After all, it was just a standard lottery draw, so the effects weren't particularly strong—hence the "slight" enhancement.
Louis didn't mind. After confirming there were no side effects or usage restrictions, he swallowed the three pills and leaned back on the couch, closing his eyes.
The medicinal energy spread gently through him, nourishing his mental strength. The fatigue caused by the injection potions and the intense use of illusions quickly melted away.
He slept straight through the night, waking up at six the next morning. Stretching with a yawn, Louis found that he had fully digested the three pills without any side effects or power surges.
He focused inward. His spiritual energy could now briefly project about three meters outside his body—a combined result of the instant-strengthening potion and the three Soul-Enhancing Pills.
However, the duration was still lacking. He could only sustain it for about ten minutes at a time before needing a few seconds of rest. Short recovery window or not, it was still far from ideal for Louis.
"Whatever. Let's go explore the castle a bit before class."
He quickly freshened up and glanced around the quiet Slytherin common room—no one else was awake.
"The morning is the best time of the day, and they're wasting it," Louis muttered. He was mostly referring to the girls—he didn't expect the boys to get up before class anyway. Most of them would probably sleep until late morning.
Once he left the common room, his next challenge was navigating the castle.
Hogwarts was massive. And to make things worse, in order to protect itself from Muggle persecution in the past, the castle was designed with moving staircases. Missing the right one could easily cost you an extra ten or fifteen minutes just to get back on track.
Right now, Louis stood on one such staircase as it slowly shifted away from the path toward the Great Hall and veered off to who-knows-where.
He didn't bother using the Talisman to fly over. He was just wandering anyway—what did it matter where he ended up?
Eventually, he realized this staircase led high up, nearly to the top of the castle. When he finally reached the end, he found himself in front of a bronze statue with the head of an eagle.
Calling it a statue might not be quite right—it even had a door knocker hanging below it.
This design... he'd definitely heard of it somewhere before.
Louis stared at the eagle head for a while before it suddenly came to life and opened its beak.
"Which came first—the phoenix or the flame?"
Ah. Just as he thought. This was the entrance to Ravenclaw's common room.
Unlike the other houses, Ravenclaw didn't require a password to enter. It welcomed any visitor with wisdom—as long as they could solve the riddle, they were free to walk in.
And that was the riddle just now.
"The phoenix or the flame?" Louis looked at the eagle-head statue. "It should be fire. Fire is one of the fundamental forces of the world. The phoenix isn't."
The eagle head fell silent for a few seconds, as if caught off guard by his answer. Then, after a pause of over ten seconds, it slowly responded, "A valid point."
With a creak, the door opened to reveal a staircase leading up to the Ravenclaw common room.
But Louis had no intention of going in. He'd only answered the riddle out of curiosity about the statue. He still needed to head to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, someone came rushing down the stairs—colliding headfirst into his chest.
Thank goodness for protective charms—otherwise, that impact might've seriously knocked him over.
"Hermione, be careful," Louis said, immediately steadying the girl he recognized at once.
"Louis?" Hermione looked up and saw his face just inches away. Startled, she realized she'd slammed right into his chest. Her face turned red as she quickly stepped back. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, just wandering around, trying to familiarize myself with the layout so I don't get lost on the way to class," Louis replied. "Why were you rushing?"
"Same reason as you," Hermione said, still blushing slightly. "But I overslept a little... I was worried I wouldn't have time to explore."
"You're too nervous," Louis said with a chuckle. His internal clock was always accurate—something that came naturally to a magician who often had to keep precise timing. "It's not even seven yet. You've got plenty of time. What classes do you have today?"
"Potions in the morning, Transfiguration in the afternoon. You?" Hermione asked.
"Exactly the opposite," Louis replied with a helpless shrug.
Just hearing that seemed to annoy Hermione.
"Why didn't you choose Ravenclaw?" she asked, frowning with concern. "I'm sure you could have. You must've asked the Sorting Hat to put you in Slytherin, didn't you? Did they bully you last night?"
"I think you should have a little more faith in me," Louis said, grinning. "Maybe I was the one bullying them."
"Let's talk on the way—we should get breakfast first."
The two of them walked side by side down the staircase, waiting for it to shift in the right direction.
"If you were the one bullying them, that'd actually be a relief," Hermione said with a light humph. "Want to go to the library together during lunch? I heard it's massive here, and they have loads of books you can't buy outside—or that aren't even allowed to be sold."
"Lunch might not work," Louis said. "How about after classes? I have to meet with Headmaster Dumbledore at lunch."
"That's fine too. But why are you seeing the Headmaster?" Hermione asked in surprise. "I heard Dumbledore is the greatest wizard in Britain. I'd love to meet him in person someday."
"It's about my enrollment. You probably don't know this, but I almost didn't make it in—my owl never delivered the letter," Louis explained.
"No letter? Oh my gosh—then how did you find out about Hogwarts? Did they fix the mistake in time?" Hermione asked in disbelief.
"Not exactly. I found them," Louis said honestly. "I knew I was different from the start."
He wasn't lying.
"In fact," he continued, "when we first met, I hadn't even been to Diagon Alley. I hadn't interacted with any other wizards yet."
"But you…" Hermione paused, remembering that day. "You seemed so familiar with the wizarding world."
"Because I've been aware of it for a long time," Louis said softly. "It's just that no one else noticed."
"Then why are you telling me this...?"
"Because I don't lie to friends," Louis said with a smile in his eyes, "and besides, it's not exactly a secret worth keeping."
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