The First-Year Dungeon

The next day, Edmund stayed inside the Room of Requirement from morning to night.

He requested a training room dedicated to spell practice.

Inside were all kinds of targets and magic-resistant devices, allowing him to release spells as much as he wanted.

He discovered that his magical recovery speed had increased by five or six times. His silent casting and wandless casting had also improved.

At this point, he could be called a walking spell battery.

After a full day of relentless bombardment, Edmund finally regained smooth control over his magic.

He felt that his strength had reached professor level. He could not speak for everyone, but he was confident he could handle Snape.

Then he checked his status panel.

As expected, he had improved enormously.

[System]

Name: Edmund Gaunt

Status: Hogwarts first-year student

Legacy: Gaunt Ancestral Magic, awakening. Full awakening projected upon maturity, Arcane Capacity expected to reach pseudo-Legendary tier.

Arcane Capacity: 55.4

Magical Artifact: Avalon - The Everdistant Utopia

Charms Talent: 6 (Exceptional)

Defence Against the Dark Arts: 7 (Prodigy)

Transfiguration Talent: 6 (Exceptional)

Potions Talent: 7 (Prodigy)

Dark Arts: 9 (Dark Lord's Descent)

Spells: Fiendfyre, Crucio, Sectumsempra (only the three highest-proficiency spells listed)

Coins: 300

Looking at the panel, Edmund was very satisfied.

This was only his first school year, yet his strength had already risen to this level.

By the time Voldemort fully returned, Edmund might already be close to pseudo-Legendary level.

Although pseudo-Legendary was only one tier above professor level, the distance between those two tiers was greater than the gap between an ordinary Muggle and a professor.

In the past century, only three people had reached that level.

Edmund left the Room of Requirement and immediately saw Hermione standing in front of the Headmaster's office, trying to talk to the stone gargoyle.

"Please let me in! I have something very important to tell Professor Dumbledore!"

"Sorry," the gargoyle said expressionlessly. "No password, no entry."

"What are you doing here, Hermione?"

Edmund was puzzled.

"Edmund, why are you here?"

Hermione looked as if she had seen a savior.

"Someone broke into the third-floor corridor! It must be Snape! Harry and Ron are waiting by the door while I bring Professor Dumbledore!"

Hearing that, Edmund slapped his forehead.

He had been so focused on practicing magic that he had forgotten this important event.

Without hesitation, Edmund spoke the password to the stone gargoyle.

"Sherbet lemon."

The gargoyle hesitated for a moment, then moved aside. Edmund strode in, and Hermione followed closely behind.

Unfortunately, Dumbledore was not there.

Edmund's voice sank.

"Professor Dumbledore is not in his office. We are going to the third floor now. I am afraid Harry and Ron may go in on their own."

He vaguely remembered that in the original timeline, Harry had failed to wait for Dumbledore and rushed in with his friends.

Hermione was clearly flustered, so she obeyed Edmund's lead. The two of them quickly made their way to the abandoned classroom on the third floor.

Harry and Ron were waiting anxiously outside the door.

To be honest, Edmund was a little surprised Harry had not already charged in.

The Boy Who Lived usually had one style: rush first, think later.

Apparently, he had managed to be somewhat steady today.

"Harry, Professor Dumbledore is not in his office. We will not find him in time."

Harry grew even more anxious. Then his expression hardened.

"Then we go in together. Edmund, you are strong. We can stop Snape."

And so Edmund's first-year dungeon at Hogwarts began.

In Edmund's private assessment, Harry and Ron were mostly there to watch, while Hermione was a very pretty girl he would prefer to keep safely out of the worst of it.

At least that was how Edmund saw it.

They entered the room and saw Fluffy, the three-headed dog, just as expected.

Edmund directly transfigured a nearby stool into a harp and made it play an atrocious lullaby.

Fluffy collapsed almost at once.

Harry, standing nearby, found the tune strangely familiar in the worst possible way, as though someone had tried to turn his name into a nonsense rhyme about riding a broom.

He shook his head and quickly threw the absurd thought away.

Hermione could not help sighing. Such a terrifying magical creature had been defeated by a single piece of music.

And not even a pleasant one.

"Snape really is an idiot," Ron said with gleeful satisfaction. "Last time, Fluffy must have bitten him hard."

As long as Snape suffered, Ron could probably remain happy for an entire term.

"Enough thinking about useless things," Edmund said. "Are you ready? We are jumping."

He walked to the trapdoor and pulled it open.

"Are you sure this is safe?"

The three of them leaned over and looked down, then exchanged looks.

Below them was pitch-black darkness, like a bottomless hole.

Seeing the three hesitate, Edmund set the example. He stepped off lightly and dropped.

He knew Devil's Snare should be waiting below, but he was not going to entrust his safety entirely to memory.

In midair, he cast a wind-guiding charm and slowly landed on the ground.

"There are soft plants down here. It is fine. Jump."

Then he called upward again.

"Come on, Hermione. I will catch you like last time. Trust me."

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