Hearing that Lockhart had been asking about the blood of powerful creatures, Lucien immediately understood.
That was Tom's request. Absorbing a single person's life force was too slow. Supplementing it with a large amount of magical creature blood would be much faster.
Anyway, with Lockhart's methods, he would probably just buy it from legitimate shops. A bestselling author wouldn't lack that kind of money.
...
Great Hall.
The annual Halloween decorations appeared once again.
It was the same familiar pumpkins, bats, ghosts… and those small bats, just like last year, were transformed from various candies and snacks. Catching one meant getting a piece of candy.
This was personally conjured by Headmaster Dumbledore, who said Lucien's idea from last Halloween was excellent, so they continued using it.
Among them were also some magical candies made by Lucien, their effects naturally random, adding a few more surprises and laughter to Halloween.
As he walked along, young wizards could be seen trying to catch the snack bats with their hands or spells.
Lucien didn't need to bother with that, because he was carrying a large bag of candy, all from Honeydukes Sweetshop in Hogsmeade Village.
Hogsmeade Village was a purely magical village near Hogwarts Castle.
Only students in their third year and above, with signed permission from their guardians, could visit on designated Saturdays organized by the school.
This bag of candy wasn't bought by Lucien himself, although he could have used secret passages or had Lumen teleport him there directly.
In fact, all these sweets were given to him by Filch. Yes, Filch.
When Filch handed Lucien the bag just now, he said it was to thank him for saving Mrs. Norris. Since he didn't know what Lucien liked, he had bought all kinds of snacks and sweets from Honeydukes.
For Lucien, taking out Mandrakes to prepare the petrification antidote was a simple matter, but in reality, it had saved Filch's beloved cat.
At the time, Filch had spoken awkwardly, as if he rarely thanked anyone like that.
Lucien didn't waste his goodwill and accepted the bag. Inside were plenty of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Fizzing Whizzbees, Ice Mice, Jelly Slugs, and more.
Sucking on a Sugar Quill, Lucien was just about to head to the Ravenclaw table and sit down.
"Lucien! Come quickly, we've got a new clue!"
Harry suddenly appeared and dragged Lucien over to the Gryffindor table.
"Here, have some candy. Happy Halloween."
Lucien casually grabbed a handful of sweets from the bag and dropped them into Harry's hand.
"Thanks. Happy Halloween, Lucien."
After sitting down, Lucien handed out candies to Hermione and Ron as well, exchanging Halloween wishes.
"Actually, regarding the attack on Mrs. Norris, aside from the Heir of the Chamber of Secrets, the word 'monster' in the message on the wall is also very important. If we can figure out what that monster is and how it moves through the castle to attack people, that gives us another direction…"
Listening to Hermione's orderly analysis, Lucien felt that their progress was indeed much faster.
Was it because the trio didn't have a clear suspect yet and weren't fixated on the Heir of the Chamber of Secrets, so their thinking had broadened to approach the problem from the monster's perspective?
In the original storyline, infiltrating the Slytherin common room with Polyjuice Potion had only ruled out Malfoy, while incidentally revealing that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened fifty years ago… As for the monster's true identity, Harry and Ron had gone into the Forbidden Forest to ask Aragog but didn't get a clear answer. Instead, Hermione had already figured out that the monster was a Basilisk from a book in the library… That part actually wasn't difficult to investigate.
"Someone—someone's been petrified!"
"I think you should all know—"
It was Halloween again.
And the same kind of shouts rang out once more.
Another crisis…
At this moment, no professors were present. Some students chose to hide in the Great Hall, while others, bolder ones, rushed toward the scene after asking where it had happened.
"Don't panic! Don't run around! I'm a prefect—everyone listen to my command—"
The voice was like a rock in the sea, standing firm and steady for a moment.
Then, with a splash, it was drowned out by the waves.
The crowd quickly swallowed up the prefect who had been shouting with raised arms.
Naturally, Lucien wanted to go take a look.
From that startled cry, he had already realized that there was another victim, and things had once again gone off course. The more things changed, the less he could rely on the original plot as a reference.
Harry and his two friends followed closely behind Lucien.
Before long, everyone arrived at the scene.
The familiar blood-red writing:
"The first…"
This time it was only a short sentence, yet it sent chills down the spine.
Lucien looked at the petrified victim.
A pretty girl with long, curly hair.
He recognized her immediately. Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw prefect.
Pushing through the crowd, Lucien took out his wand and examined the stiff Penelope.
It was indeed petrification. At this stage, Tom still only intended to petrify, not kill. Otherwise, it would cause even greater panic, possibly leading to a school lockdown and everyone being sent home.
In that case, neither Tom's nor Lockhart's plans would succeed.
Lucien studied Penelope's face. Her complexion was pale, her eyes slightly widened, as if she had seen something terrifying.
One of her hands was raised, roughly at the level of her face. The gesture suggested she had been holding something…
Lucien shifted his gaze and looked around the ground nearby.
A small, cracked round mirror lay there.
She must have been looking into the mirror at the time, and it reflected the Basilisk's eyes?
At the same time, the students began whispering:
"The first? Last time it was just a cat, now it's really a student?"
"Am I next?"
"Are you Muggle-born?"
"Uh… oh, right, I'm pure-blood…"
"Does anyone know who she is?"
"I think it's Penelope, the Ravenclaw one…"
Fear and unease spread through the crowd once again. Petrification was terrifying, and so was the monster roaming the castle.
But the last victim had only been a cat, and one that most students disliked or even hated.
This time, the one petrified was a person, a student just like them.
A living person who had been in class with them that very morning, now turned to stone, with pale skin and wide-open eyes…
"Meow~"
A thin, dark gray cat walked past, its lamp-like yellow eyes sweeping over the crowd before it sauntered away.
"Uh, Mrs. Norris?"
"She's recovered?"
"Oh, right, didn't Lucien take out a big jar of Mandrake juice back then? The antidote was made in just a few days!"
"So Penelope will wake up soon too, right?"
"But petrification is still scary. What if…"
"Who cares? I'm going to get a bottle of the antidote and carry it with me. If I get petrified, one of my girl classmates can feed it to me. As for my boy classmates… I don't want them near my unconscious body!"
"Hey, if you get petrified and then revived, wouldn't that mean you don't have to go to class or do homework for those days in between?"
"…"
________
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