The following morning, just before Hermione left to board the train, she was talking with Lucifer in the Great Hall, "Are you really going to stay?"
"Yeah, there's no response from Mazikeen yet, it only means she's probably gone back...." Lucifer was trying to explain, Hermione for the umpteenth time, why he's not boarding the train with her, like they agreed earlier.
"Then, you will pick up the slack on searching for Flamel, won't you?" It's just Hermione was still quite upset, regarding this sudden change of plans, so she decided to throw most of the work on Lucifer's head.
"....Of course, Hermione, you can count on me," he just smiled at her in return, which made the bushy-haired feel very suspicious about his motives, but still, she decided to embrace him in kind, "I know, I can!"
After that, Hermione pulled back and kissed his cheek lightly, then whispered, with eyes slightly in a daze, "Happy Christmas, Daddy."
"....You have a Merry Christmas as well, Hermione," Lucifer was quite used to this behaviour at this point, and just walked her to the entrance of the Castle, watching her head out of the building and down to the train.
Then, he turned and went back to finish his breakfast, before going back to the Library to do some light reading.
While he was reading through a book Lucifer was sure, he would find this Flamel guy eventually, so he began to wonder, if Hermione would like the gift, that he asked for Maze to procure, besides he already missed her birthday.
Lucifer clearly remembered their talk before sleeping one night.
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"My birthday is on Sep 19, what about yours?" It was Hermione, the one who initiated the talk, but to be honest, she just wanted to know, Lucifer's birthday.
".... Birthday? Sorry, but I don't remember that, it's been eons since I was born.." Lucifer was also quite stunned by this question, because he really didn't know this answer.
"....." Hermione, just didn't know what to say anymore, "... It's okay, if you don't wan-"
"I'm not lying, Granger...."
'This again' Even though, Lucifer mentioned about forgetting his own birthday, and that face, it didn't look like he was lying either, but, it's just Hermione couldn't understand. 'I know he likes to overstate, and talks about bizarre things....but eons? Yeah, right....' "Okay"
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Lucifer didn't just waste his time studying after receiving that admission letter from Hogwarts, but directly investigated those two routes.
Especially this, Knockturn alley....
There are many weird, but awesome stuff, that you can buy, after paying quite a beautiful price, of course.
And, there's one thing, at which Lucifer's eyes are fixed upon, that Two-way Mirror, which can be directly used to solve the problem of long-distance communicating.
Besides, Maze hasn't sent another letter yet, that can only mean, she's busy doing her job.
So, Lucifer decided to go, and check up to the Owlery later, but for now, he went back down to the Common Room.
And, saw Harry and Ron sitting in there, playing Wizard's Chess, "What are you two doing?" He asked curiously.
"Ron's teaching me how to play Wizard's Chess," Harry said, making a move that his pieces chastised him for.
"And, how is that going for you?" Lucifer asked rhetorically.
"Not well for him," Ron said with a grin on his face, "You wanna try after?"
"No thanks, I don't want to destroy your already fragile ego," Lucifer said smugly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked, looking up from the board.
"Nothing, so how long have you two been playing?" He asked them.
"Since we woke up about an hour ago," Harry said in a way that made it seem like he had been keeping track of how long he's been suffering humiliating defeats to Ron.
"Sounds rough... well, I'm gonna go and find Abbott to have some fun," Lucifer, then gave his two finger salute and walked out of the Common Room.
"I don't think, Hermione would like that...." It was Harry, who muttered behind Lucifer's back, but even his shadow already disappeared from the room.
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Talking about the said girl, Hermione was just sitting alone in an empty compartment, with a dejected expression on her face, and then looked out from the window.
She realised, that the Hogwarts train would probably reach King's cross station in about half an hour or so.
That's why, she decided to remove the evidence, which was none other than the bottle, containing her medicine, stated by Dr. Jenkins, for those headaches. "They were supposed to make them go away, but instead, it got even worse after coming here...."
Indeed, Hermione realised, the day she started to take these pills like mentioned on the schedule, not even her pain got worse, but she couldn't even do well in her practical lessons.
Result, when she paid a visit to the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey, told her about these medicines, acting as a barrier, which seemed to stop Hermione to use her magic from the core..... she directly stopped taking them, after hearing that, "I don't want to lose magic, because of this....."
Window... Hermione's eyes gazed between her flask, and then turned to look outside, 'I'll just have to be more alert.....these headaches are nothing, in comparison to stop going to Hogwarts....'
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It was Christmas Morning, Lucifer had woken up before Harry and Ron.
His present to Hermione had already been delivered, according to the response he got back from Maze, and now, Rowena, was standing beside him on the chair's arm, looking at him inquisitively before gazing down at the present he had on his lap.
Lucifer, only had one present under the tree, and that present was from Hermione.
He'd honestly been kind of afraid to open it, because, the last thing he got as a present, was this ring....from Lilith, she directly gave away her immortality. Very scary....
That's why, he was slightly nervous by this, and looked up at Rowena, who just looked him dead in the eye.
Then, Lucifer also stared back, refusing to back down now that they had initiated the eye-contact.
It wasn't long before she broke and flew up to his shoulder, "I'm honestly a little afraid to open this, Rowena... what if it's embarrassing for whatever reason?"
Only, Rowena wasn't the one who answered this question, it was Eve, his cat, who 'meowed' at him.
To be honest, Lucifer didn't really expect an answer that was in actual words, but, he could tell, Eve didn't look amused, and so was Rowena.
He sighed and unwrapped the gift, deciding to get it over with.
What he saw was a bit of a surprise; Hermione had gotten him a Wizarding book, the Greatest Wizards in History.
Lucifer smiled and realized how excited he was, for the first time in his long years, to go ahead and read a book with such enthusiasm.
Only, when he was about to open it and get started, Harry and Ron also came downstairs.
Harry sat down, looking neutral about Christmas morning. "What's that you got there?" Harry had asked him, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"A book that Hermione sent me," Lucifer showed Harry the cover, "I wasn't expecting anything, honestly..."
"Same here, and I doubt I got-" Harry was cut off by Ron.
"Stop you right there, mate, you got something from Mum," Ron tossed him a present that was a bit lumpy.
He quickly opened it and looked curious about it being a sweater. "She made you a Weasley Jumper."
"A what?" Lucifer asked, not knowing about this famous tradition.
"Every year, Mum makes us Jumpers for Christmas....but, it's obvious, why she didn't make one for you!" Ron said, smirking a little bit.
Lucifer didn't even thought about his reply, and cursed instead, "Fuck you, Weasely....I don't want that shit!" After that, he just leaned back on his chair, when Ron pulled out another present for Harry, which was a cloak and there was even a letter inside the box as well.
That's why, Harry read the note quickly and then tried to put his cloak on, but it wasn't just an ordinary thing, "I know what that is!" Ron said loudly, "That's an Invisibility Cloak!"
Harry was also getting excited, and asked curiously, "Did it say who it was from?!"
"No, no name..." Harry said quietly, but, then surprisingly it was Lucifer who opened his mouth, "Can I take a look?" he sounded very polite, compared to the beautiful tone he used earlier, "Only, if you help me visit the Restricted section..."
This made, Lucifer sighed in his heart, to be honest, he didn't want to let these two know, about his secret pathways..."Fine..." he said, while grumbling under his breath.
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"This....cloak?" After using his fingers, to rub it over Harry's gift, Lucifer's brows furrowed slightly, not expecting such a thing to be around here, "It must be stolen....."
"Huh?" It was Ron, who made a dumb noise, and opened his stupid mouth again, "You are just bitter about Harry getting this Invisibility cloak!" Indeed, that's what the red-haired boy thinks in his heart.
"You know what, that brain of yours can really be passed for a toilet....I don't need this little thing to become invisible!" Lucifer scoffed in disgust, and even thinking about needing such low stuff to fulfill his needs, it made his face ugly. He doesn't value Reaper's job that much....and, probably even looks down upon them.
That's why, Lucifer doesn't want their cloak, but the question is, how did this thing, even come into the hands of mortals....?
1 Extra Chapter - 200 Power Stones!
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Author's Note
I was really surprised, when I read the comments, and saw the milestone of 200 stones was really completed.
Next time, I will draft the bonus chapter's length, similar to the normal one.
See you on tomorrow's update.
I forgot to inform, that I will have regular classes in the morning from now on, so the updates will be at night instead.