Unforgivable Curses

Harry's smile froze instantly.

What was going on?

Wasn't I the one who caught the Golden Snitch?

Why was everyone shouting Hermione's name in excitement?

Harry stared blankly at Hermione, surrounded by the crowd as they tossed her into the air.

Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?

In the stands, Professor McGonagall looked thrilled. Gryffindor had finally won again.

Only Snape's mouth twitched as he surveyed the scattered Slytherins, though a faint trace of approval showed in his eyes when he looked at Harry.

Dumbledore covered his aged face with one hand, his thoughts unreadable.

Apart from the Slytherin students, all three other houses were cheering, their voices carrying a hint of satisfaction.

Finally, it was your turn!

They had all fallen victim to the Slytherin Quidditch Team's dirty tactics. Now someone had finally used the same methods to give them a taste of their own medicine.

So instead of criticizing Hermione, everyone supported her.

She had practically given the people exactly what they wanted.

New York, Stark Tower.

Watching the footage on the screen, Tony and Pepper were utterly dumbfounded. Even Fury was deeply shocked.

Seriously, she played that dirty?

When Pepper first saw what the Slytherins were doing, she had been terribly worried about Hermione's safety.

Would those people bully sweet, delicate little Hermione? What if she got hurt?

Instead, Hermione looked ready to take on thirteen of them single-handedly, swinging her broomstick so fast she was practically twirling it.

She was far too violent.

No wonder wizards were so rare. Apparently, talent wasn't the only reason.

"Damn, so this was why Hermione asked me to modify her broomstick!" Tony finally caught on, his expression conflicted.

"She even wanted a six-barreled Gatling gun installed. Thank God I refused flat out, or else..."

All three swallowed.

Suddenly, the feed cut out.

"What happened?"

Fury reacted first. He hadn't gathered enough information yet.

"Hermione probably didn't dare keep it running too long for fear of being discovered, so she canceled the magic," Tony said.

Fury had no choice but to accept it.

He was the one asking for a favor, after all. Someone else held all the cards.

Just then, a ringtone sounded. Fury pulled out his phone and answered, and his expression shifted slightly.

"Sorry, you two. Something's come up at the agency. I need to head back and deal with it."

With that, he turned and hurried away.

Tony watched Black Egghead leave, looking utterly baffled.

Hogwarts.

In the library, Hermione was leafing through Modern and Contemporary History of Magic, with Harry and Ron sitting opposite her.

The two exchanged a glance before Harry spoke. "Hermione, there's something we wanted to ask you."

"Yue."

"Do you know someone called Nicolas Flamel?"

"Yes."

Hermione didn't even look up.

A flash of delight crossed Harry's eyes. "Who is he?"

"An alchemist. Why do you ask?"

Hermione glanced at them, thinking that they must have finally uncovered a few secrets while she was in the Marvel Universe.

Harry hemmed and hawed, clearly reluctant to explain.

"Looks like you two have been having plenty of adventures lately."

Hermione didn't press them. It was nothing more than discovering that something was hidden in the fourth-floor Restricted Area.

Hagrid: "I absolutely won't tell you that I lent Dumbledore the three-headed dog to guard Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone in the fourth-floor Restricted Area."

What a spectacular blunder!

Harry felt a little embarrassed. It seemed rather disloyal of them to go adventuring without Hermione.

It wasn't that they didn't trust her. They just thought that, given her personality, she might charge straight into the Restricted Area to investigate once she found out.

Neither of them wanted to make such a big fuss just yet.

"Then do you know if Nicolas Flamel invented anything really important?" Hearing the word "alchemist," Harry immediately caught on.

That was probably the key.

"No. There's no record of it in the library," Hermione said casually. Then she stood and patted Harry's shoulder. "But if it's something very important, there might be one place you can find it."

"Where?" Harry's eyes lit up.

"The Restricted Section."

Leaving him with a meaningful look, Hermione turned and walked away.

The first snow of winter arrived without a sound.

After the heavy snowfall, Hogwarts Castle donned a silver coat. Christmas was approaching, and most students had left the castle to spend the winter holidays at home.

Night fell.

Wrapped in the Invisibility Cloak, Hermione arrived at the Restricted Section and quietly opened the door.

She had been waiting for this day.

As repayment for answering Harry's questions, Hermione had borrowed the Invisibility Cloak as soon as he received it from Dumbledore.

Harry neither knew what she intended to do with it nor dared to ask.

To Hermione, it didn't matter who was matching wits with whom in the castle.

Only three things mattered: the books in the Restricted Section, the stone on the fourth floor, and the walking bundle of experience points on the back of Quirrell's head.

It wasn't time to collect the stone yet, so she would devour the books first.

As one of the Deathly Hallows, the Invisibility Cloak's concealment couldn't be broken by the Anti-Disillusionment Charm in the Restricted Section.

The night passed without incident.

A few days later, Hermione had finally read most of the entire Restricted Section.

The Spellbook had also recorded a large number of powerful spells it hadn't contained before.

Inside the Spellbook.

[Hermione Jean Granger]

[Magic level lv2 (5370/10000)]

[Spells]

[Disarming Charm lv2, Fire-Making Spell lv2, Freezing Charm lv2, Memory Charm lv1, Legilimency lv1, Shield Charm lv2, Disillusionment Charm lv2, Transfiguration lv2...]

Thoroughly satisfied, Hermione continued looking down.

The greatest reward of this trip finally appeared.

[Dark magic]

[Dark Harvest (talent): Harvest souls to gain energy]

[Levicorpus lv1]

[Sectumsempra lv2]

[Imperius Curse lv1: One of the Three Unforgivable Curses. Those struck enter a trance and cannot resist the caster's commands.]

[Cruciatus Curse lv1: One of the Three Unforgivable Curses. Those struck feel excruciating pain deep within their souls.]

[Avada Kedavra Curse lv1: One of the Three Unforgivable Curses. The target's soul is annihilated outright, causing immediate death.]

Woohoo!

Finally got them.

Anyone who had watched the HP series knew these three dark spells. They were among the strongest forms of dark magic, representing control, torture, and slaughter respectively.

For Hermione at her current stage, they were absolute game changers.

Although lv1 Avada Kedavra could only kill small animals and would probably do little more than give a human a nosebleed, she could keep grinding its level.

She just needed to find somewhere deserted to practice. That was easy enough in the Marvel Universe, but in the HP world, if she was caught using it on a person, she would probably be thrown straight into Azkaban.

As for the Fiendfyre spell and the method for creating Horcruxes, both of which Hermione had always wanted, she hadn't found them in the Restricted Section.

She distinctly remembered that Voldemort had found them in the Restricted Section while he was still at school.

Had they been destroyed precisely because of that?

It was worth mentioning that the Invisibility Cloak had also been recorded as a wondrous item. However, Hermione didn't have the materials on hand to make one yet.

Deep in the Restricted Section, Hermione followed a spiral staircase underground.

An enormous mirror stood in the empty basement.

The following words were inscribed across the top of the mirror:

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi."