Scaring Malfoy

Skofot was a little dazed from the collision. Lying on the ground, he blinked blankly at Malfoy, who was pressed on top of him and equally shaken.

He instinctively let go of the hand that had caught Malfoy.

But from Malfoy's perspective, it was an entirely different kind of horror:

He had fallen, only to be caught by Leoqi, the most dangerous person there—even though they had both fallen over!

Now he was sprawled on top of him, staring into those calm, unfathomably deep eyes at close range. There was no expression on Leoqi's face. He was merely looking at him in apparent confusion—or coldness, as Malfoy saw it...

He was going to kill me! He was definitely going to kill me because I landed on him!

Malfoy's blood ran cold, his face turning deathly pale. He scrambled to climb off Skofot, but his terror had drained him of strength, making his movements both pathetic and comical.

"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to!"

Malfoy's voice shook as if he were about to cry. He practically rolled aside and weakly pushed himself upright.

He did not dare look at Skofot again, nor did he spare a glance for Neville's Remembrall lying nearby.

He scrambled back into the Slytherin crowd, panting heavily in lingering fear.

Skofot slowly sat up and rubbed his aching chest and back. He watched Malfoy's fleeing figure, then looked down at his own hands, his face still filled with genuine confusion.

He had merely... caught someone who was falling.

[Emotion Points +50] (From Malfoy's extreme fear and breakdown)

[Emotion Points +20] (From the fright and commotion of the students who witnessed the scene)

[Emotion Points: 645/100]

Skofot shook his head, pushed himself to his feet, and brushed the grass clippings from his robes.

He looked at the Emotion Points he had gained from the system prompt, then at the classmates in the distance who were avoiding him at all costs. Finally, his gaze settled on the [Scavenger] card icon, which he could remove at any time but had no intention of replacing for now.

It seemed the effect of seeming "wrong" was even more immediate than he had imagined.

Still, with the Card Draw rules changed, he would have to revise his plans.

He bent down and picked up Neville's forgotten Remembrall, tossing it lightly in his hand.

The Flying Lesson ended hastily after Madam Hooch returned with Neville, whose wrist had been fixed, and severely reprimanded all the students.

The students dispersed in twos and threes, heading back toward the castle.

Skofot, however, did not leave immediately.

He stood at the edge of the lawn, his gaze falling on Draco Malfoy, who was surrounded by Crabbe and Goyle and seemed to still be boasting about his flying skills—deliberately overlooking his embarrassing fall at the end.

He started toward Malfoy at an unhurried pace.

His hands were tucked into the pockets of his black robes, his head slightly lowered. The soft black hair over his forehead obscured part of his face, making it impossible to see the emotions in his eyes.

Yet the corner of his mouth was faintly curved upward, as if he were pondering something amusing.

Malfoy was boasting to Crabbe with his back turned when a chill suddenly ran down his spine, as though some icy gaze had locked onto him.

He turned instinctively and saw Skofot walking straight toward him. He still had his head lowered and his hands in his pockets, but that faint, ambiguous curve on his lips looked incomparably sinister in Malfoy's eyes.

The color instantly drained from Malfoy's face. The terrifying memory of falling from his broom and being caught by the other boy surged back into his mind, and cold sweat nearly soaked through his shirt in an instant.

He wanted to move, but his legs seemed nailed to the ground. He could only watch helplessly as that harbinger of doom drew closer and closer.

Skofot stopped just one step away from Malfoy and finally raised his eyes.

Those eyes were calm and still, yet they made Malfoy feel as though he could not breathe.

Then Skofot's smile suddenly widened into a perfectly villainous grin, filled with undisguised malice and amusement.

At the same time, a concentrated, icy killing intent descended upon Malfoy alone like an invisible sledgehammer!

Though Skofot had deliberately restrained it, and it was nowhere near as intense as when he had used it on Neville or tested Snape,

it was already more than Malfoy, who had lived a pampered life and never faced real danger, could bear.

Malfoy felt his breath catch. It was as though an icy hand had seized his heart with vicious force, and darkness swam before his eyes.

Fear drowned him like a tide. He could even smell a cold scent like rust and graves—a hallucination made visible by killing intent?

He could no longer hold himself up. With a thud, his knees gave out, and he collapsed onto them on the grass, his body trembling violently beyond his control.

"S-Sorry! Leoqi... I-I didn't mean to crash into you... P-please spare me..." Malfoy begged incoherently, his voice thick with tears. Tears and snot streamed down his face, leaving him utterly without dignity.

He fumbled frantically over his body, as if trying to find something that could calm the other boy's anger.

At last, he pulled out a bulging silk money pouch embroidered with the Malfoy family crest. It was stuffed with gold Galleons and silver Sickles, and he raised it high with trembling hands, offering it to Skofot.

"H-Here! Take it all! Please..." he nearly wailed, completely ignoring Crabbe and Goyle's stunned, helpless expressions beside him.

[Emotion Points +70] (From Malfoy's extreme fear, breakdown, and submission)

[Emotion Points: 715/100]

Skofot looked at Malfoy kneeling on the ground, tears and snot streaming down his face as he offered up the money pouch with both hands.

The exaggerated smile slowly faded from his face.

He returned to his usual expressionless look, though a trace of boredom flickered deep in his eyes.

He did not take the pouch. Instead, he lightly nudged the bulging silk bag with the tip of his shoe, producing a soft clink of coins.

He leaned down and softly said in Malfoy's ear, quiet enough that only the two of them could hear, "Next time, remember to fly steadily."

After saying that, he straightened up. Without sparing another glance at Malfoy, who had gone limp on the ground, he turned away as though nothing had happened and leisurely headed toward the castle with his hands in his pockets.

Only then did Crabbe and Goyle react, rushing over in a panic to help Malfoy, who was nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

Once Malfoy was helped to his feet, his face remained deathly pale and his entire body was still shaking. As he watched Skofot's retreating figure, his eyes were filled with the terror of someone who had narrowly survived death, as well as deep wariness.

That Leoqi was ten thousand times more terrifying than he had imagined!

He would never dare provoke him again. He did not even dare look directly at him.

Skofot felt his Emotion Points rise again, and his mood was fairly good.

It seemed that occasionally collecting a little "protection money" from these "children" was also a decent source of steady income.

Still, Malfoy's reaction had been a little too easy to scare.

He shook his head and put the minor incident behind him.

He began considering how to deal with Snape's inevitably intensified surveillance, and how to satisfy that damned, uncertain "degree of emotional concentration" as soon as possible to obtain his next card.