When Harold woke up again, it was already the next morning. In a daze, he vaguely heard someone speaking beside him.

Struggling to open his eyes, he saw it was Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey.

"Oh, you're awake?" Madam Pomfrey was the first to notice the change and immediately walked over. "How are you feeling?"

"My head's spinning, and I have no strength at all," Harold said hoarsely, his voice dry and raspy.

"Dizziness is normal." Madam Pomfrey picked up a bottle from the bedside table and poured a full cup of pale blue potion.

"Drink it all." She handed the cup to Harold. "I've never seen such a reckless student before, actually exhausting all your magical power."

"What were you thinking?" She got angrier as she spoke. "Even if you were tired from walking around Hogsmeade, you'd at least know to rest at the Three Broomsticks. But the moment you got your wand, you completely forgot about taking care of yourself…"

Harold didn't respond. He just took the potion and drank it all in one go.

The truth was, he hadn't meant for things to go that way. It was just a sudden idea—he wanted to test what effect [Serpent's Eye] would have on a wizard. Who knew his magic would suddenly spiral out of control, flooding out like a dam bursting?

Fortunately, the result wasn't bad at all—Sirius was petrified on the spot. That outcome had completely caught Harold off guard and could even be considered a pleasant surprise.

…

"Poppy, Harold actually encountered Sirius Black head-on," Professor McGonagall said as she approached, still shaken. "He must've gone through a life-or-death struggle that we can't even imagine. It's already a miracle that he's alive!"

"Sirius Black…" Madam Pomfrey instinctively clutched her chest at the name.

She simply couldn't accept that such a dangerous criminal had managed to show up in the school. What were those Dementors outside the gates doing—camping?

After that, she stopped scolding Harold.

Professor McGonagall was right—just surviving an encounter with Sirius Black was more than enough.

As for the magic depletion, that was easy to fix… with the potion and a few days of proper rest, he'd recover completely, maybe even be fine for class tomorrow.

Afterward, Madam Pomfrey went to prepare a new potion, and after asking Harold a few more questions, Professor McGonagall left the hospital wing to find Dumbledore.

Harold looked at the now-empty room and slowly adjusted himself into a sitting position against the headboard.

He rubbed his forehead, thinking back once again to the battle in the eighth-floor corridor the day before.

Honestly, that fight hadn't even been close.

To most wizards, losing their wand made them no different from a Muggle… Sirius was slightly stronger than a Muggle, since he could still transform into a dog, but that was about it.

So, without a wand, Sirius stood no chance against Harold. After all, his [Tome of Soul Artifacts] didn't just contain the Repelling Charm—it also had the Stunning Spell and Binding Spell.

The only reason things escalated the way they did was because Harold had a sudden idea and wanted to test what would happen if he used [Serpent's Eye] on a wizard whose magical power far exceeded his own.

To be honest, as a third-year, Harold clearly didn't have as much magic as an adult wizard—let alone someone like Sirius, who'd once been one of the most talented wizards of his generation.

Even after enduring over ten years of torment by Dementors in Azkaban and having his magic weakened, he was still far beyond a student who hadn't graduated yet…

Yet even so, Sirius had been petrified in an instant, without time to resist.

Though Harold also collapsed from the enormous drain on his magic, the result was well worth the cost—completely acceptable.

If [Serpent's Eye] worked on Sirius, what about Snape?

Snape's strength should be a bit greater than the escaped Sirius, but not by much.

If Harold could petrify Sirius, then it meant he could probably do the same to Snape—a trade of one for one… well, not exactly one for one.

After all, he only fainted and would wake once his magic recovered, but [Serpent's Eye]'s petrification wasn't so easy to undo.

More importantly, he was only in his third year and had only had [Serpent's Eye] for a few months. Once he became more proficient, he might not even faint from using it.

By the time he graduated, maybe even Dumbledore could be taken down…

"You seem to be recovering well. That's a relief."

Just then, a warm voice sounded beside him.

Dumbledore walked in and sat naturally at Harold's bedside.

"What were you just thinking about?" he asked with a smile.

"Nothing much, just feeling lucky," Harold replied.

Of course he wouldn't tell Dumbledore the truth. In fact, he seriously doubted whether [Serpent's Eye] would work on wizards like Dumbledore or Voldemort.

"Ah, you truly are lucky," Dumbledore said, his blue eyes gazing at Harold. "Black is one of the most vicious criminals ever—he once killed twelve Muggles with a single curse."

"If it's not too much trouble, could you tell us what happened? In front of the Fat Lady's portrait on the eighth floor—how did you manage to drive Black away?"

"I… I'm not sure," Harold replied, frowning.

"That's alright. Let's try to recall it step by step," Dumbledore said patiently. "First, why did you leave the feast early? Did you find this year's ghost performance boring?"

"No…" Harold shook his head. "I mean, I've seen similar shows before—at Nearly Headless Nick's 500th Deathday Party last Halloween."

"I see," said Dumbledore.

"So I wanted to head back to the dorm early and finish making a half-completed wand I'd been working on."

"Understandable," Dumbledore nodded. "And where did you run into Sirius Black?"

"In front of the Fat Lady's portrait," Harold said. "I heard the Fat Lady screaming, and when I got there, I saw a ragged man tearing at the canvas."

"That man was Sirius Black? You recognized him?"

"Yes. I've seen his photo countless times in the Daily Prophet."

"And then?" Dumbledore prompted him.

"I wanted to preserve the evidence, so I took a photo of him. He noticed and lunged at me, and I instinctively cast a spell," Harold said.

"What spell?" Dumbledore's eyes gleamed slightly. "A Repelling Charm? Or the Stunning Spell?"

"I remember Professor Flitwick taught you all the Stunning Spell at last year's Dueling Club, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did," Harold nodded. "But I used a different spell."

As he spoke, he took out a wand with golden patterns etched on it and gave it a gentle wave.

"Silvermane Starfall!"

A blue unicorn leapt from the wand's tip and landed in the middle of the empty room.

"Oh…" Professor McGonagall covered her mouth in astonishment.

Dumbledore instinctively took off his glasses, gave them a good wipe on his sleeve, and put them back on.

"I see," he said in amazement. "So that unicorn spirit we saw last year… that was actually a spell you created?"

Back when the basilisk had first appeared, they'd seen that unicorn spirit—but no one had suspected it was a spell.

"Hmm… something like that," Harold said after a moment's thought, nodding.

He had crafted the wand himself, and the unicorn spirit was its signature spell. From that perspective, calling it a spell he created wasn't too far off.

…

(End of Chapter)