A Junior's Teenage Troubles

Grogan said a great deal, racking his brains and talking for a full ten minutes or so. Then he looked at Manus with curiosity and nervousness.

He wanted to know what Manus would think of his ideas.

"Is that all?"

Manus's gaze remained calm, yet it was like a cold mirror reflecting Grogan, revealing everything about him—what he showed others, what he hid in his heart, and even things he had not realized himself.

Grogan instinctively avoided Manus's gaze, but he was puzzled as well.

"Is there more? I've already said everything."

Manus had asked what he thought of the Death Eaters. He had not merely given his opinion; he had also told Manus everything he knew about them.

"Grogan..."

Manus looked at Grogan. During the previous year-end banquet, Grogan had also been among the first few people to start calling him "King."

Manus had not come to question Grogan because he suspected that Grogan had joined the Death Eaters. If that were the case, he would not have come at all.

Manus believed that the Death Eaters had set their sights on Grogan, the grandson of a former Minister for Magic.

That Bosted who had just left—the boy who shared a room with Grogan—was the one Manus had already judged to have joined the Death Eaters. He was quite clever. He had not exposed himself last night, and he had acted well just now.

But Manus had already learned from Katria that Bosted's parents were Death Eaters. His performance had merely seemed fine at first glance; it could not withstand closer scrutiny.

That admiration had been hollow and pale at its core, filled with envy for Manus's fame but none for Manus himself.

Still, considering Bosted's age, it had not been easy for him to put on such an