Harry Potter: The Rise Of Malfoy

Chapter 27.

In Soren's dormitory, he spread the three items out in front of him on the bed.

The first item he examined was the suitcase. Soren carefully used his wand to open it, only to find that it was just an ordinary Muggle suitcase, empty and showing no signs of any magical enchantments.

After a moment of contemplation, Soren tapped the suitcase with his wand and infused it with a bit of magic. Sure enough, the suitcase began to emit a slight vibration, and a brass dial appeared on it, with a small sign that read "Muggle Mode."

Soren twisted the dial, and the small sign was sucked into the dial with a whoosh. When Soren opened the suitcase again, he leaned forward a bit to see inside, only to be pulled in by an irresistible force.

Inside the suitcase was a vast, boundless little world. In the distance, there were endless mountains, and in front of the mountains lay a calm and clear, mirror-like light green lake, surrounded by towering, deep woods. The area where Soren stood was filled with a riot of colorful flowers, and in the middle of the flower sea was a small path that split it in two. Following the path, Soren walked to its end, where there stood a simple little wooden house.

Upon entering the wooden house, Soren found it to be a well-equipped laboratory, with a long desk covered in various intricately designed instruments, along with several scattered pages of parchment detailing the original owner's identity.

Indeed, this was the suitcase of the protagonist from the Fantastic Beasts movies—Newt Scamander. Scamander was a magical creature researcher in his youth, who traveled the world with this suitcase, helping and saving all the magical creatures he encountered along the way. This suitcase employed an unprecedented no-trace extension charm, with a space large enough to house a wild animal park from the Muggle world.

However, this vast space was merely one of the suitcase's least significant features.

The true magic of the suitcase lay in its successful use of alchemical principles to create natural elements such as air, moisture, and temperature within its space, maintaining an ecological cycle and accommodating various completely different geographical environments. Different areas of the suitcase were imprinted with different weather charms to simulate the habitats of various creatures, allowing all known magical creatures from the wizarding world to find a suitable living environment here.

Scamander was a Hufflepuff student at Hogwarts, expelled in his fourth year for taking the blame for his crush, Leta Lestrange. At that time, he took this suitcase, belonging to the school, to embark on his personal adventures. It wasn't until many years later, when he reached retirement age and resolved his feelings about Hogwarts, that he asked his son to return the suitcase to the school. Little did he expect that his son would return it by hiding it in the Room of Requirement. Fortunately, this allowed Soren to acquire this magical suitcase.

This suitcase held endless possibilities for Soren; he could establish and train his own army of magical creatures. Just think, an army made up of fire dragons and thunderbirds (Soren disregarded the difficulty of taming five-star creatures)—how exhilarating that would be. Look at Voldemort; didn't he also establish a dark army composed of Acromantulas and Dementors?

In addition, the space within the suitcase could serve as a secret base for building his own power, where he could conduct various secret experiments and research in the little wooden house, and even practice forbidden spells.

As for the Room of Requirement? Forget it. Not to mention the potential confrontation with Harry's Dumbledore's Army in the future, that place is known even to the useless professor Trelawney and house-elves—can it still be called a "secret base"? The Room of Requirement is best left for Harry and his boy scouts.

After pondering all these thoughts, Soren moved from the suitcase to begin his research on the second magical item.

This was a silver dagger. Both sides of the dagger were engraved with unknown ancient runes. These ancient runes were linked together with strange lines to form a miniature magic circle. Soren happened to be skilled in deciphering ancient magical runes and spent several hours successfully deciphering the magic circle.

One side of the dagger was engraved with the ancient runes "Indestructible Curse." Unlike modern anti-armor spells, the Indestructible rune can add a physical property to weapons that ignores all physical defenses. This means that once Soren activates this magic rune with magic power, even the toughest dragon hide or diamond can be easily pierced. The other side of the dagger bears the more malevolent "Corrupted Spirit Erosion rune," which is a type of rune that can directly harm the soul.

Soren was both surprised and delighted by this discovery. The dagger came at just the right time; one side would allow him to pierce the skin of a basilisk, while the other could be used to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes. He was left speechless by his extraordinary luck. Could it be that he was the chosen one in this world, under the halo of the protagonist?

The third item, the diadem of Ravenclaw, contained a fragment of Voldemort's soul. Soren believed that his current strength was not sufficient to handle the potential traps Voldemort might have left behind. Being cautious, he did not consider it the right time to begin researching it and could only set it aside for later study when his powers were greater.

[Scamander's suitcase acquired!]

[Pure silver dagger acquired!]

[Ravenclaw's diadem acquired!]

Having completed the adventure in the Room of Requirement, Soren began to contemplate his next step; with his abilities, he seemed ready to venture into the Forbidden Forest. The issue was that his understanding of the Forbidden Forest was limited to what he had read in the original story. He needed more information, even a map of the Forbidden Forest, to plan his adventure route.

The person who knew the Forbidden Forest best was undoubtedly the Keeper of Keys and Grounds, Hagrid. Unfortunately, in this regard, he did not have the advantage of a close relationship with Hagrid like Harry and the others. As a Slytherin and of course being Malfoy blood, he figured it would be difficult to earn Hagrid's favor, let alone receive any help.

As for stealing a map... Soren was very pessimistic about that. According to the original story, Hagrid didn't seem to be the kind of person who would plan routes or draw maps; he would more likely explore the Forbidden Forest based on experience and instinct.

For now, the plan to explore the Forbidden Forest could be put on hold, especially since the Christmas holiday was approaching. This year, things were quite turbulent in his family—since the start of the school year, Arthur Weasley had searched the Malfoy family home twice. His parents had already written to inform him and Draco that they would be spending the Christmas holiday at Hogwarts.

A few days later, a notice appeared on the student bulletin board in the common room announcing that Hogwarts would host a Dueling Club on December 17.

This explosive news sparked great interest among the students, who rushed to tell each other and eagerly speculated about the identity of the organizer. Most guesses pointed to Professor Flitwick or Headmaster Dumbledore. Only Soren, who was familiar with the plot, curled his lips; naive youths would be in for a disappointment, as the real organizer was the empty-headed waste, Lockhart.

Although Soren disdained that the organizer was Lockhart, he was still quite interested in the Dueling Club. He decided to participate that day, hoping to find a combat partner of a comparable level to practice with.

On Wednesday evening at eight o'clock, after students returned to the common room to quickly rest following dinner, they hurried back to the Great Hall. The long dining tables had disappeared, and a gilded stage appeared along one wall, illuminated by hundreds of floating candles above. Everyone squeezed together, holding their wands with excited expressions, chattering eagerly and anticipating Dumbledore's entrance.

Lockhart walked onto the stage, wearing a flamboyant purple robe and shining brightly.

The lively atmosphere in the Great Hall abruptly froze; the previously chattering voices fell silent as everyone saw who stood next to Lockhart—none other than the sullen-faced Snape, dressed in his usual black attire.

The students, who initially hoped to learn some real skills, were disappointed to discover that the Dueling Club had turned into a joke.

Lockhart was originally planning to demonstrate how to duel, but he had chosen the wrong opponent. Snape was definitely not wizard who could be easily manipulated in class.

After Lockhart counted down to three, Snape simply waved his wand lightly, and a dazzling red flash shot past the crowd. Lockhart was struck and stumbled, flying back off the stage, crashing into the wall and sliding down to curl up on the floor.

Amidst the shrieks of the girls, Lockhart stumbled to his feet, his hat falling off, and his wavy curls standing on end.

He teetered back onto the stage and said, "I think everyone has seen it, this is a disarming spell; as you can see, I have lost my wand. Yes, Professor Snape, show them this trick; it's a brilliant idea. However, I must say, your intention to pull this move earlier was way too obvious. If I wanted to stop you, it wouldn't take much effort. I actually think, for the sake of broadening their horizons, we might as well show them…"

Noticing the murderous look on Snape's face, Lockhart quickly added, "The demonstration ends here. Now I will come among you and pair you all into groups of two. Professor Snape, if you're willing to help me…"

They wove through the crowd, pairing everyone up. Whether out of spite or not, Snape grouped Draco with Harry, Soren with Ron, and Hermione with a burly Slytherin girl named Millicent Bulstrode…

As soon as Lockhart shouted "Three, two, one," a cloud of green smoke spread throughout the entire venue. Harry and Draco were hit by each other's curses, with Draco rolling on the ground laughing and Harry uncontrollably hopping in a strange dance until Snape went over to help them break free; Neville and Justin lay on the floor, panting; Hermione and Millicent were still at it, with Millicent gripping Hermione's head while Hermione whimpered in pain, both of their wands forgotten on the floor.

As for Soren? Ron had just raised his wand, not uttering a single word of the spell, when Soren easily confiscated Ron's wand. At that moment, Ron was still stunned, standing there at a loss. Soren couldn't help but click his tongue, finding his opponent too weak and lacking any challenge.

Meanwhile in the distance, Snape glanced over and showed a thoughtful expression.