Chapter 14.
After Halloween, it was November.
The Quidditch season had begun. The first match was between Gryffindor and Slytherin.
Unlike in the original story, Harry did not become a Seeker, and there was no plot involving Quirrell attempting to curse Harry on the Quidditch pitch, nor Snape trying to save Harry only to be misunderstood by Harry and his friends.
The final result of the match was that Slytherin's Seeker, Terence Higgs, caught the Golden Snitch, leading Slytherin to victory and further extending their lead over the other three houses.
However similar to the original story, Harry and his friends still suspected that Snape had sinister intentions regarding the treasure hidden in the fourth-floor corridor. After some investigation, they managed to extract the name Nicolas Flamel from Hagrid. In the following days, the three spent time in the library diligently searching for clues related to Nicolas Flamel.
However, all of this had nothing to do with Soren.
Soren had been living a very fulfilling life during this time. Besides the daily studies and homework, he also managed to participate in activities of the Charms Club and the Transfiguration Club. The advanced knowledge exchanged and researched in these two clubs benefited Soren greatly.
Meanwhile, Soren had planned for his life at Hogwarts for the next few years. With the Occlumency Spell, Soren had the means to hide his thoughts, and it was time to start executing the three major goals he needed to accomplish before Voldemort's return:
First, he must enhance his own strength. Soren had already planned to learn stronger spells, as well as the very important non verbel spell and wandless casting in practical combat.
In addition, he must address his weakness of insufficient magical power. Due to the limitations of his magic, many powerful spells he had long coveted were out of reach because their magical power requirements exceeded his own level, forcing him to only admire them on paper without the ability to practice. Solving this problem was not easy; he hoped to search for and gather various legendary artifacts through in-depth research on the history of magic that could be applied in combat.
In the First Wizarding War, a large part of the first Dark Lord Grindelwald's strength came from the Elder Wand in his possession, which he obtained after extensive research into historical documents to locate the whereabouts of the Deathly Hallows, ultimately seizing the Elder Wand from a wand maker.
The above two points were Soren's initial plans; however, after discovering the wonders of bloodline power, Soren added a research component on bloodline power to his original plans, hoping to uncover the power hidden within his own bloodline.
Bloodline magic had long been lost in the modern magical world, where bloodline manipulation research is strictly prohibited. Soren currently placed his greatest hopes in the restricted section of the library, which requires the signature of the headmaster or any professor to access, so he needed to plan around this issue.
Second, he aimed to develop a force loyal to himself, an organisation similar to the Death Eaters or the Order of the Phoenix.
Just looking at Tom Riddle, who began recruiting followers during his time at school, makes it clear that the school is where the most wizards gather, and it is the best place to establish a faction. Whether Soren aims to become the next Dark Lord or to restore his family's glory, this is essential.
Third, to explore Hogwarts.
As a magical fortress with a history spanning over a thousand years, Hogwarts is undoubtedly hiding countless secrets inside and outside the castle. No one, including the successive headmasters, dares to claim they know all the secrets of Hogwarts. What intrigues Soren the most is that since Slytherin could leave a Chamber as a legacy, what about the other three great wizards, who were also founders? Did they leave behind any legacies that were not mentioned in the original story?
Each day, Soren spent a considerable amount of time practicing nonverbel spells, wandless casting, and the family spells of the four major families: the Malfoys, the Blacks, the Lestranges.
Interestingly, these four families followed distinctly different paths in their research of family spells:
The Malfoy family leaned heavily towards mind magic; the Black family favored soul and transformation magic; the Lestrange family's magic bore the strong influence of curses, focusing on inflicting physical pain and harm.
After discovering each family's inclination towards magical research, a vague yet bold idea suddenly flashed through Soren's mind: could the magical preferences of these pure-blood families correspond to the powers hidden within each family's bloodline?
He had already realised that he possessed an extraordinary talent for mental magic, perhaps due to his awakening of the Malfoy family's bloodline power.
The Black family produced Nymphadora Tonks, a natural-born Metamorphmagus; this might explain the Black family's preference for transfiguration magic.
In the original novel, the Lestrange couple were adept at the Cruciatus Curse, having tortured a pair of Aurors into madness, possibly due to their innate talent for using dark curses.
If his speculation holds true, since he has awakened the Malfoy family's bloodline power, could he also awaken the powers of other families?
Thinking of this, Soren couldn't help but feel a strong sense of urgency. Unfortunately, resources on bloodline magic are extremely rare, and despite his extensive reading, he still has a limited understanding of this field, especially considering he has at least a quarter of Black blood and a quarter of another family blood in his veins.
His grandmother passed away before his birth, but he vaguely recalls his father mentioning that his grandmother was from the Lestrange family. This means that he actually carries the bloodlines of these four families. If he could awaken the powers of other bloodlines, his strength would surely see a remarkable increase!
Soren's research and practice in family magic and spell-casting techniques continued until the second week of December.
At this point, he radiated confidence in every move, feeling extremely proud of the strength he gained from her recent rigorous training.
He could now somwhat perform wandless and nonverbal magic skillfully. The wand was merely an aid for him, no longer a necessity. Meanwhile, Soren had also ceased his practical dueling practice with Dobby; not because Dobby was no longer a match for him, but because he had reached a bottleneck, and relentless practice would yield no further improvement.
[Wandless magic acquired!]
[Nonverbal magic acquired!]
Soren rubbed his chin; it was time to prioritise exploring Hogwarts.
However, before that, he needed to prepare for the two-week Christmas holiday. Originally, Soren planned to explore Hogwarts during this Christmas break, but Narcissa had sent a letter a month ago requesting that the two brothers must return home for Christmas, considering it was the first time her sons had been away from home for so long. Soren completely understood Narcissa's longing for her children.
The day before Christmas, when Soren returned the books he had borrowed from Madam Pince at the library, he was stopped at the library entrance by Hermione.
Hermione's expression showed a hint of hesitation; to be honest, she had summoned a great deal of courage to approach Soren this time.
Influenced by Harry and Ron, she had never had a good impression of Slytherin. If it weren't for Soren saving her last time, she likely would never have crossed paths with him. Now, as she confronted him, she felt a mix of anticipation and fear and said, "Hello, Mr. Malfoy. I haven't had the chance to express my gratitude for your help with the troll incident, so I specifically came here today to say thank you."
Soren looked at the girl who represented the intellect in Harry's trio. Hermione's youthful features still bore the innocence of childhood, along with her fluffy hair and prominent front teeth, resembling a simple, lovely neighbourhood girl. Of course, girls change significantly; after her fourth year, Hermione would begin to showcase her feminine charm.
Soren was not lacking in beautiful surroundings within Slytherin; Daphne was stunning and poised; Meredith was cool and graceful. By appearance, Hermione didn't stand out compared to them.
However, Soren had a considerable fondness for this principled, determined, and intelligent girl. Throughout Harry's worldwide search for Horcruxes, even Ron had eventually left, but Hermione stayed by Harry's side until the end.
Soren responded kindly, "You're welcome, Miss Granger. Although we are from different houses, we are all classmates at Hogwarts, so I'm just doing what I should do."
Hermione's eyes lit up as she smiled and said, "Yes, we are classmates. I hope we can help each other in the future."
Soren nodded and was about to leave when Hermione stopped him again. "Um... do you know who Nicolas Flamel is?"
Soren raised an eyebrow, oh—the trio is already advancing the plot of the Philosopher's Stone so quickly. "Nicolas Flamel is the greatest alchemist in history. He is the only known creator of the Philosopher's Stone, which is also known as the Sorcerer's Stone. It can create the Elixir of Life and turn stone into gold. He is also a friend of Professor Dumbledore. Is that enough?"
"I got it, it must be the Sorcerer's Stone!" Hermione suddenly realised and excitedly said to Soren, "The Sorcerer's Stone must be hidden in the forbidden area on the fourth floor. That three-headed dog must be there to protect the Stone—Hagrid said it was an agreement between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel."
"Oh, and then? Knowing that there's a Sorcerer's Stone, then what?" Soren asked curiously.
"And then—um..." Hermione hesitated for a moment but continued, "We suspect that Snape wants to steal the Sorcerer's Stone. Harry saw that his leg was injured; he must have been bitten while trying to get past the three-headed dog."
Soren looked at Hermione with a scrutinizing gaze and after a long pause said, "Listen, you are suspecting a professor, even accusing him, and this could get you into big trouble."
"The most important thing is that Professor Snape has been teaching at Hogwarts for over a decade, and being the head of a house shows that he has Dumbledore's trust. I don't believe anyone could harbor ill intent under Dumbledore's very nose for so many years. Although Professor Snape may not be fair in how he treats students in class, and I know students from other houses, especially Gryffindors, don't like him, I still don't think he should be subjected to unfounded accusations."
"But..." Hermione still wanted to argue.
"Think about it; if you can think of it, why can't others?" Soren looked into Hermione's eyes and said, "Do you really think that Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout are completely unaware of Snape's injury?"
"Alright, I think we should stop this topic here. As a Slytherin, no matter how much I say, you probably won't listen. You might just think I'm defending my head of house... Tomorrow is the start of Christmas break, and I haven't started packing yet, so I'll take my leave now. I wish you a Merry Christmas." After finishing, Soren waved his hand and turned to leave. In the not-so-distant corridor, Daphne and Meredith looked over with curious expressions, waiting for him to return to the Slytherin dormitory with them.
Hermione watched Soren's figure gradually fade away. She had sensed an unpleasant tone in his last sentence and, for some unknown reason, felt an inexplicable sorrow rising in her heart. Could it be that she and Harry and Ron really held a bias against Snape? Is it truly impossible to bridge the divide between Slytherin and Gryffindor?