Gossip is human nature. How long does it take for a piece of explosive gossip to spread among a group of energetic children? The answer is—almost no time at all.
So, when Ryan entered the Potions classroom the next morning, he was greeted by a very strange scene. Surprisingly, none of the Gryffindor lions were late; instead, they all arrived early.
"Oh, great Lord Elias," Seamus bowed dramatically at the door. "How can you carry these heavy things yourself? Please leave them to me." He smiled respectfully and took the Potions textbook from Ryan's hand. Behind him, Dean and Neville respectfully took the quill and notebook.
"Please sit down, please sit down!" As Neville invited Ryan to take a seat, Ryan could even see the chubby boy's face flush with laughter. "Well... I'm afraid I'll have to duel you too before you become normal—who goes first?" Ryan shrugged helplessly. The little lions in the classroom erupted in laughter and cheers!
"Ryan Elias!"
"Ryan Elias!"
"Ryan Elias!"
They cheered Ryan's name, and the reason was obvious. Somehow, they already knew what happened last night. And since Ryan had been in Gryffindor classes during his first week, they naturally assumed he was a Gryffindor! Well… Even if he was not a Gryffindor, all of them would still celebrate this event like crazy. Their rivalry against the Slytherin students was running deeper inside their blood, after all.
"Brother, we all heard about it!" As Ryan sat down familiarly, Ron, who was sitting a row behind him, came over. "Did you really go to that dank snake den... I mean, you gave Malfoy a good beating, and his brother—I heard he was a Slytherin prefect?"
"...I don't think that prefect is related to Malfoy—well, that's probably it," Ryan said with a subtle, somewhat uncertain expression. After all, as far as he knew, most of the so-called pure-blood wizarding families of this era intermarried. Perhaps that Maccall Dolohov was indeed related to the Malfoys.
"Who cares? You're so handsome, bro!" But Ron clearly didn't care, pumping his fist.
Harry, standing beside him, also looked over curiously. He excitedly asked, "I heard you cast a powerful spell... That's impressive!" He felt a little embarrassed—as the 'Boy-Who-Lived', even more famous than Ryan, he still hadn't mastered a single spell.
'Even this news had gotten out?' Ryan muttered to himself, tactfully covering it up, "There are some ancient books inherited in my family vault, containing some... rare spells." But he soon noticed another problem.
"Ron, you don't look well?" He observed Ron's slightly tired face. In fact, Ron's face had been looking a little tired since the start of the school year—it had improved slightly the past two days, but today it had turned pale again.
"Oh, I'm fine, I just didn't get enough rest." Ron yawned at this. "Maybe I stayed up a little late writing in my diary last night, or maybe Scabbers kept fidgeting next to my pillow, and that kept me awake."
Harry glanced at Ron, sternly not pointing out what he'd actually seen last night.
"God, Ryan is so cool—he saved Neville, and that special levitation spell... I have to learn that!"
Harry had seen Ron write that in his old diary yesterday, and even caught him quietly waving his wand under the covers at night, muttering Wingardium Leviosa. Well, not that he could blame his mate, as actually, Harry himself had done the same. While he ultimately failed to levitate himself, he did manage to levitate Neville, who was soundly asleep, and land him on the bed—Neville, who woke up thinking it was all a dream.
"Scabbers?" Ryan asked, merely curiously.
"It's a yellow rat, missing a finger. Ron sleeps with it, but it likes to run around at night," Seamus, who shared a dorm with Ron and Harry, added.
Ryan tactfully stopped asking. Neville was a toad, Ron a mouse—young wizards' pets were truly unpleasant.
Meanwhile, Hermione spoke up, "Ryan, I heard the Slytherin parents have heard about this..." She looked worried—even though she was a Muggle wizard, she'd heard a bit about the ways of pure-blood families.
"It's okay, Hermione," Ryan smiled at Hermione. "I've already met with Headmaster Dumbledore last night."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. As the young wizards discussed this, the classroom door opened. The young Slytherin wizards, dressed in their school robes, entered with gloomy faces. The little lions in the room immediately booed.
"Zabini, why do you have a new scar on your face?" Seamus shouted. Ryan knew of his past with Blaise Zabini, who had mocked Seamus's spell failures at lunch. Of course, if that were all, it wouldn't be a problem—Seamus wasn't a mean-spirited person.
But the point was...
"I heard your mother chose to marry a Muggle before you were born? Maybe you inherited her brain because every time you cast a spell, it explodes!" This statement nearly led to a duel between Seamus and Zabini in the Great Hall. Professor Quirrell, who was passing by, interrupted them—but while the professor was trying to stop them, Seamus was still struck by a tickling curse from Zabini, which itched for three days.
The two had a bitter feud from then on.
When Zabini didn't respond, Seamus raised his voice even higher, "Hey, hey, hey, can you hear me?"
Zabini and the other young Slytherin wizards turned and saw Ryan sitting next to Seamus. Although Ryan just sat there, he didn't say anything, but the little snakes' eyes still flickered with fear and apprehension, some even a touch of awe. Without saying anything, they took their seats despite the lions' jeers.
Seamus readily took his seat, while Ron behind him excitedly said, "Did you see Malfoy? His face looks like a pickled onion. I bet he's completely terrified!"
"Actually, your face isn't looking good either, Mr. Weasley," Ryan wanted to say, but ultimately shook his head.
He didn't want to see such obvious hostility between Hogwarts students. But there was no way around it. The resentment between Gryffindor and Slytherin ran too deep. There was still a long way to go before Hogwarts could return to the state it had been when four of his teachers founded it a thousand years ago.
However, Ryan wasn't in a rush—he was still young, with plenty of time ahead of him. Besides, he had already successfully taken the first step. He observed the expressions and attitudes of the young wizards in the Snake House and wasn't surprised.
He didn't expect a duel and a simple lecture to fundamentally change them—more than a decade of immersion in pure-blood supremacy wouldn't change them so easily. But at least now they knew awe and fear, which was a good start.
Just as Ryan remembered, Gryffindor had said, "Young people will always make mistakes and take the wrong path." His teacher, with a strong sense of justice, was fond of a saying from an ancient country.
"First, deter their evil, then change their nature, and then you can correct them."
But at this moment...
Bang!
The classroom door flung open, and a giant bat entered its lair.
---
Author's note
If you want to read more chapters of this story, please visit patreon/achmz . You can read this story up to chapter 58! Thank you for your support!