Morning crept into the condo slowly, thin rays of pale gold seeping through the blinds.
The air still smelled faintly of burnt parchment, from discarded drafts where mistakes had been recorded.
Cassius stirred awake in his armchair, stiff from having fallen asleep in the middle of his work.
Noctis was back.
The owl perched proudly on the table, feathers puffed, eyes gleaming.
Several scrolls and sealed envelopes lay scattered across the surface, proof of her successful deliveries.
Cassius rubbed his eyes and leaned forward, the flickering lamplight from the night before now replaced by a gentle dawn glow.
His fingers trembled with excitement as he untied the first letter.
The wax seal of Jiggers' Apothecary broke clean.
Inside, written in a sharp and steady hand, was a formal but eager acceptance.
Jigger expressed his willingness to test Arcana's recipes and potentially enter into an exclusive partnership—provided the formulas were genuine.
At the end of the letter was a hurried scrawl in a different ink: "My wife insists this opportunity is too valuable to pass. Expect us both at the next correspondence."
Cassius smirked.
Madam Primpernelle had wasted no time tying herself to the deal.
Clever woman.
She knew Jigger's greed might tempt him to cut corners, but with her reputation on the line, she would keep him tethered to fairness.
Exactly as Cassius intended.
The second response was from Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions directly.
Flowery handwriting, filled with enthusiasm.
She wrote as if Arcana were some long-lost colleague returning with brilliance in hand.
The tone was flattering, but Cassius saw through it—this was business.
And business, he could respect.
The Ministry's reply, however, was absent.
Only silence from the Magical Law Enforcement Department, though that silence carried weight.
He could already imagine the whispers circling the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
A genius?
An innovator?
A new defense spell?
Protection against the followers of the dark lord?
The gossip would stir like wildfire, and eventually, they would be forced to reach out.
But for now, Cassius had secured his foothold, and gain commision in the process to afford the expansion of his efforts into other areas.
Jigger and Primpernelle.
With them tied down, Arcana had credibility and influence—his mask was beginning to take shape.
Partnerships secured, Cassius turned his attention to something he had postponed too long.
Real magic.
Not theoretical drawings of sigil arrays, not hybrid concoctions of potion-meets-cosmetics.
Actual, wand-waving spellwork.
He spread open one of the beginner's charm textbooks he had acquired during his recent trip to Diagon Alley.
The pages were simple, in a quick glance he could see a lighting charm, levitation, softening, and unlocking charm.
Lumos.
A basic spell by any measure.
But every great mountain was climbed one step at a time.
Just from the media the Lumos spell had different levels, the first and most basic was the standard lumos, just getting the tip of your wand to light up, once proficient in its casting the light would be practically blinding, but later on you could cast the light away from your wand, and once proficient willingly move the orb of light around in the air like a simula sun, and mastering the spell would see multiple orbs.
Not exactly in line with proficiency but one could even with immagination change the color of the light they cast, even allowing for a great dualing prank to come about as a result.
Cassius placed the book before him, back straight, training wand in hand.
He traced the motion described on the page, muttering the incantation beneath his breath.
The words carried a weight that was almost natural, as if his tongue had long been waiting to shape them.
"Lumos."
Nothing.
He exhaled slowly, patient.
Again.
"Lumos."
Still, only silence.
The wand sat cold in his grip.
He grit his teeth, narrowing his eyes at the diagrams in the book.
The intent mattered, the text reminded him.
Focus not on the wand, but on the image of light—on the will that compelled the magic.
He closed his eyes, imagining he was holding a flashlight not a wand, and upon speaking out Lumos he would flick the switch activating the surge of power to the lightbulb.
He pictured its glow, how it pushed back darkness, how it spread warmth.
His hand twitched.
The wand flickered faintly.
And then—
Ding.
Cassius froze.
The sound was not from the wand, nor from the room.
It rang inside his mind, sharp and metallic, an intrusion from nowhere.
Before he could react, a voice followed.
Cold.
Mechanical.
Female.
"Host has reached the required conditions for awakening of the Supreme Wizard System."
Cassius blinked, heart hammering.
"What… what conditions?"
The answer came, but not in words he could savor.
Pain lanced through his skull, sudden and merciless, like knives twisting through his thoughts.
He dropped the wand, clutching his head, gasping as the voice droned on through the agony.
His skull had become a dragon egg, with a juvenille trying to break free from within.
"Host has an intense desire for revenge, so intense that the host is willing to do or say anything to complete their ultimate revenge."
Cassius groaned, collapsing sideways, nails scraping the floorboards.
"Condition two: Host has acquired the means to begin their quest for magical learning."
The pain intensified.
His vision blurred, the room spinning.
He thought he could taste blood.
"Condition three…"
The voice faded, its words swallowed by a sea of white-hot torment.
Cassius writhed, helpless.
His brilliant mind, usually sharp and cunning, drowned beneath the storm.
His body shuddered, sweat dripping down his brow, until at last the agony overwhelmed him.
And darkness claimed him.
~
When he woke, the world was quiet.
The ceiling above him looked the same, but his body felt different.
Tired, yes, but also… sharper.
As if threads of energy ran through his veins, humming with potential.
Cassius lay still for a long time, staring into the silence.
Then, slowly, he sat up.
His training wand lay beside him on the floor where it had fallen.
"System…" he whispered.
Nothing answered.
He frowned, rubbing his temples.
Was it a hallucination?
The result of exhaustion, of overexertion?
Or something more real—something embedded into him now, hidden but waiting.
Noctis shifted from the shelf, hopping down beside him, eyes full of silent curiosity.
Cassius let out a long breath.
Whatever the truth, the pain had been too sharp to be imagined.
Something had awakened within him, something far more dangerous than the books of charms and hexes he studied.
He needed to test it.
But not yet.
Not when he still lacked the foundation.
For now, he returned to the pages of the Lumos charm.
His hand steadied, his breathing slowed.
"Lumos."
This time, the wand's tip sparked.
A faint glow bloomed like a star at the end of metal, weak but undeniably real, flickering only a little before being extinguished.
Cassius smiled despite the exhaustion.
It wasn't much—just a flicker of light.
But it was proof.
Proof that he could learn, proof that he could grow.
And better yet since this was not his own magic, his name would not yet be recorded by the Hogwarts Quill of Acceptance, and Book of Admittance.
Though he had no way of knowing for sure, just the fact that Snape had never come bursting like a madman into the muggle world, nor anything similar being recorded in recent history on the magical side would point to Cassius still being an unknown.
Harry Potter was alive, almost certainly.
Lily Potter… alive as well, though her survival, Cassius thought bitterly, must have been a curse worse than death.
Severus Snape still taught at Hogwarts.
The thought twisted something inside him.
The reunion would come—but not yet.
He would not step into Diagon Alley with a face that too closely resembled the bat-like man who had abandoned him by circumstance.
Cassius had webs to weave, and revenge to prepare.
The mask of Arcana would rise.
And in the shadows, the Supreme Wizard System waited, coiled like a serpent inside his mind, promising power—if he dared claim it.