Shawn left the Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom. Instead of returning to the Great Hall to eat, he headed straight for the Seventh Floor of the main building.
To keep out of sight, he also cast the Disillusionment Charm.
At level 3, the Disillusionment Charm could not yet make him completely invisible. Moving too quickly would leave a blurry afterimage.
Still, it was good enough if he stayed in the shadows or used it at night.
Shawn avoided everyone along the way. Once he reached the Seventh Floor, he began searching the corridors for that tapestry of a giant.
As he passed the Headmaster's Office, Shawn could not help smiling.
The Old Beekeeper was racking his brains trying to find Horcruxes, tracking down old acquaintances and extracting memories to review.
Who would have guessed that one was hidden right on his doorstep?
Sure enough, Voldemort had been remarkably shrewd before he went mad.
Shawn finally spotted what looked like the right tapestry in one of the corridors, but before he could approach to test it out...
An arched door slowly appeared in the wall opposite the tapestry, then opened.
A gaunt woman stumbled out with a bottle of liquor in her hand. She wore enormous glasses, with countless chains and strings of beads hanging around her neck.
Shawn rubbed his chin, guessing the woman's identity: Sybill Trelawney, the Divination professor.
With his omniscient perspective, he naturally knew she was a genuine Seer. Never mind the accurate prophecies she made in a trance-even her usual wild predictions came true in some unexpected way.
Shawn had no intention of approaching her for now. He was an extra person in this world, and until he grew strong enough or acquired a genuine gift for prophecy himself, he did not plan to meet these mystical types.
Only after Sybill left did he walk over to the tapestry and pace back and forth three times, silently repeating to himself.
I need a room to hide things. I need a room to hide things. I need a room to hide things.
An arched door then appeared in the wall.
Shawn was deeply interested in how this room worked, but studying it was beyond his abilities for now.
The more he learned about this magical world, the more useless the original books and films he had seen in his previous life seemed.
Without the system, knowing the plot would not have been worth a damn.
He pushed the door open and entered. Mountains of clutter filled his vision, with all sorts of old, discarded things piled in heaps.
Shawn realized he had oversimplified things.
At a glance, this place was at least the size of one or two football pitches. Even knowing that the Horcrux sat on a Bronze Statue, who knew how long it would take him to find it amid these mountains of junk?
Shawn knitted his brows and tried waving his wand.
"Accio Ravenclaw's Diadem!"
Nothing was worse than the air suddenly falling silent.
Shawn pressed his lips together, searching for a solution.
Getting someone to help was clearly out of the question. So was bringing Dumbledore here.
The system's detection and absorption functions would only react once he touched it himself.
Was he really stuck with the most laborious method?
No!
He had absorbed one of Voldemort's Horcruxes before. Harry could find the Diadem here through the fragment of Voldemort's soul in his forehead. Perhaps Shawn could do it too.
He closed his eyes and carefully tried to sense it. No whispers reached his ears.
There was, however, a faint, elusive feeling lingering in his heart.
Shawn could not help letting his thoughts wander. He really had developed some sort of bond of fate with Old Voldy.
He quickly dismissed those stray thoughts and focused on the sensation. Yet it remained vague, giving him nothing definite.
Shawn was angry now!
He was going to bring out the big guns!
He took the Felix Felicis out of his ring and carefully let three drops fall into his mouth.
Even in the field of potions, Felix Felicis was an exceptionally advanced brew. Although it did not bring genuine luck, it could heighten the user's senses and judgment.
After taking the Felix Felicis, Shawn closed his eyes and tried again. The feeling that had lingered in his heart grew stronger.
He immediately followed his "intuition" in a certain direction, finally stopping before a heap of junk.
There, atop a battered, pockmarked Bust of a wizard, sat a faded, ancient diadem.
"Phew."
Shawn let out a long breath of relief. Without hesitating, he clambered onto the heap, shoved aside a few obstacles, and grabbed Ravenclaw's Diadem.
Tempting whispers began echoing in his mind.
"I have seen into your heart..."
The system's notification sounded right after them.
Ding! An evil soul has been detected. Would you like to filter and absorb it?
"Absorb!"
Ding! Beginning absorption.
Wisps of black mist rose from the Diadem in his hand, coalescing into a flat, snakelike face with an extremely pointed chin and no nose.
The snake face twisted in a soundless roar, trying to burrow into Shawn's body.
A moment later, the black mist rapidly dispersed, as though swept away by a gale.
Shawn eagerly checked his gains, keen to see just how much he had milked Voldemort for this time.
Hmm, not bad.
His Killing Curse proficiency had jumped straight to level 4.
Although he could now use Nonverbal Spellcasting, a Killing Curse cast at someone without shouting "Avada Kedavra!" simply had no soul!
Parseltongue was at level 2, water element affinity at level 2, and total magical energy at 80 units.
These were all expected gains. His real purpose in coming here today had been to gain magical energy.
His signature technique, Water Prison, was certainly useful, but it burned through magical energy too.
Now his reserves were almost on par with an adult's, giving him much more confidence in handling a crisis.
But his greatest gain by far was an incomplete "Dark Mark."
The Dark Mark was a sophisticated form of dark magic that Voldemort placed on the Death Eaters.
It could send messages, track locations, and even torture people.
It was practically the perfect tool for controlling subordinates.
He examined the skill. Unfortunately, it was incomplete. He could only use it to torture Death Eaters at close range; tracking and communication were impossible.
Shawn's delighted expression slowly settled. Rubbing his chin, he muttered to himself.
"There are always troublemakers plotting against me. Should I put on an act and give those pure-bloods a scare?"
"Test it on Snape first? Hmm, would that be a bit out of line?"
All sorts of strange ideas and new plans flashed through Shawn's mind, and a slightly sleazy smile curled his lips.
Suddenly, his growling stomach brought him back to his senses. He checked his Mechanical Wristwatch. It was already half past seven.
Shawn put the Diadem into his ring. He did not know whether it still had the power to enhance people's wisdom; he could study it at his leisure later.
If it proved useless, he would wait until the end of term and give it to Dumbledore.
Leaving the Room of Requirement, he cast the Disillusionment Charm over himself and hurried back to the Common Room.
He saw that the little snakes had not rebelled. They were all diligently reading or doing their homework.
Alice kept patrolling the room. Her usual elegance had given way to a stern expression and the commanding air of a career woman.
Shawn was quite satisfied with both their performance and Alice's.
Ahem. To avoid breaking character, he quietly made his way onto the raised platform while invisible and waited patiently for eight o'clock.
When eight o'clock arrived, Shawn's figure slowly materialized, his expression suitably full of scrutiny.
The sight startled quite a few people, drawing exclamations from around the room.
Quite a few silently thought, Holy shit, that sneaky bastard was spying on us!
They were also relieved they had not openly defied Alice's supervision earlier.
Someone quick on the uptake immediately bowed and greeted him.
"Good evening, Chief!"
Seeing this, the others hurried to follow suit.
"Good evening, Chief!" × N
Seeing that he had achieved the full effect, Shawn raised a hand to signal for silence. He also made a mental note of the first person to speak. His name seemed to be Theodore Nott.
"I was here the whole time, so I saw everything. You all did well tonight. Keep up the good work."
"All right, you're dismissed."
With that, Shawn headed for the Dormitory. He needed to organize his thoughts on his new plans.
Once inside, he first summoned Kreacher and asked him to prepare a late-night meal.
Approaching his desk, he saw a phoenix feather lying on it, with a note wrapped around it.
There was also a letter on the desk, signed by Pailier Rouge.
Shawn was utterly speechless for a moment, feeling as though he had been force-fed something sickeningly sweet.
Had this married couple arranged this beforehand?
Were they really that in sync?