Hogwarts : Max Level Unforgivable Curse

"Is it… is it dead?"

Harry had just finished vomiting. When he turned around, he saw the troll lying motionless on the ground, and he looked utterly bewildered.

"Is it pretending to be dead? I've heard these monsters can be really cunning!"

"Maybe other monsters are like that, but not trolls," Dylan said calmly.

This was Dylan's first proper use of dark magic, and the sensation of channeling his magical energy left him somewhat intoxicated. Even though his current magical reserves limited the true power of the dark magic, despite having mastered high-level spells, he had still managed to effortlessly cast three spells and take down a troll in an instant.

"Voldemort be praised, dark magic is really something," Dylan muttered as he walked forward.

He pushed open the doors of the stalls one by one. In the third stall, he found Hermione, who had already passed out.

"Enervate!"

A burst of pink starlight particles shot from the tip of Dylan's wand, covering Hermione, who was slumped against the door. Moments later, her eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes. As her consciousness returned, the first thing she saw was Dylan standing at the stall door, flanked by two heads peeking out from either side.

"Am I… am I in heaven?"

"Don't worry, Miss Granger. Given the sharp tongue Ron has assigned to you, you'd probably end up in hell if you died."

Hermione: (.`)…

"Hey! Dylan, how could you say that?!" The head on the left shot up, glaring at Dylan.

The head on the right, wearing black-framed glasses, also looked up. "Dylan's not wrong. Aren't you going to apologize, Ron?"

Ron's face turned bright red, and his eyes darted nervously toward Hermione, who was still a bit disoriented.

Soon, Hermione fully regained her senses. She pushed herself up and said, "What are you all doing here? You need to hide! I just ran into a troll!"

Harry quickly reassured her, "Don't worry, Dylan already took care of the troll!"

"What?" Hermione was stunned.

At that moment, Ron's face, which had turned as red as a monkey's bottom, finally softened. He mumbled, "I'm sorry about what happened this morning."

Hermione was taken aback again. After the life-and-death chase with the troll, Ron's apology didn't seem to carry much weight for her at the moment.

"Wait here for a bit. I'll go see if I can find a professor," Dylan said. Seeing that Hermione was unharmed, just shaken, he comforted her briefly and asked Harry and Ron to look after her. Then he left the underground classroom.

Because he had killed the troll so quickly, no one outside had noticed that a battle had taken place. He went up two floors but didn't encounter any professors.

"Are they all on the fourth floor?"

With a troll suddenly appearing in the school and Snape rushing toward the fourth floor earlier, Dylan guessed that many professors were likely guarding the Sorcerer's Stone.

Sure enough, as he turned the corner on the fourth floor, a low, stern voice called out, "Who's there?"

Dylan stepped forward. "Wait, Professor, don't cast anything."

Professor Snape, clad in his black robes, was startled to see Dylan. His face darkened, and his thick black eyebrows furrowed tightly, like two entwined black snakes. His cold, sharp eyes bore into Dylan.

"What are you doing here instead of being in your dormitory at this hour?"

"Well, it's a long story…" Dylan sighed deeply, about to explain, but when he saw Snape's growing impatience and increasingly stern expression, he quickly changed his tone. "Actually, I'll keep it short. Hermione went missing today, and when we heard about the troll, Harry dragged me and Ron to look for her. We ran into you on the way, but since we were in a hurry to find Hermione, we didn't stop to say hello. Then we went to the underground bathroom and found the troll trying to attack Hermione. So, I cast a Fiendfyre and burned it to death. Now I'm out here looking for a professor to report the incident, but I haven't found anyone. I figured you'd be on the fourth floor, so I came here."

As Dylan spoke, Snape's hawk-like eyes widened, and a rare flicker of shock passed through his dark eyes.

"What did you say?"

"Huh?" Dylan paused. "Do you want me to repeat it, Professor?"

Snape's thin lips pressed into a tight line, and his gaze bore into Dylan. "You're saying you killed the troll?"

His brow furrowed, and the corners of his mouth turned down slightly, as if he were assessing the truth of Dylan's words.

"Yes," Dylan nodded. Then, noticing Snape's expression, he suddenly gave an innocent smile. "By the way, Professor, since I was the one who found and dealt with the troll, do I get to keep its materials…?"

Snape's dark eyes widened even further. What was he hearing? A first-year student had taken down a troll, showed no fear, and was now asking for the troll's remains as a reward?

"How did you kill the troll?"

"Professor, I just told you. I used Fiendfyre to burn it."

Dylan answered honestly. "Though it might've also been the Diffindo spell. But its body is all charred now, so I can't really tell."

Snape's brow remained furrowed as his cold gaze swept over Dylan. Dylan glanced past Snape.

"Professor, are you guarding the Sorcerer's Stone?"

"!!!"

Snape's deep, cold eyes widened again, and he was visibly shaken. "You…" His thin lips parted, but the words caught in his throat. A few strands of greasy black hair fell over his forehead, softening his usually tight expression and revealing a rare moment of vulnerability.

"How do you know about the Sorcerer's Stone?!"

Dylan blinked. "It was Harry. Didn't he and Hagrid retrieve it from Gringotts? Last time, he was chased here by Peeves, and he mentioned running into a three-headed dog too."

Snape's eyes narrowed instantly. "Harry? A three-headed dog??"

He felt his eyelid twitch uncontrollably.

"That reckless, foolish, damnable Potter!"

Snape suddenly turned on his heel and strode forward, his black robes billowing behind him. "Come with me to the underground classroom!"

(End of Chapter)