While having lunch in the Great Hall, Lucien found himself thinking about Lockhart's early retirement plan.
Lockhart was truly useless. Aside from his looks, he offered nothing of value to the young wizards' learning or growth.
Unless, of course, someone wanted to learn how to dress well, smile for photographs, fabricate stories, or charm witches.
Just then, a timid voice beside him interrupted his thoughts.
"H-hello, Harry?"
"I'm Colin Creevey, I'm in Gryffindor too. C-can I take a picture of you?"
Lucien glanced over and saw a very thin boy with grayish hair standing behind Harry. He was holding a Muggle camera, his face full of nervous excitement.
As Colin introduced himself, Lucien quickly realized he was Muggle-born, hoping to take more photos related to magic and send them home to his father.
Seeing that he wasn't needed, Lucien was about to get up and leave when Colin suddenly turned to him, his eyes shining.
"You must be Lucien, right? The Sorting Hat mentioned you to me, and last night in the common room, some twin upperclassmen were selling magical items you invented. That's incredible! I heard it's Alchemy, and it looks so magical!"
"Unfortunately, I don't have enough pocket money, so I can't buy a compass yet. Climbing those stairs before class today made me really dizzy. But it's fine, I can just follow my roommates. Some of them bought one…"
Hearing this, Lucien thought to himself that the demand for those compasses and maps was indeed promising.
Once other students experienced the "treacherous" staircases of Hogwarts, and with Gryffindor's noticeably reduced tardiness as proof, the twins' business would only continue to improve.
After speaking, Colin raised his camera and looked at Harry and Lucien expectantly.
"Can I take your picture? It'd be even better if you could sign it for me!"
Lucien didn't mind and nodded in agreement.
Harry, perhaps already used to being photographed by the Daily Prophet after promoting Lockhart at his book signing, hesitated for a moment before agreeing as well.
Colin quickly took their photos, then crouched down beside Harry, who was closer, checking the shots as he spoke.
"I heard that with a special developing potion, photos can move. Magic is truly amazing."
"Once they're developed, could you please sign them for me? I'm really troubling you…"
At that moment, a drawling voice cut in.
"Potter, looks like you're already qualified to hand out signed photos, huh?"
"Should we line up to get one?"
Harry didn't need to turn around to know who it was. When he did, he saw Malfoy, just as expected.
Faced with Malfoy's mockery, Harry's expression turned strange. He glanced at Lucien out of the corner of his eye and saw a faintly amused smile on his face.
Not getting the reaction he expected, Malfoy also sensed something was off. He instinctively looked at Lucien, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
Malfoy had noticed last term that, as long as they weren't in remedial classes, Lucien paid little attention to the "conflicts" between him and Harry.
He had planned to take this chance to mock Harry and gain the upper hand, but now it all felt strangely off.
Malfoy couldn't help wondering if something he had said was wrong. Why was no one paying attention to him?
Lucien looked at Malfoy, finding the boy rather amusing.
Draco's sharp tongue was, in truth, quite similar to Harry's. He envied Harry, was jealous of him, and even wanted to be friends, but his initial attitude had been far too harsh.
A poor first impression had directly turned what could have been friendship into rivalry.
With a hint of amusement, Lucien looked at Colin and chuckled softly.
"This is Draco Malfoy, heir to the House of Malfoy, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, a pure-blood wizard family."
"Colin, aren't you documenting things related to magic? The heir of the Malfoy family should be representative enough, shouldn't he?"
While Malfoy was still caught off guard, Lucien quickly shot Colin a subtle wink.
The boy was quick-witted and immediately understood Lucien's meaning. He raised his camera and asked Malfoy,
"May I take your picture?"
"Huh?"
Malfoy seemed to freeze, failing to react at once.
To be honest, he was jealous, or rather envious, that Harry had been photographed and reported on by the Daily Prophet a few days ago.
And now a child was asking to take his picture?
Even if he was a Gryffindor, even if he looked like a Muggle-born… but hadn't Lucien just said it? He was the heir of the House of Malfoy, a pure-blood noble, a representative of magic.
There was no reason to refuse.
Having been completely led along by Lucien, Malfoy suppressed his excitement, lightly coughed, and said,
"Ahem. Malfoy permits it. Go ahead."
He straightened his posture, his expression turning serious.
Colin immediately raised his camera and began snapping photos.
"Um, could you strike a pose?"
Malfoy hesitated for a moment, then stiffly made a gesture.
The faint redness at the back of his neck betrayed his embarrassment.
Lucien nodded slightly. As expected, pure-blood nobles were easy to handle like this.
The plan he had set up with the twins would likely work just fine. Most students might not have much money, but that didn't apply to this group of pure-bloods.
Especially the Slytherins. Their purses were quite full.
Still, Malfoy's emotions seemed somewhat restrained… Lucien glanced at the multicolored crystal ball in his pocket. In his special vision, thin, vibrant strands flowed from Malfoy and drifted into the crystal ball.
This was the method Professor Nicolas had taught him for collecting "emotions."
And "emotions" were one of the materials used to refine the Philosopher's Stone.
According to Nicolas, the most suitable and pure material for creating a Philosopher's Stone was the residual soul energy left behind when a human died.
At first, Lucien had thought it required complete souls, but he soon realized that if such a cruel method as using entire human souls were employed, then this pinnacle of Alchemy would be no different from the Dark Arts.
So why was Nicolas able to create so many Philosopher's Stones?
He had lived for more than six hundred years. In that time, how many large-scale deaths had humanity experienced?
Wars, famines, plagues…
Nicolas had given Lucien a task: to personally refine a Philosopher's Stone.
If he could not obtain enough soul energy, then using the "colors" of the soul, emotions, would also suffice.
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