Loren quickly cleared his thoughts and continued with the task at hand.
Peter's brainwashing had already reached its latter stages; he now resembled a fairly competent tool, capable of conducting various alchemy experiments on his own—though, of course, always with himself as the subject.
As for Spiderette, the initial stage of altering her appearance and raising her intelligence had just been completed.
Fortunately, this eight-eyed spider was a female with some degree of intelligence, which made Loren's modifications proceed much more smoothly.
By now, Spiderette looked very close to the version from the anime—her outer fuzz was gone, her color had turned into a mix of white and pink, but her head had yet to be remodeled, still remaining that of a spider, not the cute form Loren remembered from his past life.
In terms of intellect, she could already communicate with people, though her values still needed rebuilding; after all, she had once been a carnivorous eight-eyed spider.
Today Loren wasn't planning to remodel Spiderette's head—that was a massive project.
Instead, he planned to enchant her eight legs with different spells; only a Spiderette who could use magic could truly be called Spiderette.
Loren first prepared to grant her five spells: "Armor Protection," "Engorgio," "Reducio," "Quick Revival," and "Phantom Edge."
Attack, defense, recovery, and the ability to change size—this gave Spiderette a basic battle system. Later he could always add more enchantments as needed.
After a period of busy work, it was nearly dinnertime. The enchantments had gone smoothly, so Loren finished early and even had time to pick up Hermione from the library for dinner.
After dinner, Hermione once again went over the transfiguration experiment plan Loren had written for her, checking the materials prepared last week in order to be ready for tomorrow's experiment.
Meanwhile, Loren was intercepted by George and Fred at the dining table. George had even brought along the gender-bending ring and turned into a woman, drawing cheers from the crowd—even some of the teachers looked their way.
The three of them eventually went to the Room of Requirement and requested a workshop for practicing alchemy.
As soon as they entered, George and Fred stared eagerly at Loren. George, still in female form, looked particularly pitiful.
A little unnerved by their stares, Loren simply tossed two sets of blueprints at them, telling them to decide for themselves.
While the two examined the documents, Loren suddenly remembered something and asked:
"Have you seen Peeves recently? I haven't noticed him bothering Quirrell all week."
Without raising his head, Fred answered:
"We saw Peeves last Sunday, right after leaving the Room of Requirement."
"And after that?" Loren pressed.
"Nope. We made a deal with him to rig the betting pool together. We gave him half the profits and helped convert the money into prank supplies. He agreed, then snuck off to Professor Quirrell's office to peek under his turban. Haven't seen him since. Disappearing for weeks at a time isn't unusual for Peeves."
This time George answered, casually revealing how they had partnered with Peeves to scam money, knowing Loren wouldn't care about such trifles.
From George's reply, Loren finally understood why Peeves had vanished—he must have fallen into Voldemort's hands.
Closing his eyes and sensing carefully, Loren could feel Peeves' presence in Quirrell's office, though in a strange state. He needed to investigate.
Once he confirmed the twins could read the diagrams, Loren left the Room of Requirement and headed for Quirrell's office.
Outside, Loren pulled out the Marauder's Map but didn't open it, instead holding it in his hand and closing his eyes.
Through his research, he had discovered that the Map was actually tied to a portion of Hogwarts' authority—likely part of the Headmaster's authority—that had somehow been stripped away and eventually ended up with the Marauders, who crafted it into the Map.
Now, so long as Loren held the Map, he could borrow that authority to directly check anyone's location in the castle, without needing to open it. It allowed for more flexible control, unlike the rigid limitations of the Map itself.
Loren didn't find Quirrell inside the castle, but on its edge near the Forbidden Forest. Quirrell was moving toward the forest, which meant he wouldn't be back anytime soon. Still, Loren marked him, so that he would be notified once Quirrell returned.
After confirming Quirrell's movements, Loren set off for his office. But he didn't enter directly—instead he just passed by the door.
Through magical vision, Loren saw that the door had been enchanted. It had no offensive quality, likely a detection spell that would alert Quirrell if the door was opened.
When God closes a door, He opens a window.
Following that saying, Loren went into the adjacent empty room, donned his Invisibility Cloak, activated optical invisibility, gently pushed open the window, floated outside, and then closed the window behind him with magic. He drifted along the outer wall until he reached Quirrell's office window.
Seeing the half-open window, Loren marveled at Hogwarts' lack of security—no anti-theft measures at all. It was truly a thief's paradise.
Instead of entering immediately, he peeked through the window to observe the office.
From this vantage point, he saw the desk in the center, covered in parchment, writing tools, and some strange objects that looked like custom magical devices.
Tilting his body, he could make out the bookshelf by the wall. On it sat some books, but in the corner there was a box radiating his own magical imprint—Peeves must have been trapped inside.
After memorizing the layout, Loren didn't rush in. He activated magical vision again to survey the office.
Through it, he saw several clusters of magical energy on the desk, hidden under parchment. Strangely, the "magical devices" he'd noticed before emitted no reaction at all—a clever trick by Voldemort, using misdirection.
The books had normal magical traces, typical of wizarding tomes. But the box was shrouded in dark magic, clearly sealed by Voldemort himself.
Given Peeves' failed spying attempt, the energy clusters on the desk were surely alarm items. He would need to be cautious.
After confirming the setup, Loren pulled out two potions and drank them in sequence.
The first transformed him into Peter Pettigrew. The second turned him into a rat, identical to Scabbers.
He had George, Fred, and Peter to thank for this plan: the twins' notes had inspired the idea, and Peter himself had provided crucial help during development.
The double disguise was to better impersonate Peter, since Voldemort knew that Peter was an Animagus.
Prepared, Loren slipped through the window as a rat.
Experiencing a rat's senses for the first time was surprisingly novel, offering insights into perception. But now wasn't the time for study; he had to explore Quirrell's office.
In rat form, he carefully searched all areas without magical traces, finding nothing unusual.
Then his focus shifted to the desk and bookshelf.
He wouldn't risk investigating the desk as a rat, so he returned to Peter's form.
The moment he did, the magical reactions on the desk began to stir. Quickly wrapping himself in his own magic, Loren leapt away from the desk.
After the dodge, he realized the objects weren't offensive—only radiating waves of energy. They were detection devices.
Suddenly, a message flashed in his mind: Quirrell had left the Forbidden Forest and reentered Hogwarts. He must have sensed the intrusion and was rushing back.
Quirrell's pace wasn't fast—he'd need over ten minutes to return—showing his confidence in the defenses.
Seeing this, Loren didn't probe further. With a wave of both hands, he deployed an anti-magic field, suppressing all magical flow in the area.
On the map, Quirrell's speed suddenly quickened. Loren wasted no time: he pulled out a special box, placed the container holding Peeves inside, sealed it, and stored it in his personal space.
Then he drank another potion, turned back into a rat, and slipped out the window. Instead of going to the adjacent room, he scurried along the wall to the outside of the castle, found a secluded spot, changed back, and strolled calmly back toward Hogwarts.
Quirrell dashed toward his office. He had trusted his defenses; they had been enough to capture Peeves.
But just moments ago, he had lost contact with the magical devices in his office. Even the Dark Lord informed him that the enchanted box restraining Peeves was no longer in his control. Realizing something was wrong, Quirrell had immediately broken into a sprint.
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