The Black-robed Man

He cast the Phantasmal Charm on himself again.

The System Panel quietly appeared before his eyes, then quickly vanished, but it was enough for him to Notice the changes revealed in its information.

[Phantasmal Charm Proficiency Increased]

[Phantasmal Charm LV1 (1/4)]

In the two months since enrolling, Vaughn had never slackened in practicing spells.

Of course, most of his energy still went toward potions.

So over these two months, he had focused on mastering a limited number of spells.

Among them, the basic Shield Charm had risen to LV4 (0/16), and the Disarming Charm to LV3 (2/8). As for the advanced spells he had learned from Snape a month ago, he had concentrated on the Crushing Curse, Phantasmal Charm, and Sectumsempra.

About a week ago, all three had successively reached LV1. He had successfully gotten the hang of them and could use them fairly smoothly.

After that, Vaughn had not practiced them excessively.

He merely maintained a certain amount of training each day, because improving their proficiency further would require a great deal of time.

Sectumsempra in particular.

Though it was a Dark Arts spell Snape had developed during his school years, it was an extremely complex and profound spell.

Vaughn suspected that Snape had drawn upon some inherited family knowledge of the Dark Arts.

By comparison, the Phantasmal Charm was much simpler. After all, it was a conventional spell, and Vaughn's talent for Charms was enough to let him master it quickly.

As he sensed the subtle changes brought about by casting the Phantasmal Charm, Vaughn kept his footsteps as quiet as possible as he moved through the stairs and corridors.

Hogwarts was empty and desolate at this hour. Any sound at all would be magnified by the deep, Intertwined corridors.

Vaughn lightly tapped his Wand against his ear, allowing it to receive more sounds.

This was one of the gains from spending so much time in the library over the past two months—who knew which book might hide an obscure little spell?

They were usually not very powerful, and some were more like pranks.

For instance, the Message Spell Vaughn had previously cast on himself and Ron, along with the Ear-Amplifying Charm he was using now, were recorded on a yellowed sheet of Parchment. Its heading read:

Ten Spells for Cheating on Exams.

Below that was a line of ornate handwriting: Thank you to Mr. McCracken for his painstaking compilation. I will instruct Ms. McGonagall to add them to the list of anti-cheating spells. Yours faithfully, Albus Dumbledore, Professor of Transfiguration Class.

Poor Mr. McCracken. As Vaughn silently mourned this senior from decades ago and found a new use for his legacy, he listened closely and soon caught a string of hurried footsteps.

They passed overhead, heading straight up to the Third Floor, then the Fourth Floor.

Vaughn quickened his pace, but when he reached the Third Floor, he suddenly stopped in astonishment—

He heard new sounds: two faint voices, teeth chattering, lowered to the barest whisper. They were hiding in the Charms Class classroom on the Fourth Floor, nearly brushing past Quirrell's hurried footsteps.

"Harry... what's wrong with you...?"

"Pain... my head hurts so much..."

It was Harry and Hermione!

Five minutes earlier, Harry and Hermione had been preparing to find Vaughn and Ron, who did not know about the Troll.

At first, things had gone smoothly. They had successfully slipped past Percy without attracting anyone's attention and broken away from the group.

But the two soon became lost. No one knew where Vaughn had taken Ron, and after wandering aimlessly from the Second Floor to the Third Floor, their initial impulse had worn away. Once Hermione regained her senses, she began trying to persuade Harry to go back.

"Tell Percy what happened and let him get the professors to help. At least that would be better than wandering around like this," she said softly to Harry as she crouched at the foot of the stairs to the Fourth Floor.

Harry hesitated. Of course he knew Hermione was right.

But for some reason, his mind was a mess. His thoughts kept uncontrollably urging him, One more floor!

One more floor!

Go look at the Fourth Floor!

The thoughts came strangely, appearing out of nowhere.

It was as if something deep within his consciousness was telling him that he would definitely gain something by going to the Fourth Floor.

He even felt excitement, anticipation, and the joy of a goal that was about to be achieved.

The feeling was so intense that he could barely resist it!

"Let's go up one more floor!" Harry urged. "Let's check the Fourth Floor. If there's nothing there, then we'll go find the professors."

Helpless, Hermione could only agree.

To Harry's disappointment, after reaching the Fourth Floor and searching for a while, they still found nothing. Just as he was forcing down the increasingly intense thoughts in his head and preparing to leave with Hermione—

A series of footsteps approached from the stairs!

In the darkness, the two exchanged a glance. Whether it was Percy or a professor, they could not let anyone see them. Otherwise, Gryffindor would lose points again.

Hermione spotted the Charms Class classroom and immediately pulled Harry inside.

The two huddled behind the door and peered through the slightly opened gap.

In the dim corridor, they saw a vague figure with a robe draped over his head walking swiftly past.

Who was that?

Though the poor lighting and narrow view made him difficult to identify.

With all the students already back in their House dormitories and the professors searching the Basement for the Troll—

Who would come to the Fourth Floor? And for what?

Harry thought of the room at the end of the Third Floor Corridor, guarded by Fluffy the Three-Headed Dog and its Trapdoor, where the Philosopher's Stone was most likely hidden.

He glanced at Hermione. She seemed to have thought of it too, and she covered her mouth in shock.

Harry wanted to see who that person was.

Ignoring Hermione's repeated shakes of her head, he gently pushed open the door and stuck his head out.

The black figure beneath the robe had already reached the middle of the corridor. Harry could only see his back.

But the moment that back entered his sight, Harry felt an indescribable agony spread from the Scar on his forehead, rapidly engulfing his entire head.

The pain was so intense, burning, and sharp, as if someone had split his skull open with a red-hot axe.

Harry convulsed and collapsed.

Everything in his vision blurred into halos of light from the pain, and he heard Hermione cry out worriedly:

"Harry, Harry, what's wrong with you?"

"Pain, my head hurts so much..."

Harry barely suppressed the urge to roar as he groaned. He felt Hermione tugging and dragging at him, apparently worried that the figure would discover them.

But it was too late. Through his hazy vision, he saw the blurry Black-robed Man stop.

Perhaps because tears brought on by the pain clouded his vision, everything Harry saw was twisting and stretching. It was like a scene from a horror film, with all light and darkness writhing and dancing wildly around the Black-robed Man's back.

Hiss—

Hiss—

Harry heard the Black-robed Man make a hoarse, unpleasant sound, like a venomous snake.

Then the Black-robed Man turned around, and the distorted light and shadows vanished in an instant.

Harry panted heavily. He did not know what had happened; he only knew that his head no longer hurt. But the bad situation was far from over. He saw the Black-robed Man hurriedly flick his Wand.

"Stun—"

But in the second before he could complete the spell, Harry saw someone appear beside him and heard a clear, youthful voice shout:

"Expelliarmus!"

It was Vaughn!

A dazzling red beam burst from the air.

It shot fiercely toward the Black-robed Man, forcing him to withdraw his Wand and sweep it before himself.

"Protego!"

The red light struck the Black-robed Man and was blocked by a translucent shield, but the power contained in the spell had clearly exceeded his expectations. The shield shuddered violently, flickering between brightness and darkness!