21 Discovery

Lucas who was also on his way out, reached the door when Snape walked in.

"Good morning Mr Foster."

Lucas acknowledged Snape with a curt nod, his face betraying nothing. He knew better than to show his emotions in front of the formidable potions master.

Snape's dark eyes bore into Lucas, his gaze sharp and penetrating. "I trust you are taking your studies serious, Mr Foster," he stated, his tone demanding obedience.

Lucas met Snape's gaze for the first time, confident that he had learned enough to protect his mind over the summer. Without flinching he said "Of course, Professor. I take my responsibilities seriously."

The man was an impenetrable fortress. His mind was like no one else's. He felt like a black hole to Lucas, even the normal miniscule amount of emotions he got from Occlumens' was missing.

It was remarkable and scary.

Snape's lip curled into a slight sneer. "See that you do. We wouldn't want any distractions interfering with your grades."

"Yes sir." With that, Lucas brushed past Snape and continued on his way, his footsteps purposeful and resolute and as he was walking away Snape's cold gaze lingered on his back.

----

Now in the room of requirenment Lucas was standing in the middle with target dummies swirling around him. Some were on the ground and some flying through the air. His wand was floating above his head. He was doing his magical training before he would train some more in his shadowmancy.

Spells flew around like fireworks, the ones shot from above his head merely pushed the targets back, but the ones coming from his body annihilated anything they came in contact.

'Wait a minute, what if?' Somewhere in between shooting spells he had a sudden flash of genius, if he were in a cartoon, a lightbulb would have appeared above his head.

He closed his eyes and tried to enter a deep state of meditation, which wasn't that easy now that he was so excited to try out his idea. Eventually he managed to do so and felt his mind leave his body. but instead of going to the shadows he went towards his strangely orange glowing wand.

The light emanated a soothing warmth that enveloped him, and he could smell the fresh scent of a recently cut down pine tree. Apart from it, Lucas detected a delicate and melodic cry, faintly echoing through the air. It was the unmistakable sound of a phoenix, its haunting melody intertwining into the warm light. The cry resonated with both sorrow and hope, its bittersweet notes stirring a deep emotion within anyone who heard it.

Drawning closer to his wand, Lucas hesitated for a second. Even though it was his wand and he couldn't feel the slightest bit of malicious intent, the unknown still called for caution. So slowly he approached the inevitable.

In the moment that he finally reached it, Lucas sensed the immense power and potential that resided within the wand, hidden away from him. It was the ego of his wand, something that took decades of nurturing to fully and totally submit to the wizard. That's also why, it was unwilling to fully give itself to him, yet. He only had his wand for a little over one year after all.

With a newfound understanding of what his wand really was and a new goal, in addition to his numerous others, Lucas withdrew his mind, his consciousness gradually returning to his physical body.

Opening his eyes, Lucas took a deep breath and commanded the room to resume the puppets' movement. This time the wand above his head also destroyed the targets. It still failed to reach the power of him, but it was a start.

----

As Snape entered the headmaster's room, a sense of urgency emanated from him. The weight of the information he was carrying evident in his steps.

"I have urgent news," Snape began, capturing Dumbledore's attention. The headmaster looked up from the stack of papers on his desk, his eyes fixed on Snape.

"About what, my dear friend?" Dumbledore inquired, his brow raised in curiosity.

"It concerns Mr Foster," Snape replied, his voice laced with a mixture of concern and gravity.

Dumbledore's expression grew more intent his full focus now on the potion master. "Please, continue."

Snape took a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing, "This morning, I encountered Mr Foster shortly after he had a conversation with Ms Davies."

"I assume he used Legilimency during their interaction?"

Snape nodded. "Yes, he did. And afterwards I looked for the few students he usually spends his time with. Every single one of them displayed subtle signs of manipulation that you wouldn't be able to find if you didn't know what you were looking for. Unfortunately because Mr Foster only used the bare minimum and nothing that could permamently alter someones habits or personality I couldn't discern what he did exactly. He has been very cautious and clever."

Dumbledore's gaze sharpened, a mixture of concern and determination shining in his eyes. "Whatever it is he did, it is a sign of what is to come. This is only the beginning."

"There was someone else as well. Someone Mr Foster repeatedly used Legilimency on."

"Who"

"Ms Pince"

Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly at Snape's revelation. "Ms Pince? The librarian?" he inquired, a hint of surprise evident in his voice, which was quickly replaced by a cold glint flashing through his eyes. He coldly commanded the potion master "Keep observing him, Severus, and let me know if anything out of the ordinary happens."

Snape nodded, his expression grim as he left. "Yes, Headmaster."

'So that's what you are aiming for.' Dumbledore thought as he looked at the securely enchanted trunk in the corner, which contained his "own" collection of books. These ones, looted from the various dark families, who fought on the side of Voldemort as well as the dark lords personal collection would never see the light of day again. Dumbledore's eyes were an exception of course.

There were a few books from the restricted section mixed in as well. 'I should take a few more!'

With that he vanished in a *pop*.

----

Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Holly gathered in a secluded corner of the Gryffindor common room, huddled around a small table.

"Do you really think there is a Chamber of Secrets?" Ron inquired, his brows furrowed.

"Yes, can't you tell? All the teachers are worried," Hermione replied confidently.

"So, if there really is a Chamber of Secrets and the heir of Slytherin has returned then..." Harry began, only to be interrupted by Holly, who he looked annoyedly at in a way only a sibling could.

"The question is, who is the heir?" Holly said firmly.

"Let's think this through," Ron spoke sarcastically. "Who constantly insults anyone who isn't of noble descent and wishes Muggleborns weren't allowed to study magic?"

"If you're talking about Malfoy," Hermione nodded, "it does seem suspicious."

"Exactly! You know him, Hermione. Who else could it be?" Ron's certainty grew.

"But how do we get him to tell us the truth?" Harry wondered aloud. "He won't be stupid enough to outright confess."

"Maybe Crabbe and Goyle know something," Ron suggested, leaning back in his chair.

"Even they aren't that stupid, but there might be another way," Holly said, her eyes gleaming with a clever idea. "Hermione, come with me."

"Where are you going?" Harry asked as they were walking away.

"Library."

Holly and Hermoine had made their way from the Gryffindor common room all the way to the entrance of the library, They combed through numerous aisles, until they eventually found what they were looking for.

Deep within the hidden corners of the library, there sat Lucas, all alone, engrossed in his reading. Holly boldly took a seat across from him while Hermione settled in next to him. When they had sat down, Lucas looked up from his book, a charming smile lighting up his face. "What can I do for you?"

Holly, instead of beating around the bush, spoke with confidence "You are a Legilimens aren't you?"

Hermione glanced at Holly with a mix of curiosity and confusion, unsure of what a Legilimens was. In all the books she had read she had never stumbled upon such a word.

Contrarily to what Holly believed the smile did not vanish from Lucas' face, but the normally well conceived cold look in his eyes came to the surface. "What do you mean? What is a Legilimens?"

"Don't play stupid with me." Holly said firmly, while pointing at Hermoine. "She is proof enough that you are."

The bushy haired Gryffindor was now even more confused and she tried to ask for clarification only for her question to fall on deaf ears.

Lucas looked at Hermoine for a second to gauge his options.

He couldn't outright deny it, because Holly already made up her mind and if he tried to deny it at this point he would come off as someone with nerfarious intentions, which wouldn't help him in the future. He had no plans to just throw away Hermoine at the first sign of trouble.

He also couldn't outright confirm it, because that would come off as if he planned to manipulate Hermoine from the beginning and knew exactly what he was doing, which would be the truth, but he couldn't say that now, could he.

So he chose the third option.

He leaned forward and gestured to the two girls to do the same. Once they were close enough he released enough intentless magic to cover the aisle, establishing his domain. Afterwards he changed it so that no sound would be able to escape it. What he didn't expect was for Holly's eyes to flash purple as she hectically looked around. "What is this?"

"Don't worry it's just to ward off any unwanted listeners." Lucas said as he inspected his own domain as well. It was the first time he used it on other wizards and it was very different from the target dummies. Both girls' bodies seemed to constantly attack it, like an unstable element releasing radioactivity into its surroundings. Their 'auras' were eating at his domain, which made it significantly more taxing for him, they on the other hand didn't seem to be affected at all. Holly in particular released a concerningly amount of 'radiation'.

After the Potter twin calmed down again Lucas finally answered her original question. "I will tell you, if you tell me what you are."