"Devero? Devero? Wake up! Why are you sleeping here?"
A murmur of voices reached him.
He felt someone shaking him.
Devero struggled to open his eyes.
A tall, burly boy stood in front of him, looking concerned.
Marcus, the Slytherin Prefect.
"Sorry, Marcus. I studied too late last night... What time is it?"
Devero rubbed his face.
Looking exhausted, he got up from the sofa.
"Eight thirty. If you head to the Great Hall now, you should still have time for breakfast before class."
Seeing that Devero was up, Marcus relaxed.
"You should get more rest. You can't become top of the year by running yourself ragged. If you catch a cold, your grades will suffer even more."
As an older student, Marcus offered Devero his sincere advice.
Then he left the common room for class.
There weren't many people in the common room now.
With classes about to start,
most students had already gone to the Great Hall.
Devero felt completely drained.
What he'd done yesterday had been far more thrilling than studying textbooks.
"Ravenclaw's Token..."
Devero thought back to the information he'd seen before falling asleep yesterday.
He already had a theory.
Voldemort's Horcrux had probably spent too long with one of the Founders' relics.
As a result, it had been influenced by that Founder to some extent.
It could also use some of the Founder's magic.
As he thought, Devero touched the handkerchief tucked against his chest.
A spell and a few words surfaced in his mind.
[Spell Library: Disillusionment Charm (Proficient)]
"Little fellow, to make it easier for you to come here, I'll teach you this spell for free. If there's anything else you want to learn in the future, you can come to me. I know it all. But here's one piece of advice: wisdom can't be given to you. It can only come from putting things into practice."
Devero picked up his wand.
He hesitated for a moment.
Then he waved it over his head.
At once,
it was as if an egg had cracked open on top of his head,
and a thick, transparent liquid flowed over his entire body.
He looked at the full-length mirror hanging in the common room.
Unless someone looked very closely, he was practically invisible!
But after watching for a while,
he could still sense a slight oddness.
Still, Devero would only be using the spell at night for now.
It shouldn't make much difference.
"So he can even pour spells straight into my mind. Is that the effect of the Wilderness of Knowledge? He can teach me anything..."
Devero frowned as he pondered the question.
To be honest,
he didn't think even Dumbledore knew absolutely everything.
But this younger version of Voldemort had recognized the origins of his Zen Meditation Method at a glance!
That really did make Devero believe
the man had genuine skill.
Taking everything into account, including his attitude,
it was hard to say whether this Voldemort was still an enemy.
And since he could get free lessons in magic,
Devero decided not to tell Dumbledore about it just yet.
He also wouldn't visit again anytime soon.
First, he would build up his strength.
He might be immune to mind-reading, but if someone hit him with the Killing Curse,
he would end up no different from anyone else.
Did he have a protective love magic like Harry's?
Wait!
He really had copied Harry's Protection of Love entry earlier!
Devero immediately opened his Entry Library.
[Protection of Love (Gold/Inactive)]
Sigh.
If he could find his blood relatives,
he'd at least have some confidence facing Voldemort.
Devero thought it over.
He was sure he had blood relatives somewhere.
After all, his parents had come from different countries.
They couldn't all be dead, could they?
And the only lead he had to find them was... Snape!
Devero couldn't help wanting to face-palm.
Damn it!
Why did this guy have such an important piece of information?
Devero paced back and forth in front of the fireplace.
In short, his current plan was to get information about his blood relatives out of Snape.
Then he'd find them.
After that, he'd activate Protection of Love.
And finally, he could return to Hogwarts and milk Voldemort for all he was worth.
Plan complete!
Having thought it through, Devero turned his attention to other things.
Yesterday's efforts
had caused his castle exploration progress to shoot up!
[Current Wizard Secret Realm: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry] [Exploration Progress: 9.81%]
Still, the progress made Devero wince.
After all that effort,
he'd barely reached ten percent.
Compared to Diagon Alley, which he'd nearly completed,
this was nothing.
And the train station was even more thoroughly explored.
Now, the cooldown for loading a purple entry had ended.
He needed to decide whose entry to load.
There wasn't anyone whose purple entry he urgently needed right now.
He'd just copy the entry of whoever he ran into in class.
With that in mind,
Devero forced himself to perk up.
He headed to the washroom in the common room
to freshen up first.
Then he'd go to class.
He'd skip breakfast.
After a quick wash and change,
Devero walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom just as the bell rang.
He'd only been here for two days,
but he'd already familiarized himself with the main parts of the castle.
Naturally, he was preparing for a deeper exploration later.
That was why Devero hadn't been late once.
Harry and Ron, on the other hand, had already been late twice.
But this time,
Devero regretted arriving on time for the first time.
The smell in Quirrell's classroom was truly awful.
The whole room reeked of garlic, and the stench wouldn't go away.
Devero felt like he was about to suffocate.
He had a feeling
this class would become his least favorite after Potions Class.
Devero tried to find a seat as far back as possible,
since the smell was clearly weaker there.
Unfortunately, he'd arrived too late, and there were no seats left.
He could only sit in the front row, trying not to cry.
Quirrell entered the classroom carrying two books.
He began his lecture in a soft, timid voice.
"Hello, everyone. I'm your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Quirinus Quirrell. You can just call me Professor Quirrell. Now, take out..."
Devero immediately checked his status panel.
[Name: Quirinus Quirrell] [Age: 33] [Spell Library: Finite Incantatem (Expert), Banishing Charm (Expert)...] [Entries: Magical Talent (Purple), Exam Prodigy (Purple), Chameleon (Green)]
[Magical Talent (Purple): Possesses magical talent beyond that of an average wizard. Learns spells faster than most and has a degree of creativity.] [Exam Expert (Purple): Exceptionally good at reading textbooks, with a memory beyond the ordinary. Can handle all kinds of exams with ease!] [Chameleon (Green): Cowardly, greedy, and weak-willed; easily swayed by those stronger than him.]
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