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[HP] 65: Catching a Small Animal to Feed the Dark Lord
🕑 Added 2025-07-30 15:32:01 +0000 UTC> [Detected: Extremely high-growth potential in deception. ]
> [Phase Mission Triggered: Nightmare and Wizard]
> [Mission Phase One: Convince current students of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff that you are a descendant of Merlin.]
> [Reward: Double Trick Points upon completion of this phase.]
> [Mission Phase Two: Convince current students of Slytherin that you are a descendant of Merlin.]
> [Reward: One free Perfect Ten-Draw (Valued at 20,000 Trick Points).]
> [Mission Phase Three: Convince Albus Dumbledore that you are a descendant of Merlin.]
> [Reward: Achievement – Trickster Who Laughs at Justice (reduces effects of non-Dark Magic penalties by 50%), and 3 Legendary Draws (Valued at 30,000 Trick Points).]
> [Mission Phase Four: Get the International Confederation of Wizards to officially recognize your identity as a descendant of Merlin.]
> [Reward: Achievement – The One Who Deceived the World (100% bonus to future Trick Point gains), and 10 Legendary Draws.]
The moment Louis declared he was a descendant of Merlin, his vision was bombarded with a flood of system notifications, completely overwhelming his screen.
It took Louis quite a while to finish reading all of them.
No doubt, this was a mission filled with both massive rewards and towering challenges. The first and second stages seemed manageable—but the third and fourth? Peak difficulty.
Luckily, the rewards weren’t held until the very end. Each stage offered individual bonuses upon completion.
“But of course Slytherin had to be singled out for stage two,” Louis sneered inwardly. “Only the people who slander you know how deeply they’ve wronged you—and only those who worship you to death will assume you were never worthy in the first place.”
Not bothering to deal with Blaise Zabini’s bewildered expression, Louis turned and walked out with Fafnir in tow.
After the first gene enhancement serum, Fafnir had since received the second and third doses. No clue how much stronger it had actually become—but it still couldn’t overpower Louis. As for its intelligence… well, that was hard to say. Its head was definitely bigger, so maybe its brain was too.
The Slytherin common room was packed with students scrambling to finish their homework. With the library overcrowded, many had no choice but to study here.
Even in the middle of their assignments, they still found time to point fingers and whisper about Louis, words like “Merlin” and “Nightmare” floating in the air.
That, Louis could tolerate.
But when someone threw in a “so lewd,” that was crossing the line.
Come on—were they seriously associating the legendary Merlin’s rumored flaws with him? That’s just outrageous.
Louis raised his eyes to the Slytherin student who had made the comment. Judging from the looks, a second-year. Probably hadn't been beaten down enough yet. He mentally flagged the kid—he’d be getting a visit tonight from the Pink Skull Nightmare.
Louis didn’t immediately retaliate with illusion magic. That wouldn’t suit his "Nightmare Bloodline" image. Best to strike at night—make the myth feel real.
From this moment on, he was going all in on the Descendant of Merlin act.
Louis stepped into the courtyard. The leaden sky above gave everything a dreary hue.
He lifted the now-bulkier Fafnir and instructed, “Fafnir, go into the Forbidden Forest and catch a few small animals. Smaller ones, got it?”
Fafnir let out a strong cry in response and nodded at Louis.
“Good. Go,” Louis said, tossing the dragonling into the air.
Fafnir’s body had grown much larger, and he’d gained considerable weight. If not for the Ox Talisman enchantment reinforcing his strength, Louis probably wouldn’t have been able to launch him anymore.
Watching Fafnir take off like a bomber with wings spread wide and momentum blazing, Louis suddenly noticed a white owl that was nearly knocked out of the air by Fafnir.
“Looks kinda familiar,” Louis muttered, eyeing the owl as it flapped down quickly and perched pitifully on the shoulder of a bespectacled boy, clearly seeking comfort.
Ah—no wonder it looked familiar. Wasn’t that Harry Potter’s signature bird, Hedwig?
And of course, the glasses-wearing boy was none other than Harry Potter.
“Afternoon, Louis,” Harry greeted cheerfully, seemingly unbothered by the fact that his owl had nearly been bulldozed by Fafnir. “How’s your day been?”
“Eh, not bad,” Louis replied casually. He obviously couldn’t say, I just had a lovely chat with a soul fragment of your arch-nemesis, Voldemort.
“You out here walking your bird too?”
“Yeah, I bring Hedwig out for a stroll every day—it cheers her up.” Harry gently scratched the soft feathers on Hedwig’s neck. “Was that your owl just now? Did you change birds?”
“No, that’s my Fafnir. Looks like he’s going through a second growth spurt. Got bigger again,” Louis said dismissively.
“Se-Second growth spurt?” Harry blinked, not quite understanding but too polite to press further. Watching Fafnir fly into the distance, he asked offhandedly, “Where’s he going?”
“Forbidden Forest. I asked him to catch me some small animals.”
“Catch animals? What for?” Harry asked, curious.
“Oh, I’ve got my reasons,” Louis said, a little embarrassed to admit he was planning to feed Voldemort.
The soul fragment inside the Ravenclaw diadem wasn’t exactly immortal, but Horcruxes didn’t naturally come with perfect communication capabilities. Every time that Voldemort fragment spoke, it burned away part of its own soul.
So Louis figured—why not feed it some extra souls? A few small critters should keep the fragment chatty.
After all, the more someone talks, the more likely they are to slip up. Unless, of course, you never plan to tell the truth and make sure your lies are airtight.
Louis planned to use their “conversations” to subtly guide Voldemort toward becoming an independent-minded dark lord with goals and ideals.
If he could split Voldemort’s psyche, it would be way more fun than just killing him.
Honestly, it didn’t seem all that hard either. Louis felt pretty confident he could deceive this Ravenclaw-Horcrux-version of Voldemort with ease.
Just then, a loud cry echoed from above. Fafnir’s distinctive figure returned from the distance, carrying something in his talons.
“Is that Fafnir coming back?” Harry shaded his eyes with one hand. “What’s he bringing?”
Louis looked too, squinting in the poor light. “No idea… looks pretty big though.”
What a joke—he had the Eyes of Fate, the Eye of Distortion, and even the Rinnegan… and none of them had zoom function? Embarrassing.
As Fafnir flew closer, both Louis and Harry’s expressions turned weirder and weirder.
“Is that thing… kind of too big?”
“Yeah, and it looks like it’s still alive. It’s moving.”
“Why does it look like a crab to me?”
“How would a crab even be in the Forbidden Forest?”
Finally, Fafnir let out a joyful screech, circling triumphantly above Louis and Harry.
And then they saw it clearly.
“Merlin’s beard! That’s a huge spider!”
“Holy crap! It’s an Acromantula!”
***
