The dark crystal buried beneath the earth trembled.
Not from fear.
From rage.
The moment Theodore's palm descended, the embryonic array node seemed to realize it had encountered something it had never anticipated.
A variable.
A flaw.
A hand reaching into destiny itself.
Theodore stood quietly beside the half-completed node.
His fingers rested atop the black crystal.
Wutu Divine Light flowed beneath his palm.
Golden-yellow radiance sank into the ground like mountains pressing down upon a sea.
The crystal let out a shrill scream.
Not a sound.
A concept.
A vibration that echoed directly through the soul.
The surrounding earth immediately began to rot.
Grass blackened.
Tree bark cracked.
Even the air seemed to become heavier.
Behind him, Quirrell stumbled backward several steps.
His face was white.
Not pale.
White.
The sort of white a man turned after seeing something he absolutely should not have survived.
Theodore had appeared without warning.
No Apparition.
No Portkey.
No Floo.
One moment there had been empty air.
The next—
Theodore Snow was standing beside the array node.
As though space itself had simply decided he belonged there.
Quirrell suddenly remembered the sensation from the memories Voldemort had extracted.
The sword-bearing willow.
The dragon-devouring cabbages.
The fire crab that breathed apocalypse.
A horrifying realization surfaced.
Perhaps...
Theodore himself was the least normal thing among all of them.
"Y-you..."
Quirrell's voice cracked.
Theodore did not even look at him.
His attention remained fixed on the crystal.
Because something was wrong.
Very wrong.
This was not dark magic.
At least not entirely.
Dark magic left traces.
Intent.
Emotion.
Corruption.
Hatred.
Fear.
Despair.
Every curse had a source.
Every ritual had a foundation.
Yet this thing...
Theodore's eyes narrowed.
Within the crystal, countless lines intertwined.
Like veins.
Like roots.
Like nerves connecting something vast.
Something sleeping.
Something watching.
He followed the flow with the insight granted by the Cave Heaven Eye.
One layer.
Two layers.
Three layers.
The structure became clearer.
His expression finally shifted.
"Interesting."
Far beneath the dark magic...
There was another framework.
A framework so intricate it should not have existed within modern wizardry.
Array paths.
Spatial anchors.
Tribulation conduits.
A mechanism specifically designed to draw in outside influence.
Theodore slowly withdrew his hand.
"This isn't Voldemort's work."
Quirrell froze.
A cold voice immediately sounded inside his head.
"Rubbish."
Voldemort's tone carried obvious irritation.
"Of course it's my work."
"Who else could create something this sophisticated?"
Theodore glanced at Quirrell.
Or rather—
At the soul hiding behind Quirrell.
A faint smile appeared.
"Still refusing to admit it?"
Inside Quirrell's mind, Voldemort stiffened.
For a brief moment.
Only a brief moment.
He felt as though Theodore had looked directly at him.
Not at Quirrell.
At him.
The Dark Lord.
The soul fragment.
The hidden observer.
The feeling vanished instantly.
Voldemort immediately dismissed it.
Impossible.
Theodore was talented.
Dangerous.
Abnormally dangerous.
But not enough.
Not enough to see him.
Not enough to understand the true genius behind this array.
Certainly not enough to comprehend the countless insights he had painstakingly pieced together himself.
Everything came from his own brilliance.
His own knowledge.
His own research.
Nothing else.
Absolutely nothing else.
"Hmph."
Voldemort sneered internally.
"Trying to bluff me."
Before he could continue—
The crystal exploded.
Not physically.
Spiritually.
A wave of black light erupted from the node.
The ground cracked.
The sky darkened.
Far away.
Miles away.
Nine different locations across Hogwarts suddenly answered.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
One after another.
Nine pulses echoed through the earth.
Theodore's gaze sharpened.
The remaining nodes.
They had awakened.
Not completed.
Awakened.
And that made them infinitely more dangerous.
Because incomplete things were unstable.
Unpredictable.
Difficult to control.
Even for their creator.
Far away, hidden within the Forbidden Forest.
One node ignited.
Near the Quidditch pitch.
Another awakened.
Near the Black Lake.
A third answered.
The incomplete network suddenly connected.
Like a half-formed beast opening its eyes.
The sky above Hogwarts darkened.
Clouds gathered from nowhere.
Wind swept across the grounds.
Inside the castle.
Students paused.
Professors frowned.
The portraits fell silent.
Something ancient stirred.
Then—
The first effect appeared.
Theodore felt it immediately.
The Array of Heaven's Extinction.
Not complete.
Not even close.
Yet a fragment of its authority had already descended.
A pressure.
Invisible.
Vast.
Oppressive.
The feeling was subtle.
Most students would not notice.
But Theodore did.
Because it was targeting destiny.
Targeting possibility.
Targeting fortune itself.
The world itself seemed to be nudging events toward disaster.
A broomstick could suddenly malfunction.
A staircase could move at the wrong moment.
A protective ward could weaken slightly.
Nothing obvious.
Nothing direct.
Just a thousand tiny pushes toward catastrophe.
Like fate itself had become hostile.
Theodore's expression finally became serious.
"So that's your first move."
Not destruction.
Not attack.
Manipulation.
A tribulation designed to make everything go wrong.
Very clever.
Extremely clever.
If left unchecked long enough...
Even Hogwarts would eventually collapse under its own bad luck.
At that exact moment—
A deep vibration echoed through the castle.
Far away.
Beneath Hogwarts.
Something answered.
Theodore's eyes widened slightly.
Then he smiled.
"Good timing."
Deep beneath the castle grounds.
A root stirred.
Then another.
Then a hundred more.
Willow Immortal had awakened.
Not physically.
Not fully.
But enough.
The immense willow spirit sleeping beneath Theodore's Origin Sea suddenly sensed the invading influence.
The roots connected to Hogwarts trembled.
A faint green radiance spread through the earth.
Life answered death.
Growth answered decay.
Order answered corruption.
For the first time.
The future core of the Wuzhuang Temple Grand Array revealed its presence.
Back inside Hogwarts.
Professor Sprout stopped walking.
She blinked.
"...Did the trees just move?"
Outside Greenhouse Three.
Several magical plants suddenly stood straighter.
Inside the Forbidden Forest.
Countless roots shifted beneath the soil.
Like an army receiving orders.
Like a king opening one eye.
Theodore laughed softly.
The sound startled Quirrell.
"You planned this?"
Quirrell asked.
Theodore shook his head.
"No."
"This is simply what happens when something tries to invade its home."
The ground beneath him glowed faintly green.
Then golden.
Wutu Divine Light.
Yimu Divine Light.
Mountain and forest.
Earth and life.
For the first time since completing his enlightenment, Theodore allowed the two divine lights to flow together.
The surrounding space immediately stabilized.
The corrupted array lines slowed.
The trembling earth calmed.
The incomplete Ten Absolute Arrays shuddered.
As though encountering a natural enemy.
Theodore raised his hand.
Not to destroy.
To plant.
Array lines emerged beneath his feet.
Simple.
Crude.
Infinitely inferior to the true Wuzhuang Temple Grand Array.
Yet they carried the same foundation.
The same principles.
The same Dao.
One line became ten.
Ten became one hundred.
The lines spread silently through the earth.
Using the enemy's attack as cover.
Using the enemy's awakening as fuel.
Using the enemy's array nodes as landmarks.
If Voldemort wished to build a battlefield—
Theodore would accept.
And then claim the battlefield for himself.
Far away.
Inside Hogwarts Castle.
Albus Dumbledore suddenly looked up from his desk.
The old wizard walked toward the window.
His blue eyes reflected the dark clouds gathering above the school.
Something enormous was moving.
He could feel it.
Not through magic.
Through instinct.
The same instinct that had kept him alive for over a century.
"Interesting."
His voice was quiet.
"Very interesting."
The phoenix on its perch gave a low cry.
Dumbledore's gaze shifted toward the distant grounds.
Toward the place where Theodore stood.
For the first time in a long while—
He felt uncertain.
Not afraid.
Not worried.
Uncertain.
The pieces on the board were moving faster than even he could predict.
Back near the first node.
Quirrell suddenly heard Voldemort's voice.
Much quieter than before.
Much less confident.
"Leave."
"What?"
"Leave now."
Quirrell blinked.
"Master?"
"LEAVE."
Voldemort's voice was sharp.
Urgent.
For the first time in weeks.
The Dark Lord no longer sounded amused.
No longer sounded arrogant.
Because he had just realized something.
Theodore was not merely disrupting the array.
He was learning from it.
Every second the nodes remained active—
Theodore's own grand array was growing.
Taking shape.
Rooting itself into Hogwarts.
The Ten Absolute Arrays were becoming the whetstone sharpening another blade.
And that realization sent a chill down even Voldemort's spine.
Above Hogwarts.
Dark clouds rolled across the heavens.
Green radiance spread beneath the earth.
Two grand designs had begun taking form.
One sought to drag Hogwarts into tribulation.
The other sought to transform it into a blessed land.
And both sides now understood the same thing.
The Quidditch Friendship Tournament would not be a celebration.
It would be a battlefield.
A battlefield where only one grand array would remain standing.
[Let me know what you think where the story should go]
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