King of Lightning [HP FANFIC]

Travers kept talking as he walked, shouting that he would make that Mudblood pay, while Rosier, beside him, merely echoed his words. Yet deep down, he felt nothing but contempt.

Back in the castle, both of them ended up catching a cold—not surprising at all. They didn't even make it to the common room before Professor Slughorn, who happened to be passing by, dragged them straight to the school infirmary.

Meanwhile, the Quidditch match on the pitch was still going. The score had reached 290 to 410. If Slytherin managed to catch the Golden Snitch, the extra 150 points would let them overtake their opponents. But the players on both teams were so exhausted they could barely breathe. Neither side was willing to end the game through negotiation. The Slytherin Seeker was so tired he simply sat down on the pitch.

Most of the spectators couldn't bear it anymore and had already left, leaving only a few who stayed to see how it would end.

Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch returned to the center of the field to suggest ending the match, but Slytherin refused again, even though the players now looked like "walking chickens." McGonagall and Hooch could only exchange helpless glances and continue watching the endless game.

But none of this concerned Anduin. He was comfortably full and flipping through the latest issue of Century Charms in his room, occasionally wondering if the match had finally ended.

"So, the Slytherin Seeker, who had basically turned into a 'walking chicken,' caught the Golden Snitch purely by chance, and Slytherin actually won?" Anduin heard Vivian recount the conclusion of the Quidditch match the next morning during breakfast.

"Yeah, you have no idea . . . the match went on until late at night. All the players were so exhausted they couldn't even stay in the air, but the Golden Snitch flew right past Varian Higgs, and the guy just caught it effortlessly." Vivian described the legendary match from yesterday with vivid detail. Of course, it was "legendary" mainly because of how long it lasted. She hadn't witnessed the final moment herself—she'd run off as soon as night fell and only heard about it that morning in the common room.

Anduin always went out for exercise early in the mornings. When he left, there were hardly any people to be seen throughout Hogwarts, let alone in the common room.

At that moment, cheers erupted from the Slytherin table. It turned out that Varian Higgs, the hero of yesterday's match, had just arrived in the Great Hall.

Anduin also glanced at the Quidditch Seeker. Varian Higgs was a third-year student with short black hair and a sturdy build. Higgs greeted everyone who called out to him with polite nods. When he noticed Anduin watching, he smiled and nodded. Anduin returned the smile with a small nod of his own.

It seemed not everyone in Slytherin was unpleasant. After spending so much time in the house, Anduin had developed a deeper understanding of it. Slytherin's qualities included ambition, cunning, resourcefulness, leadership, self-preservation, and more.

Anduin had read in a history book that Salazar Slytherin, the house's founder, had valued intelligence, ingenuity, strong will, and "a certain disregard for the rules" when selecting students.

In many ways, Anduin fit Slytherin's standards quite well. By now, he felt almost no resentment about being placed there—aside from the annoying pure-blood supremacists, of course.

Time flew by. Finally, before Christmas, Anduin had brought all of the year's basic spells to the "Introduction" stage—except for a few that were hard to practice alone or particularly difficult to master, like Protego, Expecto Patronum, Apparition, Disillusionment Charm, Occlumency, Legilimency, and so on. He had tried casting Protego and the Disillusionment Charm, but his attempts weren't very successful. He was sure he hadn't mispronounced the spells, but he simply couldn't meet the casting requirements.

"Whew . . . I'll postpone the next stage of my plan until after Christmas. Rosier hasn't made any moves recently anyway. He's just an idle chess piece—let fate decide." After settling on his follow-up plans, Anduin prepared to head out and relax with Hagrid.

When he arrived at the common room, it was bustling with students. As soon as Sampel Travers saw Anduin coming out, he glared at him with bitter resentment. Ever since their last encounter, Travers had been stuck in the infirmary for an entire week. To make matters worse, he had discovered his money pouch was missing, which only fueled his anger.

But sadly for Travers, he wouldn't get a chance to confront Anduin today because Head of House Slughorn was also present. The professor was recording the names of students staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. Since Anduin had already arranged to meet Sirius, he had no intention of staying. After exchanging a few words with Slughorn, he left the common room without a backward glance.

Only when Anduin reached the Clock Tower Courtyard did he notice fine snowflakes falling from the sky, blanketing the ground in a thin white layer.

"It's snowing." Seeing the scene, Anduin couldn't help but curl his lips into a small smile.

"Yes, it's snowing." A soft female voice responded calmly from nearby.

Anduin turned and saw a girl who looked familiar. After a moment of thought, he remembered—she was the girl who had shared the boat with him on his first night at Hogwarts. She had been sorted into Ravenclaw.

"You're Olyanna, right?" Anduin recalled her name faintly.

"It's rare for the ghost of the Snake House to remember my name." Olyanna chuckled, her breath misting in the cold air, and teased him.

"The ghost of the Snake House? Are you talking about me? The ghost of Slytherin is the Bloody Baron. Aren't you mistaken?" Anduin asked with a puzzled expression at her peculiar nickname for him.

"That's the nickname we first-years gave you. Even though not all the houses share classes, we still see each other around. But many students haven't seen you for one or two months. Some even started to wonder if you really exist. So a rumor spread that you're not human, but a ghost—and they called you 'the ghost of the Snake House.' Isn't it funny?" Olyanna giggled as she explained.

I'm not human. This was the second time Anduin had heard someone describe him that way. At that moment, he realized he had been living in seclusion so long that some people were beginning to doubt his existence.