Inside the hidden chamber of Ravenclaw Tower.
The dome above reflected the night sky directly. A starry chessboard floated in the air, glowing with the eternal blue light that belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw.
Lucian sat in a high-backed chair, the robe on his left shoulder pulled aside.
The sharp scent of dittany filled the air.
The jagged wound on his shoulder, caused by the accidental collision of a blasting curse and a severing spell, was slowly closing.
Outside the tower, the injury had refused to stop bleeding even under Snape's potions. But here, a little dittany was enough to heal it.
Lucian waved his wand lightly. The floating starry chessboard rearranged itself. Sparks of light gathered and formed several shapes.
On one side was a red lion representing Harry, Ron, and Gryffindor.
On the other side was a green serpent representing Draco and Slytherin.
And at the edge of both lights, a golden star that should have been positioned at the center of their connection now floated dimly at the edge of the system.
Hermione Granger.
Lucian reached through the illusion of stardust and nudged the piece representing her.
The proud young witch who had always stood apart because of her intelligence was now experiencing the darkest moment of her life.
She had tried to stop the conflict, yet both sides had resented her for it.
She had tried to prove she was right, only to discover that even the so-called savior had chosen blind loyalty over rules.
"Quite an interesting experiment," Lucian murmured.
His star-filled pupils slowly rotated as he watched the board.
He reviewed the results of the past few days.
He had provoked a full conflict between two Houses, forced Snape and McGonagall to intervene, and finally shattered the belief system of a Muggle-born witch.
To outside observers, this had looked like nothing more than a chaotic school brawl stirred up for his amusement.
But that was not the true purpose.
Behind the apparent chaos, he had been measuring something far more important.
The behavioral logic of the world's will.
Lucian raised his hand and projected another scene onto the left side of the chessboard.
The Halloween troll incident from months earlier.
That night, when he had tried to sever the bond between the savior and the young witch, the world's reaction had been violent and direct.
Golden threads had descended from the void, invading minds and forcibly twisting memory and emotion.
It had been like a clumsy playwright forcing actors back onto the stage.
Because that event was foundational. The troll incident was the absolute condition for the formation of the magical trio.
But this time was different.
Lucian looked at the corridor battle on the right side of the board.
Its severity far exceeded the troll incident. The hostility between Gryffindor and Slytherin had escalated dramatically.
Hermione had not integrated with the group at all.
Instead, her alienating pride and the isolation that followed had pushed her completely outside the protagonist group.
The direction of the story had shifted.
And yet this time there were no descending golden threads. No forced memory manipulation.
The world's will had only allowed two idiots to misfire spells and give Lucian a physical injury.
The reaction had been far too mild.
One might even call it compromise.
"Why the change?"
Lucian rose from the chair, his robe sweeping through the starlight.
He walked to the center of the chamber and felt the magical pulse beneath his feet.
It was the heartbeat of Hogwarts itself.
The ancient star map on the dome rotated slowly. The air carried the lingering magical scent of centuries past.
A conclusion formed in his mind.
First, this fight had nothing to do with the main storyline of defeating the Dark Lord. It was merely a branch of school life, a conflict between Houses.
Harry and Draco had still successfully become enemies, so the catastrophe response mechanism had not been fully triggered.
Second, and more importantly—
During the troll incident, he had merely been an unusual first-year student with some talent.
But after that, he had solved the statue's trial, inherited this hidden chamber, and obtained Ravenclaw's legacy.
He was no longer an outsider who could be erased at any moment.
He now carried the mark of a Hogwarts founder.
In this world, or more precisely within this magical territory, that mark gave him greater weight and a certain degree of immunity.
The world's will still rejected him.
But it could no longer twist reality around him as easily as crushing an ant.
"My weight has increased. So the method of rejection has changed."
Lucian smiled faintly and removed the remaining bandages.
This was extremely valuable information.
It meant he could begin deeper interference without constantly worrying about being forcibly brainwashed by some absurd causal correction.
As long as he did not directly kill Harry, and did not directly destroy Voldemort's main soul, most deviations in the story would have to be tolerated.
At least within Hogwarts.
But this was only a preliminary conclusion. To determine the upper limit of that tolerance, he needed a better test case.
Something connected to Harry's growth arc... Something with room for manipulation.
He immediately thought of a large, rough figure.
Rubeus Hagrid.
Lucian turned his gaze toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where the gamekeeper's hut stood.
If he calculated the timeline correctly, the famous half-giant who could be tricked into revealing everything should have already received the dragon egg from a certain stuttering man in a turban.
In the canon, the dragon's birth was a crucial turning point.
It taught Harry that loudly declaring love and justice while breaking school rules would bring no real punishment.
It bonded the trio during a late-night adventure that ultimately led them into the Forbidden Forest and toward their first direct encounter with Voldemort.
Even more importantly, that event cemented Gryffindor courage as their guiding principle.
Recklessness became their habit.
And from that chain of events emerged the story of the savior confronting the Dark Lord.
What would happen if he removed one link from that chain?
What if Hermione, disillusioned and exhausted, refused to participate in another obvious violation of school rules?
Without the young witch's planning and organization, could the savior and his red-haired friend really manage to smuggle a dragon to the tower?
And if the dragon was not removed on schedule— If it caused an even greater disaster—
How would the world repair the broken storyline?
Would it send down the golden threads again? Or trigger an even more uncontrollable butterfly effect?
Lucian waved his wand, and the starlight chessboard faded away.
A book floated into his hand.
The title read:
[Regulations and Penalties for the Smuggling of Prohibited Magical Creatures in Great Britain]
The stage was ready.
The actors were already in place.
It was time to stain the savior's adventure with a drop of ink that could never be washed away.
"Hagrid will thank me," Lucian said softly as he closed the book.
"After all, who wouldn't enjoy a dragon that is stronger, healthier... and far more lethal?"
He left the statue chamber and walked to the tower window.
Outside, the Forbidden Forest swayed under strong winds.
As the days passed, the discussion about the corridor conflict slowly faded throughout the castle.
But in its place, something sharper was growing.
A tension between Houses.
Everything was building quietly, waiting for the approaching Quidditch weekend.
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