Hogwarts Raven (Harry Potter)

You can read ahead up to 110 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395

After Ian left, Grindelwald sat back down, his anger dissipating in an instant.

What replaced it was deep contemplation. He had already gleaned the information he sought from his conversation with Ian.

Though not as clear as he had hoped, it was sufficient to allow him to piece together a coherent thread.

"To mock fate requires the joint involvement of the great and the prophet… And with so many legends involved… what kind of scene would that paint?"

Grindelwald murmured softly.

After a moment, he suddenly chuckled quietly.

His eyes, filled with renewed expectation, were once again fixed on the Golden Apple resting on the table.

"No matter what, Albus's reckless attempt truly pushed open the gates of history. And I may have already glimpsed a forbidden corner that even he might not yet be aware of…"

His low whisper brimmed with intrigue.

Clearly,

Grindelwald had secretly undertaken several solitary excursions behind Dumbledore's back. He knew such actions might deepen the rift between them again, but he also understood he couldn't halt his pursuit.

This was a temptation no seer could resist.

…

Morning arrived.

A soft bluish-purple hue began to tinge the horizon.

The stars had not fully faded yet. The first ray of sunlight quietly wove between the castle's spires and towers, draping the magical school in a faint golden glow.

The air was filled with a subtle scent of potions and the fresh aroma of ancient stone bricks.

Students strolled along the corridors.

Everything seemed so peaceful yet full of vitality. After finishing his morning routine, Ian stepped out of the Room of Requirement, but he did not head immediately to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Someone really did notice."

Ian's gaze swept over the neatly arranged corridor and the floating candles, finally settling on the quiet corner where he had encountered Lirim the previous night.

A small group of Students had already gathered there.

[I... have returned from death!]

The bright red letters indeed attracted quite a crowd of curious students. Even Hagrid, the gentle giant, was standing by the wall, trying to maintain order.

"What's going on here?" Ian approached with a hint of confusion. Of course, he had already seen the writing, but his black Phoenix had been on watch all night and hadn't detected any harm.

If nothing unusual had happened,

Why would Hagrid be here trying to disperse everyone?

"You lot of brats, can't you hurry up and get ready for class… I told you, it's just someone playing a prank," Hagrid was still struggling to shoo away the crowd of Students.

However, the students didn't believe him.

"I don't buy it! The owls all got scared away!"

"Yeah! My Monroe was trembling in my bed all night! She's a brave female cat; normally, she even dares to kiss Professor Snape's shoes!"

"There must be a monster! My Scabbers! My poor Scabbers got eaten! Waaah!"

...

Both upper years and new first years were murmuring.

Ian even spotted Ron Weasley, bawling as if heartbroken beyond words. This newly enrolled redheaded Gryffindor was slumped on the ground, his face a mask of grief.

"I've finally gotten something that's mine alone, and now it's gone! Tell me, what's the point of living in this world now?!" Ron's expression was one of despair, as if he might jump off a building at any moment.

His twin older brother was somewhat dismissively trying to comfort him.

"What! Your rat is gone?" Ian approached, his pockets stuffed full of last year's stockpiled "snacks," looking even less willing to accept reality than Ron, who'd lost "half his fortune."

"Yeah! Waaah! My rat is gone!" Seeing Ian show more concern than even his elder brother, Ron immediately thought he'd found someone who could empathize.

He tried to scoot over and hug Ian's leg.

Ian nimbly dodged away.

"Someone said they heard wailing in the sewers yesterday. I'm sure some magical creature broke into the school, and it's the kind that eats rats."

"Rat wails wouldn't be that loud. I think it must've been Snape being dragged in to get eaten... Ian, my condolences, and don't forget to invite us when you inherit his estate."

"But I think that sound was more like a large creature's wail. Of course, that creature must've eaten Snape, and then it got eaten by an even stronger beast."

George and Fred were analyzing the situation, each speaking in turn.

They still held a strong disdain for Snape.

"Maybe it just ran away? I can help you look for it!" Ian, with a warm heart, was about to pull out his Marauder's Map. He was hoping to catch Scabbers and try out some scenarios like, "I didn't know," "I thought it was just a rat," "I really didn't know it was a person," or "We're all just trying to survive."

Just as Ian was digging into his pouch,

"Mr. Prince, I think I should apologize to you. My offense against you and your friend yesterday was truly despicable and foolish." Malfoy, with his platinum blonde hair, suddenly squeezed in next to Ian. He bowed deeply to Ian, speaking sincerely. Oddly, his two attendants were nowhere to be seen by his side.

"Hearing more rumors again?" Ian sensed Malfoy's inner anxiety and unease.

"No... no... I... I truly feel in my heart that I was wrong." When Malfoy looked up, it became clear that both sides of his face were somewhat swollen.

No one knew who had slapped him a few times.

"Really, that's how it is. I repent. I realize my own flaws, and I want to start anew." Malfoy felt even more nervous under Ian's gaze.

His expression stiffened; he didn't dare to make eye contact with Ian.

"Do you know what happened here?" Ian wasn't really concerned about Malfoy's inner thoughts; he was just very interested in what Ians were discussing.

"I..."

Malfoy hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping short.

"I don't really know."

After holding back for a long time, he finally just shook his head vigorously. That guilty look made some Students glance sideways, and Ian's suspicious stare made Malfoy even more flustered.

"I-I'll go ask around for you." Saying that, Malfoy started pushing his way toward the crowd.

Ian was a bit baffled as he noticed,

Malfoy deliberately dug into his robes, then dropped something at Ian's feet. Worried Ian might not notice, he kept looking back several times.

"You dropped something." Ian picked up a delicate little cloth pouch.

"Huh?" Malfoy visibly relaxed after seeing Ian pick it up.

But when Ian handed the pouch back, Malfoy's reaction was strange.

"That's not mine! Yes! It's really not mine! I don't know!" The wildly shaking, lying Malfoy waved his hands and shook his head, then hurriedly squeezed into the crowd and dashed toward the stairs.

"What the heck?"

Ian followed the crowd but soon saw Malfoy had already run far away, stumbling once on the stairs, and then scrambling up using hands and feet. Within less than half a minute, he disappeared from sight.

"Is he trying to frame me? Or bribe me?"

Curious, Ian weighed the small pouch in his hand.

He opened the mouth of the pouch.

Sunlight shone in.

A glint flickered faintly inside.

...

Slytherin common room.

The boys' dormitory.

After sprinting back to his dorm room at full speed, Malfoy first shut the door and collapsed on the bed, gasping heavily for a while. Then, anxious and worried, he got up and walked to his desk.

"Is this really okay? Will he think I'm trying to harm him... I checked around; if I really anger him, my parents and ancestors will all be doomed along with me!"

He slowly wrote a line in an old diary.

The book didn't look thick. The date printed on the cover with ink was already faded, and no one knew how long it had been stored. Besides the date, there was no other content.

As Malfoy wrote,

The diary's magical nature began to manifest.

The boy's handwriting quickly faded away.

After a moment,

"Dumbledore and the professors can't be trusted. You and I can only rely on this special young wizard. You might even earn a special school award for your help to him."

"Just like I once did." On the now tidy diary page, words began to appear as if written by an invisible hand in ink.

"This is to deal with the one whose name cannot be spoken! I only want a chance to survive!"

Malfoy paid no attention to the temptation.

His face was pale.

He anxiously wrote another line.

This line also quickly disappeared.

After quite a while, the diary gave no further response.

Just as Malfoy thought the mysterious presence inside the diary wouldn't reply again,

"Who doesn't want to live?"

Suddenly, a sentence appeared in the empty diary.

"Voldemort is a madman, but I am not."

The faint ink strokes connected on their own.

After showing for a few seconds,

they vanished without a trace.

(End of chapter)