And like that, second year at Hogwarts ended and sumr showed up without asking for permission.
For once, Victor didn't have anything imdiate to deal with, which felt suspiciously convenient. Just a normal sumr, which was already strange enough on its own.
Still, he didn't forget what had already been done.
Three Horcruxes were gone—Ravenclaw's diadem, Tom Riddle's diary, and Slytherin's locket. That part was clean, no loose ends.
What remained was easy to list and annoying to reach.
Hufflepuff's cup sitting sowhere he couldn't just walk into.
Marvolo Gaunt's ring, which ca with the kind of side effects he wasn't interested in testing.
Harry, which wasn't sothing you "deal with" early unless you wanted everything to go wrong.
And Nagini, who wasn't even relevant yet, unless he planned to hunt down a random snake for future reasons.
So yes, everything left was out of reach.
Which ant this sumr had nothing to do with chasing Horcruxes.
Victor decided to actually use the ti instead of pretending to be busy.
He already had the three Unforgivable Curses, which was a nice collection to have if you ignored how illegal they were and how people reacted when you used them.
Now he moved on to everything else.
Not classroom spells. Not the kind professors graded.
Actual useful magic.
Spells that worked fast, didn't waste movent, and didn't announce themselves before landing. Cutting curses, binding spells, layered defenses, things that made fights shorter instead of longer.
No rush.
No pressure.
Just practice, refining what he already had and adding more to it, because sooner or later things would start moving again, and when they did, he had no intention of standing there figuring things out on the spot.
"First, I should learn the Patronus Charm," Victor muttered to himself, already thinking ahead.
Next year ant Dentors.
Dentor patrolling the school because of Sirius Black, which ant avoiding them wouldn't always be an option. And with his luck, he wouldn't just "run into them," he'd probably end up right in front of one at the worst possible ti.
So yes, learning it wasn't optional.
That led to one problem.
The Patronus Charm required a strong happy mory.
Victor had those.
Technically.
His first lottery win. His first love. Monts from his previous life that were actually worth rembering.
The issue was what ca after those mories.
Most of them didn't end well.
Which made things… complicated.
Still, a mory didn't need a perfect ending. It just needed to be strong enough to hold.
Victor exhaled slowly, steadying himself.
"Should work," he said, more as a conclusion than a guess.
Then another thought crossed his mind.
The form.
Patronus forms reflected sothing personal, sothing tied to identity, and considering what his Animagus form had turned out to be—
A basilisk.
He wasn't particularly optimistic.
"I really hope it's not sothing ridiculous," he muttered.
He didn't need a second situation where his magic decided to reveal sothing inconvenient.
Still, there was only one way to find out.
Victor raised his wand slightly, focus sharpening as he searched for a mory that was strong enough, clear enough, and didn't collapse under its own weight.
"Let's see what I get."
He kept at it for days.
The first few attempts didn't even produce mist, just weak sparks that faded before taking shape. The mory wouldn't hold, slipping the mont he tried to focus on it properly. Every ti he reached for sothing good, the ending followed right behind it, dragging the whole thing down.
So he adjusted.
Instead of thinking about how things ended, he held onto the mont itself. The feeling, not the outco. That was enough.
It took ti.
Ten days of repetition, failed attempts, and small improvents that barely counted until they finally did.
By the end of it, he stood in his room, wand raised, focus steady.
"Expecto Patronum."
This ti, it worked.
Silver light burst from his wand, stronger than before, gathering instead of fading. It took shape in front of him, solidifying into sothing clear, sothing real.
Victor stared at it.
"…well, that's new."
It wasn't a basilisk.
That alone was a relief.
But the replacent wasn't exactly subtle.
A dragon.
Not just any shape either—a fire dragon, ford from bright silver light, its wings spreading as it circled the room, leaving faint trails behind it. It moved smoothly, almost alive, its presence filling the space far more than a simple charm should.
Victor lowered his wand slightly, watching it.
"I was hoping for sothing less… noticeable."
The dragon continued to move, looping once around the room before settling briefly in front of him, as if acknowledging him before moving again.
He exhaled slowly.
"I really don't understand why this kind of thing keeps happening to ."
The Patronus gave no answer.
It continued to circle the room, its silver wings cutting through the air in smooth arcs, light reflecting faintly off the walls as it moved.
Victor watched it for a mont longer, his expression settling.
"…but it's at least sothing good."
*****
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