When Vaughan opened his eyes in the morning, his chest felt heavy, and he could barely breathe.
He pulled back the covers and saw Fruit Tea's massive cat head resting on his chest, its eyes narrowed contentedly, warm and fluffy.
"Morning, you little rascal. You snuck into my bed again."
"Meow!"
Fruit Tea meowed coquettishly, purring as it rubbed itself all over him.
After playing with the big cat for a while, Vaughan got up. By then, sunlight had already spilled into the Black Lake. His dormitory was situated fairly high up, only about ten meters from the lake's surface.
He could see faint shafts of sunlight passing through the layer of ice that had formed over the lake, casting hazy ripples beneath the water.
Vaughan had gone to sleep very late the night before. It was not because his encounter with Voldemort had been too thrilling and kept him awake, but because he had been replaying that brief exchange in his mind, trying to determine the Plug-In Man's current condition.
His final conclusion was that it was even worse than he had expected.
"Without unicorn blood, Voldemort is most likely sustaining his existence by draining Quirrell's life force. That's why the moment Quirrell called for help yesterday, Voldemort couldn't wait to act."
"He's afraid... afraid of losing the last servant still loyal to him, afraid that his resurrection plan will fall apart..."
Although that figure last night had been twisted and terrifying, with immense magical power and a soul-chilling Killing Curse, Vaughan could still see through the bluff after thinking it over.
When Voldemort cast the Killing Curse, he did not even have the spare strength to replace Quirrell's Shield Charm, allowing Vaughan's Sectumsempra to pierce through it.
By the time Dumbledore was about to arrive, Voldemort did not