Slytherin Common Room.
11:00 PM.
The normally dim and chilly common room was lit as bright as day by the cold fire from Ivan's wand tip.
The long table was strewn with various disturbing props: a dead lab rat, several bottles of disgusting-looking potions, and a gleaming silver scalpel.
The Slytherin first-years had been forcibly gathered here by Ivan.
Blaise Zabini sat in the front row, pale-faced, clutching his quill as if awaiting execution. Pansy Parkinson covered her nose with disdain but dared not leave.
"Is everyone here?"
Ivan stood at the head of the table, wearing a black leather apron he'd procured from somewhere, holding Salazar Slytherin's notebook from the Chamber of Secrets.
"Good." Ivan knocked on the table. "Tonight, we won't discuss boring Disarming Charms. We're going to discuss something high-end—Soul Engineering."
He grabbed the dead rat by its tail and held it up.
"In this world, there is only one kind of magic that conquers death: Horcruxes."
The young snakes gasped.
Horcruxes? That was Dark Magic so vile its name shouldn't even be mentioned!
"Relax." Ivan smirked maniacally. "Voldemort's crude method of soul-splitting is an insult to Horcruxes. A true Horcrux is art. It is making the instant eternal."
He turned to Professor Snape, who was sitting in the corner.
Yes, Snape was there too.
Not only was he there, but he had pulled up a chair next to Ivan, notebook in hand, taking diligent notes with a fanatical "thirst for knowledge" in his eyes.
"Professor, the clamp." Ivan held out his hand.
Without a word, Snape waved his wand, and the dead rat was bound by invisible ropes to a specially made wooden frame.
"Keep the temperature at 37 degrees Celsius to simulate a living environment," Snape added coldly. "Don't scorch the skin; I need to see the incision clearly."
The entire class: ???
Professor, are you under the Imperius Curse?!
Ivan nodded and picked up the scalpel.
"Watch closely. The first step isn't killing, but 'extraction'."
He didn't chant a spell, but shouted:
"Word Soul · Deconstruct!"
The tip of the knife gently slid across the rat's forehead.
No blood flowed out.
Instead, a cloud-like, greyish-white substance was forcibly "pulled" out of the rat's skull by Ivan!
It was the rat's soul!
It struggled and screamed (though soundlessly) in the air before Ivan casually shoved it into a bottle of boiling potion nearby.
"Step two: Vessel Reconstruction."
Ivan tossed the empty husk of the rat into a cauldron, adding a "Black Obsidian Fragment" bought in Knockturn Alley and powdered Basilisk fang.
"Fire!"
Green flames roared.
Ten minutes later.
Ivan used his wand to fish out a black ring.
The ring looked ordinary, but staring at it too long made one feel as if their soul were being sucked in.
"This is a Horcrux." Ivan held the ring up to the cold fire. "I sealed the rat's soul inside the obsidian. Theoretically, as long as the ring doesn't break, this rat is 'alive'."
He tossed the ring to Blaise. "Take it. Don't wear it for more than ten minutes, or your IQ will be dragged down to the level of a rodent."
Blaise caught it clumsily, holding it like a bomb. "Th-thank you, Prefect, for sparing my life!"
[System Alert: Blaise Zabini's fear maxed out! Emotion Value +80!]
[System Alert: Snape shows immense interest in "Soul Extraction" tech! Emotion Value +200!]
Just then.
The common room door was shoved open violently.
"IVAN POTTER!!"
A roar shook dust from the stone walls.
Professor McGonagall stood in the doorway, chest heaving, clutching her wand tightly. She had been on night patrol looking for rule-breakers, but heard the word "Horcrux" the moment she entered!
"What are you doing?!" McGonagall rushed in, seeing the dead rat carcass and the black ring instantly. "You are making... that thing?! Snape, you are here too? You're watching him do this?!"
McGonagall felt like she was having a heart attack.
A first-year student, in the common room, in front of the entire house, making a Horcrux?
If word got out, Hogwarts would be shut down by the Ministry tomorrow!
Snape looked up, adjusted his glasses, and spoke with maddening calmness. "Calm down, Minerva. This isn't reckless; it's a 'Protective Experiment'. We are researching how to counter the Dark Lord's soul-splitting technology. This rat... sacrificed itself for science."
"Sacrificed?!" McGonagall's voice went up an octave. "That's a rat! And you call this science?!"
She turned to Ivan, looking at him like he was a dark wizard falling into the abyss. "Ivan! Destroy that ring! Immediately! Then come with me to see Dumbledore! Not even Snape can protect you this time!"
Ivan sighed and put down the scalpel.
"Professor McGonagall, you are always so impatient."
He took the black ring and spun it on his fingertip.
"You think this is evil? No, this is evolution."
Ivan stepped forward, holding the ring up to McGonagall.
"Look at this rat. In life, it was a lowly creature eating trash in a sewer. But now, its soul is sealed in this ring. As long as the ring exists, it enjoys a form of 'immortality'. It no longer needs to eat, no longer fears cats. Even... if I wanted, I could infuse knowledge into its soul and make it a 'Sage Rat'."
Ivan's voice carried a strange magic, like a devil's whisper.
"Is this not mercy? Professor. Death is the greatest terror, and I have granted it eternity."
McGonagall froze.
She looked at the ring, and for a split second, she wavered.
As an Animagus (cat), she knew the fragility of life better than anyone. Ivan's twisted logic was somehow... logically flawless?
"N-nonsense!" McGonagall shook her head violently, trying to throw the terrible thought away. "This is blasphemy against the soul! Only Dark Wizards would..."
"Dark Wizards?" Ivan interrupted her, pointing at Snape. "Professor Snape was a Dark Wizard. Do you think he is blaspheming?"
Snape added a timely stab: "Technically speaking, Potter's method is ten thousand times more precise than those fools who only know how to kill. Minerva, if you don't want to learn, you can leave. Don't disturb our record-keeping."
McGonagall: "..."
She felt isolated and helpless.
A mad student, and a professor enabling the mad student.
Slytherin was hopeless!
"I'm confiscating this!" McGonagall reached for the ring.
Ivan flicked his finger, and the ring landed precisely back in the cauldron with a clink.
"Sorry, Professor. That's teaching equipment."
Ivan dusted off his hands, flashing a harmless smile.
"But since you're here, as an audience member, I can give you a gift."
He pulled a piece of parchment from his jacket and handed it to McGonagall.
"This is my improved treatise on 'Transfiguration'. It uses Horcrux stability theory to explain the 'permanence' of Transfiguration. I thought it might inspire a top-tier Animagus like you."
McGonagall instinctively took the parchment.
One glance, and her pupils contracted.
The formulas... though insane, perfectly explained several bottlenecks she had encountered in transformation!
"Did... did you write this?" McGonagall looked at Ivan in shock.
"Just scribbled it down." Ivan shrugged. "If you think it's readable, then don't confiscate my rat. After all, it's a magical creature with 'status' now."
McGonagall held the parchment, hands trembling slightly.
Reason told her to put Ivan in detention, but her instinct as a scholar told her this paper was priceless!
Finally, she took a deep breath and tucked the parchment into her robes.
"Just this once!" McGonagall glared sternly at Ivan, then at Snape. "If I find you making... this sort of thing in the common room again, I will strip Slytherin of all points! And Snape, watch the time. Don't keep them up all night!"
With that, McGonagall fled the common room.
She feared if she stayed, she might ask Ivan how to turn a cat into a Horcrux.
The common room was dead silent.
Only when McGonagall's footsteps faded did the little snakes dare to breathe.
"Prefect..." Pansy Parkinson looked at Ivan with worship. "You convinced Professor McGonagall?"
"No." Ivan picked up the leftover potion, tasted it, and frowned. "Too bitter. Add sugar next time."
He looked at Snape, and the two exchanged a smile only madmen understood.
"She wasn't convinced," Snape whispered, eyes burning. "She was bribed by 'knowledge'."
"Professor," Ivan tossed the empty bottle into the trash, "Christmas holidays start tomorrow. I'm going back to Malfoy Manor."
"Go." Snape waved his hand. "Just don't blow up the Manor. And leave that notebook for me to copy; I want to research the 'Godhood' section."
"Deal."
Ivan stretched and walked toward the dorms.
Passing Blaise, he patted the boy's shoulder.
"Don't lose that rat ring. I'll give you a big gift for Christmas—I'll embed it into your wand. You'll be Slytherin's 'Necromancer'."
Blaise blushed with excitement. "Th-thank you, Boss! I'll be your loyal lab assistant forever!"
Ivan returned to his room and lay on the bed.
"System, did McGonagall's Emotion Value come through?"
[System Alert: Professor McGonagall (Confliction, Shock, "It smells so good"): Emotion Value +300!]
[Current Total: 8500 Points!]
Ivan closed his eyes with satisfaction.
"Christmas..."
"Voldemort, are you cold in the forests of Albania?"
"I've prepared a big gift for you—a bomb made from your own diary. I hope you like it."