The night the Quidditch match ended, the Gryffindor common room blazed with light. Streamers ran from beam to beam, red and gold everywhere—loud, messy, jubilant.
Fred and George—how, no one could say—had somehow slipped out and returned from Hogsmeade with armfuls of Butterbeer and sweets. The common room promptly turned into a proper party.
It wasn't until Professor McGonagall swept in that the noise faltered.
To everyone's shock, she smiled, lifted a cup of Butterbeer, and said simply, "To our Gryffindor team."
Then, as if remembering herself, she added, "And don't stay up too late. You still have classes tomorrow."
And with that, she was gone.
That tiny indulgence—McGonagall's tacit approval—sent the room into overdrive. Cheers restarted. Someone began a chant. Someone else started a second chant to drown out the first.
Harry, one of the night's heroes, drank until he face-planted on a table. The rest of the team weren't far behind.
Theodore watched it all with a faint smile.
He wasn't about to be the killjoy who dragged everyone into training tonight. They'd earned this.
Besides… he had his own work to do.
The Demon-Taming Pill wasn't going to refine itself.
A short while later, Theo slipped away under Hidden Breath, Veiled Fate, layered with a Disillusionment Charm, and made for the eighth floor.
The Room of Requirement welcomed him like it always did: a calm, private chamber, and at its heart a classical pill furnace waiting as if it had been there all along.
Theo tapped his wand.
Flame answered—Gubraithian Fire, fierce and clean beneath the furnace belly.
But this time, with Reversing Five Elements Origin Sea supporting it, the fire swelled into something almost physical: gold-red, roaring, heat rolling off in waves.
Theo nodded, satisfied.
"This is far stronger than when I refined the Flying Tiger Pill," he murmured. "Still not Samadhi True Fire… but it's reached the standard spirit-fire tier."
"With this, the Way of Elixirs can finally show its teeth."
He activated the Insightful Heaven's Eye, letting his mind turn cold and precise.
The Demon-Taming Pill sat several tiers above the Flying Tiger Pill—and Theo's standards had never been gentle. If it wasn't Gold-Grade, he wouldn't put it in his body. Too many hidden risks lived in "almost pure".
He laid out the ingredients he'd fought to collect.
First: several perfectly round red and green pearls—the refined essence of three-headed dog's blood and Devil's Snare.
Then: the Golden Snitch Harry had handed him after the match.
Theo tossed the Snitch into the furnace.
It melted almost instantly, turning into shimmering gold liquid that rolled through the cauldron like sunlight through water.
Without hesitation, he added the red and green pearls.
Bloody qi, wood-essence, and metal aura surged together—three forces colliding and spiralling in the furnace's heart.
Theo's hands moved in crisp seals, feeding strands of Origin Sea power into the process—substituting for mana where needed, stabilising the flame where it mattered, pushing the refinement to a level ordinary wizarding "brewing" could never reach.
Having a sea of power to spend made the difference obscene. Techniques that once belonged to the distant future now sat neatly within reach.
Inside the furnace, the three forces spun faster and tighter, twisting into streaks of gold, red, and green light.
At this stage alone, Theo already knew the batch wouldn't collapse—no sludge, no impurities, no wasted materials. The floor was locked at high grade.
But high grade wasn't the goal.
Only Gold-Grade would do.
To reach it, the three energies had to fuse completely—no residue, no separation, no hidden grit waiting to bite him later.
Theo held the recipe in his mind, tracking every tremor—
—and then, like a key turning in a lock, he saw the moment.
His palms snapped together.
"Form the pill."
The swirling light condensed.
Nine pills fell into being—each one bright, clean, flawless gold.
Theo barked a laugh.
Nine pills. One batch.
All Gold-Grade.
He scooped them up quickly.
"Pills are most potent at the instant they form," he muttered. "And I don't have a spirit-jade bottle lying around."
He eyed the nine gleaming pills, shrugged once, and swallowed all nine in one go.
The effect hit like a flood.
Vast, pure energy erupted through him—so much it made his eyes widen. Compared to the Flying Tiger Pills, this was a different world entirely.
Theo exhaled hard and set Reversing Five Elements Origin Sea turning.
Within him, the reversed five elements formed a grinding wheel, crushing the medicinal force again and again—extracting only the purest part, converting it into Origin Sea power with ruthless efficiency.
The difference wasn't subtle.
It was tens of times better.
Power poured into his sea, expanding it in great, steady surges.
By the time the medicinal force finally faded, his Origin Sea had swollen to many times its former size—and with it, his ability to absorb ambient energy leapt forward brutally.
Theo inhaled deeply.
Since arriving in the wizarding world, he'd never had enough resources.
Now—
Now he finally felt rich.
His gaze drifted to a familiar entry on his panel.
Three Heads and Eight Arms.
Before, using it meant paying too high a price—weakening his foundation, turning it into a last-resort blade.
But now?
Why not test it properly?
A divine, demonic aura rolled off him. The room seemed to fall silent.
Theo's voice, low and guttural, echoed against the stone.
"Three Heads… Eight Arms."
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