Hogwarts' Golden Glory

"Next time," Lupin smiled. "Tonight, I want to remember this scene."

Kane nodded. He took out a specially made two-way mirror from his pocket—not an ordinary communication mirror, but one blessed with ancient runes, which could only be paired with a specific mirror.

"Keep this." He handed the mirror to Lupin. "Use this to contact me in case of an emergency. Just report your progress once a week."

Lupin took the mirror: "Are you getting ready to go back to the manor?"

"There's still some research to do." Kane looked eastward. "And, there are some things that need to be taken care of with my father."

Igor spread his wings. The phoenix's magic began to surge, preparing to teleport.

"Kane," Lupin suddenly called out to him, "thank you. For them... and for me."

Kane paused for a moment, then said, "We're all fighting for what we believe in, Remus. Just in different ways."

A flash of golden light, and the man and the bird disappeared on the lake shore.

Lupin stood alone in the moonlight, holding the warm mirror in his hand. He looked out over the valley—the werewolves were gathered quietly in the moonlight, like an ancient and peaceful painting.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered a quote from Dumbledore: "Sometimes, you don't need great magic to change the world, you just need to give those who have no other choice."

Kane Malfoy gave the werewolves a choice.

And now, they are creating a new world in their own way.

Lupin turned and walked toward the valley. He was going to join them—even without transforming, he could greet the dawn under the moonlight with his fellow countrymen who had finally found their home.

In the distance, the first rays of dawn had already pierced the eastern horizon.

A new day has begun.

For the Moonshadow Alliance, a new era has begun.

Deep in the Albanian forest

Darkness. Not the darkness of night, but a viscous, almost living darkness.

The trees here grow in a twisted and bizarre way, their branches and leaves intertwined, almost completely blocking out the sky.

The ground is covered with centuries of fallen leaves, which decompose to form a thick layer of soft mud that reeks of marsh gas.

In a cave deep within this forest, a giant python coiled itself on a rock. It was unusually large, its scales a dark green, but occasionally gleaming with a metallic black light under the moonlight. Most eerie were its eyes—those vertical pupils that should have been the cold, reptilian gaze of a reptile now shone with a scarlet light, brimming with intelligence and humanity.

Voldemort—or rather, his remaining soul—was attached to this giant python.

This is not an ideal host.

Snakes have simple minds, limited magical capacity, and a very low affinity with the soul of a wizard.

But he had no other choice.

In Morag's defeat, Kane Malfoy's "Moonlight Purification" nearly tore his remnant soul apart. Had he not promptly relinquished most of his power and attached himself to an ancient basilisk descendant that happened to be wandering nearby, he might have vanished completely.

"Kane... Malfoy..."

A hoarse human voice emanated from the giant python's throat, the result of Voldemort forcibly controlling its host's vocal organs. The voice echoed through the cave, carrying a deep-seated hatred and... a barely perceptible hint of greed.

He raised the snake's head—an awkward movement because a snake's cervical spine structure is completely different from a human's—to look at the several magical projections floating in front of him. These were battle scenes he had recreated using dark magic:

Scene 1: Kane unfolds the ancient druidic purification rune, absorbing and dissolving the Cruciatus Curse.

Scene 2: Phoenix Igor spreads its wings and uses golden light to purify the dark magic.

Scene 3: The Moonlight Purification Array is activated, and the entire camp is enveloped in pure moonlight magic.

Voldemort repeatedly viewed the third scene. His scarlet snake eyes were fixed on the complex array of runes, trying to understand its principles.

“Ancient Necromantic script… but not the common variant… it incorporates centaur astrological magic… and…” he hissed, “the blessing of the phoenix. That bird wasn’t an ordinary phoenix.”

He recalled how he felt at Hogwarts a year ago.

The professor of magic history who called himself "Old" possessed a profound depth that I couldn't fathom. Now that I think about it, that phoenix was very likely Grindelwald's doing.

"Both old monsters have their eyes on this child..." Voldemort's thoughts struggled to function within the limitations of his snake-like mind. "Why?"

He switched to another projection: Kane's physical data from the battle. This was derived from analyzing residual magic he had collected from the battlefield using dark magic.

Magic power: Approximately equal to the average level of an adult Auror (monster for a thirteen-year-old boy).

Magic control: terrifyingly precise, with an error rate of less than three per thousand.

Magic Resistance: Exceptionally high resistance to dark magic (partly due to the Phoenix, but not entirely).

Soul fluctuations: stable, refined, and virtually flawless.

The final point caused Voldemort's snake tongue to extend and retract uncontrollably.

A perfect container.

It was more perfect than all his previous options: Harry Potter was too unstable and had Lily's protective magic; Quirrell was too fragile to withstand his complete soul; the young people from other pure-blood families were either mediocre in magic or weak in will.

But Kane Malfoy… Lucius’s son, pure-blood, with powerful magical talent, a stable soul structure, and—young. Youth means malleability, it means enough time for the two souls to fully merge, it means he can cultivate back to his peak, or even surpass it.

A plan took shape in Voldemort's mind.

He needed Kane's body. But not simply to kill and possess it—that would sacrifice too much potential. What he needed was… takeover. To gradually erode Kane's consciousness while he was alive, eventually gaining complete control of the body while preserving all his magical talents and knowledge.

Therefore, he needed a more reliable resurrection plan, stronger power to suppress Kane's soul, and... to understand everything about this boy.

"Hordeal..." Voldemort hissed, "I need all of them. Each fragment of a soul will enhance my essence, giving me the power to suppress him."

He looked into the depths of the cave, where several communication arrays maintained by dark magic were located. One of the arrays suddenly lit up, revealing a blurry human face—one of his remaining followers in England, a Death Eater who had not yet been exposed.

"Master," the face said in a low voice, "there are results regarding the investigation you ordered. Kane Malfoy's movements this summer have been very secretive, but there are several clues: First, he left Malfoy Manor at least three times through unconventional means, with unknown destinations; second, Lucius Malfoy recently secretly purchased a large amount of alchemical materials through family channels, including moonstone powder, unicorn hair, and dragon blood crystals; third, the Department of Magical Creatures Control at the Ministry of Magic detected unusual magical fluctuations in the northern Scottish Highlands, but they were suppressed."