Torches in the Forbidden Forest (Thanks to Exploding Heavens Gang's offering of love-powered support, thank you)

Summer was slowly creeping over the land around the castle. The sky and lake had turned periwinkle blue. Flowers had bloomed in the greenhouses too, their blossoms as large as cabbages, clustered together behind the glass windows as though peeking at the world outside.

As the petrification incidents in the Chamber of Secrets grew increasingly severe, the rumors spread wider and the whispers in the corridors grew louder by the day.

That day, the three of them finally erupted into a fierce argument in the Great Hall.

At the Gryffindor table, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat facing one another.

Harry suspected Hagrid. He said Hagrid had raised spiders before, dragons before, and even a Three-Headed Dog. Hagrid had raised every kind of dangerous monster, so perhaps the monster in the Chamber of Secrets had been released by Hagrid—without Hagrid even knowing it.

Hermione and Ron, meanwhile, blamed Harry for not telling them about the diary so they could investigate it together.

Harry shouted at them, "Listen! I didn't know I could speak Parseltongue! I did have that diary! You asked me what else I didn't know? Maybe it's possible that you did things... even terrible things, without knowing anything about them yourself! I just, I... I only saw Hagrid in there! That's why I suspected him!"

Even Su Yu could not stand listening anymore. He rose to his feet and walked toward the Gryffindor table.

Su Yu reached Harry, grabbed him by the collar of his robes, lifted him from his chair, and slapped him.

The slap was not hard, but the area around the Gryffindor table fell silent. Harry's head tilted to one side, his glasses crooked, and a red handprint slowly emerged on his face. Ron stood up, and Hermione stood as well, but neither of them moved.

Su Yu had put up with Harry for a long time.

"Tell me, what do you mean, you suspect Hagrid?" Su Yu said coldly. "What fine Gryffindors. Your own people suspect your own people, spread rumors about your own people, stab your own people in the back. Look at you useless lot, always targeting your own, yet claiming that this is what courage means?"

Every Gryffindor student stood up. Dozens of them glared angrily at Su Yu. Some clenched their fists, some gripped their wands, and some had already opened their mouths to curse back.

But the Slytherins rose even faster.

Nearly a hundred people stood up in unison, wands already in hand. No one spoke or shouted. They simply quietly forced every Gryffindor student down onto the tables and pointed their wand tips at their heads, green light flickering at the tips.

Su Yu smiled mockingly at the Gryffindor lions still glaring at him. "What, just you bunch of misfits? Even if you dragged over the other two Houses and every professor, do you think we Slytherins would be afraid? How ignorant and laughable."

The students from the other two Houses hurriedly backed away as well, afraid the conflict would spread to them.

Su Yu cast the other two Houses a disdainful glance, then lowered his head to look at Harry.

"Do you know what your biggest mistake is?"

"What are you talking about?" Harry remained stubborn. His face had reddened further, fire burning in his eyes, but Su Yu held him in place so he could not move.

"You don't know yourself well enough. You don't have the brains or the ability to solve this. But you think you're smart, you think you're strong, and you keep showing off, making things worse and worse. If you had told Dumbledore or me about the diary earlier—even if you had only told Hermione—this would have been solved long ago. But you didn't. You wanted to investigate it yourself, but you found nothing. And now that things have reached this point, you're still suspecting Hagrid..."

Su Yu's voice grew louder and louder, every word driving into Harry's ears like a nail.

"Just like your classmates suspect you. They keep spreading rumors about you and suspecting you. You keep spreading rumors about Hagrid and suspecting him. You're already suffering terribly, yet you insist on forcing this onto Hagrid so that he can suffer too. You won't even spare him the slightest consideration. Think about it—who first introduced you to the wizarding world? Who has always watched over you? Who worries about you every day? Ask your own conscience. Did a dog eat it?"

The Great Hall was so quiet that they could hear the wind against the windows. The Gryffindor students lowered their heads, while the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws barely dared to breathe loudly.

Su Yu turned his head and called, "Malfoy!"

"I'm here, Prefect." Malfoy held Ron down with his wand. Its tip was pressed against Ron's head. Ron's face had gone pale and his lips trembled, but he did not move.

"If one day your father were suspected of being a murderer, and even if you knew it was true, what would you do? Tell Harry!"

Malfoy revealed a cruel smile, carrying a bloody aura that seemed to seep from his bones.

"I would snap the rumor-monger's neck, then stop my father. Even if I had to imprison him myself, I would never let others spread rumors about him or suspect him. Anyone in my Malfoy family can only be judged by me, Malfoy! To hell with the Ministry of Magic. At worst, I die!"

Someone in the Slytherin crowd gave a low cheer.

"Did you hear that, Harry? Did you hear that, Gryffindor?" Su Yu's voice returned to its lazy tone, but every word seemed to have been pulled from an ice cellar. "That is where Malfoy is better than you. When you begin to suspect people and spread rumors, you only dare whisper behind their backs. You only know how to isolate people. You secretly play those petty tricks you have always looked down on, then turn around and call Slytherin evil and full of schemes. Even if the little Slytherin snakes lose five hundred points today, as long as they believe they did the right thing, no one else will say a bad word about them! But what about you? A bunch of trash, yet you feel like you're righteous? Harry deserves to be isolated?"

"Sorry, everyone, but is Harry worthy of being a Slytherin? We Slytherins would never produce a stupid lion who only knows how to charge into battle alone without using his brain!"

With that, Su Yu released Harry.

"Think about it properly. Think carefully about why your House is called the Lion House!"

Su Yu led the Slytherins out of the Great Hall. Nearly a hundred people followed behind him, robes billowing behind them, their footsteps as orderly as an army's.

Kurama walked at Su Yu's feet, tail held high, without looking back.

Harry caught his breath and coughed. Hermione and Ron comforted him nearby. Hermione rested her hand on Harry's shoulder, while Ron straightened his glasses.

The other Gryffindor students said nothing as they slowly packed up their things and left the Great Hall. As they departed, they all looked at Harry with complicated expressions, but in the end, none of them said anything. They simply left quietly.

Grindelwald stood on the third-floor balcony, silently watching the farce below. His hands were tucked into the pockets of his trousers, and his silver hair gleamed in the candlelight.

His eyes remained fixed on Su Yu, while the smile on his lips grew wider and wider. It was as though he saw his younger self.

He had decided that this successor was the one for him.

Fortunately, over the next few days, more and more little lions began apologizing to Harry.

As their numbers continued to grow, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws gradually began joining them as well.

A Hufflepuff girl gave Harry a box of biscuits she had made herself, calling it "an apology." A Ravenclaw boy stopped Harry in the corridor and said, "I said bad things about you behind your back before. I'm sorry." Harry stood there holding the biscuits, wearing an expression of bewilderment that seemed to ask, What is wrong with this world?

In Herbology, Professor Sprout had them prune the Shrivelfig trees.

When Harry climbed onto a pile of fertilizer to dump the harmful withered branches, he happened to come face-to-face with Ernie. Ernie stood on the other side of the pile, holding a large pair of shears.

Ernie took a deep breath and said very formally, "I just wanted to say, Harry, I'm sorry I suspected you. I apologize for what I said. We're in the same boat now, and let's make up—" He extended a chubby hand.

Harry shook it. Ernie's palm was drenched in sweat, but his grip was firm.

"Do you think it could be Malfoy, Harry?" Ernie asked, keeping his voice low as if afraid someone might overhear.

"No," Harry answered so firmly that both Ernie and Ron froze for a moment.

When class ended, Professor Sprout sent them off to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Lockhart skipped into the classroom, and the entire class stared at him. All the other teachers had been calmer and more solemn than usual, but Lockhart was not lacking in optimism at all.

"Let's begin," he called, smiling around at them. "Why are you all pulling such long faces?"

People exchanged irritated looks, but no one spoke.

"Have you not realized," Lockhart said slowly, as though they were all rather dim, "that the danger has passed? The culprit has been taken away."

"Who?" Dean Thomas said loudly.

"My dear boy, if the Minister for Magic were not one hundred percent certain that Hagrid was guilty, he would never have taken Hagrid away," Lockhart said in the tone of someone explaining that one plus one equaled two, giving them a wink as well.

"Oh yes, he would," Ron said, much louder than Dean.

"I believe I know a little more than you do about Hagrid's arrest, Mr. Weasley," Lockhart said smugly.

Ron wanted to say he did not think so, but after Harry viciously kicked him under the table, he swallowed the words.

But Lockhart's disgusting enthusiasm, his usual poor opinion of Hagrid, and his confidence that the whole matter was over infuriated Harry so much that he almost wanted to smash Gadding with Ghouls into Lockhart's stupid face.

Instead, he hurriedly scribbled a note to Ron to console himself: "Let's do it tonight, but this time we'll need some help."

Ron read the note, swallowed, and passed it to Hermione. The three exchanged a glance, and that glance strengthened their resolve.

That night, as soon as Harry and Ron heard the doors of the two dormitories close, they grabbed their cloaks, covered themselves, went into the common room, collected Hermione, and crawled out through the hole behind the Fat Lady's portrait.

Their journey through the castle went as before, avoiding every teacher. At last, they reached the Great Hall, quietly moved the bolt on the oak doors, slipped out through the gap without letting the doors make a sound, and stepped onto the moonlit grounds.

"The route," Ron suddenly said as they strode across the dark grass. "Maybe once we get to the Forbidden Forest, we'll find there's no trail at all. Those spiders might not have gone that way in the first place. It looked like they were heading roughly in that direction, but... where are the teammates we agreed on?"

At that moment, a voice they hated rang out.

"Woohoo! Look over here!"

One torch, two torches, three torches... twenty torches suddenly appeared in the Forbidden Forest. Firelight shone over face after face, turning Malfoy's pale face bright red.

Malfoy stood at the front, with twenty Slytherin students behind him.

"Two special Slytherin squads, all present." Malfoy and the people behind him elegantly waved their wands and bowed to Hermione. "Theodore once promised you that Slytherin would become your support, Miss Granger. Tonight, you are in command. Rest assured, we will charge ahead of you. Just do what you believe is right."

Harry and Ron stared wide-eyed at Hermione, their expressions seeming to say, Weren't you supposed to call Su Yu? What is all this? And how did so many of them get out? Isn't there a curfew?

Malfoy seemed to have joined their private conversation channel and said disdainfully, "This place is not worthy of Prefect Su Yu's presence. Any Slytherin can treat it like home. You truly know nothing. And the curfew? Do you think Filch would dare say anything if he saw us?"

Hermione did not dwell on it any longer. She knew how terrifying these older Slytherins were, especially after the Kurama Cloak was activated. She said nothing more and led everyone deeper into the Forbidden Forest, bringing Hagrid's dog Fang along to guide them.