Leon's heart sped up as the Troll barrelled towards him like a truck without breaks, obliterating everything in its path.
Thinking in stressful situations is tough for some people, especially when a 12 ft tall bulky magical monster wants to crush you like a bug.
But facing a life-threatening situation wasn't new for him, he felt so alive, like switching from 360p to 1080p in those few moments- in his past life at least.
But he wasn't only Levi now.
Leon calmly went through his list of escape plans and discarded those with high-risk and high-failure factors.
'The orbs of light will trap me with a 12-foot monster in a dead end. And the Troll isn't shy to flail its arms around.'
He was standing at the staircase point near the great hall- not the middle one. So, the only available path had an angry Troll in it.
The Troll didn't stop to let him think, it quickly covered the distance, reaching 10 ft from him.
'I never guessed I would use the escape plan Levi would have loved the most,' he thought, jumping from the second floor, his wand waving around even before he jumped.
Leon quickly used the Levitation charm on the device strapped to his back and dragged himself onto the first floor.
His wand's movements were exaggerated to give the spell more power. While it seems the Leviosa spell works on others he couldn't find the correct prefix like 'Wingardium' to use it on people or even the clothes.
So, he had to use the Leviosa spell without a prefix with exaggerated wand movement to move himself, otherwise the spell wouldn't have worked.
The giant holes the moving staircase points were, made it easy to fall onto the next floor with a little push.
And a quick casting of a Spongify charm followed to cushion his fall.
With its unstoppable momentum, the Troll plummeted under his watchful eyes.
It fell from what amounts to a 4-story building and landed on its four limbs with an earth-shaking crash.
The Troll's joints cracked, and its palms and feet got mangled and bled, causing it to roar in pain. But not even two seconds passed before the joints healed and the Troll stood up on its mangled feet.
A couple of more seconds passed, and it was fresh as new.
The Troll began to search its surroundings like it was searching for something before it started walking.
'Bullshit! I know mountain trolls are supposed to have traded regeneration for strength which partially translates to durability. But escaping unscathed after a fall from this height. I call bullshit!'
The Troll lumbered away under the troubled gaze of Leon, not paying attention to his complaints.
The first year propelled himself to the roof and camouflaged himself before charting a path to his dorm.
'What are the chances that it took a right turn on the far side of the corridor and walked towards me without stopping to gape at the armors?... Damn! I am as dumb as the Troll. It was searching for someone who hurt its eyes and tossed away its favorite(?) club.' He sighed as he skidded across the roof, rowing himself.
'Here I thought it would quickly forget about it like a fish.'
The book he read didn't go into the intelligence of a Troll other than that they are dumb and can form groups.
While things went out of hand a little, he did plan for these exact situations- Trapped in the bathroom with Troll and the trio, trapped in a Hallway, dead ends- he went through an imaginary scenario for everything and was prepared just like olden days.
'If an XXX creature is this powerful, I should reevaluate meeting Fluffy. And if it requires 7-X's creature to make a weakened Voldemort use his wit I wonder what it says about his power,' Leon thought remembering that Fluffy was there to stop Lord No-nose.
Stashing his device near the common room, Leon opened its entrance sticking close to the wall, his eyes suddenly shining with excitement, replacing the uneasiness at the thought of uber powerful racist.
Hufflepuffs sat under the main skylight of the common room discussing something when a 2-meter hole opened up. Everyone in the common room turned towards the entrance which sprouted a hole as Leon entered the room.
He could feel his camouflage spell getting burdened by the gazes of the wizards and snap, just a stretched rubber.
Gasps rang out in the common room as Leon became visible to everyone.
'Damned Intent scrutiny, I was this close to sneaking in.'
Intent scrutiny is one of the three ways McGonagall said that can undo a transfiguration.
Transfigured objects are very resistant to intent scrutiny, if people don't know that an object is transfigured then they don't have a reason to doubt it. But this is not the case for charms.
The professor left it for Flitwick to explain as most perception-altering charms are weak to it.
When someone sees something and tries to understand it, they exert their will upon it.
Muggles don't have tangible wills whereas wizards have, and they use this will to perform magic, to manipulate reality.
The words will and magic are used interchangeably. Only when muggles are involved the word 'will' comes out, as they don't have magic.
So, when dozens of wizards stronger than Leon checked the entrance for any oddity when it opened up, his charm failed under the scrutiny of their magic and subconscious intent.
The professor even said that some first-year charms, done by first years, can be undone by the gaze of dozens of muggles and assured the students that won't be the case for long.
"Hello!" Leon sheepishly waved his hands.
Just then, Susan and Hannah stormed into the common room from the boys' dormitory with worried gazes.
"Tonks-" Susan stopped as she saw Leon standing at the entrance.
"Leon! Where were you? Why aren't you in your room like you said." Susan quickly ran up to him and hit his shoulder. Hannah followed her lead and punched him with all her strength, unlike her friend.
"Ow!" Leon rubbed his shoulder, but he couldn't say anything back to the girls as both looked like they were on the verge of crying.
'Damn! I can't believe it; I didn't plan the returning part of my troll-watching adventure.'
"I just went to the kitchen to grab a bite and went on a walk, why are you guys huddled in the common room?" Lies smoothly flowed from his mouth, surprising even himself.
"You are lucky to be alive, squirt," Tonks walked up to him and ruffled his hair.
"Tonks!" Many voices rose from the Hufflepuff crowd.
"Sheesh! I am just telling the truth. Don't get your panties in a bunch," She grumbled.
"It seems, a Troll broke into the Hogwarts," Cedric answered his question. "We are waiting for the status of the Troll. It's good that you didn't come across it." Cedric patted his shoulder.
"Well! I did see it." Leon's grinned, his eyes sparkled with excitement as he recalled the Troll falling two stories and then walking away like nothing happened.
Leon was looking forward to how powerful he would be when even an XXX creature was nearly unkillable. The thoughts of how powerful Voldy were quickly overrun by the personal power-craving part of Leon(Levi).
Now, he couldn't wait to become a powerhouse himself.
Murmurs rose as Leon grinned.
"Where?" Tonks asked, clutching his shoulders.
"While I was on the first floor, I saw it plummet from the second floor and continue walking towards the great hall," Leon answered, truthfully.
He didn't like lying.
Both Leon and Levi don't lie. One didn't use to talk much, other didn't believe it was necessary. But, the previous life memories tossed a monkey wrench into that.
But the important thing was the Troll did move towards the great hall. Still, he didn't take any risk and used his unseen streaker until he was in front of the common room.
After asking him some more questions the students left Leon alone.
"You wouldn't believe how powerful the Troll was," Leon exclaimed after dragging Susan and Hannah to the side and fanboyed over the stinky muscled brute.
He didn't know that the Hufflepuffs didn't find out that he was missing sooner because Susan said Leon was in his room when the prefects noticed a first-year missing after they did a counting in the common room.
The prefects taking some time to calm the crowd before having them write letters to their parents about the Troll situation helped too. They thought it was better to let the parents know before the daily prophet featured the story, worrying them about their children's safety.
So, only after writing a letter did Susan and Hannah get to check on their orphan friend.
Otherwise, the Hufflepuff's prefects would have gone to inform the professors or at least owled them about the missing firstie.
Planning to meet a magical creature that could kill him and safely return, occupied most of his mind. The next part, sneaking into his room, didn't seem so significant when compared to stalking a wizard killer, at least at that time.
Levi didn't ever answer to anyone in his previous life and the matrons trusted Leon in this one, leaving him alone most of the time. So, he forgot he was answerable to his friends and his house now.
Just as Leon finished fanboying, their House head entered the common room and announced that the troll was contained and gave a stupid story of how a professor was using the Troll for some spell tests and left.
The students weren't convinced, though mainly because Professor Sprout looked like she didn't believe what she was saying and was going through the motions.
It didn't matter anyway, even if they didn't believe it what could they do?
As no student was injured most parents won't even bother to ask Dumbledore what was wrong, they just blindly believe that he knows what he's doing.
'Fighting against two dark lords and coming out as winner does that to people, I guess.'
As the darkness of the night deepened, Susan and Hannah bid him goodbye and departed to their rooms, punching him once again for good measure.
'Awesome day!' Leon thought as he entered his room.
As he was about to sleep, an envelope caught his eye.
"Someone sent me a letter?"
Leon gave the envelope a look over, it was from Gringotts. He was expecting a letter from them regarding his house's vaults.
This letter was going to decide whether Leon will be poor or rich in this life, at least until he learns some more magic. Then, the letter will decide if he is going to be old money or new money.
He quickly opened the envelope, and a ring fell out of it, along with a letter.
"According to the last wishes of late Orin Astraeus, an heir ring will be provided to the last direct blood descendant in case Artifact no 77- ***** finds and acknowledges a young wizard or witch as the heir to the mighty Astraeus line.
The advice left behind by Orin Astraeus is transcribed below:
"Make sure to wear the ring when you are alone and at night, young Astraeus. I expect great things from you, but don't let us dead people come in your way of magic and fun, especially magic"
'Cool!' he thought and observed the ring after rereading the supposed advice.
The ring looked like it was made of magical glass, transparent and nearly unnoticeable if not for the ripples that emerged from the dark gem embedded in its center.
The gem was volatile like it was made of drifting smoke, its edges undulating.
'It's a magical ring alright,' Leon looked at the letter's seal and confirmed it was from Gringotts before wearing it.
'It's not like you can smuggle dark artifacts or cursed objects into Hogwarts unless Dumble's want it of course. And copying Gringotts seal is even unlikely.' It came up when he was asking about his house and its redacted artifacts on the Hogwarts Express.
Daphne and Susan were well-versed in the life of magical Britain. The seal was enchanted to only work in goblins' hands and even basic wards only allow letters from recognised seals.
His house was a pretty big mystery always at the edge of his mind. So, Leon sat on his bed and wore the ring, his curiosity overwhelming him.
He could feel the ring's magic press against his own, it felt ..otherworldly for the lack of a better term.. unknown and eluding.
Leon dropped on his bed as soon as the ring's magic settled on his.
The will or magic of the ring rose in power and quickly engulfed him.
As he lay on his bed, and fainted, someone in Hogwarts noticed that something abnormal had happened.
On the forbidden floor- the third floor- a snoozing Cerberus rested its giant paw on a trapdoor.
The trapdoor barred a path that housed various magical challenges and ended in a spacious and grand chamber.
Normally serene, the said chamber was now rumbling with untold power.
A figure with his eyes closed stood in the center of the chamber. A shiny, flowing robe littered with stars fluttered behind him as he waved his hands like he was conducting a symphony.
One would think there were no musicians, or audience to be swayed by his masterpiece and unearthly grace.
But they couldn't be more wrong, with his will as an orchestra of the world's finest musicians and the whole reality as his audience, Dumbledore was gently swaying reality to his tune.
A mirror was the target of Dumbledore's colossal magic, the space around it rippled as the reality bowed down to his will.
Just as the magic of Leon's ring rose, Dumbledore's eyes snapped open, his piercing blue eyes shown with rage before understanding took over them.
With a smile, he gently closed his eyes and continued bending the reality with his magic.
…..
Leon slowly stirred awake and was greeted with a dilapidated room and an unfamiliar roof.
'Unfamiliar roof? Did I get Isekai'd again, did the ring kill me?' The faces of his matrons and friends flashed before his eyes but he quickly suppressed his thoughts.
Leon hurriedly eyed his surroundings under the light of a flickering lamp attached to the wall.
Ignoring the wooden crates and holes in the walls his eyes quickly zoomed onto the three corpses that shared the room with him.
'What?'