to go to bed.

Suddenly, a strange sound came from beside the dormitory window.

Jon frowned and walked over.

The sound was coming from the cage containing the two South African Red Spiders.

The two spiders were clattering their cephalothoraxes against the glass, looking extremely agitated.

It was obvious that they were terrified... Terrified of something wandering through the castle.

"Whenever spiders sense the presence of a Basilisk, they become fearful and try to flee, because the Basilisk is their natural enemy..." Jon had long memorized that passage from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

"It seems Ginny Weasley has already opened the door to the Chamber of Secrets..." Jon's expression grew grave as he thought to himself, The real plot is about to begin.

It was only the Saturday of the first week after school began.

He found an old piece of clothing he no longer wore and covered the glass cage containing the two South African Red Spiders... He did not want the sounds they made to disturb him.

Jon lay down on his bed and fell asleep the moment he closed his eyes.