It was finally over. Lyla only felt alive again after the embarrassingly suffocating welcome feast.
'Was Dumbledore doing this on purpose? To make it harder for me to defeat him? Or is he just that malicious?'
Thinking this, Lyla walked toward the side door of the Great Hall. Because she had deliberately lingered, all the students had already left, and so had the other Professors. She could finally be alone.
Click-clack. Suddenly, Lyla heard a steady set of approaching footsteps.
'Is it Dumbledore? Or is it a ghost?' Lyla had already met those "friendly" spirits at the feast earlier.
"Mr. Potter... what a coincidence... to meet you here..."
"Eek!" Hearing the slow, drawling voice from around the corner of the corridor, Lyla instinctively froze.
'That's Professor Snape's voice! How could he be here?'
Lyla had felt so lucky not to have encountered Snape at the feast, but now it seemed it would have been much better to just meet him in a crowded room!
She quickly raised her ebony wand and flicked it. Disillusionment Charm!
With the help of the advanced spell, Lyla quickly turned semi-transparent, her form blending perfectly into the stone walls of the corridor.
As soon as she vanished, Snape walked into view with two students. One was Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, whom Lyla had seen in Knockturn Alley. The other was a frantic red-haired boy.
'Looking at these two students, who are clearly displeased and loudly explaining something... they must be the friends that fluffy-haired girl on the train was looking for, right?'
"Silence, Mr. Weasley!" Snape sneered, visibly annoyed by their stammering explanations.
He glared and said in a deadly low voice, "I really should have Professor McGonagall turn you into pocket watches. That way, you could not only be on time for school, but also keep your mouths shut."
'Just listening to Snape's words makes me pity those two unlucky students...' Lyla shivered in her hiding spot. 'If they had been caught by Dumbledore, it might have been better, but this is Professor Snape... I will pray to Merlin for you!'
Watching the three of them disappear down the dark corridor, Lyla let out a soft sigh of relief.
She didn't want to talk to Professor Snape, much less accidentally encounter him in the dark. Even if she desperately needed his help with potion-making, she didn't wish it to be now.
'I need a few days of psychological preparation... maybe a month?'
Thinking this, Lyla waved her wand to dispel the concealment magic, then hurried straight to her assigned quarters. A long-awaited feeling of relaxation slowly washed over her as she settled into her room.
"Coo?" Seeing Lyla return, Nova hopped onto her tiny feet, tilting her gray head.
"Ah... Nova." Lyla wanted to hug her postal owl and lament that she had miraculously survived the day.
But honestly, after seeing the bird turn its head 180 degrees to stare at her, she didn't really feel like it anymore.
'And whether I will still be alive tomorrow is entirely uncertain.'
'It's all Dumbledore's fault... His inexplicable trust has raised the students' expectations. I'm definitely going to disappoint them... Wait!'
Lyla suddenly realized something and patted her pale cheeks. 'How could I be so foolish!'
'This teaching job isn't my original purpose for coming to Hogwarts! I came to defeat Dumbledore! I came to help Lord Grindelwald achieve his goals!'
'What classes? What student disappointment? I am a former loyal follower of Gellert Grindelwald! I'm as ruthless as can be, how could I be afraid of a few students' disappointment?'
'I should, in fact, disappoint them on purpose! I'll let them learn absolutely no useful knowledge! This way, I can weaken Dumbledore's power and contribute to Lord Grindelwald's cause... right?'
Lyla felt that while this brilliant line of reasoning logically convinced her, it didn't actually make her anxious heart feel any more at ease.
'I'm still very nervous... After all, seeing others' disappointed expressions directed at me is terrifying... I should just find a way to defeat Dumbledore sooner.'
'Tonight might be a good time to strike. I could sneak into the Headmaster's Office and then take him down with quick, precise, and ruthless magic.'
'By then, he wouldn't even know who attacked him...'
"Miss Hamilton?"
"Ah! Du-Du-Dumbledore!" Hearing the calm voice at her door, Lyla panicked and quickly scrambled out of bed.
'Dumbledore, do you have telepathy?! How do you appear the exact second I think of your name! You didn't appear the last few times!'
'And as an old man, isn't it a bit impolite to come knocking on a lady's door so late at night?'
"May I come in?"
'Of course not!'
Lyla really wanted to shake her head and refuse, but to avoid Dumbledore suspecting her assassination plans, she had to purse her lips and stammer, "Of... of course."
Click-clack. Dumbledore pushed the door open. The Headmaster of Hogwarts had actually managed to change his clothes in these few short minutes. He was now wearing a plush purple robe embroidered with golden flying bees.
"I hope I haven't disturbed your rest?" Dumbledore asked slowly, his twinkling eyes looking at the slightly disheveled bed.
"N-no..." Lyla nervously flicked her wand to non-verbally smooth out the wrinkles in the sheets. "Do... do you have something... to say?"
"Ah... it's about tomorrow's Defense Against the Dark Arts class," Dumbledore nodded gently. "Minerva was supposed to tell you."
"But she seems to be quite busy with something right now..."
'What something?' Lyla instinctively felt it definitely had something to do with those two late students and Professor Snape.
"Of course, none of that matters," Dumbledore continued cheerfully. "Regarding tomorrow's class, Miss Hamilton, are you prepared?"
'You're asking me now if I'm prepared? Weren't you just boasting about me in front of the entire student body... saying I was some incredibly outstanding witch...'
"Hahaha, I seem to have asked a very uninteresting question," Dumbledore chuckled, slowly sitting down in a nearby chair. "I've heard about your research."
"Those prepared Magic Array tools will surely open the students' eyes." Dumbledore smiled slightly, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "The inspiration came from a Pensieve, right?"
"Mm... Mm!" Lyla nodded awkwardly. 'Actually, a big part of it was also thanks to Mr. Riddle's help.'
"I see..." Watching Lyla nod, Dumbledore fell silent for a few seconds, seemingly lost in thought.
Then, without another word, he slowly got up and left the room.
'What was he here for... Just to chat with me?'
Lyla looked at his retreating back with a strange expression, momentarily unsure of what he was thinking.
'Wait, now is the time to act!' Lyla was just about to pull out her wand and ambush him when she realized Dumbledore had already disappeared down the corridor.
'I am truly useless... I couldn't even seize such a perfect assassination opportunity.'
Lyla annoyedly flopped back onto her bed, beginning to deeply miss her days in Nurmengard.
'Lord Grindelwald... Where exactly are you?'