Little Peeves

"Spirit Stun!"

A blue light struck Little Peeves with such blinding speed that he was knocked unconscious before he could even react, drifting downward like a weightless feather.

Breeze reached out to test the air, but he could not make physical contact with Little Peeves's form.

"What if I used that spell for detaining souls, the one I derived from crafting soul portraits?"

Breeze felt a flicker of temptation. He didn't like Little Peeves, but he held no deep-seated grudge against him either. Besides, if something happened to the poltergeist, everyone at Hogwarts would know; it was abnormal for that fellow not to stir up trouble for a single day.

"I'll just cast it with a faint amount of magic." Hopefully, this wouldn't cause Little Peeves to dissipate.

"Soul Detention!"

As a blue light surged from the tip of Breeze's wand, the Soul Detention Charm took effect on Little Peeves. Breeze could feel that, if he so desired, he could detain a portion of the poltergeist's soul power.

"Losing a bit of soul power shouldn't make you die a second time, right?"

With a chuckle from Breeze that felt like a gentle breeze, a small cluster of Little Peeves's soul power, wrapped in his magic, pulled away from the poltergeist's body and was drawn into his wand.

Mithril possessed the property of suppressing souls; it was the bane of all spirits.

Watching Little Peeves, who had become slightly more transparent, Breeze chanted: "Spirit Wake!"

"Oh! What did you do to me!" Little Peeves snapped his eyes open, leaped into mid-air, and began frantically patting his own body.

Breeze said with a smile:

"You're fine, but if you don't behave, I'll let you sleep forever, letting your soul leak away bit by bit until you leave this world without even realizing it."

After saying this, Breeze ignored the poltergeist's terror and strolled toward The Owlery, eager to study this soul power immediately.

Inside The Owlery, Faner was sitting listlessly on a bronze lamp stand, only speaking up happily once Breeze entered.

"Oh, you have no idea how bored I've been."

Faner was very anxious today because Christmas was just around the corner, a holiday that required the exchange of gifts every year.

Breeze smiled and said, "You should maintain a sense of anticipation."

With that, Breeze released the portion of Little Peeves's soul power from his wand. It looked like a miniature version of the poltergeist—much cuter, only the size of a thumb. However, it seemed extremely reluctant to leave, showing a strong dependency on Breeze's magic and constantly consuming it to grow stronger.

The fluctuations of this growth were so faint that even Breeze failed to notice them.

"Is that a soul?" Faner stared at the tiny Peeves, and as if remembering something, his expression shifted to one of great alarm. "You cannot study Soul Alchemy!"

Faner only knew of Soul Alchemy's existence; the original master of The Owlery had used this very alchemy to forge his soul and body into a sentient alchemical product.

"It's too terrifying, too terrifying." Faner hid fearfully beneath the lamp stand, trembling incessantly. The mere memory of the crafting process felt like being swallowed by darkness, stripped of light and freedom.

Breeze gripped Faner's cold bronze snake body and tucked it into his robes.

"It's alright."

"Undying Flame..."

After the spell was cast, warmth slowly returned to Faner's body, and he finally calmed down.

Faner's snake-face looked troubled. "Be careful, Breeze. Anything related to souls, whether it's spells or alchemy, is dangerous. I know you will eventually study it, but you must be calm before you do..."

Breeze swallowed the words he had prepared to comfort Faner—the ones where he would claim he wasn't studying Soul Alchemy after all.

"I will ensure it. I won't step into it without sufficient certainty."

Breeze's assurance made Faner heave a sigh of relief. Faner understood that Breeze was a fellow who loved to tell "the truth"; even if his promises were full of loopholes, he would still abide by the most superficial parts of them.

Turning his gaze toward the tiny Peeves, Faner regained his usual liveliness. He tried to touch it gently, but could not make contact.

"How are you going to handle it? It doesn't seem to have any consciousness, and a soul without consciousness will dissipate very quickly."

Faner was still held in Breeze's hand; he had little interest in this funny, cute little Peeves. If he weren't keeping an eye on Breeze, he would have preferred to hide away.

"You should know, Faner, I haven't found any books on Soul Alchemy here." Breeze teased Faner for his nervousness. He didn't explicitly state that this was a spur-of-the-moment decision, merely wanting to see what the Soul Detention Charm was like.

"It seems a bit strange; it's not like a normal soul." Faner stared closely at the tiny Peeves, and Breeze nodded in agreement.

"Peeves is a ghost of Hogwarts. I heard he appeared at the very birth of the school. Perhaps he has a connection to Hogwarts, though not a particularly close one."

Breeze mused that if Peeves were the embodiment of Hogwarts' consciousness, he wouldn't be able to prank young wizards.

"The real Peeves is still in the castle; he won't be harmed by the loss of this bit of soul power." At the time, the poltergeist had only looked a bit weaker, but this tiny Peeves showed no signs of dissipating. Instead, accompanied by Breeze's Natural Magic, it became increasingly solid, and a glimmer of light even appeared in its dull pupils.

"Breeze, it's awake!"

"Wh-where is this?" Little Peeves woke up in a daze, speaking in a milky, weak voice.

Breeze and Faner exchanged glances. Faner felt a bit awkward and turned his snake head away; how was he to know that Natural Magic could be used like this?

"Can you give me more?"

The tiny Peeves looked at Breeze pitifully, begging.

"What?" Breeze realized what it meant and said, "Is it this magic?"

The tiny Peeves nodded hurriedly, causing its transparent body to flicker.

"Sorry." Breeze immediately severed the connection to his magic, which was already thin, causing the tiny Peeves's expression to turn to terror.

"No, I don't want to disappear..." Little Peeves looked like he was about to cry. This made Breeze feel a bit reluctant, but magic wasn't like a mana bar that would recover after use; it was more like the exertion of power, where the threshold increased or decreased with one's will. Breeze didn't want to consume his total amount of magic.

"Please."

Faner found it annoying, yet was also moved. When it had needed Breeze's magic, Breeze had prepared to transfer it without a second thought. However, what Faner didn't know was that Breeze hadn't actually wanted that natural magic at the time; it was only later, when he realized he could use that magic to cast spells to help Faner, that the burden of helping it vanished.

"Don't worry, I will help you, as long as it's within my power."

Breeze couldn't bring himself to use the natural magic within his own body to help Little Peeves. He thought of the Unicorn soul he had seen while meditating in the Forbidden Forest. At that time, the natural magic in the environment had been drawn toward the Unicorn's soul. If that magic hadn't been beyond his control—drifting away while carrying the Unicorn's soul—Breeze would have truly wanted to study it slowly.

This was the perfect opportunity.

Breeze closed his eyes. As he meditated, his consciousness rose into mid-air, looking down coldly at the panicked and pleading Little Peeves. There was indeed natural magic around Little Peeves, but it was merely ambient, not flowing toward the spirit of the little creature.

Breeze tried to use his consciousness to mobilize the ambient magic, but while these energies felt intimate toward him, they could not understand his commands and merely collided chaotically. Still, this allowed Little Peeves to absorb a portion of the natural magic from the environment.

It wasn't until Breeze drew the surrounding natural magic toward them, forming a visible vortex of energy, that Little Peeves solidified to look like a normal Peeves. Even though its soul energy was still leaking, it was enough to ensure it wouldn't vanish for the time being.

Breeze's consciousness ceased its intimacy with the natural forces, and they quickly dissipated and drifted away. Breeze had wanted to try absorbing this magic, but very little of it could integrate into his body, and he couldn't accept much of it anyway. These energies would continue to dissipate, just like Little Peeves—these free little things could never be truly possessed.

Returning his consciousness to his body, Breeze looked at Little Peeves, curious about its current state.

"Are you Peeves?"

"Peeves?" Little Peeves heard Breeze's words, its eyes shining with excitement. "Is that the name you have given me, Master?"

"You shall be called Little Peeves from now on; that sounds better."

Although it didn't understand what adding the word "Little" signified, Little Peeves accepted it happily. It was clear that it had no memories, as if it had just been born.

Perhaps Little Peeves was a special case, Breeze thought. After all, Peeves was a spirit that could touch physical objects at will, which completely contradicted the wizards' general understanding of souls.

With the experiment over, Breeze pondered how to handle this Little Peeves.

"Faner, do you need a playmate?"

Hearing this, Faner nodded with reserve.

"Fine, I will reluctantly take on a little underling to keep an eye on it for you."

Clearly, little Faner was satisfied.

The following time was fulfilling. Breeze had prepared a list of gifts to send out on Christmas Day and received the gifts he had ordered from Diagon Alley that evening.

For this, Breeze specially rented three sturdy owls. Since not many people stayed at school for Christmas, there were plenty of public owls available.

"This one is for Cedric, this one is for Hermione..."

Breeze sent a gift to every friend he acknowledged, every unilateral acquaintance, and every professor except Quirrell. There was also Wood, who had helped Breeze twice. If it weren't for his poverty, Breeze would have even wanted to buy Wood a new broomstick, but with his tight budget, he could only settle for an eighteen-Galleon broomstick maintenance kit.

"I must find a time and a way to sell the Unicorn hair." Breeze had a whole stash of magical Unicorn hair waiting to be converted into cash, but because the incident with the Unicorns this year hadn't blown over yet, Breeze wasn't a fool. He wouldn't make a move now and let Dumbledore trace it back to him.

After sorting the gifts, Breeze had the owls carry them out to be delivered according to the schedule.

For the next two days, Breeze searched for an opportunity to enter the Forbidden Corridor on the fourth floor. It wasn't until Christmas Eve that Snape, who had been keeping a close watch on the area, finally left Hogwarts. It seemed that after Snape visited Dumbledore's office, he received an invitation from a potion shop owner; potions were one of the few obsessions Snape held, and he hadn't even planned to attend the Malfoy family banquet.

Breeze could finally act. With both Snape and Quirrell away from the school, he headed toward the Forbidden Corridor. Surely there wouldn't be any accidents this time!

Thank you all for your recommendation votes, follow-up reads, tips, and monthly tickets. Let's work hard for the new week.

Your Dahua, who loves you.