"Can someone explain to me what happened?" Snape said coldly.
Ever since Harry entered Slytherin, everything seemed to have become troublesome.
Last year, he received dozens of complaint letters, which he intercepted himself, and this year, howlers came directly, and so-called questionnaires circulated throughout the school.
The entire Slytherin seemed to be constantly restless.
How could such a small Castle cause so much trouble?
"It seems a not-so-small stir has been raised in Slytherin," Dumbledore said slowly.
"Small?!"
With a bang, Snape slammed his hands on the table: "Dumbledore, have you ever thought that those pure-blood families are itching to get their hands on Harry Potter, and now, they finally have an excuse to extend their reach into the school!"
As he spoke, his eyes flickered, seemingly glancing at Howl, then he added: "As Dean, I absolutely cannot accept outsiders extending their reach into the school!"
Howl calmly took a sip of hot tea.
Severus, you don't need to add anything, I already felt something was off last year...
After finishing his hot tea, he stood up and looked at Dumbledore.
"You can handle it, right?"
"Perhaps." Dumbledore blinked.
Previously, Howl thought he had become much more decisive, but it seemed he was still the same, only what he said just now had a hint of dominance.
"I'll do my best." Howl nodded.
This time, it was Dumbledore's turn to be surprised, he stirred his spoon: "I thought you would be very dissatisfied with such an ambiguous way of handling things."
Howl shook his head: "I know what you mean, humans are social animals, being high above the heavens brings no benefit."
"Thank you for your understanding." Dumbledore nodded slightly.
Howl felt that the translation of this sentence should be: I'm glad you understand...
He wondered if he was mistaken.
Dumbledore also seemed to be trying to help himself understand something, related to his Curse, and also to this deformed world...
Thinking, his gaze involuntarily fell on the gilded perch next to him.
Could it be that Lucifer was a bigmouth?
"That's all for now, I'm going back to paint." Howl nodded and was the first to leave the office.
At this moment, only Snape and Dumbledore remained in the office.
Snape had no intention of asking about Howl's background again; he had done so during the holidays, but Dumbledore was always evasive.
So, he stopped asking and chose to trust him.
"I thought you only cared about his life and death..."
"Some of those old families want him dead." Snape said flatly.
Dumbledore looked at Snape with a half-smile.
How could those families dare to kill Harry Potter? The eyes of the entire Wizarding World were focused on him, and everyone knew his name.
His death was not permitted by the public.
"I heard his Potion Class grade last year was O." Dumbledore said.
Snape's expression instantly looked like he had swallowed a fly, and he gritted his teeth: "If you really can't find anything to do, you can go and worry about those pure-blood families who are about to reach out."
With that, he also stood up, swept his black robe, and turned to leave.
Looking at the empty office, he then slightly raised his teacup, making a slight toasting gesture, and whispered:
"I'm glad to see your change, Severus..."
He couldn't directly say these words, otherwise, every candy he ate in the future would have to be eaten carefully.
However, he was genuinely happy about it.
"Albus, I'm wondering if the recent events in the school are related to these families, after all, they need an excuse to insert their hands into Hogwarts and so on.
Especially after what happened last year, some people in certain families might be waiting and hoping for You-Know-Who's return."
Dumbledore nodded slightly: "Don't worry, haven't we already anticipated this?"
Time quickly passed, Christmas break was approaching, and three days later, over one hundred and twenty questionnaires were officially collected, tearing off the last fig leaf of the Slytherin people.
"If you want to laugh, just laugh." Someone said grumpily.
Harry put away those blatant sheets: "Don't be silly, because of the recent conflict with Slytherin, there's a lot of malicious bias in these that isn't objective."
Saying that, he looked a bit apologetic: "I didn't expect my Parseltongue identity to attract so much malice, I'm sorry."
"Saying so much is useless." The person waved his hand: "We knew from the beginning that we would encounter some malicious comments, we just thought there wouldn't be so many, otherwise we wouldn't have made a bet with you."
"Lost is lost. There's nothing to say. If there are biased bad reviews, there are naturally objective ones. No need to prove anything more, shut up, and end this matter."
Facing the low-pressure common room, Harry finally won the bet, and from then on, the Slytherin common room password was no longer related to pure-blood.
As for the others, they had their own thoughts; everyone knew that some comments in there were extreme and biased... but...
Slytherin people would not be angered by slander, only let out a pitiful scoff.
If they were angered, it was because they knew it wasn't slander...
Some of the comments in there were objective, they were the naked facts revealed after that fig leaf was torn away, and they couldn't just laugh them off...
Draco lay on his bed in the dormitory, his mind very complex. Various thoughts filled his head, and after a moment, he propped himself up and put on his robe again.
"Draco, where are you going?" Crabbe asked repeatedly.
"To the library." Draco replied dryly: "I'll go by myself."
"Alright."
This semester, Draco had spent much more time in the library than the two of them, and they didn't know what had motivated Draco, but he had become much more diligent.
Dressed, Draco walked out of the common room alone and went all the way to the third floor, where it was now quiet and dim. Because of the Chamber of Secrets incident, many students now voluntarily returned to their common rooms after dinner and dared not wander outside.
Clap—
A faint sound echoed in the corridor. He turned his head to look, feeling puzzled, and saw a dark shadow appear on the ground.
"Hmm?"
He concentrated slightly, drew his wand, walked over, picked up the item, and took a look.
It was a notebook, looking very old, with yellowed, blank pages, appearing dirty and worn.
On the title page was a line of text, "I can help you get what you want!"
The words seemed to possess a certain magic, tugging at one's heartstrings. Draco hesitated, his gaze fixed on that line of text.
Then...
"Ill-mannered fellow, littering!"
He tutted twice, then turned and threw the notebook on the ground, clapped the dust off his hands, and walked upstairs.
Don't tell me you think I, Malfoy, would pick up trash to use.
On the stairs, two people came down towards him. Draco looked up slightly and recognized them as two idiots from Hufflepuff.
Seeing Draco, the two immediately fell silent, and only when they had passed him did they continue their hushed discussion.
"See? That's a Slytherin person."
"Parseltongue is a talent only Slytherin has."
"Maybe he even keeps a snake in his dorm. To be honest, I'm really worried, my mom and dad are Muggles... I hope Christmas comes soon, I'm scared every day..."
"Don't be stupid." Draco's voice was calm and contemptuous, echoing through the stairwell.
The two turned their heads and saw Draco looking back, gazing down at them.
"You absolutely don't need to worry about being attacked,
Brainless people like you, who only speculate about others behind their backs following public opinion, wouldn't even be noticed by anyone in Slytherin."
With that, he turned and continued walking upstairs.
"If anyone really gets attacked, it will definitely be prominent figures in the school, not nobodies like you who only gossip behind people's backs."
The two Hufflepuff children's faces turned crimson, but they couldn't retort. By the time they had found their words, Draco had already disappeared from their sight.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 70 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
Here's the link:
[email protected]/Rexlent
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"