Three Major Goals

After Halloween, November arrived.

The Quidditch season began. The first match was Gryffindor versus Slytherin.

Unlike in the original story, Harry had not become a Seeker, nor had Quirrell attempted to curse him during the Quidditch match, while Snape tried to save him only to be misunderstood by the Harry trio. The final result was Slytherin's victory, after their Seeker, Terence Higgs, caught the Golden Snitch.

As in the original story, Harry and his two friends still believed Snape had ill intentions toward the treasure hidden in the fourth-floor corridor. After some probing, they managed to pry Nicolas Flamel's name out of Hagrid. Over the following days, the three of them diligently searched the library for clues related to Nicolas Flamel.

However, none of this had anything to do with Skylar.

Skylar's life had been extremely fulfilling lately. Besides his daily studies and homework, he also had to make time for activities at the Charms Club and Transfiguration Club. The knowledge exchanged and studied in these two clubs was more advanced and profound, benefiting Skylar greatly.

At the same time, Skylar had also mapped out his plans for the next few years at Hogwarts.

With Occlumency, Skylar now had the means to conceal his thoughts. It was time to begin carrying out the three major goals he had set for himself to complete before Voldemort's return:

First, he had to strengthen his own abilities. Skylar had already planned to learn more powerful spells, as well as Non-verbal Spellcasting and Wandless Magic, both of which were crucial in actual combat.

Beyond that, he also had to resolve the weakness of his insufficient magical power. Due to the limits of his magical power, many powerful spells he had long coveted required more magic than he possessed, leaving him able only to admire them in books rather than learn them himself. Solving this problem would not be easy. He hoped to search through and collect various legendary magical artifacts that could be used in combat by delving deeply into History of Magic. During the First Wizarding War, a significant portion of the first Dark Lord Grindelwald's strength had come from the artifact in his hand, the Elder Wand. He had studied historical records to trace the whereabouts of the Deathly Hallows, and after many twists and turns, seized the Elder Wand from a wandmaker.

Those were Skylar's original plans. However, after discovering the wonders of bloodline power, he added research into bloodline power to his plans, hoping to uncover the hidden strength within his own bloodline.

Blood Magic had long been lost in the modern wizarding world, where bloodlines had grown thin. The modern wizarding world classified all research involving bloodline alteration as strictly forbidden. For now, Skylar was placing his greatest hopes on the library's Restricted Section. However, entering the Restricted Section required the signature of the headmaster or the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, so Skylar needed to carefully consider how to proceed.

Second, he needed to develop a force loyal to himself, an organization similar to the Death Eaters or the Order of the Phoenix.

Tom Riddle had begun recruiting followers while still in school, which showed that school was where the most wizards gathered and the best place to build a power base. Whether Skylar intended to become the next Dark Lord in the future or restore his family's glory, such a force would be absolutely necessary.

Third, he needed to explore Hogwarts.

As a magical fortress with a legacy spanning over a thousand years, Hogwarts concealed countless secrets inside and outside its castle. Not even the successive headmasters dared claim to understand all of Hogwarts's secrets. What intrigued Skylar most was this: if Slytherin had been able to leave behind a Chamber of Secrets as his legacy, then what about the other three great wizards who had founded the school alongside him? Had they also left behind some inheritance not mentioned in the original story?

Every day, Skylar spent a great deal of time practicing Non-verbal Spellcasting, Wandless Magic, and the inherited spells of the House of Malfoy, House of Black, House of Lestrange, and Rosier Family.

Interestingly, the four families had taken completely different paths in their research into inherited magic:

The House of Malfoy leaned heavily toward mind magic; the House of Black favored soul magic and transformation magic; the inherited magic of the House of Lestrange carried a strong taint of dark curses, focusing mainly on inflicting physical pain and injury; while the Rosier Family's magic centered on the elements, with all kinds of spells that controlled fire, water, whirlwinds, and lightning.

After discovering each family's magical inclinations, a vague yet bold thought suddenly flashed through Skylar's mind. Could these pure-blood families' magical affinities correspond to the power hidden within each family's bloodline?

Skylar had already discovered that he possessed extraordinary talent in mind magic. Perhaps that was because he had awakened the bloodline power of the House of Malfoy.

The House of Black had produced Nymphadora Tonks, a natural Metamorphmagus. Could that explain the House of Black's affinity for transformation magic?

In the original story, the Lestranges had been experts with the Cruciatus Curse. They had tortured a pair of Aurors into madness. Perhaps that was because their bloodline contained a natural talent for torturing people with dark curses?

As for the Rosier Family, little was mentioned of them in the original story. Yet the first Dark Lord Grindelwald truly had been an expert at wielding fire, controlling water, and commanding lightning. One blaze had nearly burned all of Paris, while a stretch of the Hudson River had nearly drowned every Auror in a prison carriage... Coupled with his ambiguous relationship with his female subordinate Vinda Rosier, perhaps Grindelwald himself also carried some Rosier blood?

If his speculation was correct, and he had already awakened the bloodline power of the House of Malfoy, could he possibly awaken the bloodline powers of the other families as well?

At the thought, Skylar could not help feeling eager. Unfortunately, information on Blood Magic was extraordinarily rare. Though he had read extensively, he still knew very little about this field of magic. After all, he carried at least one-quarter Black blood and one-quarter Rosier blood.

His grandmother had passed away before he was born, but he vaguely remembered his father mentioning that she had come from the House of Lestrange. In other words, the blood of all four families flowed through him. If he could awaken the power of his other bloodlines, his strength would absolutely rise by a shocking amount!

Skylar's research and practice in inherited magic and casting techniques continued without pause until the end of the second week of December.

By then, every movement he made brimmed with confidence, and he was immensely proud of the strength he had gained through his recent secluded training.

He could now use Wandless Magic and Non-verbal Spellcasting with ease. His wand had become merely an aid rather than a necessity. Skylar had also stopped his sparring sessions with Dobby, because Dobby was no longer a match for him. When Skylar unleashed his full magical power, Dobby could not even last a few exchanges.

Skylar estimated that his strength was no weaker than that of upper-year students. Apart from the very best among them, he was confident he could defeat anyone else.

[Wandless Magic learned!]

[Non-verbal Spellcasting learned!]

Skylar stroked his chin. It was about time to put exploring Hogwarts on the agenda.

But before that, Skylar had to prepare for the two-week Christmas holiday. Originally, he had planned to use the holiday to thoroughly explore Hogwarts, but Narcissa had written a month earlier demanding that both brothers return home for Christmas. After all, it was the first time her two sons had been away from home for so long. Skylar could fully understand Narcissa's longing for her children.

On the day before Christmas, as Skylar returned the books he had borrowed from the library to Madam Pince, Hermione stopped him at the library entrance.

Hermione looked a little timid. To be honest, she had needed to summon a great deal of courage before coming to find Skylar.

Influenced by Harry and Ron, she had never thought very highly of Slytherin. If Skylar had not saved her last time, she probably would never have crossed paths with him in her life. As she stopped him now, caught between anticipation and fear, she said, "Hello, Mr. Malfoy. I haven't had the chance to thank you for what happened with the Troll, so I came specifically to say thank you today."

Skylar looked at the girl who, in the original story, served as the brains of Harry's trio. Hermione's features still retained the immaturity of childhood. Combined with her bushy hair and prominent front teeth, she looked like a plain but pretty girl next door. Of course, girls changed greatly as they grew up, and Hermione would begin to show her feminine charm after her fourth year.

Skylar was not lacking beautiful girls around him in Slytherin. Daphne was lovely and graceful, while Meredith was coolly beautiful and elegant. In terms of appearance, Hermione was indeed far less striking than either of them.

But Skylar still had a considerable fondness for this principled, steadfast, and intelligent girl. During Harry's journey across the world in search of Horcruxes, even Ron had been unable to endure it and left, yet Hermione alone had remained by Harry's side until the very end.

Skylar replied kindly, "You're welcome, Miss Granger. We may belong to different Houses, but we are all students of Hogwarts. I merely did what I should have done."

Hermione's eyes lit up, and she smiled. "Yes, we're classmates. I hope we can be friendly and help each other in the future."

Skylar nodded and was about to leave when Hermione stopped him again. "Um... do you know who Nicolas Flamel is?"

Skylar raised an eyebrow. Oh—Harry's trio was already about to advance the Philosopher's Stone plot. "Nicolas Flamel was the greatest alchemist in history. He was the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone, which is also called the Sorcerer's Stone. It can brew an Elixir of Life and turn stone into gold. He is also Professor Dumbledore's friend. Is that enough?"

"I know—it must be the Sorcerer's Stone!" Hermione suddenly realized, saying excitedly to Skylar, "The forbidden area on the fourth floor must be hiding the Sorcerer's Stone. That Three-headed Dog must be guarding it—Hagrid said it was an agreement between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel."

"Oh, and then? Now that you know there's a Sorcerer's Stone there, what then?" Skylar asked curiously.

"Then—um..." Hermione hesitated before finally saying, "We suspect Snape wants to steal the Sorcerer's Stone. Harry saw that his leg was injured. He must have been bitten when he tried to get past the Three-headed Dog."

Skylar gave Hermione a scrutinizing look and only spoke after a long while. "Listen, you are suspecting a professor—one could even call it slander. It could get you into serious trouble. More importantly, Professor Snape has taught at Hogwarts for more than ten years. The fact that he became a Head of House proves that he has Professor Dumbledore's deep trust. I don't believe anyone could harbor ill intentions right under Professor Dumbledore's nose for so many years. Professor Snape may be unfair in how he treats students in class. Aside from us Slytherins, I know students from the other Houses dislike him, Gryffindors especially. But—I don't think he deserves baseless accusations."

"But..." Hermione still wanted to argue.

"Listen, why do you think no one else could have thought of what you thought of?" Skylar said, looking into Hermione's eyes. "Do you really think Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout know nothing about Professor Snape's injured leg? All right, I think we'll leave this subject here. No matter how much I say, as a Slytherin, you probably won't listen. You'll likely only think I'm defending my own Head of House... Christmas holiday starts tomorrow, and I haven't even begun packing. I'll take my leave, then. Merry Christmas." After saying that, Skylar waved and turned away. Down the corridor, Daphne and Meredith were watching him and Hermione with curious expressions, waiting to return to the Slytherin dormitory with him.

Hermione watched Skylar's retreating figure. She could already hear the displeasure in his final words, and for some reason, an inexplicable bitterness rose in her heart. Could it really be that she, Harry, and Ron were prejudiced against Snape? Was the divide between Slytherin and Gryffindor truly impossible to break?