Hogwarts Raven (Harry Potter)

This was an unforeseen development, and it left Draco Malfoy feeling like his brain had just fried, leaving him utterly bewildered.

His two little attendants reacted faster than he did.

"It has nothing to do with us! We're not even close with Draco!"

"Yeah, yeah! We didn't say a single word after entering the room, it was all Draco, he is the one causing trouble here!"

Goyle and Crabbe gave a masterclass on what's known as plastic friendship as they threw Draco under the bus faster than he could blink.

"That's not true! I didn't!" Draco Malfoy instinctively wanted to refute, but the moment his eyes met Ian's, which were the same eerie color as the Avada Kedavra Curse, he felt as if an invisible hand had gripped his throat.

So this was Ian Prince…

The one his father had scoffed at, but whom every single Slytherin student fell silent upon mentioning, this is the terrifying Dark Lord of Hogwarts!

Terrifying indeed!

Draco could feel his calves trembling. He didn't even dare mention the pride of his House, because from what he'd learned from relatives and "friends," even the House's glory couldn't save him in the slightest.

"Relax a bit." Ian noticed Draco's Adam's apple bobbing up and down, and he let out a light chuckle while speaking.

But the three new students who were destined for Slytherin all went even paler.

"Are we going to die?" Goyle and Crabbe were on the verge of tears.

And Draco wasn't doing much better.

"It was Daphne! Daphne was the one slandering you! Really! I've always respected you! I even privately refer to you as 'Mr. Prince, greater than greatness!"

'Well, birds of a feather flock together, he sold out his "loyal" Housemate just as fast as Goyle and Crabbe.'

Of course...

What made this little dragon better than the other two was that, in his attempt to shift blame, he also knew how to butter Ian up. He remembered that many house-elves used to call this Dark Lord of Hogwarts by exactly that title.

"Daphne is as consistent as ever." Ian's expression showed no surprise.

And seeing him begin to speak in judgment, Draco Malfoy immediately tried to redirect Ian's "wrath" again.

"She has a diary! It's full of horrible things about you! That diary even makes up vile lies on its own! Even the one I found at home... uh, anyway, it's all her fault!" Draco displayed his talent for tattling, but halfway through, his words came to a screeching halt, as if he suddenly realized he shouldn't be talking about certain things that not even his parents knew about.

After seeing Daphne's magical diary, Draco had wanted something similar. He searched every shop in vain before stumbling upon a mysterious encounter in his own house.

"I'm not interested in listening to you all bite at each other, Mr. Malfoy. Could I trouble you to apologize to me and my friend?" Ian's wand was already pointed under Draco Malfoy's chin as he spoke.

'What else could he do? He had no choice but to submit.'

After a clumsy and humiliating display of "deep self-reflection," Ian didn't press the issue further. After satisfying his little sadistic amusement, he finally let the Slytherin Trio out of the booth.

"See? That's the benefit of being good at magic, it makes people reason with you properly." Ian twirled his wand and sat back down.

"Magic is might," Lirim commented.

"That was amazing! They were so obnoxiously rude just now! Reminded me of my cousin!" Harry Potter looked delighted.

"What spell did you use just now?" Hermione's attention, as always, was focused elsewhere.

"Want to learn it?" Ian raised an eyebrow.

Seeing the little witch nod eagerly, full of anticipation—

"The professors at school will teach you." His answer was, admittedly was a bit of a letdown for Hermione. The atmosphere lightened again. The train continued rushing forward, and only by nightfall did it finally reach its destination.

One after another, everyone stepped off the train in a constant, crowded stream.

Amid the sea of heads, Ian finally spotted the red-haired, freckled boy, Ron Weasley, the one that Ron's twin brothers claimed had "miraculously survived" hundreds of times in their hands.

The youngest brother of the Weasley family, it seemed he had ended up sharing a compartment with Neville Longbottom, and the two of them had spent nearly the entire train ride searching for a toad.

But that wasn't all.

There had even been some unexpected incidents.

"Damn that Scabbers! It actually bit your toad! And it even bit your ankle! I swear I'm going to write to my mum and ask her to let me put that stinky rat down!"

Ron was helping Neville carry a small pouch, his face full of guilt.

"I-it's fine…" Neville was cradling his travel-happy toad in his arms, limping as if his ankle tendons had been injured.

"Need some help?"

As Ian passed by Neville, he pulled out a potion and handed it over, who said Neville wasn't brave? The guy had his blood vessels chewed open and still insisted on walking, is he afraid that his bleeding wasn't enough to count as serious!

"Thank you, thank you, Ian." Neville, ever the sincere little chubby boy, took the potion without even asking what it was for, not worrying whether it might be a prank. He simply opened the lid and poured it straight onto his ankle.

"Uh… I think that's an oral potion." Ian corrected Neville's incorrect usage.

The little chub's face instantly turned bright red. He hurriedly stopped, shoved the potion into his mouth instead, and drank it. Then he even tried to gather the potion that had spilled on the ground to drink that too.

"You've already had more than enough." Ian quickly stopped Neville's frugal behavior.

"It's all my fault for wasting such precious potion…" Neville saw his ankle visibly healing and instantly realized Ian's potion wasn't some cheap stuff.

"It's not that valuable," Ian replied honestly.

After all, the main ingredient was the bathwater of a Black-Robed Skeleton.

"That's incredible! Look! Your ankle's completely healed!" Ron, reacting a bit late (just like his twin brothers said), was surprised and excited.

"I can walk again!" Neville also looked delighted.

But just then...

"I think your problem isn't whether you can walk or not. As far as I know, rats have always been carriers of plague. It could be infected with Yersinia pestis, Hantavirus, Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, or even rabies." Hermione, who had caught up to them, immediately launched into a science lecture.

Her words instantly turned Neville's previously red cheeks ghostly pale.

"Scabbers is a pet rat... it's not that filthy!" Ron immediately jumped in to defend, clearly finding this first-time meeting girl a bit annoying.

(To Be Continued…)

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