When Lys received the ordered books, she found that the supplier had included many additional books, some related and some unrelated.
"The Prince," "The Cthulhu Mythos," "How the Steel Was Tempered," "Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold," "The Godfather"?
"You paid so much that I asked the Muggle clerk there to buy more books. I hope you like them." The brown-haired, freckled wizard smiled nervously, glancing around. "Well, if there's nothing else, I'll be off. If you have more orders, you can send them to this address via owl."
Lys was pleased with his actions and tossed him the alchemical pointed hat she had just experimented with. "This hat comes with confusion and oblivion charms. Hope you live a long life. Goodbye."
The man repeatedly expressed his gratitude for the hat, then cautiously looked around before leaving.
Nowhere in Britain was safe these days. Muggle-borns and half-bloods were having a tough time, and Hogwarts was the only safe place, supposedly because the Dark Lord didn't dare confront the greatest white wizard of the century directly.
After all, the previous Dark Lord from Germany was also dealt with by Dumbledore, and that person is still imprisoned in Nurmengard.
Lys found an opportunity to speak privately with Senna about the connection between the soul stabilizer buyer from that year and the Diagon Alley attack, offering a packet of sweet cookies in Senna's indifferent expression.
The new term was about to start, but for some reason, Lys felt uneasy. She thought carefully.
The Blacks? Mom can handle it; her status is higher in Dad's heart than the Blacks.
The Reading Room? It has a stable group of old men who come to read and are quite persuadable.
The Death Eaters? Unlikely, both Mom and Dad are purebloods, and they haven't shown anything that those madmen would be interested in... What could it be?
Grades? Not that either. Dad said grades don't matter anymore; I can find something I like and, like him, find my own hope.
Unable to figure it out, Lys, with the dress and high heels Dad bought her, and a trunk filled with bones, stones, eggs, and a magically expanded bookcase, boarded the Hogwarts Express.
Having not carried Bang for half a vacation, Lys couldn't help but sigh. Dad might need a pet that eats a lot to satisfy his strong urge to feed.
Bang's weight was almost suffocating her.
But she insisted Bang stay as close to her head as possible because it was the safest place she could offer.
Sitting in the compartment, Lys counted the books she needed to read and quickly cast an Obliviate Charm on the compartment to start studying.
Time was tight, and tasks were heavy.
But that didn't stop Lys from releasing a magical light orb to entertain Bang while she continued reading.
Lys frowned at the text: After a wand chooses a wizard, it becomes more attuned to its owner through constant companionship and spellcasting. Insufficient use can affect the wand's harmony with its owner.
For example, a sycamore wand that loves excitement might self-combust in a dull life or with boring spells, while a hawthorn wand might backfire and harm its owner when they hesitate. Blackthorn longs for a strong master, and a weak person using it will find it difficult.
These negative effects are due to the wand's nature and lack of harmony and familiarity with its owner.
Looking down at her oak-disguised wand and the willow wand strapped to her right forearm, and knowing her mother had a blackthorn wand she used during the holidays, Lys smirked. It seemed more spell practice would compensate for the lack of harmony due to insufficient companionship...
Besides, Mom said once she was proficient, she could remove the oak disguise. What did the wand originally look like?
When disembarking, Lys didn't leave the bookcase on the train. With so many contraband items inside, she felt safer carrying it herself.
Fortunately, the Lam family's trunk had a function to block detection. With an Obliviate Charm, no one was curious about Lys carrying her luggage into school.
Lys sat listlessly at the long table during the opening feast. This year, Slytherin had pitifully few new students, only five or six, while Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw each had around twenty or more.
Eating chicken legs and drinking milk, Lys left during the school song, but this time, she didn't know the password and was stuck outside the common room, waiting for the prefect to bring the rare little snakes.
To protect their numbers, the prefect even asked senior students to take care of the freshmen. "Such a disparity in numbers will drown all excellent seedlings, which is why the Dark Lord wants to cleanse..." Well, the new prefect was a supporter of the Dark Lord. Who knew how the Headmaster and Head of House selected them...
Shortly after the term started, Lys cast Obliviate and Confundus Charms on herself because people kept probing her stance:
The Dark Lord or Dumbledore?
Lys didn't want to choose either.
Her mom had told her before school that Slytherin would try to recruit her, but it didn't matter because what the Dark Lord lacked now were representative figures, like someone with leadership in the wizarding world or rare talents like potion-making.
Someone like Lys, who was simply good at fighting, wasn't particularly favored. Joining would likely mean being used as cannon fodder.
"Avoid them if you can. If you're interested, it's fine, but I must say that mark is really not aesthetically pleasing. It's ugly." That was Senna's exact words.
She had seen arrogant Death Eaters flaunt their arms on the street, loudly proclaiming they worked for the Dark Lord, then abducting a Muggle-born wizard.
But that had nothing to do with Senna. The label of 'incompetent pureblood' kept her and her husband below everyone's radar.
Lys wasn't interested either. The slogan of pureblood revival was too loud, but it was just a struggle for interests. She had no family to consider, and her parents had no demands.
So it was best not to mingle with those scheming people. She had long been unable to understand their conversations.
Especially that Regulus Black, so troublesome. Why was he so clever, even as a fellow Black...
And because of the important exams in fifth year, the teachers were very tense, and the schedule had almost no gaps. This forced Lys to carry an extracurricular book to class and read whenever she finished the class exercises.
There was no time to deal with those probing Slytherins.
"OWLs exams! At the end of fifth year, you'll take this important exam. It's a serious exam concerning your future, so stay alert!" Professor McGonagall shouted sternly, "Mr. Thomas! Please stop tormenting your poor mouse!"
Professor McGonagall began teaching advanced Transfiguration. Although it was still simple for Lys, she watched McGonagall's demonstration, tried it twice, and succeeded. Then she buried herself in "Patronus Charm: A Peculiar Theory," which contained some concerning ideas.
Previous Transfiguration lessons were based on the average magical power of young wizards, requiring transformations into objects with similar mass and volume, like turning a rat into a cup or a tall vase into a toucan.
Now, the requirements were much higher. A rat had to transform into an object many times its size, with great precision. Many young wizards struggled, producing bizarre results.
Professor McGonagall tirelessly corrected her students' endless mistakes. One child even exploded their mouse! It was a disaster.
"Oh, for heaven's sake! Children, a complete and clear image! Existence is conserved. Where lacking, control your magic to fill and shape! Achieve the closest form, weight, and material!" Walking through the aisle, Professor McGonagall found a giant embroidered pillow.
When she tried to pick it up, she discovered it matched its appearance in weight, and she couldn't lift it with one hand.
She carefully identified the student beside her and realized it was Stalys Black. "Fifteen points to Slytherin. I couldn't have done better myself. Black, would you share your insights with us?"
Though she had fifth-year students every year, honestly, apart from this child and those troublemakers like Potter, Professor McGonagall thought this was the worst batch she'd taught, bar none.
Lys repeated Professor McGonagall's words, "A complete and clear image. Where lacking, control your magic to fill and shape."
"..."
Professor McGonagall stared at Lys in shock, and Lys looked back without any expression.
For a moment, she didn't know if she had said something wrong.
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