The next weeks went very calmly. Lelouch got a habit of disappearing during the free periods to study magic in the Room of Requirement. He didn't need the library like the other students, so he mostly stayed in the room. Daphne was getting curious as to what he has been doing. He just smiled secretly at her when she asked, to ignite her curiosity, it still wasn't time to reveal his secrets.
He had started to learn about mind magic. There truly was a danger for him there. Legimancy and occlumancy...There was nothing on legimancy on the library, even among the forbidden section, but there were some books on Occlumancy, and right now, that was his priority. Secrets have always been his main weapons, after all.
He reasoned that, if he became good enough in occlumancy, he could maybe "reverse engineer" Legilmancy. He would certainly find out some things about how it worked by learning to protect himself against it.
Even so, the first page of the book was already almost incomprehensible to him. He was just starting to learn magic. Jumping right away to advanced mind magic would be hard and strenuous, he couldn't avoid it though.
He also started studying magical paintings. He could probably use it to make some money. He also had some...interesting ideas.
It seemed Nunnally's charisma was still overwhelming, even as a portrait. The other portraits in the castle loved her. He occasionally saw her in the corridors, laughing with other noble ladies, playing with children, and being...flirted by knights.
Lelouch scowled.
It was a good thing ser Cadogan was always accompanying her or Lelouch might have already burned some of those paintings
As for his other classmates. Most of them just hated him. He chuckled. A small number feared him. There were a lot of bad rumors about him. Ophelia stopped flinching every time she saw him and started glaring back. The Potter and Ron Weasley made a clique with her. Hermione and the Weasley girl gravitated around it, but Hermione was of an entirely different house, and the other girl just didn't seem to click with them.
She seemed curious about Lelouch, though.
He wasn't blind. He noticed she constantly glanced at him from Gryffindor's table on the other side of the hall. It was strange that she didn't hate Lelouch, considering she was the one to punch him when he all but disowned his sister. Did she read his intentions or something? He was quite sure Daphne did. She didn't seem to take him seriously at the times he mentioned his sister's inferiority.
Daphne and Karin seemed to dislike each other instinctively. When Lelouch questioned Daphne about it, she said that the Weasleys pretty much disliked anyone who wasn't strictly aligned with the light families. In other words, anyone outside Dumb's little clique. He didn't get that impression from the twins though. Their morals seemed pretty...elastic.
Things were going well. Even boring, one could say.
Until Halloween.
They were in the Great Hall. Eating the Halloween-themed banquet. Lelouch once again questioned the wizardkind tastes. Pumpkin juice, pumpkin fries, and pumpkin soup? Just horrible.
At his side, Daphne silently ate a salad. Tracy was trying to bring her into a conversation, but Daphne just wasn't interested. Lelouch took his time to look at the other students around the hall. Millicent was sitting at his other side, face impassive and with her eyebrows lightly frowned as she stared at Daphne's dish with disgust, her own plate was filled with every kind of meat. Tracy made a comment from time to time, but Lelouch wasn't paying attention to the content, just nodding with his head and going along.
On the other side of the hall, the Gryffindors were in a festive mood, completely different from Slytherin. Ophelia was excitedly talking about something with another girl from her house. She didn't even glance at him. The Weasley girl's behavior was on the other end of the spectrum, she glanced at Lelouch every ten seconds, before turning her face away to look at something else. On his own table, Draco was doing the same, but his look was filled with repressed anger. Lelouch gave him a smile before glancing with the corners of his eyes at the teacher's table.
The atmosphere among the teachers was very different from the one at the banquet at the start of the year. He had received recent intelligence from Cadogan that Dumbledore was asking the portraits about one Vi Britannia magical family and about a person named Lelouch.
Lelouch gritted his teeth. How did they learn his previous name? It should have been impossible. It was never said by anyone in this world. It seemed Lelouch was still underestimating the resources available in this world for the wizards. Thankfully he had asked Cadogan to never mention Nunally's surname to any of the other paintings. Nunally Lamperouge was slowly becoming the new dear of these old portraits.
She was becoming well know over the portraits circles. It was amazing that no one noticed that a new portrait suddenly sprung out of nowhere and became the center of attention. She was still avoiding Dumbledore though. The old man was a centenary and half of these years he spent in this building. He probably can recognize and remember the name of every portrait.
Lelouch wanted to know how his name was found. Was there another Lelouch in this world? Another version of him hiding somewhere? Improbable. Lelouch was a britannian name, not an english one. Vi Britannia couldn't have existed since the Pendragons were extinguished.
This was about him.
He scowled and put down his plate as he looked at the teacher's table. Dumbledore was plastering a smile and waving a cup as he talked with Minerva about something. Snape was glaring at everyone. For some strange reason, Quirrell wasn't there. That was curious, this was an important event in the english calendar, especially among wizards.
"I'll be going first," Lelouch said, as he rose from his seat. Daphne nodded. Millicent looked at him, then back at her plate filled with meat. She shrugged, picked a chicken egg from her plate and followed him.
Some of the other students glanced at him when they noticed him leaving earlier. Malfoy elbowed Crabble and whispered something on his ear.
Lelouch didn't pay any more attention to them and left for his bedroom. He had two books from the Room of Requirement over his desk there. He had especially asked the room if she could change the cover of those books with something more socially acceptable. Instead of "secrets of the mind" and "Dark Magic: introduction and protection." he had over his desk "World history of magic," and "Charms, vol 1". He didn't even try to hide them since it would only make people more suspicious. They were lying there in front of everyone.
He also needed to work better on his counterintelligence. He already had a good plan, but still didn't possess the skill to make it happen, maybe only in the next year.
Lelouch walked hastily. Millicent was just behind him, still eating her chicken. Lelouch entered the restroom in the corridor and reached for the faucet to wash his face. He had to start compiling a list of tasks. Things were going out of his control.
Millicent was still behind him. Did she not notice this was the male restroom?
At that moment, someone appeared on the door.
"Black..." Malfoy growled. Beside him were Crabble and Goyle. All of them were holding wands as they entered the restroom while aiming at him. Lelouch raised his eyebrows.
"Do you think this is funny, Black?" Malfoy growled.
Lelouch chuckled. "Did you notice that every time you call me 'Black', you are indirectly validating my claim to the Black House's seat?"
"Shut up, half-blood!" he was frothing from his mouth.
Millicent walked toward them cracking her knuckles, but Malfoy just waved his wand and locked her legs together, making her fall loudly on the floor.
Lelouch's wand was still in his robes, he couldn't reach for it, otherwise, Malfoy would just disarm him with an expeliarmus. He had no confidence in this body's athleticism as well, he was never very active and that didn't change in this life. He decided to do something he was very good at, he decided to bluff.
He grinned. "Congratulations, Malfoy." he chuckled and opened his arms invitingly. Lelouch curved his smile sideways and calmly provoked him. "You have me at your mercy. What now?"
Malfoy's eyes widened. Lelouch was just smiling calmly at him as if he had everything under control. This reaction took Malfoy completely by surprise. The last time Lelouch baited him like this, he lost a lot of standing on the Slytherin house. Now Lelouch was doing the same thing.
Malfoy just stood there, aiming his wand at him, uncertain of what to do, frowning, with confusion in his face
"What now Malfoy?" Lelouch asked.
Before their standoff could continue, they heard heavy steps sounding outside.
...
Karin was bored. And pissed.
She glanced at Lelouch and his little clique. Daphne, the cold bitch of Slytherin, smirked at Kallen from where she tasted her food, with a bitchy expression, as if saying "What's up?". Argh, she was just so irritating. On his other side, the heavyset usurper ate her food like a wild animal, scattering scraps everywhere. How did Lelouch end with her as a protector? It should have been Karin.
Karin sighed. She really wanted to reveal herself to him now.
Beside her, the other children talked about the upcoming game of quidditch between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It would be Harry's first game. She tuned them out and focused her attention on the Slytherin table.
There was a visible separation between the first-years. Lelouch and Malfoy didn't even trade words. Draco seemed alienated on Slytherin.
Suddenly, Lelouch pushed his plate away and rose from his seat. Millicent rose as well and they left ahead of the other students for the Slytherin dorm. Karin clicked her tongue in annoyance.
She turned back to her food with a scowl, took a bunch of pumpkin fries and started to absentmindedly much them. Some time passed until a commotion started in the hall.
The doors opened loudly, accepting a frizzled and very anxious Quirrell. He ran to the teacher's table. Dumbledore stood up and frowned at him. All the people in the hall had their attention on him. He shouted.
"Troll! Troll in the dungeons."
After this, he staggered and fainted. Confusion took over the hall, but Kallen wasn't even noticing it.
The Slytherin dorm was in the dungeons.
Lelouch.
She gritted her teeth, and as the teachers were gathering the students to slowly evacuate the hall, she slipped away and ran towards the dungeons. She just hoped she would arrive in time. She heard someone call her name behind her, but she didn't care.
As she was approaching the potion's classroom, she started to hear shouts and sounds of crashing. There, in the restroom!
Malfoy and Crabble were running in her direction, away from the room. She passed by them, entered the room and stared at the scene.
Millicent had fallen on the ground, and for some reason, she couldn't get up. Goyle's arms were a mess of blood and flesh, pieces of his bones could be seen where they pierced the skin.
The Troll was in front of Lelouch, it had its club raised to its side, ready to do a horizontal swing. Lelouch was pressed on the door to the toilet, gritting his teeth, with an uncommon expression of fear and confusion on his face.
She shouted. "Lelouch!"
He turned his head and stared at her with shock. His eyes widened in surprise. At the same time, the club flew to his side, breaking through the doors and the walls that separated the toilets and reducing them to a pile of rubble. Lelouch flew, crashed on a sink and fell on the ground. He didn't move anymore.
Karin saw red.
She growled and jumped at it, taking her wand from her robe and aiming at its hand. "Expeliarmus!" She screamed, the club flew from its arm to the other side of the restroom. The troll finally noticed Karin and snarled at her.
She transmuted the ground beneath her and ran for the door. The troll went into a rage as he locked on her. It ran after her and slipped in the small layer of ice beneath it that she had transmuted, smashing its face on the floor. It tried to stand up multiple times, but its already bad sense of balance didn't help. It slipped and fell continuously.
Kallen scowled. She went to its club and transmuted it into a misshapen spear. It was a rush job, but as long as it could pierce a troll's thick skin, it would be enough.
...
Dumbledore, Minerva, and Snape ran through the hallway, towards the restroom.
They met Malfoy in the hallway, running away from something. He was terrified, but they managed to get a brief description of what was happening from him. A troll, in Hogwarts...it had to be Tom's work. Dumbledore scowled. Maybe it was an opportunity to get rid of the Black boy. If Karin Weasley wasn't involved in it, Dumbledore would wait a little more to intervene, but alas, Arthur was an important member of the order. One he didn't want to lose.
They saw the door to the restroom from a distance. Water was seeping from the room and reflecting the torches on the walls.
Dumbledore rushed inside the room, ready to heroically defeat the Troll, but the scene inside was completely different from what he expected.
The room was dark, some of the torches on the walls had been put out. The broken sinks were throwing water everywhere. In a corner of the room, a student had fallen on the ground above a puddle of water. In another corner, another student wailed, his arms were a mess. In the middle of it all, a troll was laying on the ground while a small girl twisted spear on its throat, her face was painted red with its blood.
It was Minerva that broke their silence.
"By Merlin!" Minerva shouted. "What is happening here? why aren't you in your rooms?"
The girl stared at her teacher listlessly. "Professor, two students are dying here, maybe it isn't the time to question me yet?" she asked in a confident tone.
Minerva opened her mouth to retort, blinked in surprise, looked around her and ran out of the restroom, probably to call for poppy. The Weasley went to check on the Black boy. She put her finger on his neck to search for his heartbeat and sighed in relief.
Dumbledore stared at the girl in curiosity "Did you kill it? How?
She frowned at Dumbledore. "Transmutation." She said as she looked over the boy to search for injuries, before sighing and slowly lowered him to the floor. Dumbledore smiled. Such a brave and caring girl. She respected and showed worry even for those that were lost to the darkness, truly a blessing for Griffindor. He would have to congratulate Arthur for such a good job.
She was weirdly silent though... Well, she just killed a 'person' for the first time in her life, it couldn't be easy for her. The fact that she was feeling guilty for it, even if it was just a troll, showed the purity of her heart. Dumbledore would have to call her for a talk afterward to help her get over it. He couldn't have an army that was afraid to kill his enemies, could he?
Minerva returned soon after that with poppy and her helpers. They brought the injured students to the infirmary. The girl accompanied them every free moment she had for the next days. It was a shame she was wasting these feelings with children of Death Eaters, but it still warmed Dumbledore's wrinkled old heart that she was capable of it.
AN: Hey guys. I am going to try a daily schedule from now on. I want to practice my writing skills, and maybe, one day, write a web novel from my own. It will probably be in my country's native language though, I am well aware of my bad English grammar. I also want to thank the encouraging comments I received. Positive feedback is the life and blood of an author.
