On his way back from Gryffindor earlier, Shawn had asked Alice about Theodore's circumstances.
What could he say? He felt rather sorry for this fanatical admirer.
Theodore was a tragic figure much like Sirius, rebellious because of his dreadful family upbringing.
His older sister, Gloria, was much like Regulus.
With the intended heirs of their generation failing to live up to expectations, they had no choice but to shoulder the hopes of their deranged elders themselves.
Sirius had chosen to betray his family regardless of the consequences, while Theodore had chosen to lock himself away in his own world.
Shawn looked up at the pale, thin Theodore. He looked somewhat sickly, his bearing cold and solitary, with a hidden streak of madness in his eyes.
Under Shawn's gaze, Theodore straightened his back as best he could, drew his wand, pointed it diagonally at the sky, and shouted.
"Greetings, Chief! Your most loyal believer, Theodore, salutes you!"
Sure enough, the more withdrawn someone was, the more fanatical and loyal they became once they found something to believe in.
Draco's eyes widened. He had warned Theodore before they came not to say anything out of turn.
The shameless bastard had stabbed him in the back and stolen his lines before he could even say them.
If saying things like that had not been so embarrassing, Draco would have said them long ago.
Shawn, however, had no intention of laughing at him. After nodding, he skipped the questions about Theodore's painful life and went straight for his heart.
"Theodore, tell me. What do you want?"
Theodore's expression hardened. Even with his pale, handsome face, he looked positively vicious.
"My father joined the Death Eaters without any lofty ideals. He simply enjoys torturing people to death. I swore long ago that I would kill every last person like him and overthrow this disgusting, filthy world!"
Shawn's brow furrowed slightly. Theodore had the makings of a lunatic-a useful blade, but one that could easily cut the hand wielding it.
"You just said you were my most loyal believer? Then what can you do for me?"
Theodore answered firmly.
"Anything!"
Shawn snorted, once again delivering words that pierced the heart!
"Heh. If I told you to kill your father, would you dare?"
The corner of Theodore's eye twitched violently at the question. With a single sentence, Shawn had voiced a thought that had once crossed his mind.
Of course, that thought was much like the self-destructive urges ordinary people occasionally experienced.
After living for so long under the oppression of his deranged father, feelings such as wanting to kill him were perfectly normal.
But after struggling for a long while, Theodore lowered his head and shook it with difficulty, his voice hoarse.
"Chief, I... I can't do it. I've disappointed you."
Shawn stood up, instead smiling with great warmth as he rested his palm on Theodore's head.
"I'm not disappointed. All right, I accept your loyalty."
Theodore's shame instantly turned to joy, and he dropped to one knee.
"Thank you, Chief!"
"I hear you have a talent for potions? What can you make?"
"I'm fairly decent. I like treating little animals, so I've done some research. I can brew the usual healing potions, Polyjuice Potion, and things like that."
Shawn nodded slightly. A promising talent, worth cultivating.
If he secretly killed Theodore's father later, or had him thrown in prison, the fairly influential Nott Family would essentially be in his grasp.
He took out Snape's textbook, cast Geminio, and gave Theodore a copy.
"This contains improvements a Potions Master made to a potions textbook in his younger years. Copy out the annotations before the magic sustaining the duplicate fades. There's some dark magic in it too. Study it with Draco, and don't share it with anyone else."
Theodore respectfully accepted the copied textbook and asked in confusion.
"Huh? Chief, you don't object to using dark magic?"
Shawn replied patiently.
"It's the human heart that kills. Why blame the knife in its hand?"
Theodore fell into a brief silence, then nodded.
"I understand."
After Theodore left happily, Shawn smiled and opened the system to take a look.
He now had two points of level-three faith value. Eight more would let him make a level-three draw, which would surely give him a god-tier skill.
After all the commotion over the past two days, his level-one faith value was back above 2,000, and his level-two faith value had reached 91 points. He was just a little short of another level-two draw.
Beside him, Draco, who had been holding back for quite some time, finally stammered out a question.
"Shawn, you seemed so ruthless just now. Why did you ask Theodore whether he dared to kill his father?"
"Is that how we're supposed to prove our loyalty to you? Y-you aren't planning to make me..."
"Stop imagining things. You have a good father."
Shawn waved a hand, cutting off Draco's wild thoughts. He was not some "Dad Destroyer," though he was still a little disappointed in Draco.
He had taken such good care of him, yet Draco still had not contributed a single point of fanatical faith value.
Then a sharp gleam flashed through his eyes.
I seemed ruthless just now?
He took out the phoenix feather and rubbed it between his fingers, murmuring words no one else could hear.
"Only the ruthless can be great; those with feelings can be used. Among all who belong to my Throne, only I need to be great."
He then sent the thoroughly conflicted Draco off to attend to his own affairs.
Shawn took out the notebook Voldemort had given him and continued reading.
The more he read, the brighter his expression became. But before long, the more he read, the angrier he grew.
After a while, he could not help cursing aloud.
"Voldemort, you cliffhanger bastard! You writer's-block dog!"
Saturday, a day off.
The atmosphere at school was unusually strange that day.
The young eagles and badgers in particular kept wondering whether they had wandered into the wrong school.
Hadn't they all agreed to slack off together? Wasn't everyone supposed to have an equally happy childhood?
Slytherin was one thing, but why had Gryffindor joined the competitive grind too?
On a day off, the library was packed, leaving the studious young eagles nowhere even to stand.
In the corridors, the young lions' strange way of walking and their odd yet enthusiastic politeness nearly convinced the young badgers that they had been possessed by female ghosts.
In the Great Hall, each group of young lions coming and going was followed by a pretty older girl, recording something in a little notebook.
At the dining tables, Gryffindor's usual boisterous feasting was gone. Several young lions even accidentally bit their own tongues.
Crooked-mouthed George was one of those who kept biting his tongue, and he could not help sighing.
"This is no way to live."
Cross-eyed Fred glanced around. Only after confirming that the monitors Angelina had assigned were not watching them did he whisper.
"I've already sent members of the Anti-Tyranny Alliance to Hogsmeade to buy conductive and insulating materials."
Crooked-mouthed George immediately perked up.
"Once we work out how to counter lightning, we can overthrow the dark reign of Shawn, the demon king!"
Not far from them, Harry was eating a chicken drumstick in small bites. His ears twitched, and he began to hesitate.
Should I report them? But I'm a Gryffindor, after all. Ugh, this is such a dilemma.
Just then, Draco approached with a pale, aloof boy-and, yes, his two useless male lackeys.
"Harry, have you finished eating? We should head to the abandoned classroom for Shawn's spell training."
Harry nodded, finished his drumstick, and "composedly" wiped his mouth with a napkin before turning to look over at Ravenclaw.
"Huh? Where's Hermione? She said she'd be going to the abandoned classroom today too."
Displeasure flashed in Draco's eyes.
"I don't know what Shawn is thinking, letting that Mud-letting Hermione be his assistant. He went ahead with her half an hour ago to set up the classroom."
Harry naturally noticed Draco's contempt and displeasure, but could only offer an "Oh" in response.
He felt rather helpless. His two good friends both looked down on each other. What could he do?
"Come on. Shawn said there's a surprise today."