Family Heritage

Ever since Skylar triggered that magical outburst, Lucius had been eager to cultivate Skylar's magical studies. To the family's surprise and delight, Skylar's aptitude for learning extended even into the magical realm.

Skylar also displayed outstanding talent in his magical studies, grasping various magical concepts instantly. He even posed questions from time to time that Lucius could not answer. Before long, Lucius gave up on personally tutoring him, leaving Skylar to tinker and research on his own.

As a high achiever in his previous life, Skylar bypassed the process of learning language and script. From the age of four, he carried over his thirst for knowledge and tireless work ethic, often immersing himself in the Malfoy Family Library to read extensively.

For centuries, members of the House of Malfoy had been enriching their family collection. The books covered everything—history, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Magizoology, and even obscure, rare subjects like Ancient Runes and Alchemy could be found within the library.

Among them were many precious, unique copies. The value of an out-of-print magic book was immeasurable; they were truly priceless. These were the foundation of a pure-blood wizarding family's heritage, and no one would ever bring them out unless absolutely necessary.

Skylar's favorites were the history books. Through the family's historical documents, he gained a deeper and more complete understanding of this magical world than he had from the original story.

He realized deeply that this was a complete magical world where everyone was a living, breathing person. This world did not just consist of Harry the Savior and his friends, nor just Voldemort the Dark Lord and his followers. It was filled with all sorts of other people and lives, such as curse-breakers in the Egyptian pyramids, Magizoologists traveling the world, and alchemists creating magical artifacts.

What puzzled and confused Skylar was that, as a family whose stance in the original story leaned toward the Dark Lord, the library contained absolutely no books on Dark Arts. Could it be that Dark Arts books were inherently dangerous, and his parents had hidden them away to prevent him or his brother from accidentally coming into contact with them and suffering an accident?

Pure-blood families, especially the Sacred Twenty-Eight, all possessed incredibly ancient historical foundations.

Do not be fooled by the original story where several pure-blood families were subservient before Voldemort. The true foundation of these families was never reflected in force or combat, but in their control over the economic lifelines of the wizarding world through monopolies on lucrative industries, which in turn granted them endless wealth and powerful political influence.

What allowed them to achieve this was not simply the inheritance of wealth, but the various highly precious magical secrets mastered by these ancient families. For instance, the Ollivander Family, with its history of over two thousand years, relied on the secret of wand-making to monopolize one-third of the wand industry and generate their wealth.

These documents recording family secrets were a family's most precious treasure.

Skylar knew that Voldemort's return was only a few years away. If he wanted to protect himself, or even safeguard his family, he had to race against time to strengthen his power. As a natural scholar, he was even more diligent than the average person in absorbing all the knowledge within the family library.

Skylar and Dobby had always been on good terms. After several years of persistent pestering, Skylar finally convinced Dobby when he was five to use Apparition to sneak him into the secret chamber located beneath the living room while the rest of the family was out.

Because the entrance to the secret chamber was sealed by heavy protective magic, it was impossible to enter without the correct unlocking incantation. However, protective magic in the wizarding world had a loophole: it did not account for the magic of creatures deemed inferior, such as House Elves. That was why Skylar could rely on Dobby to use the unique elf magic to infiltrate the chamber.

The ceiling of the secret chamber was hung with several skulls emitting an eerie phosphorescent glow, filling the dim room with a faint light. Rows of shelves lined the four walls, filled with strange items that clearly bore traces of Dark Arts: pitch-black skulls, blood-stained daggers, bizarre masks, and rusted chains.

None of these items came with instructions, so Skylar was completely in the dark regarding their names and how to use them.

Skylar moved carefully through the cramped space. Being cautious, he tried his best to avoid touching any of the items. He wasn't joking—even a figure like Dumbledore could die from accidentally touching one of Voldemort's cursed objects. With his father being a former Death Eater, Skylar was certain that their collection of such terrifying Dark Arts items was quite extensive.

Among the vast array of items, Skylar recognized one: a black-covered, old-fashioned diary. It looked very ordinary, just like any common diary in the Muggle world, with the name Tom Riddle written on it.

Skylar knew this was the first Horcrux of Voldemort's life. With his current strength, he would not rashly touch it and invite trouble.

After a quick glance over the terrifying Dark Arts items, Skylar went to the corner specifically for books. These books were exceptionally old; some covers were so tattered that the words on them were unrecognizable. Skylar picked out three magic books from the pile: Dark Potions, Fallen Creatures, and Arbatel Volume I.

These three books looked extremely ancient from the outside, and many of their contents were even written in Ancient Runic Magic Symbols.

Skylar then found the family's handwritten notes on spells in a hidden compartment. It contained secret spells passed down only to direct descendants of the family, so he had Dobby copy them for him. Since young wizards in the British wizarding world were not allowed to possess wands before the age of eleven, Skylar could only transcribe the principles and methods of casting the spells beforehand, rather than actually practicing them.

[Dark Potions acquired! Fallen Creatures acquired! Arbatel Volume I acquired!]

[Malfoy Family Spells acquired!]

Just as Skylar was about to leave, satisfied with his haul, he caught a glimpse of a dusty, dilapidated hourglass in the corner. Had his Magic Eye not detected faint magical fluctuations on it, the item's old appearance would never have caught anyone's attention.

In the magical world, items like hourglasses or pocket watches that emitted magical fluctuations usually meant one thing: the item was imbued with time magic!

With a heart full of excitement, Skylar packed the hourglass away as well. He summoned Dobby, had him use the unique elf magic to create fakes of the magic books and the hourglass to put back, and carefully erased all traces before Apparating away with Dobby.

[Time-Turner acquired!]

Indeed, this hourglass was a Time-Turner, a prototype passed down from the Middle Ages. In the sequel to the original story, at a time when all known Time-Turners had been destroyed, Lucius was still able to have Theodore Nott manufacture two brand-new Time-Turners from scratch. Nott might have had some talent, but Skylar had always been very skeptical in his previous life about how Nott could have built a Time-Turner without any samples or reference blueprints.

At this moment, Skylar confirmed his suspicion: Lucius had long possessed the oldest Time-Turner, and Nott had merely used it as a blueprint to improve it into a more practical device.

Time magic was one of the most mysterious fields. Skylar knew there were many rules to time magic, and he did not want to trigger terrible consequences by breaking them.

Although this oldest Time-Turner could only take Skylar back one hour each time the hourglass was flipped, it was more than enough for him. All he needed was more time to read and study, similar to how Hermione used it in her third year to study excessively. Being able to obtain such a cheat device at the very start, Skylar had to marvel at how lucky he was.

Although the Time-Turner had no limit on the number of uses, excessive use was still a burden on the body, just as Hermione had to give it up in the end due to extreme exhaustion. Therefore, Skylar only flipped the hourglass four times a day, using the extra four hours for study. Day after day, he became intoxicated with reading and learning.

There were hundreds of books in the library, but with the help of the Time-Turner, Skylar finished reading them all by the age of nine, possessing a level of knowledge beyond the reach of ordinary people.

As for the three Dark Arts books, Skylar did not intend to touch them for the time being, as they were inherently dangerous. With his current strength, it would be reckless and foolish to approach them rashly. As for the Malfoy Family Spells, although he had never practiced them, he had long since memorized the casting steps and every detail by heart.

With nothing left to do, Skylar began to scheme again.