Allocation of Bases
The two spent a few days in the Ottery St. Catchpole (Skylar did go home during this time; he didn't stay overnight at Luna's house). Luna took Skylar to catch light Plimpy in a stream near the Gully Bridge. Then, Luna showed off her cooking skills, adding Dirigible Plum, Venomous Tentacula, and other ingredients to Hufflepuff's Cauldron as seasonings, and simmered the light Plimpy into a fish soup. Although the taste was strange and unique, it was actually quite good.
"How does it taste?" Luna asked dreamily, watching Skylar finish every last drop of the fish soup in his bowl.
"Hmm, a very peculiar combination," Skylar said honestly. "The umami flavor of the Plimpy wasn't masked by the taste of the Dirigible Plum and the Venomous Tentacula vine pod; instead, they blended together to create a flavor I can't describe, but it really tastes quite good... I like it very much."
Luna's face lit up with a radiant smile, her eyes gleaming with a strange light. She said softly, "Since my mother passed away, I've been doing most of the cooking at home. This is my proudest creation; I experimented at least 50 times to get this flavor right..."
She paused for a moment, then continued with a smile, "My dad loves my fish soup the most. He says it has a flavor that touches the soul."
Touching the soul through the taste buds? How did food-themed articles start appearing?
Skylar shook his head, banishing these strange thoughts from his mind, and then solemnly said to Luna, "Luna, your cooking skills, like you, are unique... Your creativity, your unconventionality, your boundless imagination are your most valuable qualities. As your friend, I want to tell you, I hope you..."
Never lose your most authentic self.
"Hmm." Luna's eyes shone even brighter. She stared straight at Skylar, making Skylar feel a little awkward. He quickly made up an excuse to change the subject.
Skylar thus spent a few leisurely days, cherishing these short few days very much.
Luna's carefree, tranquil, and natural personality and temperament deeply touched Skylar, and could even be said to have influenced Skylar, allowing him to let go of all his defenses, calculations, schemes, responsibilities, and burdens, and to unload the heavy shackles imposed by his own expectations and those of others, thus experiencing a rare moment of mental relaxation.
In his past life, he was a somewhat unruly and unconventional adventurer who lived a carefree and unrestrained life of adventure (of course, he still had to listen to his sugar daddy, but it was still much freer than being a corporate slave).
In this life, however, he lived a completely different life. The moment he decided to change his family's fate, he almost embarked on a path of no return to vie for supremacy. It must be noted that at that time, he was still somewhat naive and immature in his personality and thinking. Although he had some mental preparation, he did not expect that the path to supremacy would be so arduous, full of thorns and difficulties, and he did not expect that there would be enemies other than Voldemort.
In the first two years, the plot and the original work were not too far apart, and he gained a lot, including the Sorcerer's Stone, Basilisk materials, the servant Dobby, the Broom Company, as well as practical experience and heroic reputation.
Who knew that the plot would deviate more and more from the original story as it progressed? All of this changed drastically after Meredith was kidnapped. Now, whether for Meredith's sake or for his followers who had already pledged allegiance to him, there was no turning back on this path of conquest.
He has already raised his banner, and he has also made enemies for himself. If he were to back down now out of fear of difficulties, perhaps his followers could save their families after paying a price, but he himself would definitely not have a good end.
Therefore, he has truly carried too much burden in this life.
Of course, he has also grown a lot in terms of personality.
In his spare time, Skylar also pondered how to make the best use of Ella Cottage.
He now has several bases.
The Secret Passage through the mirror on the fifth floor connects to the basement of the Miraculous Alchymia in Hogsmeade Village, his primary stronghold. All the activities, magical instruction, and combat training of the Sleeping Dragon Society members take place here. However, Skylar understood the principle of having multiple burrows; although Skylar ensured the loyalty of his members through various means, to prevent betrayal due to unforeseen external factors, Skylar did not share all the Chamber of Secrets he controlled with them.
In his mind, he divided all members of the Sleeping Dragon Society into three classes.
The first type is his closest or most trusted people, such as Daphne, Morrie, or House Elf. These are the "core members," whose loyalty is beyond question, so they have the authority to enter the Chamber of Secrets. Generally, they will choose the Chamber of Secrets for any major or confidential plans.
Although sixth-grader Narel had been to this Chamber of Secrets before, she was teleported there by Sprite and didn't know Chamber of Secrets location or how to enter. Currently, Skylar seems to trust Cho Chang, Susan, and Luna. While Skylar's still assessing their abilities and loyalty, he's already considering promoting them to the inner circle.
The second group consists of the young wizards of Slytherin, who are full members. This is not because he discriminates against young wizards from other houses, but because the Slytherin, as the initial core group, have followed him the longest and have developed a sense of belonging to the organization. Moreover, in terms of pure self-interest, those Little Snakes -Half-blood or from weak families are Skylar's natural allies, and unless uncontrollable factors arise, the chances of them betraying him are extremely low.
Besides knowing the Secret Passage through the mirror on the fifth floor, these Little Snakes can also use Daphne or Astoria to exchange opportunities to contribute to the organization in exchange for access to the organization's library or personal guidance from Skylar.
The third type is the newly joined Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw wizards, who are considered peripheral members. In this case, they must contribute to the organization to prove their loyalty and worth.
This requires a long period of investigation. If, unfortunately, a traitor emerges and leaks the organization's existence, Skylar's loss would only be the fifth-floor Secret Passage; he still has three Suitcase Space, the Chamber of Secrets, Ravenclaw Chamber.
Ella Cottage was more significant to Skylar than providing Skylar with a secret base for his activities off-campus.
Based on the plot, it's highly likely that Skylar won't stay at Hogwarts until he graduates from his seventh year. Therefore, an off-campus base will come in handy at that time.
The existence of Ella Cottage was no secret; almost everyone who attended Druella's funeral knew that Skylar had inherited the small house. There was only one way to transform it into a secret hideout—
The Fidelius Charm.
The Fidelius Charm is an extremely complex spell with many restrictions. Its requirements are extremely high.
First, transforming a **** into a **** is a step that demands extremely high standards from the ****. Without the necessary expertise, a **** simply cannot even pass this initial hurdle.
Secondly, if the secret is not just a simple place name, but involves **** itself, or **** itself, then it has an extremely powerful impact on ****'s ****. In the original story, Bill, the eldest son of the Weasley, was able to cast this spell, placing the location of his marital home Shell Cottage, within ****'s ****, allowing him to become **** himself.
In fact, Bill's approach was the most reasonable, optimal, and safest way to implement the Fidelius Charm — the Secret Keeper himself was hidden in secrecy, making him impenetrable and unbreakable.
However, this was actually thanks to Bill's extensive experience in ****, which gave him a very strong interest in ****.
In contrast, James Potter, who had only recently graduated, while quite talented in fantasy, was rather mediocre in his fantasy. Otherwise, he could have easily set the fantasy as a fantasy or a fantasy, and the entire Harry Potter storyline would never have begun.
Skylar confident that his magic power was sufficient, and if it wasn't, he could use the Sorcerer's Stone to amplify it. Therefore, casting the Fidelius Charm was definitely not a problem for him. However, if he didn't want to repeat James's mistake, he would need to find a way to improve his understanding of the spell.
There aren't many books on the Fidelius Charm, but Skylar had several in his collection, and he had read Skylar all, mastering the basic theory. However, to ensure absolute certainty, he still intended to search for higher-level, more profound materials on shielding magic, and coincidentally, among the Dark Arts books he inherited from Druella's legacy was one such book—<Secrets in the Shadows>.
This book was written by a seasoned tomb raider and dark wizard. It contains information on how he used Dark Arts, soul sacrifice, and life sacrifice to break various shielding and defensive spells in ancient tombs. It also mentions the Fidelius Charm, arguing that although this spell is unbreakable, it is unsuitable for guarding secrets like ancient tombs because it relies too heavily on the Secret Keeper. Once the Secret Keeper dies, everyone who knows the secret automatically becomes the Secret Keeper. If there is no one to inherit the secret, the magic will fail, and the secret will be automatically revealed.
Of course, the value of this book does not lie in the description of the Fidelius Charm, but in the deciphering and essence of other shielding spells that appear in the book. These are all knowledge that Skylar can refer to and use to enhance his understanding of the Fidelius Charm.
That said, Skylar discovered that Lovegood family also contained many valuable magical books. Most of them were the Pandora's Spell Notes Luna's mother, Pandora, a highly skilled spellcaster who had created many unique spells. Even Miranda Gossack, the author of * the Standard Book of Spells *, had publicly expressed her admiration for her. Her notes on creating spells were quite enlightening for Skylar.
Seeing Skylar carefully perusing Pandora's notebooks, Luna, with Xenophilius's permission, gave the entire set of notebooks to Skylar.
[Pandora's Spell Notes obtained!]
Time passed day by day.
January 4th arrived quickly, and Hogwarts started its new school year.