Skofot walked to the mouth of the alley without slowing in the slightest, not even glancing at Lucius and Draco.
He walked straight past them, merged back into the crowd on Diagon Alley, and headed toward Flourish and Blotts. His thin figure soon vanished into the crowd.
Lucius remained where he was for a long time, his expression so dark it seemed as though water could drip from it.
He felt that he had... seriously underestimated the boy called Skofot Leoqi.
Hogwarts would probably not be peaceful this year.
Draco looked in the direction Skofot had disappeared, then at the Dark Wizard still groaning in pain in the alley. For the first time, he felt an inexplicable fear of the Slytherin house he belonged to.
[Emotion Points +90] [Emotion Points +70] [Emotion Points +60]
Skofot calmly returned to the entrance of Flourish and Blotts just as the Weasleys and Harry finished paying and came out.
The slightly shy, uneasy expression had returned to his face.
"Leoqi! You're back!" Harry sighed in relief when he saw him. "Are you... all right?"
Skofot gently shook his head and gave a faint smile.
"I'm fine. I... happened to meet a distant uncle. He helped me buy the books."
He shook the bag of brand-new textbooks that had somehow appeared in his hand.
"A distant uncle?" Ron repeated doubtfully.
"Mm." Skofot answered vaguely and offered no further explanation.
George and Fred looked at him with complicated expressions, but they did not ask any more questions.
The topic from earlier had been too heavy. They did not want to bring it up again.
Only Skofot himself knew that his so-called "distant uncle" was merely an unlucky man in Knockturn Alley who had been beaten into "willing cooperation."
Sometimes, obtaining