Chapter 93
Chapter 93
Malfoy disappeared for only a day before returning to breakfast.
He endured the strange looks in silence. A faint but persistent stench drove the other Slytherins away, leaving only Crabbe and Goyle loyally at his side.
Malfoy knew where Dungbombs came from. Only the impoverished Weasleys made such disgusting things. Yet whatever the red-haired pests had added left an odour that refused to fade.
Worse still, having a school governor for a father had failed to catch the culprit. Instead, Malfoy had received two scoldings, plus the unmistakable reproach in his head of house’s eyes.
After the terror of that night subsided, he began to guess who had attacked him. He knew whom he had offended most severely.
The suspected culprit entered the Great Hall. Malfoy stared as though the words I DID IT might appear across Suer’s forehead.
Suer noticed.
So Malfoy was not entirely stupid.
But this was not over.
Suer sat at the Hufflepuff table, chatting normally with Morn. He had not joined Gryffindor because their next classes were separate.
As Malfoy continued staring, an unusually large flock of owls swept into the hall.
There they were.
Suer nodded in satisfaction. The school owls were punctual, and enough nuts would hire them for such a short journey.
Every student in the Great Hall received an envelope. Inside were Colin’s photographs.
The Doubling Charm was extremely useful. Its copies did not last long, but they would survive long enough to strike Malfoy again.
Laughter spread across the hall as envelopes opened. Students whispered to friends and looked gleefully towards the Slytherin table.
Malfoy noticed none of it. He still stared at Suer and ignored the envelope before him.
“Draco, you should look at this,” Crabbe said cautiously.
Malfoy took the envelope. His face turned scarlet.
The photograph brilliantly captured him frozen in a laughing pose and plunging into the turf. From that angle, one could even see dirt inside his mouth.
He had literally eaten mud.
You are the culprit!
Malfoy sprang up, glared at Suer across the hall, and stalked out. Remaining would only leave him on display.
Suer smiled, discarded his own photograph, and continued breakfast.
There was no evidence. No adult would lower themselves to attack him unless Lucius kidnapped him and forced Veritaserum down his throat in front of Dumbledore–while accepting the wrath of every professor at Hogwarts.
As for twelve-year-old Malfoy, Suer did not fear him at all.
To his surprise, Malfoy confronted him alone that afternoon and insisted Suer was behind everything.
Suer played innocent.
“What are you talking about? I have no idea. I feel terribly sorry for you.”
Malfoy might possess a spell or artefact that recorded voices and images. Suer would not expose himself foolishly.
Until October, Malfoy behaved like an angel. He caused no trouble and even sought out Hermione after a joint Gryffindor-Slytherin lesson to apologise for the slur.
Someone had plainly advised him, probably his governor father.
Still, the matter ended well. Suer had taken his revenge, and Hermione accepted the apology.
Cedric joined Suer and Hermione’s study group as they investigated turning single-target spells into group magic. Their results were encouraging. Suer could already levitate four feathers separately, while Cedric managed more thanks to his extra two years of growth. Neither had progressed beyond the Levitation Charm.
It was the simplest introductory spell. The road ahead remained long.
Suer named the technique Diffusion.
Professor McGonagall was delighted with his progress. After he passed her assessment, she wrote another lengthy reading list.
While Suer busily stored knowledge like a squirrel hoarding nuts, October arrived. Damp cold spread across the grounds and into the castle. Colds swept through staff and students, leaving Madam Pomfrey overwhelmed.
Snape’s classes naturally turned to brewing Pepperup Potion.
Hermione caught the cold. After drinking her own potion, steam poured from her ears and hair.
“What are you laughing at?” She glared murderously at Suer, one small hand ready to strike.
Under the young lioness’s threatening gaze, Suer struggled heroically not to laugh. Then he looked up, saw twin columns of steam rising from her ears, and lost the battle.
She was simply too adorable.
Hermione did not agree.
“Suer!”
Harry hiccupped for no apparent reason. He and Ron exchanged a look and sighed together.
The weather worsened over the following days. Raindrops the size of bullets rattled against the castle windows without stopping. The lake rose, the flowerbeds became mud, and Hagrid’s pumpkins swelled until the largest seemed big enough to become a carriage.
Four wheels and a team of Thestrals would complete it.
Then again, a fairy-tale carriage drawn by creatures symbolising death felt rather wrong.
Halloween approached. Suer felt he had forgotten something until Harry showed him an invitation to Nearly Headless Nick’s five-hundredth Deathday Party and asked whether he wished to come.
At last Suer remembered.
The Chamber of Secrets was about to open, and its first victim would soon appear.