Hogwarts' Golden Glory

"Slit your palm..." the voice commanded. "I need your blood..."

Draco's fingernails suddenly grew long and sharp, uncontrollably slicing across his left palm.

The moment the blood dripped, the magic circle lit up with an eerie green light, and the patterns on the lock began to writhe, like a swarm of thirsty snakes.

Harry Potter sat bolt upright on his four-poster bed in the Gryffindor tower, his scars burning as if branded with a hot iron.

He covered his forehead, the images from his dream still lingering before his eyes—

Draco Malfoy stood before an oak door, his eyes vacant and lifeless, his pale face covered in cold sweat.

His left hand, dripping with blood, was slowly reaching towards himself...

And in Draco's pupils.

A blurry black shadow was watching all of this with scarlet snake eyes, its lips twisted into a greedy smile.

"Ron!" Harry flung open the curtains, his voice hoarse. "Wake up! Draco's in danger!"

Ron rubbed his eyes and got out of bed: "What? Malfoy? You must be dreaming..."

"It's not a dream!" Harry had already put on his robes, his fingers trembling with pain from his scars. "Voldemort caught him and took him to the forbidden area on the fourth floor!"

Ron sat bolt upright, wand already in his hand: "What did you see?"

"Draco is being controlled...his blood..."

Harry couldn't continue; the image gave him a stomachache. "We have to stop him!"

The two hurriedly put on their invisibility cloaks and rushed out the door.

But he bumped into Hermione in the lounge.

"Why aren't you all asleep yet?" Hermione asked, her face pale, clearly not having gone to rest.

"Harry just dreamt about the Dark Lord, and said he saw Malfoy going up to the fourth floor..."

"Let's go find the professor first!" Hermione asked eagerly.

The three frantically searched the castle for the professors.

However, the principal's office and the teachers' lounge were empty.

Hermione recalled the day's events: "This afternoon, an urgent owl letter was delivered to both Professor Dumbledore and Professor Ald. They left the school in a hurry; they must have been summoned back to the Ministry of Magic!"

"No time!" Harry gripped his wand tightly, the pain from his scar intensifying.

Draco's pale yet stubborn face kept flashing through his mind.

"We can't just stand by and watch Voldemort succeed; we must stop him!"

Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance and nodded firmly. The three of them resolutely headed towards the restricted area on the fourth floor.

In Slytherin Kane's private dormitory.

Kane Malfoy plunged his bloodied right hand into the ice water.

In the mirror, his gray-blue eyes were bloodshot.

There was a wound on his left cheek that was healing—it was from when he fought several giants at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

At that moment, the black box began to vibrate continuously at his feet.

It emits a tooth-grinding buzzing sound.

When he used his wand to open the box, a new memory appeared inside:

Draco stood in front of the fourth-floor restricted area gate, his eyes unfocused, blood streaming from his left hand... and in his shadow, another face could be vaguely seen—Voldemort.

"Damn it!" Kane slammed his fist on the mirror, cracks spreading like a spider web.

He should have realized that the Dark Lord would target both of them at the same time.

The black box suddenly shook violently, and a line of blood-red words appeared on the bottom of the box:

"If you want your brother to live, come to the fourth-floor restricted area alone."

Kane stared at the images in the black box, his pupils contracting.

The cracks in the shattered mirror were reflected in his eyes, like a rift torn open in his destiny.

"Zos!"

A clear chirping sound rang out, and a flash of fire appeared.

A golden-blue phoenix emerged from the sky and landed on his shoulder.

Kane quickly tore off a piece of parchment, wrote several sharp runes on it with his wand, then rolled it up and tucked it into the silver ring on the phoenix's claw.

"Go find Dumbledore, quickly!"

Zos let out a sharp cry and vanished into the sky as a flame.

Without hesitation, Kane took out a bottle of potion that shimmered with a ghostly blue light and tilted his head back to gulp it down.

"Soul Stabilizer" - can temporarily resist the effects of the Imperius Curse.

He can't go directly to Draco.

Voldemort wanted him, while Draco was just bait.

If Kane recklessly enters the restricted area, the Dark Lord will take care of both of them.

He needed another bargaining chip—someone Voldemort couldn't touch.

—Harry Potter.

Kane unfolded the Marauder's Map, tapped it lightly with his wand, and whispered a spell.

The fine text flew across the map, and soon, three moving dots of light appeared in the third-floor corridor—Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

He rolled up the map and stuffed it into his robe, then hurried down the dimly lit corridor.

The sound of boot heels striking the stone slabs was completely inaudible under the spell.

As he turned the corner, he suddenly heard hurried footsteps ahead.

The figure beneath the invisibility cloak revealed half of a magic wand.

Kane immediately raised his wand, and a "Flash of Light" illuminated the other person's face.

Harry Potter is holding his wand, the lightning bolt scar on his forehead glowing faintly in the white light.

"Kane?" Harry pulled back his Invisibility Cloak, his eyes wary and anxious. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you." Kane waved the Marauder's Map in his hand. "Voldemort used Draco as bait; I can't just barge in. But you—"

He paused, his grey-blue eyes staring directly at Harry.

"The person the Dark Lord most wants to eliminate personally is you. If we join forces, we might be able to disrupt his plans."

Ron peeked out from under the Invisibility Cloak, frowning, and said, "Are you sure this isn't a Slytherin trick?"

"This is not the time for infighting!" Hermione interjected. "Harry saw that Draco was being controlled by him, and the Dark Lord needs to get the Philosopher's Stone through Fluffy!"

"But now they know that music can put Lou Williams to sleep!"

Hermione quickly explained the seriousness of the situation.

"I don't think he needs to know this," Ron muttered from the side. "This is what we promised Hagrid!"

Kane quickly said, "Lou Williams is the first line of defense. If he's asleep..."

Without saying another word, the four of them headed straight for the fourth floor via the spiral staircase.

Harry's scar suddenly throbbed with pain. He pressed his forehead and gritted his teeth, saying, "It's just ahead..."

When they opened the door, an unsettling silence filled the air.

The room, which usually echoed with Lou Williams's growls, was now completely silent.

Only a small harp stood nearby, adding an eerie touch to the otherwise terrifying room.

A strong, sweet, and pungent smell of blood wafted over.

Lou Williams' massive body lay sprawled on the ground, his three heads drooping limply, his amber eyes closed, and saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth onto the moss-covered floor tiles.

A half-eaten flute lay scattered beside its front paws, its surface still covered in green slime.