NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 41: Chapter 16: Asking for Trouble?
To Unlock Bonus Chapters:
Reach 30/40/50/100/200/400 Power Stones! 6 Extra Chapters!
Reach 800 Power Stones to activate NP!
Resets Weekly! [Monday]
—————————————————————————————————————————
Several days had passed since Glenn and Hermione's birthday, and Glenn still found himself in an unusually good mood, though he couldn't quite explain why.
He felt his relationship with the young girl had grown even closer, stirring unfamiliar feelings within him.
Was this joy? The emotionally deficient Glenn wasn't sure, only guessing that it felt somewhat similar to the effects of an Elixir of Euphoria, yet somehow different.
Well, it was a good thing anyway.
The Slytherin snakes seemed to have lost interest in bothering their peculiar housemate lately. Though they would still exchange cold smirks with their companions when they saw him, Glenn paid them no mind.
He didn't care.
Yet he could sense some plot brewing, causing occasional sharp pains in his head.
But the intensity was low, not even half as strong as when Snape required him to practice dueling.
As a Slytherin and Snape's star pupil, his Head of House expected him to earn points in class to contribute to winning the House Cup.
While speaking up in class was out of the question, earning points in Charms, Transfiguration and other subjects was effortless for him, steadily increasing Slytherin's score.
However, Gryffindor's points were rising even more dramatically. Though many little lions regularly lost points, they had Hermione the academic ace.
She single-handedly offset all of Gryffindor's point losses and then some, answering nearly every question in all her classes.
Well, except in Potions class.
But one class couldn't stop Hermione's point-earning rampage.
Professor McGonagall wiped away tears of joy.
Finally, her house had found its savior - their chance at the House Cup was saved!
Gryffindor had climbed to second place, just over a hundred points behind Slytherin's iron throne - closer than ever before.
The senior Gryffindors wept with joy, having never come so close to their rivals in points.
Hermione naturally became Gryffindor's hero.
This made certain troublemaking lions look quite sour, but they could only mutter a few bitter words while continuing to lose points themselves.
No specific names mentioned (wink).
As for academics and tutoring others, Hermione had quite a talent. Her roommates' academic performance visibly improved under her guidance, which caught the attention of other Gryffindor girls.
Though Hermione's personality wasn't particularly endearing, after enthusiastic introductions from her roommates, those Gryffindor witches who were serious about studying came to her for help and benefited greatly. Their perception of Hermione completely changed.
"She's such a treasure!" the Gryffindor girls squealed.
Hermione was happy to answer others' questions, seeing it as another way to learn - helping others while reinforcing her own knowledge was a win-win situation.
She had unconsciously become the leader among the first-year girls, though she herself wasn't aware of it.
As Hermione made more and more friends, Glenn observed it all and felt quietly happy for her.
It felt like a father watching his daughter grow up.
Just kidding! Glenn was far from a father figure - his only friends were Hermione and Neville.
That evening, Glenn and Hermione stayed in the library until closing time as usual. After escorting Hermione to the Gryffindor common room, Glenn headed back to change his equipment.
He approached the Slytherin common room entrance with his cane, about to speak the password when he sensed something was off.
Almost all the Slytherins were inside, seemingly waiting for something.
He frowned slightly at the vague hostility directed at him, but didn't stop.
"Power," he opened the stone door and entered.
Immediately, all eyes turned to him, cold smirks on the snakes' faces.
Ignoring them, he walked straight toward the dormitory but was blocked by a large hand.
"Well, if it isn't our traitor classmate. Shouldn't you be spending the night with your Gryffindor friends? What brings you to grace us Slytherins with your presence?" Marcus Flint, the Slytherin male prefect, blocked Glenn's path with his broad frame, looking down at him with a sneer.
The surrounding students chuckled maliciously. The Malfoy trio watched from the side - this brilliant idea had been theirs. They couldn't explain what had possessed them to finally decide to teach this Mudblood who lived among them a lesson today.
"What's the matter?" Glenn asked. The hostility in the room had grown stronger since he entered, making him uncomfortable.
"Nothing much, just want to teach you some Slytherin rules. After all, even as a traitor, as long as you haven't transferred houses, you're still one of us Slytherins, even if... you're the lowest of the low, you Mud-blood." He burst into laughter, almost doubling over.
"Move aside, I'm busy." Glenn's voice turned ice cold. Having these people waste his precious evening training time was extremely inefficient.
The surrounding snakes seemed surprised that this frail blind Mudblood could be so defiant. Their laughter faltered as they stared at him in disbelief.
Marcus Flint's laughter abruptly stopped as he slowly straightened up, his expression turning hostile as he pointed at Glenn's head: "Listen up, kid! We're not negotiating with you! This is an order! Understand?"
Glenn remained silent and still, simply listening.
He decided it was time to settle things with these troublemakers - so this was why they hadn't bothered him lately, they were planning something big.
If he hadn't still been in such a good mood from the past few days, he would have already knocked these arrogant fools out and gone to train.
Seeing Glenn's lack of response, Marcus assumed he had finally realized his situation and snorted coldly before continuing his monologue.
"You must know what we Slytherins value most! That's right, noble blood, the purest bloodlines. We revere blood status."
He paused to clear his throat before continuing: "You probably don't know what they mean by pure-blood. Well, naturally - with Muggle parents, your ignorance is expected. I'll condescend to explain it to you, so pay attention!"
He then proudly explained the meaning of pure-blood and the Sacred Twenty-Eight, which we'll skip to avoid padding the word count - interested readers can look it up themselves.
But I digress.
After his long-winded speech, Marcus proudly jabbed his thumb at himself, "And I am the eldest son of the Flint family, one of the pure-blood families!"
"Besides pure-bloods, there are half-bloods - children born from wizards and Muggles. And you are the lowest of all - born from Muggles, what we call a Mudblood."
He gestured emphatically, "Though we don't know why a Mudblood like you was sorted into Slytherin, since you're here, you must accept the dominion of our noble blood. From now on, you'll be our collective servant, got it?" Marcus viciously declared Glenn's future role.
"But! We can't let your recent desertion to those foolish lions slide. So tell me, what should we do with you?" He grinned maliciously, cracking his knuckles as those around him also began flexing their muscles.
His answer came in the form of a walking cane.