The moment they high-fived, everything shifted again. Jon's vision darkened, and when he tried to focus, he found himself drifting in a familiar space surrounded by stars.
A familiar female figure appeared before him, entirely translucent, her form defined only by a solid blue outline. Though she had features, he couldn't make them out clearly.
She was tall enough that he had to tilt his head back, and even without seeing her face clearly, her presence pressed down, making him feel small.
In her hand was a sphere which looked like a magical core. She didn't speak, only smiled at him before throwing it toward him. The sphere rushed forward, growing larger as it closed the distance, and before he could react, it sank into his body.
His eyes snapped open. He was back in the Room of Requirement, lying flat on the ground, but there was no time to process it—the magical core merged with his own in the same instant, and a surge of power shot through him.
Gilderoy closed his eyes to feel his core.
What had once been a stable, contained sphere began to swell as the foreign magical energy forced its way in, expanding it. It didn't stop growing, becoming larger and larger.
Suddenly the strain became impossible to ignore as cracks formed and the very structure of his core was starting to fail under the pressure.
At the next second, it broke.
Energy surged through him, no longer contained, rushing across his body in wild, uncontrolled streams. His body couldn't keep up, and he had no control over the flow. The raw power spilled outward in all directions, a pulsing shockwave radiating from the room, sending waves through the castle and rousing its occupants.
Gilderoy pushed himself up slowly, feeling the difference immediately. His magic wasn't the same anymore; it felt heavier, brimming with immense power.
He quickly sat down in lotus position and practiced controlling his magic using the breathing techniques written by Rowena. As he focused, he could feel the difference immediately. It took time, but he managed to calm it enough so it wouldn't spiral out of control.
As soon as he felt his magic settle, he decided he needed something to suppress it.
"I don't want to walk around attracting attention just yet. God forbid Dumbledore gets to know… and what he'll do with that information, who knows."
" And what if any trainee Death Eaters report me to their dear Voldy? What if Voldy sets his eyes on me… yeah, no that would be way worse."
Gilderoy started browsing Rowena's book again, looking for anything that could suppress magic. After searching for a while, he found that there were indeed enchanted objects like rings and lockets that could be used for that purpose. They worked through runes carved into them, directly restricting the flow of magic instead of creating an illusion.
Gilderoy suddenly had an idea and focused on wanting such an enchanted object.
"I want an enchanted object."
Suddenly, to his shock and horror, a diadem with an eagle engraved on it appeared before him.
"Oh HELL NO—NOT THIS ENCHANTED ITEM!!!"
Thankfully, before the diadem could do anything, the Room vanished it away.
"What the hell is this room… SERIOUSLY. I do NOT want to come in contact with any of Voldy's soul just yet."
"Maybe I wasn't clear enough."
"Alright… I'll think properly now."
"I want an enchanted item that is NOT cursed, and its only function is to suppress my magic."
This time, a necklace appeared before him. It had a small flat red gemstone attached to it, covered in runes.
Gilderoy didn't touch it immediately. He first nudged it with a book, cautiously to see if it was cursed. Then he used a spell Amelia had taught him to detect cursed objects.
After confirming it was safe, he picked it up and wore it.
The effect was immediate. The overwhelming flow of magic inside him dropped sharply, not disappearing but being forced into a core. It didn't turn entirely back into a core—some of his magic was still flowing like a river—but most of it now was restricted into a core, no longer spilling out uncontrollably.
Even though the necklace had suppressed most of his magic, he felt it was far stronger than before the ritual.
His capacity had clearly increased, but he felt he had only access to what magic he had before the ritual and a little more in addition. which meant the necklace was doing exactly what it was supposed to.
Leaning back, he went over everything that had happened—the ritual, the white space, meeting the real Gilderoy Lockhart.
The white space… was that some kind of limbo?
"I'll send a letter to his family," Gildeory muttered. "I'll write an apology and visit them when I can. Might be too late… but still, no harm in trying."
Then his thoughts shifted again.
"Also, who was that large blue female? I think I remember seeing a glimpse of her before transmigrating into Lockhart's body."
"She threw that sphere at me, and it grew my magic so much that it broke my core".
"Hmm…"
He picked up Rowena's book again and checked the ritual section carefully, but there was no mention or description of anything like that.
"Who was that? Goddess of Magic? Goddess of Death? Or Goddess of Energy… I think I remember the original Lockhart calling her that."
Gilderoy didn't put the book down. He remembered reading about what happened when a core broke. Rowena had said the ritual only made the magic core sphere grow, until it burst at a later date on magical maturity. He knew magical maturity here was eighteen and realized his core had already broken before he was a full-fledged adult wizard.
"Looks like I already have a premature magical river before reaching magical maturity," Gilderoy thought, remembering that the real Gilderoy's birthday was on the twenty-sixth of January.
He set the book aside and climbed into the bed the Room had made for him. He dropped onto it and, within moments, was asleep, sprawled without a care for the world.
Outside, snow continued to fall, but inside the castle, people were wide awake, trying to figure out what had caused the shockwave.
---
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