What does a magician usually keep in his trunk?
Just about anything that could be put in there. Of course, it still has to hold some personal belongings — magicians are human too, after all. They need to pack their essentials.
So the magician's daily dilemma becomes choosing the best, most magical, and most entertaining props to fit in the limited space left over from day-to-day items.
But Louis was a little more unhinged than most magicians. With access to a storage ring of unknown capacity, he could store all his personal belongings inside it — leaving his trunk free to be filled entirely with whatever props he pleased.
And long before he came to Hogwarts, Louis had already planned to join Slytherin. He'd also considered that someone might cause trouble for him because of it.
Which is why every single one of his trunks was packed full of terrifying and ridiculous magical props.
For instance — a giant jack-in-the-box clown.
The moment the latch clicked open, before Malfoy even had time to react, the trunk exploded open with a powerful spring. A horrific, white-faced clown — painted in grotesque makeup, part funny, part deranged — launched out of the box and smashed directly into Malfoy's face.
At the same time, a mini mechanical phonograph — specially designed to function without electricity at Hogwarts — began playing an earsplitting, hysterical, terrifying laughter.
Malfoy shrieked and fell flat onto the floor. The disturbing laughter made him scramble backward in a panic, leaving behind a suspicious wet trail on the carpet.
...Did he just wet himself?
Louis glanced at the damp spot on the rug with visible distaste. Seriously? In the shared dorm? Now everyone's going to smell that when they sleep tonight.
Such uncivilized behavior.
Louis felt this called for severe moral condemnation.
So… gifting Malfoy a nightmare didn't seem too unreasonable, right?
The black mist manifested, and in the blink of an eye, the illusion clouded every student's senses.
In their minds, the giant clown figure came to life, stretching its monstrous grin to reveal rows of jagged, yellowing teeth.
It leapt down from its spring-loaded base, cackling maniacally as it chased down every student in the dorm.
It was impossibly strong. Brutally relentless. Magic had no effect on it. Even when destroyed, it regenerated instantly.
Every student in the room was caught in the illusion, running in terror through their hallucinated nightmares — while in reality, they stood frozen in place, faces twisted with sheer panic.
Worth mentioning: each illusion was independent. That meant that within each student's illusion, they believed themselves to be alone. Any "classmate" they saw was merely a figment — one who might be suddenly slaughtered to add horror, or who might suddenly become the clown in a terrifying transformation.
"This might be a little cruel," Louis said, shrugging while packing up his trunk, "but I'm a petty man. What can I say?"
The prank wasn't a one-time thing, either. This clown box could still scare plenty of others in the future.
Louis planned to disguise it as a treasure chest on Halloween and plant a fake treasure map for someone to "accidentally" stumble upon.
After tidying up the trunk, Louis tossed two dried rat treats into Fafnir's cage to calm his furious owl, then grabbed a blanket and made his way to the common room to sleep for the night.
At the very least, he'd give the dorm a day to air out before moving back in.
"Good night, gentlemen. Sweet dreams," Louis said, bowing politely to the young wizards still standing motionless, their bodies occasionally twitching from neural response. Then he shut the door behind him and left.
He wasn't worried that the illusion would cause any lasting trauma. He was, after all, a gentleman — one with a conscience.
He had set clear caps on the nightmare cycle and fear intensity, ensuring the kids wouldn't die in the illusion and exit too early, nor lose their minds from terror.
And finally — a memory wipe.
To protect the psychological health of these young snakes, Louis had programmed the illusion to erase their memories of the experience afterward.
They would only remember the fear, without knowing why they were afraid.
"Maybe it'll show up when they face a Boggart," Louis mused, rubbing his left eye. The faint burning and instability reminded him that the Sharingan was starting to lose its edge.
"Well, it is just a replica after all," he muttered.
Suddenly, he paused and glanced down the corridor toward the girls' dormitory. It remained bright and lively — clearly unaware of the chaos on the boys' side.
The social scene over there might not be any less complex than this one.
"Eh, forget it. They're girls. Let them save face. Besides, barging in wouldn't look good for my reputation."
Louis didn't expect that tonight's antics would go unnoticed by the professors or the headmaster. Even though the portraits in the common room hadn't seen through his illusion, it was only a matter of time. By tomorrow, it would all come out.
I mean, did anyone really think those kids — after spending a whole night locked in a nightmare — were going to show up to class fresh and cheerful the next day?
Get real.
By then, Louis would be the only Slytherin boy up and about. Even a fool could figure out who was behind it.
And so, he had to protect his reputation. Sneaking into the girls' dorm would just make things worse. If that accusation stuck, he'd be socially dead — twice over.
Once in the wizarding world… and again back in the Muggle world when the school letter reached his parents.
No way was he going to live that down.
Half-reclining on the sofa in the Slytherin common room, Louis scanned the area to confirm that no one else had left the dorm. Then, eyes drifting toward the underwater view outside the window, he lazily initiated a draw.
Still sitting on 2,720 Trick Points. The points from tonight's little stunt would likely be tallied by tomorrow. So no need to wait.
Spending 2,700 points, he went all in — a full twenty-seven rolls on the basic draw.
Starlight shimmered. Twenty-seven streaks of silvery light landed in his palm. As the glow faded, a wide array of magical items materialized — and their descriptions streamed into Louis's mind one after another.
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