Warning: Non-Beta, pardon me for the typos or the screwed up grammar because English isn't my mother language.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any franchise in this story!

The feast finally came to an end, and the students were shepherded to each other dorms; Gryffindors to their tower, Hufflepuffs to their dungeon, Ravenclaws to their Tower and Slytherin to their dungeon. The four houses were separated after they came out of the Great Hall and followed their Perfects.

For once, I didn't walk together with my year mates, lagging behind with the new first years; more precisely I was walking next to Luna Lovegood. I ignored the inquisitive glances from everyone around me and greeted the dreamy-eyed young witch.

"Hullo, my name is Asmodias Lustburg. It's my pleasure to be in your presence, Ms Lovegood."

Lips curling into a dreamy smile, the sandy blond haired young witch eyed me with her dazed silver eyes for a moment. "The pleasure is mine, Asmodias Lustburg," She began, "Could you kindly tell me how you don't have any Wrackspurt invasion around you without the protection charm to ward off them?"

The corners of my lips were tugged upwards by the unseen force once I heard her question. "Warckspurt, is it? Pray tell me what is that? I never heard a magical creature called Warckspurt before," I replied with a faint mirthful voice.

As I waited for Luna's reply, I carefully assessed the young witch next to me. Surprisingly, she was different from Evanna Lynch who played as her in the movie adaptation series. As the matter of fact, Evanna Lynch couldn't fit the "ethereal beauty" part of the young Lovegood exactly.

"Really?" Luna finally replied. Then, she regarded me silently for a moment before she continued, "Oh, it only normal for you to be unaware of them because they are invisible. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy. I thought I felt one zooming around in here."

I hummed faintly in acknowledgement. "Could you tell me how to ward off these Wrackspurts?"

"You only need to think positive thoughts to rid them off you," replied Luna.

"You seem quite knowledgeable about the exotic magical creature, Ms Lovegood," I praised the young witch with a friendly voice.

"Thank you," Lune thanked with a faint yet sincere smile on her face, "But you may call me 'Loony'. Ginny, my friend who was sorted into Gryffindor, has a big brother who called me 'Loony' Lovegood."

"Nah, I don't think I'll call you like that," I objected calmly, "How about Luna? I'll call you by your given name if you don't mind."

Luna's dreamy smile shifted into a sincere one for a split moment before it turned back into her dreamy smile. "I'll be delighted, Asmodias Lustburg."

"None of that Amsodias Lustburg . . . you may call me Dias like everyone else in our house," I paused for a moment before I whispered conspiratorially, "If there are other students from our house call you 'Loony,' tell me. I'm going to short them out quickly."

Luna regarded me silently. Her dreamy eyes were gone, and sharp querying look judged me silently. After a moment, she nodded her head with a blooming smile. "I'll be delighted Dias," said Luna.

I gave the younger girl a faint smile. "So, you seem to know more about the more exotic magical creature. Could you tell me about other magical creatures while we're walking to Ravenclaw's Tower?"

Luna nodded and said, "My pleasure!" Then, she made a contemplative, dreamy expression for a moment as she thought where she should begin. Finally, she began her explanation.

"There are Blibbering Humdinger, Aquavirius Maggot that looks like a brain, Dapperblimps and Exploding Snabberwitches that live in water and you can ask mermen to find them, a Gulping Plimpy that supposedly is a breed of Plimpy that is repelled by Gurdyroots, Heliopath which is a spirit of fire which is galloping and burning anything in its path and Nargle . . . be careful of Nargles because they are mischievous thieves that like infesting mistletoe. Wear a butterbeer cork necklace to ward them off. There's also a Crumple-Horned Snorkack . . . they are elusive magical creatures that live in Sweden—"

Luna began explaining her a rather long list of the imaginative creatures she and her father believed to exist. In the meantime, I listened to her explanation patiently with the patented "big brotherly smile" as Natasha called it or "fatherly smile" as Clara called it.

The incredulous looks we got from the eavesdroppers around us weren't lost to me but I easily ignored them.

They might think the young witch walking at my side had gone bonkers and I who was listening to her nonsense was also bonkers. In the end, however, I didn't care what they were thinking.

Soon, we arrived at the entrance of Ravenclaw's Tower and our talk was stopped and held back for another time. The Perfects explained to the first years about the riddle to enter the Ravenclaw's common room and they gave the first years example by answering the riddle.

After all, students entered the common room, the majority went to their dorms because of the exhaustion from the travel, leaving behind the Perfects and the first years in the common room.

Terry Boots and I went to our dormitory and entered the room for two. The moment we stepped in, I immediately hit the young pureblood wizard with compulsion charm to make him sleepy.

After Terry Boots told me he wanted to sleep early, the heir of House Boots dropped in his four-posters bed and fell asleep like a log.

It was finally the proverbial green light for me to start my plan for tonight.

"Barmy," I called my loyal house-elf to my side.

The beret-wearing house-elf appeared with a soft cracking sound. The sound didn't even stir Terry Boots even so slightest because how deep asleep the young pureblood wizard was.

"Sir, yes sir!"

Barmy saluted to me. I dismissed the house-elf's salute and asked him to take me into the hidden entrance of Room of Requirement.

A moment later, I was at the tapestry near the batty wizard with the obsession to teach troll, of all thing, to do ballet. I walked back and forth in the front the wall and thought a comfortable yet formal study room that I could use for my meeting. No sooner than when I finished what I'd done, the iron wall appeared on the formerly stone wall. I opened the door and stepped into the room. Barmy followed behind silently.

I checked the study silently. It was a spacious study with a heavy desk and a comfortable couch. There was a heavy bookshelf with old grimoire about esoteric magic Hogwarts had in her possession, taken from the forbidden are of Hogwarts' library and Headmaster's office subtly.

I sat down on the couch and stared at Barmy who was standing with his back straight.

"Barmy, have you heard the news about Lucius Malfoy's disappearance?" I asked the house-elf straightforwardly.

"Sir, yes sir!" Barmy replied at once.

I was surprised by his immediate answer. At my silent urging, the House-elves continued.

"We were the one who had executed the bad wizard, sir! The bad wizard tried to plan something evil that could endanger Master Lusty-Bug sir and Missy Pottery ma'am!"

I blinked my eyes, slightly surprised. I regarded the beret-wearing house-elves for a moment before I asked him a question.

"Where did you find out about this news?"

"Barmy heard it from Barmy's Wonky, Sir. Wonky had heard it from bad house-elf named Dobby who tried to harm Missy Pottery sir!"

I nodded my head slowly as I took in the report.

"What about Dobby? Where is he now?" I said in puzzlement.

"He had been put down for good by Barmy's Wonky, Sir! The bad house-elf is no more," said Barmy with a proud voice.

I nodded my head, acknowledging Barmy's report. I should have realized my house-elves wouldn't show any mercy to what-and-whoever endangers me or someone they were tasked to protect. It was the testament of how well-trained they were.

However, Dobby's death was a surprise. As bonker as that little thing was, he was still loyal house-elf and could be induced into my H.E.B.O.'s rank. Alas, what happens happened. There was no use for crying over spilt milk.

Dobby's death was also a miscalculation on my part. I'd forgotten that my House-elves wouldn't take kindly on any threat presented to me or those whom they were protected. Although I realized Dobby would disturb Holly's summer holiday, I didn't think far enough about the reaction of my House-elves.

I dismissed such unnecessary thoughts. What happened happens. Nothing could be changed.

"You all have erased anything that could connect you with this case, I hope," I said.

Barmy nodded his head quickly, making his crooked beret even more crooked.

I felt relieved at his confirmation. I didn't think to ask how they had done it wasn't important. I had my faint in my well trained House-elves. They knew what to do with their growing knowledge. It wasn't like they would do something that would harm me because their loyalty and devotion were on me.

"Did you do something else . . . like liberating House Malfoy's secret stash?" I inquired.

Barmy nodded his head quickly and the beret he wore slipped down from his head. He quickly put back the beret.

"Did you take the dark artefacts in House Malfoy's manor?"

Another nod.

"You took everything?"

Another nod.

I sighed in relief. "Did you see a black journal with 'Tom Riddle' name written on the faded black leather cover?" I asked.

This time, Barmy made a face that conveyed his disgruntlement. "Yes, sir! Does Master Lusty-Bug sir need the foul artefact?" He inquired.

I nodded my head in agreement. "Bring the book here as quickly as possible. That book is one of Lord Voldemort's soul anchors. It's better if I store it in safe place personally," I explained calmly.

Barmy gasped when he heard my explanation. All house-elves hated Lord Voldemort because the endless bloodshed he'd caused in the war a decade ago. As the matter of fact, house-elves hated Dark Lord or Dark Lady in general because when there was a rising Dark Lord or Dark Lady, many magical families would become extinct. It made the magical house to serve became less, meaning less work for the house-elves to bond and serve.

"At once, sir!" Barmy saluted. Then, he flicked his finger with a loud snapping sound and the journal in question dropped on the empty surface of the heavy desk.

I used my 'Observation' skill to check the authenticity of the diary.

Name: Tom Riddle's Diary

Rank: Unique

Durability: ?

Information: an enchanted journal of Tom Riddle. It has become unbreakable after it's turned into a Horcrux.

After I found it was authentic, I stored the diary away in my 'Inventory', storing it together with other Horcruxes I have collected so far. With this, the remaining Horcrux was the Hufflepuff's cup and House Gaunt's Ring. Those two would be dealt for another time.

"Now, you may return back to your activity and call Wonky to see me," I dismissed the house-elf since my business with Barmy had been finished.

After he said, "Sir, yes sir," he disappeared with a faint cracking sound. A moment later, Wonky appeared where Barmy once stood.

"Does Master Lusty-bug sir need Wonky?" asked the female house-elf.

Since I'd listened to Barmy's report about the whole Dobby fiasco, I felt it was inane and not efficient to ask Wonky about the former bonker House-elf of Malfoy House. I had other reason for calling Wonky in my presence.

"Wonky, tell me about what happened in Holly's summer until yesterday night," I instructed the house-elf.

Wonky began spinning the tale about what happened in Holly's holiday. She also mentioned about Dobby's appearance and how she dealt the bonker house-elf efficiently. I would flinch at the brutality of the female house-elf if it wasn't for my 'Gamer's Mind'.

Finally, Wonky reported what had transpired in Diagon Alley.

"The annoying wizard was being grabby with Missy Pottery ma'am. Wonky has pranked him badly, making him slipped on the floor until his head slammed the floor hard! It is shame the annoying wizard is the new teacher in Hogwarts. If not, Wonky would make the fall very hard that it would break his neck," complained Wonky in consternation.

I mulled the idea involving the blond-haired fraud. I hadn't gotten the timetable but I guessed his class wouldn't start straight away on the first day, meaning I wouldn't deal with his tomfoolery soon. Nevertheless, I realized Lockhart was quite a dangerous fellow because of his passable skill in memory magic, mostly the Obliviator charm.

"Getting him kicked out soon will help me in a long way. His self-centred and narcissistic attitude will affect Holly's progress badly. As the matter of fact, it can create a seed of disgust to male professors in Holly's heart. I don't know if he will step lowly into sinking his detestable wand into a mere twelve-year-old but it's better than sorry, I guess," I thought.

"Wonky," I called the silent house-elf after I made a plan in my mind, "Make one of your brothers or sisters to watch Gilderoy Lockhart. If they find the fraud having sex with a student, they immediately must inform Dumble . . . no, make it to McGonagall. I don't know what's in Dumbledore mind. He's dangerous and must be left aside for a moment until I personally do something to him. Am I clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!" Wonky saluted.

"You may go back to your task," I dismissed the female house-elf. No sooner than the end of my dismissal, the house-elf disappeared with a faint cracking sound.

I was alone in the Room of Requirement and decided to find a good book from the massive bookshelf in the room. After searching for a while, I found a book about Alchemy. It was most likely Dumbledore's book. The moment I saw it, I remembered the Philosopher Stone I had stolen last year. I then took the book from the shelf before I returned back to the lavish couch. I sat down and put the book on the desk in front of me. I then took the Philosopher Stone out of my 'Inventory' and watched the blood red gem in puzzlement.

As the matter of fact, I didn't know how to use this stone. I guessed that I needed Alchemical ritual in conjunction with the stone. Perhaps, using the stone as the main reagent or the core component of the alchemic transmutation process? I had started the study of alchemy but the level of my Alchemy skill was quite low.

It was when I decided to increase my knowledge of Alchemy, as well as the level of my Alchemy skill, so I could utilize the stone. Perhaps, I could find out a way to recover its durability or even created my own version of Philosopher Stone.

Ding!

My attention was taken away from the stone in my hand suddenly by the familiar voice in my head. I shifted my sight to the recently popped out screen in front of my face.

Quest Alert!

Become Alchemy Meister!

- Increase Alchemy skill's level to maximum level

- Find a way to recover durability of Philosopher Stone

Extra Objective: ?

Reward(s): 500Exp, ?, ?

Extra Objective's Reward(s): 500Exp, ?

Penalty: None

Do you accept this quest? (Yes/No)

I chose 'Yes' before I dismissed the screen. Then, I stored back the Philosopher Stone into my 'Inventory' and began studying Alchemy earnestly.

—»O«—

Three days passed rather quickly and finally, the 'Defense Against the Dark Art' class together with Hufflepuff began. I was sitting in the back row with Holly and Su flanking me on my right and left respectively. I had heard what happened in Gryffindor-Slytherin joint class a few days ago and it just happened like in the series; a group of Cornish Pixies were creating a chaos and subsequently stopped by Hermione with her freezing spell.

I watched the class interior with open disdain, which was shared by Holly and Su at my sides. Padma who was fallen in Lockhart's charm was sitting in front with Mandy Brocklehurst and Lisa Turpin.

After the whole class had settled on their seats, Gilderoy Lockhart stepped in the class from the separated room connected with the class via a door. He reached forward, picked up Padma Patil's copy of Travels with Trolls, and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front.

"Me," he said, pointing at it and winking as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award — but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"

He waited for them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly.

"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books — well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about — just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in —"

When he had handed out the test papers he returned to the front of the class and said, "You have thirty minutes — start — now!"

Su, Holly and I looked down at our paper and made a WTF expression. Su then read the content with a soft voice that conveyed her incredulity:

1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour?
2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?
3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?

On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to:

54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?

The three of us stared each other in the eyes, silently wondering what we were going to do. After a short pause, I whispered to them, "Fill with anything caught your fancy."

"Like what?" asked Su, her thin curved brows rising slightly in confusion.

Holly mirrored her roommate's expression.

I alternated my sight on them for a moment. "For example," I started, "The answer for the first question is colour of vomit; taking over the world with a bunch of crazy house-elves as the second question's answer and being the biggest fraud in Magical Europe's history as the third question's answer."

Su and Holly faintly snorted in an unladylike manner as they listened to my idea. Nevertheless, it had become the unofficial guide for us. We competed to fill Lockhart's quizzes with the ridiculous answer popped out in our mind.

Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through them in front of the class.

"Tut, tut — hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully — I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples — though I wouldn't say no to a large bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky!"

He gave them another roguish wink. Su and Holly were now staring at Lockhart with an expression of disbelief on his face; Terry Boots and Anthony Goldstein, who were sitting in front, were shaking with silent laughter. The other girls in the front row, on the other hand, were listening to Lockhart with rapt attention.

". . . At least, Miss Brocklehurst knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions — good girl! In fact" — he flipped her paper over — "full marks! Where is Miss Mandy Brocklehurst?"

Mandy who was sitting in the front row next to Padma raised a trembling hand, marking her excitement.

"Excellent!" beamed Lockhart. "Quite excellent! There was another young lovable second-year witch from Gryffindor who also scored perfectly three days ago. Take ten points for Ravenclaw! And so — to business —"

Surprisingly, the narcissistic peacock in human form had realized the danger of Cornish Pixies after the fiasco in his first class and wasn't prone to recreate the incident in his current class. However, he decided to re-create one of the scenes from his book; it was about how he wrestled with Werewolf.

A poor Hufflepuff named Wayne Hopkins had got the honour to play the werewolf part for the play. I pitied the boy as Lockhart straddled the poor boy on the floor in a very ambiguous position that would spike up Dumbledore's old amorous flame. Most of the young wizards who realized their position had trembling shoulders as they held back their laughter.

Speaking of the Hufflepuff boy, he tapped the floor as his face slowly became sickly pale green.

In the end, the boy fell unconscious and the class was cut short because Lockhart needed to take Wayne Hopkins to Madam Pomfrey's infirmary.

Since there was a dozen of minutes to spare until the next class, Professor Flitwick's Charms with Slytherin, we (Holly, Su and I while Padma left behind to gossip on Lockhart's charm with other female students) decided to have a stroll in the castle.

A several minutes later, we met the Slytherin first year in the corridor; they had finished their Transfiguration class with Gryffindor. Both Su and Holly tensed as they saw the Slytherins getting closer. I softly grabbed their shoulders to calm them down.

"Well, well, well, who are these? Isn't this Potter and her little boyfriend and Asian pet?"

A boy with black hair and insolent face stopped in front of us. His face showed arrogant sneer as he stared down at us.

Standing slightly behind the boy were two stupid looking brutes, one with black hair slicked his right side, big nose and dark eyes while the other has dark brown hair with brown eyes and chubby face.

They were Theodore Nott, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

As they stopped, the other Slytherins behind also stopped. They showed their famous united front, trying to intimidate us.

Both Holly and Su seemed fallen into their intimidation tactic but I was far from being intimidated. As the matter of fact, I found them to be cute children.

It was impossible to intimidate me. Besides I had mingled with the scary vampires last summer, my 'Gamer's Mind' skill wouldn't let me be intimidated easily.

However, it was Nott's next words that spiked my annoyance.

"Well, how about ditching your mudblood boy toy, and let us, the real wizards, educate you how to be a good witch who knows your place, Potter?" said Nott while wiggling his thick brows.

The insinuation behind his action wasn't lost to the witches of Slytherin or the two Ravenclaws in the vicinity. Disdain and disgust flickered in the green-themed witches' eyes for a split second as they shifted their sight in Nott's direction.

I wasn't really surprised with how a mere twelve-year-old knew about adult stuff like that.

Knowing what kind of human-shaped, immoral beasts the senior Death Eater was, I had expected the fools would train their male spawns as perfect little Death Eater since their spawns' childhood. Furthermore, Nott Sr was quite fanatic Death Eater and quite twisted individual. He wasn't on Lestrages' level, but he was still one of the unstable members, unlike Lucius or Snape.

I made a mental note to ask my House-elves to deal with these unstable members of Dog Lord's merry band of rapist and murder. However, it was for later since I'd digressed long enough.

Meanwhile, Su's and Holly's expression showed their outrage because the detestable word Nott had used to call me. Added in what Nott had insinuated, it was plain to see how outraged they were. They even leaked strong bloodlust that my Bloodlust Detection skill caught easily.

However, the most surprising was they weren't the only witches who leaked dangerous bloodlust. There was one who toppled their bloodlust and it came from the Slytherin's group.

My eyes subtly searched the source of the strongest bloodlust and found the source was no other than Lyra Malfoy. My brows were quirked up in confusion at that. Why in the world the Malfoy's princess became angry just because I was insulted by Nott? This was really suspicious.

However, I put aside that trivial thought. As much as I was curious about Lyra's out of character mannerism, I must teach Nott that he shouldn't have messed with me.

Personally, I didn't care what the Death Eater in training had done. However, I must take control of this accident before everything went FUBAR.

I stared at Nott with calm eyes and said, "Really, Nott. It's rather inelegant for so-called pureblood to start spewing profanity in the open, no? Perhaps, you were never taught by your father? Oh, I forget. Your father must have been impaired because excessive imperious he got from his dear Dog Lord, isn't he?"

Many young wizards and witches, even Holly and Su, inhaled sharply at my words; Holly's and Su's anger had been left forgotten because of my audacity in insulting Lord Voldemort openly.

"You damned Mudblood!" Nott began; his face contorted into an ugly snarl, "How dare you besmirching the Dark Lord's name! Know your place you filthy Mudblood! Crabbe, Goyle, show this Mudblood his proper place!"

Crabbe cracked his neck while Goyle cracked his fingers as they tried to intimidate me. However, they did a piss poor performance.

Both Su and Holly tried to take out their wands to assist me in the soon to be a brawl but I stopped them by touching their shoulder.

They sent indignant looks to me which I ignored easily. My eyes calmly watched the two little troll getting closer. The tension spiked in the corridor.

"Now, how shall I teach them not to pick enemy randomly? Oh, there are too many ways to end this . . . think, what kind of style I need to use to deal with them."

Footnote:
Another chapter has finished! I hope you like this one, albeit it wasn't that much. Anyway, do forgive me for the bad grammar and some typos if you find out in my story. English isn't my native language after all. Other than that, you can find the update schedule of my stories in my profile.
See you again in the next issue ~