At Hogwarts, the story begins with deconstructing Avada Kedavra.

Chapter 71 The Highest Level of Imagination

Sunlight streamed in at an angle through Hogwarts' library, casting beams of light.

Mrs. Pince kept turning back, her steps hesitant and uncertain.

He wore an expression of disappointment and frustration.

The newly formed "Alliance of the Awake" remained oblivious and continued their first secret observation mission.

"A History of Magical Defense in the Fifteenth Century" and "The Theory and Empirical Evidence of Transfiguration" were piled high, forming a Tokyo University-style bunker.

Behind the bunker, Hermione Granger held a quill pen in one hand and pressed her other hand against her forehead, staring intently at the table diagonally in front of her with a furrowed brow.

Parvati and Padma sat on either side of her, like two quails ready to flee at any moment.

At the end of their gaze, Lucian Ashford was leaning back in his chair.

He had an ordinary-looking book called "Basic Rune Analysis" open in front of him, and he was casually toying with a Galleon in his hand.

The coin tumbled and bounced between his fingers.

"Look at his fingers—" Hermione whispered, her quill flying across the parchment. "That's not ordinary handling. Did you notice the pattern in the coin's flipping?"

That's a specific trajectory representing the flow of energy in the study of spells!

He wasn't looking at that first-grade textbook; he was using the Mind Lab to deduce a spell!

Padma swallowed hard, her Ravenclaw tie crumpled in her grip.

Since that night in the Forbidden Forest, the way she looked at this fellow student had completely changed from "a handsome but aloof oddball" to "a chess player hidden among mortals."

"He does the same thing in the common room."

Padma whispered in agreement, his voice filled with awe, "He never participates in those boring discussions about Quidditch or homework."

He was like—sitting in the audience.

Parvati instinctively clutched his pocket, where the "I'm a Fool" glass ball, which had once changed the course of the entire magical world, once resided.

Now, whenever she sees Lucien, the terrifying green light and the accompanying vulgar, mocking sound effects involuntarily echo in her mind.

"Hermione, do we really have to keep watching him?" Parvati asked, trembling. "What if he discovers we've seen through his disguise and tries to silence us—"

"Don't be silly, Parvati. If he wanted to kill us, we would already be dead in the Forbidden Forest."

Hermione stared intently at Lucien. "He's playing a very big game, and we need to figure out whether we're of any value to him."

However, on the other side of this scene, which they have imbued with countless profound meanings and divine filters, Lucien was actually just spacing out.

He finished reading the book "Basic Rune Analysis" ten minutes ago, and now he's just playing with the coin because he's bored and wants to exercise his fingers.

As for the so-called "magic formula for traffic generation rhythm"?

If Lucian heard Hermione's remarks, he would probably burst out laughing.

This Galon does indeed have a little bit of magic attached to it, but that was just a practice piece of his alchemy.

However, as a wizard with keen senses, how could he not notice the three burning gazes behind him that seemed to want to dissect and study him?

"These three little girls have been staring at the back of my head for a full half hour," Lucien sighed inwardly.

He didn't move, not even turning his head.

But the Galon that was fluttering between his fingers suddenly stopped.

The next second, it traced a golden parabola through the air and landed squarely in the center of the open book, *The History of Defense Against Magic in the Fifteenth Century*, right in front of Hermione and the others.

The coin lay quietly on the page.

The three girls behind the cover were momentarily stunned.

Parvati's eyes widened like saucers, and he froze completely.

He didn't turn around! How did he know we were here? He even knew which book we were reading?!

There was no point in hiding anymore. Hermione took a deep breath, forced herself to straighten her back, and summoned the courage of a Gryffindor, as well as what she considered to be her rationality.

She slowly stood up and saw that Lucien had turned around at some point and was looking at them with a deep gaze.

Meanwhile, Terry Boot, a second-year Ravenclaw student sitting two rows of bookshelves away, was peeking half his head out from the edge of "The Beginner's Guide to Transformation".

He swore he just wanted to see who dared to make a loud noise under Mrs. Pince's nose.

As a result, he witnessed a scene that left him utterly speechless:

Hermione Granger, the "know-it-all," was currently huddled behind a pile of books with Padma and Parvati.

Their expressions were exaggerated, their movements stiff, as if they were playing some clumsy role-playing game, or comical characters in a third-rate stage play.

"Are these three girls under some kind of brain-degrading curse?" Terry rolled his eyes inwardly, finding the scene utterly ridiculous, and shrank back to continue reading his book.

Lucian walked straight to their table with his book in hand.

"Good afternoon, the three of you." Lucien's gaze swept over their wary faces, his voice gentle yet tinged with a hint of mockery. "The History of Defense Against Magic in the Fifteenth Century? For first-year students, this seems a bit ahead of their time. However, it's just the right thickness for use as cover."

Parvati was so startled he almost slipped off his chair, while Padma forced a smile that looked worse than a grimace.

Only Hermione bit her lip tightly, her hands clasped together on the table, trying to hide her inner fear with a negotiating posture.

"We're not following you, Lucien," Hermione said, trying to keep her voice calm. "We're just—observing objective facts."

"The truth?" Lucien pulled out the empty chair opposite Hermione and sat down.

He rested his chin on his hands, watching her with interest. "So, Hermione, what earth-shattering truth have you gleaned from this boring coin of mine?"

Hermione's heart skipped a beat. He knew! He knew everything!

She glanced at the trembling twins beside her and spoke like a lioness protecting her cubs: "I know what you're doing. Everything in the Forbidden Forest—it wasn't a coincidence."

Hermione lowered her voice, her tone revealing a certainty that seemed to have seen through the universe, "You predicted the game between the Ministry of Magic and the Headmaster, and you calculated Harry's recklessness."

Giving that glass ball to Parvati wasn't a prank; it was the perfect excuse you gave the principal!

You rewrote that seemingly inevitable death trap in the most absurd way!

Her eyes grew brighter as she spoke, as if she had grasped the hem of fate: "Who are you? What are you doing at Hogwarts?"

After listening to this impassioned, logically rigorous, and almost epic argument that could be included in "The Complete Hogwarts Conspiracy Theories," Lucian remained expressionless.

His silence was deafening.

"Miss Granger's imagination is indeed more astonishing than the troll's brain capacity," he thought to himself, chuckling to himself.

He just casually handed over a prank to amuse the little girl; who knew Voldemort would suddenly unleash his killing spell?

Who knew that Pavati would be sent flying by Malfoy's elbow, a perfectly timed strike that hit the savior?

But in Hermione's eyes, he had become a mastermind who could manipulate Dumbledore and the monsters of the Forbidden Forest at the same time.

Looking into the eyes of the three little girls in front of him, a mixture of fear, awe, and secret fanaticism, Lucian suddenly felt that it was somewhat cruel to expose this beautiful misunderstanding, and—not very fun either.

So he leaned forward slightly, his smile faded, and his eyes became deep and unfathomable.

"Now that you've seen the truth," Miss Granger said, her voice soft yet alluring, "you should understand that once you see through some webs, you're already caught in the trap."

Padma gasped and gripped Hermione's sleeve tightly.

Lucian tapped his fingers twice on the table.

"This world doesn't revolve around fairy tales. Blind courage can't save lives, and the parchment from the Ministry of Magic can't stop the Killing Curse."

His gaze shifted from Hermione to the twins, his tone now carrying a genuine warning, for he had truly witnessed the destructive power of supporting characters: "Don't assume you're safe just because you're standing next to the main characters. Sometimes, even the smallest fear or loss of control can overturn the entire game."

Parvati turned pale; she knew Lucien was referring to her panic that night.

Lucian stood up and straightened the cuffs of his robe.

"Keep your heads straight, girls," he looked down at them. "In this castle teeming with madmen and liars, reason is your only lifeline. But one..."

His gaze fell on the coin lying quietly on the page.

"It showed me what you didn't want me to see."

He extended his finger and gently tapped the coin.

"Now, it's yours."

Don't spend all your time staring at the abyss.

Occasionally, I'll close my eyes and get a good night's sleep.

After saying that, Lucien turned and walked out of the library, leaving behind a mysterious and tall figure.

Only when his footsteps completely disappeared did the three girls seem to regain their breath.

Padma collapsed onto the table, utterly exhausted. "Merlin—he just admitted it! He really did it on purpose! He treated us as variables on the chessboard!"

Parvati clenched his fists, half of the fear in his eyes fading, replaced by a sense of security, as if he had survived a close call and was being protected by a powerful figure: "But he didn't silence us! He even told us to stay awake!"

Hermione didn't speak. She hadn't noticed in her nervousness earlier, but now she realized that she seemed to have the exact same coin.

"Wait—" Hermione's breathing quickened. She looked up, her eyes gleaming. "This Galleon—he gave me this Galleon before!"

"Given to you?" Parvati stammered, the fear that had just subsided returning. "Then why—is he giving it to you again now? Is this some kind of dark magic curse ritual?!"

Padma gasped, clutching "The History of Defense Against Magic" tightly: "I read a book about medieval curses. It said that by repeatedly passing around items imbued with the aura of the victim, you could—"

Stop your ridiculous speculations! This is not a curse at all!

Hermione interrupted them sharply, her voice low but her tone firm.

She is frantically piecing together clues from the past, conversations from the present, and every micro-expression of Lucian.

"This is for you." Hermione took a deep breath, her hands trembling slightly as she held the coin as if it were the cornerstone of Hogwarts. "Don't you understand? It wasn't a coincidence that he gave me this coin for the first time."

He's targeting me! He needs someone who can monitor Gryffindor's internal affairs at all times!

The twins were stunned by her grand narrative, their mouths agape in disbelief.

"And now—" Hermione's gaze swept back and forth between Padma and Parvati's faces, her tone becoming extremely solemn, even carrying a hint of sacred mission, "He gave you Galonnaise."

His last sentence, "It showed me what you didn't want me to see," was not a warning at all!

"What—what is that for?" Parvati swallowed hard.

"This is a code! It's an invitation to you! He's completed part of his plan and is now expanding the organization!"

Hermione leaned forward, closing the distance between the three of them: "Think about it, he saved us in the Forbidden Forest, and now he's exposed our tracking to our faces, yet he hasn't erased our memories."

Why? Because in the game between Dumbledore and the Mystic, he needed his own eyes! He saw that although we were terrified in the Forbidden Forest, we did not break down.

He confirmed that we were qualified to be his pieces on the chessboard!

"Son?" Padma, a Ravenclaw who always prided himself on being smart, felt that his brain was completely inadequate at this moment.

"That's right!" Hermione gripped Galon tightly, her gaze resolute. "He knows we've formed the League of the Awake."

He left the coin here to tell us: stay alert and keep an eye on this crazy castle for him!

We are working for a true master who has everything under control!

Looking into Hermione's eyes, which burned with the fire of faith, Parvati and Padma exchanged a glance.

The fear dissipated without them realizing it, replaced by a secret tremor and a sense of honor from participating in an epic, clandestine plan.

"Then—do we need to report to him?" Parvati asked cautiously, trying to touch Galon.

"No, never approach him first, that will give him away."

"We just need to do our own thing and observe anything unusual."

When he needs us, this coin—will naturally guide us.

At that moment, Lucien, who was walking back to the common lounge corridor, suddenly sneezed loudly.

He rubbed his nose, shook his hand with a look of exasperation on his face.

"If I had known that Galleon had been given to Hermione before, I would have exchanged it for another one and discarded it."

Oh well, the spell above is about to expire anyway, so I'll just consider it a small charm.