Perhaps because of its closeness to the Black Lake, the cave was heavy with moisture. A thin mist hung in the air, making every breath feel slightly constricted.
Leonard held his wand aloft, the steady white glow lighting his path as he listened closely to the sounds within the cavern.
He thought he heard something rustling, like snakes slithering across the ground.
"Snakes in here?" Leonard muttered, his voice edged with disappointment.
If snakes could survive here, then the magical plants inside couldn't be all that dangerous. After all, they hadn't even cleared out the animals. With the concentration of magical plants his map indicated, if they carried any real threat, there was no way snakes would be thriving in clusters.
Yet the sound reminded him of a dozen serpents writhing together.
Just as he was frowning over it, a dark shadow slipped back into the darkness, retreating from the range of his Wand-Lighting Charm.
Something was there.
Instinctively, Leonard poured more magic into the spell, the glow flaring into a focused beam like a small searchlight. The sharp brightness cut through the blackness—
—and revealed pitch-black tendrils coiled around the walls and broken columns.
A name immediately surfaced in his mind.
Devil's Snare.
So that was it. Not snakes, but the twisting of Devil's Snare that had produced the sound.
Every Hogwarts first-year studied this plant, with Greenhouse One cultivating it for lessons.
As the light spread, the Devil's Snare recoiled quickly to either side, uncovering a narrow passage.
"Don't tell me this entire place is full of Devil's Snare…" Leonard muttered as he pressed on deeper.
Calling it a cavern wasn't quite right. From the fragments of brick and the scattered stone columns, it looked more like the buried remains of a building.
What kind of building, though, he couldn't tell.
Soon, he spotted a beam of light streaming from above, illuminating something further in. As he stepped closer, the sight froze him in place.
"…Holy shit."
In that single shaft of sunlight stood a colossal Venomous Tentacula, its branches stretching wide to drink in the rays.
Compared to the row of potted Tentaculas in Greenhouse Four, this one was practically their ancient forebear.
The greenhouse specimens barely reached half a meter in height, their leaves smaller than an adult's hand.
But this monster towered nearly two meters high, its leaves as broad as Leonard's upper body.
"Is it just gifted, or has it simply lived long enough?" His eyes gleamed with hunger as he stared at the plant, itching to claim it on the spot.
In sheer size, it rivaled the Wiggentree he'd seen earlier, but their value was worlds apart.
The Wiggentree was precious, yes, but a high-value, highly aggressive plant like the Venomous Tentacula was far more useful to him. This was the kind of prize worth scheming and struggling for.
In Leonard's mind, the Wiggentree wasn't worth the effort of transplanting. But this Tentacula? Absolutely worth it.
"Back to the dorm first. I've got that suitcase with the Undetectable Extension Charm. The conditions inside aren't great, but they should hold up for a short-term transplant."
Leonard spun around, excitement bubbling—only to freeze as a child's shrill scream echoed from the passage behind him.
And the voice… sounded familiar.
His expression darkened.
Moving a Venomous Tentacula of this size would take effort. If anyone stumbled on him mid-process, the plant would be confiscated by the school—never to end up in his hands.
So this student, the one who'd stumbled in and gotten themselves into danger...
Whether they escaped alive or died here, the cave's existence would be exposed. And if Leonard moved the Tentacula, he'd leave traces behind.
Still, the massive plant already carried usable seeds. Leonard could harvest them, then use Rapid Growth to produce a withering Tentacula as cover—masking the fact that he'd taken the real one.
The only problem left was figuring out which student was down here.
Better check first. If it was someone he knew and could tolerate, he might send them off safely. If not…
Leonard remembered the eyes that had occasionally darted toward him in the Great Hall.
That idiot hadn't actually followed him here, had he? If so, then he really had a death wish.
Snuffing out his Wand-Lighting Charm, Leonard closed his eyes, letting the darkness wash over him. At his cuff, the Ancient Sprout stirred, and his magical sight opened.
The darkness around him dissolved into shifting patches of color—magic itself painted across his vision. The writhing Devil's Snare glimmered faintly green, while the magic drifting in the air shimmered like a sheer veil of light.
The ground, the jagged stone with no trace of magic, remained a cold, lifeless black.
With Magical Sight, Leonard saw more sharply than night vision could ever allow.
He reached out, brushing his fingers lightly over the Devil's Snare clinging to the wall.
"Take me out," he whispered.
Even though this Devil's Snare wasn't his own, it responded readily to his voice.
The vines gathered beneath his feet, lifting him and carrying him forward with a steady, gliding motion toward the cave's mouth.
The screams grew sharper, echoing in his ears. Leonard's eyes hardened as he turned toward the sound.
If it was just some pampered brat with nothing better to do—then let him stay here.
This cavern would make the perfect grave. It wouldn't expose Leonard's secrets, and this ancient ruin had nothing to do with him.
No one would ever know whether Draco Malfoy's death had anything to do with him.
...
Carried along by the writhing vines, Leonard moved in silence. No footsteps, only the hiss of tendrils dragging across stone—like a thousand snakes crawling through the dark.
No one would notice him coming.
At the cavern's edge, he finally saw a figure entangled in Devil's Snare, thrashing wildly. The shrieks were coming from within the mass of vines.
The dim sunlight from the cave mouth revealed just enough. Leonard dismissed his Magical Sight and peered through the gaps in the vines.
Black robes trimmed with green. Pale blond hair.
And that grating, piglike scream, now clearer without the cavern's echo.
No mistake—it was Draco Malfoy.
But why was Malfoy alone? Where were his two lackeys?