Just moments ago, Lucius Malfoy had been arrogant and composed, but the instant his gaze met Wes Elwin's, a wave of inexplicable panic surged through his heart. The very next second, he quickly averted his eyes, and in a flustered rush, grabbed Draco and hurriedly left Flourish and Blotts.
In his panic, he completely forgot the carefully planned scheme he had come for.
It wasn't until he had calmed down a little that Lucius reached for his chest.
In that moment, his face turned deathly pale—like a sheet of bloodless parchment.
"Where is it? Where did it go?"
Frenzied, Lucius began patting himself down, searching every pocket.
Desperation took over when no matter how hard he searched, the item he'd been so fixated on was gone.
"No… no no no—this is bad!!"
A powerful fear rose up in Lucius's chest. Just the thought of what losing that diary could lead to made his legs go weak, and he collapsed to the ground with a heavy thump.
That diary wasn't just any book—it was something he had been entrusted with by that person.
"Father, what's wrong?"
Draco looked on in confusion. He had never seen his father so distraught before.
In his memory, his father had always been calm, elegant, and above it all—the untouchable head of the noble Malfoy family. Never once had he lost his composure like this.
"It's nothing... I just dropped something..."
Lucius tried to make his voice sound composed, not wanting Draco to worry.
But with his ghastly pale complexion and trembling legs, the act was hardly convincing.
Draco looked at his father, his face full of worry. He strained to help Lucius back to his feet.
"Was it something important?" he asked.
"Just a diary..."
Lucius forced a smile, trying to calm his son.
"A diary?" Draco frowned slightly.
He couldn't understand what was so important about a diary that it would cause his father to act like this.
"If it's lost, we can just buy another one from the store," Draco said innocently.
But Lucius's eyes suddenly lit up, like someone who had just caught a glimmer of hope in the darkness.
"The bookstore... Flourish and Blotts!"
'It must've fallen during the commotion inside the shop.'
That thought re-energized Lucius, and without a second thought, he broke into a run, completely forgetting his noble image.
"Father, wait for me!"
Draco shouted, scrambling after his father with his short legs, struggling to keep up.
Lucius, as he ran, pulled out his monocle and placed it over one eye.
This wasn't just an ordinary monocle—it was a magical device. One of its functions was long-distance vision.
Through the lens, Lucius scanned the ground of the bookstore from afar.
Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat.
He could clearly see the diary lying on the floor of Flourish and Blotts.
"Yes!!"
Lucius punched the air in triumph.
But just a second later, his smile froze on his face.
Because through the lens, he saw Wes Elwin bend down and pick up the diary from the floor.
"Damn it!!"
Lucius cursed inwardly, just about to lash out—when he suddenly saw Wes nod at him.
He thought he must be seeing things. He blinked rapidly.
Looking again, he saw something even more unexpected—Wes was holding the diary and actually giving him a polite nod of greeting.
Lucius's jaw dropped in shock.
His monocle even slipped from his eye socket and tumbled to the ground.
"Huff… huff…"
Draco finally caught up, panting heavily.
He looked at his father's strange expression with a puzzled face.
"Dad, slow down. It's just a diary."
Lucius adjusted his monocle and cast his gaze in Wes's direction again.
He saw Wes casually chatting with the Weasley family, like nothing had happened. For a brief moment, Lucius even began to wonder if he'd imagined the whole thing.
"Father, what's going on? You've been acting weird ever since we left the bookstore," Draco asked, still confused.
"It's nothing." Lucius slowly exhaled, trying to steady himself.
"That young man earlier… he's a professor at Hogwarts?"
"Yeah! He teaches Magical Runes," Draco replied, instantly perking up at the mention of Wes.
He started recounting the events from last term with great enthusiasm:
"Professor Elwin is amazing—during that time in the Forbidden Forest…"
"Hmm? The Forbidden Forest? Why were you in a place like that?"
Realizing he had let something slip, Draco clamped his mouth shut, his face filled with panic. It was surprisingly cute.
"I'm not scolding you," Lucius said, his tone softening as he saw his son's anxiety. He gently ruffled Draco's hair.
"Tell me more about this Professor Elwin. What kind of person is he?"
Inside, Lucius was thinking hard.
'The diary ending up in the hands of a professor isn't the worst thing. At the very least, it'll be brought back to Hogwarts.'
With that thought, he finally felt a bit more at ease. The result was what mattered—the method didn't.
And so, he left Diagon Alley with Draco in tow.
---
On the other side, Wes politely declined the dinner invitation from the Weasley couple.
Right now, only one thing occupied his thoughts: studying the diary he'd just acquired.
He knew perfectly well what it was: a Horcrux—one of the most critical objects in the Harry Potter world.
In the original story, Voldemort was the only known wizard who had ever created a Horcrux.
The creation process was extremely evil. It required committing heinous acts—typically murder—to split the soul. A fragment of that soul was then extracted and stored in an external object, creating a Horcrux.
As a result, even if the dark wizard's body was destroyed, they wouldn't truly die so long as their Horcruxes survived.
However, splitting the soul renders it unstable. Fragmented souls cannot feel the pain of destruction, which means the creator won't even notice if one of their Horcruxes is destroyed.
That's why many powerful dark wizards refused to create Horcruxes. They would rather die cleanly than suffer the soul-scarring consequences.
Voldemort was the only one who dared to create more than one.
Judging from how cold, insane, and mindless Voldemort became later in life compared to his brilliant youth, Wes suspected that creating Horcruxes did irreversible damage to a wizard's mind and soul.
Wes had no interest in creating one himself.
But in studying one? That he was very interested in.
Back at his Hogwarts dorm, Wes hurriedly opened the diary.
After thinking for a moment, he wrote the line:
"It feels great to be back at Hogwarts. This place feels like home."
But the diary didn't react. The words weren't absorbed, nor was there any reply.
'Guess the senior's a little shy… but that's fine. I've got all the time in the world to wear you down. Even if I learn nothing from it, I could trade this thing with Dumbledore for something valuable.'
He carefully locked the diary inside a trap-enchanted box, cast protective spells on it, and tucked it safely into a drawer.