"Who... who's there?"
A trembling voice came from the bushes, sounding pitiful as if the speaker were on the verge of tears.
"Lumos!"
Makiya waved his wand, and a pure white light radiated from the tip, illuminating the nearby Forbidden Forest.
Compared to the dim oil lamp in his hand, the magical light was far more brilliant.
"Is that you, Harry? It's Makiya. Come on out; there might be centipedes crawling on you in those bushes."
There were clearly two people crouching in the bushes, and they were carrying the alchemical firearms Makiya had crafted. Based on the positions of the two guns, there was a high probability that one of them was Harry.
The figures in the bushes flinched visibly and scrambled out in a flurry of movement, frantically brushing off their wizarding robes as they jumped.
It was Malfoy.
Harry followed right behind him, emerging from the brush with an oil lamp of his own.
"Makiya!" Harry's eyes lit up, and his nervous tension immediately vanished.
"Harry, what are you guys doing in the Forbidden Forest?"
The light revealed their faces. Malfoy turned his head away, ignoring the question. In his eyes, Makiya was the one responsible for making both him and his father look like fools. Even the fact that he had purchased a heap of alchemical items from Makiya didn't change the relationship between them.
Makiya also ignored Malfoy, treating him as if he didn't exist, and looked at Harry.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
Hagrid's boarhound, Fang, emerged from the bushes wagging his tail and began circling Makiya.
"Uh, it was Professor McGonagall's idea," Harry explained sheepishly, casting a side-glance at Malfoy. "We snuck out of the castle at night and got caught by a certain annoying person. He ran off to tattle to Professor McGonagall, so she punished us with a patrol of the Forbidden Forest."
This was the aftermath of a series of events. The Trio had been suspicious that Professor Snape was plotting something and had been investigating in secret. After obtaining clues about the Philosopher's Stone and Nicolas Flamel, they had decisively approached the big-mouthed Hagrid to pry some information out of him.
Their movements had been tracked by Malfoy, who had been watching them the entire time. He followed them to Hagrid's hut, and once he was spotted, he immediately went to Professor McGonagall to report them for being out of bed at night.
Caught red-handed violating school rules, the three were naturally punished. However, the informant Malfoy didn't escape either; he was sentenced to serve the punishment alongside Harry and the others.
The punishment was patrolling the Forbidden Forest.
To be honest, Makiya had never understood this scene when watching the movies. Dumbledore had repeatedly warned the younger students to stay away from the Forbidden Forest at the start of the term, and with the recent attacks on unicorns, the danger level had only increased.
Professor McGonagall had plenty of disciplinary options—writing an essay, cleaning trophies without magic—yet she chose to have four first-year students who barely knew any magic patrol the Forbidden Forest. It was very strange.
"By the way, Makiya, why are you here?" Harry asked curiously.
"Same as you," Makiya shrugged. "Remember yesterday's gunfight competition?"
"Of course! That was so cool! I think it's way more fun than Quidditch. When can we do it again?" At the mention of the gunfight, Harry's eyes lit up with excitement.
Malfoy let out a quiet sneer beside them. *Sore losers.* In his mind, Slytherin was clearly the strongest house. But because Makiya was standing right there, he didn't dare act out and could only grumble silently in his head.
"Well, because of that match, Headmaster Dumbledore thinks I acted on my own without going through the proper channels. He also thinks the preparations weren't sufficient and that it could have caused unforeseen dangers. So, he punished me with Forbidden Forest patrol too."
Harry's eyes darted around. "So you mean... as long as we apply formally, we can hold another one?"
"I think that's exactly what the Headmaster was implying."
"That's great!"
The two chatted back and forth. Under Makiya's lead, Harry followed the marked path. Hagrid had left markers along this route every so often, indicating it was free of dangerous flora and fauna.
In reality, because Makiya often snuck into the Forbidden Forest to 'farm,' there weren't many dangerous creatures left on the outskirts. All living things had an instinct for self-preservation; with a top predator appearing on the outskirts of the forest, everything else chose to retreat.
Fang followed beside them, happily running back and forth, full of energy.
Malfoy followed silently behind them like a sulky bride. He didn't say a word, his right hand buried deep in his pocket, clutching his alchemical firearm as if it were the only thing providing him a shred of security.
The night was like a thick black cloth draped tightly over the Forbidden Forest. A thin mist hung in the air, and the humidity was so high that after walking for a while, tiny water droplets condensed on their eyelashes.
Malfoy stumbled along the winding path, every step taken with trepidation.
The air was thick with the scent of damp decay, a mixture of mud and unknown vegetation that filled his nostrils and fueled his unease. Malfoy kept glancing around nervously until he suddenly bumped into Harry's back.
"What are you doing?!" Malfoy staggered back a couple of steps and glared at Harry, but he only saw the back of Harry's head.
Harry didn't respond. Instead, following Makiya's signal, he covered his mouth tightly and looked back to motion Malfoy to be quiet.
Makiya's brow furrowed. A strange magical fluctuation was emanating from the forest directly ahead—eerie, cold, and saturated with an aura of evil.
"Harry, take Fang and Malfoy and hide over there," Makiya whispered, crouching down. "See that tree with the scorched top? Run past it, jump over the small embankment, and there's a rocky alcove behind it. It's just big enough for one adult or two children. Go, quickly."
Harry's eyes widened. "What's happening? Makiya, come hide with us. Let's wait for Hagrid."
"There's no time to explain! Just hide!" Makiya said grimly. "No matter what sounds you hear in a moment, do not come out."
Because Makiya's tone was exceptionally grave, Harry shrank back slightly. Under Makiya's stern gaze, he nodded, grabbed Malfoy, and ran off in the direction Makiya had pointed.
Fang seemed to understand human speech as well. He gave Makiya a reluctant look before drooping his head and following behind Harry.
Once they were all gone, Makiya drew his wand and pointed it in a certain direction. "Incendio!"
Blazing flames erupted, spreading along the damp ground. The heat pushed back the humid air, instantly illuminating the eerie woods.
Beside a fallen tree, a unicorn lay on the ground. Faint moonlight bathed the creature, its pure white hide reflecting points of shimmering light—a beautiful, dreamlike sight.
But a figure draped in a large black robe was ruining the aesthetic beauty. This mysterious figure, radiating a chilling aura, was hunched over the unicorn's body, his upper torso twitching as he made rhythmic swallowing sounds.
A strange metallic scent of blood spread through the air. A large pool of thick, silver liquid flowed from the unicorn's neck, gathering into a shimmering silver puddle on the ground.
A unicorn's blood did not smell foul. On the contrary, the silver blood emitted a peculiar fragrance, as if tempting nearby creatures to consume it.
Unicorn blood was an extremely precious magical material, containing a vast amount of life magic. Even someone on the brink of death could be restored to health immediately after drinking it.
Such a god-like effect came with a severe price. Unicorn blood carried a curse; any creature that drank it would fall into a state of being half-alive and half-dead, suffering for the rest of their days.
The cloaked figure was Professor Quirrell. Possessed by Voldemort, he had long since become the latter's puppet, forced to use every possible means to prolong Voldemort's life.
Before stealing the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort controlled Quirrell to hunt unicorns. The more life magic he absorbed, the more strength Voldemort could recover in preparation for the theft.
The light of the fire interrupted Quirrell's meal. He snapped his head up. His black hood completely obscured his eyes, revealing only a hideous, gaping mouth with silver-white unicorn blood dripping from the corners.
Startled by the interruption, Quirrell visibly jolted. When he realized it was only Makiya standing there alone, his mouth split into a cruel grin. He slowly rose from the unicorn's body and began to float toward Makiya.
Facing Quirrell, Makiya chose to strike first.
"Dick-Knot!" A bolt of grey magic shot from Makiya's wand, hitting the rising Quirrell like a flash of lightning.
"Ah! Hiss—"
Quirrell, who had just been striking a cool pose, suddenly jerked. His exposed mouth contorted in pain as his legs instinctively squeezed together. He nearly lost his concentration and fell from the air.
"Idiot, let me do it!" A raspy voice came from beneath the black robes. Quirrell's body shuddered twice before settling into a strange stillness.
An inexplicably cold aura radiated from Quirrell. In Makiya's perception, Quirrell's presence underwent a tectonic shift in an instant, as if he had become a completely different person.
Voldemort had logged in!
Facing the Dark Lord, Makiya focused his energy, magic surging within his body.
If he could use magic from other worlds, Voldemort would be of no concern. Unfortunately, the world of Harry Potter was extremely exclusive. Even after practicing for so long, he could only replicate some of the Magic Emperor's low-level skills.
However, he still possessed a massive advantage. With the abilities of his counterparts from multiple worlds stacked upon him, Makiya's physical attributes far exceeded those of a normal human. Correspondingly, he felt no fatigue when casting spells; he was a magical machine gun with an endless supply of ammunition.
"Dick-Knot! Dick-Knot! Dick-Knot!"
Three minor jinxes shot out in rapid succession, flying toward Voldemort in a triangular formation.
Having just taken over Quirrell's body, Voldemort was still in the adaptation phase. His reactions were not yet sharp. By the time the spells reached him, he had barely gained full control over the body.
*Pfft!*
Frantically waving his wand, Voldemort managed to release a burst of magic at the last second, knocking one of the jinxes aside. The remaining two hit their mark.
"Hmph!"
Voldemort visibly shuddered, but he stubbornly maintained his posture. From the outside, he looked as if nothing had happened.
"
[Support the story with Reviews, Power Stones, and Comments—they mean a lot and keep me going! 30+ chapters waiting on patreon.com/elite_reads]