Hogwarts: From Little Wizard to White Lord

When Peter opened his eyes in the morning, he felt a heavy weight pressing on his chest, making it hard to breathe.

Pulling back the quilt, he found Guoguocha's massive, fluffy head resting right on his chest, the big cat's eyes half-closed in lazy contentment, radiating warmth.

"Good morning, you naughty thing. Sleeping in my bed again?"

"Meow!"

Guoguocha let out a soft, coaxing cry and rubbed his head affectionately against Peter.

After playing with the oversized cat for a while, Peter finally got up. By then, sunlight was already pouring down through the waters of the Black Lake. His dormitory was set high along the side of the lake, only about ten meters above the water.

From here, he could see faint shafts of light filtering through the thin layer of ice, casting hazy ripples into the depths below.

Peter had gone to bed very late the night before. Not because the fight with Voldemort had left him too excited to sleep, but because he had spent a long time reviewing that brief clash, trying to gauge the current state of the "Socket Man."

His conclusion was grim worse than he had expected.

"Without unicorn blood, Voldemort is likely relying on draining Quirrell's life force just to exist. That's why, when Quirrell called for help yesterday, he acted without hesitation."

"He's afraid… afraid of losing his last loyal servant… afraid his resurrection plan will fall apart…"

Though the figure he had faced was twisted and ghastly, armed with deadly magic and a fearsome Killing Curse, Peter's later reflections revealed the truth he had been weak.

When Voldemort cast the Killing Curse, he hadn't even had the strength to replace Quirrell's Shield Charm, allowing Peter's invisible blade to pierce through.

And when Dumbledore was on the verge of arriving, Voldemort had fled instantly, unwilling to risk even a moment's delay.

"The Dark Lord, once so powerful and feared by so many, reduced to this… what a fate."

With a quiet sigh, Peter finished washing and didn't immediately leave the bathroom. Instead, he summoned the shimmering system panel before him.

Today was Halloween November 1st time to settle the previous month's reputation points.

[Host: Peter Weasley]

[Magic Scale: 444 (500 for an average adult wizard)]

[Talents: Charms 7, Dark Arts 6, Transfiguration 8, Potions 10, Herbology 6, Divination 2 (maximum is 10)]

[Spells: Occlumency LV5 (MAX)… Shield Charm LV4 (0/16), Disarming Charm LV3 (2/8), Shattering Charm LV1 (0/4), Disembodied Charm LV1 (1/4), Vanishing Charm LV0 (2/3), Patronus Charm LV0 (0/4), Shadowless Strike LV1 (0/6)…]

[Potions: Joy Potion, etc.]

[Reputation Points: 6]

Peter glanced at the figure for his magic scale and gave a small, unimpressed curl of his lip.

Unlucky number.

Ignoring the long list of spells and potions, his attention shifted to the reputation points.

"Six points… that's only one more than last month?"

Peter wasn't entirely sure what had caused the gain, though it probably had nothing to do with his reputation as a potion-maker. He hadn't released a new potion in the two months since starting school, and because of his studies, he'd even reduced his brewing and sales from once every two weeks to something less frequent. Fortunately, the drop in production hadn't really slowed the spread of his name.

"Was it because I joined the Slytherin Quidditch team, or because of killing the troll last night? Or both?"

Unfortunately, the system's calculation method for reputation couldn't be measured in any exact way, and it never displayed the details.

After a moment's thought, Peter stopped wondering about it. Looking at the points he had, he decided to spend four to immediately raise the Patronus Charm to Level 1 (0/8).

He used another point to bring the Vanishing Spell up to Level 1 (0/6).

That left just one point, which he decided to save for next month's settlement.

He hadn't put any points into Scarpin's Revelaspell this time because, at Level 3, it would take a massive thirty-two points to reach the maximum.

Adding only six points would be a drop in the bucket. Besides, his Level 3 Revelaspell was more than enough for now, and he would be using it regularly in future potion experiments. He could raise it naturally through practice.

As for why he chose to invest in the Patronus Charm and the Vanishing Spell…

Both were infuriatingly difficult. Peter had been stuck on them for over a month, making little to no progress despite repeated practice.

The Patronus Charm, for example, required pure and positive emotion reaching deep for good memories and immersing yourself in them completely.

On paper, it sounded simple. In practice, it was anything but.

The first hurdle was achieving pure focus, free of stray thoughts. For most witches and wizards, everyday distractions would muddle the emotion and disrupt the Patronus's formation.

This part wasn't a problem for Peter. His self-control was sharp enough to shut out anything irrelevant and cling firmly to one emotion.

The real problem was finding a truly strong positive emotion.

Positivity was a broad concept, but in the wizarding world, almost everyone approached the Patronus Charm by using their happiest memories as fuel.

And that was where Peter hit a wall.

He was, after all, a time traveler. In his previous life, he'd been an adult worn down by the grind of the modern world.

If someone asked him to rant about mortgages, car loans, and the crushing weight of daily life, he could go on for two days straight. But if asked to recall moments of pure happiness… all that came to mind were exhaustion and sighs.

It wasn't that he had no happy memories just that the burdens of adulthood had dulled their shine, leaving them too faint to summon a proper Patronus.

With progress crawling to a halt, he had set the spell aside weeks ago.

Now, looking at the Patronus Charm newly upgraded to Level 1, Peter drew his wand and spoke clearly,

"Expecto Patronum!"

This time, the resistance he'd felt before was gone. As the incantation left his lips, happy memories long buried and faded by time began to rise to the surface.

They were moments from his childhood.

Perched on his father's shoulders. Curled in his mother's arms. Racing through the streets with his classmates under the sunset. Stammering out his first confession to the girl he'd liked.

One after another, they came into focus clear and vivid, no longer dim or distant.

The joy, the warmth, the bonds, the passion… all the feelings buried deep in the dust of time surged back into his heart.

Something seemed to stir in his mind. Memories from the life he had lived since crossing into this world fluttered through him like the pages of a book caught in the wind, each one bringing a vivid image: Arthur, Molly, Ginny… his first trip to Diagon Alley, his very first encounter with magic, his first pet across two lives…

Past and present intertwined in that moment.

These memories and emotions, woven together with magic, flowed through his body, down his arm, and into his wand. At last, they gathered at the tip in a swirl of shimmering white light and mist.

The mist curled downward, stretching, lengthening… and then, all at once, it burst outward.

White light bloomed.

An airy, almost musical sound rose from within the glow as the light and mist coiled together. In the next heartbeat, a translucent, blue-white Maine Coon cat, tail long and flowing, leapt gracefully into the air and spun before landing softly on the ground.

"Meow "

It looked up at Peter and let out a gentle cry. As Peter gazed down at it, something cool and warm slid down his cheek at the same time.

Lifting a hand to his face, his fingers came away glistening.

Tears.