The next morning, the castle moved as it always did—students heading to class, the usual noise filling the corridors—but Victor was not among them.
Dumbledore had given him leave.
He intended to use it.
Seated in the quiet of the Slytherin dormitory, away from the usual distractions, Victor focused inward and brought up his status.
---
[Status Screen — Victor Malfoy]
Name: Victor Lucius Malfoy
Age: 12
Blood Status: Pure-blood
House: Slytherin
Title: The Fortunate One
[Core Attributes]
Magic Power: B+
Exceptional for his age; already comparable to an average adult wizard.
Magic Control: A
Precise and refined, suitable for advanced spellwork and controlled casting.
Mental Strength: S
Highly resistant to fear, pressure, and mental interference.
Intelligence: S
Sharp comprehension, rapid learning, and strong analytical ability.
Luck: ???
Unmeasurable. Influenced by the system.
[Innate Traits]
Magic Heart (Unique)
Eyes of the Dead (Passive)
Allows perception of magic flow, death-related auras, lingering souls, and cursed objects.
Enhanced Intelligence (Passive)
Accelerated learning, improved reasoning, and advanced spell analysis.
[Skills]
Animagus (Basilisk)
Apparition (Full Level)
Astral Projection
Occlumency (Full Level)
Avada Kedavra (Full Level)
Imperio (Full Level)
Crucio (Full Level)
---
Victor dismissed the status screen and rested back against the chair, going over it again in his head instead of looking at it.
"Yeah… now my status actually looks good," he muttered. "At least now I can be called a proper wizard."
Power, control, mental resistance, and those skills—especially Occlumency and the Unforgivable Curses—put him far ahead of where he should be at this age.
"For now, I should focus on learning the more dangerous spells," he said quietly, thinking it through rather than boasting.
The timeline ahead was clear in his mind.
Fourth year.
The Triwizard Tournament.
The graveyard.
Voldemort's return.
He had no intention of interfering with that.
Stopping it now would only delay the problem and make it harder to deal with later, and more importantly, it would leave something unfinished.
Harry.
Victor's gaze lowered slightly as he considered it again.
"There's still a Horcrux inside him," he said under his breath, his tone steady. "As long as that exists, killing Voldemort doesn't solve anything."
That was the part no one else could handle.
If Voldemort returned, he would unknowingly destroy that fragment himself, and only then would the situation become clean enough to end properly.
Victor exhaled once, slow and controlled.
"I'll let it happen," Victor said, not as a guess but as a decision. "And when the time comes, I'll deal with it."
He knew the risk.
It could cost Harry his life if something went wrong, but there wasn't a cleaner path. Some things had to play out the way they were meant to, otherwise the problem would never truly end.
***
In Charms class, the room was filled with the usual noise of students practicing basic spellwork.
Hermione, however, wasn't paying full attention.
She glanced toward the Slytherin side again, her focus drifting.
Victor wasn't there.
That, by itself, wasn't normal.
Harry noticed.
"Do you think Victor's in some sort of trouble?" he asked quietly from behind his desk, keeping his voice low enough that it wouldn't carry.
Hermione frowned slightly.
"I don't know," she admitted. "Professor Dumbledore did take him away last night. He might still be dealing with that."
Ron, who was sitting beside Harry, looked up at that.
"Well, if he is in trouble, it's about time," he muttered, though there wasn't much conviction in it.
Harry ignored that.
"I wanted to ask him something."
Hermione turned toward him.
"What is it?"
Ron leaned slightly closer, curious despite himself.
Harry hesitated for a moment, then said, "That diary… the one that controlled Ginny. It was put into her things by his father."
Ron's expression hardened immediately.
"I just wanted to know if Victor knew anything about it," he continued. "If his father planned it… or if there's more to it."
"What's there to ask?" Ron said, his frustration rising. "It was the Malfoy family. They're the ones who did this to Ginny. That's enough for me."
Hermione didn't agree that easily.
"That doesn't mean Victor was involved," she said, her tone firm. "We've already seen what he did yesterday. If he knew about it beforehand, why would he help us stop it?"
Ron didn't answer immediately, looking away, still angry but unable to argue against that point.
Harry stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. He didn't fully trust the situation, but he didn't fully doubt Victor either, because Victor was the one who had helped them deal with the basilisk and saved Ginny—if he hadn't been there, Ginny would have died and Voldemort might have come back.
"And you too, Ron—stop trying to paint Victor in a bad light," Hermione said, her voice firm, sharper than usual. "Whether you like it or not, he helped save your sister."
*****
A/N : 🔥 On Patreon🔥
⚡ A 15-chapter early access is available for those who want to read ahead ⚡
👉 patreon.com/JakeA30