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Chapter 647: Lucius Malfoy
Chapter 647: Lucius Malfoy
In the evening, the sky, which had been brewing for a week, suddenly started to snow. By Monday morning, the ground was thoroughly covered in snow.
During breakfast, Hagrid reappeared at the teachers' table, but the welcome he received was less than enthusiastic, especially from the Slytherin table, which remained silent in stark contrast to the excited Gryffindors.
Even among the Gryffindors, however, not everyone was fond of Hagrid, as some of the girls preferred Professor Grubbly-Plank's classes.
After all, Professor Grubbly-Plank didn't spring surprises on them... or rather, shocks.
The porcupine was much safer than the fire crab, and it was definitely something that would be on the O.W.L. exam.
...
The sixth-years had Care of Magical Creatures class that Monday morning, which was also Hagrid's first lesson since his return.
After the first Charms class, Kyle and Connor made their way through the two-foot-deep snow to Hagrid's cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Upon seeing Hagrid, almost everyone involuntarily sucked in a breath.
His current appearance was truly frightening.
He had bruises on his face, his hair was disheveled, and there were feathers of some unknown animal tangled in it.
More importantly, Hagrid had a cow slung over his shoulder, and droplets of blood fell to the ground, staining the snow red, creating an eerie scene.
"I still prefer Professor Grubbly-Plank," came whispered murmurs from the crowd.
But Hagrid seemed not to hear them.
"Come on, follow me. We'll have class here today." Hagrid led them into the dense forest but didn't go far. After about a minute, he stopped.
"Are you ready?" Hagrid grunted as he dumped the half-cow on the ground and scanned the students excitedly. "Don't get too excited later. The creature we're studying today is very rare, and I think I might be the only person in Britain who has tamed them...
"Oh, look, they're here."
"What is it? Where?" The crowd erupted in a chorus of curious voices.
To most eyes, it was clear that there was nothing in the forest except for the tree stumps guarding the forest on both sides.
But they had learned about those creatures before, so it was obviously not them.
"Ah!"
At that moment, a scream suddenly broke the silence.
A Ravenclaw girl was pointing ahead with wide eyes, her face filled with terror. "You... look over there..."
Following her finger, more students cried out in surprise.
There, chunks of meat were detaching themselves from the bones and vanishing into the air—a sight that sent chills down their spines.
Many wanted to run away from the Forbidden Forest instinctively.
However, a small handful saw something different.
They saw a group of gigantic, winged black horses lowering their heads and tearing at the half-cow with their sharp teeth.
And these creatures were no strangers to them, as it was these very horses that pulled the carriages to bring students to the castle every year at the start of term.
"Thestrals!" Hagrid said proudly. "Who can see them?"
About six or seven hands went up.
"A little more than I expected." Hagrid frowned. "Now, who wants to come up and touch them? This is a rare opportunity."
This time, even those who had raised their hands before lowered them, whether they could see the Thestrals or not, as everyone expressed their aversion to touching them.
Kyle had wanted to give Hagrid some face and help him out of this situation, but just then, he caught sight of someone on the other side of the Forbidden Forest. In the blink of an eye, the figure vanished.
"Professor Hagrid," Kyle raised his hand.
"Yeah... I knew it was you..."
"Sorry, Professor Hagrid," Kyle interrupted him. "I may have dropped something on the way here. Can I go and look for it?"
Disappointment flashed across Hagrid's face, but he nodded. "Okay, no problem."
"Thank you, Professor," Kyle said and left the group, heading back the way he had come.
As he turned, he saw Umbridge approaching with her familiar notepad.
She didn't ask Kyle where he was going and instead walked straight towards Hagrid.
That was fine with him, as it spared him from having to come up with an excuse.
With that in mind, Kyle continued on without stopping. When he reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he stopped in front of a huge medlar tree.
Lucius Malfoy stood there, his face ashen, his hands tightly clutching his snake wand. Had Kyle not spoken up, he might have done something rash.
"Let me give you a friendly reminder, Mr. Malfoy," Kyle continued. "We are at Hogwarts. If I so much as get a scratch, you won't be leaving this place."
"Dumbledore is not at the school," Malfoy rasped. "Such threats are useless."
"You can try if you like." Kyle smiled. "And I don't understand, aren't you happy that Dumbledore is away? I thought you'd be relieved."
Lucius once again picked up his snake wand, but eventually lowered it slowly.
"What exactly are you trying to do!" he growled. "I don't believe you'd dare lay a hand on Draco here at Hogwarts. Dumbledore will not let you get away with it."
"You just said he wasn't here." Kyle replied. "Also, I haven't done anything to Draco Malfoy, have I... Oh, I forgave you a long time ago for trying to capture me to impress your master the night he resurrected."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Lucius said coldly.
Of course, he knew exactly what Kyle was referring to.
On the night Voldemort resurrected, when Dumbledore had escorted Kyle and Harry down the mountain, Lucius happened to be fleeing for his life in the same direction.
He had indeed considered capturing Kyle and Harry to curry favor with Voldemort, but Kyle had also wanted to kill him.
Even now, Lucius couldn't help but shudder at the memory of the tree that had been cut down beside him.
Of course, this was not something he could admit.
"Don't you dare slander me." He added.
"Fine, let's leave it at that." Kyle shrugged. "So, what else are you worried about? My apologies, but I need to get to class."
Kyle turned to leave.
"Wait!"
Lucius quickly stepped forward to block his path. "Draco knows nothing about this."
"I said I wouldn't do anything to him." Kyle explained patiently. "We're good friends. I just went to visit him the other day, and you saw me giving him Chocolate Frogs.
"We got along splendidly."
This wasn't just an empty reassurance for Lucius; while he might not be a moral exemplar like Professor Dumbledore, he wouldn't take his anger out on Draco.
If he had truly wanted to, he could have done so at the start of the term, but he hadn't, and there was no need to now.
"Swear it..." Lucius stopped him again. "No, we must make an Unbreakable Vow... Swear that you won't..."
"An Unbreakable Vow?" Kyle narrowed his eyes. "Now you're going too far, Mr. Malfoy. Do you think I'm some spineless pushover?"
Unconsciously, Lucius drew out his wand from his snake wand.
Kyle remained still and simply said, "Are you sure you want to do this? Think carefully. We are in the Forbidden Forest..."
Lucius thought he heard a faint, menacing growl, but he couldn't be sure if it was his imagination.
The next second, he felt a chill run down his spine as if something terrifying had its eyes locked on him, ready to pounce at any moment he made a wrong move.
Lucius trusted his instincts, and they had saved him countless times over the past decades.
For the first time, he truly scrutinized this Hogwarts sixth-year student and saw a hint of something very familiar—a resemblance to someone whose name alone struck fear into people's hearts.
Yet, in some ways, they were completely different. At the very least, his first impression of Kyle wasn't one of fear.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have considered capturing Kyle to impress Voldemort back when they were at the bottom of the mountain.
Why does Hogwarts always produce such monsters... Lucius' thoughts were conflicted.
But he didn't have time to dwell on this as the low growl became clearer, and Lucius could even smell a hint of something sweet in the air.
In an instant, Lucius made a decision. He slowly turned his wand around and let it drop to the ground.
The growling stopped, and he could once again smell the grassy scent of the Forbidden Forest, but the sense of danger remained.
(End of Chapter)
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