After sending Filch away, Dumbledore dismissed everyone, then hauled Bing Huan off to the Headmaster's Office again.
"Little Huan~ You've been making quite a bit of noise these past few days, haven't you?"
With a sharp slap, Bing Huan, uncharacteristically serious, braced himself against Dumbledore's desk.
"Old Dumbledore! I don't like hearing that. You know perfectly well why I came to Hogwarts. And yet I have to help you look after The Chosen One and help you win over the Malfoy family. You didn't even stop her from getting close to all these dangers."
I've helped you with this and that, and I never asked for any special privileges. Now someone's bullying her right in front of me—and it's happened twice. Are you saying I'm supposed to just take it like a coward?"
Grindelwald patted Bing Huan on the shoulder. "I'm not trying to criticize you. I'm just saying that from now on, you should show Albus a little consideration."
"Have I not shown him enough consideration? Was I incapable of cutting a hole in the Slytherin stands, or was that ugly thing really able to take two hits from me? Did either of the two times I lost my temper actually cause any damage?
"If this had happened in China, I wouldn't even have needed to say a word. That guy would've been chopped to pieces and fed to spirit beasts that very day. By the next day, he'd have been used as fertilizer at the Spirit Herb Institute. And 'Mudblood'—I don't even know why you allow such a disgusting word to be used at Hogwarts."
Dumbledore looked at Bing Huan seriously. "My boy, I have never allowed this sort of thing. I can punish them, as I did today. But then what? Can I keep their mouths shut forever? It would only deepen the divide between the two sides, and could even turn the conflict from Slytherin versus the other three houses into one between Pure-bloods and Non-purebloods."
"Then kill them. If one isn't enough, kill two. If two aren't enough, wipe out the whole nest. Keep killing until those three words are stamped into their genes as something they must never say!" One troublesome matter had followed another, and on top of that, the strange pangs he'd been feeling on and off since the start of term had piled up. Under all that pressure, the boy was starting to lose his patience with peaceful solutions.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Dumbledore's outburst startled Grindelwald. It had been decades since he'd seen Albus this furious. "Kill? Can you kill everyone? We need to solve the problem, not the people who cause it. Can't you try to see the bigger picture?"
"The bigger picture? Ha! The bigger picture. You people always have nothing but the bigger picture. I've worked hard to cultivate my strength so that the people around me wouldn't have to make themselves miserable for some damn bigger picture!
"Four years ago, when I agreed to let you seal her memories, I was already looking at the bigger picture. Otherwise, I'd have taken her and her family to China myself. I'd like to see whether Fudge would have the guts to come and demand I hand them over!"
The boy's eyes were bloodshot. As the two argued, they had unconsciously begun to unleash their auras. Grindelwald frowned. This boy's strength would rank near the top among the middle-aged generation, and he's approaching the level of the older generation. He's only fourteen! This is bad.
After a long while, Bing Huan withdrew his aura. As he reached the door, he turned his head and said, "Old Dumbledore, I'm small-minded. I can't fit the entire Wizarding World in my heart. All I want is for the people around me to be safe and well. If necessary, I'll show you what I mean. The Wizarding World isn't somewhere I have to stay, and it's not impossible to kill every last one of them."
His voice was calm, without any of the agitation from their argument. But no one thought he was saying it just to save face.
"Albus, are you sure you want to provoke him like this? What if it gets out of hand?"
Dumbledore sighed. "In the end, I'm to blame. Without realizing it, I've put too much pressure on him. And he's always taking on burdens for Harry and the others. If he doesn't let it out like he did today, something bad will happen."
Grindelwald took a sip of tea. "Albus, that boy didn't sound like he was joking just now. Shouldn't we—?"
"This boy is far more mature than others his age, and naturally, he trusts his own principles and judgment more. Besides, he hasn't really done anything wrong. He just needs more experience in handling things. The sooner this sort of problem surfaces, the better. Don't worry, Gell. Things are nowhere near as bad as they could be. Important bonds can make even a Giant Dragon willing to sheath its claws."
"Ah~ I think that's how you tricked me back then, too."
"Are you saying I tricked you again?"
"Hahahahaha!" X2
The next morning, Hermione looked at Bing Huan. "Did something happen last night?"
"Why do you ask?"
Hermione reached up and rubbed Bing Huan's face. "You look a lot better than before. You used to have a scowl on your face all the time."
"You're the one who's always scowling," Ron said, chewing on a fried egg.
She glared at him.
"...She's getting more and more like my mum," Ron whispered to Harry.
"She's a bit like Aunt Petunia, too."
"And a bit like my dad..." Draco had somehow appeared beside them.
Listening to them mutter, Bing Huan couldn't help laughing. For a moment, he could already picture a future with a kind father and a stern mother. It seemed that after last night's argument, the good news had started coming in.
"What's our next class?"
"Dark Arts Defense."
All right, here came the bad news. (⌒_⌒;)
After sitting through Lockhart's posturing, they still had Harry and Draco's first face-off to look forward to today—the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match was about to begin.
The whistle had barely blown when a Bludger shot straight at Harry. George flew over and viciously batted it toward the Slytherin team. Before Slytherin's Beater could react, the Bludger came to a sudden stop and flew back toward Harry. Fred was already waiting nearby. He swung hard!
"See that, George? I'm the one you need~" As if to prove Fred wrong, the Bludger came flying back again.
Fred: "Ow! Is this ball never going to quit?"
George: "Harry, what did you do to it?"
It started raining. Harry searched for the Golden Snitch while keeping an eye out for the Bludger in case it slipped past the Twins. He couldn't afford to take a hit from that thing in his current condition.
But having both Beaters protect Harry had its drawbacks. The score had reached 60–20, with Slytherin well ahead. Harry quickly told the Twins to protect Angelina and the others while he figured out how to deal with the Bludger himself.
The Twins only reluctantly went to support their other teammates after Harry promised repeatedly that he'd call for a time-out if he couldn't handle it. Harry flew as fast as he could, but the Bludger kept whistling behind him. It clearly had no intention of letting him go.
The stands were starting to grow tense, too. "Someone clearly wants Harry out of the match."
"Bing, can you sense any malice?"
Bing Huan frowned and tried hard to sense it. "No. I can't sense anything at all."
"Could it be Snape?" Ron instinctively started looking for a suspect.
"Is something the matter, Mr. Weasley?" A low voice sounded beside them, and Snape appeared, his hair slick with grease.
"Professor Snape, what are you doing here?" Bing Huan asked, looking at the tall man in surprise.
"I'm in charge of security in the stands today. I'm on patrol."
"Thanks for your hard work!" X3
"...Five points from Gryffindor."
"..." Bing Huan finally understood what Snape had meant by "get used to it" in the office. Hermione broke the silence. "This isn't the time to talk about that, Professor Snape. There's clearly something wrong with that Bludger."
"I haven't detected any signs of a wizard casting a spell. If it's some other magical creature, we can't see it from this far away. The players will have to call a time-out and request an investigation themselves, but that would cost them points. Potter wouldn't want that."
"How do you know?"
"He takes after his father. Foolish!" Snape said, sweeping away beneath his billowing cloak.
Ron looked anxiously at Bing Huan. "Still nothing? Bing, try harder to sense it!"
"If I try any harder, I'll need the loo!" Bing Huan said irritably. "But Snape's right. All we can do now is trust Harry, then step in as soon as the match ends or Harry can't hold out any longer."
On the pitch, Draco and Harry had spotted the Golden Snitch. As they gave chase, Draco couldn't help asking, "Potter, why is this thing only after you?"
"How should I know? If I had a choice, I'd want it to go after Marcus!"
"...Fair enough."
The two weaved through the stands, while the Bludger remained relentlessly focused on Harry, even smashing through a crossbeam. The Golden Snitch was close, and the Bludger was speeding up, as if it wanted to kill two birds with one stone. Harry steeled himself, shoved Draco out of the Bludger's path, then made a desperate dive and caught the Golden Snitch before crashing to the ground.
Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the Bludger took aim at Harry again.
"Reducto!" Draco was the one who cast the spell. "That makes us even, Potter."
Harry couldn't get out of the mud on his own. He'd broken his arm in the fall. Everyone hurried over to take him to Madam Pomfrey, but someone in the crowd had other plans. A green figure suddenly darted out.
It was Lockhart. He scooped Harry up, flashing a row of dazzling teeth. "Harry, I'm here!"
"No, not you!" Harry, who had been a little dazed, came to his senses in an instant.
"Don't be silly. Let me handle it. I've used this simple healing spell ten thousand times."
"Harry~!"
"Thud!"
Just as Lockhart raised his wand, Bing Huan rushed over and headbutted him, sending him flying. "Nice one!" Harry gave him a thumbs-up with his uninjured hand.
"Of course." Bing Huan raised his head with a baffled expression. "Did I just bump into something?"
"No, no, no." Everyone played along without a word.
Fred: "There was nothing there just now."
George: "Right. Harry just floated up by himself."
"That's so damn cool!"
They took Harry to the School Infirmary. Even without Lockhart causing trouble, Madam Pomfrey still insisted that Harry spend the night before going back.
As they carried Harry to the infirmary, Bing Huan was still wondering why his malice detection had failed.
Before you continue