In the morning, when Vaughn opened his eyes, he felt a heavy pressure on his chest, making it hard to breathe. He pulled back the quilt and found Hexby's enormous cat head resting on him, eyes half-closed in contentment, soft and warm.
"Good morning, you rascal. Sneaking into my bed again."
"Meow!" Hexby purred and rubbed against him affectionately.
After playing with the big cat for a while, Vaughn finally got up. Sunlight had already spilled into the Black Lake. His dormitory, perched fairly high, was only about ten meters above the water's surface.
Rays of pale sunlight filtered through the lake's icy surface, casting shimmering ripples beneath the water.
Vaughn had gone to bed very late the previous night—not due to the excitement of fighting Voldemort, but because he'd been replaying that short battle in his mind, analyzing Voldemort's current state.
His final conclusion was that the situation was even worse than he'd expected.
"Without unicorn blood, Voldemort is probably relying on draining Quirrell's life force to stay alive. That's why he didn't hesitate to act the moment Quirrell cried for help."
"He's afraid… afraid of losing his last loyal servant, afraid his resurrection plan will fall apart…"
Though the figure last night had been terrifying, twisted in form, brimming with magic, and casting a chilling Killing Curse, Vaughn, upon reflection, saw through it all.
Voldemort was strong in appearance but hollow inside.
When casting the Killing Curse, he hadn't even spared enough magic to repair Quirrell's Shield charm, allowing Vaughn's Laceration curse to pierce straight through.
When Dumbledore was about to arrive, he fled without hesitation.
"The once-feared Dark Lord who terrorized the world… reduced to this. How ironic." Vaughn sighed inwardly, washed up, and instead of leaving the bathroom, opened the system panel.
It was Halloween—November 1st—the time for monthly reputation point settlement.
[Host: Vaughn Weasley]
[Magic Scale: 444 (500 for average adult wizard)]
[Talents: Charms 7, Dark Arts 6, Transfiguration 8, Potions 10(Max), Herbology 6, Divination 2]
[Spells: Occlumency LV5 (MAX), Shield Charm LV4 (0/16), Laceration Curse(Sectumsempra) LV1 (0/4), Disillusionment Charm LV1 (1/4), Vanishing Spell (Evanesco) LV0 (2/3), Patronus Charm (Expecto Patronum) LV0 (0/4)...]
[Potions: Euphoria Potion,...]
[Reputation Points: 6]
Seeing the number on the magic scale, Vaughn curled his lip, not too bad.
Skipping over the long list of spells and potions he'd learned, Vaughn focused on his reputation points. "6 points… only 1 gained last month?"
He wasn't sure of the cause, though it likely wasn't related to his Potions reputation. Since enrolling, he hadn't launched any new potions in two months and had cut potion sales to once every two weeks due to academic demands. Thankfully, this reduced output hadn't affected his name recognition.
"Maybe it's from joining the Slytherin Quidditch team—or killing the troll last night. Or both?"
Unfortunately, reputation calculation wasn't quantifiable, and the system didn't provide details.
After a moment of thought, Vaughn moved on. Looking at his settled points, he decided to spend 4 points to raise the Patronus Charm to LV1 (0/8), and 1 more point to raise Vanishing Spell to LV1 (0/6).
He left 1 point unused—saving it for next month's settlement.
As for not investing in the Scarpin's Revelaspell—well, at LV3 it required 32 points for a full level-up. Spending just 6 points on it was a waste. Besides, LV3 was sufficient for now, and the frequent use of that spell while working on potions would naturally increase proficiency.
So why pick Patronus and Vanishing? Because those two spells were painfully hard.
He'd spent over a month stuck on them, nearly driven mad. The Patronus Charm required pure, positive emotions—memories of joy so intense you could bathe in them.
It sounded simple. It wasn't. Pure emotions were one hurdle—people always have stray thoughts, and those alone could disrupt the Patronus.
Fortunately, Vaughn's mental discipline was strong. He could suppress distractions and hone in on the required emotions.
But "positive" emotions? That was the real issue.
In theory, the Patronus could be fueled by strong feelings of happiness, but…Vaughn had lived an adult life before crossing into this world. The grind of society had long worn him down.
Ask him to complain about EMI, job stress, or the pressure of survival—he could rant for days. Ask him to recall truly joyful memories? He had nothing to offer but weariness and sighs.
Sure, there were happy times—but adult life dulled their glow, and they simply weren't enough to summon a Patronus.
That's why training progress had been so slow. After several days without gaining a single point, he'd shelved it.
Now, with the Patronus Charm finally upgraded to Level 1, Vaughn drew his wand and chanted: "Expecto Patronum!"
Unlike a month ago, the spell no longer felt impossible. As the words left his lips, long-forgotten memories slowly surfaced, faded by time, and were buried deep in his heart. They were childhood fragments.
Riding on his father's shoulders, snuggling in his mother's arms, racing across a field with classmates at sunset, the first shy confession to a girl he liked…
Each image rose from the mist of memory, becoming vivid and sharp. Joy, warmth, love, hope—emotions once dulled by time—welled up again.
It felt like a lock had clicked open.
Memories from both lifetimes, old and new, flipped past like pages in the wind—Arthur, Molly, Ginny… his first trip to Diagon Alley… first brush with magic… his first pet, in both lives…
The two lifetimes resonated in this moment. Entwined with magic, those memories flowed through his body, down his wand, and concentrated at the tip, becoming misty white light.
The light shimmered, spread, flowed—then suddenly surged.
A clear tone echoed from the mist. The fog billowed, and the next moment, a translucent, silver-blue Maine Coon leapt forth, trailing a long, elegant tail, spinning mid-air before landing.
"Meow—" It looked up at Vaughn with a gentle cry.
Vaughn stared down at it and suddenly felt something warm on his cheek. Raising a hand, his fingers touched something clear and wet.
Tears.