Harry Potter: The Rise Of Malfoy

Chapter 29.

The Christmas feast made the Great Hall look magnificent. Over a dozen Christmas trees covered in silver frost sparkled against the backdrop of thick garlands made of mistletoe and holly crisscrossing the ceiling, and magical, warm, and dry snowflakes gently fell from above.

The exquisite and lavish food left everyone savoring their meals, and after the dinner, a rare feeling of relaxation filled Soren as he strolled through the corridors before slowly making his way to the Slytherin common room.

At the entrance of the common room, Soren saw Goyle and Crabbe anxiously pacing back and forth, seemingly unable to enter because they had forgotten the entrance password.

Soren's lips curled slightly in amusement; an interesting plot was unfolding. With his magical eye, he could instantly tell that the magical energy of the two was much more refined than that of Goyle and Crabbe. It was reasonable to infer from the situation that these two were definitely impersonated by Harry and Ron using Polyjuice Potion, intending to gather inside information about the Chamber of Secrets from Draco.

Another interesting discovery was that the Polyjuice Potion could only replicate a person's appearance but not their soul, magical power, and other characteristics—this was certainly logical, otherwise, duels between Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix would have turned into battles between thirty Voldemort's and thirty Dumbledores.

Soren walked up and greeted the two, said the password "pureblood," and pretended to help them enter the common room, where they waited for Draco together. The three of them sat in the common room, exchanging idle chatter with their own thoughts, waiting for Draco's return.

Harry and Ron had considered probing Soren directly, but Soren's consistently mysterious persona made Harry hesitate, leading him to subconsciously dismiss the idea.

Not long after, Draco returned from outside, holding what appeared to be a clipping.

Upon seeing the three, he approached with a strange expression. In his impression, Soren and the other two weren't exactly friendly—rather, Soren had always been aloof in Slytherin, maintaining a certain distance from all other students except Daphne and Meredith.

While Soren might seem approachable on the surface, being warm and polite to everyone, Draco knew deep down that Soren looked down on them, particularly the pure-blood supremacist students. Despite feeling somewhat strange, Draco didn't think too much about it and eagerly approached the trio, impatiently shoving the clipping into Crabbe's (Ron's) hands.

"You'll definitely laugh!" he said.

Crabbe (Ron) widened his eyes in shock, quickly reading through the clipping, and managed a forced chuckle before passing it to Goyle (Harry).

The clipping was cut from the Daily Prophet, stating: "Arthur Weasley, the director of the Ministry of Magic's Office for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts, has been fined fifty galleons today for using magic on a Muggle car. This magically-enhanced car crashed at Hogwarts earlier this year. A board member of the school, Mr. Lucius Malfoy, recently called for Mr. Weasley's resignation. 'Weasley has tarnished the reputation of the Ministry,' Malfoy told this reporter. 'He is clearly unfit to make laws for us; his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be abolished immediately.'"

The subsequent dialogue was identical to that described in the original story.

"Draco, don't mention Weasley, talk about the Chamber of Secrets and the heir of Slytherin," Goyle (Harry) ventured, "you must know something about it, who is behind all this?"

"You know very well I don't know, Goyle, how many times do I have to tell you?" Draco said sharply. "Dad won't tell me anything about when the Chamber was last opened. Of course, that was fifty years ago; he wasn't even born then, but he knows everything. He says it's all a secret, and if I know too much, it'll look suspicious. But there's one thing I do know: the last time the Chamber was opened, a mudblood died. So, I dare say a mudblood will die this time too; it's just a matter of time... I hope it's Granger." He said with great delight.

Soren looked at Draco with a somewhat displeased expression, "Brother, Hermione is my friend. Also, I hope you can learn to be cautious with your words. I don't think it's wise to toss around the term 'Mudblood' at Hogwarts, right?"

"Oh, I understand." Draco felt a bit awkward. Before the school year started, Lucius had specifically instructed him to learn more from Soren. In this moment, he didn't dare to openly defy Soren, but inside he was dismissive.

Soren noticed that Draco's words were insincere and couldn't help but sigh. Old habits are hard to change; the ideology of pure-blood supremacy instilled in him since childhood was deeply rooted, and changing it would indeed not be easy.

Crabbe (Ron) clenched his fists tightly. Goyle (Harry) quickly shot him a warning glance before saying, "Do you know if the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets last time got caught?"

"Rumor has it he was caught and then expelled," Draco replied. "You can check the student registry from fifty years ago; whoever he is, he's probably still in Azkaban."

He fidgeted restlessly in his chair and said, "My dad told me not to stick my head out, letting the heir of Slytherin continue the actions. He said the school needs to purify itself of all Mudblood contamination and not get involved in this. Of course, he's too busy with other things right now. Did you know the Ministry of Magic suddenly raided our manor last week? Luckily, they didn't find anything. My dad has some extremely valuable secret artifacts. Thankfully, we set up our secret room in—"

Soren coughed heavily twice, and Draco's face turned somewhat fearful. He realized he had almost revealed some family secrets; if Soren reported to Lucius, Draco would surely get a beating. He immediately put on a fawning expression, "Soren, we're good brothers; you wouldn't let me get beaten, right?"

Suddenly, Crabbe (Ron) let out a "Huh!" exclamation, and his hair was turning red, his nose slowly lengthening—time was up for them. Ron was turning back to his original self, and from the sudden look of panic that Harry shot at him, he knew he was also beginning to revert.

The two of them jumped up simultaneously, wanting to escape the Slytherin common room.

Draco had not yet reacted to the sudden actions of the two idiots when Soren flicked his left hand, and his wand had slipped from his sleeve into his hand. He reached out to block Harry and Ron's way and pretended to suddenly realize something, "Two Gryffindor students, without permission impersonating Slytherin students to infiltrate the common room, thinking they could just leave without an explanation?"

Seeing that their cover was blown, Harry acted quickly and lunged at himself, intending to use Goyle's large and sturdy physique to snatch the wand and grapple. Ron was a beat slower than Harry but immediately realized what was happening and rushed at Draco.

With his wand in hand, Soren sneered. Although Harry was fast to react, he still couldn't compete with Soren's rapid spell-casting skills practiced day and night. Just as Harry's arm was about to touch Soren, Soren had completed his spell—a perfect full-body bind curse knocked Harry to the ground.

Draco, accustomed to a life of luxury, was not quick to respond compared to Soren and was consequently overpowered and beaten up by Ron, without even the chance to draw his wand. Although Draco's physical strength had increased considerably due to Quidditch training, he was still no match for Ron's large build.

Seeing this, Soren could only shake his head internally. It was one thing for Draco to be slow to react, but his lack of adaptability was too poor—if it were Soren, even if knocked to the ground, he would at least have ten ways to launch a counterattack.

Soren used transfiguration to turn a chair into a rope, which automatically pulled Ron away from Draco and bound him tightly. Only then was Draco saved, but he had at least three bruises on his face, and his expensive wizard robe had several rips, leaving him disheveled.

Fortunately, during the Christmas holidays, most of the Slytherin snakes chose to go home for vacation, so only a few boys and girls were in the common room, meaning not many would witness Draco's terrible state; otherwise, the Malfoy family's reputation would suffer.

Even so, Draco felt utterly embarrassed, his entire face burning with shame, every nerve in his brain filled with pain and humiliation, with flames of anger burning in his eyes. Soren could feel he was like a beast that had lost its reason and was about to go on a rampage.

He pulled out his wand and aimed a curse at Ron, a shattering curse that would likely cause severe injuries similar to a shattering bone fracture if it hit Ron. However, just as the curse flew towards Ron, it was intercepted by a transparent barrier.

Draco turned to Soren, his eyes filled with madness and hatred. "Soren! If you still consider me your brother, get out of the way now!"

Soren stepped in front of Harry and Ron, who were lying on the ground, blocking them behind him. He looked at Draco and shook his head. "Brother, calm down. You're losing your mind. They've already been captured by me and are powerless to resist. Casting a curse on them will only bring punishment from the school; I won't let you through."

Draco pressed his lips tightly together, his hand gripping his wand trembling with anger. Despite his frustration at his brother's obstruction, the remaining rationality in his mind knew that Soren was right. However, emotionally, he was unwilling to back down, so he continued to point his wand at Soren and the two lying behind him.

The one boy and two girls in the lounge witnessed the entire event. They first saw the beaten Draco, then Soren easily handling the two, and now they were watching the two brothers facing off, unsure of what to do.

Until Soren called out, breaking the silence, "Hey, could someone help and notify Professor McGonagall or Professor Snape? We have an impersonator infiltrating our house!"

One of the girls hurriedly ran out of the lounge to find the professors.

Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape arrived, having found the unconscious Goyle and Crabbe in the cupboard at the entrance hall.

After understanding the entire situation, Professor McGonagall was so angry her face turned pale. "Unbelievable, Potter and Weasley, you two brewed a forbidden potion, drugged a fellow student, impersonated others, infiltrated another house, and intended to attack—no, to seriously assault Malfoy after the incident. Gryffindor loses one hundred points, and you both need to come with me to see the headmaster!"

Although Draco had intended to cast a curse on Ron, he neither succeeded in causing harm nor was he punished due to being overtaken by anger at that moment. On the other hand, Professor McGonagall looked upon Soren, who calmly resolved the conflict, with favor, awarding Slytherin an extra fifty points.

After leaving Soren a meaningful glance, Professor Snape followed McGonagall, Harry, and Ron to the headmaster's office, while Draco, Goyle, and Crabbe were taken to the hospital wing by Soren and the three in the Slytherin lounge.

Later, it was said that in the headmaster's office, Snape suddenly erupted in anger, vocally demanding the expulsion of Harry and Ron, while McGonagall vehemently opposed him. However, she clearly lacked confidence since Harry and Ron had violated at least a hundred serious school rules, and fellow students had been harmed as a result.

After a period of argument, it was ultimately the biased Dumbledore who made the final decision, removing the expulsion punishment for Harry and Ron, imposing only two weeks of detention on them. But upon seeing Snape's extremely dark expression, he also promised some compensation to Slytherin house. After some bargaining with Snape, he stalked off in frustration.