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Halfway through the free alchemy phase, Lucien wrapped up his planned work for the day and headed back to his temporary dorm at Beauxbatons for a quick break.
He'd just settled into the sofa by the window to unwind when the air in front of him rippled like an invisible wave.
Luster's form appeared silently, a delicate little pouch hanging from its chest. The swirling lucky clouds around it gently pulsed, carrying a small roll of parchment letter toward Lucien.
"Master, a letter from Mr. Newt," Luster's ethereal voice echoed directly in Lucien's mind, followed by a hint of eagerness. "Do you want to reply now? If not, mind if I zip off to explore the mountains for a bit? Just call if you need me."
Lucien reached out to take the letter and waved him off. "Go ahead, but stay safe."
The little qilin, thrilled to be in a new spot, was buzzing with curiosity about the mountains around Beauxbatons—just like when it first dove into the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts.
Luster nodded happily, vanishing in a flash with a teleport.
Lucien opened the envelope with its familiar handwriting and skimmed through it quickly.
As he read, his eyebrows lifted in clear delight—they'd found her! Newt had tracked down Nagini in the Albanian forest!
He kept going, but his relaxed brows furrowed again as he let out a soft sigh.
The letter mentioned that during their encounter, Nagini had suddenly lashed out in attack. Good thing those alchemy charms he'd given ahead of time kicked in just right, letting Newt subdue her without a scratch.
Lucien's fingers absentmindedly traced the fine texture of the letter paper. Based on the timeline, Voldemort probably hadn't turned Nagini into a soul container yet.
But with the "changes" he'd brought—especially after thrashing Voldemort's remnant soul last year—it was tough to say if that would speed up or slow down the Dark Lord's plans for new soul containers.
Maybe the heavy hit he'd landed meant Voldemort needed more time to recover, pushing back the Nagini plan?
Lucien shook his head, shoving those guesses aside for now. Either way, the priority was confirming Nagini's current state in person.
Once the competition wrapped up at Beauxbatons, he could visit Newt—or wait until summer break. It was important, but not an emergency.
Lucien's thoughts drifted further, landing on Voldemort's other soul containers.
In the original story, Voldemort had made seven in total: Tom Riddle's diary, the Gaunt family ring, Slytherin's locket, Ravenclaw's diadem, Hufflepuff's cup, the giant snake Nagini, and Harry himself.
Lucien got up and went to the desk, pulling out a blank sheet of parchment. He grabbed a quill and started jotting down notes rapidly, organizing what he knew:
Diary: Already in Dumbledore's hands. (Circled)
Gaunt ring: Should be in the abandoned Gaunt family house. (Hmm, need to find a chance to warn Dumbledore about the curse on the ring)
Slytherin locket: With the Black family's house-elf Kreacher? (Question mark)
Ravenclaw diadem: Still in Hogwarts' Room of Requirement. (Circled)
Hufflepuff cup: In the Lestrange family's Gringotts vault? (Question mark)
Nagini: Found by Newt, probably not a soul container yet. (Circled)
Harry: ...
The page was soon dotted with circles and question marks.
Lucien eyed the list; some timeline details were fuzzy in his memory, and a few soul containers still needed hands-on searching to confirm.
Like Slytherin's locket—he'd have to track down that elderly Black family house-elf first.
But the Black family ancestral home wasn't exactly open for visits.
The portrait of former Hogwarts headmaster Phineas Black definitely knew the way back to the old place, but asking that painting straight-up would probably get him nowhere.
Not that it was a huge issue, though.
Lucien tapped the parchment lightly with the quill end. In a few months, the Black family's last legitimate heir—the wrongly accused Sirius Black—would break out of prison.
Then he could just go straight to him; that'd make things easier.
Lucien wasn't worried about finding Sirius.
Per the "plot," after escaping, Sirius's top priority would be tracking down Harry.
All he'd have to do is hang around near Harry...
Use Harry as bait?
That quirky idea, straight out of a fisherman's playbook, caught Lucien off guard. His lips started to curl into a grin, but then he frowned lightly.
His gaze dropped back to that name on the paper—Harry.
Lucien circled "Harry" heavily twice, his brow creasing. How to deal with the Voldemort soul fragment inside the kid?
Did he really have to recreate the original story's setup, having Harry face death head-on and get "killed" by Voldemort himself once?
No, that still carried risks—after all, he'd already changed so much, and one wrong link could lead to irreversible fallout.
Was there a better way...?