A moment later, Dumbledore took to the podium and opened with an enthusiastic string of remarks, before arriving at the main event everyone had been waiting for.
"Now, we must first proceed with the awarding of the House Cup. The scores for each house are as follows:
"In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points.
"In third place, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two points.
"In second place, Ravenclaw, with four hundred and twenty-six points.
"And in first place, Slytherin, with four hundred and eighty-two points."
A thunderous eruption of cheers and stomping broke out from the Slytherin table.
Kate quietly sipped her pumpkin juice and said nothing.
Truthfully, she had very little interest in which house took the Cup.
On instinct, she glanced up at Dumbledore on the podium — and found herself looking straight into a pair of bright blue eyes, warm with amusement.
"Slytherin has performed admirably," Dumbledore said, with a little wink. "However, a few recent events must also be taken into account."
The Great Hall fell very quiet. The smiles on the Slytherin faces dimmed a fraction.
He cleared his throat. "I have a few final points to award. First, to Mr. Ron Weasley, who played the finest game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years — I award Gryffindor fifty points."
The Gryffindor cheers nearly blew the enchanted ceiling off its hinges. The stars overhead seemed to shiver with the force of it.
It took some time for the noise to die down.
"Second, to Miss Hermione Granger, who kept a cool head under fire and reasoned her way through a most formidable challenge — I award Gryffindor fifty points."
Hermione flushed scarlet amidst the roaring jubilation of the Gryffindor students. She turned to look at Kate, her eyes alight with little sparkling stars.
"Third, to Mr. Harry Potter, who demonstrated fearless bravery and extraordinary courage — I award Gryffindor sixty points."
Harry stared up at Dumbledore in a daze. After a long moment, a quiet, heartfelt smile spread across his face.
Gryffindor now stood at four hundred and eighty-two points — only ten behind Slytherin.
"Courage comes in many forms," Dumbledore continued with a smile. "It takes tremendous nerve to face our enemies — but it also takes a great deal of courage to stand up to our friends. And so, I award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."
The noise was deafening. Everyone except Slytherin was cheering as Gryffindor clinched the House Cup.
Over at the Slytherin table, Kate alone kept sipping the last of her pumpkin juice, watching in silence as the little snakes around her drooped in dejection.
Apart from Dumbledore, no one knew she had played a part in any of this — and she had no wish for anyone else to know.
During their earlier duel, Voldemort had already sensed that the owner of the Phantom Clone was the same person who had scorched him with Dragon Breath.
He was probably lurking in some dark corner right now, quietly cursing whoever had the audacity to cross him time and time again.
Kate wasn't about to be foolish enough to admit that she was the one who had sent a Phantom Clone against Voldemort, just for a few House Points.
Her abilities had come a long way — but the clash with Voldemort had made it clear: she still wasn't far enough along. A fragment of a soul clinging to Quirrell's body, and he had still been able to suppress a clone backed by thirty years' worth of Mana. That kind of power was not to be underestimated.
She needed to keep her head down. Lie low until she was fully developed — and only then could she set a proper trap for Voldemort.
So the House Cup? She could live without it.
Just as everyone assumed the awards were finished, Dumbledore gave a soft cough. "Finally — Miss Kate Shafiq of Slytherin House demonstrated exceptional awareness of an emerging crisis and responded with remarkable composure. This too is worthy of recognition. I award her twenty points!"
Kate nearly lost her composure on the spot. She stared wide-eyed up at Dumbledore.
What was the meaning of this?
On the surface, she hadn't been visibly involved in any of it!
As the Slytherin table erupted in triumphant cheers at this reversal of fortune, Kate's mind was already spinning at full speed.
Old Man Dumbledore wasn't reckless enough to push her into the spotlight without reason. Which meant there had to be something she had done, openly and above board, that genuinely warranted recognition.
Running through the year: she had discovered the three-headed dog's room, there had been the little dragon incident, the Forbidden Forest incident, and finally guiding Harry and the others into the three-headed dog's room to protect the Philosopher's Stone.
Of all those events, only the last one could be publicly commended.
But Dumbledore would never use something like that to paint a target on her back.
That left only one possibility.
"She discovered the trail left by an intruder who infiltrated Hogwarts Castle last year," Dumbledore announced, "and reported it to a professor in a timely manner, allowing the faculty to address a potential threat before it could cause harm!"
Ha. Just as she'd thought.
Kate's mouth twitched. The intruder's identity had been something the two of them had worked out together in private — and yet here it was, being presented as her solo discovery.
Well played, Old Man Dumbledore. Well played indeed.
Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "Ladies and gentlemen — let us congratulate Slytherin House on successfully defending their House Cup title!"
The cheers nearly brought the ceiling down.
Kate, surrounded by a crowd of jubilant little snakes, glanced across and spotted Malfoy excitedly clinking her goblet, throwing her arms around Pansy in a fierce embrace.
Kate raised an eyebrow and lifted her cup toward her.
Malfoy blinked, startled. The flush of excitement already staining her cheeks deepened all the way to the tips of her ears.
But she raised her cup all the same, and drained it in one go.
Not a bad evening at all.
[Congratulations, Host, on completing your first year of study. Once final examination results are released, the System will issue rewards or penalties based on your performance over the year.]
Oh — it had been a while since the System had piped up on its own.
Kate rubbed her chin. Final exam results... those should be out within the next day or two, shouldn't they.
She wasn't wrong. The very next day after the end-of-year feast, the results were posted.
As expected, she had placed first with Outstanding marks in every subject, with Hermione coming in second behind her.
As for Harry, Ron, Malfoy, and even Neville — they had all passed with high marks.
Hermione looked a touch put out at first, but she came to terms with it quickly enough.
With the results posted, the students returned to their dormitories to pack, then boarded the Hogwarts Express to head home.
Kate went back to her dormitory, packed her trunk in short order, and opened the System to receive her full year-end reckoning.
[Main Quest 4: Guard the Philosopher's Stone — Completed. Unlocking rewards…]
[Reward 1: Acquire the method for creating the Philosopher's Stone.]
[Reward 2: Acquire half of the knowledge held by Philosopher's Stone owner Nicolas Flamel (excluding the method for creating the Stone).]
[Reward 3: Acquire a random ability derived from the Philosopher's Stone. (Probability applies; side effects possible. Choose carefully.)]
Ah, the classic pick-one-of-three was back. She hadn't seen that in a while.
Kate raised her hand like a diligent student. "System — what exactly does the disclaimer on the third option mean?"
[Philosopher's Stone Random Ability Acquisition: Transmutation (99% probability) / Immortality (1% probability).]
[If the Immortality ability is acquired, Vitality will be permanently locked below 10 as a side effect.]
So Nicolas Flamel, who had used the Philosopher's Stone's Immortality ability, was wandering around right now as a glass-boned invalid with Vitality below ten. Right.
That Immortality ability really was something else. Godlike effect, godlike side effects.
Never mind the one percent chance of even pulling Immortality to begin with — even if she did, it wouldn't mean Kate could rest easy for the rest of her life.
The Philosopher's Stone granted agelessness, not invincibility.
If Voldemort ever saw through her and sent an Avada Kedavra her way, she'd be just as dead with or without the Stone.
And on top of that, keeping her Vitality permanently below ten would render her essentially useless — a shut-in, unable to do anything at all.
Not to mention there was a ninety-nine percent chance of pulling Transmutation instead, which was even more pointless — at least for Kate, who wasn't short on money.
After a prolonged internal debate, Kate ultimately chose Reward 2.
The reason was simple: she had no interest in the Philosopher's Stone itself, but she was very interested in whatever half of Nicolas Flamel's knowledge it came with.
Particularly given that her own family had an alchemist ancestor.
[Host has acquired half of the knowledge of Master Alchemist Nicolas Flamel.]
[Ding! Host has exceeded the System requirement: Top three placement in final examinations.]
[Congratulations — Host receives Attribute Points ×3 and Wand Attribute Points ×3.]
[Ding! Congratulations on completing your first year. Year-End Rewards are now unlocking!]
[Year-End Reward 1: Attribute Points ×5, Wand Attribute Points ×5.]
[Year-End Reward 2: Raise any one spell's proficiency by one level.]
[Year-End Reward 3: Raise any one stackable ability by one level.]
Faced with this cascade of System notifications, Kate had only one thing to say:
Is this some kind of returning-veteran welcome package? This is absurdly generous!
Ahem.
Calm. Composed. She was a woman who had weathered storms before.
First, she pocketed all eight Attribute Points and eight Wand Attribute Points — no rush to allocate those yet.
The real decisions were the last two rewards: the spell upgrade and the stackable ability upgrade.
Starting with the stackable abilities — she currently had five, and levelling any one of them would be a qualitative leap.
Gifted Student Talent boosted her learning speed. Magic Resistance enhanced her performance when grinding through spells and magical duels. Legendary Magic had laid the foundation for her current Mana reserves.
Animal Affinity and Draconic Protection went without saying — one had saved her more times than she could count, and the other had directly increased her Vitality.
"Gifted Student Talent and Magic Resistance can both be levelled up by improving Intimacy, so I don't need to worry about those for now."
Setting aside Animal Affinity, which didn't need upgrading, that left only Legendary Magic and Draconic Protection as her two real options.
Honestly, the odds of raising Dumbledore's Intimacy and the odds of stumbling across another dragon were roughly the same.
Heaven only knew what was going on inside that White Dark Lord's head.
Her Vitality was already at seventy-one — nothing to worry about for now. But her Mana, on the other hand…
Judging by her clash with Voldemort, even a soul-fragment clinging to Quirrell's body had been able to overpower a Phantom Clone backed by thirty years' worth of Mana. His strength was not to be taken lightly.
Relying on a measly Level 5 Mana pool, she would struggle to keep going up against Voldemort in the future.
[Legendary Magic has been levelled up. Current level: 6.]
[Host's current Mana: 65.]
Good. Now for the spell upgrade.
Kate was starting to feel like this welcome-back package was genuinely overwhelming — just making the choices was giving her a headache.
Though, to be fair, even the most agonizing kind of sweetness was still sweet. There was no point in complaining about a windfall.
She pulled up her spell interface and ran through it quickly.
Most of her spells were sitting steadily around Level 5. The only outliers were Fiendfyre, stuck at Level 4, and Phantom Clone, still at Level 2.
Among the more important spells: Occlumency, Fiendfyre, Phantom Clone, the Unlocking Charm, and the Levitation Charm.
The first three mattered for their usefulness. The last two had the highest levels — one at Level 8, the other at Level 9.
Honestly, Occlumency and Fiendfyre could both be drilled to Level 7 through practice alone over the next year or two.
There was no reason to spend such a precious upgrade on either of those.
As for Phantom Clone — in theory, its level determined how many clones she could control simultaneously.
The trouble was her Spirit was only at thirty-one, which was just enough to handle a single clone comfortably. Running two or three at once would stretch her far beyond her current limits.
Barring some unexpected development, her Spirit would remain reliant on milking the System for increases in the near future, with no major jump on the horizon.
So upgrading Phantom Clone wasn't necessary either.
That left the Unlocking Charm and the Levitation Charm.
According to the System's established pattern, reaching Level 9 unlocked an extended spell derived from the base one.
That was the real reason Kate had spent so long grinding the Unlocking Charm — a spell most people dismissed as trivially simple.
If the Levitation Charm could branch out into something as powerful as Phantom Clone, she didn't even dare imagine what an extended Unlocking Charm might produce.
But at the same time, she was intensely curious about what would happen if a spell reached Level 10 — whether some whole new transformation awaited.
Mastery of a single spell, or the discovery of an entirely new unknown one — either path held limitless promise for where she stood right now.
Kate sat alone on her bed thinking it over for a long while and still couldn't reach a conclusion. In the end, she reluctantly said aloud: "System, just pick one of the two at random and upgrade it."
[Understood. Unlocking Charm has been upgraded to Level 9.]
[Unlocking extended spells…]
[Spell 1: Legilimency (initial level 5).]
[Spell 2: Phase Shift (short-range instantaneous movement).]
[Spell 3: Grand Summoning (can cross time to summon magical persons or magical creatures).]
One that opens the mind. One that opens space. One that opens time.
She already knew this System was extraordinary — but somehow, every time it unveiled a new extended spell, it still managed to knock the breath out of her.
Kate hugged her own arms, staring at the pale blue lines of text floating before her, and forcibly wrestled herself back from the giddy edge of someone who had just been handed a treasure.
Well — if one ignored her hands trembling with barely-contained excitement, she was quite composed.
"First, Rule out Option 1 — Legilimency is too run-of-the-mill, and it's not like I can't learn it myself.
"Phase Shift... isn't that just a budget version of Apparition? And I already have Fluffball for that anyway, so it's not urgent."
Fluffball, in its cage, heard its name and fluttered about in a burst of excitement.
Well then. Only Option 3 was left.
Kate broke into a gleeful grin. Hand it over!
[Congratulations, Host — Grand Summoning (Level 1) has been learned.]
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