Timeline, after the Lestrange's Article was published, and before he asked help for Runic Serpents's from Snape.
Then, Evelyn Greengrass took advantage of the 'current hype' and published the newest volume of
'The History of the Magical World: Heroic Annals.'
The first "Heroic Chronicle", The Annals of Salazar Slytherin.
"Salazar Slytherin, medieval wizard and one of the Four Founders of Hogwarts..."
Contrary to popular belief, the author did not select him out of allegiance to the House of Slytherin, but because his influence on magical civilization spans centuries and continents.
His country of birth remains uncertain. However, evidence suggests he was not native to Britain.
Britain lacked serpentine fauna during his era, and Parselmouths, the rare language of serpents, would have been useless here before the 9th century...
Evelyn's article continued, citing magical history and zoological timelines. She connected the founding of Hogwarts to the eventual founding of 'Ilvermorny'. Then she detonated the final payload:
"The Gaunt family, direct descendants of Slytherin. A once-respected bloodline, degraded by centuries of inbreeding.
Among them, the strongest Parselmouth of our era fell to darkness. A man so notorious that even his name is forbidden."
She did not reveal the last piece, that the Dark Lord Voldemort had once been named Tom Riddle. That would benefit nobody, least of all herself.
The article shook Britain to its core.
Only elite circles had known Voldemort's bloodline, and even 'fewer' knew it accurately. Now the truth was printed for every household to read. Owls carried shock with the morning mail.
Later that day after Potions, Harry rushed through the halls, still smelling faintly of ingredients after being berated by Snape. He practically skidded into Lucifer and Hermione's path.
"Hagrid, he's cleared! They restored his right to use a wand again! He wanted me to ask if you're free this weekend. He wants to thank you for proving he was innocent!"
Lucifer paused, considering, "This weekend? Saturday afternoon works."
He had wanted to visit Hagrid anyway. One of his missions remained incomplete, Aragog, it's children aimed their legs at him, but the half-giant had been away in London these past days fighting for his name.
Harry's face lit up.
"Great! I'll tell him, he'll be thrilled! See you at his hut tomorrow!"
"See you then," Lucifer answered. Another revenge accomplished. Another piece in place. And the weekend promised to be... productive.
"Hagrid finally gets to have his own wand again?!" After Harry left, it was Hermione who finally spoke cheerfully, recognizing a beat late and broke her oath of silence after she was called a "Dunderhead" while slaughtering a Cornish pixy.
She'd always liked Hagrid. Aside from being a bit loud... she felt he really hadn't done anything wrong.
"A wand? He's always had one," Lucifer lowered his voice slightly, "Think carefully, have you ever noticed something... odd about him?"
Hermione frowned, digging through memories of her encounters with kind hearted Hagrid. She replayed dozens of moments in a flash, then suddenly, snap, something clicked.
"His umbrella, "
She stopped abruptly, eyes widening.
Lucifer nodded. "That's right. His broken wand is hidden inside the umbrella."
"A broken wand can still work?" Hermione whispered in shock, she hadn't known that.
"Barely. It has a much higher chance of magical backlash. But more importantly, it's a symbol of identity." The he smiled softly, "Only those who hold a wand can be acknowledged as wizards. Even a broken one counts. If a wizard loses even that... it means the magical world has exiled them."
The brunette's loud chatter fell silent. The truth of that statement echoed deeply inside her. Before Lucifer had used the 'ConfundusCharm' to wipe the Ministry's tracking markers from her, (repeatedly to boot when she asked after spell was over) every time she returned home for the holidays, girl felt an unbearable sense of disconnection, like she had been forcibly shoved back into the Muggle world.
She found herself sneaking to Diagon Alley just to stare at spellbooks and magical tools, reminding herself she wasn't a fraud.
Looking at Lucifer's perfect profile, warmth crept onto her cheeks. She wanted to say, It's so good you're here. She wanted to... but didn't dare.
At that moment, an overly energetic Professor Snape marched into the Great Hall with a 'flock' of students behind him, only to spot Lucifer and Hermione.
His expression instantly collapsed. Nearly sprinting, the man veered away like a startled hippogriff.
The bushy haired girl almost slapped her own face to see if she had finally gone mad, "Professor Snape... is he running 'away from you?"
"How could that be?" Lucifer smiled calmly, "He's probably... hungry."
Hermione gave him the most unimpressed eye-roll in Gryffindor history. Of course Snape was avoiding him. Calling it unfair would be wrong, but it was definitely satisfying.
In order to help the old man truly "experience the agony of a love battlefield," Lucifer had been walking on the poor single man's emotional bridges to death under the excuse of "training" him. So often, in fact, that Severus now reacted to him like a dog to a curse word, full panic.
That crooked bat couldn't understand how he had offended Lucifer. And yet, how could someone who received Rare Strengthening potions and even Basilisk souvenirs 'feel' anything but gratitude? The contradiction left him mentally fried. Was this affection? Abuse? Both??
....
The next day, Lucifer left Hogwarts and headed to Nurmengard. It was time for his twice-monthly "visit the lonely dangerous war criminal" activity. He had scheduled Harry Potter for the afternoon for this exact reason.
This was his third visit, and he now remembered every magical trap and entry trick. He stepped out of the defensive wards just in time for the last trap to smack the old Squib guard unconscious, allowing him to sleep "on the job" as usual.
When Lucifer reached Grindelwald, he finally showed genuine shock. Gellert looked young again. His appearance matched the 'middle-aged' form he favored in his Dimension.
"This isn't 'human transfiguration," the white-haired man smirked, "Slytherin's 'flesh-and-magic' modification inspired me. I've made some progress. In short, by re-forging myself with magic, this is my true body once more. Though my health is still... abysmal."
"You're insane." Lucifer shook his head, placing food and wine on the table as he sat opposite him, "Experimenting on yourself first? Aren't you afraid something could go wrong?"
"This is only surface-level alteration." Grindelwald waved it off, "If it failed, I could still handle the consequences. But injecting magic directly into the 'flesh' requires caution. Devil... I need help."
Lucifer knew exactly what help he meant, "...Fine." He nodded, though inside, he was laughing. Gellert Grindelwald was absolutely provoked by Voldemort. There was no way the proud old tyrant could tolerate someone stronger overshadowing him. Dumbledore never counted, he was a monster of his "own category."
After sharing a meal, with little to actually discuss, since he used teleportation and Spatial magic, if he was in need of the old man. Lucifer left Nurmengard. Grindelwald only insisted on these meetings to talk to a living human instead of 'floating demons'
Back at Hogwarts, he forwarded Grindelwald's request to Shaltear, exactly as ordered: pretending 'he' needed the experimental materials.
That afternoon, the girls were idle and restless for the second time, so Lucifer simply gathered Greengrass sisters and Hermione, leading them to Hagrid's hut. From the small dormer window, the towering man potted them approaching. His reaction was immediate, like an excited dog waiting for its owners, he practically burst out the door.
But today's Hagrid 'looked... different.' His beard was trimmed, his hair was no longer a wild nest, and most importantly, His umbrella was gone.
In its place was a wand. A 'long' wand.
In fact, calling it a wand was generous, Lucifer felt "magic club" was far more accurate. It wasn't just over sixteen inches, more like the size of a garden rake. Naturally, it drew everyone's attention.
"Hagrid, that's a wand?" Daphne asked suspiciously. "It looks like stone."
"It's a bit... special."
Hagrid scratched his head bashfully, "Because of my uh... blood, Ollivander made me a wand using special nerves and oak. It wasn't this color at first, but Giant nerves tend to petrify things over time. It... hardened. Good news is, it still works."
Hermione immediately perked up.
She had long suspected it. Being highly observant and 'well-read', she simply chose not to say anything regarding his omission of certain words because it did not change how she viewed him.
"I know about that! Giants slowly petrify their surroundings over long periods. Their weapons start as wooden clubs, but after decades of exposure, the wood hardens into enchanted stone."
Lucifer nodded. So basically... the wand had "aged into a collector's antique."
"Thaz's about right," Hagrid laughed not saying his heritage clearly, but most here already knew, "But don't stand out here chatting, come in! Come'ave something to eat."
The table was already full, its contents clearly prepared with great effort, at least by Hagrid's standards. There were rock-hard meat pies, kidney pâté, honey-roasted chicken, vine-wrapped rice rolls, and a heavy seafood stew with clams, cod, and crab. Two enormous jugs of hot cocoa and lemon tea sat proudly at the center, steaming like cauldrons.
"Eat up, eat up! Harry and Ron will be here soon," Hagrid boomed.
Daphne surveyed the feast as though facing a 'troll' The only thing that seemed remotely edible was the seafood stew. She ladled a symbolic amount. Astoria and Hermione followed suit. Only Lucifer bravely sampled everything.
To his surprise, the kidney pie didn't taste nearly as horrifying as it looked. It even had a hint of fragrance.
"Hagrid, where'd you get ingredients this good?"
"Oh, uh... a Warthog wandered out of the forest a while ago. Couldn't be tamed, so I," Hagrid abruptly shut his mouth and threw Lucifer a desperate series of winks.
The Warthog was a 4X-rated magical creature and Protected in several countries, Hagrid clearly didn't want to admit to butchering it for dinner.
"Got any hide left? Give me some."
"Sure! I made myself a quiver out of it. Plenty left, you can have all of it."
Lucifer grinned. The guy truly had no idea how extravagant he was being. 'Warthog hide' was incredibly durable, light, and magically receptive, a superior material for genitals armor.
And Hagrid used it... as a quiver. Then again... considering Hagrid's size, one hide probably wasn't enough to clothe him anyway. Soon Harry and Ron arrived, making the hut feel like it was bursting at the seams.
Hagrid proudly enlarged the table and conjured extra chairs.
"Finally, I can use magic openly again!"
In celebration, he whipped out two bottles of vodka. Hermione and the others stuck to tea and cocoa, with Lucifer wanted in drinking a glass, but his hand got swatted by that former annoying 'know-it-all' tone', but Hagrid downed half a bottle alone, face flushing beet red, emotions erupting like a geyser.
To the Greengrass sisters' horror, Hagrid suddenly started sobbing into his mug, blubbering through years of pent-up injustice, choking out thanks to Lucifer for clearing his name, and swearing that if he ever needed anything from the Forbidden Forest, he would fetch it personally.
Lucifer didn't even pretend to be modest, "As a matter of fact, I do need you to come with me into the forest. Even if you hadn't sought me out today, I would've gone looking for you soon."
"No problem! Tomorrow! Come tomorrow and find me!"
Technically, students were forbidden from entering the forest. But rules didn't apply to Lucifer. Professors didn't stop him for safety, they worried for the creatures. The concern was reversed.
Two bottles in, Hagrid collapsed face-down on the table. With a flick of Lucifer's wand, he floated to his bed, and he covered him with a deeply questionable blanket that looked like it had never been washed.
The group left the hut. Just as he turned to go inspect the poor 'Whomping Willow', Harry hesitated and called after him, "Lucifer... do you remember the promise you made to me in the 'Chamber of Secrets?"
What promise? He quickly remembered. Back in the Chamber, to calm Harry down, and partially to make up for dragging Ron's unconscious body in a cricket there, he had promised him one request.
"You waited half a month to bring it up?" Lucifer chuckled, "I thought you forgot. Go ahead, what do you want? First, though, if it's impossible or wastes too much of my time, I won't agree...."
Harry lowered his head awkwardly, "The Basilisk incident just ended. We're surrounded by eyes all the time, it's been hard to talk to you. I've wanted to ask since then. Lucifer, I want you to help me get stronger..."
The Chosen one's voice was earnest, as if a saint's halo was directly over the boy's head, "I know I don't have your talent... but I don't want to be dead weight. First year, Quirrell. Second year, Voldemort. Every time, you're the one who saves me..."
He paused, face twitching, "Well... technically, this time you dragged me into the mess by getting captured."
Even remembering picking up Percy's limp body with criminal mentioned to be Lucifer, made his cheek spasm.
"If you want to get stronger, spend more time in the library. Learn more spells. You'll naturally improve..."
Before he could speak, Hermione jumped in eagerly with advice.
"Um..." Harry's head drooped even further, "Hermione, everyone has their strengths. You like books, you remember everything you read. I... don't. I'm more of a duel-focused learner..."
"Oh," Daphne nodded, completely straight-faced, "So basically, you're too lazy to read. I told Lucifer the same thing, but different words."
"Big sister, don't say it out loud!" Astoria groaned. Daphne had grown frighteningly blunt, what she thought, she said.
Harry looked ready to bury himself underground.
"That's all you wanted?"
Lucifer didn't care about Harry's excuse. Not everyone could force themselves to read boring theory for hours. Even he couldn't always focus unless he was totally in the mood, and found it to be fun, "You want to get strong? Fine. I have several methods that can help."
Hope ignited in Harry's eyes. Embarrassment forgotten, he looked up eagerly.
"First," Lucifer raised one finger, "I could be your teacher. I'd guide you, answer your questions, and train with you regularly..."
"I choose that one!" Harry interrupted before his friend could blink. It was obvious: 'any student taught by Lucifer instantly became a terrifying duelist.'
Hermione, Daphne, they were walking proof.
"Calm down. I'm not finished."
Lucifer waved him off, amused. "You want it, but I don't have the time or energy. So... pass."
He already had his notebook, Management of the Underworld, even with Amenadiel's help, he needed to do his job properly, time works at different rotation paces down there, time shared with Hermione and Daphne, Puff girls, occasional calls with Darcy and Alexandra, and now medical research, satiation of his hundreds of thousands of wives lust, plus 'Grindelwald's nonsense.'
Be Harry's personal tutor on top of that? Impossible. For that, he could just send Harry to Snape, who would teach him so intensely his organs would try to escape. Then why even mention it?!
Harry screamed internally. His face twisted in misery, neck turning red with suppressed outrage.
Hermione and the girls fought the urge to laugh. They could see Lucifer slipping into his strange habit: 'offering solutions only to brutally snatch them back.'
"What about the second option?" Harry forced out stiffly through his teeth.
"The second option is simple: I give you one of my notebooks. You train on your own... If you get stuck, think first. If you still don't understand, ask me if I have time. If I don't, ask a professor. I strongly recommend Snape. He's a hidden 'dueling master."
"That's... acceptable." Harry nodded, immediately deleting the Snape part from existence, he had seen Hermione writing in it numerous times, and saw the magic happen, Ron was left in wonder, itching to get hands on his sister Ginny's.
Snape might answer his questions, sure, but he might also test those answers on him. Physically.
"And the third option," Lucifer continued, glancing toward Ron who was waiting impatiently in the distance, "is something everyone ignores: you need a partner. You cannot grow relying on yourself alone. Training requires someone to duel with.... Studying requires someone to motivate you. But the only person around you is someone who wastes time with you every day. Maybe you're determined now. But how long will that last if no one supports you?"
"..."
"I suggest your partner should be either Ron... or Malfoy."
"Malfoy?!" Harry almost choked.
Lucifer nodded. "Malfoy is better. If you lose to Ron, there's no shame. But if you lose to Malfoy, you'll feel horrible for weeks."
"That's... actually true," Harry grumbled. He remembered the weeks he couldn't sleep after Malfoy mastered the "Protego" before him. His 'Disarming Charm' only improved because his humiliation wouldn't leave him alone. 'Sometimes, spite was a better teacher than textbooks.'
Only after he finally mastered breaking Draco's Shield Charm did that itch of humiliation fade from Harry's chest.
"So no matter who you choose, the two of you should meet every weekend," Lucifer continued, as if talking about two tsundere besties who refused to acknowledge the bond between, "Request a classroom from a professor.... Use it for training, spell practice, dueling. Even without guidance, repetition creates growth. The options are there. What happens next depends on whether you actually act on them...."
Harry swallowed, thinking deeply. Then with a seriousness rarely seen on his face, he nodded, "Please give me the notebook, mate. I want to get stronger. I don't want to face Voldemort again as a useless burden."
"Give me a few days to organize it. I'll hand it to you once it's ready as advanced 'SolsticeEve' present."
On the way back to the castle, Ron squinted at Harry. He'd heard something about him and Malfoy.
"What were you two talking about? I swear I heard you say Malfoy's name."
"I asked Lucifer about magic," Harry replied vaguely, "He used you and Malfoy as examples."
"Oh. Magic."
Ron lost interest instantly.
That night, Harry lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling, replaying Lucifer's words over and over, while the boy himself was drifted off to his bed shielded with Spells he didn't even hear of, that guy had dissected him too clearly.
Part of him wanted to enjoy the peace of Hogwarts, laugh, play Quidditch, sleep in on weekends. The other part of him 'felt' an icy dread every time he remembered Quirrell, Voldemort, and how many times Lucifer had pulled him out of death's jaws.
He was constantly swinging between 'tryinghis hardest'... and slacking off because someone else would save him anyway. His effort came in waves, three days of determination, then it dried up like spilled potion on a sunny windowsill.
"Ron," Harry suddenly said.
Neville was already asleep. Their other two roommates were still downstairs playing cards. Only Ron Weasely was awake, engrossed in Quidditch highlight photos.
Ron jumped at Harry's sudden voice.
"What?"
"Let's start training ourselves next week."
Harry laid out Lucifer's plan, explaining how he'd ask McGonagall for a classroom on Monday. By then, he should have the notebook. They'd follow it step by step. Ron listened... and listened... and listened... his expression collapsing more and more.
Finally, with a heavy sigh, he said.
"Harry, did Lucifer scramble your brain or something? He's a freak. No matter how hard we try, we can't be like him.... That's not normal. We go to lessons, learn what we need, and that's enough. Look at Fred and George! They mess around all day and they still learn loads of spells. Who needs all that extra effort? Everyone uses the same basic magic after graduation anyway."
Harry stared at him, stunned.
It was the first time he realized he and Ron were standing at different intersections in life.
Harry never believed he was the Chosen One, never felt like a legendary "Boy Who Lived." But he couldn't escape the reality: 'Voldemort had his and my name carved into fates. And no one else had that kind of shadow following them around.'
'Except... me'
So no, he couldn't drift through school the way Ron could. Not anymore.
"Ron... weekends are boring anyway. Let's just try it," Harry insisted softly.
The lazy red-head resisted on bodily instincts, huffed, argued, complained, then finally, defeated by friendship, he gave in. But Harry wasn't sure how long Ron could last. 'Am I really going to end up training with... Malfoy?!'
xxxxxx
The next morning, after breakfast, Lucifer returned to Hagrid's hut, who was still smelling faintly of vodka and tears, hadn't forgotten a thing. He had been waiting.
"Lucifer! Just a moment, hiyaaa!"
He rushed inside and came back with a bulging sack, "You forgot the warthog hide last night. And I gathered some other things too. Don't know if they're useful, but they came off magical creatures, so I kept them."
The bag was full of assorted materials, some rare, some common, but Hagrid had no sense of price or magical value. Lucifer took it without judgment. As he stuffed the large bag into a tiny pouch, Hagrid's eyes lit up with envy.
"'Undetectable Extension Charm... tha's a masterpiece."
"You could enchant one yourself. Just don't let the Ministry find out."
Hagrid scratched his beard awkwardly.
"When I got expelled... I hadn't learned that spell yet. nyway, Lucifer, what creature did you want from the forest? I know every spot they roam."
The boy answered casually: "I need the Acromantula. Aragog, specifically."
Hagrid froze. His smile died instantly, the massive half-giant went pale. And the hut seemed suddenly very, very quiet, "W-What... w-why Aragog?"
Next, it was his beardy face that crumpled in panic, but he forced out an awkward smile, "There are Acromantulas in the forest, sure... but their nest is deep, very deep, almost outside the Hogwarts boundary. It's dangerous and far. Look, how you all ended up before... barely escaped in a wild Muggle car. Lucifer, leave it to me. Tell me what you need, 'legs? venom?"
Inside, Hagrid was screaming. Lucifer had saved him more than once, yes, but every request from him made his heart do acrobatics.
"Please stop lying. You're terrible at it." Lucifer sighed. Hagrid's eyes shifted wildly, hands twitchy, voice stuttering, as if his forehead bore the words 'I AM LYING' carved across it, "Do you know properly how we found the Chamber of Secrets?" he asked lazily, "Harry gained access to a memory from Voldemort's youth. You were in it. So was Aragog. He saw the day you were expelled..."
Hagrid froze. Every drop of blood drained from his cheeks, "Blimey, and I wondered why Harry'n Ron suddenly suspected me."
Lucifer continued calmly:
"Also, I get along well with the Centaurs now, in fact, you know how we reached there in a matter of minutes? I had a talk last year again... They told me about a massive 'Acromantula colony.' We were attacked by a large enough to be rare even worldwide. And those children were treating it as a king among them, one born only to their royal line."
His tone remained casual, "Do you need more proof?" Lucifer's smile held no pressure, but the truth pressed heavier than any threat.
"I'm coming to you, Hagrid, because I don't want things to get ugly. You're clumsy, loud, not the brightest, but you're not a bad man. You've helped me find rare ingredients. I'm giving you a chance to save face..."
Was... was that supposed to be a compliment? Hagrid's heart felt like it was being stretched in five directions at once, "...Fine." He slumped in defeat, "I just didn't want you meeting him for no good reason. Aragog's not... kind. You should know now he doesn't trust wizards. Why can't you just tell me what you need and let me fetch it?"
"That won't work," Lucifer replied, already walking toward the trees. His voice drifted back, smug and casual, "I need enough venom to fill vaults. Even if we drained every Acromantula... in the forest, it wouldn't be enough. This will be a long-term deal. It has to be negotiated in person....Hagrid, if you don't come lead the way, don't blame me if someone gets hurt later."
"Wait! I'm coming!"
With his massive stride, Hagrid caught up easily, "But why do you need so much venom?"
Lucifer cast a 'Shrinking Charm' on himself to match his pace.
"To change the world. The rest? Complicated. You wouldn't understand. If things go well, I'll give you a 'portable pocket world' the size I mentioned before."
Hagrid's gloom vanished instantly. Pocket world. Now that was something worth suffering for!
And Lucifer? He had his own reason. He needed it for WhatsApp, his magic messaging notebook. It could store nearly a million words of conversation and could even wipe itself clean afterward.
Which was exactly what he refused to allow. How do you make money if your customers can delete everything? So he needed a limiter, something to make deleting chats expensive. Something to prevent compression and cleaning of records.
Acromantula venom repelled magic so strongly that it prevented spell-storage contraction. With a few more 'limits on page size...'
Voilà. Subscription fees. Profit. Permanent dependency. Venom was basically his future bank account.
The spiders would be working for him. This forest was about to house unwilling employees. They walked for half an hour without needing to navigate, Hagrid barreled straight toward the nest, humming and sipping from his flask.
Then, suddenly, three centaurs emerged from the brush.
Hagrid blinked, then grinned.
"Magorian! Long time no see. Out on patrol?"
Magorian nodded stoically.
"Some of my people sensed you. Hagrid, why have you entered Centaur grounds?"
He spoke to Hagrid, but every tense stare was fixed on Lucifer. Last year, an insect walking on two feet with an enormous body size of 2.5 meters, named 'Cocytus', a fusion between a mantis and an ant. With a tail twice as long as his height, covered in sharp spikes like icicles, that had a strong jaw that can easily snap Centaur's legs had forced both Magorian and Firenze... into weeks of nonstop spitting secrets for attacking his Lord. This year he'd been mercifully busy...
Until now. Seeing that Mantis's Lord, 'Harbinger of Destruction' himself standing beside Hagrid, Magorian rushed in to prevent another academic tragedy. The centaurs behind him glared with deep, ancestral dread at the little wizard who had stolen their herbal secrets.
"Just passing through!" Hagrid chuckled. "We're headed to the Acromantula colony. I'll visit properly next time."
"Then... be careful," Magorian said, stepping aside.
Lucifer smiled politely. "We'll talk later."
Magorian's heart seized. This was not a polite farewell. The Devil meant it.
Your demon already learned almost all our herb lore last year. Why are you coming back? What else do you want from us?
If he could've heard Magorian's inner complaints, Lucifer would've cried injustice. He wasn't here to bully anyone! He actually brought good news. Centaurs wouldn't have to be 'unemployed forest dwellers' anymore, they could become glorious factory workers in his future paper industry, producing sheets specifically for his enchanted notebooks.
Magorian and Firenze would probably cry tears of gratitude!
If they weren't helpful to Cocytus, Lucifer wouldn't even offer them such a strategic position. After another ten minutes of walking deeper into the forest, Hagrid's mood grew heavy.
"Lucifer, we've reached the Acromantula territory. Aragog and his children won't attack me, but you're a stranger. They'll feel threatened."
"No worries, Stranger, hardly?" Lucifer replied seriously, "I'm very friendly to those who are useful to me."
Hagrid twitched.
"Lucifer, honesty is good... but you don't have to say it out loud."
They arrived at a sunken clearing. Tall trees surrounded them like walls. At the center, a massive web stretched across the air, obscuring whatever lurked beneath.
"ARAGOG!" Hagrid bellowed.
The answer came immediately, rustling sounds from every direction. From above, from below, from shadows, spiders swarmed. Hagrid stepped in front of Lucifer, bow raised. Even though he could legally use his wand now, old habits clung tightly, bows felt safer against monsters.
The spiders dropped from the trees on thick silk, crawled up from burrows in the earth. Some were the size of goblins, others even larger than Thestrals. "STOP! I need to speak with Aragog!" Hagrid roared, firing a warning arrow.
The swarm halted, but they left only a ten-meter gap for the humans, closing in like a shrinking arena. Then came a grinding, chitinous scrape from within the pit, followed by a low, hoarse voice: "Hagrid... you brought that outsider again..."
From the shadows emerged a monster the size of a small elephant. Gray black, with scarred, massive fangs, and eight clouded eyes, each milky and unfocused. Lucifer couldn't help but chuckle, even after seeing it once already. This was a spider with cataracts. Before meeting Aragog, he didn't even know animals could get cataracts...?!
"Aragog," Hagrid called loudly, "this is 'my friend, my savior'. Tell your children to back off and stop frightening him!"
"Savior?" Aragog rasped. His bleary eyes shifted toward Lucifer, "A student? How could a student save you?"
"He solved the Chamber mystery!" Hagrid shouted. "The Ministry cleared my name! Aragog, Lucifer saved you too, you are no longer accused of murder!"
"I do not care." Aragog clacked his fangs, "I promised I would not harm you, Hagrid. But if fresh meat enters my territory, and my children hunger... I cannot stop them."
His voice lowered, "Take him and flee. I can only restrain them for seconds. Ten, at most."
Hagrid paled. That was the difference between intelligent beasts and humans, you could not punish instinct. Even a king could not deny hunger. He reached to grab Lucifer and run, but the boy dodged casually.
Then he raised his voice, calm and clear, "Aragog, if you can't control your children... then let me help you."
"You?" Aragog hissed. "If you can, then do it. Kill them if you like. I have too many children anyway."
"No need for killing," Lucifer reached into his bag and tossed something onto the ground.
BOOM! The heavy object landed with a thud, dust exploding outward.
Silence. Every spider froze.
Then,
SCREEEEEEEEEEE?!!!
A deafening chorus of terror erupted. The swarm 'fled' instantly, retreating faster than they had attacked, trampling the forest floor in panic. Even Aragog tried to flee, but his aging legs buckled and he collapsed in a pathetic heap.
Left alone. Trembling.
Lucifer smiled devilishly, "Can't even say its name, you mentioned last time." He tapped the severed head of the Basilisk with his foot.
"I killed it. And if you can't speak the Basilisk's name, you don't deserve to speak mine. You may call me... Master. Understood?"
Hagrid stared at Lucifer like his brain had been turned to stone. The world had many rulers. But fear was always the strongest crown. Aragog whimpered like a dying nightmare, his vast body shaking uncontrollably. There was no anger left in him, only pure, marrow-deep fear.
"Please... please put it away! Hagrid, help me! I beg you!"
How terrified were Acromantulas of the basilisk? Even at the height of Voldemort's power, wizards had never feared him with such primal horror. This was no learned fear, it was engraved in instinct. When Aragog was still young and kept by Hagrid, he had known the Basilisk had awakened in the castle.
And even then, falsely accused of killing Moaning Myrtle, he didn't dare reveal the truth. He was too afraid to even speak of it.
"Η, Lu...." Hagrid swallowed. His pulse hammered in his throat. His mind screamed the name, but he couldn't force it out. At the moment, there were instinctively terror instincts in his Giant's blood at seeing the boy's small figure.
"You think you can still run?"
Aragog tried to retreat fully into the pit, but Lucifer casually tossed forward the Basilisk's corpse. Only twenty meters remained from dissection, yet the beast still fell like a stone pillar.
'CRACK!' It slammed down like a whip, he barely put strength into it. It was little more than a tap. But Aragog spasmed like he'd been electrocuted.
"I beg you, Master, merciful Master, spare me! I was wrong! I truly repent!"
Hearing an elder spider sob like a frightened infant was so pathetic that even Lucifer grimaced. Disgustingly pathetic. He retracted the snake remains. Aragog didn't stop shaking, but at least he slowly regained control of his limbs. Not a single child dared to return.
"Stand still," Lucifer said lazily.
Aragog froze instantly.
"I came with sincerity."
His voice was calm, but lightning flickered across his wand, sizzling the air, "But it means nothing until you understand your place. Isn't that right, Aragog?"
"Brilliantly spoken, my lord." Aragog bowed his massive head so low it scraped the ground, "I am old, nearly blind, and foolish beyond belief. Please forgive my ignorance... for Hagrid's sake."
Lucifer smirked. 'This spider is more eloquent than half of Hogwarts.' But then his eyes flicked inward toward the silent palace in his mind, still closed. Sincerity alone isn't enough, hmm? "Oh? So even spiders have learned to lie."
He stepped forward. The wand cracked into a golden whip and swept once. Dozens of trees behind Aragog exploded, raining splinters like a storm.
"Last chance, Aragog. I know your 'desire.' It isn't family. It's life. Long, uninterrupted, safe life. You don't care about your children. You care about dying peacefully... and not being eaten alive 'by your own kin."
Each word struck like a hammer against the spider's core, "Compared to the Basilisk, your species is laughably weak. Let me think... what's the quickest way to kill you?"
"Fiendfyre?"
Blue flames blossomed from his hand, igniting into a miniature sun. The air burned. Aragog's leg hairs shriveled and curled black, but he didn't move.
He didn't dare. Not even to tremble.
Hagrid swallowed hard. 'Fiendfyre?! A student has Fiendfyre?! Someone get Dumbledore, NOW!'
Lucifer closed his fist, crushing the flame, "Well? Die like a proud beast... or live like something obedient?"
Aragog didn't hesitate a single heartbeat, "I submit, my lord! My children and I are yours!" He bent his legs and lowered his fangs, presenting himself, spider-style submission.
The moment intelligence approaches human logic, dignity becomes expendable. A beast with brains bows faster than a beast with pride. The forest knew who ruled now.
Lucifer sat down. A stone chair sprang from the earth and caught him comfortably, "Aragog," he said lightly, "congratulations. You are now the second species officially employed by the Morningstar' Consortium."
"Em... employee?" the spider repeated, baffled, "What work can a spider do?"
"Manage your children. I'll collect venom regularly. If any of them die, Hagrid will retrieve the corpses."
He turned to the stunned half-giant.
"Hagrid, come here once a week and gather spider corpses for me, understood?"
There were two kinds of Acromantula venom: Normal venom, stored in the living spider's sacs, valuable, but merely special. And post-mortem mutated venom, created only when an Acromantula dies. One drop could sell for close to a hundred Galleons.
It blocked magic, catalyzed brewing, enhanced alchemy, beautiful, potent, priceless. Lucifer needed the normal venom for WhatsApp production.
The mutated kind? For himself, Slytherin's legacy contained too many poisons and experiments requiring it.
Hagrid stammered, "I-I don't mind helping... but Acromantulas... they eat their dead. It's instinct. To them it's sacred. Eating the dead is sacred to them," he explained nervously, "It's their instinct. Their... 'best nourishment."
"What a barbaric old habit." Lucifer dismissed it with a wave, "Other spiders can keep it. But here, all Acromantula corpses belong to me. Aragog, can you enforce that?"
"Yes, my lord." Aragog vowed without hesitation.
"With your command, they will not dare resist. I will preserve what Hagrid collects."
The Spider king had already sold out his children for survival; Hagrid could hardly object now. He nodded obediently.
Lucifer smiled. "Hagrid, I won't make you help me for nothing."
"N-No, Lucifer, I'm not, " Hagrid, the helper, waved his giant hands frantically, "I don't want any payment. I come here almost every day anyway, it's not----"
"You don't want payment," Lucifer cut him off, "but that doesn't mean I shouldn't reward you. In the Chamber, I gained access to Slytherin's research. His knowledge wasn't just in magic, he studied cross-species fusion. Otherwise, he couldn't have bred a live 'basilisk' in the first place..."
Hagrid froze, eyes going wide, breath suddenly ragged. Crossbreeding... magical creature genetics... Slytherin's methodologies...? His dream had always been to create new magical species, to nurture beasts no one had ever seen.
The man worshipped creatures more than logic. And now... Could he breed something even more impressive than manticores or thestrals? Hagrid wanted to refuse, he truly did, but the word "No" simply died in his throat.
His cheeks reddened, and all he could manage was a tiny, "...Thank you."
Lucifer nodded calmly. It wasn't generosity, it was investment. He didn't need Hagrid's loyalty or betrayal of Dumbledore. He just needed weekly labor. And there was only one person besides Newt Scamander capable of such work.
But the difference was simple, Newt cost a fortune, however, Hagrid came practically free. Business was... profitable, "Aragog, summon your children. Work begins now."
The Spider king screeched. The entire colony returned, but kept a terrified distance from Lucifer, huddling like students awaiting exam results from the world's most violent professor.
He produced three enchanted vats, each as large as wagon carriages. One for adult venom, one for juvenile venom, and the last, for Aragog alone.
Extraction began. Two hours later, every spider lay twitching on the ground, legs limp, too exhausted to stand. Pitiful. Such weaklings.
Lucifer decided to ease up, Overexploitation today meant no workers tomorrow. He promised Hagrid he'd deliver his 'portable magical chest' next week, then left the forest satisfied. Meanwhile, Hagrid wandered into his garden in a daze, tilling soil like a zombie.
The boy's ruthlessness was terrifying.
Yesterday, his name alone frightened people. Today, his actions did. Nearly as oppressive as Voldemort at his peak. If today it was Acromantulas... what if it were people next? Hagrid's mind couldn't wrap around it. The more he tried, the more tangled it became.
...
"Hagrid! Hagrid!"
A familiar voice snapped him back. He dropped his tools and rushed out.
"Dumbledore?! When did you, how long?"
"That plot of soil has suffered quite the ordeal," the Headmaster observed lightly, "Pomona needs a pest repellent from Knockturn Alley. She hopes you'll purchase it again. You know which shops make the better batch."
Dumbledore's sharp blue eyes lingered on the giant pit Hagrid had dug, "Is something troubling you?"
"I... I was with Lucifer in the forest," Hagrid admitted after hesitation.
"Oh?" Dumbledore lifted a brow, "He hardly needs assistance to enter the forest."
Hagrid clenched his jaw, then told him everything. Lucifer hadn't intended to hide any of it. Controlling dangerous beasts was nothing illegal.
If he had to sneak around just to handle spiders, life would be unbearable. But as Hagrid finished, panic flashed across his face.
"I only, only got scared of the Fiendfyre, Professor. I was worried he couldn't handle it. But Lucifer's a good lad, he even promi- "
He slapped a hand over his own mouth too late. Dumbledore chuckled softly.
"I don't doubt Mr. Morningstar''s intentions. Fiendfyre is dangerous, but so is flying, and I don't ban that either. As long as he doesn't misuse it, this old man will not interfere. It was simply... a 'negotiation strategy.' No lives were lost, and Mr. Morningstar achieved peace."
Hagrid squinted at him. "If that's true... why do you seem unhappy?"
Dumbledore's gaze grew distant, "No. I merely remembered someone else."
Fiendfyre was normally a chaotic swirl of red and gold, a searing magical curse that devoured what it ignited. But Lucifer's flame was blue.
"Blue Fiendfyre" belonged only to wizards who altered the spell, who fused extra properties into its structure, making it not just destructive....but personal.
Someone else once used blue Fiendfyre. That memory chilled Dumbledore more than the fire itself. Someone who changed the world with flames not of wrath, but of ambition. Someone who terrified him far more than Voldemort ever did.
Lucifer wasn't walking in Voldemort's footsteps. He was walking in that person's steps. And that was far more dangerous. Dumbledore rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'That blue Fiendfyre...'
He didn't even need to say whom it reminded him of. Once, that color of 'flame' had rolled over battlefields and nearly burned wizarding society to ash. Then another memory surfaced, something he had dismissed long ago.
Years earlier, Snape had dueled Lucifer.
Afterwards, Severus mentioned something peculiar: the brat fought like a young Grindelwald, overwhelming, domineering, never satisfied with mere victory.
Not only winning, but winning beautifully, crushing resistance so completely that the opponent didn't even want to fight back. One coincidence, two coincidences...
'Is it still just coincidence?' The more Dumbledore thought about it, the heavier his mind felt. Maybe he was getting too old. Maybe he was clinging to old fears, but the pieces were aligning too perfectly. 'Should I have intervened earlier? Should I stop watching from the sidelines?'
He sighed and turned away.
"Hagrid, since you've agreed to help Mr. Morningstar, then don't worry yourself further. I can guess why he needs so much venom, but that's his business, not ours to reveal..."
"I understand. I'll go to Knockturn Alley tomorrow and get the potion for Professor Sprout."
"Good. Thank you." Dumbledore nodded slowly, then walked away. Down the road to the castle, he remained deep in thought, time had passed so quickly. Perhaps he could no longer pretend he didn't recognize the signs.
....
"I'm not poaching anything... just to relocate some lonely Nifflers to a warm, loving home."
Across the Gryffindor's Common Room sofa, Hermione Granger stared at her boyfriend's face, for a brief, dangerous moment, she actually pictured Lucifer's expression as soft, innocent, 'full of hope...'
The Wizarding world's greatest pacifist and magical conservationist, Newt Scamander had become an accomplice. And that scared her more than "The Basilisk" ever could.