Hogwarts: Lacus doesn't want to be a witch who destroys nations.

"Lux, my child! Look!" Slughorn's chubby fingers held a thin crystal tube, slowly guiding the powder that shimmered with a dangerous red light into it. The moment the powder touched the moonstone powder in the tube, it made a slight "hissing" sound, but it did not explode. Instead, it was gently enveloped by the aura.

"Stable! Unprecedentedly stable! The leakage that used to occur when making lunar ritual potions has been almost completely suppressed! This first step in improving the formula is already so amazing!"

Lux stood to the side, also wearing a smaller alchemical robe, like a curious apprentice. Watching Slughorn's fluid movements, she couldn't help but admire that he was indeed a master of potions, having recorded every phenomenon completely and even summarized it himself.

"Professor," Lux said, as Slughorn wiped the sweat from his brow with a magic towel, her face beaming with an innocent and eager smile. "Your potion-making technique is truly exquisite; it's practically an art of potion-making."

"Heh, practice makes perfect, kid." Slughorn was clearly pleased, his round face beaming with satisfaction. "Focus, patience, and a deep understanding of the properties of materials are the cornerstones of a potions master."

"Of course, you'll understand later, my little genius."

"Mmm!" Lux nodded vigorously, then showed a perfectly timed look of confusion. "By the way, Professor, when I was previewing the upperclassmen potions course in the library, I saw some potion recipes that seemed to have been improved, but the information available in the library is too limited, mostly vague legends. I'm thinking of going to the restricted areas of the library to find the original records of these potions."

Professor Slughorn paused for a moment, then his expression softened with even greater admiration: "A thirst for knowledge—that's the most precious quality, of course! With your talent and sense of responsibility, you're fully qualified to explore the vast ocean of knowledge! I'll put in a word with Hoffa and grant you special permission to browse all areas of the library, including the restricted sections! Of course,"

He lowered his voice, a serious look on his chubby face. "But be careful, child. Some knowledge is like a dangerous beast, requiring sufficient strength and intellect to tame it."

"This is my personal access badge. With it, you can freely enter and exit any part of the library." He took out a small silver badge engraved with the Slytherin serpent emblem from the inner pocket of his alchemist's robe and handed it to Lux.

"Thank you, Professor! You're so kind!" Lux took the badge, feeling her palms burning.

Become!

"Go on, child." Slughorn waved his hand, his attention now completely back on the potion. "That's enough for today's wolfsbane potion. We need to wait a day for the potion to stabilize before we can move on to the next step. I'll go and organize today's records."

Lux immediately took off her alchemy robes, slipped out of the workshop, and ran towards the library.

For the next two days, Lux spent all her free time venturing into the restricted section of the Hogwarts Library. It was more troublesome than she had imagined. The air was thick with the smell of ancient parchment and leather, the bookshelves towered into the shadows, and many books were chained, some of which even seemed to bite or whisper.

Hoffa, like a wary vulture, constantly scanned her with suspicious eyes, but due to Slughorn's orders, he could not stop her as long as Lux did not copy anything from it.

Lux painstakingly searched among the dusty bookshelves, using keywords provided by the system: "soul," "split," "container," and "immortality."

Finally, at the bottom of a row of extremely remote, almost forgotten bookshelves, she found a thick book with a black cover and the title "Unveiling the Secrets of Cutting-Edge Black Magic".

The book's cover was made of a cold, almost living leather. Lux carefully pulled it out, brushed off the dust, and opened the heavy cover. Inside, the handwriting was ancient and messy, and the illustrations depicted various unsettling symbols and ritual scenes.

Lux flipped through the pages quickly, and finally, on a page in the middle, she saw the title: "On the Method of Making Horcruxes," which detailed the steps of tearing apart a soul through extreme acts such as murder and sealing it into a container.

Lux read and memorized every detail quickly and attentively, especially the part about the magical principles of constructing soul containers. She didn't need to actually kill and dissect people; she only needed to understand the mechanism of "creating independent magical containers."

[Host has been detected to have acquired prerequisite knowledge: the principles of Soul Weapon creation. The theoretical requirements for creating the "Mirror Flower, Water Moon" clone have been met. The system bootloader is ready.]

The system notification relieved her. She quickly put the book back in its place and hurried away from the restricted book area.

Late that night, all was quiet.

Lux sneaked out of the dormitory and silently arrived on the eighth floor. She paced back and forth three times in front of the tapestry depicting the troll beating up Barnabas, concentrating her mind and silently chanting, "I need a completely secluded place, undisturbed, suitable for creating magical containers..."

A smooth door quietly appeared on the wall.

Lux slipped inside. Behind the door was a spacious room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were made of a dark, light- and sound-absorbing material. In the center of the room was an extremely complex magic circle that emitted a faint silver light. Around the room were various crystals and utensils that she couldn't name but felt contained powerful magic.

It's eerily quiet here, as if it's isolated from the rest of the world.

"I wonder if the Room of Requirement can generate a room full of Galon," Lux remarked as she walked to the center of the magic circle.

She took a deep breath, drew her wand, and, following the system's guidance and the knowledge she gleaned from the Horcrux book, began to channel her magic. Silver-blue light flowed from the tip of her wand, pouring into the magic circle beneath her feet. The circle instantly lit up, and countless ancient runes appeared and swirled in the air.

The process was not easy. She felt her magic draining away rapidly, and her mind becoming exhausted, as if something was being slowly peeled away from her consciousness, yet maintaining a mysterious connection with the depths of her soul.

[Seed of consciousness successfully extracted... Construction of a magical container begins... Generation of an independent personality template... Background information loading...]

The system prompts kept ringing, guiding each step.

Finally, in the brightest light of the magic circle, a blurry female figure made of light and shadow gradually condensed, became clear and solid.

The light gradually faded.

Standing in front of Lux was a tall, elegant woman.

She wore a gorgeous and retro purple-black dress, the hem of which resembled a blooming midnight rose. She held an exquisite staff decorated with mysterious runes. Her face was so beautiful it was almost otherworldly, with a playful yet arrogant smile playing on her lips.

She tilted her head slightly, looking at the somewhat exhausted Lux, her gaze quickly shifting from initial bewilderment to a knowing, condescending amusement.

"Oh?" Her voice carried a unique, resonant, magnetic charm. "How unexpected. My dear... clone, it seems you have successfully followed my plan, using the resources of Hogwarts and this wondrous room to awaken me—LeBlanc—from my long-standing seal."

LeBlanc chuckled, gracefully twirling her staff as she surveyed the isolated room: "Well done. Hiding the collected runes properly in this ancient castle was indeed a safe choice. And you, Lux, my loyal... clone, you will remain here as my mirror image, learning, growing, and guarding my treasure."

She walked up to Lux, her slender fingers touching Lux's cheek, her eyes filled with an air of absolute confidence: "Remember your identity, my dear clone. You are my shadow left in the light, part of my scheme. Stay here and await my further instructions. As for me..."

LeBlanc turned, her skirt tracing a graceful arc, facing the empty wall: "It's time to reclaim the power that has been scattered and belongs to me. The runes will eventually return to the hands of the Pale Witch."

The walls rippled like water, revealing a passageway outside of Hogwarts, shimmering with a ghostly purple light. LeBlanc turned and gave the stunned Lux ​​a meaningful smile.

"There's a runic fluctuation in Hogwarts, Lux, go and find it."

LeBlanc then stepped into the passage and disappeared, the walls instantly returning to their original state.

Lux stood there, stunned for a long time.

"No, System, come out and explain yourself! Which of us is the clone?"

[With the host as the primary entity, the clone "LeBlanc" has been successfully activated and separated. Its independent personality template is generated based on the hero setting of "LeBlanc the Deceiver" combined with a portion of the host's subconscious.]

So, was she usurped by her own clone, who then became her spy?

"What... what kind of situation is this!" Lux was both amused and exasperated, but she also had a vague feeling that it was absurd to send a cunning and scheming witch who believed herself to be the real person to fight against those who might possess runes all over the world.

It does seem a bit more reliable than doing it yourself.

"However, there are runes inside Hogwarts, so we'll have to go and look for them carefully."