Harry Potter: The Rise Of Malfoy

Chapter 66 .

A dragon's roar echoed through the skies—a silver-white giant dragon, the guardian of Soren, descended among the young wizards, separating the two sides in battle. Suddenly, Harry, Ron, and Hermione realized that their wands had uncontrollably flown away, landing in the cold, indifferent hands of Soren. His expression was terrifyingly cold; Hermione had never seen him like this before, and he felt so unfamiliar at this moment.

Soren's voice, devoid of any emotion, resonated chillingly: "Hermione, did you hit my brother?"

Hermione suddenly felt a chill seep into her heart, making her shiver involuntarily. She mustered her courage, "Yes, I hit him; who told him to insult Hagrid..."

"This is Hogwarts. If he has done anything wrong, the professors will naturally handle it. You hitting him in front of everyone is equivalent to slapping the Malfoy family's face..." Soren sneered, "You should be thankful that I don't hit women. But from now on, we are no longer friends!"

With a casual toss, he threw the three wands to the ground as if discarding trash, then turned to Draco and his group, softly saying, "Brother, please let this go for my sake. The professors are coming; it's not worth it to offend them over this."

Draco hesitated for a moment; his anger still simmered within him, but the cold aura emanating from his brother made him hesitant. His intuition told him it was best not to go against Soren's wishes at this moment. Finally, he snorted and left with a harsh remark, "You're lucky this time!" leading Goyle and Crabbe away behind Soren. The other Slytherins, seeing there was no fight to be had, grumbled and dispersed.

Harry and Ron were overwhelmed by Soren's imposing presence. Finally regaining their senses after their wands were taken, they rushed to pick up their wands. Even Ron, the king of verbal blunders, dared not speak ill of Soren at this moment—just a moment ago, he had felt a bone-chilling aura from Soren, as if it had pierced directly into his soul, freezing him to the point of losing his ability to think.

When Harry handed Hermione her wand, he noticed two long, crystalline tears hanging beneath her eyes.

Stunned by the sight, Harry was at a loss and asked, "Hermione, what's wrong?"

Suddenly, Hermione covered her face, said nothing, and hurried back to the castle, leaving Harry and Ron staring at each other in confusion.

In the Slytherin common room, Daphne and Meredith looked at Soren with some unease. They had known Soren for over two years, and he had always appeared suave and unruffled. This was the first time they had seen such a terrifying side of him.

Moreover, everyone present likely felt it; just now, the aura emanating from Soren was not merely anger from the insult to the Malfoy family—it was a cold, rational determination. In that moment, Soren felt like an emotionless Dementor.

The two girls, more familiar with Soren, understood the source of this Dementor-like feeling. They sensed traces of slightly uncontrolled soul magic within him, likely related to some fear curse, capable of penetrating fear directly into the soul, leaving one in despair and devoid of any thoughts of resistance. 

While the honor of the Malfoy family should not be tarnished, the other party was just a young girl, and she had previously been Soren's friend; his reaction was indeed beyond their expectations.

After a while, Daphne mustered the courage to speak first, "Soren, are you okay?"

Soren shook his head and sighed, "I'm fine; it's just that I've lost another friend."

"Another?" Meredith keenly caught the detail in Soren's words.

Soren nodded and then shook his head, "It's Jemma. I've fallen out with her; she is now an enemy, not a friend. For now, you shouldn't approach her easily. Also, she's not from an ordinary family; I haven't figured out who else is behind her yet."

Daphne asked, "I'm still a bit confused. Is Jemma's matter related to today's events?"

Soren explained, "The two matters are unrelated. Jemma and I merely have differing views on half-blood and Muggle-born wizards; after all, we are both pure-blood families and Slytherins. Some conflicts are inevitable, but it shouldn't lead to life-and-death enmity. And Hermione..."

The pure-blood die-hard's nature is best understood by Soren, who claims that pure-bloods are born noble yet acknowledges a half-blood wizard as his master. As long as he grows up, he believes that the die-hard pure-bloods will not fight him to the end.

Hermione is a girl with strong principles, which can be seen from her dedication to freeing house-elves. Her public confrontation with Draco made Soren realize the identity gap that the two of them cannot cross... Just a moment ago, he was forced to choose between Slytherin and Hermione, which is a perfect example, and it can be expected that there will be many such examples in the future.

He is not Harry; he does not have the halo of a savior upon entering school, nor the special attention of Dumbledore. He has planned step by step on his own and, after two and a half semesters of hard work, has finally managed to establish himself within Slytherin, but this has attracted the attention of two hidden enemies: the die-hard pure-bloods and the Ghost Society. At this moment, he absolutely cannot do anything that would cause the Slytherin wizards to turn against him.

After a moment of silence, Soren continued, "Hermione and I are not on the same path. The road I want to take diverges too much from her loves and principles—after these three semesters, I believe you all have seen some clues. Hermione, Harry, and Ron are the successors that Dumbledore has worked hard to cultivate. It seems that Dumbledore intends for them to become the saviors who defeat the Dark Lord."

Meredith sneered, "Just them? Defeat the Dark Lord? Is that possible?"

Soren stared at Meredith, very serious and solemn, and said, "Believe me, under Dumbledore's arrangements, anything is possible." Meredith was taken aback by Soren's gaze and then nodded seriously to indicate her understanding. After Soren's repeated guidance, the two girls had developed a nearly blind trust in him; if Soren said it was possible, then it would definitely happen.

Soren continued, "The problem lies here—if Harry and the others defeat the Dark Lord as saviors, it's not hard to imagine that their identities will lead the next wave of reform in the wizarding world. One is an orphan raised in the Muggle world, one is a Muggle-born wizard, and one is a pure-blood traitor; the glory of pure-blood families may become history…"

Soren was not speaking aimlessly. In his previous life, during an online chat in a fan club, Rowling mentioned that after the final battle, Kingsley would become the Minister of Magic, Harry would become the Head of Aurors, and Hermione would first significantly improve the lives of house-elves in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, then move to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, abolishing all laws that favored pure-blood families.

In the wave of this major reform, pure-blood families officially entered history. The Malfoy family, although still living comfortably thanks to the wealth left by their ancestors, would henceforth lead a life of seclusion, with no aspirations for social status, fame, or influence; living a simple life would be the best outcome. In the worst-case scenario, they would have to guard against Death Eater relatives or vengeful Death Eaters seeking revenge, living in constant fear.

Soren paused and continued, "Don't get me wrong; I am not a supporter of pure-blood supremacy. In my view, bloodline theory is merely an excuse for those stubborn old fogies to showcase their own nobility. However, I want to protect the glory of the Malfoy family—reforming the wizarding world is acceptable, but the Malfoy family must be involved! Even leading the way! Not to be forgotten on the historical stage."

Soren's eyes sparkled with confidence as he raised his right hand, clenched as if to grasp the sun in the sky, and solemnly declared, "No matter how many difficulties lie ahead, I believe I can do it!" Daphne and Meredith seemed to be inspired by Soren at that moment, exclaiming loudly, "We believe in you too."

Soren turned to them, flashing a radiant smile, "I knew it."

As for Hermione, since the two were on different paths and had become enemies with others, causing each other pain, it was better to forget each other and part ways! This, perhaps, is what they call being fated yet not meant to be!

If you ask Soren whether he liked Hermione, he wouldn't know. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but he certainly knew that if he had to choose between Hermione and his family, he would choose his family, where his loved ones were, the greatest bond of his life.

On that day, things were also quite tumultuous in Gryffindor.

The "model student" Hermione rarely skipped class, and it was a very important Charms lesson—this class taught the Cheerful Charm, and Professor Flitwick hinted that this spell would appear in the final exam. The little lions were eager to find out what had happened to Hermione.

But that wasn't all. In the afternoon's Divination class, Hermione finally showed up. In this class, the young wizards began learning crystal ball divination. Just as Professor Trelawney was revealing her ominous vision from Harry's crystal ball, Hermione stood up. She exclaimed loudly, "Oh, for god's sake! Stop mentioning that ridiculous omen!"

Professor Trelawney raised her large eyes to look at Hermione's face, first showing a look of incredulous shock, which then slowly turned into anger. However, behind the reflective lenses, no one noticed the barely perceptible hint of sarcasm in her eyes.

Parvati and Lavender whispered to each other, both of whom had always been die-hard fans of Professor Trelawney, and feeling that their idol had been insulted, they glared at Hermione in anger.

Professor Trelawney stood up, visibly angry as she scrutinized Hermione. "I regret to say, my dear, that from the moment you stepped into this classroom, you clearly lack the noble talent required for Divination. In fact, I don't recall ever seeing a student with such a mediocre, hopeless mind."

As the entire class stared in shock, Hermione slung her bag over her shoulder and shouted, "Fine! I give up! I'm leaving!" She then strode over to the trapdoor, kicked it open, and stomped down the ladder, disappearing.

Harry and Ron exchanged glances; although they felt something was off with Hermione, they didn't know what the problem was. Meanwhile, Lavender's voice rang out inappropriately, "Oh! Professor Trelawney, I just remembered! You foresaw her leaving, didn't you, Professor? 'Around Easter, one of us will leave us forever!' You said that long ago, Professor!"

Lavender and Parvati looked utterly impressed, and even Ron and Harry began to doubt Divination.

***

Want to read more of this fanfic, and support me :- Patreon.com/Theuntamed0 [I've uploaded few character's photos there, you can check them out if you like.]