Nighttime Wandering

"Make way, please, make way..."

They were in Herbology class, and Eli was squeezing his way toward Draco Malfoy.

After Transfiguration class had ended, Eli had seen the sour look on Draco Malfoy's face.

Of course, he knew why.

They had finally managed to get along last night. They could be considered friends now, right?

After all, Draco Malfoy had never been so friendly toward anyone else.

Yet he had seen his new friend chatting and laughing with Harry Potter, someone he had a grudge against.

So there it was—the proud little brat was throwing a tantrum.

Eli let out a long sigh. Are kids these days all like this?

On one side were his own brother and good friend; on the other was his roommate and new friend.

Yet those two sides happened to dislike each other.

Eli could already imagine Draco Malfoy and Harry, those two old rivals, getting into a fight someday while he stood nearby, not knowing whom to help.

But how could he possibly argue with a brat?

So Eli decided to explain things to Draco Malfoy first.

After squeezing past several people, he finally reached Draco Malfoy's side.

Who would have thought that Draco Malfoy merely glanced at him, then pretended not to see him.

Eli leaned closer. "Hey, why were you walking so fast just now?"

"Hmph." Draco Malfoy haughtily turned his head away.

Oh, now that was pushing it!

I came to explain myself, and you're playing hard to get? Fine, I won't bother with you. Do whatever you want.

"Hmph."

Eli turned his head away as well.

Explain? Explain my ass.

Goyle, standing nearby, could not make sense of what was happening and secretly glanced at Eli.

Eli glared at him. "What are you looking at? Watch out, or I'll eat you. I can swallow little kids whole!"

"Ah..."

Eli's suddenly ferocious expression gave Goyle such a fright that he cried out.

Professor Sprout, at the front, looked over in surprise.

I'm teaching perfectly well here. Why are you yelling so loudly?

"Mr. Goyle? This is class time. Please do not make strange noises. Thank you."

The greenhouse immediately erupted in laughter, and Goyle's face flushed red with embarrassment.

After class, some of the young wizards went to eat, while others arranged to play together.

Eli, however, ran up to the eighth floor of the castle after most people had left.

"Tapestry... tapestry... Found it!"

On one wall of the corridor hung an enormous tapestry depicting a troll beating Barnabas silly with a club.

Apparently, a man named Barnabas had once tried to make trolls perform ballet for him.

Naturally, he had ended up beaten senseless by the trolls.

But Eli had not come here for a tapestry.

His true destination was the Room of Requirement!

It was an exceptionally mysterious room, rumored to have been personally built by the founders of Hogwarts.

It normally vanished, only appearing when someone who truly needed it came along.

"What was the way to get in again?"

Too much time had passed, and he could not quite remember how to open the Room of Requirement.

After trying for quite a while, the Room of Requirement finally appeared when he walked back and forth three times while repeatedly thinking, I need a magical laboratory.

On the wall opposite the tapestry, a huge door suddenly emerged from what had been a smooth wall.

Many exquisite, ancient patterns were carved into the door.

The door opened on its own.

Eli walked inside, and it truly was a spacious laboratory.

It was filled with all kinds of magical instruments he had never even seen before.

There were also piles of unused parchment.

Eli was extremely satisfied with the laboratory.

"I heard this thing can provide anything you need."

Eli suddenly felt like playing around with it.

He silently thought, I want a bathroom.

A flushing sound rang out, and a room indeed appeared in the corner. When he walked in, it was a bathroom.

The Room of Requirement truly was miraculous.

Eli did not waste any time. He had come here for something that concerned life and death.

He sat down, calmed himself, and began studying Voldemort's memories.

In fact, ever since he had discovered the hidden danger of his growing magical power, Eli had begun searching Voldemort's memories for a solution.

When it came to researching souls, if Voldemort claimed second place, no one would dare claim first.

Not even Dumbledore.

And Eli had found a spell.

Voldemort had obtained the spell when he traveled through Egypt and infiltrated a pyramid.

Or rather, this was Voldemort's improved version of it.

Egypt was also a nation with a highly prosperous magical civilization, but it did not have a good reputation in the wizarding world.

Because it produced an abundance of Dark wizards!

Many Dark wizards famous internationally came from Egypt.

Dark magic there had also developed enormously, and most of it consisted of exceptionally vicious curses aimed at the soul.

In Egypt, such soul-targeting Dark magic was called Necromancy.

Making the dead stand again and causing souls to awaken once more—this was the terrifying aspect of Necromancy.

They were skilled at making use of the dead.

And Voldemort's later army of Inferi had been created through Necromancy.

Back then, only pharaohs could learn Necromancy. When they died, the records were naturally buried with them in their tombs.

Voldemort wanted to build an army of the dead, and he also sought to study souls in pursuit of immortality.

So he entered the pyramid and obtained those Necromancy inheritances.

Among them was a spell capable of stripping a creature's soul away.

Voldemort had taken an interest in that spell and improved it, turning it into a Dark spell that could strip souls away and devour them for his own use!

The incantation was [Soul Devouring].

According to Eli's understanding, Voldemort had created this spell because of his Horcruxes.

In pursuit of immortality, Voldemort had split his soul to create Horcruxes.

As long as the Horcruxes remained intact, he would never die.

That sounded great, didn't it?

But could immortality really be achieved so easily?

A person's soul was originally a whole. If you split it apart, could it still be fine?

Moreover, throughout history, those who created Horcruxes had only split their souls once.

But this guy was different. He was so terrified of death that he split his soul seven times.

As a result, he became moody and extremely irritable.

Of course, he himself had realized the danger of weakening his soul.

So he invented this spell in an attempt to strengthen it.

This was exactly what Eli needed!

But every medicine had its poison.

This spell was not flawless, either.

Other people's souls were still other people's souls. Even if he absorbed them, hidden dangers would remain.

But there was no better solution now.

His magical power was already growing faster than his soul.

If this continued, he would be finished sooner or later!

"There's no other way!"

Eli took out a bottle containing a cockroach.

"Let me see whether this spell actually works!"

It was his first time casting Dark magic, and soul-targeting Dark magic at that. Eli was a little nervous.

He drew his pale wand and pointed it at the cockroach, which was still lively and kicking.

"Soul Devouring!"

An invisible pulling force surged from the tip of the wand.

It seemed as though an invisible chain had connected itself to the cockroach.

The cockroach, which had been lively just moments before, suddenly began struggling violently.

The chain ripped its soul out by the roots, and the cockroach stopped struggling completely.

Eli was extremely nervous now, because that gray soul from the cockroach was about to enter his body directly.

Although that wisp of soul was pitifully weak, he was still deeply worried.

After all, anything involving the soul was a major issue, no matter how small.

But there was no turning back now.

Eli waited for the soul to enter his body, but suddenly, the gray soul sank into the wand.

"Huh? Did the wand steal it?"

This sudden development caught Eli off guard.

There had been no mention of this in Voldemort's memories.

Wasn't this seriously beyond the syllabus?

Eli, still a complete beginner at magic, was utterly at a loss.

But after a while, the wand's tip spat out a pure, flawless white ball of light.

Though it was even smaller than the already pitiful gray ball of light, its snow-white radiance put him at ease.

The ball of light went directly into Eli's body.

He could feel a sense of satisfaction coming from his soul.

His soul seemed to have grown slightly stronger. If he had not felt carefully, he might not have noticed it at all.

"Looks like... it worked?"

The result was obvious. He had succeeded!

Eli had successfully found a way to strengthen his soul!

Eli raised his wand and carefully stroked it.

"This wand is a good thing!"

If he had guessed correctly, the wand had just removed all the impurities from the soul.

Eli felt himself over and found none of the stray thoughts that the memories had described would arise after absorbing a soul.

So it was his wand that had directly turned the soul into pure soul energy.

That meant the method's only side effect was gone!

"Sure enough, as the little brother of the chosen one, I still get some benefits."

After packing his things, Eli returned to the dormitory.

If nothing unexpected happened, Eli's future life would involve not only attending class and studying, but also finding ways to absorb souls.

Murder!

He could start with his roommates—kill the proud Draco Malfoy first, then get rid of Crabbe and Goyle.

Destroy the evidence, frame someone else, and then embark on the road to... Azkaban!

Eli immediately dismissed that dangerous thought. If he did not want to experience a one-way trip to the wizard prison of Azkaban, he had better behave himself.

Absorbing animal souls was the safest option.

But where were there the most animals?

Eli thought of the Forbidden Forest.

"Starting today, I'm going to become the man who rules the Forbidden Forest!"

What? School rules? I didn't know about them. Never even heard of them.

Night fell, dark and windy.

Eli quietly slipped out of bed.

"Mmm..."

A sound nearly scared Eli into reflexively casting a Killing Curse.

It was Goyle.

Goyle was looking for the bathroom in his dreams.

Seeing that Goyle was about to wake up, Eli pointed his wand at him to avoid being exposed.

"Sorry, brother. Stupefy!"

A red light struck Goyle, putting him to sleep again. By now, he had already found the bathroom in his dreams...

A furtive figure moved through the dark castle.

"Next time, I'm definitely learning the Disillusionment Charm first!"

After a nerve-wracking journey, Eli finally reached the Forbidden Forest.

"Whew..."

He finally let out a sigh of relief. He had nearly run into the Weasley Family twins just now.

Those two were princes of nighttime wandering and professionals at pranks.

Now he no longer had to worry about being discovered.

Eli stepped into the Forbidden Forest. Aside from being a little dark, it did not seem dangerous.

Other than absorbing a few rabbits along the way, he had not encountered anything else.

And so he went deeper and deeper. Like a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, Eli did not notice in the slightest that he was approaching the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

Suddenly, Eli heard a clicking sound overhead.

He looked up. "Holy shit!"

The horrifying sight made Eli cry out.

A gigantic spider was slowly descending toward him from above.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Intense fear could ignite intense rage.

Terrified out of his wits, an inexplicable fire burned in Eli's heart.

As he looked at the giant spider, a fierce killing intent rose within him!

A violent green flash streaked out, and the giant spider fell limply to the ground.

"Whew... whew..."

Eli panted heavily. After experiencing fear and rage in such a short time, then casting such a powerful spell, he was gasping for breath.

"Damn it, I actually ran into an Acromantula!"

He had not expected to wander into the depths. He had been far too careless!

If he had not reacted in time, he would probably have died here.

This was no place to linger. Eli pointed his wand at the giant spider's body, intending to absorb it and leave.

"Soul Devouring"

"Soul Devouring!"

"Hmm?" Eli tried several times, but there was no response.

It seemed to be nothing more than an empty shell without a soul.

Just as Eli was feeling puzzled, the sounds of fighting came from the distance.