That midnight conversation was like a stone thrown into water—though the ripples still spread, the surface had already returned to calm.
One night's sleep passed.
Dawn awoke with the strange feeling that his life might finally return to peace.
Perhaps it was because, after speaking with Dumbledore, he had let go of the fear of drawing the old wizard's attention. Was he giving up, throwing caution to the wind?
Dawn climbed out of bed and got dressed.
For the first time, he didn't rush out immediately after waking. Instead, he stood by the window and looked out at the sunlit world.
The lake shimmered with waves.
The forest was lush and green.
An owl hooted from above, gliding past in and out of sight...
Everything felt so beautiful.
...Except for the staircase that took twenty minutes to climb just to reach the first floor!
Dawn looked at the endlessly winding steps and sighed. From the bottom of his heart, he once again felt that the location of their dormitory was Ravenclaw's greatest flaw.
He needed to hurry up and try repairing his broomstick… or maybe, he should just live in the Room of Requirement from now on?
Dawn rested his hand on the banister, seriously considering the idea.
But he soon dismissed the second option. To him, the Room of Requirement was magical, yes, but lacking in security.
Even if he said, "a room only Dawn Richter can enter," as long as someone else repeated those words, the room would still appear.
Dawn felt a bit troubled.
Where could he find a room that was comfortable, secret, and secure?
......
Since he had returned to the dormitory only at midnight, Dawn woke up a bit late today.
The Great Hall was already filled with students. He walked over to the Ravenclaw table and took only two steaks and a glass of milk.
This made the Weasley twins, who had been watching nearby, especially disappointed!
They had mixed several prank candies into the bowl near Dawn's usual seat.
But now it seemed those candies would end up in the hands of some other unlucky Ravenclaw student.
The twins exchanged a glance and grinned mischievously. Next time, they'd put a potion in the steak that turned a person's face green!
After eating and drinking his fill, Dawn stood up, intending to head to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and find a seat in the back.
But then, he suddenly remembered the promise he had made to Dumbledore the night before.
He paused, then turned back and headed toward the Gryffindor table.
"Look, Harry! It's that dark wizard from last night!"
Ron leaned across the table, nudging sideways with his elbow. Still drowsy from lack of sleep, Harry nearly fell off the bench from the jab.
"Enough, Ron!" Hermione huffed from across the table. "Dumbledore never said he was a dark wizard!"
Ron made a face at her in annoyance.
But he didn't say anything rude. After last night's adventure, the relationship between the three of them had clearly improved quite a bit.
And as she watched Dawn approaching, Hermione suddenly thought: was he coming to make friends?
After all, she had heard Dawn's promise to Dumbledore too.
Then another thought crossed her mind—who was he coming for?
Would it be her?
Oh, don't get her wrong—it wasn't vanity or self-flattery. Hermione just clearly knew that Dawn didn't interact with many people.
Besides, she had so many thoughts about what she heard last night. She'd wanted to discuss them with Dawn, but since it had been eavesdropping, she didn't know how to bring it up.
Maybe…
If they became "friends," they could talk about more serious topics?
Thinking about it that way… Though Dawn had a terrible attitude, he was undeniably knowledgeable and had an interest in books that matched her own.
All in all, he'd make a pretty good study partner! Hermione felt a small, reluctant sense of anticipation.
But in the next moment—
She saw Dawn walk right past her and head toward a chubby boy nearby, "Neville, did you forget your outer robes again?"
Neville, who was sipping his milk, coughed in surprise when he heard his name. He looked up to see Dawn, then looked down at himself and mumbled, "S-sorry… I forgot."
"Forget it, no time to go back now." Dawn grabbed the flustered boy as he tried to run off.
He casually picked up a clean spoon from the table, transformed it into a set of robes, and handed it to Neville.
"Wear this for now. As long as it doesn't get hit by magic, it should last until the end of first period."
Neville was a little stunned.
He had never been treated like this before—always the one being bullied.
Clumsily accepting the robes, he lowered his head and whispered, "Th-thank you."
"No problem."
Dawn smiled at him. "We're friends, aren't we?"
That's right.
This was the "friend" Dawn had chosen.
It wasn't that he truly believed in Dumbledore's ideals. He simply hoped the old headmaster would lower his guard a bit.
So, choosing the right "friend" was important.
And clearly, Neville was the best choice.
He didn't cause trouble and was obedient. Far better than that Granger girl in every way!
"Well, I'm off to class. See you next time," Dawn waved to the touched and grateful Neville and turned to leave.
However—
As he walked past Hermione, his steps briefly slowed.
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination… But it felt like Hermione had been glaring at him the whole time?
.......
The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was located on the fourth floor of the castle.
The environment was dim and eerie, with strange animal skeletons hanging from the walls.
Many of the young Hufflepuffs were swallowing nervously the moment they stepped into the room.
However, the creepy atmosphere was instantly swept away the moment Quirrell entered—with his stuttering speech and overwhelming scent of garlic.
As expected, Defense Against the Dark Arts was just as dull as described in the original story.
Quirrell merely stuttered his way through reading the textbook and completely ignored the whispering and mocking of the students below the platform.
Honestly speaking, in Dawn's opinion, even Lockhart's theatrical performances next year might be more entertaining.
The only good news was—
This unlucky man possessed by Voldemort showed no particular attention toward him. He didn't even glance in his direction once.
It seemed that the conflict between him and Malfoy hadn't left any impression at all.
And after class, Quirrell quickly left on his own without telling Dawn to visit his office or anything of the sort.
That allowed Dawn to breathe a sigh of relief.
After all, Voldemort was a far more dangerous threat than Dumbledore.
Watching the other young witches and wizards run noisily through the castle, full of energy and laughter, Dawn had no interest in joining them.
Instead, he headed straight to the eighth floor and opened the Room of Requirement.
As always, he brought only that poor, tormented toad with him.
There was no helping it.
Experiments required a subject. He didn't want to experiment on himself, nor could he catch other wizards to use. So the toad would have to suffer a little longer.
Dawn drew his wand.
But this time, he wasn't planning to cast any spells. He merely guided the magic inside his body, attempting to channel it outward and wrap it around an external object.
The result was surprisingly smooth.
The magic flowed from him like mist, surrounding the toad and projecting all the patterns within its body.
This smooth first step gave Dawn a jolt of excitement.
Next, he used Transfiguration to turn the toad into a teacup and carefully observed the changes in those internal patterns.
He discovered that only about one-third of the patterns had altered. From this, he concluded that perhaps only that third of the patterns was connected to the toad's physical traits.
After recording the details he restored the toad to its original form.
He wasn't in a hurry to use the Cruciatus Curse to examine the soul-related patterns just yet. Instead, he fixed his gaze on one of the internal patterns and tried to alter it into a new form.
Driven by intense focus and desire—
He watched as his magic, still cloaking the toad, gradually gathered around the targeted pattern.
And then—
It truly began to shift.