HPxLOTM: A Wizard's Path to Divinity-Chapter 712: So Cool!

"???"

Dumbledore fell into confusion.

Can spectacles gain sentience too?

Oh, on second thought, I’m probably the least qualified person to ask that question. After all, at Hogwarts, even a filthy, tattered, threadbare hat can become "sentient."

"Hey, old man."

"Please address me as Headmaster, Professor, or simply Dumbledore. Calling me ’old man’ is rather discourteous."

Amon spoke indifferently. "All right then, Headmaster. What benefits did Edward give you? I can offer ten times as much—so long as you tell me how to leave this place."

Dumbledore smiled. "Oh, he gave me an opportunity."

"An opportunity to re-educate an incorrigible child and guide him onto the right path."

Amon immediately narrowed his eyes. "Are you talking about me?"

Dumbledore only smiled, saying nothing.

———

Half an hour later, the small boat docked at the shore. One old man and one child stepped onto the muddy path and made their way toward Hogwarts Castle. Along the way, Dumbledore tirelessly introduced the history of Hogwarts to Amon, yet Amon remained largely uninterested.

Until—

"You’re saying that I can also learn magic here?"

Dumbledore froze for a moment. "Oh, of course. This is a school of magic. As a new student, you can naturally learn magic just like the other children. I believe I told you that at the very beginning."

Tch.

Back then, all my attention was on finding a way to recover my abilities and escape this world. Who had the time to care about that?

"So Edward’s miraculous abilities...he learned them all here, at Hogwarts?"

"Mm, yes."

"So that’s how it is."

Amon broke into a smile. "Hmm. I’m suddenly a little interested in this place. When can I start learning magic?"

"Don’t rush, Mr. Amon. Let’s follow the procedures step by step first."

As they spoke, the two of them crossed the castle courtyard and arrived at the doors of the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall, who had been waiting for some time, quickly stepped forward.

"Oh, this must be Mr. Amon, the new transfer student today?"

"That’s right, Minerva."

Dumbledore then introduced him to Amon. "This is Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House."

"Good evening, Professor McGonagall."

Amon bowed slightly, every inch the little gentleman.

"Good evening, Mr. Amon. Dinner is about to begin. Let’s complete the Sorting Ceremony as quickly as possible so you can dine together with your classmates."

Amon nodded faintly. "May I ask...by what method will it be determined which House I’m suited for?"

Professor McGonagall began, "It’s done by—"

Before she could finish, Dumbledore laughed and said, "Oh, you simply need to take a direct hit from a Killing Curse and—"

Professor McGonagall cried out in shock, "Headmaster!"

"Ahem."

Dumbledore coughed lightly. "A cold joke I learned from Miss Audrey. Was it not funny?"

A glimmer of amusement flashed in Amon’s eyes. "Extremely interesting."

Inside the lively Great Hall, students from the four Houses were happily enjoying a lavish dinner. At that moment, the doors creaked open, and Professor McGonagall led a boy wearing a monocle briskly inside.

Everyone immediately turned to look, whispering among themselves, speculating about the boy’s identity.

Amon calmly surveyed his surroundings, meeting the curious gazes directed at him. Instinctively, he pinched his monocle, tempted to parasitise the loudest among them.

"Please sit here, sir."

After seating Amon, Professor McGonagall hurried off. Half a minute later, she returned holding that filthy, ancient, "sentient hat."

"Once you put on this hat, it will determine which House suits you, Mr. Amon."

Amon glanced at the Sorting Hat. "Oh? It rather resembles the one I usually wear—just a bit too old and dirty."

"Speaking of me like that to my face is quite rude, young man."

The Sorting Hat immediately opened its mouth in protest.

"So it’s alive. An alchemical creation?"

"No. I’ve always believed myself to be a miracle."

Amon shrugged. "Very well, Mr. Miracle. Please hurry and tell me which House I belong to. Being stared at by so many eyes isn’t a particularly pleasant experience."

"Very well, as you wish."

The Sorting Hat closed its eyes and pondered for half a minute. "Strange. I can’t read your thoughts at all."

Amon grinned. "So that’s how sorting works? Very well—take another look now."

A few seconds later, the Sorting Hat practically leapt off Amon’s head, screaming in sheer terror:

"Azkaban! Azkaban!!!

"My God—only Azkaban is suitable for you!!"

"???"

After a brief moment of shock, the Great Hall erupted into a thunderous uproar. One by one, the students’ gazes toward Amon changed.

The chicken leg in Ron’s hand dropped to the floor. "Did I hear that wrong just now? Did the Sorting Hat say Azkaban?"

Harry was equally stunned. After reuniting with Sirius, he had long since heard about the most terrifying place in the wizarding world—a prison that held only the most dreadful criminals, most of whom had blood on their hands.

Yet the Sorting Hat had actually suggested sending a new student to Azkaban. This...was far too absurd! The hat must be too old and too broken, spouting madness!

Dumbledore had only just taken his seat when he heard the Sorting Hat’s terrified cry. Facing the puzzled looks of the three Heads of House around him, his expression darkened slightly as he looked at the Sorting Hat, "Please refrain from making jokes."

"I wasn’t—"

The Sorting Hat instinctively tried to retort, but at that moment, new information flooded into the mind of the child named Amon. The hat immediately stopped speaking further and loudly announced, "Gryffindor!"

"Ohhh!!!"

The Gryffindor table instantly erupted in cheers.

"Pleasure working with you."

Amon removed the hat and handed it back to Professor McGonagall, then walked toward the Gryffindor section. His gaze swiftly swept across the faces there before he finally sat down in the empty seat beside Harry.

Harry hesitated for a moment, then took the initiative to greet him. "Hi, um, hello. May I ask—you..."

"You know Edward, don’t you?" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Harry froze. "Yes—well, no. I mean, lots of people know Edward."

Amon looked Harry up and down, then asked with mild curiosity, "Do you have a grudge against Edward?"

"Of course not!"

"Then that’s strange." Amon pinched his chin. "Why would he have you ingest an Assassin potion? Oh—actually, not just an Assassin potion, but the Beyonder characteristics of a Demoness of Unaging."

Ron and Hermione immediately asked in unison, "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, simply put..." Amon replied casually, "...before long, you’ll turn into a girl. A girl more beautiful and more charming than most women."

Harry: "???"

Hermione: "???"

Ron: "That’s so cool!!"

———

The world of the Lord of the Mysteries.

The moment Edward passed through the gates of the Giant King’s Court and entered the Forsaken Land of the Gods, he saw Lilith sitting on the stone steps before the gates, her expression complicated as she propped her chin up and stared blankly into the distance.

"What’s wrong, Lilith?"

Edward walked over and sat down beside her. "You look a bit down. Where’s Klein?"

"I sent him to the City of Silver."

"And Amon...?"

"I took care of that avatar as well."

"And you...?"

Lilith suddenly threw herself into Edward’s arms, hugging him tightly, her small head rubbing hard against his chest. Edward immediately patted the back of her head, asking with concern, "What happened?"

"Wahh..."

Her voice carried a sobbing tone. "Edward, I...I...I can’t switch to the Red Priest Pathway anymore! Wahh..."

"Uh."

Edward held her shoulders and gently pushed her back a little. "Didn’t you promise me you wouldn’t switch to Red Priest?"

"But..."

Lilith wrinkled her nose and snorted. "Miss Lilith prepared for so long! I seized two Conqueror Beyonder characteristics, reached an agreement with the old dragon, and even...even planned the war in the Southern Continent."

"You have no idea how much effort I put into it. But now it’s all gone. Miss Lilith isn’t willing to accept this."

Her words left Edward puzzled. "What do you mean, all gone?"

Fury instantly ignited in Lilith’s eyes. "My Conqueror Beyonder characteristics...were stolen by Amon last time! And Adam swapped them out for fake ones conjured by imagination! Even the Uniqueness I agreed on with the old dragon was handed over to someone else! And even—even the war I planned was harvested by someone else ahead of me!"

She pouted, looking utterly aggrieved. "Now I have nothing at all."

Seeing Lilith in such a pitiful state immediately filled Edward with heartache. He pulled her into his arms at once, gently patting her back as he said softly, "Who says you have nothing? Don’t you still have me? Once I deal with Cheek, you’ll be able to reclaim what rightfully belongs to you—the Primordial Demoness."

"No."

She shook her head, muttering, "It’s too dangerous. Not only is she a Sequence 0 existence, she’s also fused with the Mirrored Original Creator now. It’s far too dangerous."

Lilith suddenly looked up at Edward with hopeful eyes. "Edward, how about...we take Audrey and Susie with us and hide in the world of Hogwarts? That way, we wouldn’t have to worry about these dangers."

"I’d really like that too."

Edward clasped her delicate hand. "But if we do that, the Oldest One is destined to awaken sooner or later. When that happens, where would we hide then?"

Lilith lowered her gaze. "You’re right. I was being naïve."

She took a deep breath and clenched her fist fiercely. "Then we’ll just kill all the Outer Deities, Cheek, and the Oldest One—together!"

"Mm!!"

At that moment, Edward remembered something and asked curiously, "By the way, why did you come to the Giant King’s Court in the first place?"

"I...originally came here to settle accounts with Adam. Even though the Adam who swapped out my Beyonder characteristics was a different one, in essence, they’re still the same person. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got..."

Lilith sighed. "But after arriving, I discovered that he—Grisha Adam—was planning to repair the barrier at the cost of sacrificing himself at any moment. In that situation, no matter how angry or furious I was, I couldn’t very well lash out."

At this point, she frowned slightly. "By the way, Cheek pulled something like this in the Astral World—why didn’t you tell me, Edward?"

———

[Note]: Don’t forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.