Once Louis had swallowed his potion, Hermione finally relaxed. She stopped holding back, and two jets of white steam hissed out from her ears like a train blowing its whistle.
It really was amusing.
Louis poked her ear and burst out laughing.
Hermione, staring at him in disbelief, realized he showed none of the same symptoms.
"Why… why aren't you reacting?" she demanded indignantly.
"Because he isn't sick. Now move along, others are waiting," Madam Pomfrey said, shooing both of them with a pat. "Next!"
"Haha, looks like you miscalculated," Louis teased, looping Hermione's scarf snugly back around her neck. "Medicine or not, don't catch cold again tonight."
"I… I know."
That small, tender gesture made Hermione's cheeks flush bright red—but the plumes of steam still hissing from her ears rather ruined the mood.
What should have been a sweet little moment instead looked like a gag comedy sketch with over-the-top special effects.
---
That night, after curfew.
Hogwarts was unusually lively.
On his way to the Room of Requirement, Louis opened the Marauder's Map and glanced over the names drifting across it.
First, George and Fred—he had no idea what they were up to, sneaking into the library at this hour.
Apart from them, the usual night wanderers were about. Some were out for secret trysts, others just roaming around for fun. Every time Louis checked the map at night, he found those familiar names drifting about.
But tonight was different. Harry, Ron, and Neville's names were also running across the map.
Harry Potter. Ron Weasley. Neville Longbottom. The three of them were sprinting through the corridors, heading straight for the room that held the Mirror of Erised.
They must have found it—each one desperate to glimpse their deepest desire.
At this point, the Mirror of Erised hadn't yet been moved into the final chamber. That was why Chuan could so easily retrieve the Philosopher's Stone earlier. Afterward, once it was sealed within the enchantments, getting to it would be far more difficult.
And the key problem—Dumbledore himself would eventually go to the chamber and set the mirror in place. Louis couldn't risk him discovering anything unusual. Which meant…
He thought for a moment, then opened a door straight into the Room of Requirement.
Time was short. His chance to study the Philosopher's Stone wouldn't last long.
"Master."
Streams of water gathered before him, forming into the alluring figure of Chuan.
"I've brought the Philosopher's Stone."
She opened her hand, and a vivid crimson gem glowed under the candlelight.
It was an irregular, many-faced crystal, uncut yet gleaming with a brilliance that could mesmerize.
But the Stone was far too precious. No one dared take a blade to it.
Louis accepted the Stone with a faint smile.
So this was the object Voldemort longed for above all else.
And in the end, just to keep it from falling into his hands, Nicolas Flamel himself had chosen to destroy it—sacrificing immortality.
Louis genuinely respected that. If it had been him… he wasn't sure he could make such a choice.
Still, what a waste. One Voldemort, and humanity lost a living fossil.
"The Philosopher's Stone… a miracle that brews the Elixir of Life, and turns mercury into gold."
Louis weighed the Stone in his hand, and suddenly, it didn't feel so impressive after all.
It didn't really have the miraculous "touch gold and it turns to gold" ability. In alchemy, only mercury could be transformed into gold—the Philosopher's Stone simply acted as the catalyst.
Whether for the Elixir of Life or for creating gold, raw materials were always required. The Stone was merely the indispensable medium that allowed such miracles to happen.
"And yet, it's precisely this Stone that's so irresistible…"
Louis muttered as he leaned in, studying it closely. Suddenly, he felt his heartbeat quicken.
Inside his body, the chains that bound the power of the Twelve Talismans seemed to stir. They trembled faintly in reaction to the Stone's presence.
"The Philosopher's Stone… it can affect the Talismans? Of course—this is the most orthodox product of alchemy, a force that catalyzes the balance of yin and yang. And within me… yin and yang are already entangled."
Holding the Stone, Louis' expression shifted slightly.
So it did have value after all. But he couldn't use it directly—not yet. Within him, the yin and yang were locked in a clash between the righteous energy sealing the Talismans and the dark energy trying to break free.
He had spent half a year grinding away, deliberately strengthening the dark qi to overwhelm and suppress the righteous qi. If the Stone simply balanced yin and yang, then all that work would be undone in an instant.
"I can't use it as is… but—what if I do this?" Louis' eyes lit up.
He placed the Philosopher's Stone on the desk before him, staring at it intently. Suddenly, the phantom of the Tiger Talisman flickered in his eyes.
A tiny glow of intertwining yin and yang appeared at his fingertip. He pressed it lightly onto the Stone.
The intertwined light split apart—at that instant, the Philosopher's Stone shuddered, and to Louis' astonishment, it split as well.
Now, in front of him lay two Stones, each identical to the original. Even their owner, Nicolas Flamel himself, would not be able to tell them apart.
But were these still true Philosopher's Stones? Yes. And they were still usable. Only now, their effects had become… peculiar.
Louis picked up the one marked as yin, holding it in his palm. He could feel the resonance of its power with the dark energy inside his own body.
"Interesting…"
The Philosopher's Stone represented the pinnacle of alchemy—its very core principle, the balance of yin and yang.
But when the Stone itself was split into yin and yang by the Tiger Talisman, its once-stable nature grew volatile, restless. Even holding it, Louis could feel the turbulent power churning within.
Yet its function hadn't changed—it was still only a catalyst.
"A catalyst…"
Louis raised the yin-aspected Stone toward himself. "If I use this yin Stone to catalyze my own power… will it hasten the destruction of the seal on the Talismans?"
The thought sent a thrill through him. He immediately activated the yin Stone.
A surge of icy cold flooded into his body. The first to respond was his dark qi.
Under the influence of this chilling breath, the black energy swelled rapidly, spreading until it filled his whole body.
Then the Twelve Talismans, shackled by the chains of righteous energy, stirred as well. They shifted from stable silence to violent agitation, like a volcano about to erupt, like a storm crashing against the chains anchored by the Tiger Talisman.
It worked!
Louis' eyes shone. He immediately reached out to the Talismans' power, trying to drive it to strike at the Tiger Talisman's chain—the last one still whole.
But he hadn't expected it—their frenzied power slipped free of his control in an instant, rampaging through his body like a runaway train.
And with it, a tide of furious emotion awoke inside him.
---
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