Schemes in shadows!

{DADA Classroom, Hogwarts, Scotland}

{08:42 PM, 23rd Jan 1992}

Voldemort had lots of plans when he decided to infiltrate Hogwarts, thanks to the loads of information that he got due to Quirrell, he had decided to check up on his Horcrux that he had hidden in Hogwarts, those were the only things keeping him alive after all, once he arrived at Hogwarts and applied for a position as the DADA professor because Charlus and Harry Potter would be just first years and it was in their third year where there will be a very remote possibility that they took up muggle studies.

Knowing that the DADA seat was empty already assured him that his Horcrux was okay, but his plans changed again when he realized what Dumbledore was planning to secure in Hogwarts this term. The Philosopher Stone, one of the only ways for him to come back to life was within his arms reach, so he ordered Quirrell to keep up the facade of a coward as he imagined what it would be like to be back and not as a cursed existence.

He hadn't planned to drink the Unicorn blood, but now that he knew that the Philosopher stone was here, he took the risk, there was no way to know how much power he would need to swipe the stone from under Dumbledore's nose.

His plan was to lay dormant until the time arrives and conserve his strength, but that quickly changed when he noticed a muggleborn student sorted into Slytherin and then the subsequent magic he cast on Lucius's heir. No matter how out of touch Voldemort was with his magic he could easily recognize parselmagic. He watched with fascination as Hector Jackson toyed with the Slytherin house that night and he continued to do so for the following month.

His plans to lay dormant changed, he wanted to guide the young child a little bit and maybe figure out the identity of his ancestors, he knew that the kid would grow up to be a powerful wizard, and corrupting him would help him in the long run.

"T-that's, right Jackson, c-channel your mana, f-focus on slicing the dummy apart, l-let your rage flow through you..." Voldemort was currently speaking through Quirrell, although it took a lot more energy than necessary, it was worth it as he watched a dark purple spell leaving Hector's wand which decimated the dummy into two pieces, although the cut wasn't clean, Voldemort could sense the dark cursed spell, from the infected region. If someone was hit by this, the only way to heal it would be through darker rituals.

'Soon, soon Hector would slowly succumb to the allure of the Dark Arts, and then when I have gotten myself a new body, I can contact him offering to teach him more, he would be my new lieutenant for the upcoming war.'

Voldemort felt a twinge of pain coming from his soul, although unforeseen, it was one of the side effects that he had to manage due to consuming Unicorn blood on a weekly basis. He let Quirrell have control of the body who hurriedly explained something to Hector and sent him away, he, on the other hand, focused on his mana to control his soul from trembling.

'I need to go and hunt again...'

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Harry had just left after another study session with Quirrell and he knew that something was definitely up with the man, the way he was trying to teach him was wrong according to the books he had received from Daphne. He remembered the words of caution clearly.

'''...Learning esoteric magic is an advanced practice, most of the spells and theories involved are master-level, and the focus on using emotions as fuel makes it a dangerous branch of magic. Our emotions affect more than just our magic when we use esoteric spells, they affect our psyche too. When using esoteric magic, it is cautioned to never let your emotions control your mana, it could twist the magic into something else and along with it your personality...'''

Harry knew that the spells that Quirrell was giving him were of the darker variety, although his motivations were unknown, Harry knew they weren't good for him, and even though he knew that it won't probably affect him due to [Gamer's mind] he wasn't about to take any chances.

Harry's footsteps stopped as he sensed not less than 9 people hiding in the corridor just after this turn, He tried sensing to see who they were but it wasn't entirely clear, what Harry could figure out though was that their intentions were not good, especially considering that out of 9, 7 of them had cast concealing charms around them along with the Disillusionment Charm.

Harry debated what to do, he could probably take them on if he decided to ambush them, but if all 9 of them started casting magic from around him, it would be a difficult fight. He pulled out his wand and cast a silencing charm on his shoes before using the Disillusionment Charm and notice-me-not charm on himself, it was one of the easiest combinations that he knew could turn him invisible as nobody would notice the slight shimmer in the air because of the notice-me-not charm.

Harry walked around the corner and looked at the nervous expression on Flint's face, he was fidgeting a little as he whispered to Ryan beside him, "How much time left?"

"Still 15 minutes till his detention with Quirrell is finished," Ryan whispered as Harry carefully took note of the rest of the seven people in the corridor, most of them were fifth-year Slytherin students but the odd bleach-blond heir of the Malfoy heir stood out.

"Are you sure this will be enough?" Ryan asked and Flint nodded, his nervousness hidden behind his arrogance, "Yes, even if Malfoy just fires stinging hexes at him, one more spell heading toward him will divide his attention, we just need to get one good hit and the potion will do the rest."

Flint pulled out a potion corked in a vial to show him, dissuading his opposition, "How you managed to get a hold of that potion I'll never know, thankfully it would be over soon, then next year we could be the kings of Slytherin..."

Harry heard everything as he shot an [observe] towards the potion. His eyebrows rose as he stared at the malicious grin on Flint's face.

'Maybe I need to be a little more careful of what I eat...'

Harry shuddered as he read the description shown by the System.

[Potion: Draught of False Death]

[A specially made draught for the express reason to attack a wizard's core, leaving them unable to practice magic ever again. It needs to be keyed to the wizard to be effective.]

[Currently keyed to - x]