Harry Potter Infuriates Malfoy Three Times

"Potter, if you're a man, accept my challenge."

While Zhang San and Harry were hunched over counting money in the reception room, young Malfoy arrived with his two lackeys, Goyle and Crabbe, looking for Harry Potter.

"Malfoy, who gave you the courage to challenge me? Could it be that you've defeated Voldemort too?" Harry Potter asked with overwhelming swagger.

This was the first move in the "Special Tricks for Dealing with Malfoy" that Zhang San had taught Harry—if he was arrogant, be even more arrogant; if he showed off, show off even harder. As long as you crushed him in every aspect of sheer presence, Malfoy would feel worse than if he'd swallowed a fly.

The Malfoy family was wealthy, but the Potter Family was no slouch either. Although only Harry remained of the Potter Family, all of their inheritance had been passed down to him.

The vault Hagrid had taken Harry to before the start of term contained only his education fund. Once Harry Potter gradually grew up and came of age, the wealth of several more vaults would be waiting for him to inherit.

Besides the Potter Family's property, Harry also had the Black Family inheritance to claim. Sirius Black was Harry Potter's godfather, and under British inheritance law, a godson had the right to inherit his godfather's estate.

What's more, Malfoy was only a child. Old Malfoy was still alive and well. The wealth the young master could command was far inferior to Harry Potter's... so what did Malfoy have to be so cocky about?

Malfoy flew into a rage after hearing Harry's words. "Just tell me—do you dare to compete with me or not?"

Harry turned an inquiring gaze toward Zhang San. He was now a temple attendant hired by Zhang San. Abandoning his post without permission was not something a dedicated Harry Potter would do.

"It's fine, Harry," Zhang San said with a smile.

Although he couldn't touch anything, tasks such as watching others pay, collecting incense, and counting game tokens didn't require him to do anything himself.

The Hogwarts students were all rather well-mannered. When people had full granaries, they knew propriety; no student was poor enough to steal game tokens. In any case, the price of one Silver Sickle wasn't particularly high.

Thus, Harry Potter and Malfoy walked out of the gatehouse together and headed straight into the underground arcade.

They found an unoccupied machine. Harry Potter sat on the left and Malfoy on the right. After each inserted a token, the game entered the character selection screen.

Goyle and Crabbe stood on either side of Malfoy, following him everywhere like a pair of guardian generals.

Malfoy chose Guile, while Harry Potter chose Chun-Li.

Guile was an American soldier with blond flattop hair and bulging arm muscles. Chun-Li was a Chinese girl in a blue qipao and white boots, with silver ornaments tied around her buns.

Three, two, one...

Fight!

Malfoy opened with a safer defensive stance. Guile held his left hand low and his right arm across his chest, like a shield planted in the ground.

Harry chose a fierce offensive approach—Gryffindors had never understood what defense was. There was only offense, relentless offense.

As Chun-Li ran, the hem of her qipao fluttered like a blue peacock's tail. Then she launched a flying kick into Guile's guard, and white sparks burst from the collision.

Just as Chun-Li hung stiffly in the air, Malfoy decisively switched tactics and opened with a Sonic Blade.

It was a crescent-shaped blue energy blade. After being thrust from Guile's palm, it slowly sliced across the screen. With nowhere to push off in midair, Chun-Li took the blast head-on. She fell backward, and a small portion of her health bar was shaved away.

"Haha! This is my ultimate move—I've practiced it for ages!" Malfoy laughed loudly, taunting him.

Harry's expression did not change. He controlled his character as she moved about at mid-range, advancing and retreating like a bobber drifting on the water. The Guile controlled by Malfoy was the fish he intended to catch; as long as Guile rushed in or used a move, he would fall into Harry's net.

Malfoy tentatively sent out another Sonic Blade, the blue arc cutting through the air—

Smack...

Chun-Li blocked the Sonic Blade, then swiftly closed the distance.

Lightning Legs!

Her legs became a blur of blue afterimages, striking Guile with a rapid series of smacks like torrential rain lashing against a tin roof. Every kick shortened Guile's health bar by another sliver.

Street Fighter II had a particularly amusing mechanic: Guile couldn't block Chun-Li's Lightning Legs while standing. Even if he blocked the first kick, he would still lose health from the next two.

Malfoy despairingly realized that Harry countered him perfectly. After taking two rounds of Lightning Legs, the soldier put on a vanishing-health-bar act for him in no time at all.

"No! That's impossible!" Malfoy cried out. How could this muscular brute lose to a little girl?

Harry secretly let out a breath of relief. Luckily, he had spent plenty of time testing moves yesterday, or he could never have won so easily today. Thanks to Ron's guidance—yesterday, the Guile he used had been kicked to death by Ron's Chun-Li.

This moment was just like that moment, except the smile had moved from Ron's face to his own. Poor Ron had lost his chance to beat Malfoy up personally.

After being swiftly KO'd by Harry, young Malfoy immediately couldn't save face. He slammed his fist viciously onto the machine's control panel with a deafening bang.

"Arcade games are for children. Only someone like you would waste time on this," Malfoy shouted in embarrassment and fury.

"Oh!" Harry Potter lowered his head to look at his fingers with an indifferent air, as though a treasure map were hidden in his fingerprints.

This was the second move in the "Special Tricks for Dealing with Malfoy" that Zhang San had taught Harry—giving him the cold shoulder.

Skill: Indifference. When Malfoy came pestering you, look at something irrelevant and make Malfoy feel utterly slighted.

Sure enough, Malfoy jumped up like a rat whose tail had been stepped on. "Harry Potter, how dare you look down on me like this? I was born into the Malfoy family, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight! My father is a Hogwarts governor..."

"Yes, yes, yes... right, right, right... the Malfoy family is very impressive!" Harry Potter said carelessly. "But I defeated Voldemort."

Fatal blow!

Malfoy felt as though the rage in his chest was about to burst him apart. How could Harry Potter be so utterly detestable? He gave off the foul stench of someone clutching at old achievements until he rotted away!

"I challenge you to a wizard's duel!" Malfoy declared forcefully.

With a mocking expression, he said, "I suppose the great Savior doesn't even know what a wizard's duel is, does he?"

At that moment, Ron suddenly walked over. "Of course he does! I'm Harry's second. Who's yours?"

Malfoy turned back to look at Goyle and Crabbe... neither of these two idiots was much good. But after weighing his options, he still chose Crabbe.

"Crabbe will be my assistant," Malfoy said. "How about midnight tonight? We'll meet in the Trophy Room. It's never locked."

Although Harry Potter had no idea what a wizard's duel was, he trusted that Ron would not lead him into trouble. So he nodded and agreed. "We'll be there."

Malfoy left the game hall with his two lackeys in tow, storming out of the small temple and hurrying back to Slytherin House.

He swore he would teach Harry Potter a lesson he would never forget, let him see what wizarding wisdom truly was.

Defeated Voldemort? Pah! You were still a baby back then. Who knew what had happened that night? Maybe Voldemort had gone mad and finished himself off?

Damn Harry Potter. I'll make you taste Malfoy's wrath.