A few more months passed by like a breeze, including a 'christmas' that I didn't really end up celebrating, being too focused on some new magical devices and my book.

I'd even gotten Draco to read some parts of it, and he was surprisingly excited to go and test some of the ideas out, which was refreshing. Maybe it would inspire a bit more respect for 'muggles' in him, considering all these things were learned from them.

I'd kept tabs on that, but what I was actually looking forward to now was the looming curse on Lockheart, or at least I thought I was. But, so far, there had been no sign of that kicking in.

Just most days going without anything of note happening, business as usual.

But, for some reason, today seemed a bit different. Snape was in a tizzy, pacing and stalking around his classroom even more than usual and his perpetual scowl seemed to have a few extra wrinkles to it.

I thought at first that he might just have an upset stomach or something until near the end of the class period.

Leering at the first-years, Snape loomed from his place at the front of the classroom, chin raised high and a sneer on his thin lips.

"Someone has stolen from this classroom, and I intend to find out who," He hissed.

The whole class was silent.

Snape's eyes swept across the children, scanning them for hints of guilt, I was sure. I just sat there calmly, knowing that I wasn't responsible. Briefly, Snape's eyes met mine, before he moved on.

After a tense few minutes, I heard the man mutter "It was probably Potter... that scheming–" before silencing himself.

I never took Harry Potter as the scheming type, so I wasn't sure what the kid did to make Snape think that about him. The kid was just a kid, a bit annoying, but not much more than that. Though, it seemed like Snape had a personal problem with him.

The lesson just moved on after that with Snape still watching the students with some suspicion, but nothing much more of note happened after that.

...

Sebastian let out an audible sigh of relief as soon as we stepped into the corridor outside of the potions classroom.

"I wonder what was stolen." He sounded more entertained than curious, but still a mix of both. Yeah, he'd seemed tense all class, but that didn't completely snuff out his usual attitude.

I didn't know, and didn't care. Snape probably just misplaced something and decided to blame it on theft, was what I thought.

"Maybe someone is making a forbidden, super-secret potion! So they took expensive, rare things to make it. Ingredients Snape keeps locked up and hidden." Sebastian suggested, "Or they stole a test's answers so they can cheat. Or maybe..."

I stopped listening to Sebastian's babbling. He was letting his imagination get the better of him again and only stopped once we were approaching our next class' room. Well, more of a greenhouse than a 'room,' since we had Herbology that day.

I didn't like botany classes, they reminded me of a bit of an annoying moment fifteen years ago. I really do need to be more careful about letting kids use magic when I'm supposed to be watching them.

Regardless, that wasn't my focus. Instead it was on how to design a magic rice cooker. You see, I wanted it to double with the ability to make potions, but for that I wanted it to have the ability to filter out non-dilute solids in the boiling liquid, but I had a feeling actually filtering potions would probably cause weird effects.

So instead I wanted to use runic magic, I'd made a simple bowl and put some water, salt, and pepper into it then I tried inscribing runes that would teleport the pepper-flakes to a little vial glued to the side of the bowl.

However, all my attempts simply resulted in pepper flakes being launched around the room like glitter or confetti, sometimes right at my face. Even more concerningly, a few of them just disappeared from my magic sense altogether, and I still have no idea where they went.

The problem was effectively just that the runes I'd made when I made my toaster oven didn't have a way to store positional data perfectly. They were mostly just a bunch of effects, but to actually store positions I'd need to make totally new ones, or use the ones I had in a different way.

With Ciel's help, the perfect solution would've simply introduced itself, and it was frustrating I couldn't figure it out on my own without help, since I am the other half of this soul.

What good would I be in the future if I can't even make a simple system on my own?

As I was thinking about this, I suddenly heard a horrid screaming sound much closer to me than the others I'd been blocking out of my attention.

They had given us earmuffs, and I was wearing a pair, but they did little to stop the sound.

"Doesn't this one look extra-weird?" Sebastian asked while waggling the screeching mandrake in my face. I shoved it away.

"They all look like that." I could see as much since others had already done the same thing as him, outside of the whole 'shoving it in my face' part.

We were shouting to have this conversation, by the way. With all the noise, there was no chance Sebastian would be able to hear me at normal volume.

"But mine is more ugly, don't you think?"

"Sure, Sebastian. It's definitely butt-ugly." I feigned studying the thing closer and said, "It looks a bit like you, actually," I joked.

"Har-har. Very funny, Rimuru." He didn't take the insult seriously as he stuffed the mandrake into the larger pot, silencing the thing.

I should focus on this class, I guess.

I yanked my own mandrake up. The thing looked just like the others, a squirming, shriveled, wrinkly baby made of roots screeching an ungodly scream that made you want to tear your ears off. Quickly, I jammed it face-first into the larger pot to shut it up.

These ear-muffs really don't do the job... I adjusted the inadequate things on my head again, not that it helped any. Couldn't this school invest in some real earplugs? Or just teach its students a 'magic' way to block out the sound before having a class like this.

Thankfully, everyone seemed to be moving as quickly as they could to silence the loud magical plants.

"There. Now, if anyone feels dizzy, please let me know. A mandrake's scream can be quite disorienting, even with protection." Professor Sprout spoke up now that everyone was done repotting their baby mandrakes.

Nobody spoke up. This was a table full of Slytherins, few would 'admit weakness' over something as minor as a little dizziness, from what I'd seen.

And the Gryffindor students at the other table didn't seem to have anyone that wasn't feeling well either. That is, until one of them abruptly toppled over and fell flat on their face, looking just about dead.

Sprout rushed over to help, and the kid seemed somewhat living, though as limp as a noodle in the woman's arms.

She rushed out of the room, saying she needed to take the child to the infirmary, and that class was over a little early.

Some of the students were buzzing with worry, but I didn't think they had much to be concerned about. I could tell from a small distance that the kid was still breathing. They'd just fainted, is all. Apparently, the screams from an adult mandrake could cause instantaneous death, but we'd been dealing with babies, so not nearly as dangerous.

But, in this case, there was nothing for me to worry about since the kid's heart was beating and he was still breathing. He may have looked sorta dead, but he wasn't.

It didn't take long for the students to disperse. Class had been almost over already, so there was pretty much no chance that Sprout would be back before then. I took this as my signal to leave too.

...

A few days passed.

I was spending a bit of time in the library, quietly helping Sebastian and Ginny study. The library was always the best place to do this undisturbed.

Sebastian scrubbed his hands through his hair as he stared at the book in front of him, "Why does this have to be so complicated?"

For once, Ginny seemed to agree since I caught her giving a little nod before turning the page of her own copy of the same book.

I could understand why they were struggling. It was basic herbology to me, identifying different plants by the shapes of their leaves and other features. For me though, it was just boring, even with mentions of things like 'death-lilies' and 'strangle-pears.' I didn't exactly understand the second one.

Just as I was about to make an excuse to call it a day on this studying, I heard the sound of wings flapping overhead. It was an owl; what was it doing in here? It proceeded to drop a package right onto the open book in front of me before flying back out the door.

"Did your parents send you something?" Sebastian asked me, shoving aside his book and leaning closer to stare.

"An owl can't carry a package all the way from Japan," I explained.

Who would send me a small package like this? There was no indication on the outside of it who the sender was, all it had on it was my name and the 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry' as the location to send it to.

"Do you know what it is?" Ginny asked, a bit eagerly. Both her and Sebastian seemed curious about the contents, or maybe they were just looking for a distraction from their reading.

I hadn't ruined the surprise by delving into it with magic sense, I wanted the pleasure of opening the present the old fashioned way.

"Nope. I have no clue."

"Well, rip it open already!" Sebastian near-shouted, earning him a 'shush' from the already-annoyed librarian who hadn't seemed too pleased about the owl deciding to deliver the package within their 'domain'.

Sebastian's POV

Rimuru shrugged and started tearing into the parcel. It rattled as she moved it around, making me wonder even more what it could be.

After the outer layer was peeled away, a white envelope fell out and the fancy box it was laying on top of was revealed.

Rimuru frowned slightly as she picked up the envelope and opened it easily, before tossing it aside and reading the letter.

I snatched the now empty envelope from the table before she could stop me and whistled, "That is some fancy handwriting."

On the outside had on it was Rimuru's name written in looping, elegant cursive script. It looked more like a girl's than a boy's handwriting to me.

Ginny took the envelope from me and asked, "Well?" staring at Rimuru who was frowning at the letter. Rimuru ignored her, though, and just tucked the folded paper into her robe, out of sight.

Without saying a word, Rimuru opened the box, revealing chocolates.

Ginny gasped and Rimuru sighed loudly.

"Rimuru! Did these come from a boy!?"

"I guess? The letter didn't say."

"So these came from a secret admirer!"

"Ginny, quiet down before the whole school hears you."

"Or the librarian," I added, thinking it'd be funny to criticize Ginny for once since she was usually the one to do that to me. "Wouldn't want to get kicked out."

Rimuru just stared at the chocolates for a minute or so, scrutinizing them. I didn't know what she was doing, but I could tell she was thinking hard about something.

Then it hit me.

"Do you think you are being pranked?"

"Oh, I've already decided that that's what this is. Why else would someone send me chocolates randomly? And leave their name out of the attached letter?"

"Rimuru..." Ginny impatiently muttered.

"What?"

"You are intimidating. Some people like that." Ginny answered in a quiet, light tone.

"Yeah," I nodded, "it makes you cool!"

Rimuru didn't answer and just picked up one of the chocolates and held it in front of her face, "Well, chocolate is chocolate. If they're really so 'intimidated', they probably won't approach me anyway."

With a new smile on her face, Rimuru popped the chocolate in her mouth. I hoped that it was just normal chocolate and nothing more. Chocolate's really good at overpowering other flavors. It'd probably make it really easy to put something nasty in.

After a few seconds, I noticed Rimuru's pupils dilated and her face turned bright red as she kind of stared off into space with a relaxed expression. But, this only lasted a moment before her face went stony and her golden eyes narrowed dangerously. Her face remained that same red, though.

She stood up suddenly, slapping both of her hands on the table and sending her chair sliding backward behind her, nearly ramming into a bookshelf.

I could practically feel the rage pouring off of her. It made me shudder... with excitement.

It felt dangerous and exhilarating even though it wasn't directed at me, my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest.

Is this how it felt to stand in the presence of the strongest and darkest wizards in history that I'd learned about? Because it sure seemed like that to me right then.

If that happened in the future, Rimuru standing at the top of wizardkind, being on her side from the start was the best situation I could possibly hope for.

I couldn't take my eyes off of Rimuru as she wordlessly snatched up the parcel and started walking away, but I did scramble after her. I could hear Ginny sputtering in shock as we left, but I just ignored her.

Man, she was fast, practically gliding down the corridor at a quicker pace than I thought she was capable of with her height, but I just barely managed to catch up after a short stretch.

"What's going on, Rimuru?" I was shocked that my voice didn't quiver as I asked, "Did someone put something in those chocolates? Is that why you're angry?"

Rimuru didn't answer and just kept walking quickly. Other students were darting out of the way, all feeling the danger from the girl.

It wasn't long before we reached what appeared to be Rimuru's destination; Headmaster Dumbledore's office, or at least the entrance to it. The door was always locked unless you were invited, I knew that.

But, when Rimuru approached the door, she just waved a hand and the door flew open and slammed against the wall. I gaped at that but didn't stop following as she passed through.

Oh, I'm going to get in soooo much trouble... but getting on Rimuru's bad side by abandoning her right now would be a million times worse! That was my gut feeling, and I decided to trust it.

That, and I was burningly curious about what made Rimuru storm off as she did. There had to be something fishy in those chocolates; there was no other explanation!

Rimuru stomped right up to Dumbledore himself, sitting at his large desk. The old man didn't even look up from the parchment he was writing on with a quill; even when Rimuru slammed the box of likely-laced-with-something chocolates onto it, spilling the pot of ink all over his work.

"I've been poisoned." Rimuru's voice came out utterly cold and despite its quietness, it demanded your attention.

"It is not polite to enter without knocking, Miss Tempest." Dumbledore seemed unfazed.

"Listen to what I'm saying, old man. In your school, under your watch... Someone. Poisoned. Me." Rimuru shoved the box toward him, "With these."

"I heard you the first time, young lady. Getting harsh with me will not help us find the perpetrator. Allow me to inspect the chocolates, but before that, are you well? Have you seen the nurse? And what kind of poison do you suspect?"

"I'm fine... things like this don't affect me for long; I'm sure you understand why. I didn't need the nurse."

The old man nodded with understanding. "Still, answer the question. The nature of a poison, or potion is of critical importance."

Rimuru glanced at me briefly and I got the impression she didn't want me here for this, but I wasn't asked to leave either, so I stayed in my spot in the corner.

"... love potion." Rimuru said in an almost whisper, but I still heard her in the dead-silent room.

Dumbledore chuckled lightly at the admittance. I didn't dare laugh, though. Too dangerous.

"Don't laugh yet, old man. This wasn't some student-on-student prank. One of the teachers was responsible."

"That is a serious accusation."

"I wouldn't make it if I didn't know for certain. The 'subject' of the potion was Lockheart."

Blimey... no wonder she's so angry! But, I did wonder how the potion wore off so quickly. I doubt a few seconds is all that they are supposed to last.

"Do you have any further proof? I don't doubt you, Miss Tempest, but someone being the subject of a potion's effects does not necessarily mean they were the brewer."

Rimuru reached into her robes and pulled out the letter from earlier, "This was attached to the box when I got it. It should help."

Dumbledore studied it, then grabbed a paper of his own out of a drawer.

"Gilderoy Lockheart's recommendation letter, penned by his own hand. Signed by him too, see?"

Rimuru scoffed at that and watched closely as Dumbledore looked over both papers.

I snuck my way over and peered over Rimuru's shoulder to see too. Both letters were written in the same girly handwriting, even I could see that.

"I will take care of matters. You are excused from your classes for the day and you will pay Madam Pomfrey a visit after you leave my office."

"Now wait just one moment."

"Yes, Miss Tempest?"

"What are you going to do with Lockheart?"

Dumbledore studied Rimuru for a long moment before answering. "This 'incident' is grounds for his termination. The letter combined with the analysis I will have Professor Snape do on these remaining chocolates will be more than enough to ensure it."

"Until Lockheart is gone from this school, I want to be excused from Defense Against the Dark Arts. And I want a personal apology from him."

"It is done."

"And you should duel him!" I wanted to see Rimuru do to Lockheart what she did to Dumbledore's door. That would make my year!

Dumbledore seemed surprised that I spoke up, but just barely. Maybe he didn't even notice me until now.

"Young man, that is not–"

"A one-on-one duel. In front of the entire school. Sounds perfect to me." Rimuru was grinning scarily and I swear her strange golden eyes were glowing.

"If you so wish... but only if you promise not to do anything rash in advance, Miss Tempest." The old man's stern stare over the top of his half-moon glasses told me that the same rule applied to me too.

The conversation went on a few more minutes before Rimuru stomped out with the man, it seemed Rimuru really wanted free dessert from the kitchen as recompense or something.

They actually left me alone in the room, so I was a little worried they'd both forgotten about me. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened to me, at least with Rimuru.

Rimuru's POV

I hadn't felt this humiliated in a long, long time.

Lockheart was surely at fault, but so was I. Even though I suspected that those chocolates were laced with something, I still ate one, and with my poison immunity disabled too! I was curious what would happen if I ate one, I wanted to experience it even if it was painful or unpleasant, but I wasn't expecting THIS to come out of it!

For a brief moment, that love potion worked on me, and–

Nevermind. That's done and over with and I don't have to think about it ever again.

I almost didn't care what Lockheart's reasoning was for doing it in the first place, but I was sure I would learn eventually. A teacher doesn't dose a student with a love potion for no reason. If he did it for the reason that love potions are typically used, then he's not just a total nincompoop, but a major creep too!

Props to Sebastian for offering up that idea to duel the man in front of everyone. That'll give me a prime opportunity to clobber and humiliate him in front of hundreds of spectators.

But, right now, I was dealing with the worst problem imaginable; Ciel was refusing to talk to me.

After turning off my poison immunity earlier, she hadn't said a single word to me, and I could tell she was angry. Not just at Lockheart, but at me.

That hurt a little bit more than I was expecting, she'd rarely been truly upset at me before. I didn't know how to respond this time.

Her momentary silences or frustrations were not the same as this, it'd been hours. The worst part was that I felt her being upset, even in this body. Unfortunately, I was sure that my other body was getting the worst of it.

Worse was the thought that others had possibly noticed. People back home who are closely connected to me on the soul level.

I'd just need to give her some time and space... and by that, I mean leave her alone and not desperately beg for forgiveness. I couldn't just let her take over all of time and spac– you know what, forget it. I'm just exhausted. I was pretty sure once I punished Lockheart that Ciel's mood would improve anyway.

After escaping the infirmary with a clean bill of health, I made my way to the Slytherin dorms. But, guess who was sitting in my favorite chair that I'd planned on throwing myself onto the moment I entered the common room? Draco Malfoy.

Screw it. I'll just go to my room. I wanted to be alone anyway.

I blew past him as I passed through the common room to make my displeasure clear, but then I was stopped by my sleeve being caught by the arrogant boy.

I whipped around to glower at him, not at all in the mood to deal with his nonsense.

For once, he seemed taken aback by this; legitimately shaken. Maybe I need to moderate my expression a bit better... I'd softened him up previously, but I didn't remember ever scaring him.

"Not that I care, but what has you upset? You're never upset, Tempest. Not like this." He paused and looked down. "It's... unnerving." Draco grimaced.

"It's none of your business." That may have been a bit too harsh, but again, I was not in the mood for this.

"If you tell me, I will give you this chair." Draco offered for the first time.

"I'll take you up on that offer..." Even if I was upset, I didn't want to surrender all that hardfought development. "Not tonight, though. Not now."

After that, I pulled my sleeve out of his hand and walked away, but I did catch the boy whispering "I wonder if that glare would frighten my father... no... not possible."

I went to my dorm, which was thankfully empty. I didn't feel like explaining myself to my roommate.

But, the silence quickly started getting to me, or maybe it was more the perceived silence. Normally, I was never alone; at least not completely. Anytime I wanted someone to talk to, Ciel was there, even if she was quiet a lot of the time.

After I'd had enough of waiting, I decided to try talking to Ciel again.

Ciel?

Nothing.

You could've stopped this too, right? You've blocked me from weakening my resistances before and I'm sure you could tell what was in those chocolates before I ate one.

After a whole minute's hesitation in real time, Ciel finally broke her silence.

[[...Yes.]]

Then why didn't you? That was probably the most embarrassing mistake I've made in a very long time!

[[Which was why I allowed it to happen. How many times have I told you that turning down your resistances is a horrible idea?]]

Uh... I think I lost count?

Ciel's exasperation was clear in my mind, I could feel it.

[[Then don't. You should stop speaking with that damn vampire as well, she has been a bad influence.]]

It was rare for Ciel to ever use metaphor, even when insulting. So it really did show how upset she was in the literal sense.

[[If the poison had been potent enough to kill this body, the game would've ended, and I would not have prevented that. The problems of this world can be fixed more effectively.]]

She didn't speak to me again after that, at least not for the rest of the night.

Ciel would've let me die? Somehow, the thought scared me a bit. I just couldn't be entirely sure...

Dying wouldn't be like the first time, I would still exist with my other body afterward, but the idea of going through the experience again wasn't something I wanted.

I wasn't sure Ciel wanted it either, or if she was just making a hard line that she might not be willing to enforce when we get to it.

She'd even admitted to cutting off my senses in the past to prevent me from feeling pain. Veldora had nearly killed me before I evolved into a True Dragon after all, and even if I'd felt it... I knew it wasn't all of it.

I still wondered how she'd even managed to lessen the pain, considering what had been actually happening.

Regardless, I felt really lonely for the first time in a while. It really reinforced my urge to learn how to use my skills, mostly because I wanted to do something nice for the two of us... Not just in Imaginary Space either, that was easy.

Instead, I wanted to do something for us in the outer world.

It would be a plan for later.